We’re not allowed inside, not even to collect basics – Evan’s computer, July’s makeup and study notes. Even if it was safe to enter, which clearly it’s not, it’s still a crime scene. But it will do Evan good to have a break from gaming. It’s not as though he can’t live without it: we enforced a weeklong ban last year and managed to get him down watching TV with us. He even read a book. And he didn’t lose any subscribers on his Twitch gaming channel. So no harm, no foul. It’s been a couple of days now, though, and he’s already nagging us to buy a new set-up. The water damage from the hoses has likely ruined his computer, anyway.

‘It’s all boarded up now, folks,’ Simms says, as we stand out on the lawn, eyes roaming the damage. ‘I can send you the report, but the property damage is extensive. There’s a lot of structural work required. Might be a knock down, rebuild situation.’

Gabe lets out a huff of frustration. ‘So we’re talking potentially years?’

‘I’d guess, maybe a year or so. But I’m not here to talk to you about the damage – we’re trying to find out who might have caused it. On this front we’ve got one or two updates.’

Gabe raises his eyebrows in anticipation.

‘Fingerprints were found on the image. They weren’t easy to get, as paper can be tricky at the best of times. Anyway, we got two sets. A right thumb and index plus another full set, these matched with the prints we took from you on Saturday, Margot. But we also got partial prints of a left thumb and index finger that didn’t match yours.’

‘So you can work out who it is?’ I say.

‘I’ll get to that. The image was actually printed on the back of a power bill.’

‘A power bill?’

‘It’s the final sheet. Sometimes it’s sent with the rest of the bill but there’s nothing to identify who received it. There was an Energy Australia logo at the bottom of the page, and we could trawl the millions of people on the Energy Australia database to find who might live nearby, but that’s unlikely to be useful, given about a third of the state uses Energy Australia and we have to keep the radius of the search open.’

‘So you’ve got fingerprints, but what about foot prints or the bottle?’ Gabe says.

‘We’ve found size-twelve boot prints near the property, which will help with eliminating potential suspects, but short of knocking on every door of every man with big feet in the city, that information alone won’t help a great deal. The bottle, Chivas Regal, was smashed and charred. There’s nothing usable in terms of identification there.’

‘Right.’