‘Go,’ Fleur said, and I knew she wanted to be alone.

Jack did not speak as we walked. I looked around me; there were no landmarks I recognised. The deserted paradise I had kept in my head all these years bore no resemblance to this new resort, apart from the crabs. Water sports had sprung up at the other end of the long beach, and the jungle behind it had made way for hotels. The sea was no longer aquamarine, but a dirty grey as if someone had taken a stick to the ocean floor.

I wondered what was going to happen next. Did we wait to hear what the pathologist had to say? Would Saffie’s body be returned to us? How long would Inspector Blythe stay and make his inquiries?

I wondered what James Mohktar thought and I decided I would ask him.

Suddenly, incongruously, making us jump, Jack’s mobile phone rang as we walked towards the far end of the beach to the rocks, towards the place Saffie had been found. He dug it out of his pocket and held it to his ear. I could tell from the way he paced it was going to be something serious. He turned back towards the guesthouse we were in and covered the phone. ‘I’m going to have to go back and get my diary, Nikki. Someone’s pranged one of our yachts. I need some telephone numbers.’

‘Oh, Jack!’ I said. ‘Which one?’

‘Nik, it doesn’t matter which one. Don’t think about it. Are you coming back or staying out here?’

‘I think I’ll stay out here for a while.’ I was hot, but I did not want to go back inside. ‘I’ll go and paddle, watch the windsurfing for a bit. I won’t be long.’

‘OK,’ he said, distracted, already moving away. I walked on towards the sea and a small breeze caught my hair, but it was not cooling. I stopped and looked back at the modern buildings dotted at various angles along the cliff. At the far end, long, wooden steps led down to the beach, and at once I remembered Ah Heng leading Saffie and me down them from the rest house, making us hold her hands. They were steep and to a small child they seemed to go on forever.

I can smell the oil she put on her hair. I can see the smooth oval of her brown face and her spotless white sam foo that she changed every afternoon after her shower, and the black baggy trousers she used to make herself on the old sewing machine in her room.

I remember the way she would bend to lift both of us up together and how we clung to her when we were tired and how she scolded Saffie for sucking her thumb.

When Saffie disappeared Grandpa sent an army driver to bring Ah Heng to me. I would not let anyone else touch me. I screamed if they tried. She sat guarding me for two nights, making me sip water, and when everyone slept I crawled onto her lap and would not let her leave me.