“You want me to find this lady?” she asked, tapping the photograph. “That is why you are here, Mma?”

Susan reached out to reclaim the photograph. “If you can, Mma. But I also want you to find out other things. There was a girl I was at school with—I have her full name. And the house we lived in—I don’t have an address for it, and when I went to look for it I couldn’t work out which one it was. I’d like you to find that. And a few other things too.”

“Your life in Botswana?” said Mma Makutsi. “You want us to find the life you lost? Is that it, Mma?”

Susan took a few moments to answer. Then she said, “I suppose it is. I suppose that’s exactly what I want.” She paused, and looked anxiously first at Mma Ramotswe and then at Mma Makutsi. “You don’t think that foolish, do you? You don’t think it ridiculous to come here and try to find a past that took place a long time ago? Thirty years, in fact.”

Mma Ramotswe shook her head. “Not at all, Mma. You should hear some of the things we are asked to do—then you’d realise that your request is not at all foolish.”

“Yes,” said Mma Makutsi. “We have been asked to do far stranger things than this. There was this man who came in, Mma, and he asked us—”

There was a warning glance from Mma Ramotswe.

“We must be careful of confidentiality, Mma Makutsi.” And to Susan she said, “You can be assured, Mma, that we will not talk about your case to anybody.”

“Except when necessary,” interjected Mma Makutsi. “There may be circumstances in which we have to reveal something in order to get further information. There was a case once where this man had asked us to watch his wife because she was taking so many lovers, and we—”

“Exactly,” Mma Ramotswe cut in. “Confidentiality is very important, Mma.”

“I have nothing to hide, anyway,” said Susan.

“That is good,” said Mma Makutsi. “We have had clients in here with a lot to hide, Mma—I can tell you. In fact, there was—”

“Mma Makutsi!” said Mma Ramotswe.

“In fact, there was a case I cannot tell you about,” concluded Mma Makutsi. “But it was definitely a case of that sort.”

Susan leaned forward in her chair. “So you’ll be able to help me, Mma Ramotswe?”

Mma Ramotswe did not hesitate. “Of course, I shall try, Mma.”

Susan expressed her gratitude. “You have made me very happy,” she said.

But Mma Ramotswe was cautious. “Try to help you, Mma…try to help you. I cannot guarantee anything. Thirty years, you see, is a long time.”

“I know that,” said Susan. “But we can try, can’t we?”

“Of course we can, Mma,” said Mma Ramotswe. “If we didn’t try, then we would get nothing done.”