‘She wasn’t interested in the money?’

‘Not at all. She was overwhelmed by the idea that she had a sister, an actual biological relative, living in Australia. But as to the inheritance, no. Look, I won’t deny that we tried to talk her around. It was an awful lot of money. It was all very well for Mum to be saying, “But what on earth would I do with it?” because I could have given her some ideas: take a cruise! Give some to me! But Mum wouldn’t hear of it. She said, “No, no, it isn’t really mine. It belongs to my sister.”’

I wondered whether Agnes’s reaction had anything to do with the fact that Snow had made it plain to Doug Grenfell that she would fight any claim on her dad’s estate.

Ruby nodded and said, ‘Mum knew that Snow didn’t want to offer her any of the money. But she wasn’t angry. She said, “Imagine if somebody turned up out of the blue, claiming half of your father’s estate. It wouldn’t be right, would it? You’d fight that too, wouldn’t you?” It was as if she was keen to make sense of Snow’s reaction.

‘She wrote back to Doug Grenfell saying it was very generous of her father to include her in his will but she wasn’t in need of any money. She wanted to know if it was possible to have a photograph of her parents, and she wanted to know more about Snow: how old was she, and did she have any children? And yes, she was willing to come to Australia to ensure that the will could go to probate and Snow could get her money.

‘She told me, “I want to see the house where my parents lived and I want to go to their graves.” But mostly, she wanted to meet Snow – she desperately wanted to meet her. The number of times she said to me, in the lead-up to the trip, “I thought I was alone in this world but no, I’ve got a sister.”

‘I talked it over with her. I said, “Are you sure you want to do this, Mum? It’s such a long way.” She said, “It’s much closer than it used to be!”

‘I said, “Do you want me to come with you?” But she was adamant that this was a trip she wanted to make on her own. She kept saying, “I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”’

Ruby took half a day off work to see her mum off at the airport, and she gave Rocco and Stella half a day off school so they could go too.

‘The police have asked me what her mood was like when she left England,’ Ruby said. ‘All I can say is, yes, she was a little quiet, but who wouldn’t be?’

There isn’t much about Agnes’s first few days in Australia that police don’t know. Her plane – Qantas Flight 009 from Heathrow to Melbourne via Bangkok – landed at Tullamarine Airport at 6 a.m. on 19 September. Agnes collected her luggage from the carousel and made her way by taxi to Melbourne’s Crown Casino.