He marched over the rough ground as if it was no obstacle, like a man who’d already walked this path so often he’d memorised where every tussock and divot lay, while it took Zoe more care and effort to keep up. She was determined that she would, but when her foot caught and almost sent her flying, she couldn’t help but let out a little squeal. She righted herself, but not before Alex had snapped out of whatever trance he’d been in.
‘Are you all right?’
Zoe gave a grateful nod, more grateful for that flash of the old Alex than his concern. She didn’t like the one who’d let her through the gate, who seemed impatient and irritated by her company.
‘We should have brought a torch,’ he continued. ‘I didn’t think it would be so dark.’
‘We can use our phones.’
‘Yes, but I always think it’s better to have something a bit more heavy duty out here.’
He switched his phone light on anyway and swept the ground ahead as they walked. Zoe got hers out to do the same, doubling their field of vision.
‘I don’t even know where to start looking,’ he said as the camping pods came into view. ‘I know it’s around here, but…’
‘Maybe you’ll have to come back when it’s light after all.’
‘I suppose so, but I thought it was better to have a look now, when there’s nobody to see me. If one of them clocks me investigating, I’m worried they might try to influence my judgement.’
‘In what way could they do that?’
‘I don’t know, but I don’t want to give anyone the chance…Hang on…’ He headed for the base of a tree. ‘Could that be it?’
Zoe followed him, the beam from his phone zigzagging all over as he picked up the pace. And then she went cold as she recognised where she was.
He stooped down to look at the hole Grizzle had made the day she’d tried to walk him. But as she shone her torch onto it, she frowned.
‘Someone’s dug this out to make it bigger.’
Alex looked up at her. ‘What do you mean? You’ve already seen it?’
‘It’s where the rabbits were, isn’t it?’ She flushed, glad he couldn’t see it in the gloom.
‘Rabbits don’t make holes this size,’ he said. ‘Why would someone dig it out? It doesn’t make any sense…I wouldn’t have thought the burrow entrances themselves would have been big enough to get a foot stuck in, though I suppose one of the kids might turn an ankle or something, at a push, but not a grown man…’
‘They dug it out after the accident to make it look worse because…Well, you said they wanted a reason to sue.’
‘I did, but I still don’t see how anyone would have got tangled up in the rabbit burrows as they were. It doesn’t make any sense.’
Zoe chewed on her lip and then cursed her decent upbringing. ‘I didn’t say anything before because…I didn’t think it was something that anyone needed to know, and I swear when I left this the other day, the hole wasn’t so big…’
Alex stood up. ‘What are you trying to tell me?’
‘Grizzle was trying to get at the rabbits when I walked him. I mean, I think that’s what he was doing because he was digging around here. But I managed to get him away, and I know for a fact the hole wasn’t this big.’
‘But it might have been big enough for someone to get caught in?’
Zoe gave a helpless shrug, and he put a hand to his head with an exasperated hiss.
‘But someone has definitely been at this,’ she replied.
‘We can’t prove that.’
‘They have!’ she insisted.
‘But it doesn’t matter! The damage has been done! Zoe, why didn’t you tell me? I’d have come over and checked it out right away!’
‘I’m sorry. There was so much going on, I forgot!’
