‘No, it’s more than that. He looks . . . worried.’ She looked back at them, thinking harder. She scrambled up onto her knees. ‘And right after that, he took all the attention off him and put it onto me . . . Suddenly he had to ask a question too! . . . That timing isn’t a coincidence. His natural response – based on his behaviour to date – should have been to deny there was a woman he loved, or to deny that he loved her; or to ask me how I knew about her when he’s gone to such lengths to keep it hidden? But to completely invert the conversation and put it onto me . . .?’ She looked back at them. ‘He just didn’t want any attention on her whatsoever. Nothing. Not a breath.’

Matty was looking at her. ‘Meaning what?’

Clover arched an eyebrow. ‘That she’s not just an ex . . . We already know she was with Kit around the time of Cory’s accident. For him to react like that . . . she must know something about what happened between him and Cory.’ She looked at Matty. ‘We have to get hold of her. If Kit’s not going to tell us what went down, then we’re going to have to make sure she does – even if I have to fly to Sydney and doorstep her myself.’

*

Clover and Johnny sat in the gondola with three others, the windows misting up as they were whisked higher and higher towards the peaks. Matty had stayed back to transcribe Ari and Kit’s morning interviews. It had been cloudy in town and she’d been more than happy to change into her cashmere trackies and ‘have the run of the place’ for the day; Clover wondered if that also meant seeing Julian. Kit and Ari had left – naturally – while they’d all been ‘in consultation’ in Johnny’s room, leaving it to Carlotta to confirm they were back up at the pipe, training.

Clover wiggled her toes in her ski boots, trying to shake off her agitation. It was after lunch and she felt restless. She hadn’t been joking about flying out to Sydney. She would do what it took to get an answer to her question. She’d already lived in California with Cory, travelled to Austria for Kit; why not Australia too?

Johnny was reading the piste map, looking for an itinerary route. The recent heavy, relentless snowfall had brought over a metre and a half to the upper slopes and everyone wanted to play. The resort was fully open now and the town was fast filling up, with skiers and snowboarders walking through town on their way to the lifts; the car parks were full, coffee houses crammed and restaurants requiring reservations. Clover thought it was almost a shame that just as everything felt awake and came fully alive again, they would soon be leaving.