Two cars sat alongside hers in the carpark. One she knew to be Elijah’s, the other was a white twin-cab utility. Figuring the twin-cab belonged to Spider as he was the only one underage and drinking Coke, she pulled on her beanie and gloves and unlocked her fifteen-year-old Forrester. The cabin was like a fridge, but Sterling hardly noticed as a sweep of headlights lit up the car’s interior. She turned the engine over, leaving it to idle a little before reversing out. As she pulled out of the carpark two men from the group broke away from the others and began walking towards the ute.

Nestled below the western face of the Snowy Mountains, Khancoban was deserted at night: its few shops, the Snowy Hydro Information Centre and even the service station lay in darkness. But as Sterling rounded a wide curve in the road, a wash of light in the near distance lit up the murky sky. Portable lights at the airport, she thought, so the various teams can work through the night.

Minutes later, and without passing another car, Sterling pulled into the driveway of a split-level house and parked in the double carport. With the owners away, the house was in darkness, the nearest neighbours fifty metres down the road. The home was built on a gentle slope with a set of stairs leading to a wooden deck and the main entrance above. Below the stairs, at ground level, a plain wooden door led directly into a rumpus room. Using her phone torch to see the lock, Sterling let herself in. The room was long and narrow with exposed-brick walls, the only splash of colour the handmade quilt with a mountain design covering the queen-sized bed. When she was certain everything was exactly as she’d left it, she hung up her coat and dumped her things on the bed. After turning on the split-cycle air con, she headed for the brown-and-beige oil heater recessed into the far wall.

That old heater doesn’t work, the owner had said when she’d shown Sterling through the place. But if we removed it, we’d need to brick up the wall.

Crouching in front of the heater, Sterling removed the fascia and laid it on the carpet, then turned back to where her mobile phone and Glock were hidden inside. The mobile in her backpack had been set up for Ida Stevenson and given to her by Ryder. Leaving the pistol where it was, she took out her personal phone then carefully replaced the fascia.

While her personal mobile was booting up, she stripped off her white shirt, skinny black pants and boots and felt the tension leave her body for the first time that day. With only a single, wind-out window and with no internal access to the floor above, the rumpus room was the only place in Khancoban where Sterling felt safe.