‘It’s dark through here,’ Flowers said, steering through the hairpins. ‘Thank God they’ve put these new double guard rails in with reflectors, it’s a long way down on your si—Whoa!’ Flowers stared through the windscreen. Across the road, close to the rocky cliff, a deer was racing along beside them, keeping pace with the car.

‘Slow down in case it comes across,’ said Ryder.

Flowers braked lightly, letting the deer pull ahead. Sure enough, it suddenly crossed in front of the car and with graceful ease flew over the guard rail to disappear down the steep embankment.

‘That was freaking amazing,’ Flowers said excitedly. ‘A bit different to driving in Sydney traffic.’

Ryder chuckled. ‘I reckon. I hear they cause their fair share of problems though.’

‘I’m not surprised.’

For the next hour Flowers stayed focused on getting him and Ryder safely to Thredbo.

‘Remember Thalia Cooper?’ Ryder asked as Flowers left the Alpine Way and turned into Banjo Patterson Drive.

‘The sergeant at Jindabyne?’

‘Yeah. How about you call in and see her tomorrow morning while I’m with Sterling? She might know Garrett.’

‘Good idea, Sarge. It would be helpful to know a bit about his background.’

‘Especially if he’s likely to set his dog on us,’ Ryder said, stifling a yawn.

‘I hope he does. Then I’ll be able to arrest him.’

At eleven-thirty Flowers finally called Sterling.

‘Hello?’ she said. He could tell by her clipped tone how angry she was.

‘Hi, Nerida,’ he said, sounding pathetic even to himself. ‘Sorry it’s so late. Sarge and I just got back from the Lorrimers.’

She didn’t ask what they’d learned, or enquire about his day like she usually did. She didn’t say anything at all.

Flowers swallowed. ‘Look, I’m sorry about today. I was out of line—’

‘Out of line?’ she said, her voice like ice. ‘What were you even doing there?’

‘Ryder sent me to check on you, after Garrett was in your street. His car was in the carpark. I knew he was inside.’

‘And what, you thought he was going to set his dog on me while I was waitressing? God, why didn’t you just leave when you saw I was okay?’

‘I wanted to get a good look at him. I’d only seen the photo on his licence.’ Flowers cringed. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. ‘And then the bogan at the next table . . .’

‘You caused a scene,’ she snapped. ‘You drew attention to yourself, and to me. People know you’re a detective, some of them have seen you in the hotel with Sergeant Collins. And you’ve interviewed Heidi.’

‘I didn’t like the way that tosser spoke—’