“Why were we even here? If they were all doing it, who were we saving from whom? They said we’d be out of here before too long—not just the army, all of us, white skins, even the chaps up in city hall—they’d chuck us out, they wanted their country back. Can’t say I particularly blamed them. We hadn’t exactly covered ourselves in glory. And it happened, most of the old chaps are gone. Only stubborn buggers like me clinging on. Nothing for me back in Suffolk. Might as well stay.

“We made all kinds of mistakes. This chap, middle-aged bachelor type, he was found in the jungle with two tins of fruit, of course he got detained. Later on, his neighbours claimed he was worshipping his ancestors, that’s how they do it, offerings of food. They knew they weren’t supposed to bring food out, but some of them risked it, and he couldn’t stand to think of his poor dead mother trapped in hell with nothing to eat. I told my commanding officer, he laughed at me for listening to the natives. Then he got serious and said, It doesn’t matter, there’s nothing we can do, it’s worth sacrificing some innocents if it means clearing the turf properly. They arrested this girl, just a schoolgirl. She liked sugar in her coffee, they got coffee in her school but no sugar in it, so she brought sugar out with her in a twist of a paper. Someone found it and reported her. And they took her to court for that, girl of eleven.”

He stared morosely out into the twinkling dark. It was a harsh, still night, the heat rising off the road with a smell of burnt rubber. The air must be close to blood heat, thought Revathi. She raised her hand and signalled for another round of drinks.

“Why do you think it went wrong?” she asked him gently.

“Did I say it did?” he returned. “We made mistakes, that’s what I said. We won, you know, whatever that means. They surrendered in droves. We eliminated more than seven thousand. That’s two-thirds of them, the ones we knew about, anyway. They’re callous, the Chinese. They’ll sit on the fence and wait to see which side wins.” Revathi glanced at Mr Leng, but his face was stone, his body turned away slightly to make him invisible.

The drinks arrived. The waiter, clearly exhausted, patiently placed the glasses neatly in the centre of each coaster, not spilling a drop. Revathi waited till Cameron had taken a deep draught of his beer before asking, “Were you at Batang Kali? December 1948.”