The sound of a car engine behind her dragged her from her thoughts. She turned to see Sally leading an ambulance slowly along the shingle toward Saltwater Nook. As Annie made to climb back up the beach to tell her the news, something bumped against her shin. Annie looked down to see that Alfred’s rucksack had washed up beside her. For a moment, she almost lost her composure. The pressure of not letting herself give in to the grief hammered inside her head.

She looked out across the water and let the freezing wind whip at her face. She took in a lungful of the frigid air and pushed down the panic. She picked up the wet, heavy bag, telling herself she would dry it out for him to give back to him later, and then made her way to where John’s clothes lay in a sodden heap. She picked them up, repressing the urge to hold the coat to her face and breathe in the smell of him. With arms full of her missing friends’ belongings, she tramped back up the beach to where Sally sat on the promenade above, the wind buffeting her while she watched the lifeboat as it bounced above and dipped below the waves, methodically scouring the seemingly empty ocean.

Annie threw the clothes, boots, and rucksack up onto the promenade, but her own clothes were so water-laden she didn’t have the strength to heave herself up. She motioned to Sally that she was going to head to the steps along the way, when one of the paramedics thrust out a hand to her. The other, a woman wrapped in a dark green waterproof coat, offered her hand too, and between them they hauled first Annie, then Maeve, and finally a still-tearful Gemma up onto the promenade.

“Any news?” asked Sally.

Annie shook her head. Sally looked up the beach.

“Where’s John?” she asked, and then her gaze fell upon the clothes strewn at her feet. “Oh,” she said. “Oh no. Oh God no, he didn’t?”

“He did,” said Annie.

The four friends held hands and watched the lights from the lifeboat sweep jaggedly over the waves and up the steep cliff peninsula.

“Who lives there?” asked the male paramedic.

“I do,” Annie replied absently.

“We could have a wait yet, and it’s not good for any of you to remain out here in wet clothes. Can I suggest we go in? I’ll make us all tea, if you point me in the right direction.”

“He makes an excellent brew,” added his partner.

“I need to stay here and wait,” said Annie.

“The outcome won’t change whether you’re out here catching pneumonia or inside warming,” said the female paramedic with gentle but firm frankness.

“You’re right,” said Annie, gathering herself mentally. “Maeve, help me open the shutters. If we keep the lights low, we can watch from inside. I’ll get scissors.”