‘Apparently his missus shacked up with a cop a few months ago. I think he decided the deal he made with Bowman to protect his family was expiring. Apparently, he’s been mouthing off to other inmates recently too. I suspect if all this hadn’t happened, Bouris may have had an unfortunate accident.’

‘It’s all so precarious,’ Oli murmurs. ‘I still can’t believe they thought they’d get away with it forever.’

‘I know.’ Rusty clears his throat. ‘A detective has confirmed Isabelle suspected something was off with Bowman, that she lodged a complaint with internal affairs that was squashed. We’re trying to connect the dots.’

‘Holy shit. So this goes further than Bowman in the force? Higher?’

Rusty winces. ‘You didn’t hear it from me.’

‘’Course not.’

He coughs. ‘Anyway, we’re not making a statement until tomorrow afternoon, so I guess there’s that.’

‘Thanks, Rusty. It means a lot.’ Birds dart past, and she watches them until they’re out of sight. ‘Is there still nothing to connect O’Brien to any of this?’

‘Not yet. We’re honestly not sure there’s a link. There’s still nothing concrete on Cooper’s attack either, but we’ll keep looking. We know Bowman was behind it, we just don’t know who he called on to do it.’ Rusty drops his head into his hands. His hair glints gold in the sun, and she stops herself from reaching out to run her fingers through it. She pats his back instead.

‘Alex Riboni didn’t kill herself, did she?’ Oli asks quietly.

‘I doubt it.’ Rusty clears his throat. ‘We think Bowman was in Crystalbrook the day before her body was discovered. We think he followed her there and warned Nicole away.’

Oli shakes her head. ‘Jesus.’

‘Nicole refuses to say a word about it. She will only talk about the night at Paradise Street and insists she ran away because Alex threatened to kill her too. She keeps saying both of the housemates had developed a serious drug problem and that both girls had become increasingly erratic and violent. She says she was scared.’

‘I don’t think Nicole Horrowitz is scared of anything,’ muses Oli.

‘I know.’

‘Maybe the little girl knows something.’ Oli still struggles to think of her as Louise.

‘I’m sure she does, but we’re being really careful in terms of interviewing her. She’s been through a lot.’ Rusty gulps a breath and lifts his head. ‘I’ve got to go. Good luck for tomorrow, Oli.’

They hug. Oli thinks how easy life would be if she liked him more.

He smiles at her ruefully. ‘I’ll call you.’

For a few minutes, she watches people walk past. She traces the soft scar in her hairline as she turns the story over in her mind.

Two little boys and their mother sit next to her. Their father moves to take a photo.