‘I will, one day. They’re prize-winning vines.’

‘Oh, for the love of—’ Max Campbell took a deep breath.

‘You’ll never understand how much of myself I’ve put into those vines. They’ll produce gold-medal wine.’ He began to mutter again. ‘I just need to find the right winemaker.’

Old men and their delusions, Jake mused. ‘If we could get back to—’

‘And this is exactly why Mum left.’ Max cut him off. ‘He’s been like this forever. Do you remember?’ The last remark was directed at Evelyn Kelly, who nodded, her expression fixed.

‘Mr Campbell—Max—do you have any idea why Ava O’Brien might have come here last night?’ Jake asked.

Max glanced at his father who seemed to be elsewhere. ‘No.’

‘Would either of you mind if I took a look around the girls’ home buildings?’

‘Of course not,’ Max said.

Jake was weighing up his next question when, from the front of the building, he heard a groaning screech followed by a pause then a series of sharp cracks.

Glad to return to the portico and escape the fusty air of the manor’s interior, Jake watched a white Land Cruiser climb the gradient, enormous tyres crunching fallen branches on the shambolic driveway. Parking perpendicular to the portico, Senior Sergeant Aiden Kelly unfolded himself from the unmarked vehicle and stood waiting, arms crossed.

‘Hunter.’

‘Sir.’

‘Evelyn.’

‘Father.’

Jake’s initial impression of Kelly on Monday morning had been that of a man certain of his place in life and pleased with it. Tall, solid, not yet running to fat despite being in his late fifties, every hair on Kelly’s head was in place. Perhaps his daughter’s excessive emphasis on personal grooming was a family trait.

‘Mason … and, ah, Max. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.’

‘Spur of the moment trip, Mr Kelly. Just a quick visit.’

‘We should shortly be joined by’—Kelly craned his neck to watch a small man in a rumpled suit pick his way up the tangled drive—‘Liam O’Brien. I left a message for him to meet me here, rather than breaking the news to him over the phone.’

Moments later, O’Brien—all wisps of white hair and clouded blue eyes astride an enormous, vein-ravaged nose—arrived next to Kelly, panting and peering at the gathering in puzzlement. Despite their differing states of mortality, Jake could see a strong resemblance between this man and Ava O’Brien.

‘Aiden,’ O’Brien greeted Kelly, sounding a touch the worse for wear. ‘Got your message. You said Ava was found at the girls’ home. Where is she?’

‘Liam, come inside,’ Kelly said as he climbed the steps to the porch. As Kelly’s daughter and the Campbells shuffled back inside and proceeded down the hallway to the kitchen, Jake paused for his boss.

Once O’Brien entered the foyer, Kelly reached out to grasp him by the forearm and shake his hand. ‘I called past your house earlier.’

‘I wasn’t home this morning.’

‘Sorry to have to tell you this, Liam, but I wanted to let you know in person. Ava is gone.’