Half an hour later, she pushed the last of the files back into the filing cabinet. Perspiration trickled all over her. The pedestal fan she’d brought out with her made no impact on the heat but gave her tiny moments of respite as it blew over her damp skin.

She had just glanced over two generations of historical documents. The original purchase of Wood Dell in pounds, shillings and pence and documented in old type, assorted dockets for major farm purchases and more personal records like Dan’s father’s death certificate; all kinds of papers but no copy of the will that was causing them so much grief. Not that it mattered. She had seen a copy in Glen’s office but she thought reading it again might give her some clue as to why Dan thought he needed to hide it from her.

Paula leaned back in the office chair. She had been hunched forward for too long and the baby was pressing down heavily. If she stood up quickly, she felt as if it would just fall out.

“Not that I can stand up quickly any more,” she muttered to herself.

As she turned the chair, she noticed the corner of an envelope sticking out of the bottom drawer of the desk. She hadn’t looked in the desk drawers because she knew what they contained. Or at least she thought she did. The bottom drawer was where Dan kept farm records. Perhaps the will was in there.

Paula stuck out her bottom lip and blew air up over her face. She couldn’t stay in the stifling office any longer. She would have to find a cooler spot to continue her search.

A while later she was set up in the kitchen. She had dragged the table along so that it was directly under the ceiling fan. Then she had set up the pedestal fan behind her with a wet sheet hanging over the clothes airer between her and the fan. She’d brought the bottom drawer from the desk and any other items she wanted to look at and stacked them in piles along one side of the table. The chairs were too hard to sit on with the baby pressing down so heavily so she manoeuvred the office chair into the kitchen.

She’d just moved it into place when an alert blurted from the radio. Paula clutched the back of the chair as she stopped to listen. There were fires in several parts of the state. The area to the south of their property was still causing concern. Paula moved closer to the radio. There were warnings for road users but none for anywhere nearby. The fire was being driven away from her by the strong northerly winds.