‘But I digress. A couple of blokes broke in one night and started to muck around with the machinery—drain the oil so an engine would cook, cut the wires so a machine wouldn’t start. Mischievous stuff, and bloody annoying for the operators. Anyway, they mucked it up. One guy—Gerard Hooper, allegedly—cut the hydraulic hoses at the back of the machine. The ones that hold up the bucket of the front-end loader. He cut the wrong ones,’ Zara finished.

‘I remember this. Sophie Grawd told me about it when I interviewed her. It was her father who was killed. Just refresh my memory.’

‘Well, the hydraulics failed, and the bucket of the front-end loader crashed to the ground. Unfortunately, it pinned the other guy—Colin Grawd—underneath and he bled to death. The police charged Hooper with manslaughter.’

‘How does this bloke fit in with all of that?’

‘I called him Mr Cloudy Eye—his left eye looks as if it’s been damaged somehow. He sat through the trial. Every single day he was there. He didn’t sit with either family but I was very sure he wasn’t there just because he had an interest in law. I couldn’t link him to anyone, though.’

‘Do you think he knew either of the men?’

‘I couldn’t be sure. I never saw the accused look at him, or him at the accused. But …’ She stopped, remembering something. ‘Oh my God! I found a photo while I was unpacking in Barker. It was one of those snaps that just happen—I didn’t even realise what I’d taken—but as Hooper was being led away, it looked like he and this Cloudy Eye were staring at each other.’

Dave nodded. ‘And where is this photo now?’

‘Still back in Barker.’

‘Maybe you could get it for me?’

‘I might have a copy back at the office too. I’ll check. Now,’ Zara paused, ‘I was talking to Mum a while ago and she mentioned that Will had rung the Department of Ag in relation to a farmer who didn’t have enough hay to feed his stock but wouldn’t sell them.’

Dave cocked his head and looked at her.

‘I wonder if that’s how the drone came to be in Barker.’

‘That’s a bit of a leap. Why would you say that?’ Dave felt the thrill of adrenalin rush through him. And that would make sense of Will’s cryptic comment that Dave had never got to ask him about before he died. But he couldn’t let Zara know that, just as he couldn’t let her know that he knew about the Hooper trial.

She shrugged. ‘Will hated any type of cruelty to animals. It would be just like him to have reported the farmer if he refused to do the right thing. I wonder if he talked to VFA too. And that’s why they turned up.’