Footsteps echoed on a hardwood floor, and a woman who looked to be in her late thirties opened the door. She was dressed in workout gear, her platinum blonde hair swept up in a bun. She peered at them through the screen door, her expression wary.

Flowers flashed his badge and introduced them both. ‘We understand Art Lorrimer’s siblings reside here?’ he asked.

‘That’s right,’ the woman said a little breathlessly. She dragged a sweat towel off her shoulder and wiped it over her face. A workout video could be heard playing from somewhere inside the house.

‘We’d like to speak to them if possible. It’s concerning their brother, Arthur,’ Flowers said.

‘Oh, okay, I’ll get my husband. He’s the only one home at the moment.’ The woman stepped back and closed the door.

It was an unusual reaction, and from Ryder’s raised eyebrows he was thinking the same thing. Most people expressed concern, even panic, to find two detectives on their doorstep, but this woman was calm and measured, if a little wary.

‘I wonder how old the other siblings are,’ Flowers mused. ‘Art’s thirty-five, but she looks about forty.’

‘I assumed they’d be younger than Art too, seeing they’re all living together,’ said Ryder. ‘Maybe not.’

It wasn’t long before the woman was back. ‘Dan’s in the shower cleaning up,’ she said, holding the door open. ‘One of our heifers threw a calf this morning. You’d better come in.’

Flowers followed the woman down a shadowy hallway. ‘In here,’ she said, showing them into a room on the left. ‘Dan won’t be long.’

She left them alone, and Flowers wondered if she had returned to her workout. The prospect of impending bad news concerning her brother-in-law didn’t seem to have impacted her, but just as that thought came to mind the music was switched off.

The room was enormous, with flowery wallpaper and velvet drapes pulled back from the windows. Flowers moved across the carpet square to the impressive cast-iron fireplace at the far end, where the air temperature was even colder, the grate depressingly empty.

‘I can see why she’s working out,’ he muttered, eyeing a water-colour in a heavy gold frame as he went to stand beside Ryder at the window. ‘This place is cold as a grave.’

Ryder didn’t answer, and Flowers winced inwardly at his poor choice of words. He might be starving, freezing his butt off and have a headache banging like a bass drum, but he wasn’t going to screw up the opportunity to take the lead whenever he was asked to. He’d worked hard to dispel Ryder’s initial misgivings when they’d first been partnered together, and over time he’d gained his respect. Now, their partnership was solid, bordering on friendship even, and Flowers valued that.