‘I only have theories, nothing concrete. I’d guess the users are mostly your garden variety voyeurs, but also others.’ He inhales. ‘I spent three years on a task force in New Zealand, working with teams in other countries to monitor suspected paedophiles. We had a few arrests, every so often a ring was busted, that was the high-profile stuff. It won’t work like that in this case here.’

‘Why?’ I ask, my heart still racing. I see the picture again in my mind. I must delete it the moment I hang up the phone.

‘We would never get enough resources to be effective. No one sees this as a threat anymore. As far as anyone is concerned the case at Tarawera is closed, it’s interesting but there’s zero risk of the criminal reoffending.’

‘Especially given he acted alone,’ I say now, reinforcing the idea.

‘Possibly. The police combed the property. We know it was Daniel there that night. But was he the one who installed the cameras? It’s very likely but we can’t be certain. Someone has access to the footage and has shared it. How Daniel’s phone disappeared without a trace is a mystery to me.’

It doesn’t make sense. The phone pinged towers suggesting Daniel was travelling to the house, then it disappeared. Until today.

He continues talking. ‘I assume the phone is probably in the lake, or dropped somewhere in the bush.’

‘And Scotty? You checked in with him?’

‘I knocked on his door myself. Hardly the most accommodating man.’

‘No,’ I say. ‘He was fine for years but he’s been different lately.’

‘He was with his partner and her kids at home the night you were attacked. I checked his search history via his ISP, and interestingly we found the term Peephole.’

I frown. Could he have sent the message?

‘There were other phrases and lots of news sites about the home invasion. It’s clumsy and, if he was involved, I doubt he would be simply searching these things on Google. This has been all over the media and lots of people are probably searching similar things online just for news, but I’ll keep an eye on him.’

•

‘Who were you talking to?’ Cain says, entering the room after the call has ended.

‘It was Rata, the detective. He checked in on Scotty.’

‘Right,’ Cain says, frowning. ‘And?’

‘There’s nothing too incriminating but they’re monitoring him.’ I exhale. Still holding my phone tight, thinking about the message. ‘I was also thinking, maybe we should do the interview. Take the money and run.’

He smiles now. ‘You want to do it?’

‘We’ll need to book a PR person first, to talk us through it, but I think you’re right about setting the record straight.’ An appearance on national television would be the perfect platform to make it clear there was only one man: Daniel Moore.