‘Yes, and I had a life happening as well, of course. But I have to confess there was a fondness growing between us. I did eventually finish my thesis. And got my doctorate and realised that with all the material I had there was a book in it. Also, she was getting frailer, so I had to work quickly to ask her more questions.’

Steve changed tack. ‘How did she pay her bills? A hotel in the centre of Sydney wouldn’t be cheap.’

‘You’re right; it wasn’t. She was a bit evasive at first but then rather airily announced she sent the bills to the Indonesian government. They owed her, she said, “After all, I saved their country.”’

Steve and Grace had to laugh.

‘She sounds so gutsy. Got to love her,’ said Grace.

‘Oh, she had her enemies, plenty, in fact, and some of the expats in Indonesia couldn’t stand her. The Dutch still absolutely loathe her!’

‘Did she have anyone else in her life,’ Grace asked, ‘apart from you? Was she able to look after herself?’

‘Good question,’ Tim said, looking at Grace. ‘Sandra, her lovely lawyer, visited her and found the place in such disarray that she told K’tut she had to move somewhere she’d have more help. Also, the hotel had run out of patience with K’tut long before.’

‘Perhaps not surprising,’ Steve said, leaning back in his chair.

Tim nodded. ‘I helped tidy and pack up the rabbit warren of stuff in that hotel room. I found suitcases under her bed filled with valuable documents and files and all manner of things she’d kept. K’tut told me to toss them, but of course I didn’t,’ he said. ‘Most of it is in safekeeping with Sandra’s husband since, sadly, Sandra died some years back. Some of it should be in a museum or archive, really. I kept a few things K’tut gave me.’

‘Like?’ prompted Grace.

‘The deck of palm-leaf cards she made when she was a prisoner of the Japanese. They’re very moving, actually. You would have read about them in her book – the cards kept her alive through solitary imprisonment and torture.’

‘Yes, I remember that,’ said Grace. ‘She scratched faces and numbers onto the leaves that blew into her cell, so they became her deck of cards.’

‘That’s right,’ Tim said. ‘Then she played Patience to stay sane.’

‘What happened about your book? Did she ever read it?’ asked Steve.