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Did she really do that? Steph made a mental note to ask her parents whether they thought she did. If she did, she supposed she should find a way to tame it.

“I was wondering how this all ends.”

“What do you mean?”

“This whole thing.” Steph flicked her hands behind her. “I mean, it’s now such a mess that I am not sure it is a problem that can be solved.”

“I still don’t get what you mean?”

“Look, if someone wanted to build a house but they put the roof on the bottom and had sideways walls or whatever, what would you suggest?”

“That someone smashes it down and starts again whilst the original person is never let loose near bricks and mortar again.”

“Exactly.”

Davey puffed out his cheeks. “So you’re saying that we should do the same here? What would that even look like?”

“Well, as precious as that lion is to Martina and Kelvin, itmustbe put down,surely? Possibly the cave bear too – it is just not naturally sustainable here. Imagine what it would be doing if there was not an abundance of food. Even as it is, it’s meant to eat berries and such as much as it eats meat but right now it appears more carnivorous than omnivorous.”

“It would be a shame though, wouldn’t it?” Davey said, pushing back a branch and watching it flick behind him as he passed. “I mean, these creatures haven’t been seen for thousands of years.”

“The technology that created them isn’t going anywhere. Now that it has been proven to work, it can be replicated. It’s not as if Martina is going to forget everything she’s done.”

“Maybe. But there is also a lot of money in those animals. Money talks.”

Steph supposed that Davey was probably right. Even so, she still believed the animal in question – no matter how much money it was worth – had to go. Once an animal had killed a person it was hard to train it out of them. In fact, it was impossible as far as she was aware.

Walking around the perimeter fence proved a good move. They managed to reach the house – taking a little longer than they would have done directly – without any interference. There was one moment that worried Steph when a herd of deer passed nearby. If there were deer, she believed there was a chance there was something behind the deer. Fortunately, they passed on without much concern. If anyone was going to pick up on impending danger first, it would be them. If they weren’t concerned, then she felt neither should she be.

They slowed as they reached the house. The gate was closed. Steph asked whether there was some sort of timer that triggered it to close automatically but Davey shook his head. He claimed that people had been against this in case it had shut them out at an unfortunate moment. Steph sniffed in response.

“I suspect Michael has been here,” Davey said, looking around and putting a card to a reader which opened the gate. Steph couldn’t see why people would be worried about the gate shutting on them if they could just open the gate again to get in. The timing for something to go wrong would have to be perfect. Then again, mathematically speaking, things happened. Look at the current mess.

Steph was surprised not to hear the gate closing after she walked through. She turned to see Davey hesitating afterwalking through himself. He looked around. Then he looked back through the gate. He repeated this a few times before finally growling to himself and tapping his card against the reader to shut it.

“What was that about?” Steph asked.

“I’m not sure whether it would have been better to keep the gate open. We don’t know if anything… fast is in here.”

“You mean you’re worried that the gate being shut could prevent a quick escape from something that may or may not be in here?”

“You saw how long the gate took to open!” Davey hissed defensively. “One second in the wrong place and you’re done for. Look at Fergus or Daniel!”

Steph folded her arms. “You’re getting a bit panicky, aren’t you?”

“I’m sensible! There’s a difference.”

“Sure.”

Davey tutted and pushed past her. He insisted they did a loop of the house before they went in. Steph noted that all the windows had been shut. Whether Kelvin had been able to get through to Michael and relay what Martina had told him, or whether Michael had just taken precautions, Steph was unsure. She suspected the latter.

Both quad bikes were still there hooked up to their chargers, but the electric buggy with the trailer was gone.

“Michael definitely must have been here,” Davey whispered.

Satisfied that there was nothing inside the fence now that it was shut, Davey allowed Steph to open the door to the house. Steph’s pulse quickened as the large door swung open. She half expected something to jump at her. Nothing did.

Steph felt Davey push past her and watched him raise his revolver as he began to walk further in.