Cory didn’t deny it, or ask what I meant, he just made excuses—“I only ever wanted what was best for everyone. I would never hurt my mother, I would never intentionally hurt you”—to which I paid no attention. Lying was the offence I accused him of, but it was hardly my biggest concern; it had stopped being my biggest concern when he seized me by the throat. Don’t wait for a sign, Maggie had warned me—but I had waited, and here I was with bruising on my neck.

“You will stay, won’t you? We can put all this behind us, can’t we? We can go back to where we were; it can be like it was in September?”

“September?”

I looked into his face.

I think he must have heard the yearning in my voice and taken it for a yes; at any rate he loosened his grip on my wrists. I placed my hands on his hair and closed my eyes.

“All right,” I said. “All right, you win, I’ll stay.”

I’ll wait till you’re asleep, I thought. I’ll go to the beach when the tide is out and walk round the foot of the cliffs to Bligh.

Chapter 2

2

Cory produced a bunch of keys from his pocket, like a cheap conjuring trick. It was surely the same bunch I’d stolen from him earlier in the night and left in Diana’s bedroom door.

“You were following me,” I said, as he stooped over the padlock. “All the time. All those little noises in the house . . .”

He shot me a look from under his eyelids—apology mixed with mirth—and my heart gave the lurch it had been conditioned to give from the day we met.

“No,” I said.

“Huh?” Cory glanced up as the padlock clicked open.

“Nothing. I was talking to myself.”

Cory Byrne was a fraud, I told myself, and everything he did was suspect. The little glances, the shy touches, the humour, the gallantry—none of these things were real. He pushed the rusty gates open and stood aside to let me pass, but I folded my arms and said, “After you.” He didn’t quibble.

“Why did you lock them in the first place?” I wanted to know, when we were standing in the road.

“What? The gates?” He sounded surprised. “We often lock them at night. I know they’re not exactly cutting edge, securitywise, but they’re better than nothing.”

It wasn’t a bad answer, but Cory was bound to be full of not-bad answers.

“Where are you taking me now?”

“I’m not taking you anywhere; I thought we could go for a stroll. We can talk as we go along, and I’ll explain everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything. I promise.”