“I told him ‘don’t do anything stupid,’” Ms. Hodgetts said.

Mr. Laurie admitted to having a bad temper, but he denied any involvement, turning the court’s attention back to where Mr. Moriarty was last seen: The Pink Panther.

Mr. Simpson no longer works at the pub. Mr. Sharpe said he was fired a week before the coroner’s inquest — a few days before I arrived to find his room there a mess of dirty clothes and empty beer cans.

He appeared to have moved on and has since been replaced by someone else, keeping Larrimah’s population steady at 11. It used to be 12.

Around the bar, patrons still talk about Mr. Moriarty’s disappearance.

“Church” on Sundays has resumed, but without the charm Mr. Moriarty used to bring to it. Because he had no family in Australia, the public trustee now controls his property. To keep an eye on anything that might look suspicious, his home has been fitted with security cameras, and it’s flanked by a large missing person sign.

It includes a picture of Mr. Moriarty, smiling, with a question many in town are still asking: “What happened to Paddy?”