(Author's Note - this story was written originally for @ChallengeCorner 's Off the Rails challenge - prompt was a list of Roller Coaster ride names.  Choose one and write a story that ties to the name.  My choice was "Cliff Hanger" )

Claire ran as fast as she could. Her feet flew from rock to rock, miraculously finding support. Her mouth was wide open, drawing in gasps of air and she already had a pain in her side. Her arms swung wildly to keep her balance and she thanked her lucky stars again that she had worn jeans that day instead of a skirt. She could just hear his feet pounding over the rocks behind her, he must be catching up. She almost sobbed in terror and tried to force her legs to go faster, but it didn't seem to make any difference. She looked up, only two hundred metres to go now and most of it downhill, surely she could make it. The boat bobbed tantalizingly in the waves – safety.

To the three men half a kilometre behind however, it looked as if their chief was going to catch her. They were also running, though at a more moderate pace. Two of them were in uniform, the other, like their inspector, in plain clothes.

The inspector ran with grim determination, but as he drew nearer, his face, instead of relaxing in triumph, grew more strained, almost as if he dreaded catching her. He was a tall man, but thin. He gained steadily on the girl in front of him, weaving in and out of the low bushes, keeping a cautious eye out for the cliff edge.

Suddenly, the girl seemed to stumble but she recovered her balance with her arms and a peculiar lurch of her body. Seconds later he crossed the same patch of ground a little further to the right – and his mind froze in horror. In desperation he flung himself forward but he knew he wasn't going to reach the other side. The gulf was three metres across and forty metres down to white surf surging over brown rocks. His fingertips just reached the other side, scrabbling at the edge and then he fell.

His feet came to a jarring halt and he opened his eyes. There was the cliff face, right in front of him. His hands were bruised and bleeding, digging into the crumbly cliff with all their might.

With infinite slowness he bent his head downwards and saw that he was on a thirty centimetre wide ledge of rock. He looked up carefully and guessed that his head was only about a metre from the top – so far so good. He searched the cliff face for a better handhold but it was all crumbly limestone. This made him glance, puzzled, down at the ledge again. What he saw, filled him with dread. It, too, was limestone. He felt as if hours had passed, but it was really only seconds.

Claire heard the scrabbling sounds but they didn't register with her until she became conscious of the silence. She risked a look behind. The cliff top was deserted apart from herself and the three men in the distance. She paused, her heart pounding. Frantically her eyes searched the ground, where was he?

A bizarre thought entered her head. Was he hiding, some sort of sick game of hide and seek? It seemed terribly unlikely and anyway there were no rocks or bushes large enough to conceal a man. The cliff. He must have gone over the edge! She stumbled back to the gulf and, her flight giving her courage, looked over the edge. It was a moment before she saw him and despite herself, she felt weak with relief.

"Claire, is that you?" He asked softly, as if he was afraid the slightest vibration would send him plummeting to the bottom. Silence.

"Claire, how far away are the others?"

Eventually she answered, her voice low. "Not far, about three hundred metres."

"That's going to be too late. I'm standing on a ledge and it's not stable. Claire ..." His voice trailed away but she knew what he meant. It was up to her to save him ... or not.

"I can't. They'll catch me." Silence. "I can't. You'll be all right, just stay still."

"I can't wait that long. I need your help."

"What's happening?" panted the detective in plain clothes who was a bit shorter than the rest.

"He's hanging on to the edge of the cliff!" exclaimed the man next to him.

"Is she going to help him?" asked the other.

"Don't be a fool!" retorted the detective curtly. "Don't forget what we're chasing her for – murder. Like as not she'd kick him over the edge if she had the chance!"

Claire looked up again at the approaching police, biting her lip.