‘How did you go with Sheppard?’ There was a little smile in the question.

‘Interesting fellow. Does he have a .303?’

‘Yep.’

‘Do you think he could shoot someone?’

‘Why not? If he had reason.’

‘He has reason.’

‘Then,’ a firm response, ‘yep.’

‘Could you check around to see if he’s capable of hitting a target at two hundred yards?’

‘I’m capable of hitting a target at two hundred yards,’ Saunders laughed.

‘All right, a bullseye? A cluster of five out of five?’

‘These guys shoot roos. I’ve been with them. There are half-a-dozen who constantly hit their target,’ Saunders concluded.

‘Was he home on the night of the twenty-sixth?’ Cardilini asked.

‘Is this an official investigation?’

‘No, but . . .’

‘Can’t help you. It’s difficult enough in a small community without nosing around for no reason.’ Saunders hung up.

It made sense that Doney could also make the shot. And he was in Perth at the time. In fact, there were a hundred farmers with sons at St Nicholas who could have reason, access, and the ability to shoot Edmund.

Cardilini went downstairs to the secretaries’ pool and the detectives’ pigeonholes. A sheet of paper sat neatly in his pigeon-hole. Yes. Yes. Cardilini pulled it out and scanned it. He scanned it again. Then, slowly, went from name to name. He crossed to Mrs Andreoli’s desk.

‘Anything else come with this?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, but I’m hiding it from you.’

Cardilini grunted and, returning to the second storey, pondered the manifest. Williamson’s name wasn’t on it. He could have used a false name. Awkward but not impossible. The manifest listed surname, first initial and booking agent.

Eventually, back at his desk, Cardilini obtained the phone numbers of the four booking agents used. He rang them and verified the identity of twenty-seven individuals; five fitted Williamson’s description, three he had contact details for, two he didn’t. He started to ring. The first three provided employment details. Cardilini checked the employer’s number given with the phone-book number of the employer and rang them. The employers verified the individuals were indeed as identified in the manifest. He started on the phone book to find the remaining two. Twenty-one calls later he had verified their existence.

Disappointed, he tidied his desk thinking about his hearing tomorrow when his phone rang. It was Constable Saunders from Williams.

‘It so happens Sheppard was away for three days. He left town on the twenty-fourth and arrived back on the twenty-seventh. He and a friend from Wongan Hills drove to Lake Grace for an Elder’s sale. I checked. They were legitimate auctions of farming equipment. Two hundred visitors went to the town. Farmers going to the wall in Lake Grace means good value purchases for everyone else.’

‘The Wongan Hills friend, was he a farmer?’

‘I’d say so.’

‘How did you find out?’