‘No,’ he says, fighting the tears. ‘I know they’re treating her as missing. But she wasn’t the sort of woman to disappear without a trace. She was the sort of person you noticed.’

Scott taps Isla’s shoulder. ‘We should get going,’ he says.

‘We’d be a family now,’ Steve continues. ‘That’s the hardest thing. It was what Mandy wanted more than anything. She was a natural with kids. We’d have had a brood of our own, if we’d had the chance. I never thought I’d be on my own at this time of life.’ He wipes his face. ‘Do you have a family, Isla?’

‘No,’ she says. ‘Not yet.’

‘There’s still time for you.’

‘I’m sorry.’ She doesn’t know why she says it.

‘What good is that?’ he shouts at her. ‘Do you think that’s any bloody use?’

‘No. I just—’

‘It’s your father who should be sorry. Why isn’t he the one standing here? Where the hell is he?’

‘We should go,’ Scott says. ‘We’ve taken up enough of your time.’

Steve holds his arm up to block the sun. ‘You are the image of your mother,’ he says to Scott.

‘We’ve got a long drive.’ Scott steps closer to the car. ‘Thanks again for—’

‘How is Louisa?’

‘Not so good,’ Scott says. ‘It’s been difficult for her, with our dad being under suspicion. The police asking questions.’

‘Sorry to hear that.’ He looks bereft. ‘She was always a cut above, was Louisa.’

‘You’re right there,’ Scott says.

Steve considers Scott, lowers his arm. ‘Send her my regards, would you?’ he says, stepping backwards into the street. ‘I hope she finds a way through this.’

He stands at the glass doors and watches them get into the car. Isla feels his eyes on her until they turn the corner. She waits in anxious silence for Scott to speak.

‘I don’t think he was lying, Isla.’

She looks out at the long grass and the telegraph poles.

‘He left Mandy behind in Sydney, with Dad.’ Scott changes gear and pulls into the fast lane. ‘You heard the man.’

The telegraph poles fly by. ‘He’s volatile,’ she says. ‘He was always like that. I was scared of him as a kid.’

‘You said they moved away before I was born.’

‘They did.’ She glares at him. ‘I remember them. Mandy and Steve. I spent a lot of time with her.’

‘You can’t possibly –’

‘I do!’ She looks away from his sensible, doubtful face. ‘I remember being scared,’ she says.

‘I remember that too.’ He says it softly. ‘I remember being scared all the time.’

She doesn’t reply. Her certainty is slipping and she can think of no comfort besides alcohol. The landscape has no distractions. Mile after mile of dry scrub. Stark, white ghost gums lit up against the blue sky.

‘Will you come and stay with us? There’s plenty of space.’ He accelerates. ‘I can come back to Bay Street with you now to collect your things.’

She shakes her head. ‘No, thanks.’