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photographs, mind. Not until after the necropsy – and, even then, only maybe.’
    Nathan led her across the laboratory to the stainless-steel refrigerators. Patti stood a little way away while he slid open the drawer with the gryphon’s embryo in it. Even though it had been chilled, it still smelled just as foul.
    He used a glass stirring rod to point out its head and its beak and its claws. He lifted its feathers so that she could see how wide its wingspan would have been.
    ‘It’s fantastic,’ said Patti, with her hand cupped over her face. ‘If I didn’t know it was for real, I would have thought you just sewed them together, a bird and a lion cub.’
    At that moment, the door banged open, and Richard came into the laboratory, closely followed by Keira and Tim.
    ‘Professor?’ he asked, hanging up his limp khaki raincoat. ‘What’s going on?’
    ‘Impromptu press conference,’ said Nathan. ‘This is Ms Patti Laquelle, from The Philadelphia Web . She’s going to make us famous.’
    ‘ The Philadelphia Web ?’ asked Tim. ‘As in, “My Grandmother Ate My Schnauzer”?’
    ‘That’s the one,’ said Patti. ‘Only it wasn’t “schnauzer”, it was “chihuahua”.’

FIVE
    Sack-Dragger
    D enver was still sullen at suppertime, toying with his chicken-and-pepper stew and hardly saying a word.
    ‘I won’t ask how your necropsy went,’ said Grace. ‘Not while we’re eating, anyhow.’
    Nathan poured himself another glass of white wine. ‘Let’s just say that I still don’t have the first idea what went wrong. It was very a virulent infection, that’s for sure, but what kind of bacillus it was and where it came from—’
    Denver threw down his fork. It bounced across his plate and landed on the tablecloth. ‘Didn’t you hear what Mom said? Do you really think we want to hear about bacterial infections while we’re trying to eat our supper?’
    Nathan said, ‘OK. OK. I’m sorry. But you don’t have to toss your cutlery around.’
    Denver pushed back his chair so that it tilted and fell over. ‘Forget it. I’m not hungry now. I’m going out.’
    ‘Sit down and finish your supper.’
    ‘What? And listen to you talking about pus and infections and decomposing gryphons? Don’t you ever give it a rest? Don’t you ever think that we don’t want to hear about it?’
    Nathan looked down at his plate. He was trying hard not to lose his temper, and he took a very deep breath to steady himself.
    Grace said, ‘Denver . . . you need to apologize. Your dad’s had some really difficult problems to deal with. His whole future at the zoo could depend on this. The last thing he needs is you stamping your feet like a two-year-old.’
    ‘Oh, he’s had some really difficult problems to deal with, has he? So we have to sit here and listen to all this disgusting stuff about dead creatures that should never have been alive in the first place, is that it? While we’re eating , for Christ’s sake!’
    ‘Denver,’ said Nathan, in a very quiet voice. ‘Shut up.’
    Denver jabbed his finger at him. ‘You think you’re the only person in this house who’s allowed to have an opinion, don’t you? I don’t count for anything! Do you know what I’ve been doing at school lately? Do you have any idea? Of course you don’t! Did you know that I was thrown off the basketball team?’
    ‘No,’ said Nathan. ‘I didn’t know because you didn’t tell me.’
    ‘You want to know why? Look at you – you don’t even want to know why!’
    ‘Of course I want to know why.’
    ‘No you don’t. You’re totally not interested. So why don’t you just go back to your disgusting conversation about rotting creatures? I’m going out.’
    ‘I said – shut up, sit down, and finish your supper. You’re not going anyplace. You’re grounded until you can learn some respect.’
    Denver shook his head. ‘Respect? You know why they threw me off the basketball team? For fighting. And do you know what I was