‘Where have they gone?’ Melissa asks, tearing her gaze from the pie. The pastry looks crisp and shiny; she can imagine how it would taste in her mouth. She has hardly exercised since she arrived apart from a few early morning lengths in the pool before anyone else is up. She can’t afford to eat anything for lunch.

‘Swimming.’ Eve unearths the plates and glasses. Eric and Blake are sitting in the shallows with Ash but no one else is in the water.

‘There’s no sign of them out there.’

‘Behind us, then. Damn, the wine isn’t here, it’s the only thing I asked Eric to pack.’

‘He’s protecting my health.’ Martin is lying on his back beside Eve, his voice muffled by the book on his face. ‘He knows I drink too much.’

There’s an imprint of four bodies on the sand behind them. The girls’ heads had been close together, their bodies fanning out. Izzy made the largest shape, then Poppy, Charley and Sorrel, eleven, nine and six, smaller imprints, ghost petals of a flower. Behind the beach is an impenetrable line of bamboo, stretching for miles.

‘Where can they be?’ Melissa tries to keep the panic from her voice.

‘Gone for ice creams?’ Martin suggests from under his book.

‘It’s not that sort of beach.’ Eve empties a bag of crimson cherries into a bowl. ‘We’re miles from any shops. Don’t worry, Melly, they’ll be fine. Poppy knows this strand like the back of her hand.’