‘Matt doesn’t tease,’ Tilly said flatly. ‘It’s business or silence with him, you know it is. And I’ve just remembered that it was the workshop Connor chose to search. Not the sheds or the engine room, but the one place, apart from his room, that is Matt’s domain. Like maybe he always suspected him. Connor started out looking for drug dealers. Who’s to say Matt’s not into that too? And consider this: to be efficient, wildlife traffickers would really need a man on the ground to tell them when the coast was clear. Matt’s perfectly placed for that, isn’t he? That’s why you shouldn’t let him talk to Graeme – not if you want Sandstone to be developed – because it’s the last thing he’ll want.’

Sophie looked torn. She said, ‘But he’s good at his job. He cares about what we do here.’

‘Or he pretends to. And don’t forget he knows every inch of the country. Stands to reason with the amount of time he spends out on the roads. Who is better placed to tell the poachers about a handy cave where they can stash the animals they steal until they’re ready to collect them? And when the rangers are somewhere else for the day?’

‘You could say the same about Luke,’ Sophie retorted. ‘He knows the country equally well.’

‘Can he drive a grader?’ Tilly asked. ‘Anyway, can you see Luke killing and terrorising birds?’ Exasperated with her cousin’s unwillingness to believe, she rolled her eyes. ‘Remember, I was there today. I saw him on that road – well, one of our vehicles, which comes to the same thing! I saw the cave where the cages had been, not to mention that damned great snake and the box he got out of. Look, Connor wants to keep the whole thing quiet and let it play out until they can nab the lot of them – but I thought you ought to know.’

‘Well, thanks – I think. All right, I’ll bear it in mind. And I might have a word with your Mr Doyle too, when I see him next. I’ll give him botany!’

‘He’s not mine,’ Tilly said sharply. And then reminded, she added, ‘By the way, Luke’s Jane is heading this way soon, for a week apparently. He wondered if we could house her? She’s coming on the mail plane so she won’t have camping gear.’

Sophie got tiredly to her feet, smothering another yawn. ‘Oh God, why not? Undercover agents, stray girlfriends . . . I might as well be running a pub.’

Chapter Twenty-one