The river tugs at me. I inch forward, sliding on the smooth paint. There is tingling in my feet. I slide a little further until my legs dangle freely. The nerves in my toes sizzle with the sensation of falling, but my hands are still here, gathering sweat on the flat of the wall. I am aware of some people stopping, looking. A phone or two has come out to raise the alarm.

It is time.

I can see Grace now. Her face is there in the water. Now her arms. She is beckoning me.

‘Xander!’

From behind me.

I turn my head and I am shocked to see that it is Seb. His car is parked opposite, the hazard lights blinking, and he is running towards me. I could go now, before he reaches me, but then there will be alarms and panic and commotion, and rescues. And I don’t know if I can try again after that.

I spin back around and slide reluctantly on to my feet. ‘Why are you here?’ I say.

He comes puffing up, crossing the road quickly in between beeping cars. ‘What are you doing?’ he says, panting.

‘You knew,’ I say. ‘You knew I was doing this. I told you.’

He nods frantically. ‘Yes,’ he says between breaths, ‘but that was before.’

‘Before what?’

‘Xander. When you went haring out of the house after that call, I did last number ID and called the number. Jan.’

‘So?’ I say. She can’t have told him anything – she would be bound by confidentiality.

‘So, speak to her,’ he says, handing me his phone. I stare at it momentarily before taking it.

‘Jan?’

‘What’s that noise – I can hardly hear you. Is that you, Xander?’

The traffic crowds into the phone and I cup my hand around it to fend it off. ‘Sorry. Can you hear me now?’

‘Xander? Good. You hung up before I could tell you.’

‘Tell me what?’ I say. Already my heart is beating hard.

‘Whose print it was. Our print was for a guy called Yull. Harry Yull.’

‘Harry Yull?’ I say weakly. And then the name begins to chime bells. As I say it out loud it strikes me.

‘He went by a version of the name. Ariel,’ she says. ‘Anyway, the police, your friend Blake especially, have been busy following up this guy. Turns out he was in the area on the date of the murder. He was working just around the corner from her address. So, the Crown are reviewing the case.’

For a few moments, I stand there in silence. I am sure I cannot have heard this properly and yet, there she is on the other end of the phone, almost laughing from the news.

‘But,’ I say, ‘I was there.’ Seb looks at me expectantly, the wind blowing tears into his eyes.