Suze shrugs blankly, checking her phone as though she has no interest in anything I have to say, and I feel the tears threatening again.

“OK. Well. Enjoy your evening.”

“You do realize we have breakfast with Tarkie and your father at nine tomorrow morning?” Suze fixes me with an accusing gaze.

“Of course!”

“So you won’t be up till all hours, drinking free cocktails and passing out over the roulette table?”

“No!” I say defiantly. “I will not. I’ll be sitting here, bright as a button, at eight-thirty A.M.”

“Well, see you then.”

Suze and Alicia head off down a corridor which looks just like the Sistine Chapel, and I stare after her miserably, then turn back to the others.

“You’ll come and watch the fountains with me?” I appeal to Luke. “And you, Mum? And Janice?”

“Of course we will!” says Mum, who procured a drink from somewhere while Luke was checking us in and is now swigging from it. “You can’t hold us back! My time has come, love. My time has come.”

“What do you mean?” I say, puzzled.

“If your father can go kicking his heels up, then so can I! If your father can run through the family fortune, then so can I!”

Mum has had a slightly mad look in her eye ever since we heard from Dad. Now, gulping her drink, she looks even madder.

“I don’t think Dad’s running through the family fortune,” I say warily.

“How do we know what he’s doing?” counters Mum wildly. “All these years, I’ve been that man’s dutiful wife. I’ve cooked him supper, I’ve made his bed, I’ve hung on his every word….”

OK, that’s rubbish. Mum has never hung on Dad’s every word, and half the time she buys ready meals from Marks & Spencer.

“And now I find that he has secrets and mysteries!” continues Mum. “Lies and conspiracies!”

“Mum, he’s just gone on a little trip, it’s not the end of the world—”

“Lies and conspiracies!” repeats Mum, ignoring me. “Janice, do you fancy a go on the slot machines? Because I know I do.”

“We’ll be back in a jiffy,” says Janice breathlessly, as she follows Mum across the lobby.

Oooookay. I think I’ll need to keep an eye on Mum.

“Minnie, shall we go and see the big fishies?” I turn and give her a hug. She’s been such a poppet, sitting nicely all day in the RV. She deserves a bit of fun now.

“Fishies!” Minnie starts opening her mouth and gulping like a fish.

There’s a little guidebook in the welcome pack which Luke was given, and as I read through the Top Ten Attractions for Kids, I feel a bit gobsmacked. There’s everything here! There’s the Eiffel Tower and New York skyscrapers and Egyptian pyramids and dolphins and circus acts. It’s like someone’s crunched the entire world into one street and left out all the boring bits.

“Come on, sweetheart!” I say, and hold out my hand. I can give Minnie a good time, anyway.


SIX

Two hours later, my head is a whirl of lights and music and traffic noise. And, above all, bleeps. Las Vegas is the bleepiest city I’ve ever known. It’s like, everywhere you go there’s a live band playing at full volume, and the only instruments are slot machines, and they only play one track: bleep-bleep-bleepy-bleep. And they never stop. Except when they occasionally disgorge money, which would be the percussion section.