Chapter 28
On the coast path Jade and Sarah were leading a small group of guests towards the coordinates Dreadlock Dave had given them. It was a bit cooler than it had been earlier, as well as a lot breezier, and a few puffball white clouds were now racing across the blue sky.
Finn, Callum, Angus, Hamish, Declan and Little John, the man with the ropes, were in the party. He was carrying the climbing equipment in a black North Face rucksack on his back.
Both Dave and Ursula were also with them. Dave had announced he was going along to make sure they didn’t do anything too irresponsible.
‘I don’t want that on my conscience. Also, I need to make sure you’re in the right place.’
‘We’re not idiots,’ Sarah had said, and Jade had shushed her and thanked him. The last thing they needed was for Dreadlock Dave to inform the coastguard there was not in fact an actual person stuck on the cliffs and they didn’t need to bother attending.
‘We’re really grateful, Dave. Thank you again for your help.’
Dave had just smiled in that chilled way he had and said it was his pleasure. He loved dogs. Otherwise he wouldn’t do what he did.
He’d been right about the spot not being far away. It didn’t take long for them to get there.
‘Right then.’ Little John unhitched his backpack and set it on the scrubby grass.
‘I take it you want me to actually get the gear set up.’ He glanced over the edge.
‘It’s pretty sheer. The first thing we need to set up is a secure anchor.
’ He scanned the area. ‘A tree is best. The further back the better.’
Declan called across. ‘How about this one back here?’ He gave the tree in question a sharp tug. ‘This should work. I’ve done a bit of climbing too.’
Little John went to investigate and then came back nodding. ‘I’ll secure the ropes. Who’s going down?’
Callum and Finn looked at each other and then both stepped forward in unison.
‘Do either of you have any experience at all?’
‘I’ve done a climbing wall in the gym,’ Finn said.
‘Aye, me too,’ Callum agreed.
‘I’m the lightest,’ Finn added. ‘If that makes a difference.’
‘And the most suitably dressed,’ Little John remarked.
Declan moved forward reluctantly. ‘I, erm, maybe could go…’
Finn shot him a look, half exasperation, half gratitude. Maybe his half-brother wasn’t all bad, after all. ‘Thanks. But it’s OK, I’ll go.’
‘Hang on,’ Jade said, feeling the chill of shock. ‘I thought we weren’t actually going to be abseiling down any cliffs.’
‘We’re not.’ Sarah waved a hand. ‘I’m phoning them now. Hold on everyone.’
A faint bark from below, carried on the slight breeze, alerted them to the fact that Chocko was still stranded and could obviously hear them talking.
‘You don’t think she’ll try and climb back up, do you?’ Jade said nervously. ‘Oh my God, Finn, I really don’t think you should be going down there.’
High above her head the squawks of seagulls yelled their agreement into the sky and she could smell the saltiness of the sea air and the coconut smell of gorse. It felt as if all of her senses had been sharpened by fear.
This was insane. She couldn’t bear the thought of Finn risking his life, not even for Chocko.
‘I’m not going to get in her eyeline,’ he said reassuringly. ‘I’m just going to go a few metres down. Just for the look of it.’
He and Little John were now kneeling on the scrubby grass, where John was showing him how to strap on the climbing harness which was dark red and looked like it was made of some kind of webbing materials and buckles. It looked way too flimsy, surely. Jade’s heart pounded with adrenaline.
Sarah was now talking urgently on the phone. ‘I’m very anxious,’ Jade heard her say. ‘It’s a very long drop. There are a few of us here. Do you think one of us should go down after the first guy and see if we can help?’
Sarah held the phone away from her ear. The answer was clearly a loud negative. She winked at Jade, before speaking again into the phone. ‘OK, I’ll pass that on to the boys. It’s probably just as well, I think they’ve all been drinking. Did you say it would be a very long time?’
Dreadlock Dave rolled his eyes and then stepped forward and mimicked turning down the volume with his hand in front of Sarah’s eyes.
She nodded in acknowledgement before she continued speaking into the phone. ‘OK, don’t worry. I’ll make sure no one else goes over the edge. Thank you so much. See you soon.’
She disconnected the call and turned back to her small audience with a triumphant grin. ‘They’re sending a helicopter. ETA twenty minutes.’
There was a little round of applause.
Finn stood up. ‘Do I still go over?’
‘No,’ Jade said firmly.
‘Maybe just a little way,’ Sarah said. ‘We don’t want to give the game away.’
‘It wouldn’t be dangerous to go a couple of metres,’ Little John said. ‘I’ve done this hundreds of times. I could maybe do it now. The excitement’s sobered me up.’
‘I’d advise against anyone going over that cliff,’ Dreadlock Dave said, glancing up at the sky before putting his hands in his pockets.
‘The wind’s picking up which will make it risky.
It’s the height of irresponsibility to go over a cliff when you don’t know what you’re doing.
And the weather’s on the turn.’ He frowned.
‘If you actually do get into trouble it’s not just your life you’re putting in danger. It’s someone else’s too.’
‘Understood,’ Finn said. He actually felt sick at the prospect of stepping backwards into space off any of these horrendously sheer cliffs. He didn’t have that good a head for heights. He’d found that out on the climbing wall, which was why he’d never pursued climbing as a hobby.
But he also felt sick at the prospect of Ben losing Chocko. He remembered the conversation he’d had with his son in the dog field a few weeks earlier.
‘Chocko is my best friend. She’s better than a best friend. She listens to everything I say and she loves me, and I love her. More than anything. Much more than a human.’
Finn hadn’t realised until the moment Little John asked for a volunteer that he would do anything for his son. Absolutely anything. Even risk his life if that’s what it took.
It had been a moment of total clarity. Fear didn’t come into it. Love trumped fear every time. And in that instant Finn had known that when it came to his son, it always would.