Undara

by Annie Seaton

  She slipped her hand into her pocket, reassured that her phone was still in there. ‘What couldn’t you take credit for?’

  ‘I tried to save the house.’

  ‘What house?’

  ‘The house we used to live in when we were kids. The big house where we had our own rooms, and lots of nooks and crannies to hide things. Not like that shit pile Travis calls the family home now.’

  ‘The one that burned down?’

  He stared past her and his words were quiet. ‘But I couldn’t tell them I tried to save it for one very good reason. I wasn’t supposed to be there.’

  Emlyn’s blood ran cold. ‘So how did you tell them you burned your arm?’ she said slowly.

  ‘I was supposed to be out with Bluey, working with the cattle. Travis was at boarding school. I was always lucky back in those days. Not like now. Blue went back to his ute to get his smokes. I said I’d wait in the paddock, but I got bored when he didn’t come back quickly. So I went home. And I took what I wanted out of Travis’s room and out of our father’s study.’

  He rubbed at his scarred arm. They had almost reached the top of the hill.

  ‘I didn’t expect the fire to spread so much. I was only trying to get back at Travis and take the stuff that was important to him.’

  ‘Why?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘For always getting everything he wanted. It was only supposed to be a bit of a scare. How was I to know the whole bloody house would burn down? I tried so hard to stop it, but because I wasn’t supposed to be there I couldn’t tell them I tried to put the fire out.’

  ‘So, what did you say?’

  ‘I told Dad I fell in the campfire while Bluey was shirking off. And boy, did Bluey cop the blame over it. He moved away to another property for a while after that. Thought the bastard had gone for good, but he fucking came back, of course.’

  Emlyn was horrified by what he was saying but tried to keep her voice calm. ‘It sounds like you really tried to do the right thing.’

  ‘And you know, I didn’t mind one bit when he went. I hated the way that smug bastard used to look at me. He reckoned he knew everything. I was always scared he’d tell, but he never did.’

  ‘But he came back?’

  ‘As soon as Mum died, Travis got him back to help. Bloody useless old bugger he is too. If he pulled his weight I wouldn’t have to work on the place.’

  Gavin turned quickly and grabbed her arm again. His eyes were wide as he shook his head from side to side. ‘But poor Travis knew nothing. He thought he’d lost all his wonderful books. And he’s lost a lot that’s been important to him since then.’

  Emlyn stiffened in his grasp and didn’t speak. Her eyes dropped to the car keys that he held loosely in his other hand.

  Gavin straightened, and his voice changed back to normal as he let go. ‘The track’s a bit easier now. So, I need to know, do you think your research will bring you this far into the caves?’

  Keep him talking. It was her only chance. As he turned to walk between two thick-trunked trees, he held her arm, but she took the opportunity to have a quick look around. About fifty metres to the right there was a thicket of tangled bush.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘We’re a long way east of here. It would take years to get this far. We don’t have the funding.’

  ‘Good.’ His eyes were dark and intense. ‘What about if this tourist shit gets going?’

  She shrugged, and his grip loosened. ‘I doubt it. Or if it does it won’t be for a long time.’

  ‘Now come and see what I’ve got.’ He let go of her arm and gestured for her to follow him.

  Emlyn held up her arm and pointed to her watch. ‘We don’t have time. This is taking longer than five minutes.’

  He shook his head slowly. ‘You’re not catching any plane today, Em.’

  The hair lifted on the nape of her neck. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I thought you were supposed to be smart.’

  Emlyn didn’t like the way he was looking at her. She stepped away from him, her leg muscles tightening, but his eyes narrowed.

  ‘There’s no point. There’s nowhere to go.’

  ‘Yes, there is. I’m going back to the car. I’ll wait for you there.’ She went to turn, but he was beside her again.

  He held up the car keys and jiggled them in front of her face. ‘Forget about the car. And give me your phone.’

  Her fingers went to her pocket, closing around the iPhone. ‘Why?’ Fear dried her mouth, but she managed to get the word out.

  He smiled and held out his hand. ‘Give me the phone.’

  As she looked over her shoulder, Gavin stepped forwards and shoved his hand into her pocket and squeezed her fingers hard. ‘Give me the fucking phone.’ He wrenched the phone from her pocket and held it up. ‘Well, look here, it’s got no service bars! What a shame.’ He put it into the back pocket of his jeans. ‘But you know what? There is service at the top, so that’s why you can’t have it, just in case.’ He lowered his voice and was almost talking to himself. ‘I’m much smarter than you think.’

  Emlyn stepped back again, but Gavin moved swiftly. Although she resisted, he pulled her up the last three metres until they reached the crest.

  A thick stand of matted vines blocked their view, until he reached in and held up enough of the vine so there was a small space to walk through. He nodded for her to step inside. ‘Look what’s down here.’

  ‘No. I’m going back to the car, and you can take me back to the camp. I’ll get to the airport another way.’ Panic was making it difficult to breathe; her lips were trembling, and her words were choppy. Emlyn didn’t care about the flight or the meeting anymore; she just wanted to get away from Gavin.

  He let the vine drop and grabbed her shoulders, then firmly pushed her towards the curtain of greenery.

  ‘Look inside.’ His tone was normal again.

  The entry was very different to the glade that had become so familiar to her over the past weeks. The tube in front of her was like a mineshaft with a narrow opening only a couple of steps in front of her feet. She leaned forwards; a rope hung between some rough steps hewn into the dirt at the side of the opening.

  ‘Okay, that’s great,’ she said. ‘Thanks for showing me this. I’ll be able to tell the guys how to get here now in case you’re not around. Now let’s go back to the car.’

  ‘Go down there, Doc.’

  ‘We don’t have time. Gavin, I don’t know what you’re trying to prove, but the joke’s over.’

  ‘Get down the fucking hole.’ His eyes were dark, and his mouth twisted into a sneer.

  ‘Why?’ Emlyn backed away, but he grasped her hand tightly and shoved her towards the hole. She reached desperately for the vines above her head as she teetered on the edge, but the dirt beneath her feet gave way and she pitched forwards. With a scream, she twisted to the side and fell, rolling down the dirt steps and landing with a thud on the hard floor below. Pain shot through her back and hip. It wasn’t as far up as she’d first thought. Gavin leaned in and grinned down at her as he began to climb down into the cave, one hand holding the rope.

  Emlyn rolled over onto her back and half pushed herself up, using her hands to crab away from the bottom of the rough steps. She pressed herself against the damp dirt wall and a sob broke from her throat as Gavin came closer. He jumped down the last steps and walked over to where she was hard against the wall. Reaching down, he pulled her foot so that she slid back into the area where the light was coming from above. ‘Em, it doesn’t have to be like this. You play along with me, and it’ll be fine. I’ll let you go.’

  Her breath was coming in short pants as she stared at him.

  ‘Wait till you see what I’m gonna show you.’

  The dusty floor was similar to the one in the cave they’d been working in for the last few weeks. Gavin watched as she sat up, and Emlyn grimaced when the sharp pain gripped her back again.

  The space was much smaller than a
ny of the caves they’d been in at the glade, and only dim light was coming in from the hole above the centre of the space. Emlyn put one hand on her side as she looked around. The surroundings slowly became clear as her eyes adjusted. She reached behind her with the other hand and her fingers closed around the rock that she’d felt beneath her back as he’d dragged her away from the wall. It was small, but it had a sharp, narrow edge.

  ‘Unfortunately, you won’t find any of your special insects in here. I keep the place sprayed,’ he said in a soft voice.

  A small table with two chairs and a stretcher bed were against the wall next to the steps. The remains of a fire were against the other wall. He watched her look around and up at the perfect, natural chimney. ‘I don’t light the fire much. It’s only to keep the bats out. I don’t want the smoke to be seen.’ His voice was normal again and he held out one hand to help her to her feet. ‘I’m sorry you fell in. I hope you’re not too sore.’

  Emlyn shook her head. ‘I’m fine. Just my back’s a bit tender.’ She kept the hand holding the rock behind her, as though she was rubbing her back. ‘Do you camp out here?’

  ‘You could call it that,’ he said.

  He pulled her to her feet and Emlyn froze as Gavin’s hands settled on her shoulders. Her fingers gripped the rock as she tried to take a step back.

  ‘Come on, Gavin. Let’s stop mucking around. You said you had something to show me in here?’

  He gestured over to two large metal toolboxes that she hadn’t noticed behind the stretcher. ‘Before I leave, I wanted you to see how clever I am. No one knows what I’ve managed to do over the years; they just see me as the hanger-on brother. It’s hard to be admired for that. “Poor Gavin, he’s not real smart.” Well, I fucking showed them up, didn’t I? But you know Travis, and you’ll understand what this means.’ She sagged as he released her and walked over to the chest. ‘One thing you don’t know is that I took Alison away from him. He doesn’t know why, either. It was fun to see him suffer. God, that hurt him when she left. And now he’ll lose you, too.’

  ‘Gavin, there’s nothing for Travis to lose. I’m married, and I have a business relationship with him.’

  His laugh echoed around the small cave as he opened the toolbox. ‘Sure you do. Do I look stupid?’

  ‘No. You don’t. I can see how clever you are. Show me what you’ve got there.’ Emlyn’s legs shook as fear kicked in.

  ‘Come over here.’ He reached into the box and pulled out a clear zip-lock bag. ‘I did a lot of research on document preservation, and I think I’ve done it pretty well.’ He held up a bag and there was a large book with a faded cover inside. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘It looks like you knew what you were doing. Is it an old book?’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘Can we go back to the car now, please?’

  He lifted another book out of the chest. ‘I took these from the study before I lit the fire. It’s the diaries and the stuff that Dad and Travis used to drool over. I tried to get involved, but they wouldn’t ever let me be with them. Ironic really. According to them, it was the gold mining that had made the fortune for the first settlers on Hidden Valley. They didn’t find the gold. They ripped off the miners and sold them food and cattle and took their gold and any money they had when they arrived.’ He held up the old book and laughed. ‘And it’s all in here. Maybe I inherited the entrepreneurial gene from the first Carlyles.’

  ‘Maybe you did. Now it’s time we left.’ Emlyn kept her voice strong and matter-of-fact.

  ‘You still don’t get it, do you?’

  ‘Tell me what I’m supposed to get.’

  ‘I tried my best to scare you lot off, but it didn’t work. It would’ve been all right if you hadn’t hatched this plan for the tourist stuff. I can’t let you go down there and chase sponsorship. And once you’re off the scene, Travis won’t have the get-up and go to do anything about it. With you gone, he won’t agree to any more research on the station.’

  Emlyn swallowed. He obviously didn’t know that the rest of the team had been involved in the discussions. Or that the preliminary information had already been emailed to the university. ‘What if I didn’t go? What if I said it wouldn’t work? Would that make a difference?’

  ‘Of course it wouldn’t. Why would I believe you?’ He walked over to her and Emlyn held the rock tightly.

  ‘Why don’t you want it to go ahead? Surely you can see it will contribute to the saving of the station?’ she asked, her voice becoming more desperate as she realised that he wasn’t going to listen to anything she said.

  ‘No,’ he said slowly. ‘What I see is an interfering bitch who’s going to ruin all of my plans. You know when you disappear it’ll cause enough havoc for them to stop their research.’

  ‘Disappear?’ She tried to step away from him, but he grabbed her wrist.

  ‘We’re about to sign off on a multimillion-dollar deal with a gold-mining company. A company that wouldn’t be interested if there was this sort of crap going on at the station and tying it up in national-park legislation, and God knows what heritage conditions.’

  ‘We?’ She widened her eyes. ‘Why didn’t Travis mention it?’

  ‘Because he’s not a part of the deal.’ His grin stretched wide over his lips. ‘He doesn’t even know. Jesus, you should hear him. Blather, blather, blather … gold mines generate about twenty tonnes of toxic waste for every third of an ounce of gold. And that’s not to mention the sludge laced with deadly cyanide and toxic heavy metals.’ He stared at her, his eyes cold and flat, and a shiver ran down Emlyn’s spine. ‘And you know what, I don’t give a shit. Give me the money, and they can do whatever they want with his precious land.’ His laugh chilled her blood. ‘And his lovely wife. He never could understand why she took my side. That’ll teach him for leaving me to look after her and those three kids while he was out on the boundary.’

  ‘But, how—’

  He let go of her hand, turned back to the toolbox and leaned into it. He pulled out a glossy photograph and her breath caught as he waved it in front of her. ‘This was enough to get sweet Alison to do whatever I wanted her to. She thought we were good mates and she trusted me.’

  Emlyn stared at the photo and her skin prickled.

  ‘Travis went away for a few nights and Alison and I had a few drinks. She really did like me once. It was easy to slip a little extra something into her glass. So when she was out to it, I was a good brother-in-law and I carried her into bed. It took no time to get her gear off and climb in and take that selfie of us.’ He waved the photo in her face. Alison was naked and her eyes were closed. She had her head on Gavin’s shoulder as he smiled for the camera. ‘It looked just like we’d slept together after a few drinks.’

  ‘What did she say when you showed her?’

  Again … that awful laugh. ‘Oh, she was beside herself. She calmed down when I told her we didn’t have sex. I wouldn’t go that far. She’s my brother’s wife.’

  He was crazy. Emlyn looked back at the steps, judging the distance. ‘Why did you do it?’

  ‘Don’t you get it?’ His brow wrinkled in a frown. ‘I told her I’d show Travis the photo unless she told him to take the offer from Carroglen. But the stupid bastard wouldn’t even listen to his own wife.’

  ‘So did you show him?’ Emlyn backed away a couple of steps as he looked at the photograph.

  ‘No. It wouldn’t have been fair. Poor Alison did her best, so I did the right thing and brought the photo out here. But they fought about it, and she was so upset, she didn’t want to stay on the farm. Her guilt and her worry got too much for her.’

  ‘Poor Alison,’ she said softly, taking another step back.

  ‘Yeah, it didn’t work out, but the photo was another addition to my collection out here. And now she doesn’t like me anymore.’ Gavin lifted out another plastic sleeve and Emlyn saw her chance.

  ‘Travis isn’t going to be happy,’ he muttered.

  As he flicked thro
ugh the contents, his back was to her and she took four silent steps towards the rope hanging from the top of the hole. Her mouth was dry, and her heart was thudding. She gripped the rope with one hand and stepped onto the first rough-cut step.

  ‘Hey! Where do you think you’re going?’

  The lid of the toolbox slammed down, and Gavin lunged across the small distance between them. Emlyn held the rope and managed to scurry up three more steps, before he stretched out one hand, reaching for her leg. Looking down, she flung the rock at his face as hard as she could.

  With a harsh yell he dropped the photos and put his hand over his face. ‘You little bitch. You’re going to pay for that.’

  Her breath ragged in her throat, Emlyn dragged herself up the remaining steps without turning around to see if Gavin was close. Ignoring the pain in her back that was getting worse with each breath, she pulled herself over the edge of the hole onto her stomach, let go of the rope and rolled.

  Dragging herself to her feet, a whimper broke from her lips as Gavin’s head appeared through the opening before she pushed the vines aside and took off down the hill.

  On each side, dense walls of bush were broken only by a sheer rock cliff on the northern end, and she ran towards the thicket on her left. The rain was misting now, and the ground was slippery with small rocks skittering beneath her boots as she crossed the open scrub. A flash of colour impacted on her peripheral vision before she heard Gavin’s panting close behind her.

  ‘You might as well stop,’ he called out. ‘There’s nowhere to go that way.’

  Anywhere was better than being with him. Emlyn would prefer to trust her survival skills out here in the wilderness than spend another minute with Gavin Carlyle. Flicking her glance from left to right, her heart sank. The bush was thicker ahead, and it would slow her down. If Gavin caught up to her there, she’d have no chance. Cold fear crawled through her stomach—she had to get away from him.

  She pushed through the dense undergrowth, ignoring the pain that sliced through her back with each step. Desperately looking around, she noticed a small thicket slightly to her left and ran towards it. Her wet boots slipped in the mud, and she stumbled for a second, grabbing a narrow tree trunk to regain her balance.