‘I did like her, yes. Though she was a little…I don’t know. Scatty?’ Not too scatty to disappear, though. ‘I heard she used to drink, but that was long before we met. I’m sorry if it’s happening again.’ I searched his face for a clue. What did he want to hear? ‘All I did was store her couch in my garage. I knew nothing about her plans. Nothing.’

He absorbed all this without fidgeting or glancing away. He seemed fascinated. I remembered talking to him about cockroaches, years before. There had been no tantrums then, either. No screaming. No violence. When he was interested in something—really interested—he had the power to engage. He’d always been like that.

If only someone had built on it…

‘Thanks,’ he said and wandered off, leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions.

Joe returned to Finch Island the next morning. He came in a water taxi. The boys were practising their passing-out drill when Shaun told them to stand at ease. Then Joe announced that Tyler was in Redland Hospital, doing well.

Later, at lunch, I cornered Joe in the pantry and wrenched a few more details out of him. It was a fractured fibula, he said. Tyler would be in a cast for six to eight weeks. So far no one had turned up to visit the poor kid; his family lived near Caboolture and were ‘having trouble getting in’. Sergeant Bass was expected to drop by that afternoon.

‘I couldn’t just hang around and wait for Bass,’ Joe said with a sigh, ‘though I did want to tell him how worried Tyler is about his sister. It’s all he can talk about.’

‘Yeah.’ I felt a heaviness in my gut. ‘Something bad’s going on there.’

‘I’ll speak to Shaun. He needs to call Bass again. We can’t really help the kid if there’s an emergency at home.’

After a morning spent marching up and down in formation, the boys had fun on the zipline all afternoon. It was their reward for a tough week. Despite Tyler’s injury, they didn’t seem put off. Only Connor looked nervous as they headed into the bush. I think I was more anxious than any of them, even though I’d checked the equipment thoroughly before lunch. I kept seeing Tyler in my mind’s eye, flat on his back at the bottom of the stairs. I kept listening for the sound of screams in the distance.

I was relieved when everyone came trudging back four hours later, grimy and sweaty but all in one piece. Though tired, the boys seemed pleased with themselves. Even Flynn wasn’t limping.