‘Good heavens, what a terrible thing you’ve had to deal with,’ said Wendy, getting up and coming over to them. ‘We’ve heard a few whisperings about what’s happened in the last twenty-four hours—you know how fast news travels around here—but I know you can’t talk about that. Suffice to say we’ve kept our little celebration low-key out of respect for the Lorrimers.’

Flowers nodded and tried not to look at Cate. He had to remind himself that no one knew about her relationship with Ethan. Instead, he turned to Lewis.

‘Congratulations on getting the subdivision through council. Mhanda Van Engelen told me the news today.’

‘Thanks. It’s been a lengthy process, and Mhanda’s been fantastic.’

‘She was helpful when we visited the council. She seemed to be all over it,’ said Flowers.

‘Yes, she’s done a great job.’

There was a pause in the conversation, and then Wendy said, ‘You wanted to have a look through the prints? I remember you being quite taken with them the first day you were here. And you visited John’s gallery, didn’t you?’

‘I did.’ Flowers thought back to the conversation with John Gilbert the day he’d learned that White Winter Station was to be subdivided.

Wendy led them over to the box he’d looked through before. ‘Do you remember if there was a particular one you liked?’ she asked, picking up the box and putting it on a table where they could more easily look through the prints.

‘I liked the one of the cemetery.’

‘Really?’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s a strange choice, but I admit we do sell a few of them. Oh, here’s one of Buchanan Hut,’ she said, passing it to him. ‘You’ve been there.’

Flowers looked down at the sketch. ‘I like that. I’ll take them both.’ He turned to Sterling. ‘Pick one. My shout.’

‘Yeah?’ She grinned at him. ‘Okay, thanks.’

‘Then you can help me choose one for Sarge.’

In the end, they decided on one of Dead Horse Gap for Ryder and Sterling chose one of the homestead.

‘Good choice,’ Wendy told her. ‘I have the original. It’s the first one John drew of the old house. My father gave it to me just before he died.’

‘It must be a very precious family heirloom,’ said Sterling.

‘It is now but I wasn’t impressed when I was young.’ Wendy wrapped the prints individually in tissue paper and slipped them into a paper bag. ‘It had a very ornate gold frame that had been broken at one point, and Dad had made a poor job of gluing it back together.’ Wendy chuckled. ‘I forgot I even had it until I found the exact same frame in Vinnies one day. And it didn’t look so ugly then.’

Flowers tapped his card and she handed him the bag.