by Kate Genet
‘That’ll do,’ Claire said, looping it around the harness and fixing it in place. ‘Dad’s on his way, okay? I’ll be back in just a minute.’
She levered the dog off the gate and opened it. Pilot sniffed a moment, then set off at a rapid jog to the right, only to stop abruptly at a tree that drooped over the road. Claire, hanging onto the end of the bungee cord, squinted up and down the road.
‘Guess this was where he parked, huh?’ she said, and the dog gave a sharp yipping bark as though in reply. Then he sat down and turned his great head first one way, then the other, mimicking Claire as she peered along the road.
‘Well, if he’s in a car, then that’s what we need too,’ Claire said. Surprisingly the dog barked again, and for a quick moment Claire looked at him in surprise. ‘Someone teach you how to talk?’ she asked. He barked again. ‘Guess so,’ she said. ‘Come on, Scooby, we have some work to do now.’
This time the reply was a gruff woof and he jogged along beside her back to the house. Gracie was waiting for them, hands tucked tight around her waist, her phone in one of them.
‘I called your father,’ she said.
‘He’s on his way. I called him too.’
A nod from Gracie and then there was a car pulling into the driveway. Frank’s big sedan. They went out to meet him, Pilot walking alongside Claire close enough for her to feel his body heat.
Two men got out of the car, both of them with creased, concerned faces.
‘Hello Colin,’ Claire said and stepped up to him, putting her arms around him for a long moment. He smelt of damp wool and tears.
‘Claire,’ he said. ‘You gotta get Rose back. She’s all I have now.’
She let go and stepped back, nodding. ‘Exactly what I'm going to do.’
Colin looked relieved. ‘He was in my house this morning when I woke up, you know.’
Claire looked at him, surprised. ‘I didn’t know he’d spent the night at your place.’ It made her frown.
‘Wasn’t there when I went to bed, there when I got up this morning. Made the bastard a coffee.’ He turned to Frank. ‘Is it really true?’ he asked. ‘The guy’s really a kiddie fiddler?’
Frank’s expression was grim. ‘Looks that way, from all Claire’s said.’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘There’s not really any doubt.’ She looked at her father’s car. ‘Which is why I need to get moving. Dad, can I borrow the car?’
‘He was asking for Zoe’s stuff,’ Colin said. ‘This morning. That was practically the first thing he said. Where’s the stuff from Zoe’s car? Not anything about how terrible it is that she died, or anything about her at all. Just where’s her stuff.’
Things tumbled into place. Claire nodded. ‘Zoe must have had the photographs in the car with her. That would explain a lot. She was getting Rose and heading to the police station when the earthquake hit.’
Colin’s bony shoulders lifted and dropped in a shrug. ‘There were a couple of photo albums,’ he said. ‘Her purse. And her computer, but that’s ruined. Broken.’ He blinked, and tears leaked slowly in twin tracks from his eyes. ‘I didn’t look at any of it. Didn’t even take it out of my car.’
It was past time to move. Claire looked at her father and he dropped the keys into her waiting palm. Another glance at all of them. ‘You know what to do,’ she said.
‘We’ll get right onto it,’ Frank said, pulling out his phone. ‘I'm going to start by calling Tom and Anne over at their house at the turnoff to Gebbes Pass. Get them to block the road.’ He checked the watch on his wrist. ‘He won’t have had time to get there so if we can keep him here in the harbour, we can get him.’
He got a grim nod, then she was fishing out her phone and headed for the car, Pilot bumping along behind her. She looked at him in momentary surprise, then opened the door, let him in, and climbed in behind him.
68
She dialled, set the phone to speaker and backed out of the driveway, the dog sitting in the passenger’s seat next to her.
‘You’ll never guess what I’ve found,’ Moana said in way of greeting.
‘He’s got Rose.’
‘What?’
‘Locked Mum in the garden shed, took Rose. Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes ago.’ The calculation was rapid.
‘Shit. Okay. I found his car abandoned on the side of the road, so he ain’t driving about in that one. Any clue what he’s in?’
Claire scowled at the road. It had been too much to hope for that he’d still be in his own vehicle, nicely signposted on the side for them. She coasted down the road towards the main street.
‘Not the faintest idea,’ she said. ‘Nor where he would have got another vehicle from.’
‘Nicked it out of someone’s garage, probably.’ There was a pause. ‘You driving?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay, I'm just on the road out of town, towards Governors Bay. Meet me and we’ll team up again. I don’t have anyone else can do this with me right now. Everyone else is busy because of the quake.’
‘I’ll be right there.’
‘And I’ll make some calls. We can put a block on him getting a flight out the country.’
‘With a bit of luck we’ll know what he’s driving soon enough. Mum and Dad are ringing around everyone they know, getting them to keep their eyes peeled for him. They’re also getting the Gebbes Pass road blocked.’
There was a short pause. ‘They can do that?’
‘Yeah. Everyone in town knows them. If we can keep him in Lyttelton he’ll be cornered and spotted before we know it.’
She pressed end, conscious of the quickening pace of time and remembered the way her mother had touched her throat.
‘I'm coming for you,’ she whispered, thinking of Danny. Pilot gave a low woof as if to say he was in on it too.
Moana waved her down from the side of the road ten minutes out of town. Claire parked in behind her and got out of the car.
‘We’ll take yours,’ she said. ‘He’ll recognise this one.’
But Moana was staring at her passenger. ‘You brought reinforcements.’
Claire opened the door and Pilot jumped out, shaking himself. ‘Moana, meet Pilot,’ she said. ‘Ready to go?’
‘You bet,’ Moana said. ‘And I’ve got some news.’
‘Excellent,’ Claire said, opening the back door of Moana’s car and moving laptop and other gear off the back seat for Pilot to climb in.
‘Are you sure the dog is a wise idea?’ Moana said.
‘He tracked Rose and Danny out of the house and half way down the road to where I assume they got in a car. I’d say he’s a damned good idea.’ She saw Moana cast a dubious look at the animal in the back seat.
‘Okay,’ Moana said. ‘If you say so.’ They pulled away from the curb. ‘Now, I called the road guys up at the lookout and told them I needed them to close the road.’
‘Excellent. That’s them all blocked, then.’
‘Maybe not officially, but whatever works, at this point.’ She paused to bare her teeth in a humourless smile. ‘But here’s the interesting part.’ A glance at Claire. ‘I asked them if anyone had gone past in the direction of the city – and they said they hadn’t seen anyone at all except for a white station wagon about an hour ago just after they got there.’
‘Danny.’
‘Yep, heading this way.’
‘So he hasn’t gone back?’
Moana shook her head. ‘Nope. Hasn’t hit the roadblock there anyway. He’s still here in Lyttelton.’
‘Excellent. We will find him then. We’re really close behind him.’ Claire looked out the window. ‘We just have to get him before he does something dumb. He’ll know I’ll be out here willing to chase him to hell and back to get Rose. Especially after what he did to her.’
They were driving further along the road towards Governors Bay, away from Lyttelton itself.
‘What did he do?’
‘Hand around her neck, choking her so that my mother would back off.
’
Moana’s mouth set in a line as grim as Claire knew her own was. ‘He’s escalating,’ she said. ‘Not bothering to hide his real self anymore.’ Her hands were white around the steering wheel. ‘Which makes him incredibly dangerous.’
‘And Rose incredibly vulnerable.’ Claire pictured the little girl thrown in the car, alone, not knowing why her daddy had hurt her. The image pressed her heart painfully against her chest.
‘Concentrate on what we’re going to do,’ Moana said. ‘Always think about what you’re going to do to help the situation.’
‘I think I'm going to kill him.’
‘Not a good thing to say to a police officer, but I understand the sentiment.’ Moana slowed the car, cruised around the bay, and they both peered into every driveway, every parked car.
‘No sign of him,’ Claire said.
‘Nope. Maybe he’s holed up somewhere trying to figure how the hell to get out of here.’
‘I'm counting on it,’ Claire said. ‘With the roads blocked, I can only think of one other option, but I don’t think he’ll be putting serious thought into that one.’
‘What is it?’
Boat. But like I said, I don’t think that would be his choice, even if he had access to one.’ A small smile played around her lips. ‘He didn’t seem to like the water.’
‘Kind of like you with your squeezy underground places?’
That deserved only a grunt in reply and Claire looked down at the phone in her lap, willing it to ring with a sighting.
69
The kid wouldn’t stop her whimpering. Danny cast a glance over at the small figure under the blanket someone had kindly left in the back seat.
It had hurt him to use her like that, his own little girl, but she’d understand eventually. When he told her that they’d wanted to take her away from him. That if he’d let them do that, she’d never have been able to see him again.
He wished she’d stop her bleating little cries though. At least she wasn’t still coughing, but it was getting on his nerves, distracting him from the task at hand.
Wiping a hand over his forehead, he shook his head to clear it, wound down the window a little and let a cool breeze in to play against his hot skin.
There had to be another way out of this stupid place. No way was he going back the way of Dyers Pass – he’d seen those guys poking around in the rubbish bin up there and though they wouldn’t find anything but ashes, he wasn’t taking the risk of there not being a road block. Not after what Gracie Wilde had said.
He was parked in the shadows of a back road he’d never been on before. Just to give himself a little time to figure out what to do. Five minutes, that was all he needed. Just five minutes to get himself sorted out.
‘Shut up, Rose!’ he yelled. ‘I can’t think with you making that racket!’
The little figure stilled under its blanket and he sighed in relief. That’s what he needed – a moment’s peace and quiet.
It was coming clear to him now. He should have come back sooner. Now here he was stuck in this stupid little place with no bloody way to get out.
He’d never liked the town. Too close to the water, for starters. Too close to Zoe’s bloody father for another thing. And the Wilde’s, who Zoe had completely doted on, for some unknown reason. He’d never liked them. Gracie was a flake, always chasing some New-Age fad or another, and Frank looked down his nose at him at every opportunity. All the guy ever had to talk about was boats. Didn’t he realise that most people were bored shitless by boats?
What he needed, he decided, was some audacious and cunning plan. If he couldn’t sneak out of town, then he needed to just walk out in plain sight.
Not literally walk out, of course, although he’d actually considered that idea. It was just too far, that was all.
He’s also thought about staying put, hiding out for a few days until the tunnel was re-opened. Surely that wouldn’t take too long since they couldn’t keep the town isolated like this. Then, when it opened, he could just drive out on his merry way.
Except he’d dismissed that plan too, almost as soon as it had formed in his mind. He needed to leave now. Now or never. Any later than now and the police would have themselves reorganised and be looking for him and Rose. Claire bloody Wilde would make sure of that. He conjured up her face and scowled at it. He knew her sort. She’d be a dog with a bone, whether she had proof or not.
And she was famous, the top ten Who’s Who in NZ, so said the Press. The police would eat out of her hand, running around doing anything she wanted them too.
No. He had to leave now.
Leaning over the console between the seats, Danny snapped open the glovebox, hoping for a map. He’d thrown his phone away, so no Google for him.
His hand landed on a folded wad of paper and he brought it out with a crow of delight. A map, just like he needed.
Smoothing it out on the passenger’s seat, he traced a finger along the Lyttelton harbour, tracing first the tunnel, then Dyers Pass, both of them unpassable, at least for him. He squinted at the squiggle of roads and set the map against the steering wheel.
There. Another way out of this godforsaken place. A grin split his lips and one-handed, he groped around for the bag of supplies he’d helped himself to. The water was good on his dry throat and he felt nice and revived after finishing half of it in a few swallows.
‘We’re out of here, Pumpkin,’ he said. ‘Daddy’s going to have you safe and sound in no time.’
The car started up first time and he congratulated himself yet again on his good luck in finding it. And lady luck was on his side too – the petrol gauge showed three quarters of a tank. More than enough to get him over this new pass and out.
Turning right onto the main road, he crawled by the broken buildings, barely noticing them, seeing instead the white line over the hills and away. It headed south, rather than back to Christchurch, but he decided that was a good thing. He could turn back north, drive right around Christchurch, head over Arthur’s Pass to the West Coast, then cruise up that way, back across to Picton, hop on the ferry to Wellington, and then it would be bye bye New Zealand and hello new life back home.
There was a car parked behind his station wagon and he slowed without thinking, glaring at it.
Frank’s car. He’d seen it often enough, hell, he’d even sat in the back seat with Zoe and Rose more than once. There was no denying who it belonged to.
It was empty. Head turning on a neck of rubber as he drove past, he made sure. Empty. So where was Frank? For that matter, where was Claire? Instinctively, he knew she was the one he really had to worry about. If Frank and her had come home and found Gracie locked up, she’d be straight out there and after him.
He wasn’t stupid. They were waiting for him further down the road. For some reason, they’d left the car here and gone on in someone else’s. He blinked at it in the rear vision mirror.
They were laying a trap for him. That’s what it was.
Rose whimpered again and cried out, a thin, high wail that hurt his ears.
‘Quiet!’ he screamed. ‘I told you to be quiet.’ Then more softly. ‘Daddy needs to think, Pumpkin.’
So he wouldn’t drive straight into their trap. He was cleverer than them, no matter how famous Claire Wilde was. He did a U turn and headed back towards town again, a glimmer of a plan rising to the surface.
70
It would mean abandoning the car, but Danny couldn’t see a way around it. It was impossible to drive out of Lyttelton one way because of nosy fucking road workers who thought they were on an episode of CSI, and the other way was more than likely blocked by Dudley-do-gooders who thought they knew better than him.
So he’d out-smart them.
Norwich Quay was near deserted. The breeze had turned cold, slapping at Danny’s hair when he got out of the car. Rain was coming in across the harbour and he stared at the clouds for a moment before opening the back door and reaching in for Rose. She stiffened in his g
rip.
‘It’s all right, Pumpkin,’ he said. ‘Daddy’s got you.’ He hesitated with her in his arms for a moment, then twisted the light cotton blanket into a sling, tying it across his chest so that she sat comfortably against him, tucked in and warm, only her little red face showing, her eyes wide when they stared up at him.
Dropping a kiss onto her forehead, he relished her body heat against him, her legs around his waist, and drew up the blanket even further so that her head would be warm, and the red marks around her neck invisible.
‘It’s going to be all right, Rose,’ he said. ‘Everything’s going to be fine.’ She stared at him, not saying anything. He supposed it might hurt to talk.
‘We’re going for a boat ride, how about that, huh?’ She didn’t respond, but he felt her little hands curl up against him where they were pinned under the blanket. She was snug in there, safe and sound. He patted her bottom, pulled out her little suitcase, and closed the door, not bothering to take the key from the ignition.
Ducking his head down against the wind, he crossed the bridge and walked towards the quay to wait for the boat. He could see the water properly now and grimaced at the sight of the choppy little waves.
But the crossing was only seven or eight minutes long. He could find a seat inside for them, not even watch as the boat pushed its way through the water, and they’d be there before they knew it. He could do it.
He was out of options. He had to do it.
There were only three other people waiting on the jetty. He nodded at them.
‘When’s the next ferry?’ he asked, curling an arm protectively around Rose.
An older woman with a face leathery from wind and sun smiled at him. ‘You’re lucky,’ she said. ‘They’re making one last trip today and then that’s it.’ She turned a little and looked out over the water. ‘No return trip, but I guess you know that.’
Danny nodded. ‘We weren’t planning on coming back. My in-laws live over near Akaroa. Rose here is scared from all the aftershocks. We’re going to stay with them for a few days until things calm down a little.’ He bowed his head and hugged Rose tighter, her suitcase between his legs.
