Eden screamed, convinced she was being thrown over the clifftop. But Rebecca kept her grip, swinging her in a wide arc, right to the very edge, then back round until she was now between the edge and Eden.

Eden felt the wind ripping at her. Stared back at the strange, manic expression in her lover’s face. Her lover who was now a total stranger. The cliff edge was just a few feet behind Rebecca now. But she knew that with Rebecca’s skills, if she tried a lunge, she could be flipped over her head in an instant.

Panic completely gripped her. She did the only move she could think of and threw herself backwards and sideways onto the ground, taking Rebecca face down with her. She lashed out with her free left hand, feeling pain in her knuckles as it struck Rebecca’s face, then twisted, desperately trying to break away from the grip on her wrist. She rolled over sideways and her arm came free, but she was disorientated now, as Rebecca leaped back on top of her. Rolling. Eden didn’t know which way. Towards or away from the edge? Pinning both arms to the ground now.

‘BEX! What the hell are—?’

Rebecca’s face was inches from her own. She felt her lover’s warm breath on her face. ‘You never thought it through, my lovely Eden, did you? So sweet of you to leave me everything, then join your hubby in a suicide pact. I’ll always be so grateful to you.’

Suddenly, Eden felt hands gripping her hair, pulling her even closer towards Bex’s face. So close she was now staring into her eyes, nose to nose, forehead to forehead.

‘You really fell for it,’ Rebecca said. ‘But we did have some very special moments, didn’t we? Too bad we won’t get to have any more. In a different life, I could have been really hot for you.’

Eden suddenly felt herself being jerked sharply and agonizingly upwards by her ears. Upwards. Upwards. She flailed with her arms, hands, feet, trying to get traction on something, anything. Then, in a lightning move, Rebecca released her ears and gripped both wrists. ‘This is goodbye, darling. There’s nobody here to save you, nobody’s been following us. It’s just you and me,’ she said.

A loud shout startled them both.

Eden felt the grip slacken momentarily.

‘Police! Stop right now, this is the police!’

An instant later, in a whirlwind of confusion, Eden felt herself being barged over, Rebecca’s grip broken, and she crashed to the ground. She was being dragged on her back by her coat through the wet grass, yelling, writhing her body, trying to lash out with her legs.

Finally, she was released. A man, tie askew, was kneeling over her. ‘It’s OK,’ Roy Grace said, ‘I’m a police officer, you’re OK, I’ve got you.’

She stared back at him in the darkness for an instant, then all she could think of was that she was being arrested. She tried to get to her feet, but he held her down. She began struggling, shaking wildly, screaming hysterically now and lashing out like something possessed, trying to break free. ‘Let me go, let me go, let me go!’