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‘How about you just tell me what you know about them then.’
    The muffin crumbled before I could get it to my mouth. I began to pick the crumbs up, one by one.
    Ophelia bit her lip. ‘I don’t know all that much. I mean, you don’t ask friends questions like “Who was your great-great-grandma’s genetic surgeon?”’
    ‘The great-great-grandma was the original wolf-cross?’
    ‘I don’t know! Anyway,’ continued Ophelia, stubbornly meeting my eyes, ‘there must have been money from somewhere. The family bought the end of the valley, oh, about fifty years ago. They built this big house, the Tree it’s called…’
    ‘A tree house?’
    ‘No, a real tree. You’ll see when you get there. They breed deer up there. It’s perfect for deer, right up at the end of the valley—there are cliffs on three sides so they only need to fence the entrance. The animals more or less run wild.’
    ‘So who exactly is in the family?’
    ‘Well, there’s Great Uncle Rex and Great Aunt Lexie. Aunt Lexie’s mostly bedridden now, but Rex is a sweetie. Then there’s Uncle Dusty and Aunt Emerald, and Rusty and Eleanor. Rusty and Eleanor are…well, I suppose you’d call them the dominant male and female. You said you don’t know much about wolves?’
    I shook my head, my mouth full of dry muffin crumbs.
    ‘Well, only one couple at a time mate and they mate for life.’
    I blinked. ‘What do the others do about sex? You mean they’re totally celibate?’
    ‘I suppose so. Great Uncle Rex would like you to think he’s a bit of a lad—he even propositioned Hippolyta once. But it’s all show.’
    ‘No sex at all?’
    ‘Some people do without it,’ said Ophelia (who as far as I knew slept alone) wryly. ‘It’s the way wolf packs operate anyway. One boss male, one boss female, the rest help to look after the kids.’
    ‘How do you get to be the chosen ones?’
    ‘I don’t know. Fight for it, I suppose.’
    I must have looked shocked. Ophelia frowned impatiently again. ‘Look, you’ve got to think of them on their own terms. They’re nice people. They’re just…different.’
    ‘So Rusty and Eleanor fought Lexie and Rex and became the dominant pair?’
    ‘I don’t think so. I think Lexie and Rex were always just aunt and uncle. It was all before my time. I suppose Rusty and Eleanor fought their parents.’
    ‘What happened to the parents?’
    ‘Dunno. The family kept to themselves in those days. It’s only since Rusty and Eleanor have been head of the family that they started to mix with the rest of us. They even had a gathering up at the Tree last year.’
    ‘Wait a minute, let’s get this straight. Rusty and Eleanor are brother and sister!’
    ‘And husband and wife. Look, the kings and queens of Egypt used to marry their brothers and sisters.’
    ‘And look what happened to them,’ I said dryly. ‘All right, Rusty and Eleanor fought their parents and won. Did they have to fight all the others too?
    ‘How should I know?’
    ‘All right, we’ve got Rusty and Eleanor, and the aunts and uncles. Who else?”
    ‘Just the kids. Two litters so far—Len, Ben and Jennie, they’re teenagers. And then Bonnie, Connie and Johnnie, they’re just cubs.’
    ‘Cubs? I thought you said these people were mostly human.’
    ‘They are! It’s just…well, that’s what they call them. They call themselves werewolves too, sometimes. It’s justa joke. Anyway, the cubs come down here sometimes to play with the kids—or they used to. Eleanor doesn’t like them going out of their end of the valley now.’
    ‘She’s scared of the murderer?
    Ophelia met my eyes. ‘I think she’s more worried by people’s reactions to the murders.’
    ‘But surely no one would hurt a mob of kids!’
    Ophelia bit her lip. ‘There’ve been threats. Someone painted ‘blood calls for blood’ on their entrance wall a few days ago. And Sister Karen—do you remember her?’
    I nodded.
    ‘She called in here to tell us that Animals