‘I can’t believe you guys are going to be parents,’ I say. ‘It’s such good news.’

•

After dinner, when we are home, I’m taken by a sudden fatigue – the compounding effect of shift work – and decide to get to bed. I head downstairs to wish Cain good night and find him in the study. He’s not heard me coming, I realise, with his big noise-cancelling headphones on, and he’s looking at the guests for this weekend. He’s looking at her. The thin sound of rock music escapes the headphones and grows louder as I gently pull one side away. He doesn’t jump, but I notice his shoulders rise, a prickle of irritation.

‘Don’t do that,’ he says. It’s not a snap exactly, it’s three words said slowly and deliberately as if he’s holding back.

‘Do what?’

‘Sneak up on me in here.’

‘I didn’t sneak, you just looked busy.’ I say it like a question.

He draws a breath. ‘No,’ he says. ‘Not really, just…’ He lets the sentence die in his mouth, he’s zoomed out on the image now, but I know exactly what he was gazing at.

‘Who is she?’ I ask.

‘These are the next guests.’

I lean closer, staring. She’s in a bikini, sitting up on her husband’s shoulders. ‘And you’re just staring at a photo of them, of her in particular.’

‘Of them,’ he says.

‘You were zoomed in on her boobs.’

‘No,’ he begins. ‘I…’

‘It’s okay,’ I say, dragging the spare seat closer. The leather is cool on the skin below my pyjama shorts. ‘She’s hot. I just find it odd that you’d sneak down here after dinner to have a perv, that’s all.’ I can smell the three beers and two whiskies from dinner on his breath.

‘It’s due diligence. It might save us a headache.’

‘I thought I was the paranoid one.’

‘I’m doing this for your benefit, Lina. So you can have peace of mind.’

Maybe he’s telling the truth, he just wants to check them out, make sure they’re not suspicious. Then he saw her and decided to get a closer look. Why else would he search them? ‘So what did you find out about them, you know, other than how many abs she has?’

‘The wife, Lucy Swallow, booked it. She’s a recruiter. She works for a small HR company in Ponsonby. She has a sizeable network, over five hundred connections but she isn’t overly active on LinkedIn.’

‘Mustn’t be a very good recruiter then.’

He continues running through the profile of the two guests. Somewhat predictably – given his muscles – the buff husband, Phil, is a tradesperson. Rain slaps against the steel roof outside.

‘She’s made the same post on Instagram as well as Facebook.’

He brings it up now.

Eatery suggestions near Rotorua/Tarawera… and go!