Which left him free. He stepped back from her, a ragged hole in his face. She let the piece of his cheek fall to the chalky ground.

‘You bitch,’ he said, his voice distorted. ‘You’ll pay for this.’

‘No,’ she said. ‘This is the end, Guy.’

He was only a few feet from the edge of the cliff. He was focused on her, and she was not sure he knew how close he was.

She frowned, and glanced to her left, as though she’d heard something. When his gaze followed, she threw herself at him. When he saw her coming he held up his hands to hold her off, but he was too late, and she slammed into him, her shoulder in his chest.

He lurched backwards towards the cliff edge; she thought he was going to topple over it, but he managed to fall sideways, so that he was lying perpendicular to the edge.

It made no difference. He was at her mercy, now.

He looked up at her. There was no more than an inch of solid ground behind him.

She picked up a large rock between her cuffed hands and took a step in his direction.

‘No,’ he said. ‘Annabelle, no. Please.’

She threw the rock at him. He fended it off with his forearm and she saw him wince in pain. She picked up another, larger, one.

‘All I have to do to end this is kick you over,’ she said. ‘That’s it. No one will ever know. You even have a suicide note in your pocket, if they ever find your body. I’ll say I couldn’t go through with it at the end, but you’d already jumped. No crime committed. And if they don’t find your body? Who’s going to care if it’s true when I say you slipped and fell? They’ll be glad to see the back of you. So there’s nothing to stop me, Guy. Nothing at all.’

He stared at her, his eyes narrow.

‘Or I walk away. And let the police deal with you. Maybe I’ll do that. But this is the end, Guy. And I won.’

He closed his eyes. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘You win, Annabelle.’

She thinks she has won.

She thinks she has me on the cliff edge, and all she has to do is push me over. Or leave and hand me to the authorities.

She is a fool. She does not know who she is dealing with. She thinks she is in control, but there is another option. There is always another option.

I will take her with me. At the very least, I will take her with me. I will lunge at her and grab a foot. She can kick me and stamp on me, but I will not let go. I will drag her to this cliff edge and we will fall together to our deaths.