“Come with me?” He glanced again behind him at the crashing waves.

“Not like that. I’ll come back with you.” She was holding out the sealskin coat. “If you let her live.” Her face was set like stone.

His eyes narrowed as if he might believe her. Then he laughed. “Nice try. It’s a trick.”

Leonie squealed and wriggled. Ruby felt like her heart would burst out of her chest. They were so close to the edge now. “Stay still, Leonie. Please. Just for a minute. For me.” She held eye contact with Leonie, who stopped struggling, seeming to understand. “Good girl.”

Constance stepped forward, holding out the coat. “Take the coat. I can’t go anywhere without it—you know that. Here.” She dropped it on the ground between them and it lay there, gleaming and still, seeming almost alive.

He grinned, his perfect white teeth glinting in the sun.

“Told you I’d win.”

Constance said, “I’ll count to three. We’ll switch. Let her go, Gregor.”

He rolled his eyes, as if completely bored with the whole situation. “Well, if you want her that much.” Ruby couldn’t allow herself to believe that he was going to let her and Leonie go. He was toying with them the way he’d been doing all along, since the yoga, since before that even, when he’d bugged the flat. She and Leonie were dispensable now, and there was no predicting what he might be about to do. He might have been waiting for her to pick up the child so he could shove them both together over the cliff. Gregor eyed Ruby as she stood there, his tongue darting out like a snake’s every few seconds. If she could get a bit closer, she would be able to touch Leonie, maybe even save her. I dare you, he seemed to be saying.

Slowly he set Leonie on the ground but kept tight hold of one of her arms. With the other hand, he reached for the coat that Constance had left on the ground. His fingers brushed it as Ruby rushed forward for Leonie. She grabbed her, then nearly overbalanced as she changed direction, sensed the man’s hands almost touch her neck where he tried to get hold of her, and twisted away, feeling the sting of pain as he tore out a fistful of her hair.

“Stop! Police!”

Ruby dropped to the ground and rolled away from the edge of the cliff, Leonie held tightly in her arms. As she did so, she turned her head to see who had shouted. There was Joanna, running across the machair toward the rocks, cupping her hands to shout, “Stop!” once more. What was she doing here?

“No!” she shouted, though the wind took her words away. “Stay back.”