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go.’
    Helen looped her arm through Jess’s and walked away from the grave. Sam slunk behind, dragging her feet through the deserted churchyard, her mind on the rotting corpses beneath, liquid mulch, pondering the half-life of a dead undercover cop, the toxicity of his remains.
    â€˜Sam, I’m talking to you.’ Helen was scowling at her.
    â€˜Sorry. Somewhere else.’
    â€˜I was saying I’m off to Ibiza in a couple of days.’
    â€˜Oh. Holiday?’
    â€˜No. I’m setting up shop. There are all these new nightclubs opening over there. So I’m going to sell clubbing clothes to everybody who lost their suitcase at the airport.’
    â€˜Good idea. You should do a deal with the baggage handlers – share of the profit.’
    â€˜I don’t think the baggage handlers need any encouragement from me to mislay suitcases. What are you doing now anyway? I thought you were going down to the coast. Weren’t you supposed to be driving down with your boyfriend, old what’s-his-face?’
    â€˜Luke.’
    â€˜Yes, him. Leftie Luke. What’s happened to that plan?’
    â€˜I’m meeting him at six.’
    â€˜Isn’t six a bit late?’
    â€˜Evening is the best time down there.’
    â€˜Really?’
    Jess was assessing her sceptically now as well. Jess liked Luke; she thought he was good-looking and funny, but all men were congenital wankers in Jess’s book, genetically programmed to think with their dicks, so best to keep expectations low to avoid disappointment. She didn’t buy Sam’s attempts to explain her relationship with Luke as meaningful, based on shared interests, a deep bond. More than sex. They passed under the lychgate.
    â€˜So which beach are you going to then?’ Helen asked.
    â€˜Dungeness.’
    â€˜The one with the power station?’
    Sam nodded.
    â€˜Dungeness,’ said Jess. ‘Isn’t that the place where your housemate, what’s his name, works? The one who fancies you.’
    â€˜Dave,’ said Sam. ‘He doesn’t fancy me. He was my housemate, but he’s gone to Norfolk for six months and he never worked in the power station. He used to be attached to the experimental research station next to the power station.’
    â€˜Research station. Power station. Same difference,’ Jess said.
    â€˜No it isn’t.’
    â€˜What are you going to do in Dungeness anyway?’ Helen asked.
    â€˜Hang out a bit, have a drink. Look at the stars. Camp somewhere.’
    â€˜Why Dungeness?’ There was an edge to Helen’s tone.
    â€˜I like it there.’
    Helen pulled her you’re-a-crazy face.
    â€˜And there’s a good place to buy fish and chips nearby,’ Sam added.
    â€˜You’re up to something.’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜One of your political protests. Ban the bomb. You and leftie Luke.’
    Helen gave the two fingers pointing I’m-watching-you gesture. ‘I hope you’re not thinking of doing anything stupid.’
    Everybody was on her case today. First Liz and now Helen.
    â€˜I’m just spending the evening with Luke.’
    â€˜You’re a useless liar.’
    â€˜I’m not lying.’
    â€˜Well, I hope Luke turns up. Because otherwise you’re going to be pretty bloody miserable sitting on a stony beach in front of a nuclear power station with nothing but a portion of chips for company. Dungeness is such a scuzzy hole, even if the power station did explode it wouldn’t make much difference. It already looks like a bomb hit it.’
    â€˜That’s why I like it.’
    They had reached the camper van. Jess stopped, hand on van door. ‘You know, I’m not sure it’s clever to leave that diary on the grave. Somebody might pick it up.’
    â€˜It didn’t have much in it. A couple of doodles.’
    â€˜It makes me uneasy.’
    Sam was about to argue, took a deep breath and realized