He was yet to identify where Ava was attacked and had her fingernails removed, and how she was transported. But he might be able to piece together where her body arrived at the vineyard and work backwards.

He’d studied satellite images of the area surrounding the Campbell manor. There appeared to be dirt roads or fire trails in the bush behind the house and he wanted to see if he could find traces of a vehicle entering the estate there, without necessarily approaching the manor driveway.

Dusk threatened as he drove along Dunton’s winding roads once more, squinting against the bounce back of his headlights on waves of vapour. Perhaps it was too late in the day for this to be worth the effort, but either way it gave him some much-needed breathing space from Kelly and Murphy.

Visibility was reduced to just twenty metres or so. Jake could see the fence on either side of the road, and the vague outline of the gum trees behind them, but little else. He slowed to a crawl to wade through a sudden mob of pademelons, the kangaroo’s much smaller cousin, who seemed determined to fling themselves into the path of his tyres. He breathed deeply, trying to relax. Both mind and body ached for the release of a climb, though that luxury seemed as unobtainable here as it had in Melbourne.

As he drove, he analysed his progress so far. He’d passed on Max Campbell’s concerns about his wife to Kelly, who agreed to let him head back to Sydney as soon as he had his father sorted out. So that was at least one positive thing Jake had been able to do for someone since arriving.

Despite Max’s own concerns that he might be a suspect, it seemed a long bow to draw without a clear motive. Although he had means and opportunity, Jake could find nothing to indicate Max’s return to Dunton just days before Ava O’Brien’s demise was related to her murder.

Mason Campbell’s age and frailty also ruled him out. Although, in the same way Jake had wondered if Amelia and Charlotte might have worked together to kill and dump Ava, he had to consider the possibility that Mason and Max could potentially have teamed up. Did Mason have a clear-cut reason to want Ava gone? Either way, dumping someone you just killed on your own property would be mad—even for Mason Campbell.

The hideously creaky gate of the Mason property swung open grudgingly. Wings chopped through the nearby air, a murder of crows passing just metres from Jake's head as he plodded up the drive to the manor’s front door. It was only courtesy to let the Campbells know he was here. The last thing he needed was Kelly or Murphy distracted by a report of an intruder on the property.

There was no answer.

He knocked a second time.

Jake recalled that they seemed to spend the majority of their time in the kitchen. He walked around the side of the building to knock on the window, tripping on untamed tree roots in the semi-darkness.