‘Yes. I saw him again. Monty told me he’d been unwell and hadn’t been able to go and see his father. That he had decided to wait, after he heard about the deaths of Raphael and Juan. He said he was afraid something must have gone wrong, and that if he tried to come to you, someone might follow him. He asked me to go and visit him at your home. I – I went. We had such a wonderful time, I stayed . . . Monty made me promise not to visit the camp until I was contacted. He felt I might be being watched, too. He asked if there was any other way that he could make contact with you, Marjie. I told him that until I went into the camp and asked you, I wouldn’t know. Monty then changed his mind about me not coming here, and asked me to bring this note to you.’

Gisele fished in her pocket and brought out the note. As Marjie took it, part of her was consumed with relief. It must have been a coincidence that Monty was on the station when they arrived. ‘Gisele, has Monty travelled anywhere? I mean, has he done anything that you thought unusual? I want so much to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I have to know how he acted and what he has been doing.’

‘Yes, he caught the train to Montpellier. He said he had to do some shopping.’

Marjie released a sigh. So Monty hasn’t betrayed me. His presence, and that of the gendarmes, was a coincidence. But would he have betrayed me, if he had known I was likely to be on that train? Marjie couldn’t honestly say that he wouldn’t.

Wanting to read Monty’s note, but conscious of how long they had been away from the group, she decided to wait until later. For a moment she was silent, her mind giving her many solutions about how to go forward. ‘Gisele, my instinct is to keep you here until Arnie comes back – not only to keep you safe, but to put the minds of the men at ease. However, I think it better that you go back and act normally, otherwise it may raise Monty’s suspicions and force him to do something that would be disastrous to us all. We’ll go back to the group now, and I will appease the men, then read Monty’s note and decide the best action to take.’

The men weren’t easy to appease, as Marjie told them they did have a possible suspect. That it wasn’t Gisele, and that things would be worse for them all if they did any harm to Gisele or tried to detain her.

‘Are you mad, Marjie? If she has compromised us, what is there to stop her doing so again?’