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Kelvin looked at her. His eyes scanned once more and then settled on a facial expression based on his analysis. He curled his lip slightly.

“I very much doubt that you don’t know what is going on ‘at all’. I am sure you have some sort of ballpark idea about what is happening here. Some of it might be right and some of it might not be.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question,” Steph said, folding her arms.

“No, it doesn’t, does it?”

Steph mindlessly grabbed at her upper left arm. Kelvin narrowed his eyes a little.

“Essentially, Stephanie, I know that you are from America – well, America-based – and your line of work often involves solving natural or supernatural mysteries using logic. Sometimes you will leave the answer up to interpretation, but I would assume that’s mostly just a smart business decision. Something has brought you over here from the USA and I doubt it is a visit to your parents in Sheffield, followed by a scenic jaunt into Scotland. I suspect, although I cannot be certain, that it has something to do with the boy who died on the outskirts of the land my little project occupies. That seems to be the story that leaked more than others. Furthermore, two of my employees picked you up at the very moment you saw something chasing a herd of deer. I am sure they gave you some sort of semi-plausible story to explain what you thought you saw, and that is fine for the average onlooker. But you are not the average onlooker. That, in short, brings me to why you are here. Although I must admit, I didn’t realise you were a qualified field biologist. I’m not sure how I missed that.”

Steph’s mind whirred. She could vaguely make out the sound of Davey letting out a growling sigh, but otherwise, her head wasreeling. How did he know so much? Most of Steph’s thoughts revolved around self-preservation. She was not sure they needed to, but neither did she feel safe. However, a modicum of rational thought hung onto ‘the story that leaked more’.

“Why do you know so much about me? How?”

“I made my money in the tech industry,” Kelvin shrugged. “When people say you leave a digital footprint, they mean it. More so for anyone who tries to market themselves online. It really is not as impressive as it seems; you’d be surprised – and potentially worried judging from your naivety of it all – at how easily the most ordinary of people can track down your basic information. And the speed at which it can be done.”

He then crossed his arms again, biting his lower lip. “By the way, I realise that stories about myself are well-circulated – or at least they were – but they are not true. Not that it matters. People seem to care little for truth, which is why they can be vulnerable to manipulation by the media. Unfortunately, I was just on the wrong end of one of those distortions. It’s why I stepped away from the light, as it were. Well, that and I grew up I suppose. At some point, you must stop partying and focus.”

“And… and what do you know about the death of the boy?” Steph asked, deciding to battle her curiosity about Kelvin and stick to her task at hand.

Kelvin sighed. Steph noted how Michael had lost interest in the conversation completely and was looking at the various screens whilst Davey eyed Steph almost unblinkingly.

“That genuinely had nothing to do with what goes on here – as far as I am aware,” Kelvin replied.

Steph waited, expecting more, but Kelvin seemed to have nothing more to say on the matter. Or nothing more he wanted to say.

“And what does go on here?” Steph asked. She’d skirt back to the boy later.

Now Kelvin’s eyes lit up.

“Something wonderful!”

NINE

Kelvin had Steph sitting on one of the sofas in the main house. Five clipboards with papers faced her. Davey and Michael had been replaced by the young-looking man in jeans and a shirt – the same she had passed earlier – who sat next to her. A woman in her late thirties/early forties with long curly hair tied up in a knot sat next to Kelvin. She looked as if she’d been chewing lemons. There had been no formal introductions, which Steph found odd, however, she suspected that had something to do with the clipboards and content on them.

There was a small pause in proceedings as Kelvin checked through the clipboards. Steph took that moment to take stock. She had allowed herself to get wrapped up in the rapidly changing pace of things, terrified that if she slowed, she would miss out on some sort of lead to her investigation or the gap in a closing door. Now she had a moment to really think about it, she had moved recklessly fast. She had gone from trying to piece together some unfortunate story with vague word-of-mouth evidence, to being somewhere which was… well, what was it? With what had happened near the fence and the stories she had heard it was downright suspicious. And then there was Kelvin Handle! Journalists everywhere would give their left leg to be in her position – his story alone would bring in some game-changing money – and yet he was not even the most important thing to her.

“So,” Kelvin began, satisfied with what he had scanned. “I said I would explain things, but before I do, I have some conditions.”

“What do you mean?” Steph asked.

“You’re not the first to get over the fence or see something that would raise suspicion. I cannot have things coming out until I am ready. I fully intend for things to come out – I think we’redoing something truly wonderful here otherwise I wouldn’t be putting my money behind it – but not until it is ready andpeopleare ready.”

Steph’s stomach churned a little.

“So what happens to those people?”

Kelvin furrowed his eyes and snarled slightly before saying, “I give them money!” Amused at his own joke, he leant back and laughed. “That way I keep their silence. Everyone wins.”

“And if they talk?”

“Ah, well. In that case, my lawyers will destroy them. And, of course, I stop paying them a monthly income. The turning off of the money tap is probably a bigger deterrent than the lawyers. It shouldn’t be; my lawyers are vicious. However, I have never had to do that.”

“But what about family members and things like that? Surely you cannot guarantee complete silence?”

“Money, I find, does a lot in this world,” Kelvin replied. He looked out the window at this point, frowning slightly. “Besides, people often find they are excellent liars when they desperately need to be. Furthermore, most people who have the time to break into my grounds, do not tend to have children… or partners to blab to. Only one of them did, as I recall. Some journalist. I paid him and, so far, he has stayed silent. Had he not seen what he did, I might not have needed to pay him, but… he did.”