Clover thought for a moment, trying to find the line between what Beau was telling her – and wanted her to believe – and what she knew from Cory. ‘. . . You say Kit was chilled. Relaxed. But when you look at footage of that day, you can see the tension between them on the beach, as they were waiting for the starting horns. In the paddle-out they even scrapped, hitting arms in the water.’

‘Yeah.’

‘So . . . not that chilled, then,’ she mooted.

Beau faltered. ‘Well, it’s different once the game is on. Kit wasn’t usually like that.’

She noticed his use of the word ‘usually’. ‘Could something have happened between them before they got in the water?’

He gave a shrug. ‘Maybe. Like I said, Cory was getting up in Kit’s face all season. He was desperate for the title; he was in the form of his life but the better he did, the more anxious he got. He was convinced Kit was gonna come back and steal it from him, like he did those other years.’

‘And there was a chance, wasn’t there, that Kit could still do that? If Cory didn’t win at Peniche, Kit – in theory – could score enough to take the world title at Pipe Masters in Oahu two months later.’

‘He would have had to have the ride of his life to get the score. But yeah . . . in theory.’

‘So Cory was itching for glory. And Kit was desperate to stop Cory winning at Peniche. The stakes were high. There’s half a million dollars’ prize money at stake . . .’ She arched an eyebrow. ‘It sounds incredibly intense. Not chilled at all.’

‘Look, Kit was getting steadily more pissed at the way Cory was behaving – making snippy comments in interviews, things like that – but Kit knew how to deal with him. He knew that even if it went to Oahu, his chances of scoring high enough to win were remote. It was Cory who felt threatened. The title was his for the taking. He just had to hold his nerve, go out there and do it one more time.’

‘Which he did,’ she argued. ‘Cory didn’t bottle it out there. Kit blocked his line. He stole his priority. He cheated.’

‘Yeah, but it was just a moment of spite. Madness, whatever. That . . .’ Beau looked flustered. ‘That wasn’t Kit’s style.’

‘And yet he did it . . . and the repercussions have been devastating.’

Beau didn’t reply. Clover felt like she was kicking a puppy.

‘Why did Kit compete in a way that was so – according to you – uncharacteristic?’