Chapters (58)
- COVER PAGE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- DEDICATION
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Acknowledgements
‘I reframed it, and it’s been on my wall ever since,’ Wendy continued. ‘Sounds a little bit loopy, I know, but changing that frame made all the difference in the world.’
‘Maybe you were old enough to appreciate it,’ Sterling said.
‘You’re probably right.’
Flowers was eager for them to push on to Thredbo, so they said their goodbyes to the Buchanans and left.
‘Thank you for the print,’ Sterling said as they walked back to the car. ‘I’ll think of Heidi Lorrimer in prison when I look at it.’
Flowers swung around. ‘Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea? It might give you nightmares.’
Sterling laughed. ‘You bought one of the cemetery.’
‘That’s true.’
‘I won’t hang it anywhere conspicuous, but it will be a subtle reminder of how lucky I am to be here, and to not take anything for granted.’
‘That’s a positive way of looking at it,’ said Flowers. ‘Geez, I was a bit on edge in there. A couple of times I nearly said something to Cate about Ethan. It’s weird how they don’t know.’
‘I got a shock as soon as I walked in,’ Sterling said when they were in the car.
Flowers turned to look at her. ‘A shock? Why?’
‘I recognised Lewis Buchanan—he was the man having lunch with Sergeant Collins in the hotel that day.’
Fifty
Flowers and Sterling had gone looking for Ryder when they’d arrived at the Golden Wattle Lodge. The guests were late finishing dinner, so Vanessa had left the three of them alone in the suite to give Poppy a bath. Eva and Jack were trying to coax the stragglers out of the dining room and into the lounge.
‘That’s interesting,’ Ryder said, after hearing that Sterling had recognised Lewis Buchanan as the man having lunch with Sergeant Collins.
‘Why don’t you call in and ask Collins about it when you’re down there collecting your things? It would be good to know. He might not tell you—you know how the country cops feel about us poking our noses into their communities.’ Ryder sighed, the familiar emptiness returning to the pit of his stomach. ‘It’s strange to think that I’ll soon be among their ranks.’
Ryder looked at Flowers’ and Sterling’s crestfallen faces. ‘I’m not going to pretend leaving Homicide will be easy, but when I look at you two, I know the future of the squad is in good hands. So . . . here we go.’ He handed out the beers Jack had brought in while apologising for the hold up. ‘Congratulations. Both of you stepped up and took on more responsibility, and you proved you were up to the job.’
They clinked bottles and Ryder took a long drink of the lager. Once Heidi’s court appearance was over, he was looking forward to a few days off himself.