‘They think he’s going to die.’

Isabelle went to her mother’s arms, rested her head on her shoulder and gave great dry, shaking sobs.

Will arrested again first thing in the morning, and again the doctors brought him back to life.

‘He’s tough, this one,’ said a doctor to a nurse. ‘He might just make it.’

But what he’d make it as – a man, a child or a vegetable – was anyone’s guess. This was LA, not Vegas, and nobody felt like gambling.

‘Darling, you can’t let everything go to rack and ruin just because Will is ill.’

‘He’s a bit more than ill, Mum. He’s dying.’

‘Don’t say that. Come on, you’ve got to think positive thoughts.’

‘Oh, and what what would you suggest?’ Isabelle couldn’t help lashing out. ‘Shall we all get down on our knees and say a prayer?’

‘That might not be such a bad idea,’ said Christine. It was usually at this point that she withdrew, and left Isabelle to stew in her own bitter juices, but on this occasion she stayed.

‘I’m so frightened, Mum,’ said Isabelle, after a while. ‘I’m supposed to be going to Tokyo next week. Tokyo! I can’t face it, not without Will . . . If he . . . I can’t manage on my own.’

‘You’re not on your own, Isabelle,’ said Christine, relishing the warmth of her daughter’s body in her arms. Horrible as the situation was, and however much she hoped that Will would recover, she could hardly suppress a feeling of euphoria that her child had been delivered back to her.

Victoria’s father didn’t seem surprised when the police came looking for his daughter. He simply showed the two officers into the front room, where his wife offered them tea, and went upstairs.

‘The police are here,’ he said, as if he’d been expecting it ever since she darkened his door. ‘They want to talk to you about something.’

That something turned out to be the mummified remains of a man that had recently been unearthed beneath the swimming pool of Le Mûrier, Sainte-Maxime, in the south of France. A house belonging to a Mr Massimo Rivelli. Did she know anything about this? Did she have anything to add to statements that she had made to the French police?

She played her cards close to her chest even then, evading their questions, feigning ignorance. Finally, the officers asked her parents to leave the room.

‘Were you aware that Massimo Rivelli ordered your removal from the hospital?’

‘Yes. He said he was going to look after me.’

‘Do you know a man known as David Smith? It’s not his real name.’

‘Could be anyone.’

‘He was the caretaker at Le Mûrier.’

‘Oh, that Dave. Yes, of course. I know him well.’

‘Did you know what he and his wife were planning to do to you in that private nursing home?’