"

The four partners of Meade Pullen and Co felt as though they had already spent a weekend together by the time they reached the small village of Angle situated on the westerly tip of the Pembrokeshire Peninsula. It had been a much longer journey than any of them could have anticipated and they were all exhausted, more so as they had plenty of time to consider the ramifications of their financial situation. Tarquin had suffered most from the enduring hours spent in close proximity to Max and had been ridiculed relentlessly after producing his passport to the man in the tollbooth on the Severn Bridge. He wished he could have stayed at home. After arriving in Angle, they turned right down a rough track and bounced along it until they came upon a tiny beach, just some ten feet wide. They got out of the car and looked around them in bewilderment, having expected to be greeted by a smart hotelier and guided via a ramp into a plush beast of a motorboat. But no one was in sight. Max started to shiver, the few thin strands of hair covering his pate flapping, along with his ears, in the harsh wind. Expletives fell from his annoyed lips but the din created by the huge waves that crashed at the three other partners' feet meant that his efforts at conveying his extreme displeasure were meaningless. Out of the distance a figure clad in oilskins slowly appeared. Eventually, the partners were able to make out that it was a man pulling a trolley on which sat a small rowing boat, its wooden oars clattering against rusty metal rowlocks. Gradually, the man's outline became clearer as it struggled down the track against the force of the wind and finally came to rest inches from where they stood.

'Welcome!'

A sturdy man barely pushing five feet in height warmly greeted the partners of Meade Pullen and Co. He pulled off his hood to reveal a head full of red hair. 'Roger!' the ruddy-faced man exclaimed. 'How good to see you again after so many years.' He clasped his guest's hands in both of his and led him towards the edge of the beach. 'But no time for pleasantries. This is the only way to Blewog Island. And you'll all have to hop in as fast as you can.' He dragged the trolley into the raging sea and untied a small boat, allowing it to slide into the water. Almost immediately, a wave lifted the boat's stern high into the air and sent it hurtling back onto the beach. 'As you will no doubt have noted, Roger, the wind is gusting from the north east and that means trouble in these parts.' Roger's glowing face quickly turned ashen. 'And this boat is the only one we have, ' he added, referring to the fast-sinking bits of wood that paraded as transport to their weekend retreat. 'Nothing to worry about though. I only had one man overboard on the last visit.' He turned to see the partners' tweed coats flailing wildly behind them as the wind howled once again.

The boat, now only partially afloat, was hurled left and right as the tide advanced, creaking threateningly under the strain. Roger raised a carefully polished boot and attempted to place it inside the careering vessel, hopping on the wet sand as he tried to get sufficient leverage to fling himself over its sides. Again and again the wind roared, like a lion before a kill. The partners shook visibly; they were a long way from the safety of the London Civil Courts now. Roger tried again to escape the freezing water as the tiny boat thrashed against his bruising shins but it was only after his footwear had become completely sodden that he finally found himself sitting on the wet seat, wooden oar in hand. He felt like crying; thoughts of Felicity's ankles having long escaped his mind.