‘Did it need stitches?’ asked Eleanor.
Cass nodded. ‘I had to sew him up. He was amazingly brave.’
‘You had to stitch him up?’ Howard was incredulous. ‘But you’re not qualified! Wasn’t there someone else who could do it?’
‘I did do St John’s Ambulance exams, you know,’ said Cass, although sewing people up hadn’t been covered in the course. ‘And there was no one else. It was fine. The wound is healing up nicely.’
‘OK, so you went with Bastian?’
‘And Toussaint, and Austin. He insisted. He said there was no petroglyph. His whole thesis depended on there not being one.’
‘Tricky,’ said Eleanor.’
‘He’s a dreadful man,’ said Howard. ‘I spoke to him on the radio. He always insisted no one else was available to talk to me.’
‘He wouldn’t let anyone else into the hut where the radio was,’ said Cass. ‘Anyway, we set off. Luckily, apart from a few fallen trees the hurricane didn’t seem to have done too much damage in the forest and we got along OK. Then we stopped for a break.’ Cass paused. She wasn’t looking forward to telling her father this bit. ‘Austin threw the camera into the bushes.’
‘What?’ Howard banged the arm of his chair in fury. ‘Couldn’t you stop him?’
‘No. He sort of unhooked it from my wrist. I was about to take a picture to discover which settings I needed. He pretended it was an accident. Of course it wasn’t.’
‘That’s absolutely outrageous,’ Howard began. ‘I should bloody well sue him!’
‘He’d just tell you to claim on your insurance,’ said Cass.
‘It’s not the money!’ Howard was almost shouting.
‘Don’t get worked up, darling,’ said Eleanor, her hand on Howard’s. ‘And let Cass finish her story.’
Cass was grateful. She so wanted to tell her father that the camera was safe and the more she thought about it, the more she realised if she hadn’t got into that pick-up with Austin, it would have been. She hoped that the fact she’d found the petroglyph would somehow make up for him losing it.
‘For a little while after I lost the camera, I went with them but at a certain point, I stopped. I said I was tired.’
Her momentary pause made her father ask, ‘Why? Were you tired?’
‘I was, to be honest, but that wasn’t why I stopped.’ Cass paused to think how best to explain the next part of her tale. ‘I wanted to be alone, for the others to get ahead.’
‘Why?’ demanded her father again.
‘Howard, darling,’ said Eleanor soothingly. ‘Do let the poor girl tell her story.’
‘It’s OK,’ Cass said. ‘I’m just thinking how best to explain it. You remember the map?’
‘Of course!’ said Howard.
‘Well, you know it was pretty fragile. I had to trace it so there’d be one that wouldn’t fall apart if it was used.’
Her father nodded.
‘I don’t know if you recall, but tracing a document the old-fashioned way, with greaseproof paper or whatever, means you actually draw it several times. By the time I’d finished, I knew the map more or less by heart.’
‘And?’
‘I actually drew it wrong. I added on a bit. To get everyone out of the way.’
‘Goodness me, Cass,’ said Eleanor. ‘I am so impressed!’
‘But why?’ said Howard.
