Wendy grabbed Hirsch’s hand, a tight, emotional squeeze. ‘What about you? Any weird, screwed-up family I should know about?’

Hirsch cast his mind over them all. Generations of blandness. ‘I could make something up.’

Wendy leaned across to kiss him. ‘I’ll settle for your weirdness.’

Pancakes heavy inside him, his mood better than it had been for days, Hirsch headed down the Barrier Highway to Redruth. Thirty minutes later, he was seated with Brandl and the children around the briefing table, playing catchup. Break-ins, traffic accidents, stock theft, a Christmas Day suicide.

‘With New Year’s Eve upon us,’ the sergeant said, ‘we need to prepare ourselves for more self-harm, not to mention pub brawls, domestics and drink-driving.’

Her face was drawn, her eyes pouchy with fatigue after her hours coordinating the Hamel Road line searches. ‘I’m taking a rest-day tomorrow and need you to fill in for me, Constable Hirschhausen. The others will be out on patrol.’

‘Sergeant.’

She clapped her hands. ‘Right, anything else?’

Tim Medlin flipped through his notebook. ‘A call came in from a Trevor Wesley, owns a property near Porters Lagoon, wondering why there’s been no follow-up on a report he made back in May.’

Hirsch knew why. Back in May, the Redruth police district had been under executive management, a hiatus between the quiet removal of the old sergeant and his coterie of thugs and the appointment of the current team.

Brandl winced. ‘The backlog. God, what a shemozzle. What did he report?’

Medlin frowned at his notes. ‘He was getting ready for bed one night and heard a knock on the door. Wondering why he hadn’t heard a vehicle, he answered holding a shotgun. Two men ran off and when he tried to call triple-O, he found his phone line had been cut.’

Hirsch tingled, stirred. ‘The Rennies’ line was cut. And I know of one other case.’

The sergeant looked at him tiredly, giving his words some consideration. Finally she said, ‘But is that enough for a pattern? It’s only two instances if you factor in the likely how and why of the Rennie case.’

Hirsch felt stubborn. ‘But can I do some digging?’

She was too weary to object. ‘Knock yourself out. Just don’t waste hours on it.’