For the briefest instant I suspected a lightning bolt, a divine response, or that the wind had delivered him to the hungry sea below. No.

He was at my feet, in the grass, jaw cranked wide in shock, his hand filled with spit and blood. Beside me stood Saul Cooper, in shirt sleeves despite the cold, breathing fast, opening and closing his just-used fist. The radio on his belt let out a phlegmy cough.

I couldn’t piece the moment together. I spun around, expecting an audience of some kind.

‘What are you… What… ?’

Saul moved to place an arm across my shoulders; I jerked away.

‘I heard that you were…’ His voice petered out, eyes examined me all over, searching for injury. Kind Saul was back, gentle Saul. ‘I thought you were in some kind of trouble, Leah, and…’

Ben got to his feet, squeezing his eyes shut and flaring them, reclaiming his sight. He worked his head left and right, then thrust himself chest-first in Saul’s direction.

‘What the fuck, pal?’ he said, the last word an insult.

‘You need to leave,’ Saul said in his Customs Officer voice. He held up his palms to show that he was the calm one.

‘Oh, I need to leave, do I? I need to leave, eh?’ Ben butted his forehead against Saul’s, held it there, tensing his bloodied jaw, pushing the man backwards, closer and closer to the overhang.

‘Stop it, Ben!’ I cried. ‘Stop it, both of you!’

The prospect of that fall was horrifying. I grabbed Ben’s hand and pulled him backwards, away from the brink, the touch sobering him.

‘Oh, I’ll leave all right,’ he said, shaking free of my grip, leaning into Saul once more, no contact this time, just the threat of it. ‘When’s the next ship home?’

‘Friday the thirteenth of April,’ Saul replied.

Ben barked out a laugh. ‘Unlucky for some!’ He turned away to brush himself down. The front of his coat was spattered with blood. ‘But not for me.’ He gave me the merest of glances, a brutal stab of the eyes, as he strode past, back towards the woods.

I felt Saul move closer.

‘Wait!’ I called, following Ben. ‘You’re leaving? Is that what you came here to tell me?’

He stopped. ‘I came here because you asked me to, Leah.’ His anger was gone, sloughed away, beneath it something raw, bruised. ‘I didn’t expect a bloody ambush with –’ he gestured to Saul ‘– lover boy here.’

I winced at the description.

Ben turned back towards the wood.

‘Wait!’

I ran to catch up with him, snatching hold of his hand. He kept on walking as if I wasn’t there, but he didn’t pull away. He let me keep pace. He hated me; he wanted me.

Saul chased behind us, calling, ‘Leah! Leah!’, telling me to be careful, warning me that Ben was a madman.