She goes to the hatch and tests the lock, then checks that the windows are shut and pulls the curtains on the quayside, leaving the lamp on the table in the saloon switched on. A text arrives from Honor to say that she and Alex will be back before long. They’d wanted her to come to dinner with them but she’d needed the time on her own. Plus it felt awkward given how obviously taken with one another they are. Now though she almost wishes she’d tagged along. There’s a feeling of unease, an unsettling. Something seems off. No idea what exactly. Her body trying to tell her something. She checks the hatch lock again, peers out of the windows onto the black water, then closes the curtains and sits nervously playing with her phone and, suddenly remembering her mother’s earlier request, turns on location sharing. Not that she’s going anywhere. She decides, on balance, that it might be easier if she’s already in bed by the time the lovebirds get home. An early night might be all she needs to feel more herself. Checking the logs on the burner she heads for bed once more, undressing this time and pulling on her pyjamas. Within moments she is asleep. When she opens her eyes again the white light of the streetlamps is still blading in from a gap in the curtains. She listens out for a minute or two and, hearing nothing, turns, pulls the duvet over her head but she cannot settle. Her legs keep moving and her head feels awash in white noise. She tries to settle herself with deep breathing but that only seems to make things worse. Her nostrils feel scratchy and her eyes are beginning to sting. Some new knowledge is making its way to her sleepy brain. It takes a second or two to form and then suddenly, whoosh, she is sitting bolt upright, her nose going crazy, a fizzy feeling in her palms which she knows to be adrenaline.

Somewhere there is smoke.