Was simple curiosity reason enough? But why should he have the slightest interest in Matt? The two men were as good as strangers, having barely, to Tilly’s knowledge, spoken more than politeness demanded. Matt had ignored Connor, apart from the occasional comment to Tilly, prompted by apparent jealousy of a wrongly percieved understanding between them. Totally wrong, Tilly reiterated to herself. Still, Connor had been curious. All those questions he’d asked her about herself and the others – their backgrounds, their tasks at Binboona. Surely it was just a natural interest in one’s chance companions – but you couldn’t say the same thing about searching through those same companions’ belongings. If he had, she reminded herself.

Something else Matt had said echoed in her head: What do we know about the bloke anyway, eh? It was a fair question, and in all honesty, the answer was very little. Connor had identified himself through a message he himself had left on the phone. She must check with Sophie, Tilly thought, but she was pretty sure that her cousin hadn’t actually spoken to anyone at the university about the field trip he was supposedly undertaking. Which meant that no third party had vouched for him. He had represented himself as being who he was. And of course she believed him. She did. Only some faint tinge of suspicion she wished to banish lingered in her mind. The simplest way to do it, she thought resolutely, would be to ring the uni and ask for the whereabouts of Connor Doyle, botanist.

Momentarily pausing the brush, Tilly wondered whether she should take this step. Doing so, even contemplating it, gave body to the nebulous disquiet she felt, but it was more than that. Her hand moved again but the bristles, meeting the hair wrong, got caught and she winced, carefully disentangling the strands, brow creasing in a little frown. Checking up on him implied that Connor mattered to her, and she wasn’t yet sure that she wanted this to be so. She would have to think carefully about it. It was too late tonight anyway, and there would be no chance in the morning with the others around. Which shouldn’t matter, Tilly told herself severely, but somehow it did.

A spurt of exasperation made her grimace. Indecisiveness seemed to be becoming a habit. It was a simple matter, for God’s sake! Either Connor was nosy to the point of transgressing the rules of hospitality, or he was hiding something. Her reaction should be as clear cut as the problem – check it out, or forget it. Laying the brush aside, Tilly wriggled lower in the bed and pulled the covers up, then lay for a long time staring at the ceiling before reaching over to switch off the bedside light.