by Sarah Barrie
Nothing.
‘Tess, it’s amazing out here!’ Riley climbed up onto the tumble of rocks that overlooked the lake. ‘Pass me the pack? My camera is in it.’
‘Don’t get too close to the edge, okay?’ Tess warned with a shudder as she handed over the bag.
‘Sure. Hey, maybe they headed for one of those buildings over there? Makes sense if they’re cold and lost, right?’
‘Yeah, it does,’ Tess said. ‘That’s the Rodway Hut day shelter and the other one’s a ski tow hut. We’re heading that way. Take your photos and let’s keep moving.’
‘You sound worried,’ Riley said. ‘Aaron said they were fine, right?’
‘It doesn’t make sense.’ Tess scanned the mountainside. ‘They got lost on a perfectly good track.’
‘They might be on a track but it’s not difficult to get disorientated when there are tracks going in all directions,’ Riley reminded her. ‘And if they’re not good with English, how are they going to know which way is back? They probably just panicked and decided to stay put and ask.’
‘Sure, but where are they?’
They reached the huts and found no sign of anyone. Riley walked down the mountainside a bit, camera out.
‘Riley, it gets stupidly steep down there, please come back.’
‘Tess!’ Riley yelled. ‘There’s a backpack here!’
On the side of the mountain, Tess thought with dread. Where else would it be? The mountainside was a series of steep vegetated slopes and rocky drops heading towards a pillared set of jagged cliffs. Her worry for the couple increased. This wasn’t the simple job Aaron had suggested. She was calling it in, getting the police and other rescuers involved.
‘I’ll get it.’ Riley dropped out of sight.
‘Riley!’
‘Be careful, yeah I know!’ came from somewhere below. ‘Hey, what are you—Tess!’
Riley screamed and Tess slid down the slope as fast as she dared. Heart pounding, stomach flipping, she skidded to a stop at a large boulder that seemed to have nothing but space behind it. She dropped to her hands and knees, ignoring the burning of the icy rock and the warnings in her mind screaming at her to go back, go back! She forced her arms and legs to take her forward. She edged further out, and on trembling limbs, looked over the edge.
CHAPTER
47
‘Jared!’ Indy’s voice was distant. And annoying. He was pretty sure she had no right to be waking him up. Why did everything hurt so damn much? Even hearing her voice hurt.
‘Jared, hey!’
‘What?’ He clenched his already closed eyes against the kick of a killer headache.
‘Just keep still, okay? I’ve got an ambulance coming.’
‘Ambulance?’ He pushed up into a sitting position, regretting it when it felt like someone had jammed a hot poker in his side and his head did a long, nauseating spin. Then he realised where he was, and he remembered. ‘Some guy jumped me as I came out to the car for work.’
‘Yeah, I can see that. Just one?’ she asked.
Squinting at her he could see the wry humour through her worry.
He tested his ribs again, decided they were probably bruised, not cracked. His head on the other hand … well, he wasn’t sure. Zigzag lights suggesting he had a decent concussion flashed in front of his eyes and the headache felt like a drill determined to reach the middle of his brain. ‘I’m okay. No, I’m pissed off. Hurts like a bitch but if you think they’re carting me off in an ambulance … Help me up.’
‘I’m not sure I should.’
‘Can you call off the ambos? Please? They have lives to save. I, on the other hand, will live.’
She did another quick study. ‘Fine but only if you get in the car and let me drive you to the hospital. I reckon the lump on the back of your head’s the size of a tennis ball.’
He prodded it gently and hissed out a breath. ‘I’ll live.’
Once on the road, he let himself close his eyes.
‘Did you see your attacker?’ Indy asked.
‘If I’d seen him do you think I’d have let him do this?’
‘Then how do you know there was only one?’
‘My ego would prefer to believe there were two,’ he said, then sucked in a sharp breath as he tried to shift his position. ‘Maybe ten. Professionals.’
She smiled at him. ‘Tough guy.’
‘We should be looking for clues.’
‘I’ve got a team headed out to your place. I called them when I was trying to bring you around. They’ll go over everything, see what they can find.’
‘I’m guessing this is something to do with Cochrane. I wonder why I’m not dead.’
‘You should look in a mirror. They probably thought you were.’
‘Ha.’
‘Talk me through everything you remember,’ Indy said.
‘Ah … Tess was over. We got up, ate pancakes, she left to go for a ride with Riley. I was probably out the door fifteen minutes after her. Walked out, turned around—’
‘Stop, back up. Think. Was there anyone around, any cars on the street, anything different to usual?’
He tried to remember, shook his head slowly. The pounding that had eased slightly kicked off again. ‘There might have been a four-wheel drive a bit like yours parked a couple of houses down. Come to think of it, you’re the first person I saw. Not holding a grudge, are you?’
‘If I was, I wouldn’t take you by surprise, or hit you from behind. This car—you haven’t seen it before?’
‘I don’t think so. But look, I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention.’
‘Like mine, you said. A Prado? Dark grey?’
‘I only think so. It could have been something else.’
‘Hmm. Do me a favour and pull up my emails on my phone.’
‘What am I looking for?’
‘I may have done some digging into Aaron,’ she admitted sheepishly.
‘You what?’
‘I know! Bad detective.’
He scrolled back several days. Stopped. ‘Like an Interpol check?’
‘Nothing turned up on the national database and I remembered him bragging over time he spent overseas. Anyway, with everything going on I haven’t even looked at it yet. Read it, would you?’
He opened it, and as the zigzags had faded from his vision, scrolled through it. ‘You wouldn’t happen to have any aspirin or anything, would you?’
‘You could have a bleed on the brain! I’m not giving you blood thinners! I do have paracetamol,’ she relented. ‘Glovebox.’
He dug them out, helped himself. ‘So what exactly spurred this check?’
‘The too-good-to-be-true Aaron, who as far as I could see was slowly taking over Tess’s life, was becoming more controlling, more demanding, undermining her confidence, and at times showing glimpses of a nasty temper. Tess was so adamant she felt his hands shove her towards that cliff edge during the Cradle Mountain rescue after their fight that I wondered if there could be more going on under the surface.’
‘Did you talk to Tess about any of this?’
‘Not directly. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just my cop mind working overtime creating worst-case scenarios. Hence the background check, which was clear. But then he refused to take no for an answer after she attempted to break up with him. We can’t prove he sabotaged her car but the fact he was following her at the time had alarm bells ringing. And buying her a plane ticket on top of all that was just wrong. So I decided to search further afield. Then this thing with Orvist blew up and I haven’t gotten back to it.’
Jared’s gaze returned to the report. His already uncomfortable stomach lurched. ‘Stop the car.’
‘Huh?’ She pulled over, idling on the side of the road. ‘What?’
‘How many times have you told me to listen to my gut instinct—and then you don’t listen to yours?’
‘What? Why?’
‘Aaron spent four years in the UK from 2011 to 2015.’
‘I know. Hence the—’
‘While he was there his then girlfriend filed stalking charges against him. Two months after the last offence, the woman was involved in a fatal accident. A fall. The parents blamed Aaron but there was never enough evidence to charge him. That’s all the detail that’s here.’
‘That’s enough.’ He watched a range of emotions cross Indy’s face, then she spun the car out into a fast U-turn. ‘If I don’t take you straight to the hospital, you’re still gonna live, right?’
‘Depends,’ he said, only half joking. ‘Are you going to keep driving like this?’
She negotiated a give way sign and headed for the freeway. ‘Tess spends the night at your place, then someone clobbers you, puts the boot in, leaves you unconscious.’
‘I know. I was there.’ But he had a bad feeling settling in his already upset stomach. ‘You think Aaron did this?’
‘Aaron sent Tess on a call-out to Mount Field this morning. An off-books rescue. It didn’t go through official channels. Also, Aaron has a gunmetal grey Prado. Now, I hope I’m wrong, but what are the chances? Call Emily. Ask her to find out if Aaron got on his flight this morning.’
He took Indy’s phone and spoke to Emily, then dialled Tess. The call rang out. He tried again, gave it a couple of minutes and was about to try again when the phone rang.
Indy answered it on speaker. ‘Yeah?’
‘Aaron’s flight out of Hobart doesn’t leave until tomorrow morning,’ Emily said.
Indy glanced at him. ‘He told Tess it was today.’
‘Drive faster,’ he said, willing the pain in his head to ease so he could think. ‘I’ll get everyone out there.’
Police and Search and Rescue took almost two hours to gather at Mount Field. It felt like too long, and not long enough since Jared had felt this same terror at Tess’s life being in danger. Aaron had too decent a head start.
Craig, the team manager, got straight to work as he climbed from his car. The large man with the balding head had one of those easy, friendly smiles that generally always belonged to a decent person, a trustworthy one. But now that smile was tight, concerned.
‘Detective Atherton. Detective Denham—what’s happened to you?’
‘Nothing that won’t wait. You didn’t know anything about this call-out?’
‘I can’t understand this at all. I’m the one who receives any notifications, then I put an alert out from my phone. Nothing’s gone through me this morning. You said Aaron called her directly? Sent her out here?’
‘Yes,’ Indy said. ‘About nine.’
Craig shook his head. ‘I don’t know why he’d do that.’
‘Unfortunately,’ Jared said, ‘we think we do. And we think Tess could be in real danger.’
‘From Aaron?’ Craig asked, obviously astounded. ‘His flight was this morning, wasn’t it?’
‘No. And you’re just going to have to trust us,’ Indy said. ‘We need to hurry this up.’
‘Of course.’ He spread a map over the bonnet of his car while other officers and volunteers gathered around.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ Indy told Jared. ‘We have plenty of people out here. I know I’m not going to budge you off site but at least rest in the car by the radio.’
‘You are joking, right?’ He grabbed one of the bottles of water someone from Search and Rescue had brought and impatiently stared at the map while Craig organised what teams should cover what areas.
‘I’m going this way.’ He indicated a signpost that pointed in the direction closest to what Indy said Tess had described and, needing to get started, walked away.
Indy spoke to Craig, then joined Jared and shoved a jacket at him. ‘Put this on. It needs to go back to Craig later.’
He gingerly slipped it onto one arm, cursed under his breath as he twisted his painful ribs to get the other in, and shrugged it over his shoulders. ‘Are we ready to go?’
‘Four teams, all have at least one officer. Choppers are still in use elsewhere on an MVA and a boat rescue off the coast, but they’ll get one here as soon as possible. Emily’s grabbing us a pack.’
‘I’m here,’ Emily announced, jogging to catch up.
‘Then let’s …’ A wave of dizziness washed over the pounding in his head.
‘Jared,’ Indy said, worried.
He widened his eyes then squeezed them shut. Blew out a breath as his vision cleared. ‘Let’s go.’
CHAPTER
48
Tess lay on her stomach, every nerve cell screaming at her to get away from the edge as she pushed herself forward. She had to see. She had to help.
Riley was about ten metres below, lying awkwardly on a protruding shelf of rock. The drop wasn’t smooth, rather an almost vertical tumble of ancient boulders. Riley had caught some of them during her fall and a large gash ran down one cheek and blood dripped off her boot from an injury somewhere to her leg.
Riley moaned. She was alive. Thank God.
‘Riley! Don’t move!’ Tess called out hoarsely over the fear that almost locked her throat closed. If Riley rolled the wrong way she’d plummet way too far to the next jut in the rocks.
‘My leg!’
The panic in Riley’s voice clawed at Tess’s stomach, reverberated in her head. Riley tried to sit up and time seemed to slow down for Tess, as frozen, she waited to see if Riley would fall.
‘Keep still!’ she ordered. She heard her phone ring—from the bag she’d handed over to Riley earlier. The bag was hooked in some shrubbery close to where Riley had landed. Riley didn’t seem to be listening—or comprehending—because she shifted again.
Tess gritted her teeth and ran through proper procedure. She should get help, go down with the proper gear. But the phone was out of reach, a run back for assistance would take too long and Riley’s position was tenuous at best.
Another impossible decision. Charlie all over again.
She struggled with what to do as common sense warred with desperation. Then a large portion of Riley’s ledge broke away and Tess realised the small bank wasn’t rock, but made up of tree roots and mud.
There was no time. Tess saw a foothold, and another, and somehow she was working out in her head exactly where she needed to go, how she was going to get down that mountain.
‘I’m coming!’ she yelled. She swivelled around on her belly and, feet first, petrified and unsteady, she began to descend. Just one foot, then the next. Adjust weight, find the next handhold, shift again. The cold, hard rock scraped against her stomach, her fingers ached. She heard a crack and her stomach plummeted. Turning her head almost unbalanced her. Riley had dislodged more of her ledge.
‘Tess, help!’ Riley sobbed, her fingers clawing at the rock as she slithered back from the edge, dragging her damaged leg.
She was almost there, but there was no room for two people where Riley was perched, and if it crumbled again … Tess looked down, shuddered. They’d both be dead. She found another foothold almost level with Riley.
‘You’ll be okay, just keep still. I have to keep going, get the bag.’
‘Tess.’ There was a world of pain and terror in that one word.
‘Just focus on your breathing. Keep calm,’ Tess said. ‘I’m going to get my phone out of the bag, get you some help.’
Riley’s eyes were suddenly drawn above them to the top of the mountain.
Tess couldn’t believe it. He’d come after all. ‘Aaron!’ she called out in relief. ‘We need help!’
‘No! No, he’s not going to help us!’ Riley sobbed.
‘Of course he will.’ But the expression on Riley’s face had her stomach sinking. ‘Why wouldn’t he help us?’
‘Because he’s the one that pushed me over.’
A rock the size of a soccer ball bounced over the edge and crashed past them.
‘Are you sure?’ But her mind went back. Two hands on her back, a shove. Oh my God. ‘Aaron! What are you doing?’
‘There are always consequences for our a
ctions, Tess,’ he called back calmly. Another rock fell past her, barely missing her fingers.
Tess dug her feet into the rocky crevices and grabbed a snow gum jutting out of the mountain. Alive and strong, she had to hope it was anchored well enough to take her weight.
‘What’s wrong with you?’ she yelled.
‘If only you’d agreed to come with me. You chose Denham instead. I told you losing you wasn’t an option. I warned you you were running out of chances.’
Another rock, bigger than the last, smashed above them and shattered, raining shards and dust over them.
‘I’m sorry it has to end like this, Tess.’ A rope dropped a few metres to their left. For a moment she thought perhaps he was going to help them after all. ‘I knew you’d go down there after her, but you didn’t fall. I’m gonna have to hurry this up. Don’t want reinforcements arriving.’
‘Aaron, please!’
Riley cried out again as another wad of earth disappeared from under her, leaving her with just enough ledge for one foot.
Tess leant forward, adjusting her grip on the tree. ‘Riley, grab my hand.’
‘You won’t be able to hold me! How can you hold my weight?’ Riley’s eyes flicked back and forth from Aaron to Tess’s hand.
‘You need to trust me. You need to reach. Try, Riley. Trust me.’
There was a final snap, and the ground fell away. Riley screamed, snatched at Tess’s hand, and Tess grabbed her firmly around the wrist. They both swung downward, the branch Tess was hanging from groaning against their weight.
‘Don’t let me go,’ Riley pleaded.
‘I am not letting you go,’ she said, teeth clenched with effort. Desperation and resolve mixed in equal measure as she clung with little more than sheer determination.
‘I think Tess might have the best job in the world,’ Emily said as an area of track thickened with snow. ‘I’ve lived in Hobart my whole life and never come out here.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Indy said, ‘but hard work at times—hey, look!’ She hurried ahead and pointed to where the track had a thin covering of snow. ‘Footprints.’ She got on her phone and let the other searchers know what they’d found.
