‘Yes, Sarge, I’ll ask. I think she intends on coming, though. She’s getting changed.’

Ryder glanced at the door. ‘It’s three-and-a-half hours to Queanbeyan and we might not even charge Heidi tonight.’

‘Then again, she might decide to talk,’ said Flowers.

‘It’s hard to know if she’ll insist upon a lawyer.’ Ryder glanced over his shoulder. ‘It looks like Collins is ready to go. Let me know what you decide, okay?’

‘Will do, Sarge.’

Flowers watched Collins and Ryder drive off and the neighbours start to disperse, and then Sterling came out with her suitcase. She’d changed into black pants, a white ruffled shirt and a black blazer. She looked more like the Sterling he knew, except she was slightly unsteady on her feet.

‘Let me take that,’ he said, pointing to her suitcase.

‘Thanks,’ she said, letting him take hold of the handle. ‘I’ll come back for the car and the rest of my things later.’

‘Do you feel all right?’ he asked, his stomach still churning from listening to the attack on the phone. It was the worst ten minutes Flowers had ever lived through, not knowing what they were going to find when they got there. Of course, they had no way of knowing that Heidi had brought a syringe with her.

‘I’m hanging in there,’ Sterling said, giving him a wry smile. ‘The medics made sure nothing was broken and the shower helped. There’s a couple of areas where I have bad bruising.’

‘And that’s going to be really painful for a while. Okay, just take your time getting in the car.’

‘Excuse me.’

Flowers looked up to see a woman crossing the street.

‘I noticed how gingerly you’re moving, love,’ she said to Sterling. ‘Would you like an icepack? I have plenty in the freezer. Both my sons do snowboard cross.’

‘Oh, that’s thoughtful of you,’ Sterling said. ‘Yes, an icepack would be great.’

‘I’ll be back in a jiffy,’ the woman said.

There was a sudden gleam in Sterling’s eyes that looked like tears to Flowers, but before he could say or do anything, she quickly blinked them away. ‘I keep reminding myself there’s more good people in the world than bad,’ she said.

Flowers lifted her suitcase into the boot. ‘This job can make you doubt that sometimes.’

‘Heidi’s prepared to answer some questions,’ Ryder said, leading the way down the brightly lit hallway at the Queanbeyan police station. ‘She’s already in the interview room. One of the junior officers has put food in the viewing area so you’ll be able to watch from there.’

When they reached the viewing room, he opened the door for Sterling to go in first.

‘Thanks, Sarge,’ she said. Despite the long car trip, there was colour in her face again.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Better.’

‘She slept in the car for a while,’ said Flowers.