‘Do you remember that day or not?’ prompted Flowers, reluctant to give him too much time to frame an answer.

‘Not really, but if Orville said it happened . . .’

‘He remembers it clearly. He said you told him it was no big deal, that Dan had a spare. Was the Dan you were referring to Dan Lorrimer?’

‘It would have been. I’m not friends with any other Dan.’

Flowers bit back his frustration at Hoff’s constraint. ‘Does Dan Lorrimer have a spare key to the tractor?’

Hoff shifted in his seat. ‘I don’t know if he still has it.’

‘Why did he have the spare in the first place?’

Hoff looked as if he was going to be physically sick. ‘I hate this. I feel like I’m dobbing in a good mate.’

Flowers leaned forward, excited for what they were about to learn.

‘Just tell us,’ Ryder said.

There was another lengthy silence while Hoff gathered his thoughts. ‘Ten years ago, I bought that tractor from Dan Lorrimer. We were having a beer, and he said he was looking at upgrading the one he had. I was after a second-hand one for here. Our ride-on mower was on its last legs, so I asked him what he wanted for it.’ Hoff raked his hair back with his fingers then shook his head. ‘He gave me a price, and I bought it.’

He hesitated, and Flowers waited, wondering what was coming next.

‘The thing is, I’m pretty absent-minded. I’m always losing my sunglasses and misplacing little things, you know, like the automatic buttons for those roller doors. It drives my wife mad. She reckons I need a handbag. I lose stuff—wallets, keys, you name it. That’s me.’ Hoff gazed outside to the airstrip where green shoots were sprouting through the patch of burnt grass, then he looked back at the policemen.

‘So, when Dan delivered the tractor, he gave me two keys. Knowing what I’m like, I asked him if he’d hold on to one as a spare for me. Now, in all the time we’ve had the tractor, not once have I needed that spare key, which must be some kind of record. But that’s because it’s always in the drawer, and I’m not carrying it around with a whole lot of other stuff.’

‘I remember asking you if that was the only key you had,’ said Flowers, ‘and you confirmed that it was. Then Detective Ryder and I made it clear that we were looking for people in the area who owned similar models. Are you saying that the spare key you’d given Dan Lorrimer didn’t cross your mind?’