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shared income, to have kids. But could she give a child the same security, the same stability? The same love?
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    Back home for a quick shower, she wondered about Natalie Sutherland’s connection to the fatal shootings. Smart, pretty, able to deal with the dickheads and stay smiling, Natalie had been the youngest trainer at the academy. Some years later, Gemma heard she’d married a senior police officer, had left the job and was now practising law somewhere. Why didn’t I do something smart like that, she asked herself, stepping out of the shower and rubbing a clear spot in the mirror to examine her body. Despite the weight loss from the constant vomiting, her breasts were rounder and heavier than they’d been a month ago, but her stomach seemed the same as it had always been.
    Gemma made a quick snack of plain crackers, and was taking the plate into her office when she saw through the window a tall, lanky man coming down the steps from the road. She knew it would have to be the new client who’d phoned yesterday. She put her plate down and pulled out the fresh file with his name on it.
    ‘The police aren’t taking it seriously at all,’ Toby Boyd said once he’d got settled, fiddling with a tiny edge of unstitched leather on the arm of the old club chair in Gemma’s office. He scratched his halo of frizzy gold hair, both hair and startled expression reminding Gemma of a Fra Angelico angel on a fresco in one of her art books.
    ‘They think my sister just got cold feet and ran away from the whole business. It’s hard being part of a reality television show. And her ex is her agent, an entrepreneur – or so he thinks – and I’ve always had severe reservations about him. But the producer and the station manager are both giving me the line that Steffi must have lost confidence after shooting the last episode. It was particularly revolting, she said,’ and the anger on his face made him look older than the late twenties Gemma had estimated. ‘The girls were humiliated by the compere, though some of them didn’t recognise what was happening. Steffi did. They’re saying she’s bolted because of that – that she can’t take the flak. I think that’s bullshit. They haven’t even filmed the semi-final episode yet. Steffi is absolutely determined to win.’
    Gemma was vaguely aware of the popular television program about finding an Australian bride for a European nobleman who was living in Australia for the duration of the series and allegedly in need of a wife.
    ‘And Steff would have told me if she was going to chuck it in,’ Toby continued. ‘I was doing everything I could to talk her out of it. We’re very close. We’re twins, actually. We tell each other everything. And I know there’s no way my sister would just go off like that and leave everything – her family, the series. She’s a really responsible person, and she’d already won the first round and the long weekend in Venice with his royal highness.’
    Again, Toby Boyd fiddled with the arm of the large leather chair. ‘Steff’s been gone for nearly three weeks now and Mum’s going round like a ghost. She can’t sleep; can’t eat. Mark Simons at Missing Persons has listed Steffi, but they’ve got hundreds of cases to deal with state-wide and a staff of twelve to do it with. The local area command is overworked, understaffed and basically not very interested. So I can’t just leave it to them. That’s why I’m talking to you now.’
    ‘What do you think’s happened?’ Gemma asked.
    ‘I’ve never trusted that ex-fiancé of hers. There’s something .   .   . I don’t know how to put it .   .   . something really off about him. Anyone who really loved her wouldn’t have let her go into this contest. Prince Heinrich is not only a fool but also a drunk. Unfortunately, my sister is very stubborn and she’s got it into her head that if she wins this and becomes Princess Stephanie, she’ll be able to do all the things she