‘Then a voice broke the spell, the old farmer whose sheep they were, was walking our line yelling at us to stop, he wanted to get to his sheep without being shot. The gunshots ceased. The silence was deafening. Then we heard dogs screaming to the heavens, ten of them, as our lambs must have done. We walked across to the mongrels that were flipping around, letting out a hell of a racket, some biting at their wounds and thrashing about. It was hard work finishing them off, they knew what was happening and wanted no part of it. A few suddenly became house pets and crawled on shattered legs to the closest farmer’s feet. We wandered the paddock whistling and calling, figuring a town dog would respond to that out of habit, one did. The bloke who shot him said that was nearly as hard as having to shoot his own sheep. When everything was silent again we closed the gate, leaving the corpses there. A couple must have got away. One even ended up at the vet days later because the owner said the dog had been crawling scratching his backside on the ground. He had a twenty-two calibre bullet up his backside, must have been at some distance when the dog was running away. I knew the farmer and his .22 Hornet. Next morning we piled the corpses up in a ute, drove into town and laid them out on the lawn in front of the council building.’

Sheppard lit a cigarette from the one he had been smoking and pushed the old butt into the ground below the leaf litter. ‘There’s a lot of bitterness still around after that day. But we have nowhere near the problem we had.’

Doney got up and walked to the house.

A couple of times during Sheppard’s story, two of the women had come to the door and then retreated.

‘Is that why Edmund had to die?’ Cardilini asked.

‘Edmund,’ Sheppard muttered, ‘Jesus, you go on.’

‘Did you set a trap for Edmund, to get him to the window?’

Sheppard started to the house. ‘I’m getting that cup of tea. Thanks for your advice. I think we’ll speak to the constables.’ As an afterthought he said over his shoulder, ‘You’re welcome to come in if you want.’

Cardilini felt anger rising in him. ‘You’re no better than a murdering dog.’

Sheppard stood still, made a decision then turned, and walked back to Cardilini. Cardilini tensed for a fight, but before Cardilini saw it coming Sheppard’s fist hit him squarely on the side of his jaw. Light like a camera going off flashed before his eyes. He felt his knees hit the ground. He couldn’t hear or see anything but the flashing light. When he did open his eyes, Sheppard was squatting beside him, prodding his shoulder saying, ‘Come on man, come on man, I didn’t hit you that hard.’