Jack put a bowl of soup down in front of him and someone else put damper on his side plate. Vanessa, he presumed. He missed what type of soup Eva said it was, but it didn’t matter. He let the buzz of conversation wrap around him, relieved Flowers had decided to join them. The added responsibility he’d given his partner had seemed to dispel what Ryder had feared was a growing dissatisfaction with the job.

‘Can you come to my school?’

Ryder turned towards Vanessa to see Poppy looking at him intently, her arms outstretched towards him.

‘Can you?’ she asked.

Ryder grasped her around the waist and lifted her onto his lap. ‘What about your dad?’ he said, catching Jack’s eye.

‘It has to be a policeman,’ Poppy said softly.

‘I tell you what, I’ll try my best to get there, but if I can’t, will Sterling or Flowers do?’

Poppy nodded and, chuffed with her success, climbed off his lap and went to tell her mother the news.

‘I find that ointment works really well,’ Vanessa was telling Sterling. ‘It takes away the inflammation. Remind me to give you a tube before you go home. It’ll help bring out the bruising.’

‘Yeah, it’s a bad one,’ Flowers said, picking up his wine glass and taking a sip.

There was a sudden silence around the table, and then Vanessa and Eva burst out laughing.

It didn’t matter to Ryder where Sterling’s bruise was, and whether Flowers had seen it or not. It mattered to him that he had Heidi Lorrimer in custody, and that Sterling had lived to tell the tale.

‘Has Heidi given you any useful information yet?’ Jack asked in a low voice. ‘I made some discreet enquiries with my army buddies, but I didn’t learn anything.’ He tipped his head towards the lounge room. ‘They’ve all gone to bed.’

Ryder nodded and kept his voice low. ‘She gave me a list of people involved, and she was there when Garrett killed Freidman. She can give us a first-hand account.’

‘When did she tell you this, Sarge?’ Flowers asked.

Ryder looked up. He must have spoken louder than he thought because all eyes were on him. ‘This afternoon. I spoke to her again after I had lunch with Benson.’

‘What are the top brass saying?’ asked Jack.

‘They’ll consider giving her protection. We’ll be backwards and forwards from prison for a while yet handling this one.’ He leaned forward and picked up the bottle of red wine. ‘But let’s not talk any more about that. Tonight is a celebration and . . . I’m starting to feel better now I’ve had something to eat.’

‘That’s the cue for me to get the duck legs,’ said Jack.

‘Oh my God, I love duck,’ said Sterling.