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“So what happened next? How did you know where we were?”

“I didn’t,” Davey admitted. “I heard Kelvin and Martina going down the hill, but I didn’t risk moving from the bush straightaway. I could hear the bear – or at least thought I could – so I just lay there. Fell asleep, actually.”

“You fell asleep?”

“I was shattered! I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, but I haven’t had much rest recently!”

“You said the bush was thorny!”

“It was! But I’d already scratched my face up and my body seemed to have settled into a position. I didn’t mean to fall asleep! It wasn’t planned. It just happened.”

Steph puffed out her cheeks.

“What happened next?”

“I woke up.”

“No shit. After that?”

“I went back to one of the quad bikes and headed for the cabin. I had seen what had happened between Kelvin, you and that other dickhead, and thought I had best help get Roger and Calum out of there. Charge ran out on my quad bike partway there and by the time I reached the place, that truck was outside. I thought I would inconvenience Kelvin so I could work out exactly what he was playing at, throwing away your life as a bargaining tool, so I broke the battery. Of course, I then sensed something wasn’t quite right when he never came back out of the cabin. So I followed you all until I could ambush the dickhead.”

“Ashley,” Steph said.

“What?”

“The dickhead’s was Ashley.”

“Right.”

Steph wondered whether Davey could sense her irritation at him calling Ashley a dickhead. She could understand it but thought it harsh. Ashley seemed like a reasonably fair person, just caught up in a rather unforgiving job.

She could tell Davey was looking for something to say as he kept flicking his eyes towards her and half opening his mouth.

Eventually, he settled on, “So Roger wasn’t what he appeared to be then?”

“Apparently not.”

“Ah, shame. I liked him.”

“I still like him, I think.”

“You do?” Davey asked, raising an eyebrow and stopping.

Steph stopped too.

“I think so.”

“Even after all the trouble he caused?”

“Did he cause the trouble or did Kelvin?” she asked. “I don’t think Roger caused the problems; he merely waited for them to occur and then capitalised on them.”

“No!”

“What do you meanno?” Steph asked, wiping some dirt from under her eye.

“I mean, how could he have possibly known things would go wrong? How would he be in a position to be ready for when they did? No. I think he probably had a bigger hand in things than you realise.”

As if to punctuate his thoughts, he began walking again. Steph followed. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps Roger had orchestrated things to a greater degree than she realised. Even so, he seemed like a likable person. Likeable enough for whatever type of person he was meant to be. Was he the boss or did he work for someone else?