Russell looked up from his coffee. ‘You know, I’ve always wondered about that,’ he said. ‘Not that I could ask her, since the topic’s off limits. But kids on farms have the fear of God put in them about guns. Does that mean she wouldn’t have touched it? Maybe. Or maybe it’s why she dragged it outside.’

I said nothing.

‘And Brett must’ve left the screen door unlatched, because Crissy couldn’t reach the latch. There was a hook he’d put up higher than the handle to keep her in. I helped him do it. She’d got out one day and Shayna was beside herself. Thought Crissy’d end up in the dam. I went over with my drill. Ended up staying half the day. We put new flywire in the screen door as well. Brett was a bit of a knob when it came to fixing stuff. You learn skills like this from your dad and his dad was …’

I sat forward, hands around my mug. ‘I knew his dad when I was a kid. I know what you mean.’

Russell shook his head. ‘When you think about it, he didn’t stand a chance. He didn’t have a good dad and I’m not sure Brett knew how to be a good dad himself. Sometimes blokes just fall into the patterns they’ve always seen.’

I pondered this. Could Brett have gone from hating his father like he did when we were kids to behaving like him when he was an adult? I turned from Russell to stare at the fire. Beside me, I felt him do the same. The flames crackled and danced and made the conversation a little hypnotic.

‘Our dad is great,’ said Russell. ‘Give you the shirt off his back. Do anything for anyone.’

‘Is he why you took on Crystal?’

Russell laughed. ‘I guess it came more naturally to me than it did to Brett. And anyway, there was no one else.’

I nodded slowly. Took a sip of coffee. ‘What about Carmel Millard?’

Russell stiffened. Looked at his watch. ‘Look, I gotta go,’ he said. ‘I need to get back to the office.’ And with a flurry of shopping bags and slapping a ten-dollar note on the coffee table in front of the fire, he was gone.

Up at the counter, I paid for the coffees and ordered a takeaway flat white for Wozza to go with his pastries.

Angie nodded towards the empty doorway. ‘That seemed to go well,’ she said dryly.

We both laughed. ‘Yes, I have a way with men,’ I said. ‘What can I say? It’s my superpower.’