‘Do you remember anything distinctive about them?’ asked Flowers.

‘Yes,’ said Ethan. ‘They didn’t look like the kind of people who pay their taxes.’

There was silence from everyone at the table. Ryder looked at each of the Lorrimers again. ‘When did this start?’

As Dan and Ethan thought back, it was Heidi who answered. ‘When I was away at school, fifteen years ago. Dan and Ethan were back home by then.’

‘That’s right,’ Dan said. ‘Mum and Dad were worried every time someone knocked on the door. Dad, Ethan and I would band together and get rid of them.’

‘Did you pay them off?’ asked Flowers.

Dan nodded. ‘In the beginning, but they kept coming back.’

‘Art was learning to fly at the time,’ Heidi said. ‘The day he got his licence, Mum gave him money to buy a plane.’

‘He took off not long after that, and we didn’t see him again,’ Ethan said, shaking his head. ‘He was rewarded with money for doing the wrong thing all his life, and he didn’t even have the decency to come home and see his family.’

‘He needed a way out,’ Dan argued. ‘The pilot’s licence was the only qualification he had. It enabled him to find work and shift around if they found him. Have you ever thought that he might not have come home because the people we’ve been talking about might have been lying in wait for him?’

‘He couldn’t pick up a telephone?’ asked Ethan.

A tense silence brewed between the brothers before Dan said softly, ‘Maybe he was thinking of us, and he deliberately stayed away so he didn’t bring us more trouble.’

Ethan stared at his brother. ‘Listen to yourself. Art was born selfish. He never thought about anyone other than himself.’

‘Ethan—’ Dan began.

‘No. Art never lifted a finger to help us with this place. He didn’t care that you were running the station singlehandedly, or that Heidi and I were working other jobs so the bills could get paid. No way. Art’s priority was Art.’

Heidi sniffed loudly, her shoulders shaking. ‘He did come home for Dad’s funeral, and for Mum’s,’ she said.

‘I’m sorry, detectives,’ Dan said, looking at his sister. ‘I think Heidi needs a rest.’

‘We’re just about done,’ Ryder said, raising his eyebrows at Flowers in a silent question.

‘There is one more thing,’ Flowers said, taking out his phone. ‘You might recall a man’s body was dragged from the Thredbo River about six months ago?’ Flowers held out his phone. ‘Could this be one of the men who used to come by here?’

Impressed at how quickly Flowers was linking the information and seeking to verify his suspicions, Ryder watched the Lorrimer siblings study what he guessed was the Crime Stoppers image of Scruffy Freidman.