‘My attitude to family is a little quirky, kid. I assumed you’d gathered that, last time we worked together.’ Mackey tossed his smoke onto the lawn. ‘Maybe the chance to be an adorable nuclear unit doesn’t mean the same to me as it would to you. So sue me.’

I said, ‘If Holly was getting into trouble at home, we’ll find out.’

‘Good boy. I’d expect no less.’

‘I’m asking you to save us the time and hassle.’

‘No problem. The biggest trouble Holly ever got into was getting grounded for not tidying her room. Hope that helps.’

We’d be checking. Mackey knew it. ‘Thanks,’ I said. Nodded.

He was going in. I said, before his hand reached the door handle, ‘I’d still love to know. The boarding, man. Why? It doesn’t come cheap. Someone wanted it pretty bad.’

Him watching me, amused, the way he used to seven years back, big dog watching feisty puppy. Seven years is a long time.

‘I know it’s nothing to do with our case, but it’s going to keep at me. So I’m asking.’

Mackey said, ‘Out of curiosity. Man to man.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Bollix. You’re asking detective to suspect’s father.’

Unblinking, daring me to deny it: God, no, she’s not a suspect . . . I said, ‘I’m asking.’

Mackey examined me. Did some kind of maths behind his eyes.

He found his smokes again. Flipped one into the side of his mouth.

‘Let me ask you this,’ he said, through it. Cupped his hand around the flame. ‘Just offhand, how much time would you guess Holly spends with my side of the family?’

‘Not a lot.’

‘Good guess. She sees one of my sisters a couple of times a year. On Olivia’s side there’s a pair of Christmastime cousins, and there’s Olivia’s ma, who buys Holly designer shite and takes her to poncy restaurants. And, since Olivia and I were split up or splitting for most of the relevant time-frame, Holly’s an only child.’

He leaned back in the doorway, flicked the lighter and watched the flame. He was smoking this one differently, taking his time on every drag.

‘You were right about how we picked St Kilda’s – well done there: Olivia’s alma mater. And you were right about me not being into the boarding idea. Holly asked at the beginning of second year, I said over my dead body. She kept begging, I kept saying hell no, but in the end I asked why she wanted it so badly. Holly said it was because of her mates – Becca and Selena were boarding already, Julia was running the same campaign on her folks. The four of them wanted to be together.’

Flipped the lighter spinning into the air, caught it.