As expected, Flowers had left her a message, so she called him back when she was tucked up in bed with a hot cup of tea.

‘Nerida,’ he said quietly. ‘How’s everything going?’

‘I didn’t expect to be so late. I’m in for the night now.’

‘That’s good.’

‘I left Thredbo early to help Elijah out. Heidi Lorrimer was rostered on to work tonight. The pilot was her brother.’

‘I know. We found out you worked with her when we visited the Lorrimers’ property today. How well do you know her?’

‘I don’t really. She’s standoffish with me—though not with Elijah, but she’s relying on him for work. I’m covering her shifts until she’s ready to come back, so it’ll mean more night work for me.’

Ryder might have been her handler, and her first contact in an emergency or anything requiring an immediate response, but it was Flowers who checked in with her every night. It had started at Ryder’s suggestion, as a way of keeping them all in the loop. Of course, Ryder hadn’t known that her decision to accept this undercover gig was in part an attempt to put some distance between her and Flowers after their hook-up a while back. Flowers had been understanding when she’d given him her reasons for not wanting to take things further. But the ‘cooling down’ break wasn’t quite working out as planned. They were talking nightly even when they didn’t have anything to report on the case.

‘It doesn’t matter how late it is when you get in,’ Flowers was saying now. ‘I’m often up until two or three in the morning anyway.’

Sterling grimaced and turned down the electric blanket. ‘What on earth are you doing, and how do you function the next day?’

There was a short pause, then: ‘I don’t need a lot of sleep.’

‘Clearly.’

‘Has Heidi Lorrimer ever mentioned her twin brother, Art?’

‘No, I’ve never had a conversation with her about her family. How are they holding up?’

‘Dan Lorrimer was shocked. He didn’t know Art was flying in. It sounds like they’re estranged.’

‘Well, they wouldn’t be on their own there. Do you know what went wrong with the plane yet? The lights are still on at the airport.’

‘Only that it slammed into a tractor someone left on the runway.’

‘Do you have any idea how it got there?’

‘Nope. Hopefully I’ll find out tomorrow when I start talking to more people.’

‘Ryder warned me I’d see you around.’

‘Maybe not that much. He wants me to stay in Thredbo.’

‘Oh, are you at the Golden Wattle?’

‘No way, too many loved-up couples there. I found a self-catering unit. There’s half a dozen of them further down the hill.’

‘That sounds nice.’