28.

When booking plane tickets Xander had got a message through to the hotel, so I was hopeful Mum or Dad – possibly both of them – might be at the airport in Kinshasa to meet us. I was surprised to see Uncle Langdon there instead. He was wearing a yellow Hawaiian number today, and somebody in the bustling airport crowd had just bumped his takeaway coffee cup, slopping some of its contents down his shirtfront. He was annoyed by that and seemed more bothered by the stain – he kept dabbing at it with a handkerchief – than he was concerned to see how we were. I imagined that meant he hadn’t heard about the gorilla attack, Xander’s leg or the death of Innocent, but when he finally gave up with the coffee spot his offhand, ‘Bad luck,’ to Xander suggested that he knew exactly how it had happened.

I watched carefully, and he didn’t so much as shoot Caleb a look, which seemed strange. My uncle has always been tough on my cousin when he’s messed up, punishing even the smallest mistakes hard. One of my earliest Langdon memories is of him locking Caleb out in the garden, in the rain, because he’d failed to take his shoes off coming into the house and had tracked mud across the kitchen floor. Caleb was about seven. Langdon refused to let him back inside until Mark and I had finished our dinner. I remember what we ate, sausages and mash, because the sausages were incredibly hot and when Mark told me to eat up quickly I burned the roof of my mouth.

Was he waiting today until he had Caleb alone before tearing into him? Apparently not. Once we’d made our way – slowly, Xander wasn’t that good on his crutches yet – to where his driver had parked up his big, blacked-out SUV, and all climbed in, he turned from the front seat and, addressing Caleb, said, ‘Terrible shame about young Innocent. First guide to be killed in a gorilla attack for years apparently.’

When Caleb didn’t reply I said, ‘It was absolutely awful.’ The words sounded ridiculously hollow, and I didn’t improve things by adding, ‘A complete tragedy.’

Langdon glanced at me, sniffed and said, ‘Must have been. Still, I suppose it’s a valuable lesson. Nature’s unpredictable, no matter how experienced you are. Big animals like that can always turn.’ Nodding at Xander he went on, ‘Not something you’ll forget in a hurry, eh … boy.’

Two things were clear. First, that he couldn’t remember Xander’s name. And equally obviously, that he wasn’t bothered about Innocent. If Caleb was a self-regarding idiot, here was a reminder of where he got it from.

‘It’s not really something any of us are likely to forget,’ said Amelia. ‘Unless we develop amnesia.’

Langdon looked her up and down before conceding, ‘S’pose not.’ He went on, seemingly out of a sense of duty, ‘No, it’s an awful tragedy for Innocent’s family, you’re right. We should just be grateful that – your leg aside, sonny – none of you were hurt or worse. I’ve made arrangements to compensate the family.’ Then he turned to face the road again, gripping the handle above the door to steady himself as we swerved to avoid a woman cycling on an ancient bike with a basket balanced on her head. This little speech seemed to have drained the goodwill from my uncle. As the driver pulled back into our lane Langdon turned to him and snapped, ‘Take it easy. It’s not a race!’

We rode on in silence. So Langdon knew about the accident, but not apparently Caleb’s role in it. I wasn’t about to change that. One thing was for sure – Caleb didn’t need his dad to make him feel he’d done something wrong. Though the signs were subtle – he’d stared out of the plane window the entire flight home, rather than looking for the usual excuses to big himself up, and more than once I’d caught him shaking his head, as if in disbelief – he was clearly struggling guilt-wise. The longer we drove without speaking, the more our silence seemed to come from him, or be his fault at least. If Amelia, Xander or I had started talking about what we’d witnessed, we might have dropped him in it.

But that didn’t explain Langdon’s apparent lack of curiosity. By the time we arrived at our hotel the passive, stare-straight-ahead stuff was really bothering me. What was going on?

I found out soon enough. Caleb tagged along while Langdon got us checked back in to the hotel. To his credit, he made sure the concierge gave Xander a room on the ground floor. But there was something strange about his attentiveness, as if, like Caleb, he was only stepping up because he felt guilty. I wanted to get away from him, so said, ‘I’ll be back down in a minute. Mum and Dad are probably out lobbying or something, but I just want to see if they’re in their room.’

‘Ah, yes, Jack,’ said Langdon. ‘I need to talk to you about that. Let’s take a seat, shall we?’

He put a hand on my back and steered me, with Amelia and Xander following, through to the bar area by the pool. A hollowness ran through me as he made a show of ordering us all Cokes (his had Jack Daniels in it) and sitting us down and asking the waitress to bring some bar snacks to go with our drinks.

‘You must be hungry,’ he said to us. ‘I know I am!’

‘Not particularly,’ said Amelia.

‘What do you mean, you need to talk to me?’ I asked.

‘It’s nothing serious,’ he said, in a way that made me think the opposite was true. ‘Just that your mum and dad didn’t imagine you’d be back here so soon, obviously, and they’ve gone on a little research trip, out east as it happens, not a million miles from where you’ve just been. Only they’re still out there, and you’re back here, and I’ve got a hundred and one work things to do, as has Caleb now, so you guys will have to stay put in the hotel, do a bit of recuperating, just until they return.’

‘Researching what?’ I asked.

‘It’s no hardship hanging out here though, is it? Games room, pool – not that sonny here can use it, but still – good food.’

‘He’s called Xander,’ said Amelia.

‘Course he is. Xander, with the duff leg. This is as good a place as any for it to mend, don’t you think?’

‘Where exactly have they gone, and what are they doing?’ I said.

‘Eh? Research, as I say. Into mining. They wanted to see how a responsible outfit like ours can contribute both economically and environmentally. I wasn’t really in favour of them taking the risk since our operation reaches into some quite … spicy … territories, but you know what they’re like.’

One half of me was reassured by this, since it made sense of why neither of them had called me back. If they were somewhere remote there was probably no signal. But I didn’t like Langdon’s use of the word spicy, and the fact that neither had left me a message before they set off was odd. Perhaps there’d be a note in my room. I must have looked worried.

Amelia, no doubt trying to help, said, ‘You’re concerned. But you yourself suggested they go and take a look at your uncle’s mines.’

‘Did I?’

‘Yes. At dinner on our first night. You were sitting at that table over there, in the seat on the corner. The one with a red back. You were drinking a –’

‘I get it, Amelia.’ To Langdon I said, ‘When are they due back?’

‘Ah, here we are,’ said Langdon as our order arrived.

The waiter seemed nervous. He set everything down very gingerly, comically concerned he might spill something. It took ages.

Langdon didn’t hurry him though. When the man had finally finished and retreated with a little bow, my uncle still didn’t answer my question, preferring to sit back in his chair and take an appreciative sip of his drink instead.

‘When are they due back?’ I repeated.

‘Well …’ he said reluctantly, ‘travel plans in the DRC can be difficult to pin down.’

‘I know. But when were they aiming for?’

‘They didn’t intend to stay long.’

‘That doesn’t answer the question,’ Amelia said for me.

Langdon shot her a look. ‘There’s no cause for alarm. We would have expected them to have been in touch by now, but they’ve probably taken the opportunity to go exploring. You know how wilful your mother can be. Communications out east are patchy. It’s nothing unusual.’

‘You’re not telling me everything you know,’ I said. The statement came out more forcefully than I intended, and Caleb, who’d seemed uninterested in the conversation until that point, glanced up sharply to see how his father would take it.

Langdon put down his drink. ‘I beg your pardon,’ he said levelly.

‘All I mean is, please don’t keep anything from me.’

‘I wouldn’t, Jack.’ His smile revealed his teeth. ‘I’m a little concerned my people haven’t given me an update. I’ll admit that. But it’s probably nothing. I certainly don’t want to alarm you with guesswork at this stage.’

His reassurances were making the hollow feeling in my stomach twist in on itself with nervous dread.

‘What can we do to track Jack’s parents down?’ asked Amelia. ‘Who do we contact for help?’

‘I’ve made all the appropriate enquiries,’ Langdon said firmly. ‘Right now we just sit tight. I’m sure we’ll hear from them very shortly.’ He drained his glass. ‘Make the most of the facilities here in the meantime, like I say,’ he went on, waving vaguely towards the pool and games room. It was a muggy day and his shirt had sweat rings under his yellow-patterned armpits. In that moment I hated Hawaiian shirts more than anything in the world.