‘Why the interest, Dave?’ Will had sat down and was pointing at a chair. ‘Drag it round so you can see.’

‘Thanks. I’ve always been interested in this type of technology. Wondered if it really was as good as everyone says.’ He wasn’t going to mention the community policing or the drone just yet.

‘Ah, you could have a conversation with Zara about that. That was the first question she asked me! Like I told her, it can’t replace a farmer’s footsteps, but it certainly has its place. Check this out.’ He tapped a few icons and brought up a screen. ‘This trough has been running low for a little while. Mum went to check it yesterday and found that there was a blockage in the float—a water beetle. So even though it was still flowing, the water had been reduced. I could see that the trough wasn’t full but it wasn’t low enough to set off the alarm.’

‘Can you move the cameras around or are they fixed?’

‘These are all fixed. I didn’t think I needed the ones that panned around, because we’re not going to use them to check the sheep. Only the water.’

‘Ah, so you can’t see anything more than that picture?’

‘Nope.’ Will took a shaky breath and his jaw clenched. After a moment he let out a slow breath. ‘Was there a reason you wanted to be able to pan out?’

‘I was curious to see what was visible to you,’ said Dave, noticing but not commenting on Will’s spasm of pain. He figured that in Will’s situation, he’d want to be treated as normally as possible. ‘I’ve had a few reports of a drone flying over some farms and I wondered if you’d seen anything with your cameras.’

Will shook his head. ‘No, sorry. What you see there is what you get. I spend a lot of time not able to sleep, so I watch these screens a bit. There’s infra-red lowlight on them and the most exciting thing I get to see is a fox coming in for a drink.’ He paused. ‘But I’ve heard about the drones.’

There was something in his tone that made Dave want to ask what he had heard, just as Lynda came in and put the tea on the desk. ‘I’ll see you later,’ she said. ‘Should only be about an hour.’

‘Can you go by the house paddock trough as you leave?’ Will asked. ‘Then I can show Dave exactly what I can see from here.’

‘Sure. Dave, can you thank Kim again for me. I very much enjoyed her visit yesterday. And the meals she brought.’

‘I’ll tell her,’ he promised. ‘See you later.’

Once Lynda was gone, Will adjusted his stance at the computer and reached into a drawer in the desk. He brought out some pills, popped two and swallowed them with a sip of water from the glass on his desk.

‘Is it bad, mate?’ Dave asked.

‘It has its moments.’