The bridge had seen better days. Its triangular timber supports stretched to the meandering river some 60 feet below. The road base was made up of timber sleepers lying end to end from one side of the bridge to the other. Some sleepers were loose and bounced up to meet the tyres of Cardilini’s car, slapping and thudding as he passed. The result was a very noisy crossing. The car bounced from the bridge onto a single-lane bitumen road. Cardilini cruised slowly, avoiding the steep gravel banks of the road while he searched through the bordering gum trees for sign of a homestead. He saw one sheltering in a grove of tall gum trees surrounded by sheds and rainwater tanks.

Cardilini turned left off the bitumen onto a gravel road. A cyclone gate blocked the way.

He got out of the car and opened the gate, noting the name ‘Taylor’ painted on a tin plate. He drove through and closed it before continuing.

Stubble from a recently harvested wheat crop stretched out on either side of the driveway. The car bumped over corrugations in the gravel before the road smoothed and snaked into the grove of gums. Cardilini pulled the car up in front of the house which was of the same vintage and design as the Leggett house. He lit a cigarette and considered the possibility that he was about to encounter another branch of the Leggett family.

He stepped onto the broad front verandah and rapped on the flyscreen door, which, like the Leggett’s, also hung loosely in its doorframe.

‘Come in,’ was yelled from the depths of the house. Cardilini entered and pulled the flyscreen door to behind him. He walked the length of the corridor and stood at the entrance to the kitchen where a man and a woman sat at a scrubbed timber table with large mugs in front of them.

‘Who the hell are you?’ the man asked in surprise.

‘Detective Sergeant Cardilini from the East Perth branch. I just wanted to confirm the information you provided regarding the use of firearms on the property.’

‘Oh. For Christ’s sake. Are you all bloody dense?’ the man snapped. He was wizened and balding but had bright blue eyes and a lopsided, cheeky grin.

‘It can appear that way,’ Cardilini conceded.

A tall, austere and handsome woman with hair tied back in a tight bun said, ‘Well, you better have a cup of tea. We were expecting someone else. Sit down. Sit down.’ She went to a kitchenette for another large mug.

‘Yeah, well, I’m Taylor. This is my wife, Mrs Taylor,’ Taylor said and held out his hand.

‘Cardilini. Thanks, sorry if this is a trouble.’

‘No trouble.’ Mrs Taylor poured from the teapot. ‘Milk?’

‘Thanks.’

‘So, what do you want to know this time?’ Taylor asked.

‘The report stated that a stray .303 fired from this side killed the teacher.’

Taylor and his wife shared an irritated look.