‘Ah come on, Bish. You know I’m pretty particular about who I’m friends with.’

Bish wasn’t in the mood for jokes.

‘At the moment our greatest source of information is The Sun,’ Elliot said. ‘First we read that Violette was put in a cupboard. Next that she gave every guy on the bus a hand job.’

‘Yes, because Murdoch’s people always get it right.’

‘Give us something, Ortley. Anything.’

‘What makes you think I have anything?’ Bish asked, just as Saffron and Bee caught up with him.

‘Because we’ve been tracking down the parents who’ve returned home. Most of them saw you speaking to the French cop in charge. All of them saw you walk into that interview with Violette and two men who we’re presuming are MI6. You’re the name on everyone’s lips, Ortley. So you might know more than we do at the moment.’

‘If anyone had brains they’d go visit Sarraf and find out what he knows,’ Bish said. ‘Violette would have gone straight to him.’

‘Both sides of the Channel have done that,’ Elliot said. ‘He told us to fuck off, but not before we discovered that his niece and the boy visited early this morning. He went out to buy croissants or baguettes or whatever the fuck the French eat for breakfast, and when he got back the kids had vanished.’

‘I’m presuming whoever you work for isn’t just focusing on Violette as a suspect,’ Bish said.

‘We have no idea who’s responsible for yesterday, but I think it’s pretty clear that those kids are on the run. From us.’

‘Who’s this “we”, Elliot? Is it some sort of royal we? You and the Queen?’

‘Let’s talk when you get home, Bish. And give your mum my love. She’s doing a marvellous job over there.’

Bish hung up and found his mother and daughter staring at him.

‘Elliot?’ Saffron asked.

‘He’s working for either the Home Office or MI5.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Bish darling.’

‘Not as ridiculous as believing he made the trains run on time.’

They approached the car in silence and got in. It seemed a long time ago that Bish and his mother had travelled down this dirt path, not just the day before. After executing an awkward U-turn, trying to avoid every other car parked in so narrow a track, Bish was relieved to be in control again. He had just reached a fork in the road when Bee made a gagging sound.

‘I’m going to be sick.’

He stepped on the brake. Bee was out of the car, disappearing into a thicket of trees before they could stop her. Bish looked at his mother, not knowing whether to follow.

‘Daddy. Sofi!’

He was never going to ignore a ‘Daddy’. Saffron was there beside him and they found Bee with a hand against a tree, bent over.

‘Don’t come closer. It looks vile,’ she said miserably, turning around and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

Bish and Saffron waited a short distance away and when Bee reached them he put his arm around her shoulder.