Tilly’s colour rose again. ‘No, I don’t,’ she said vehemently, then added more moderately, ‘not at all. In fact I had no idea until . . . Anyway, I doubt that Sophie’s about to sack him. Apart from anything else, this place would be lost without a mechanic. Luke can change a tyre and that’s about it.’

‘Good. It means I shouldn’t have to worry that he’ll disappear on me. Look, thanks for the tea and the chat, Tilly. I’d better get moving. I hope you all succeed in talking your visitor round on the springs. That whole area is certainly worth exploiting. The tourists will love it.’

‘We think so too.’ Tilly walked to the verandah with him and stood to watch him leave, then checked the pleasing growth of her seedlings in the tubs at the foot of the steps and returned to her weeding.

Sophie and Graeme arrived back mid-afternoon. Luke was home by then, and Matt arrived soon afterwards. He had been fencing, it seemed. Luke helped him load a supply of timber posts for next day, and while Graeme showered, Tilly pounced on her cousin. ‘Well? How did it go?’

‘Pretty well, I think.’ Sophie was cautious but there was a gleam of excitement in her eyes. ‘He was definitely impressed, and he said he could see the potential. Turns out he’s got a real interest in birds too, so tomorrow I think I’ll get Luke to take him down to the coast along the river road. There’ll be plenty of wading birds to look at, and with a bit of luck, he’ll see jabiru and fish eagles too.’

‘Birds?’ Tilly raised her brows. ‘What’s that got to do with Sandstone?’

Sophie shrugged. ‘If zebras were his thing, I’d do my damnedest to find some of them for him. I want him to love the place, Till. What resources get allocated to the various properties the WPA owns isn’t just up to him. He has to go back and convince the board, or shareholders or whatever, that it’s worth spending here. I want him to root for Binboona. It’s a truckload of money we’re asking for.’

Tilly nodded. ‘That makes sense. I’ve made pasties for his lunch tomorrow, and he’ll have croissants for breakfast.’

‘You’re the best! Anything interesting happen today?’

‘Connor came through and I told him about Matt. He said you chewed him out properly. He’s really sorry, you know, about having to deceive you. You didn’t actually call him a weasel, did you, Soph?’

‘I believe the phrase was “weaselling his way into the place”,’ she replied. ‘Why couldn’t he just have explained to us?’

‘How? He’s working undercover! There’s also a cop in the stock camp at Spadgers Creek. I bet Bruce Hansen isn’t aware of that either, so don’t mention it.’