‘I’ll work something out.’ His eyes crinkled in a smile as he kissed her, saying, ‘Take care, love. I’ll check on Luke as soon as I get a free moment.’

‘Thank you.’ She kissed him back. ‘Sophie’ll be ringing about him now.’

When the plane lifted off, she drove home to find the professor watering the vegetable garden. Sophie, he said, had gone to the camp to attend to the chores there. She had left a message with him from the hospital reporting that Luke was concussed but thankfully had an undamaged skull. He would be released when his current drowsiness passed, possibly as early as tomorrow.

‘Well, that’s a relief,’ Tilly said. ‘How long are you staying Thomas? Not that we want to hurry you away. But I doubt the police, when they get here and that’ll probably be late today, will let you anywhere near the cave.’

‘I’ll just have to adjust my schedule then.’ He pushed his spectacles up his nose and directed the hose at the cabbages. ‘I’m assuming that the past twenty-four hours aren’t the norm out here, but it seems to me you must all do a lot of adjusting in your daily lives. So I’ll hang around and I may even be able to help. Bottom line is, I do want a look at those bats, and even if it takes a week, then – as long as I’m welcome – I’ll stay till I’ve done so.’

‘I’m sure you’ll be very welcome.’ Curiosity got the better of her. ‘Last night, it took you a long time to come out of your room. With all that racket going on, did you really not wake up?’

He looked sheepish. ‘You probably notice I snore very loudly? It’s to the point where it wakes me, so I use ear plugs. It means I don’t hear alarms, phones, even people yelling. But it seems chainsaws will do it.’

‘Ah. Well,’ she considered, ‘in terms of helping, do you know anything about engines? The diesel will need fuelling. You have to pump it from a drum into the tank, and then roll another drum over from the fuel dump for next time. Matt usually did it on a Monday, so it must be about due.’

He nodded. ‘I can manage that.’

‘Thanks. I’ll be in the house if you need me.’ There was plenty to do. The laundry basket was full, the cake tins empty and she would probably be feeding extra that evening. She hoped that the police would come equipped to camp, and because it was the height of the tourist season there were still travellers to book in and out. The professor, for all his diffidence, proved a useful sidekick willing to pitch in, whether it was peeling vegetables or feeding the hens, who were temporarily locked out of their home by the visiting wildlife.