Julian laughed suddenly. ‘What is it about Kit Foley? That man has a knack of dominating a room, even when he is not in it!’ Julian lifted his glass and raised it towards them all. ‘Come, let us dispense with business for the evening. Tonight is for us to get to know one another. I propose a toast – to new friends.’

Matty straightened up, sensing her ‘in’ at last. ‘To new friends,’ she said, clinking his glass first and not looking at all inclined to impartiality.

*

Owner, Slatterdorf Sports Yeah, I’ve seen him around town a bit.

Clover Phillips Is he settling in? Do you think the residents of Zell am See are happy to have him here?

Owner I don’t see why not. He’s come in here a few times and is always polite. Not overly chatty, but I think he’s just wary.

C. P. Why do you think he’s wary?

Owner Well, everyone knows what he did surfing. That film that came out did him no favours . . . Hey, is that why you’re filming this?

*

Dog walker . . . Who?

*

Supermarket worker I think he has something to prove. Good luck to him. I like him.

*

‘Yes, that’s good. Along there,’ Clover said, peering through the lens. She stepped back to let Johnny continue working his magic. He had set up a wide-angled shot above the snowpark. The latest position he had found – involving an arduous trek up an unpisted slope – allowed for a panorama shot that swung from the magnificent glacier’s peak to their right, bearing left until it looked straight down the superpipe, with the rollers behind. From this distance, with the industrial-looking rails and boxes too faint to discern, the park looked rather beautiful, like a highly stylized landscaped garden.

Snow was falling gently, fat flakes fluttering past the lens, a low-lying sky blocking the town of Kaprun from sight. Perched in their isolated position, Clover felt almost like she and Johnny were sitting on their own cloud. It had taken an hour to get up here and get into position; a further twenty-five minutes to set up the cameras and fine-tune the exposure settings. They were waiting for the sun to peep from behind Kitzsteinhorn – every so often, the clouds thinned just enough for hazy bright spots to emerge, casting the north faces into deep shadows and silhouetting the dramatic jagged skyline.

Clover hugged her knees to her chest. It was quiet in the park today, with just a few huddled groups of boarders and skiers left out there. Kit, Ari and Beau were down there somewhere too, of course.