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Steph walked with Davey up the side of the road. For a while neither said anything; they were tired both mentally and physically.

Eventually, Steph asked.

“So what happened with the bear?”

Davey smiled.

“Nothing too spectacular, I’m afraid to say.”

“What then?”

“Well, after I’d run into it – like running into a wall of concrete wearing fur, by the way – and I tumbled down the slope, I sort of just lost it.”

“Lost it? But I saw it go after you!”

“Yeah, it went after me all right,”

Davey chuckled.

“Although, I crashed into a rather thorny bush and the stupid thing bowled right on past me. Scratched myself up pretty badly, but in the circumstances, I’d say things could have worked out worse.”

Steph nodded to herself as they walked. A small silence descended once more.

Then Steph broke it by saying.

“Thank you, by the way.”

Steph could sense Davey turn his head towards her as they walked but he said nothing. She was sure, although she didn’t look, that he was still smiling.

“So what happened next? How did you know where we were?”

“I didn’t,”

Davey admitted.

“I heard Kelvin and Martina going down the hill, but I didn’t risk moving from the bush straightaway. I could hear the bear – or at least thought I could – so I just lay there. Fell asleep, actually.”

“You fell asleep?”

“I was shattered! I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, but I haven’t had much rest recently!”

“You said the bush was thorny!”

“It was! But I’d already scratched my face up and my body seemed to have settled into a position. I didn’t mean to fall asleep! It wasn’t planned. It just happened.”

Steph puffed out her cheeks.

“What happened next?”

“I woke up.”

“No shit. After that?”

“I went back to one of the quad bikes and headed for the cabin. I had seen what had happened between Kelvin, you and that other dickhead, and thought I had best help get Roger and Calum out of there. Charge ran out on my quad bike partway there and by the time I reached the place, that truck was outside. I thought I would inconvenience Kelvin so I could work out exactly what he was playing at, throwing away your life as a bargaining tool, so I broke the battery. Of course, I then sensed something wasn’t quite right when he never came back out of the cabin. So I followed you all until I could ambush the dickhead.”

“Ashley,”

Steph said.

“What?”

“The dickhead’s was Ashley.”

“Right.”

Steph wondered whether Davey could sense her irritation at him calling Ashley a dickhead. She could understand it but thought it harsh. Ashley seemed like a reasonably fair person, just caught up in a rather unforgiving job.

She could tell Davey was looking for something to say as he kept flicking his eyes towards her and half opening his mouth.

Eventually, he settled on.

“So Roger wasn’t what he appeared to be then?”

“Apparently not.”

“Ah, shame. I liked him.”

“I still like him, I think.”

“You do?”

Davey asked, raising an eyebrow and stopping.

Steph stopped too.

“I think so.”

“Even after all the trouble he caused?”

“Did he cause the trouble or did Kelvin?”

she asked.

“I don’t think Roger caused the problems; he merely waited for them to occur and then capitalised on them.”

“No!”

“What do you mean no?”

Steph asked, wiping some dirt from under her eye.

“I mean, how could he have possibly known things would go wrong? How would he be in a position to be ready for when they did? No. I think he probably had a bigger hand in things than you realise.”

As if to punctuate his thoughts, he began walking again. Steph followed. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps Roger had orchestrated things to a greater degree than she realised. Even so, he seemed like a likable person. Likeable enough for whatever type of person he was meant to be. Was he the boss or did he work for someone else?

“So what will you do now?”

Davey asked, breaking Steph’s train of thought.

She looked up.

“I dunno. Go to Sheffield and see my parents I suppose. Write a book about what happened to that poor kid.”

“What will you say killed him?”

Steph thought about it. What would she say? With Kelvin dead would she be allowed to write whatever she wanted? Did she want to write the truth? Maybe the truth was so farfetched that it would discredit her more than it would boost her sales.

“I guess I’ll say a big cat got him,”

Steph replied. Then she said.

“Or maybe I will leave it open and not reach a conclusion. Sometimes people don’t like to know the exact truth; it leaves them with nothing to imagine.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, in my area, it is other people’s ability to draw their own conclusion that pays my bills.”

A car drove past with a child’s face pressed against the window. Steph stuck her tongue out.