Tait stood for a moment, looking at the shelves, the boxes, ledgers and files. The subterranean quiet had already leeched the space of their voices from only seconds before. The stillness was tomb-like. Only the faint buzzing of electric light hooked his ear, the sole link to the surface.

He took off his hat, tossed it onto the table. He lit a cigarette and went over to the nearest shelf. He looked for some kind of label designation, cataloguing numbers and dates, but there was nothing. He flipped open one of the ledgers. A document slipped to the floor.

There were thousands of documents, maybe tens of thousands. Tait looked for John Myer among them. He couldn’t find him that first day. He couldn’t find him on the second or the third or the fourth day either.

‘How’s it going down there?’ the clerk said.

‘Great,’ Tait said.

RUMOURS

‘So, I hear you’re getting married.’

It was the first thing Wilson O’Farrell had said in at least an hour.

‘Who told you I was getting married?’ Tait said.

‘Nobody,’ Wilson O’Farrell said. ‘Just heard the whisper.’

The fire was going and outside it was already dark and the snow was still falling in long, heavy drifts. They’d discovered a possum in the flue before and the hut was still reeking of piss and adrenaline, the animal hissing and scratching after Wilson had wrapped his arm in rags and reached up into the pipe, trying to grab it. Then he’d attempted to smoke it out, but the fire wouldn’t pull cleanly to flame (‘We’re going to freeze to death ’cause of this bloody thing’) and then finally he’d had to climb up onto the roof with his rifle and shoot the possum down the chimney.

Tait stared at Wilson. Joseph smiled and patted him on the shoulder. ‘Second cousin, mate,’ he said. ‘Mother’s side.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Evie Langridge. We’re related. We used to play together when we were kids.’

Jesus, thought Gabriel Tait.

‘Evie’s great,’ Joseph said. ‘Haven’t seen her in a while though.’

‘She’s moved up in the world,’ Wilson O’Farrell said, poking at the fire. ‘No more playing with little Joe.’ He turned to his brother. ‘Anything to drink?’

Joseph stood up. ‘I’ll have a look.’