Page 12

As they headed through a clump of trees, Steph noticed the ground to the side of the track was churned up. There were a number of prints in the muddy pits but one in particular caught her eye.

“You have boar here?”

she asked.

Michael leant forward.

“Yep, more than was anticipated from what I can gather. By that I mean, I have been tasked with culling them as the predators aren’t keeping their numbers down enough. They seem to find them too much of a pain in the arse to hunt. Make for great pulled pork though.”

It was difficult for Steph to get a grasp of everything. If she were to do her job properly, she would need to know more precise numbers of animals, the size of the land where each animal tended to be found and where certain natural resources were.

“To be fair, we thought we had something that would have kept them in line,”

Daniel added.

“It’s a shame; I was excited about it.”

“About what?”

Steph asked, noticing a cabin off to the side of the track. There seemed to be a light on behind the window.

“We tried to bring back an entelodont,”

Daniel said, flicking his eyes momentarily towards Steph.

“Sort of a giant warthog-type creature – vicious bastards.”

“That was very black market,”

Michael put in. Not quite sure how Martina managed to get her hands on something like that and still be able to get DNA from it.

For once, Daniel seemed in agreement.

“Considering the climate of its time and the age of the creature, I can’t see how such a specimen could exist,”

Daniel said, raising his eyebrows.

“Even so, I had one to study and now I don’t.”

“What happened to it?”

Steph asked.

“The winter took it I assume. It was not really adapted to survive in Scotland in mid-January.”

“Don’t you track them?”

Steph asked.

“The big animals we do,”

Michael said.

“We chip them. Not that the signal is amazing. It never gives us an accurate reading of where they are. Just a rough generalisation. You’d have thought that Kelvin of all people could afford better technology.”

“I suspect he can,”

Daniel said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I think he has made sure that the larger animals cannot be tracked perfectly.”

“Why? That makes no sense! He would have told me why. Did he actually say this to you?”

“No, but Martina said something about it acting as insurance.”

Michael went quiet at this and sank back into his chair. He muttered something about Martina and Kelvin but too quiet for Steph to hear.

They pulled up to the house to find Davey sitting on an upturned log reading a book. Daniel let Michael and Steph out before parking the buggy back into the charging bay he’d got it from. Michael exchanged a few small words with Davey as he walked past him whilst Steph stood and waited. Davey finished the page he was reading, put a feather between the pages and shut the book.

“I heard you went and collected my things!”

Steph said, unable to hide the disapproval in her voice.

“I did,”

Davey replied.

“You best have not looked through my stuff,”

she said, folding her arms.

“Why, do you have something to hide?”

Davey replied, leaning forward on the log.

“No!”

“Because,”

Davey continued.

“if you’re worried about your snooping into the death of the poor little boy being interrupted, you needn’t worry about me. I have no interest in it.”

Steph swallowed. She scratched the ground slightly with her foot.

“So… so you did go through my stuff?”

“No, I spoke to Jackie at the bar. She said you’d been asking questions about it all,”

Davey replied, narrowing his eyes.

Steph played with the fabric of her shirt under her folded arms.

“Well, something definitely doesn’t add up. I’m not even sure how the police couldn’t know about what’s going on here. Someone must have put two and two together and worked out that the animal could have come from here.”

Davey smiled, took in a deep breath and then stood up.

“The police did come here,”

he said.

“However, let’s take a step back; you are assuming a lot of things. Firstly, you are assuming that an animal from here killed the boy. Secondly, you are assuming that the police hadn’t thought to come here. Thirdly…”

He stopped and shrugged.

“I guess just those two things.”

“So they did come here?”

“They did. We showed them that all the animals had been accounted for, they were satisfied with the evidence and went on their way,”

Davey said, stretching his arms.

“It’s genuinely tragic that the boy died. I can completely see why people would be suspicious of us despite not knowing what goes on here. Yet, to my knowledge and Kelvin’s it genuinely wasn’t us. Kelvin even conducted his own investigation after the police.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? You’re meant to be the detective!”

“I’m a biologist, not a detective!”

Steph snapped. Even so, she bit her lip and looked at the ground. It was Davey’s turn to fold his arms; the look on his face suggested he was enjoying himself. Steph found this irritated her more than it should.

She pondered everything she had seen. It had been a long day and she was tired, but the way Davey had spoken made her feel like she was missing something obvious. Something stupidly obvious. A large bird of prey screeched overhead in the fading light, momentarily distracting Steph. Then a thought started to spread.

“He is worried that something is going on that he doesn’t know about because he is concerned about the DNA of the specimens getting out,”

Steph said suddenly, still looking down, pawing the ground with her toe.

“He is, from what little I have seen, a man who likes to be in control. The police coming around will have disturbed him. He was worried that it genuinely was one of his animals that got out, although not because he was worried about his enclosure but because he suspected someone let it out.”

Steph looked up. Davey clapped slowly.

“Well, more the black-market DNA thing,”

Davey said.

“but I suppose the other stuff fits too. Anyway, follow me.”

“Why?”

Steph asked, straightening her back.

“Because I assume you want to know where you’re sleeping, don’t you?”

Steph watched Davey turn without waiting for an answer. He headed towards the entrance. Steph growled to herself, hoping an angry exhale would help her remain level-headed. She needed to keep her wits about her. Too much was going on.. The bird of prey screeched again in the distance.

Davey took her through the house to a corridor lined with oak doors. It still surprised Steph how large the inside of the house was compared with what she could see from the outside. Davey selected one of the doors and opened it, then made a sweeping gesture with his arm and waited. Steph walked past, making sure to hit him with her shoulder as she did so. She didn’t apologise and was satisfied to hear Davey tut and walk off.

Steph walked further into the room. It was nice. Modest in size but, with an ensuite, it was comfortable. Like elsewhere, there was a lot of wood finishing, making it feel cosy.

Steph intended to make use of this time to herself to write down what she had seen and gather her ideas, as well as trying to get her head around the fact she was suddenly employed – something her parents would be all too pleased about. Instead, she lay on the bed and promptly fell asleep.