There’s a person standing in the main room of the apartment, Kate’s sure of it. She slips the phone into her dressing-gown pocket. It was good to hear Jake’s voice again, even if his words were barely audible.

Making her way out of the bathroom, she peers towards the front door, her body trembling beneath the thin dressing gown.

‘Hello?’ she calls out.

Rob would have said something by now.

A faint light from the candles in the bedroom is slowly taking the edge off the darkness in the main room. She strains to see who it is. Someone definitely came in through the front door – she heard the telltale click – but there’s only silence.

‘Rob?’ she calls out again. ‘Is that you?’

Why isn’t he saying anything? She starts to retreat towards the bathroom, barely daring to breathe. Could it be a burglar? An intruder? Rob is always going on about the dangers of London. And then the person speaks. The familiar trace of Rob’s southern Irish accent is reassuring, but the absence of all empathy is not.

‘Who were you calling?’ he asks.

‘Thank God it’s you,’ she says, trying to ignore his question, the cold, accusatory tone. The only other time she’s heard him speak like this was during a work call, when he was ordering someone to ‘boil the ocean’ for new customers. ‘I thought it might have been… Where are you?’ she asks. ‘Why didn’t you say something sooner? I can’t see you.’

She takes a few steps forward, in the direction of the door, where she can now make out the faintest outline of Rob. Even though he’s to her right, she has no wish to see him more clearly.

‘I heard you talking to someone,’ he continues.

Her fear turns to anger. She’s just been through hell because of Rob’s bloody apartment and all he can do is stand there asking questions.

‘Rob, the landline’s down, there’s no power, I couldn’t even get out the fucking front door tonight. Where are you? I can’t see you. I’ve been scared stiff.’

‘You should have called me,’ he says, his coldness starting to thaw.

He’s right. She knows she should. Instead, in her moment of crisis, she tried to ring Jake. Why didn’t she call Rob back again? They’d been talking on and off all evening until the landline dropped.

‘I was frightened,’ she says. ‘The power cut, the security blinds… I thought Jake might know what was going on with the apartment. The electrics. He was always good at fixing things on the boat.’