‘It’s this place, Faith. Don’t you feel it?’ She looks about her, her eyes dipping into the shadows, making out shapes in the darkness. ‘It’s suffocating.’

‘I know what you mean.’ Faith gives a little shudder of agreement. ‘If I’m honest, I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t come either.’

‘Really?’

‘Mmm – though for different reasons.’ She glances over at Mitch who is deep in conversation with Lori. ‘He isn’t who I thought he was. In fact, he’s a complete dick.’

‘I’m so sorry.’ Alice takes her friend in her arms, and her mind briefly drifts from her own worries. She could have told Faith that Mitch was a dick when she first saw him in the pub in Whitby – but would her friend have listened?

‘Maybe you can choose the next bloke for me,’ Faith says, sounding close to tears, but managing a smile all the same. ‘You’ve got a good one in Leon.’

Alice releases Faith and turns to see Leon standing at the bar with Christine and Gabriela. She knows she messed up the last time they were together, with her fear of commitment, and now she’s messing everything up by acting like some kind of crazy woman. ‘We’re friends, that’s all,’ she says, but knows, deep inside, she wants more. That she loves him.

‘I don’t believe you,’ Faith says, as though reading her mind. ‘You two are made for each other.’

Alice shrugs. ‘Maybe.’ A pause. ‘So, will you tell Mitch it’s over?’

Faith looks over at him and screws up her nose. She shakes her head. ‘I’ll probably wait until I get back now. It’ll be easier at home when I can walk away and never have to see him again. Though the thought of spending tonight with him isn’t appealing.’ She cringes. ‘So if there’s room for a small one in that boat you’re hoping to hire, I’m your gal.’

Alice watches Faith head back to Mitch and Lori, her shoulders slumped as though defeated, before catching up with Leon and Christine at the bar.

The clattering sound of Gabriela rummaging through the contents of her canvas bag is jarring. ‘Moj telefon,’ she cries. ‘Moj telefon. Gdzie jest moj telefon?’

‘Let me look,’ Christine says, reaching for the bag.

‘Nie, nie.’ Gabriela holds the bag to her chest. ‘Moj telefon.’

If Alice wasn’t sure already, she is now. Someone at Flynn Hotel doesn’t want them to have contact with the mainland.

Leon

Everyone is squeezed into a booth near the window, apart from Mitch who is out on the patio puffing on cigarettes, the burning tip glowing, darting up and down in the darkness, as he paces. The rain has stopped for now.

Christine has had her arm around Gabriela’s shoulder for some time, and the young woman is now sipping from her second glass of brandy.