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“But do you?” Davey sneered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, here you are, suddenly wrapped up in the experiment of someone who has more money than he knows what to do with, when all you intended was to research how a boy died and whether there was anything unnatural and untoward. Or at the very least, allow your readers to feel that there could have been.”

Steph stopped walking and narrowed her eyes. Davey alsostopped and looked disinterestedly at his feet before quickly scanning the area.

“So you did look through my stuff!”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean ‘not exactly’? Either you did or you didn’t!”

“You left a copy of one of your books on the side in your hotel room,” Davey shrugged. “I borrowed it. Had a quick scan through – I didn’t feel the need to read it properly. I just wanted the gist of your type of material and what you do.”

“You stole from me?”

“It was interesting, with the Tasmanian tiger, how you mention land space, the credibility of individuals and their sightings, length of extinction, etcetera.”

Steph pushed past Davey, which made him laugh. She could hear him walk after her. She tried to ignore him.

“All of what I said was true,” Steph said after a while. “I didn’t make anything up. I merely reported on what had happened and gave my take on the possibilities.”

“I never said you didn’t,” Davey said, putting an arm across Steph’s chest for a moment, studying the ground and then, once satisfied, moving off again. Steph tried to look at what had grabbed his attention but saw nothing. Then again, he’d seen nothing. Probably didn’t even know what he was looking for.

“If it’s so wrong for me to have been ‘wrapped up in here’, why are you here?” Steph asked after a few minutes more of silence.

“Because I, unlike you, was not earning as much before, so when I was offered a good payday, I took it,” Davey replied.

“Took it to do what exactly?”

“Whatever I need to do. Primarily I was hired to look after the land as I have a background in forestry, but I will turn my hand to most things. I’m a quick enough learner.”

“Seems odd,” Steph replied.

“What is?”

“That you felt the need to say that you were a quick enough learner. Insecure?”

Davey laughed again.

“In this place? Definitely!”

They carried on walking. Steph decided, after some thought, that she couldn’t spend the whole day trying to ignore Davey except for when she felt the desire to be petty. Instead she chose to make the most of his presence. Make the best out of… well, not a bad situation but an unfortunate one. It had come to her attention that there were a number of plant species alien to the natural surroundings. Davey explained that Daniel had suggested that there would need to be enough to satisfy the cave bear’s omnivorous appetite, in addition to the number of prey animals.

“So what exactly does Kelvin think will happen with all of this?” Steph asked as they made their way from a treeline and up a gentle slope. “What is the point in it all?”

Davey stopped, which forced Steph to stop. She watched him quickly scan the open space as well as the ridgeline up ahead, his bottom lip screwed under his upper jaw.

“He said something about bringing about a kinder world. Roughly along those lines. He believes that for the planet to survive, it needs to find a new balance… or revisit an old one. Whilst some rich people work on greener energy or space travel, Kelvin works in a different area. He thinks there is no need to work on something someone is already doing unless you know you can do it a thousand times better, or so he says. What he is actually picturing in his head, I am unsure of, to be honest. Although in my opinion, all these rich folk work on some sort of mental shit when they pass a certain wealth threshold.”

“But what do you mean by ‘a new balance’?”

Davey pondered this, panting slightly but not as much asSteph. Her bag suddenly felt very heavy.

“I think a new balance between humans and the natural world. He thinks people are already developing what is needed for a greener future in terms of energy and climate – although he appears frustrated at their lack of implementation, he seems to predict something more.”

“What?”