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“Are you sure?” Steph replied. “I mean, the door didn’t do anything for… him.” She nodded at the mess on the floor.

“I don’t think that his door was broken down if that’s what you mean,” Davey replied. “Besides, once one of these creatures has hunted somewhere successfully, they will try again. Any field biologist worth their salt would tell you that.”

Steph ignored the barb and shut the door. She noticed how heavy it was and, although made to look rustic, had heavy metal parts expertly intermingled with the wood. It looked strong. She had not had a chance to examine Roger’s door – why would she have done so anyway – but she found this door looked almost impenetrable. A thought suddenly occurred to her. She looked at the windows.

“How did Kelvin secure the windows?” she asked.

Davey looked taken aback for a moment. He had been looking around the room and had not expected the question. Nor, Steph suspected, was he prepared for how calmly it was asked, given the circumstances.

“Bulletproof,” Davey replied, continuing to wander around.

Steph continued to watch him for a moment. She was not sure how much longer he could walk aimlessly around pretending he knew what he was looking for. It was a form of mild shock, she supposed. Even for someone as supposedly calm as Davey, the sight of someone’s limited remains was always going to have some sort of impact on a person. That was not to say that there was no impact on her. There was. She was just able to hide itbetter due to at least some previous acclimatisation.

“I suppose that Kelvin and the others probably already know about this?” Steph said another thought crossing her mind.

“What?”

“What happened to Fergus? I expect that people back at the house already know about it?”

“Why would they?” Davey asked, finally giving up on his nervous pacing and now looking out of the window.

“Well, I assumed there are cameras surrounding each cabin. You have enough of them around the perimeter fencing; it makes sense that you would have them watching over people for safety reasons. More sense than the fence if you had to compare the two.”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” Davey sniffed.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean nobody will know about this yet – it is unlikely at the very least. There are no cameras in here or out there watching the cabin.”

“How come?” Steph asked, the pitch of her voice rising slightly. Her heart beating a little faster once more.

“Funny thing about people; they don’t really like other people watching their every move.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the people that agreed to go in the cabins all refused the cameras. Kelvin was pushing for them initially. Claimed it would make things safer – I’m not sure how exactly; most hunts are over before we can even blink. Anyway, everyone refused them, and Kelvin respected their need for privacy. Admired them for not wanting them if anything. Roger was particularly forceful on the issue.”

Steph looked down at the blood again. The fact that it was still wet suggested to her that the kill had been recent enough. She looked out of the window. As she did, she heard Davey’s voiceon his walkie-talkie. Davey had been right; nobody had known about what happened.

EIGHTEEN

Davey contacted Michael. Michael told Kelvin what had happened. Kelvin sent Michael to pick Steph and Davey up. Michael drove back with the two of them in near-silence.

This silence was eventually broken by Davey slowly leaning over and asking Michael, “Has he… has he done what I expect him to?”

Michael risked a glance at Davey and, grimacing, said, “What do you think?”

Davey cursed softly under his breath.

“So I’m assuming it is just us three, him and Martina?”

“And Dino Dan.”

“Him? Why?”

Michael shrugged.

“How long until he calls them, do you think?” Daveyasked.