‘I act for the family, Ethan, and that included Art. I acted on his instructions the same way I’d act on yours.’

‘But it had been so long since we’d heard from him, I assumed you would let us know.’ Dan gave a disappointed shake of his head.

A tense silence ensued. Ryder wondered how long Thomas and Associates would continue to represent the Lorrimer family.

‘The lawyer acting on Art’s instructions gained the impression your brother had never agreed to the sale of White Winter Station,’ said Ryder, ‘and yet Mr Thomas holds a document that appears to have been signed by all four of you two years ago.’

Thomas put down his pen. Dan was staring straight ahead at the wall. Ethan shifted in his seat.

Ryder turned to Jeremy Thomas. ‘Could we see your copy?’

‘Yes, sure.’ Thomas opened the file, located the form and put it on the table.

Flowers picked it up and handed it to Dan. ‘Can you both confirm that these are your signatures?’

They both looked at the page, then nodded and said yes.

‘Where were Heidi and Art when they signed the form?’ Ryder asked.

‘Heidi signed it at home, and we emailed it to Art.’

Ryder looked at both brothers. ‘Well, this is where we have a problem,’ he said. ‘We’ve had Art’s signature on this agreement compared to another document he signed, and it’s been confirmed by our analyst that the signature on this document is not your brother’s.’

The room turned silent, save for the sound of reversing sensors coming from the street below.

Ryder waited. In the end, Dan looked at his brother. Ethan gave a slight nod.

‘Oh, look, we were all in a bind because of Art,’ Dan said. ‘He’d taken off and it was always difficult to contact him. We emailed him the form. He rang, all fired up, and said he wouldn’t sign. He said his share of the property was his superannuation, and that if the people he owed money to found out the property was to be sold, they’d come after him and try to extract it.’

Ethan nodded. ‘He’s always been the hothead, and we’ve often had to talk common sense into him.’

‘So, the reason for Art’s objection was to keep his money out of the hands of the same people who used to come looking for him?’ said Flowers.

Dan nodded. ‘Yes, but we think his objection came from a lack of understanding of how the trust worked, rather than any genuine desire to hold on to the property. Ethan and I have always managed the finances, Heidi and Art never took an interest. We didn’t think that Art fully understood.’

‘Understood what?’ said Flowers.

‘That even if we sold the property, his share could stay safely within the trust, for as long as he wanted it to.’