‘No one is getting interrogated, Natalia. We’ve got everything we need at this stage, and your parents have my number.’

It’s odd to be so irrelevant when I know Yin better than anyone else. Or I used to. Maybe someone should talk to me.

The detective gestures to his colleague in the backyard. After weeks of doing nothing, I wonder what other waves of activity are spreading across the city, stirred up by Friday’s reward announcement or rising up of their own accord. Why now?

‘We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.’

Detective Barbero is barely out the door before Dad deflates, the wind and puff and strength ripped out of him. He staggers to the couch.

‘Get me a Scotch, Tal,’ he says, and I do, making it the way he likes it, neat with a dash of water.

His hand trembles when I hand it to him; the whisky ripples like a miniature earthquake has rocked our house. He’s not my lion dad, the king of the dinner party, master of the golf course. He shrinks inside his clothes, and even though he sometimes gets like this, how unfamiliar he seems.

‘They asked the strangest questions.’ He presses himself into the couch, closes his eyes and sips.

‘Like what?’

‘Give your dad a moment,’ Mum says. ‘We’ll talk later.’

I give her my most cutting look, because I know with them that later never happens, and I’m not supposed to notice that.

DAY 37

Mum is heading to work early so I let her drive me to school, even if it means getting there thirty minutes before I want to. She stops the car at the student gate and leans forward, looking at the great green expanse I have to walk across to get to the main doors. It’s a misty morning, so the empty grounds look spookier than usual, and we’re the only car on the street.

‘By the way,’ she says. ‘The police have asked me to run a few things by you. Some information about the offender.’

She could not have picked worse timing. ‘Is this a secret from Dad?’

‘I don’t want to distract you before school, Natalia. We can talk tonight. I just wanted to flag it.’

‘Why bring it up at all, Mum? Tell me. I won’t be able to concentrate now, and I’ve got my French exam today.’

She’s so annoying.

‘I don’t want you worrying. I hate that you have to be involved in this.’

‘I am worried! The police ransacked our house yesterday. How can I not worry?’

Mum sighs like I’m the one being irrational. She reaches behind my seat for her handbag. ‘The kidnapper uses unusual words or phrases. You know, endearments or pet names.’

‘Like what?’