‘Nothing,’ he says. ‘She’s fine, it’s just a precaution.’ He gives his head a small shake, like a hound snapping at a fly. ‘Don’t worry. There was teargas used, and she’s got minor lacerations from the binding around her wrists and ankles, so she’ll be treated at the Epworth.’

‘And she’s safe,’ I say. ‘You’re certain she’s safe?’

‘I’m certain,’ he says, with a small nod. But I won’t believe it until they have Cormac in custody. I won’t believe it until I see July with my own eyes.

‘And Nathan and Xanthe Schultz?’

‘Xanthe is in custody but there’s no sign of Nathan yet,’ he says. ‘He inherited a number of properties when his mother died, so we’re checking each of them now, but he could be staying anywhere. He could be planning to travel interstate, or perhaps even leave the country. We can stop him at customs of course.’

‘No you can’t,’ I say. Simms’s brow falls in concern. He rolls his tongue around the inside of his top lip. ‘He’s too clever to use his own name. He had a fake ID when he turned up for his first appointment, so he’s probably got a fake passport or a boat, or some other way of escaping.’

‘It’s not just people scanning through your passport stamps,’ Simms says. ‘They have facial recognition— ’

‘He’ll find a way,’ I say, and there’s resignation in my tone. ‘He’s a narcissist, prone to over-confidence in his own abilities, but he’s also extremely detail-oriented. Everything has gone to plan, except for the fact Evan gave me his phone. If not for that I would have burned to death and we might not have found July at all.’

‘We will certainly be aiming to stop him, whatever he’s planning,’ Simms says. ‘The media will be showing his image so he won’t be able to get in a taxi, let alone board a plane, without someone recognising him.’

What if he has a private plane or his own driver? He has enough money to do anything, I think to myself.

‘Well if you folks want to head out to the hospital, July will be there now.’

•

At the hospital, we close in over her. Even Evan hugs her. I find myself combing my fingers through her hair as she recounts the night, with tears streaming down her face. She’s already been through it all with the police. Cormac wasn’t there at the house. She didn’t see him at all. The last message he got through to her iPad before I disconnected the router was a message telling her to meet him out on the road at midnight and so she climbed down to the street and rushed to his car. She was so angry at me at the time, she says.