‘He was going to push me off,’ Annabelle said. ‘And then leave a note saying it was a joint suicide. He was not going to kill himself, though. So when he came close to me, I attacked him. I bit his cheek and hit him and did whatever I could. I had no choice.’

‘Self-defence,’ Dudek said. ‘That’s fine.’

‘And then he grabbed my ankle and started to drag me off the cliff edge. He was going to take us both over’ – her voice faltered, but she collected herself – ‘so I was kicking him, but it made no difference. I was trying to grab onto something, but my hands were cuffed, and then I felt the rock I’d hit him with. I picked it up and leaned down and smashed it onto his hands. I did it again, and again, so hard that I broke something in my ankle. I think I also broke his hands, because he let go.’

She looked away, tears in her eyes.

‘I scrambled away from him, and when I looked back, he was gone. I didn’t know if he’d fallen or if I’d kicked him over or if he’d escaped.’

‘He didn’t escape,’ Dudek said. ‘I can tell you that.’

‘I didn’t push him over,’ Annabelle said. ‘I was just trying to get him off me.’

Wynne folded her arms. ‘I think’ – she said – ‘that in the interest of simplicity we can say he fell. You can leave it with us, Mrs Westbrook.’

There was a knock on the door, and an officer put her head around it.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘They’re here.’

Matt

He had thought – really, totally, genuinely believed – that he would never see her again. He had pictured his life without her. Him, Norman, Keith and Molly struggling to find a way to live without her.

He could hardly believe she was back.

They walked along a corridor behind an officer – Farida, she’d said her name was – until they reached a door. Farida opened it, and said something, then turned to them.

‘You can go in,’ she said.

And there she was. He couldn’t believe it was her. She was pale, with a big bruise on her forehead, and dark circles under her eyes, but she was smiling, and it was Annabelle, it was actually her, alive and in the flesh.

He had never loved anyone more than he did her, at that moment.

Norman, Keith and Molly froze for a second, and then they ran, arms outstretched across the room. Annabelle sank to her knees and they collapsed into her arms, kissing and hugging her and burying their faces in her neck and chest, as though they were trying to get as close to her as possible.

That’s what he wanted to do, and then never let go.

She looked up at him, tears running down her face.

‘Matt,’ she said. ‘It’s actually you.’