Even though he’s still got half a pint left in front of him, Robbie stands. He nods once respectfully to the man next to him, who nods back.

“Oi, oi, I’m done,” he shouts to the others. They swear at him, call him a pussy. Robbie’s jaw tenses again but he chooses to ignore them. They turn back to their game. None of them seem too disappointed to see him go. Robbie shakes a few hands, slaps a couple of backs. I catch him looking at the clock again before he makes his slow, sloping way to the door. Before he leaves he stares at me for just a moment, and as our eyes meet in that brief second I see the thin face from Dave’s photo. They’re almost identical: the sallow cheeks, the sharp cheekbones, the prominent Adam’s apple. But where Tony’s eyes in the photo were dulled, as though ashamed, Robbie’s eyes are bright, alert, and emotionless. In that moment I have the feeling that Robbie’s dark eyes have seen things I can’t even imagine. I make myself count to twenty before I get up and, without looking at the other men, follow him out of the pub and into the warm night.

He’s in a hurry, walking fast. I have to jog a couple of paces so I don’t lose him completely. The lighthouse flashes like a searchlight in the sky, urgent, as if we’re all convicts and Rainstead one huge prison. Robbie walks quickly up the steep high street, away from the sea, and for a mad moment I think he’s heading to the Lamb, that somehow he knows Cara is there. I start running towards the hotel and look up to see, with relief, that the curtains in Cara’s window are drawn. I have to get to him, stop him before he can get anywhere near her, but then he makes a sharp left at the sign for Raynor Beach. Thank God. I stop, try to get my breath and my hammering heart to calm. But as I start to follow this man who threatened Cara, who probably murdered Meg, I think about Jakey, and regret washes over me like nausea. He still hasn’t called me back or answered my texts. And as I move deeper into the night I wish I could hear his voice, just for a moment, because his faith in me makes me brave and now, like never before, I need to be brave.

21

Cara

The moon casts a silvery path, as if showing me the way towards the beach, while the lighthouse keeps its beady eye open, searching for danger. I feel like they’re on my side, my team, here to keep me safe. I try not to let myself think too much. I know if I do I’ll let fear take over, run back to the pub. I don’t know what I’m doing exactly, but I feel like I need to see the place Danny died, where it all began. It’s like an invisible string is connecting me to Grace, leading me there. I feel like I’m sleepwalking, but I don’t want to wake up. I stop at the sign where Jon paused just half an hour earlier, then take the path signposted Raynor Beach, opposite the empty fish and chip shop that Luce’s ex-mother-in-law works in.