The Amber Trail

by M. J. Kelly

  He dropped to his haunches and tiptoed across the concrete. Raj leaned back in his seat and the frame squealed against the vinyl.

  Dig kept moving, treading slowly past Raj’s back, almost within arm’s reach, and ducked into the dim light of the hallway. He stood with his back against one wall, taking deep breaths.

  Pictures hung on the hallway walls at regular intervals. A photo of a woman in her early twenties faced him. In it, she wore jeans and her long dark hair fell loose over her healthy frame. She leaned against a railing with the backdrop of the Hampi hills behind her. Her eyes were strong and mischievous, and Dig recognised her as a young, seemingly innocent version of Maxine. He stared at the picture, wondering how she had become the bitter relic of a woman that she was today.

  Maybe I’ll find out, he considered, because now it was time. Time to face Maxine and put all the drama to rest, one way or another. He squared himself up, and turned down the hall.

  He took two steps before he froze. Ahead of him on the floor, sitting in a worn wicker basket, was Maxine’s dog, Digit.

  The dog sat up straight and studied Dig with pointed ears. A cream plaster cast encased his front leg; one shoulder was shaved and covered in a brown paste.

  Dig’s heart pounded. He held his palms out in front of him. “Hey!” he whispered. “Hey boy!”

  A rumble grew from the dog’s throat; its lips curled up to reveal stained and pointed canines.

  “It’s okay,” Dig whispered. “Relax!”

  The dog growled and gave a bark, echoing down the hall.

  The movement from the main room ceased and a quiet hung in the air, save for the low tune of the sitar playing on the stereo.

  “Digit?” Chair legs scraped against the concrete.

  Dig stood poised, his eyes darting back and forth between the dog and the main room.

  The dog barked again, loudly.

  Dig winced as Raj appeared in the hallway. His mouth dropped open.

  “Hi Raj,” Dig said in a strained voice. “Now just let me explain okay?”

  Raj’s eyes bulged. “Shiv!” he exclaimed in a stuttering shout. “Everyone! It’s him!” Dig pursed his lips and took a step backward.

  Girish appeared in the hallway behind Raj, eyebrows furrowed. He blinked rapidly, then joined in the chorus. “Shiv!” he shouted. “Get in here!”

  A door squealed open and a rumble of footsteps echoed through the house. “What?”

  “In here!”

  Shiv appeared in the doorway with his shoulders wide, panting. “What the...?” He clenched his hands into fists as his two companions appeared behind him.

  “Now wait a sec,” Dig said, holding his palms up. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. Just talk.”

  The bald-headed thug burst forward and yanked Dig’s arm behind his back. Shiv backhanded Dig across the face, clouding his vision and knocking him to the floor.

  He was hauled across the concrete by one arm; the floor felt like sandpaper on his knees. He tasted blood in his mouth. Someone lifted him by the armpits and dumped him onto the stool by the kitchen counter.

  Before he could reach for the water bottle in his pocket, a cable tie zipped tight around his wrist, fixing him to the frame of the seat. This action was copied on his other extremities until he was tied to the seat by both wrists and ankles. Blood pumped in his temples, and he tipped his head back to take a few breaths while he waited for the ringing in his ears to subside.

  Clicking heels echoed from the hallway, and everyone in the room straightened. Maxine emerged through the doorway with the dog under one arm. Her eyes were underscored by dark rings, but still gleamed with a fevered intensity. A double chin bulged at her neckline.

  She placed the dog on the ground, then produced a packet of cigarettes from a hip pocket. She lifted a cigarette to her mouth and fired it up—the end glowing bright as she drew in the smoke. She exhaled a cloud in front of her, then glanced at Shiv. “He broke into the house?”

  Shiv nodded.

  Maxine grabbed Shiv’s earlobe between two fingers and yanked it sideways. He grimaced and his hands hovered at his head, then dropped back down. A flush ran across his cheeks.

  Maxine breathed smoke into his face. “Not good enough,” she said, and released him.

  Maxine walked across to Dig and stood over him, smirking. Dig glanced up through a lowered brow.

  “You again,” Maxine said.

  “Thanks for the invite.”

  She took another drag on her cigarette. “Where’s your girlfriend?”

  Dig felt Shiv’s eyes on him, and he blinked. “She wasn’t my girlfriend,” he said. “But she won’t be coming. She had an accident.”

  Shiv tilted up his chin. “What kind of accident?”

  “She fell off the motorbike in the tunnel. She didn’t make it back out.”

  “You’re lying,” Maxine said.

  “I’m not.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “That’s easily checked.” She looked to Shiv. He was staring blankly out the window, his lips thin. She rolled her eyes and turned to the bald-headed thug—he nodded and walked out of the room.

  Maxine turned back to Dig. “And you’ve come here to give yourself up?”

  “No,” Dig said, and kept her gaze. “I came here to offer you a deal.”

  She raised her eyebrows and scoffed.

  “I think we both want the same thing,” Dig continued. “To keep our family safe and...together.”

  She stared at him. “You think you can threaten me? While tied up like a pig?”

  Dig blinked and glanced around the room. “I’m not talking about physical harm,” he said. “I’m talking about keeping secrets safe. Family secrets.”

  Maxine stiffened and her eyes cut toward Girish. She lifted her cigarette to her lips and took a long drag. She looked out the glass doors to the river, then turned to the other people in the room. “Leave us for a moment.”

  Girish and Raj frowned at each other. “But—”

  “Leave!” Maxine shouted with a hand on her hip. “Now.”

  Girish shook his head and gestured toward Raj. “Come on.” They walked out to stand on the deck. Shiv and the bald-headed thug followed behind.

  When the room was empty, Maxine placed her cigarette into an ashtray on the bench, then walked to the kitchen and pulled a beer from the fridge door. She popped off the top and took a mouthful.

  “Listen,” Dig whispered. “If you hurt me today, your family finds out the truth. My brother’s ready to make a phone call if he doesn’t hear from me by nightfall.”

  She watched him for a moment. “And what truth is that?”

  He glanced toward the deck. “I’ll make sure that Raj finds out we shared a father.”

  Maxine’s eyes flared.

  “But, if you leave me and Chook alone, we’ll forget we ever came here, and you’ll never see us again. You have my word.”

  She lifted the cigarette to her lips and squinted into the smoke.

  “Do we have an understanding?”

  Maxine nodded slowly. “Yes. I think I understand.”

  Dig let out a breath. “Good.”

  An unbalanced smile broke out across her lips. “I understand you’re even more dense than I thought!” She smirked, then turned toward the balcony. “Girish! Get back in here.”

  Girish hesitated, then walked back into the room to stand beside them.

  “Hold out your hands.”

  Girish frowned and folded his arms. “Would you mind telling me—”

  “Just hold them out!”

  Girish flinched, then slowly lifted his hands out for inspection.

  Max turned to Dig and pointed. “Look.”

  Girish gave a pinched expression and stared at the ceiling. Dig looked at his arms. While Girish’s natural skin colour was dark, the back of his hands and fingers were covered in blotchy patches of white.

  “Do you know what Vitiligo is?” Maxine said.

  Dig shook his head.<
br />
  “Well, now you do. It’s a skin condition that causes an ugly white depigmentation.”

  Girish pursed his lips and dropped his hands back into his pockets.

  “You now,” she shouted across the room to where Raj was standing. “Come here.”

  Raj shuffled over and stood beside Girish. They exchanged a look.

  Max took another mouthful from her beer. “Now look at these two unfortunate specimens. And tell me they’re not father and son.”

  Dig looked from Girish to Raj and back again, and butterflies churned in his stomach. The two had thin frames, bushy eyebrows and protruding Adam’s Apples. They also shared the same shade of skin. It was near impossible they were not related.

  “Now you,” she said to Raj. “Hands.”

  Raj scowled, and slowly lifted his hands.

  Dig knew what he was going to see, but he looked anyway. Raj’s hands were dark and calloused, but the fingers and back of his palms were covered in the same patches of blotchy white.

  Raj retracted his hands, folded them across his chest, and stared at Dig like he was a stranger. Which, it seemed, he was.

  Maxine turned to Dig. “Vitiligo is hereditary. As, it seems, is stupidity—between you and your father.”

  Dig’s pulse raced. “You did know him then.”

  “Of course I knew him,” she said, curtly. “In a business capacity. He came into the bar many years ago, demanding we let him import our hops. He was a simple man. But thick-headed.”

  “So why did you agree?”

  Maxine picked up her beer and turned to walk slowly toward the balcony. “Everything has a price,” she said. “And he was prepared to pay for it. If he took care of the extraction for us, and passed on the product in Australia—then he could use our hops.”

  Dig frowned. “But...that just doesn’t seem like him.”

  Maxine strode back to Dig and leaned over him. “Get it into your head you idiot! Your father was no saint. He was greedy. And he gambled his life away for his business.”

  Dig clenched his teeth and moisture welled in the corner of his eyes. He shook his head minutely.

  “And you’ve done the same. Gambled the lives of your family away for money.” She smirked. “And lost.”

  Dig looked up, eyes wide. “Look,” he said. “This whole thing was just me okay? My family have nothing to do with it—so you can leave them out of it.”

  Maxine took another mouthful from the bottle. “Sorry boy,” she said. “We can’t take that chance.”

  The rumble of an engine approached outside, followed by the squeaking brakes of the hi-rail truck as it pulled to a stop. A door opened and then slammed shut. The bald-headed thug walked in, supporting a wrapped tarpaulin across the front of his chest. He raised his eyebrows at Maxine, and then placed the tarpaulin carefully on the floor in the centre of the room.

  Shiv entered from the balcony and stared down at the lumpy length of material with his eyebrows knitted together.

  “You found something?” Maxine said.

  The thug nodded. He reached down and pulled the top of the tarpaulin away, revealing Jules’ pocked and swollen face. Her cheeks were blue and her lips cracked. Her lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling.

  Shiv’s face contorted and he brought his hand up to his mouth. He coughed and retched, then tipped forward and vomited a glut of liquid onto the floor. A slick of saliva hung from his chin as he pulled in a few ragged breaths.

  Maxine shuddered and turned to Shiv. “The thief got exactly what she deserved. Don’t you agree?”

  Shiv straightened and wiped at his mouth. He turned away from her and walked a few steps toward the deck, arms folded, looking out the window.

  Maxine watched his back with a scowl. “Are you listening to me?”

  Shiv stood unmoved.

  Maxine strode into his field of vision. “You know whose fault this is?”

  Shiv’s lips thinned.

  “His,” Maxine said, and pointed to Dig, still tied to the chair. “He came over here, meddled in our business, and turned her against us. He is to blame.”

  Shiv met Maxine’s gaze, then turned and narrowed his eyes at Dig.

  Maxine leaned into his ear. “It’s time to punish him.”

  Shiv nodded slowly.

  “Get the knife. And remove his windpipe.”

  Shiv swallowed, then shuffled across to the kitchen where he plucked a large steel kitchen knife from the bench top, then returned to stand beside Dig.

  Dig’s muscles tensed and his breath caught in his throat. He pulled at the ties on his arms and legs. “No,” he stammered. “Please! Let me go home and you’ll never see me again...I’ll shut down the brewery. We can pay whatever you need. Please.” Sweat tracked down the back of his neck.

  Maxine dropped to sit on the couch, one arm bent up at the elbow, holding a new cigarette. “I’m going to enjoy this.” Dig dropped his gaze to the floor.

  Shiv weighed the knife up in his grip, and stepped toward Dig with a familiar resolve in his eyes. Again, Dig yanked at the ties binding his arms, but they held firm—there was no chance to break free. His lips trembled and his heart pounded in his ears. Was this really the place where he was going to die? How much would it hurt? Would his family even know it had happened?

  Shiv stopped beside him with the knife in his hand. The curls of his hair framed his round face. He turned the blade around so it faced the floor, and lifted it for the strike.

  Dig dropped his head and his vision caught on Shiv’s legs. For a man from the subcontinent, they were relatively pale. He wore no shoes, and his feet were dirty. Dig’s gaze focused on Shiv’s toes.

  The second and third digits were webbed together with skin.

  His eyes widened.

  Shiv held the knife primed, ready to plunge it forward into Dig’s throat.

  “You!” Dig exclaimed. “You’re my brother!”

  Shiv faltered.

  “Your toe! It’s webbed! Like mine.” Dig waggled his foot on the ground below him.

  “Finish him!” Maxine called from the couch. Her voice had raised an octave, and she was sitting upright.

  “And she’s your mother?” Dig blinked rapidly. “Yes...it all makes sense.”

  Shiv’s arm dropped and he looked across to Maxine.

  She shot up from her seat. “This is bullshit. Finish him off, or I’ll do it for you.”

  Shiv frowned.

  Dig waggled his foot again. “Look at my foot! We’re related!”

  Shiv’s eyes dropped to study Dig’s foot, then his own.

  Maxine stormed across the room. She grabbed a handful of Dig’s hair and yanked his head backwards. “This idiot,” she seethed through clenched teeth. “Is trying to screw with your mind. Don’t listen to him. Ten minutes ago he was claiming Raj was his brother. Now he’s trying the same shit on you. He’s playing you, and you’re too stupid to see it.”

  Shiv breathed heavily. “But his toe...”

  “Who cares about his toe!” she screamed. “I have a birthmark on my arm—does that mean I’m related to everyone who has the same?” Her eyes were pinpricks.

  Shiv dropped his gaze to the floor.

  “Now, are you going to finish this bastard off or are you going to make me do it for you?”

  Shiv shook his head minutely. “I can’t...think,” he said, and the arm holding the knife fell to his side.

  Maxine sighed and held out her hand. “Give me the knife.”

  Shiv dropped down to sit on the coffee table.

  “Give...me...the knife!” Maxine reached out.

  Dig’s stomach churned. “Shiv,” he said. “Now is the time. She’s pushed you around your whole life.”

  Shiv’s head lifted and he met Dig’s gaze.

  “Take her out,” Dig said.

  Shiv’s forehead creased; his lips quivered and his eyes welled up with moisture. He stood up, and the knife clattered to the floor. He paced over to Dig and leaned in close, nose
to nose.

  “She...is...my...mother!” Shiv screamed. “You ask me to kill my mother?” He straightened and clenched his fist. He wound his arm back, and brought it down with all his strength. The blow slammed into Dig’s chin with a painful crunch.

  “She is all I have!” Tears ran down Shiv’s face. He lifted his arm and punched again. It thumped into the bridge of Dig’s nose, and his vision exploded.

  Dig came to with his chin on his chest. Blood dripped from his nose and splashed down the front of his shirt. Shiv sat slumped on the couch, staring at his hands.

  Maxine patted Shiv on the back. “It’s okay. You just relax for a bit.” She turned. “Raj! Get Shiv a drink.” Raj nodded and walked to the fridge. “One of the new ones,” she added.

  Raj retrieved a fresh bottle of beer from the door, and twisted off the lid as he handed it to Shiv. “Freshly brewed.”

  “Aren’t you going to tell him your news?”

  Raj scratched at his neck. “This time,” he said. “We’ve managed to engineer the hops with coca leaf.”

  Shiv looked at him blankly.

  Raj raised his eyebrows. “It’s got cocaine in it.”

  Shiv gave a nod, then lifted the bottle to his lips and took a mouthful. He swallowed and licked his lips. “Good,” he said, and placed the beer on the coffee table.

  Maxine retrieved the knife from the floor. “You ready now?”

  Shiv nodded.

  Dig clenched his teeth and looked past them, out the glass doors to the river. The green water flowed smoothly past the deck. Behind it, a breeze wafted through the tops of the trees. He thought of his family, and suddenly missed them immensely.

  Above the river, he noticed the small shape of a bird fluttering in the wind, ducking and diving. It turned sharply and headed toward the house, then cruised across the deck and landed by the doorway. Its wings were blue and green, and its chest was purple. The Rainbow Bee Eater sat in the doorway and cocked its head toward Dig.

  Dig gave a weak smile.

  I think this is it my friend, he thought. I’m out of ideas.

  The bird hopped into the room, its talons clicking on the concrete, and gave a loud chirp.

  Maxine stopped and turned.

  The bird hopped further, bouncing along the floor, until it came to a stop at Dig’s feet. It chirped again loudly, twice.