His head jerks round at the sound of Amber’s voice and their eyes lock.
‘I should have stopped this sooner,’ he says hoarsely. ‘I’m sorry.’ He turns back to Simone, who has shuffled to the very edge. With one last anguished look at Amber, he darts forwards and grabs Simone, trying to haul her back to safety. They grapple for a moment, teetering on the brink, their arms flailing.
And then they’re gone.
71
AMBER
I scream, the sound bouncing off the baked earth and the bone-white walls of the lighthouse. Dominic’s arms are windmilling like crazy as he struggles to keep his balance. Simone is clutching the front of his T-shirt, her hands balled into fists. Is she pushing him away or pulling him towards her?
‘Let him go!’ I yell, throwing myself forwards.
At the sound of my voice, she freezes, her grip on Dom’s T-shirt loosening, but then her eyes meet mine, glittering with malice, and, with a final jerking movement, she steps off the cliff, taking Dominic with her.
‘No!’ The sound is an animal howl that comes from deep inside me. I sprint to the edge and look down, telling myself they’ll be OK, they’ll have fallen onto the ledge in a tangle of arms and legs. There might be broken bones but they’ll be fine. They. Will. Be. Fine.
They are not on the ledge.
The shock is visceral. It is the bile I can taste in the back of my throat. The sensation of my stomach folding in on itself. The pounding in my ears that is nothing to do with the waves crashing into the rocks below and everything to do with the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
I jump out of my skin as a hand slips into mine and gently pulls me away from the cliff.
‘Amber,’ Willow says. ‘Please. It’s not safe.’
‘No,’ I cry again, shaking my head wildly. ‘I have to?—’
‘It’s too late. We can’t help them now. We need to phone the police.’
‘You said Demetriou was on his way!’
‘I was lying.’ Her eyes are troubled. ‘I would never have said it if I knew that’s what she’d do. I just wanted her to realise there were consequences.’
I pat my pockets, then remember. ‘My phone’s gone. You need to use yours.’ I clutch my face. ‘But I don’t know the number! Is it 999 or 911?’ My voice is thin, shaky.
Willow is already tapping at her phone. ‘It’s OK, Demetriou gave me his number in case I remembered anything.’ She presses a finger to her lips, then says, ‘Hello? Is that Inspector Demetriou? It’s Willow Pearson. There’s been an accident.’
I turn away and walk back towards the cliff edge as Willow tells the detective he needs to send his men to the rocky cove below the lighthouse. I picture him scrambling boats, maybe even a helicopter. But I know in my heart it’s too late. No one could survive a fall like that. It won’t be a rescue, it’ll be a recovery operation.
Willow ends the call and joins me. She is trembling, her eyes huge in her wan face. She looks seven, not seventeen. Hard as it is, I put my own grief to one side.
‘You don’t look so good. Are you all right?’
‘N-not r-really.’ Her teeth are chattering. She’s clearly gone into shock. I put my arm around her and lead her over to the lighthouse steps. Poor kid. No one should have to witness that. Her shoulders start to judder and tears spill down her cheeks.
‘It’s all my f-fault,’ she sobs. ‘If I hadn’t told Simone that Demetriou was coming she’d never have done it.’
‘This is not your fault,’ I tell her firmly. ‘Simone, she…she wasn’t of sound mind.’
It’s an antiquated term but what else can I say: that Willow’s stepmother was certifiable? Completely wacko? The look she gave me just before she jumped will stay with me for the rest of my life. It was the look of someone who has lost their grip on reality, the look of a mad person. Dominic had described her as fragile and desperate for validation, but this was more than that. She had tipped into insanity. There was nothing anyone could have done to save her.
‘She told me she killed your dad, you know,’ I say, smoothing Willow’s hair from her face.
She looks up. ‘She actually admitted it?’
I nod. ‘She said if he divorced her she’d end up with nothing, but if he died while they were still married she’d get half his money. So she murdered him and asked Dom to help her hide the body.’
‘I can’t believe he’d do that.’ She sniffs. ‘Not Dom.’
