She rubbed her face, almost looking tired. “Oh, Max, I’m sorry I didn’t find it in time. I thought we’d have time on the Bosfor. I didn’t want Klaus to see me find it – it was a delicate situation, to be seen carrying it. We needed time to decide how to explain ourselves, in case…”

“In case this happened?” finished Max, with a half smile.

“In case this happened,” Marguerite agreed, with the other half.

There was a pause. Outside, a car honked, and someone shouted angrily. Max looked out of the window, but it only looked on to another brick wall a few feet away.

“Where are we?” she asked.

Marguerite rolled her eyes. “With his usual rigour and intelligence, Le Goff seems to have just found the nearest available room with a lock. I suppose they are planning to send us straight back to France: we’re not the concern of the Turkish police.”

“And when that happens,” Max said hesitantly, “will it be – all right?”

“I highly doubt it, mon lapin, but I have no intention of finding out. We’re not staying here.”

Max’s pulse quickened. “What? How are we getting out?”

“Well, yes, quite,” said Marguerite. “That is the interesting question. I haven’t decided just yet. But there’s always a way.”

Just then, as if in answer, the door flew open. But not in a please-step-outside-through-me-to-freedom sort of way. More in a here-comes-some-very-bad-news sort of way. Le Goff was in the doorway, and for the first time, he was bothering to have an emotion other than mild boredom. He had made it all the way to angry. And there was something else in his eyes too – a smattering of panic.

“What have you done with it?” he yelled.

Max and Marguerite looked at him. He did some heavy breathing, but didn’t explain what “it” was, so they just carried on looking.

“Don’t play innocent with me,” he spat. “The diamond. It’s gone. You took it when you fell on me, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”

“No,” Marguerite informed him helpfully.

For the next ten minutes, Le Goff conducted the most pointless hunt Max had ever seen. Once he had shaken every pocket and patted every sleeve and made absolutely sure they weren’t carrying the diamond, he searched the room; but the room was a small, bare box, and it wasn’t very useful for dramatic hunts. He overturned the only furniture – the table and chair – with some important-sounding crashes, and then did a bit of glaring at each corner of the room in turn. He tapped the bricks on the outside walls, feeling for a loose one, and knocked on every floorboard. For a while he paced about gurning at the ceiling.

“What have you DONE with it?” he repeated.