‘Listen, whatever has happened, Aiden says he’s safe and he’s with two other people heading towards Adelaide now. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down – my phone’s back on now and I’ll keep monitoring it. I’m sorry this scared you. Aiden knows how to take care of himself and he probably panicked in case I tried to get hold of him and couldn’t get a response, that’s all. As soon as I hear anything, I’ll let you know. Okay?’

‘Okay. It was a bit of a shock with all the noise in the background and he sounded… scared. At least you’re in a safer place, I mean, what harm can you come to in a lovely little château in the French countryside?’

I glance towards Nico, who has slipped off his cotton shirt and is pulling a T-shirt over his head. I avert my gaze, thankful that his back is towards me.

‘Aiden can handle himself, Hannah, and I’m sure he’ll be fine. Now go do something to take your mind off it. It might be a while until I hear from him as he said it’s a long journey and his battery was almost dead.’

I feel bad playing this down when it’s tying my stomach in knots. But Aiden and Hannah have always been close and I know that on the few occasions I’ve fallen out with her, she always turns to him for advice.

‘All right. But as soon as you hear from Aiden, you will ring me, won’t you? Doesn’t matter what time it is, right? I just want to know he’s okay.’

‘Promise. Now stop worrying and don’t breathe a word of this to Mum and Dad. There’s no point in everyone losing sleep when it seems the crisis has already been averted.’

As I’m about to slide the phone back into my pocket, I remember to turn up the volume to full. The next call I receive could be important.

Glancing back at Nico, I see he’s been watching discreetly and he walks towards me.

‘You look like you’ve had a bit of a shock. Bad news?’

I nod, then shake my head as I think about it and end up shrugging my shoulders.

‘I don’t really know. It’s Aiden, there’s been a problem. Ah, I forgot, my sister said he’d posted some photos, I’d better check.’