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“But there is a less perfect time!”

Although Steph felt she could read the room, she still had no idea what they were going on about. She chose silence as her means of interrogation.

“That’s why I have made a lot of money and you, as much as I respect you, Davey, have not,” Kelvin smiled. “Sometimes you can strike when the iron is hot, sometimes you just have to strike, see what happens to the pieces and then adapt as necessary.”

Seemingly satisfied with his own wisdom, Kelvin strode back to the door.

“Shall we?” he said, pulling the door open.

“Never a dull moment.” Michael winked at Steph.

Despite herself, Steph was quite enjoying it all. Nothing made sense exactly but then she had never expected it to. That was all right. That made for a better story in the long run. She may have been a field biologist and sought truth, but she was not so disillusioned to think that her money didn’t come directly from an interesting story. A child being ripped apart was her hook. How it happened was the ending. How she discovered how it happened would be the middle. To have Kelvin Handle thrown into the mix was essentially another zero or two on her sales figures… as long as lawyers could do their jobs.

EIGHT

Kelvin navigated the party through the small warren of underground hallways. The property appeared far larger than the naked eye could anticipate by looking at the building on the surface. They walked fast. Everything about Kelvin seemed to be done at speed. His choice of clothing said as much, although jeans and a black jumper did not scream serious businessman. However, if this was the same Kelvin Handle that Steph assumed him to be, then he was indeed a very serious businessman. Perhaps that was why he was successful; he possessed an almost careless manic energy.

“I know what you’re thinking!” Kelvin called over his shoulder.

“You do?” Steph asked, suddenly thinking she would have to admit her curiosity about his sudden disappearance from the Silicon Valley limelight.

“How did I manage to get so much work pushed through under the ground without people knowing? Money mostly. Keeps people quiet when you need them to and makes them work faster too. I got the idea from those London townhouses. Have you seen them?”

“No?”

“Fucking expensive things but finite in space up top. You must be wealthy to own one, but you don’t really have enough space to show off! So what do you do? You dig down. That’s what they’ve done but you wouldn’t know it. Now these old buildings which look so fitting to the street are nothing more than fancy top hats for underground lairs that house swimming pools, bowling alleys, cinemas, etcetera, etcetera.”

“And weren’t there issues with neighbouring houses falling down?” Davey added, pushing Steph forward slightly when she tried to slow her walk to look through a window to a door.

“Luckily I don’t have that problem!” Kelvin snapped.

The walk ended with their going through an automatic door which led to a room with numerous screens. Some showed camera images. Some showed red dots on maps. Others showed numbers which meant nothing to Steph but seemed to have meaning to Kelvin who studied them on arrival.

Satisfied with what he saw, Kelvin brought Steph to a table in the middle of the room. The table was a map of sorts. The type of thing one would expect to see at a property developer’s building site displaying all the new properties and their location. This one showed mostly forest. There were undulating areas of relief, a river, the odd hut – or what looked as such to Steph – and the main house. Most notable was the double fencing.

“I realise it is a little old-fashioned, but it helps me build a picture,” Kelvin said, not even looking at Steph. “Sure, I use technology too, but sometimes something simple helps shape something more complicated.”

“More complicated than you think!” Davey muttered.

“Tell me, why do I employ you and your negativity?”

“Because I’m good at my job!”

Kelvin shrugged. And went back to looking at the diorama before him.

He snapped his head around and asked Michael, “What impact are the beavers having?”

“Minimal!” came the reply. “Too early to tell.”

“Heading in the direction you expected though?”

“For now, but that could deviate off at any angle at this point.”

“We can adapt,” Michael said, frowning at a screen labelled X that showed nothing but a rocky slope covered with trees and dirt. A small plateau disrupted the slope partway up.

Kelvin waved a dismissive hand in Michael’s direction.

Realising that Kelvin had become distracted, Steph said, “Why exactly am I here? I mean, are you going to warn me away or…I’m not really sure what is going on at all, to be honest.”