Ryder flexed his fingers inside his gloves, pushed the button to activate his seat warmer, and settled in for the drive to Tooma.

The first sound to greet Ryder when he climbed out of the car at White Winter Station was the whine of an automatic hedge trimmer. A man wearing overalls and gardening gloves was standing on a ladder trimming a two-metre-high hedge that grew beneath one of the old jacarandas. A wheelbarrow nearby was overflowing with leaves and branches.

Ryder watched the man silently as he waited for Flowers to park beside him.

‘Is that a maze over there?’ Flowers asked, slamming the door and pointing to a square of high hedges. ‘Those things used to freak me out when I was kid.’

Ryder smiled as they walked towards the house. ‘Did you think you’d never get out?’

‘Yeah.’

This time it was Dan Lorrimer who answered their rap on the door.

‘Detectives,’ he said, peering past them to look at the gardener. ‘Come in.’

He showed them into the same cavernous room at the front of the house, though the temperature was slightly warmer this time. A woman who looked to be in her early thirties stood close to the fire. She was shivering, possibly due to the ripped jeans and loose knitted jumper that hung off one shoulder, leaving it bare.

‘Heidi,’ Dan Lorrimer said gently, ‘these are the detectives who were here yesterday, Detective Ryder and Detective Flowers.’

The woman folded her arms tightly across her chest, as if by hugging herself she could trap her emotions inside.

‘Hello, Heidi,’ Ryder said, ignoring her shivering. ‘Please accept our condolences for the loss of your brother.’

‘Thank you,’ she murmured, watching as Kristin Lorrimer came into the room.

Heidi was not at all what Ryder had expected. Her blonde hair was cut in a pixie style, the pink tips matching the pink-and-gold Japanese fans dangling from her ears. Her eyebrows didn’t arch but instead slanted upwards in a straight line towards her temples.

‘Kristin, would you go and ask Ethan to come in?’ Dan said to his wife, his voice laced with frustration. ‘I’m surprised he didn’t see the detectives arrive.’

Kristin disappeared without a word and Dan herded them towards a large dining table. ‘Why don’t we all sit down here?’ he said. ‘You can start, detectives; Ethan can catch up when he gets here.’

Ryder sat next to Flowers, Dan and Heidi opposite them. ‘We are in the process of preparing a report for the Coroner—not that there is any dispute as to how your brother died,’ began Ryder, ‘but his body can’t be released until he’s been formally identified by DNA.’

Heidi drew a tissue from the sleeve of her jumper and wiped her seeping eyes. Dan put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze. ‘You’re okay,’ he said in a reassuring tone.