‘I couldn’t bring myself to look over the edge of the cliff at first,’ she said in a rush. ‘Every corny scene where a murderer comes back for another go at the victim played itself out in my head. But I knew I had to look, so after a few moments I took a small step and forced myself to walk to the edge of the cliff, where the spongy dune starts to turn into rock. I couldn’t see him from there. I didn’t know what to do. I was hyperventilating, Elliott. It was like I was never going to be able to breathe air again for a minute and I honestly thought I might die from panic and shock. But after a few moments the rational part of my brain took over and I forced myself to walk back to the car.’

I sat there for a few moments in stunned silence. None of this felt real.

‘Wait,’ I said then, ‘was this the night you came in soaked from the storm?’

She gave a small nod, her expression wary.

I remembered the way she was that evening; hyped-up and sizzling with some sort of strange energy. A horrible thought flashed into my mind that I pushed away, ashamed for even thinking it. It was just stress, that was all. None of us knew how we might react in times of such intense drama. You hear about people getting the giggles at funerals. So what if she had seemed oddly … excited, that night? Who knew how I would have reacted in those circumstances?

Then I just felt sick. The easy way she had lied to me, about there being nowhere to park. It felt as though those words had fallen so easily from her lips.

‘Say something,’ she said.

‘I hate that you went through that,’ I said, my voice strangled. ‘But why didn’t you tell me? And why didn’t you go to the police? It was self-defence for fuck’s sake!’

Anya threaded her fingers through her hair and tugged at her scalp as she got to her feet.

‘I don’t know!’ she said and began pacing the room. ‘I mean, I was the one who arranged to meet him. Mobile phone records will show he had contact with me, even if his phone is never found. They may even come out as it is. What’s to stop a clever prosecution barrister from claiming that I, a local, lured someone who didn’t know the area to this dangerous spot and then got rid of him?’

Then, shocking me, ‘I think it would probably make for a very nice tabloid story and I don’t think either of us want that kind of scrutiny, do we? I know what a disaster it would be if the press found out about your dad, especially because of the job you have now.’