‘Well, there was a day, a long time ago now, when I turned up to cut the grass at the airport and Ben couldn’t find the tractor key. It hadn’t been put away in the drawer, and he was looking everywhere for it. After he’d been searching for about ten minutes, I said that I’d go home, and he could ring me when he found it. And that’s when he said, “Look, it’s no big deal if we can’t find it, Dan has a spare key at his place.”’

‘He meant Dan Lorrimer?’ Flowers said, glancing at Ryder.

‘That’s who I thought he meant. They’re good mates.’

‘So, what happened then?’

‘I hung around a bit longer. One of the other pilots had turned up by then and not long afterwards they found the key. We didn’t need the spare. As I said, it might be nothing . . .’

‘Thanks very much for that information, Orville. You did the right thing telling us. We’ll follow it up now.’

‘Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like saying anything about Ben,’ Orville went on before Flowers could hang up. ‘He can be a bit disorganised, but he’s a good bloke.’

They said goodbye and Flowers turned and looked at Ryder. ‘Well, that’s a turn-up. I wasn’t expecting that.’

‘Neither was I,’ said Ryder. ‘C’mon, let’s get going.’

They made good time and arrived in Khancoban just before one. The airport was back in operation, a small plane Flowers hadn’t seen before parked close to the shed. They found Ben Hoff standing at the copier, watching sheets slide into the collator.

‘Hello,’ he said, pausing the machine and waving a hand towards the table where Flowers had sat with Zane Alam and Sergeant Collins the morning of the crash. To Flowers, Hoff looked as if he was coming down with something; his lanky frame seemed thinner, his face drawn and his eyes tired.

‘Are you feeling okay, Ben?’ Flowers asked. ‘You’re looking a little dusty.’

‘I’m fine.’

They sat down and Ryder held up his phone and asked for the usual permissions. Hoff agreed, then they waited as Ryder ran through the preliminaries.

‘How well do you know Dan Lorrimer?’ Flowers asked when they were set to go.

‘I know Dan really well,’ Hoff said, his eyes flitting between Flowers and Ryder. ‘We’ve been good mates since primary school. Why?’

‘How often do you see each other now?’

Hoff shrugged. ‘Not as often as we used to. We both have families and commitments. We try to catch up for a beer and dinner when we can.’

Flowers nodded and told him what Orville Parish had said about the misplaced tractor key. ‘Do you recall that particular day?’

Hoff frowned as though he was thinking back.