‘Mrs Coleman will take you to Duval,’ Chavez is saying to the agent. He smiles at me and I smile back, determined to hold on to the idea of safety and help that Chavez has always represented, but the sharp claws of suspicion will not release their hold on my tired head. ‘People fare better on the border when they’re not all they seem,’ Duval had said. Above the noisy hum of breakfasting Mexicans, I hear Esteban’s warning: ‘Find him before he finds you.’ And as the hairs begin to rise on my arms, once again, on a dark side street in Nogales, a car rolls slowly out of sight and back into the shadows.

‘Alice? . . . Alice!’ Chavez says. Next to him El Turrón crosses his arms. I drag my eyes to his, determined to make contact, but I have to struggle to keep them there – such is the lazy contempt radiating from them. ‘My agent will accompany you,’ Chavez says. ‘Right now we’re between shifts, but radio position when you get there and the others won’t be far behind.’

I want to stay in the chair. I want to glue my hands to the seat and nail my feet to the floor. Benjamín’s head is down again. I will him to leap up or strike out, do something, anything to stop me feeling quite so helpless.

‘It’s okay, Alice,’ Chavez says gently. ‘Just take us to Duval and then you too can go home. You must go home,’ he says with meaning. He puts out his hand to raise me off the chair and I take it in a daze, hearing the knock on the door and only barely registering the presence of a third agent.

‘Sir.’ The man addresses Chavez. ‘The group of illegals you were enquiring about earlier?’

‘Yes?’

‘We’ve just had a report in. The situation is under control. A dozen individuals handcuffed in the area.’

‘Have them picked up,’ Chavez orders without missing a beat.

‘Sir, the guy who radioed in – says he wants to speak to you. Says it’s important.’

‘Not now.’ Chavez says sharply.

‘But it’s Jeff Hogan, sir. Says you asked to be informed if Duval was one of them.’

For a comical few seconds there’s a real honest to God Mexican stand-off. Everyone looks at each other. Nobody moves.

‘And is he?’ Chavez enquires evenly.

‘No, sir, he isn’t.’