Page 78 of Murder in the Family

(wearily)

Yes, I can keep looking.

HUGO FRASER

So all that leaves us with now is Bill and Mitch, and what they’ve managed to dig up about Luke.

MITCHELL CLARKE

(to Bill)

You OK if I start?

BILL SERAFINI

Knock yourself out.

Mitch gets up and goes to the pinboard, to the map of Australia.

MITCHELL CLARKE

So back to Kalgoorlie. Which is clearly something Luke himself never planned on doing.

I contacted the local primary school to see what records they had from back then, and to be honest there wasn’t much. No photos, sadly, but they do have a Facebook group for old pupils, so the school posted something on that for me, and I got four or five messages back, and we did a group Zoom call.

CUT TO: VIDEO of Mitch at his desk, with six people on a Zoom screen.

So you were all in the same class as Luke Ryder back in the day?

CUT TO: Close-up of Tracy Ryan, sub-captioned ‘Schoolmate of Luke Ryder’. Pretty, with red hair in a ponytail, and a striped top. She has Uluru as her screen background.

TRACY RYAN

God yeah, I remember Luke. Right geeky little kid. Always getting sand kicked in his face. Not literally, of course, but you know what I mean.

CUT TO: Scott Grant, sub-captioned as above. He’s blond but thinning on top. A Motorhead T-shirt and an earring.

SCOTT GRANT

Shit you’re right, that’s exactly how I remember him. Could have knocked me down with a feather when it came out about him getting killed. I mean, him being in London at all, to be honest, never mind married to some foxy older woman with a ton of cash.

(laughs)

Never thought he had it in him.

CUT TO: Donna Gilchrist, sub-captioned as above. Dark hair in a pixie cut. The sound of children in the background.

DONNA GILCHRIST

Always struck me as a bit fishy, that whole thing. And they’ve never solved it, have they?

CAMERA PANS back to capture the whole group.

MITCHELL CLARKE

That’s what we’re trying to do now. But after all these years, it’s not easy.

SCOTT GRANT

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