Beau wasn’t looking his best. He had grown a beard since they’d left him in Saas-Fee and Clover could see Matty was triggered by the fact his hair clearly hadn’t been combed in all that time either. He also had quite a sharp ski tan, with the large goggles area around his eyes pale, his lower cheeks and jaws a reddish-brown with wind and snowburn.

They would both have liked to style and groom him but they couldn’t risk him having a sudden change of heart. If he was acting on impulse, then they had to react accordingly. Clover was just glad the hotel maids had already tidied her room; that at least was presentable.

‘Ready?’ she asked him. They were sitting just a little further apart than knee to knee.

He nodded firmly. She had never seen him look so focused before.

She took a breath, reached over to the phone, set to video, and pressed record.

‘Beau, you’re Kit’s younger brother by five years. What was he like, growing up? Were you close?’

‘Yeah.’ He nodded vigorously. ‘He was my hero. He’s my first memory. I’ve never lived life without him. I couldn’t have asked for a better brother in this life. He’s always been my best friend. And protector – when we were kids.’

‘Protector? You mean from other kids?’

‘No. Our dad.’

Clover’s eyebrows went up. ‘Your dad?’

‘Kit was the only thing between me and my dad’s fists. He wouldn’t let him lay a finger on me.’ A look of relief washed over his face as the words hung in the space between them, as if they had flames.

Clover was stunned. They were straight in there? ‘. . . Can you expand on that for me please?’

‘Yes. Our father was an alcoholic. He would regularly beat our mum; Kit too. And then he began starting on me.’

She swallowed, caught off guard by the casual ferocity of it. ‘How old were you when the beatings began?’

‘Four? Five?’

‘So Kit would have been nine or ten.’

‘Yeah. He was fearless. Clever, too. He used to pull the laces out of Dad’s sneakers so that he couldn’t run so fast in his shoes. It gave us time to get away.’

Clover stared at him in horror that they had needed ‘escape’ tactics. ‘Is that why your parents divorced?’

‘Dad broke Kit’s arm. Threw him down the stairs. That was when Mum realized that if we stayed, he was eventually gonna kill us all.’

Clover was finding it hard to form her questions. Horror at Beau’s blunt answers made her throat dry. ‘And it’s why she left the country. Took you both to Australia?’