Red-faced, Jake shook her off his arm as they approached the steps to the front portico. ‘I haven’t had a chance to shave today.’
As they arrived at the grand stained-glass front door it creaked open, two men emerging from the dark interior. Stark light from a single globe in the cavernous hallway behind them outlined almost identical profiles. It was only as they stepped into the muted daylight that an age difference became apparent. Beside Jake, a barely audible hiss escaped Evelyn Kelly’s lips.
‘Mr Mason Campbell?’ Jake stepped forward, hand outstretched.
The older man, his face a mass of wrinkles, waved Jake’s hand away.
’Yes?’
‘Detective Jake Hunter. And Ms Evelyn Kelly, who you know?’
‘Aiden’s girl. Of course.’
‘And you are?’ he asked the younger man, a GQ magazine cover of white teeth, thick blonde hair and sartorial statement. Jake suppressed a rare spurt of envy.
‘Max Campbell. Would you like to come through to the kitchen? I’ve just put the kettle on.’
‘Thank you, yes.’
‘Are you able to tell us what’s going on?’ the younger Campbell asked as he led them down the ornate hallway, his father bringing up the rear. ‘Apart from some young chap asking us not to leave this morning, no one’s told us anything.’
He poured tea for four at the deeply scored wooden kitchen table as they took a seat. The room’s flagstone floor seemed to suck the last remaining heat from Jake’s body.
‘I’ll get to that in a moment, Mr Campbell. First, do you both live here?’
‘No,’ he answered, passing around mismatched cups and saucers. ‘I’m usually in Sydney. Just back to check on Dad.’
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Campbell senior’s tone was scathing. ‘And you can tell that bloody woman I said so.’
Max Campbell flashed his guests an apologetic look. ‘Dad, let’s not get into that now.’
The father stabbed a thumb at his son as he addressed Jake. ‘He left me, you know. Went to the mainland as soon as he finished high school to live with that bloody woman. And now he wants to come back here and kick me out of my own home.’
‘Dad, I’ve asked you not to talk about Mum like that.’
‘Thinks he can come back whenever it suits him,’ Mason Campbell continued to mutter to himself.
‘Does anyone else normally live here?’ Jake pressed on.
‘No,’ the younger Campbell answered.
‘How about the buildings behind the manor?’
‘Not as far as I know. Dad?’
The old man gave a brief shake of his head, sending the wattle of his drooping neck into a rhythmic swing.
‘And where were you both, last night and this morning?’
‘None of your bloody business.’
‘Dad,’ Max Campbell snapped. ‘There’s no mystery here, detective. I flew in last Friday and I’ve been here for a few days. Dad and I had dinner here last night, watched some TV, went to bed around ten.’
‘Any chance you remember what you watched?’
‘Whatever was on the ABC. It’s the only channel Dad gets. The news, QI, then a documentary on beetles or something. I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention.’