‘I know, me too,’ she murmured. ‘But right at the last moment, it just didn’t seem right. I didn’t want to spook him. Until we’ve made contact with her ourselves and found out what she’s got to say . . . I didn’t want him reporting back to Kit that we know about her.’

‘But you mentioned it to Beau,’ Matty reminded her.

Clover winced. ‘I know. And I’m still kicking myself. But I’m just hoping that his overreaction to me even mentioning her name means he won’t want to bring it up with Kit either. He’s hoping he’ll have scared me off.’

Johnny laughed. ‘Yeah, right.’

‘I want to keep treading lightly. They’re all still jumpy as hell. I need to keep getting word back to Kit that these talks are okay. Not threatening.’ She looked at Matty. ‘Still nothing on Amy?’

‘Not yet, but I’m finally feeling hopeful,’ Matty said. ‘I’ve made contact with my second cousin who lives in Melbourne.’

‘But Amy’s in Sydney.’

‘I know,’ Matty said irritably. ‘There are loads of pics of her and her hub at races – the Melbourne Cup, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes – so I did some digging and found out the husband’s got a few big-name racers. My cousin’s a sports journo so I thought he might have an in. It’s a small world, racing.’

‘Yes, that sounds good,’ Clover nodded. ‘Keep pushing.’

‘I’m doing my best but the time difference isn’t helpful. I’ve basically got two hours every day in which I can reasonably hope to make contact.’

‘Hmm.’ Clover looked at Johnny. ‘You don’t happen to know anyone in Sydney? Someone who could go round . . .?’

‘And doorstep her?’ he snorted.

‘If you like. At this point, I’d consider the SAS going in from a Chinook. Time’s getting tight and we’ve got to get some personal insight—’

The sound of footsteps on the stairs made them all turn. Kit came bounding up the stairs two at a time, turning in to the living room. His t-shirt was thrown over his shoulder, sweat shining under the lights.

He stopped dead at the sight of them in a huddle. ‘Hey,’ he said suspiciously.

‘Hey,’ Matty said brightly, as though he was exactly the person they’d been hoping to see. ‘We just did Ari’s interview!’

A scowl gathered on his brow. It was clear he did not regard that as a good news story, despite her tone to the contrary.

‘He was amazing! And he actually loved it! You should ask him.’

Kit looked at them all, his gaze falling and sticking on Clover; she was the chief interrogator, after all. ‘. . . Funny that he didn’t mention it at breakfast.’