Jake hears the scream before he sees the body tumbling through the air. He knows at once it’s Kate and all he can do is watch from the boat, praying that she will survive the fall. Or did she leap? She always loved to jump and these cliffs are sheer and there is water below, but she must have been desperate to risk it. A second later she hits the surface, leaning too far back but feet first.

He’s still five hundred yards away. The engine’s cooling system isn’t working and he’s worried it’s about to overheat, but he tries to squeeze more power from it even so. A man appears on the clifftop, peers over the edge and disappears. Did he see him? Jake is now two hundred yards from where Kate hit the water. He can see her body, floating in the sea, listless, head down.

‘Kate!’ he shouts about the noise of the motor. Thick black smoke has started to billow out of the engine bay. ‘Kate!’

Her body is not moving. A gown of some sort is floating on the surface beside her. He’s still a hundred yards away.

‘I’m here,’ he calls out, breathless. He reaches forward to turn off the fuel, one hand still on the tiller. The engine cuts as he pulls up alongside her. She’s still not moving. The sea is deep and dark, even though they’re close to the shore. Cursing the choppy water, he braces himself against the gunwale and reaches over the side. He grasps repeatedly at Kate as he leans out – grasps and misses, tries again – and then finally he manages to grip a hank of her hair, a shoulder. Big heart thumping, he leans out even further, dangerously far, gets both hands under her torso and turns her. He lifts up her head, trying to keep it above the waves. Her eyes are shut and her limbs are limp. Floppy. Tears are streaming down his face now. He can’t bear the sight of her like this. With one last effort, he scoops her up, heaves her out of the water and lays her in the bottom of the boat. She’s not breathing.