A policewoman approaches, holding a hand to her ear. Remembering Alex suddenly, Honor says, ‘I was with a man, Alex. Where is he?’

‘The guy who tried to jump in? We’ve put him in the back of the van over there. For his own safety.’

The policewoman turns away and whoever is holding her loosens their grip. There is shouting. Instructions are barked. She hears another voice saying, ‘I am Yolanda Graham from family liaison. The first responders are doing everything they can to establish whether there is anyone on the boat.’

‘Please,’ she says, her heart screeching, like a car in too low a gear. ‘I have to get to her.’

She feels herself being spun around, a woman’s arms around her now. Is this Yolanda? I can’t think straight. I can’t… Her heart is beating so fast now she feels it will explode from her chest. Her breath seems to snap, everything is happening too fast, her head is fizzing and buzzing.

‘You need to come with me,’ the voice is saying. Yolanda has her firmly by one elbow, the other hand slung across her shoulder. She feels her hands covering her face, the smell of sweat and ash on them.

‘I can’t see,’ she says.

The voice says, ‘You don’t have to see, I’ve got you, just come with me.’

Her legs stumble forward, her body following on, the pressure of the hand on her elbow, the arm around her shoulders.

She hears a car door open and feels herself being pressed down. The door closes and for an instant stillness falls, then in a blast of warm, sooty air, Yolanda appears beside her. She removes her hands from her face and blinks into the light from the street.

‘We’re in one of the patrol cars. You’re quite safe. We’re not sure whether there is anyone on the boat, but we’re doing our best to find out.’

From the radio come bleeps and crackles and the sound of voices.

She is trembling now, her whole body shaking. Someone, Yolanda she supposes, has put a crunchy silver blanket over her.

‘You’re OK, it’s just shock. Try to breathe slowly.’

A knock comes on the window of the driver’s side. The glass slides down. A policewoman in uniform is bending towards the car. Beside her stands a man with a blackened face.

‘This gentleman thinks he saw your daughter on the quayside.’

She stops breathing, the shaking stops. Sirens blare in the background. Every cell in her body is still now, waiting.

The policewoman steps aside. The man with the blackened face peers in.

‘I saw a girl jumping from the boat. She was coughing but she was all right.’

Honor gasps out the words, ‘My phone!’

‘In your pocket,’ Yolanda says. ‘I can see it.’