Of Duval and the workers, I see very little. I use Emmy as a reason for eschewing our daily meetings and I don’t allow the children to go to Benjamín’s cabin any more. When they ask why, I make up excuses. Benjamín is tired, he’s busy, he’s redecorating with a particularly noxious paint that’s only poisonous for the under-ten age group. The children argue his case vociferously but I’m adamant. There might be nothing but affection for them in his face, but I don’t know the man behind that face any more. A little bit of suspicion is a dangerous thing; a drop from a pipette of poison into a bucket of otherwise clean water. Now, twitching at the curtains like the most busybody of neighbours, I watch with bitter suspicious eyes as Duval’s truck drives in and out of town. I hate this new cynical reincarnation of myself, but I can’t do anything about it because out here nothing and nobody holds up to close inspection.

As soon as Emmy returns to school, I begin searching the desert beyond the boarding house. Exactly what I am looking for – the old road, a secret shack, a car full of marijuana? – I’m not sure, but every day I throw a couple of litres of water into my backpack and head south out of the town. Dozens of trails look promising, only to peter out into dead ends. I hike deep into the hills, standing on different points and staring fruitlessly at the landscape until finally, one day, I spot something. A thin chalky line in the distance cutting through the green of the scrub. A road, indisputably. I try to trace it back to where I’m standing but am thwarted by the impenetrable expanse of oak that belts the town. Still, it occurs to me that if I were to cut round the mountain at an even steeper angle, circumvent the oak altogether, then drop onto it from above, it should be possible to follow it back to Temerosa.

On Thursday I inform Benjamín I’m going to Phoenix for the weekend. On Friday I ring Sharleen and Candy and arrange to drop Jack and Emmy off at Prestcott’s after school – having promised the children a great deal of latitude with regard to hamburger eating and television watching – then on Saturday morning I set off.