‘Keep your eyes open,’ I said quietly. ‘The archaeologists left some trenches around here.’

  ‘How deep could they be?’ said Mike.

  ‘Deep enough to ruin your day if you don’t watch where you’re going,’ I said. ‘You want to limp the rest of the way on a broken ankle?’

  Mike didn’t say anything, but after that everyone was very careful where they put their feet. Now they were close to escaping and were putting the madness of the day behind them, they didn’t want to spoil their chances. We left the dig behind and moved on into the dark. The unrelieved darkness and the relentless silence were becoming almost unbearably oppressive. As though the dark resented any evidence of life. Even our footsteps were starting to sound muffled, as though the night was soaking up the sound. The light from the Professor’s flashlight seemed as strong as ever. I tried not to think about how dark the night would be if the flashlight were to fail and its light went out.

  I glanced back at the others to see how they were doing.

  The Professor was staring straight ahead, her gaze determinedly following the flashlight’s beam. Penny was keeping up a constant surveillance of the night around and behind her, to make sure we weren’t being followed or sneaked up on. Mike actually seemed a little more relaxed now we’d committed ourselves to leaving. Paul just strode along, looking nowhere in particular, apparently unbothered as to where we were or where we were going. That was starting to worry me. No one should be that calm. Unless they were deep in shock or denial.

  ‘What if the car isn’t there?’ Mike said suddenly.

  Everyone looked at him.

  ‘Why wouldn’t it be there?’ said the Professor.

  ‘It’s supposed to be parked just beyond the digs,’ said Mike. ‘But we’ve been walking for ages and we still haven’t reached it.’

  ‘It’s the dark,’ I said. ‘Makes it difficult to judge distances.’

  ‘But what if the car really isn’t there?’ Mike said stubbornly. ‘What would we do then?’

  ‘Mike, you have moved beyond annoying,’ said the Professor. ‘You are now officially a pain in the arse. So shut the hell up and keep walking, or I will have Ishmael gag you.’

  Mike looked at me uncertainly. ‘You wouldn’t …’

  ‘Oh, he would,’ said Penny. ‘And he’d use a really dirty handkerchief.’

  ‘You’re all bullies,’ said Mike.

  He stumbled along, maintaining a rebellious silence and looking put upon. Everyone else had some kind of smile on their face. Shortly after, there were loud sounds of relief from everyone, as we stumbled over a sudden sharp rise and fall and Penny’s Rover appeared in the flashlight’s beam. We hurried down the hill towards it, forgetting our usual caution, like passengers on a sinking ship who’d finally spotted a lifeboat.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said Mike, as we drew closer. ‘This is your car? This old piece of crap?’

  ‘It’s vintage,’ Penny said coldly.

  Mike sniffed loudly. ‘Are we going to need a starting handle to get it going?’

  ‘If I had one I’d insert it in you,’ said Penny.

  ‘Don’t insult her car,’ I said quietly to Mike. ‘Really. Don’t.’

  Penny unlocked the Rover, and we all scrambled inside. Penny settled into place behind the steering wheel, while I took shotgun. The Professor, Mike and Paul crammed themselves into the rear seat. It was a tight fit, shoulder to shoulder and knee to knee, but none of them complained. We were leaving, and that was all that mattered. The Professor made a low relieved sound and turned off her flashlight, happy to bask in the cosy interior light of the car. Penny put her key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing happened. No revving of the engine, not even the slow grinding of a drained battery, just silence. Penny pulled the key out, looked at it, slammed it back in and tried again. Still nothing. It was suddenly horribly quiet inside the car.

  ‘I don’t believe it …’ Mike said despairingly.

  I didn’t know what to say. Of all the things I’d thought might go wrong and prepared myself for, this wasn’t one of them.

  ‘You’d better open the bonnet,’ I said to Penny. ‘We’ll check the engine.’

  ‘There shouldn’t be anything wrong with it,’ said Penny. ‘I had the car serviced only last month.’

  She hit the bonnet release, and we all got out of the car. The sound of the doors slamming seemed very loud in the quiet, and the night seemed even darker. The Professor turned her flashlight back on and waved the beam around, just to make sure nothing was taking advantage of the situation. All that showed up in the beam were quick glimpses of open hillside.

  ‘Keep the light on Penny and me, Professor,’ I said steadily. ‘We need to see what we’re doing.’

  The Professor nodded quickly, and covered us with the flashlight as we moved around to the front of the car and pushed up the bonnet. Penny and I looked inside, and said nothing. Because we didn’t know what to say. Mike stirred impatiently.

  ‘Is it something obvious? Can you fix it?’

  ‘The engine’s gone,’ said Penny.

  ‘We know that,’ said Paul. ‘Can you see what the problem is, and what needs doing to fix it?’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s gone. The engine isn’t here.’

  The others crowded in around Penny and me, and we all stared into the empty void where the engine should have been. It had been ripped out, leaving nothing but the ends of broken cables and a few scattered bits and pieces. I thought briefly about searching the surrounding area for the engine. But even as I thought that, I knew it wouldn’t be possible to get it working again.

  ‘Someone’s been busy,’ I said finally.

  ‘Look what they’ve done to my car …’ said Penny.

  ‘So,’ said Paul, his voice surprisingly calm. ‘We’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘It’s been one of those days, hasn’t it?’ said Mike. He sounded too tired to be angry. ‘When did this happen?’

  ‘Could have happened any time after we arrived,’ I said.

  The Professor struggled to keep her voice steady, though the hand holding the flashlight trembled noticeably. ‘Wouldn’t we have heard something?’

  ‘We’ve had a lot of distractions,’ I said.

  ‘At least now we can be reasonably sure a Beast isn’t behind what’s happening,’ Penny said steadily. ‘An animal wouldn’t do something like this.’

  ‘If it’s coming out of the hole, it must be something more than just an animal,’ said Mike.

  ‘It still wouldn’t know what to do with a car, would it?’ said Penny. ‘It wouldn’t do something as specific as this. Taking the engine means human thinking … and human mischief.’

  ‘Someone doesn’t want us to leave,’ I said.

  ‘We got that!’ said Mike.

  ‘Could a human being do this?’ said Paul.

  ‘If motivated enough,’ I said.

  ‘Well,’ said Paul, ‘you learn something new every day.’

  ‘Is this supposed to reassure us?’ said Mike. ‘That our unknown killer is only human?’

  ‘A human killer has to be a lot less dangerous than some legendary Beast or an invading alien,’ I said.

  ‘Really?’ said Paul. ‘You don’t think someone who could do something like this would be more than usually dangerous?’

  Mike glared at him. ‘Why are you taking all of this so bloody calmly?’

  ‘Getting excited won’t help,’ said Paul.

  ‘But if a human being did this,’ said the Professor, ‘that means the killer has to be one of us. Doesn’t it?’

  I’d been hoping none of them would make that particular connection just yet. I needed the scientists to cooperate, until I could work out how to deal with this mess. But now they were all glaring at each other suspiciously, as though seeing their companions clearly for the first time.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Mike said finally.

  ‘The car’s no use,’ said the Professor. ‘But we could still make our way down the hill until we reach the road. Then follow that till we hit the nearest town. I know it’s a long way, but at least we could then find a hotel and phone the police for help.’

  ‘The Colonel wouldn’t like that,’ I said.

  ‘Screw the Colonel!’ said Mike. ‘A hotel means light and warmth and good solid walls to put between us and the night. Ellie was always a great believer in walls.’

  ‘But it’s still a long way down the hill to the main road,’ I said. ‘In the dark. No lights, remember? How far do you think we’d get?’

  Mike looked like he wanted to argue, but couldn’t find the words. He shrugged angrily.

  ‘Do what you want. You will anyway.’

  ‘What do you think we should do, Ishmael?’ said Penny.

  ‘Go back to the campsite,’ I said steadily. ‘Stay by the fire, wait out the night, and talk to Mr Carroll when he makes his call. He can send in people to secure the area, and transport to take us out of here.’

  ‘That’s it?’ said Mike. ‘That’s all you’ve got to offer?’

  ‘It can’t be long till the dawn now,’ I said. ‘Things will seem a lot better once it’s light.’

  ‘Are you sure of that?’ said Paul.

  ‘Of course,’ I said.

  I couldn’t tell them that I needed to keep everyone together because I couldn’t let any of them leave. Not when one of them could be the murderer.

  ‘I really thought we were free of the camp,’ said the Professor.

  ‘I don’t want to go back,’ Mike said quietly. ‘I hate it. It’s awful there.’

  He didn’t want to go back to the place where Ellie was murdered. Where her body was.

  ‘We have to go back,’ said Paul. ‘Because there’s nowhere else to go.’

  ‘And we need to go now,’ said Penny. ‘While the flashlight is still working.’

  ‘Just when you think things can’t get any worse …’ said Mike.

  We strode back up the hill a lot faster than we’d gone down it, despite the steep slope. The thought that someone had deliberately stopped us from leaving weighed heavily on our minds. Because that could only mean our mystery killer wasn’t finished with us yet. It did help that we could see the brightly lit camp up ahead, shining like a beacon in the dark. The camp might not be safe, but at least it was familiar. And somewhere where we could be sure of seeing who was coming for us. But as the camp drew nearer, I couldn’t help wondering if when we got there we’d find someone waiting for us. Someone we’d never even suspected, waiting and smiling, with death in his eyes and in his hands.

  I made sure I was the first to cross the perimeter into the camp, ready to fight if need be. But there was nobody there. The whole setting was open and empty, and just as quiet as before. The fire was still burning, so I led everyone over to it, and they all dropped down in their usual places. They found the fire wonderfully warm after the cold on the side of the hill. They’d all been too busy to notice at the time, but now we were back everyone was shaking and shivering. I joined in, even though I don’t feel the cold; because I prefer not to stand out. There was an air of exhaustion around the fire, of people driven beyond their physical and emotional limits. Which was bad, because really tired people have a tendency to make really bad decisions.

  ‘At least the fire didn’t go out,’ Penny said finally.

  ‘It is something of a comfort,’ said the Professor.

  ‘But not much,’ said Mike.

  ‘I’d hit you, if I had the energy,’ said the Professor.

  ‘Just as well you don’t …’ said Mike.

  They managed a small smile for each other. Paul had gone back to looking out at the dark. Perhaps he thought that was where the next threat would come from, and he didn’t want to miss it. I wasn’t sure any of the scientists realized just how dangerous the situation was now. The killer had us trapped; in a place he or she knew well, with no way out. I looked at Penny.

  ‘I’m sorry about your car. I know you were fond of it.’

  ‘I liked it because it was such a workhorse,’ said Penny. ‘Always kept going, never complained … When I saw the engine was gone, it felt like someone ripped the heart out of my favourite pet.’

  Mike started to say something, caught the look in my eye, and thought better of it.

  ‘You can always buy another Rover, once we get back,’ I said to Penny.

  ‘It wouldn’t be the same.’ She managed a smile for me. ‘You’ve never understood about people and their cars.’

  ‘People are strange,’ I said solemnly.

  We all sat quietly together for a while, lost in our own thoughts. I was trying to think of something, anything, I could do to keep these people safe. Slowly it became clear to me that I did have one other option: I could leave the scientists here, with Penny, and go off on my own. If I went down the hill without them, I could make much better speed; and I’d back myself against anything I might meet along the way. Once I got to the nearest town, I could contact the Colonel and make him send in reinforcements. Then I could hurry back up the hill to the camp and reassure everyone that help was on its way.

  Except … I couldn’t leave Penny here, with these people. Not when one of them could be a cold-blooded killer. I’d trust Penny to look after herself under most circumstances; but these weren’t most circumstances. And … I had a horrible feeling that if I did leave, I might return to find everyone sitting around the fire with their heads missing. Or maybe find every single one of them had vanished. Nothing left in the camp, apart from the hole.

  So, I wasn’t going anywhere.

  I thought about the missing car engine. There had been something calculating about that, as though the killer was playing with us. Why not just trash the car? Slash the tyres, set it on fire, wreck it? Because then whoever did it wouldn’t have been able to enjoy watching the rest of us have our moment of relief, of feeling safe at last because we thought we were getting away. Leaving us to discover that the engine was missing, and we weren’t going anywhere after all, was crueller. And that thought made me see the deaths of Robert and Ellie in a whole new light. I’d been assuming the way they died was down to simple expediency: using the edge of the hole as a weapon because it was all the killer had. But what if they were killed in such a disturbing way deliberately? What if the killer had set out to terrorize everyone? Or maybe just thought it was funny …

  I really didn’t like the way my thoughts were going.

  Mike looked at the tent that held the dead bodies. ‘It feels wrong, dumping Ellie in there with Robert and Terry. She should be in her own tent.’

  ‘Ellie isn’t really in there,’ I said, as kindly as I could. ‘Just what she left behind. Like her clothes.’

  ‘Is that supposed to reassure me?’ said Mike.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Maybe.’

  He stopped for a moment, and then smiled briefly as he recognized his own words from earlier. He nodded, acknowledging the point.

  ‘Do you want me to move Ellie?’ I said. ‘I will if that would help.’

  Mike thought about it, then shook his head. ‘No, you’re right. It wouldn’t make any difference.’

  ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ said the Professor.

  We all looked at her. She seemed quite serious.

  ‘Where did that come from?’ said Mike. Then he stopped and looked at her sharply. ‘Have you been seeing things?’

  ‘It’s just that I wonder, sometimes,’ said the Professor. ‘Whether we’re haunted by the ghosts of all the people we’ve hurt.’

  ‘That sounds more like conscience than ghosts,’ Penny said carefully.

  ‘I never look back,’ said Paul. ‘Only forward.’

  ‘Yes, well, that’s because you’re young,’ said the Professor.

  ‘And weird,’ said Mike.

  No one seemed to have anything to say after that, so we just sat quietly round the fire. Looking at the flames and the camp and the dark, so we wouldn’t have to look at each other and wonder if we were looking into the face of a killer. But if one of us was responsible for the death of three people, why wasn’t the killer doing anything? Why not split us up? Get us to go off on our own so we’d be easier targets? Or was the killer just enjoying the moment? Savouring our fear, laughing inside as we sat there helplessly without a clue.

  ‘It’s very dark, out there,’ Paul said finally. Since we returned to the camp, he hadn’t taken his eyes off the night. ‘We’re so far from civilization there’s not a light to be seen anywhere.’

  ‘There should be some,’ said the Professor, frowning. ‘Nearby towns, farmhouses … And we should be able to see Bath on the horizon.’

  ‘There’s still no moon or stars,’ said Mark, frowning at the endless dark overhead. ‘What’s happened to them?’

  ‘Low cloud cover,’ said the Professor.

  ‘Yeah, right,’ said Mike.

  ‘It makes you wonder if there’s anything left out there,’ said Paul, his voice eerily calm. ‘If the world has just gone away, or the dark has eaten everything up … If we’re all that’s left now, alone in the night.’

  ‘Don’t!’ said Penny, shuddering. ‘You are really creeping me out, Paul.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Mike. ‘What kind of talk is that for a scientist?’

  ‘We have enough problems as it is, without bringing existential dread into it,’ said the Professor.

  ‘But then why can’t we see anything? Or hear anything?’ Paul finally turned his eyes away from the dark to look at each of us in turn. His face was calm, and his voice sounded entirely reasonable. ‘Doesn’t it feel like we’ve been deliberately isolated, cut off from everything? As if the hole sucked in everything else, so it wouldn’t have to share us.’

  ‘Cut the crap!’ Mike said roughly. ‘The missing car engine is all the proof we needed that the killer isn’t any Beast, or some alien thing. The killer is one of us. Sitting right here, playing mind games and laughing up their sleeve at the rest of us.’ He turned abruptly to look at me. ‘And I’ll say it again, no one started dying until you turned up.’

  ‘Haven’t we already been through this?’ I said calmly.

  ‘We didn’t finish because I got shouted down,’ said Mike. ‘There’s still things we need to talk about.’