by Sharon Haste
'Everyone ready?' Sam asks, positioning herself between Charli and Alex.
There are nods and murmurs around the room, and they grab each other's hands. Jael places his hand on her shoulder as Charli fingers the pendant in her free hand.
'Not sure what's going to happen. I've never taken this many people with me before,' Charli says. 'Do you think I should try taking three at a time? I know three works.'
'It won't work. We'll all end up in different versions of the same place,' Tobi says.
'Best if we all go back at the same time then,' Sam says.
'Okay, let's do it,' Charli says. 'Remember, we need to get back to the fig tree when the dog barks. If you're not there, I can't take you back.'
'You'll come back for us though, won't ya?' Tobi asks.
'I'll try,' Charli says. 'But it might not work. Just be under the tree, and you won't have to live the next two weeks again.'
'I'll be there,' he says, gripping Alex's hand tighter.
'Just stick to the plan, and it'll work out,' Sam says with authority, giving everyone a final look.
There's a collective murmur of acknowledgement.
'Okay, let's do it,' Sam says.
Jael squeezes Charli's shoulder as she flings the pendant over her head. Charli's head spins and feels ready to explode by the time they land under the tree. She falls to her knees and hears everyone running to do what they have talked about. Bile rises, burning her throat and mouth, as vomit pours from her. Tobi asks if she's all right, and she waves him away.
'Just do what we planned,' she gasps, clutching her middle and leaning over to vomit again. 'I'll be there in a minute.'
Her head pounds so much that she's blinded. She topples to the grass on her side, her head in both hands and a warm trickle of blood oozing from her nose. She hears rapid footsteps and distant shouts as the darkness claims her.
Chapter Thirty-four
She wakes to Jael's urgent shout and someone shaking her shoulders. She forces her eyelids apart to a sea of faces.
'Come on, Charli, we've got to go.'
Strong arms lift her to her feet and hold her upright as someone else takes the pendant from her neck. The travel leaves her staggering, and she's grateful that the arms beneath keep her upright. She's forced to the leather couch and falls into it. Someone lifts her feet in the air and brings them down on the armrest. There's a cool flannel on her head, and someone is wiping her nose. She's surprised to see blood on the cloth when they take it away.
'Are you all right?' Jael asks, hovering over her. Sam pushes him out of the way and bends to examine Charli's eyes and check her nose. The blood has stopped, and she places a wad of tissues under her nostrils to stem any further flow. The room stops spinning and comes into focus. She closes her eyes as her head threatens to explode.
'Charli, can you hear me?' The voice grows more distant, and there's urgency in it. She tries to speak, but her mouth doesn't move. The inky blackness surrounds her.
'Give her some space.'
'Move back a bit.'
'Where's that cool cloth?'
'Someone get some water.'
'Lift her legs higher. Put a pillow under them.'
The next time she opens her eyes, the room is quiet. Jael is perched beside the couch, his hand on her leg, and Sam reclines in a chair a couple of steps away. Two sets of eyes peer at her as she tries to get up. She tastes blood at the back of her throat. She frowns; her throat is like sandpaper.
'What happened?' she asks, holding her head as a sharp pain shoots through it. 'I can't remember anything after we got to the tree.'
'You passed out as soon as we got there and woke up just enough to bring us back, but you've been out for…' Sam checks her watch. 'About two hours now.'
Panic flares through her.
'This time travel is taking a toll on you, Charli. I'm not sure how much longer you can take it.' Sam says.
'Too many people,' Charli whispers. Jael passes her a glass of water with a straw, and she takes several long swallows, the cool water soothing her parched throat. 'I can't remember anything,' she says, her brows furrow as she pushes back the hair in her face. 'What happened? Did you find out what happened before the car hit the water or at least if anyone else was there?'
Sam and Jael exchange a glance in front of her.
'First, you need to sit up and eat something,' Sam says. 'And then we'll talk about what happened. Getting you in better shape is the number one priority right now.'
Sam takes ten minutes to make Charli a cup of tea, sweetened with honey, and a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich. She feels like an invalid as Sam pushes a tray onto her lap and both Sam and Jael watch her eat. Charli eats the food in slow, small bites, testing her stomach with each one. She washes it down with the tea before pushing the tray off her lap and eyeing them, eager for news.
'Where are the others?' she asks with the sudden thought that maybe someone didn't make it.
'We left them there,' Sam says. 'I was sick of Tobi's whinging, and he costs a fortune to feed. Where does he put all that food?'
They laugh at Charli's stricken face.
'I'm joking,' Sam says. 'Alex has gone home, and Tobi is sleeping.'
'As usual,' Jael pipes in. 'Unless he's eating.'
Charli releases her breath and smiles. 'Should have known,' she says. 'Now, someone tell me what happened.'
They settle in around her, and Sam begins the story. 'I have to say, up front, that the necklace you have is awesome! Who knew a tiny thing could hold so much power?'
Charli can feel her awe and remembers the first time she used the necklace. 'Yeah, it's pretty weird,' she says.
'It took us back to the exact time you said it would,' she continues. 'We landed under that big, fig tree, right near the lake.' She reminisces about the picnics she had under the tree and how old it must be before catching Charli's look. 'Right, so anyway, Jael and Alex ran in the direction they thought the person who saw the car might have gone in while Tobi and I went down to the water. Tobi can't swim, so I started to paddle in when this other Charli comes out, dripping wet and dragging your brother after her. I got such a shock, even though you told me it would happen. I wondered how you could have beat me to the car in such a short time. It slowed me down a bit.' She pauses to take a sip of water. Charli knows she's delaying the inevitable, but she still has hope that something went right. She knows they weren't successful; otherwise, she would have woken in her other bed.
'Go on,' she encourages, eager to find out.
'Well, Tobi and I helped your other self to resuscitate Clare and Ash, but it was no good, Charli. We tried, but it didn't work.'
Charli nods, warm tears pricking her eyes and forming a lump in her throat. She turns to focus on Jael, her eyebrows arching with expectation.
'So how did you go? Did you and Alex find out anything new?'
'When Alex and I landed, we hit the ground running. I knew where the car was, so I had a pretty good idea which direction someone might run in. It was still a lot of guessing though, and it was dark, so we couldn't see much. Alex's got brilliant night vision though and thought he saw a shadow as soon as we hit the hill.' His dark eyes are on her, animated. 'Man, that dude can run. He just took off like lightening. I lost him in the dark, so I ran to the car park and checked there. I couldn't see anything, so I was scouting around trying to find Alex when I heard him shout. I ran toward the noise, and he had someone pinned to the ground. The person was small, but she was fighting against him, so I helped restrain her.'
'Her?' Charli asks.
'Yep, it was a girl, and...' he hesitates. 'Someone I know.' His gaze drifts to the far wall before he looks at her.
'Who?'
'A girl I met a long time ago. We were at school together but lost contact.'
'What's her name?'
'Saffron,' he says.
'There was a girl in prison called Saffron,' Charli says. 'Do you think it's the same one?'
'What did she look like?'
'She is a bit shorter than me, has long dark hair, and is pretty tough. Said she'd been looking after herself for a while and in foster care before that.'
'Sounds like her,' Jael says.
'So, you think she did it?' Charli asks, her voice rising. She can feel an anger bubble forming inside.
'Well, we can't be sure,' Jael says. 'She didn't confess or anything, but we caught her running away. Why was she running if she had nothing to hide?'
'Did you talk to her?' Charli asks.
'We tried, but by the time I got there, we had to run back; otherwise, we wouldn't have made it. I don't think she recognised me. She was too wound up. When we heard the dog barking, we let her go and bolted.'
'So you don't know for sure,' Charli says.
'Well, no, but she was there and must've seen something.'
'Why hasn't she come forward if she's got nothing to hide?' Charli asks.
'She hates the cops. She's been in trouble before. She wouldn't talk to them even if she did see something.'
'I can't believe it,' Charli says. 'She was so nice to me in DJ; she stuck up for me when the others wanted to fight me. Why did she do that if she put me there in the first place?'
'Guilt?' Sam says.
'Maybe.'
Charli turns to Sam. 'So what now?'
'Do you know where she lives?' Sam asks Jael.
'Nah, I haven't seen her for years. Tobi might know. She used to stay at Rosa's sometimes.'
'Yeah, worth checking with Tobi before I head into work and see if I can find her in the database somewhere. It'd be good to have a chat with her. Do you know what her last name is, Jael?'
'Well, she has used a few different ones over the years, but my guess is that it's Brown. That was the name of her adoptive parents. She may have changed it though.'
Sam turns to Charli and asks her how she's feeling. 'I want the truth,' Sam says, appraising her with a critical eye.
‘Like shit,' she confesses, 'But I'm okay. I don't need a doctor or anything; I'm just tired. I think I need to rest up before we do that last trip.'
'We can do that tomorrow. I want to get this sorted first anyway. That should give you some recovery time.'
Charli nods, hoping she's right. She knows it's pointless going back again now and isn't even sure she can stand up long enough to form the circle. She thinks about Saffron and wonders if a confession will mean she's no longer going to gaol.
'Now that we think it's Saffron, am I off the hook?' Hope surges in her chest.
'Not yet,' Sam says. 'We don't even know for sure that she did anything, not until we talk to her. If we do get a confession or some concrete evidence, the charges against you should be dropped.'
Charli's mood deflates when she realises Saffron will bear the cost of her freedom. She glances at Jael, guilt weighing her down. 'Was she a good friend?' Charli asks, her hand on his arm.
'Yeah, she was for a while, but we drifted apart when she started to ditch school all the time and got mixed up with the wrong crowd. Haven't seen her for years.'
'I'm still sorry that it's turned out like this,' Charli says. 'I never meant to hurt anyone.'
'Not your fault. She chose to do this, not you.'
Chapter Thirty-five
Sam sits at her desk, chewing a ragged nail with her eyes glued to the computer screen. The elusive Saffron Brown has just popped up on a missing person database from Victoria.
'You don't belong to anyone,' Sam utters aloud as she searches the girl's history. She finds a few minor convictions for shoplifting and a few short stints in Delany Juvenile. It shows three possible locations for her, the last one recorded a couple of months ago. 'We'll start there.'
Sam searches for a notepad, but she can't find anything in the jumble on her desk. She walks across to Mal's desk and opens his top, right-hand drawer where he always keeps his pads in a neat pile. There's a white envelope in the drawer with the official stamp of the city hospital. She picks it up, turning it over in her hand, and realises it's not sealed. She eases the envelope open, and there's two sheaves of paper inside: autopsy reports for Clare and Ashley Richter. She scans them, and her hands shake as she refolds them and places them back in the envelope. Rattled by the contents, she takes a deep breath before grabbing the notepad and jotting down the addresses. She shuts down the computer and heads out into the steamy day, her head buzzing.
The first address on her scrap of paper takes her to a vacant allotment between two high-rise apartment blocks. She stares at the levelled soil, a healthy growth of weeds at its perimeter. The building that once stood on the block was gone. She frowns, squinting at her page to check the number, before crossing it off her list. The second address is a few blocks away, and she arrives within minutes, doing a double take as she parks in front of a 7-Eleven convenience store. Again she double checks the address and crosses that one off as well.
Feeling despondent, she heads to the final address across the other side of town. She turns the radio to dance music as a distraction from her darkening thoughts. Twenty minutes later, she parks in front of a low-set house with a six-foot wire fence. She checks the address and confirms the number on the letterbox. The front yard is bereft and mostly dirt, but someone has planted a few grass runners near the house. There's a sprinkler set beside the grass and a damp ring where the soil has been watered. The remainder of the property is bare with piles of leaves raked beneath a sprawling mango tree. Palm trees sway along the perimeter; and just inside the fence; the ground is littered with fallen fronds. Sam peers past the cyclone fence, her heart beating faster. There's no sign of a dog, so she ventures forward, knowing she shouldn't be here alone. Her hand touches the reassuring bulge of her service revolver.
Ears pricked for sound, she discerns the neighbourhood noise from that within the house. It's silent. Perhaps there's nobody home. She unclips the gate and gives it a tentative push, once again on the threshold of public and private property. As she moves closer to the wooden door, she eyes the open louvres, the breeze lifting a flimsy curtain inside. She raps on the dull wood, her heart slamming against her ribs. Pedro Romero has left her more rattled than she realised. There's a sound from within, and when the door swings open, she does a double take. The girl on the threshold looks like Charli at first glance. She has long dark hair and a slender build. They are both around the same height. On closer inspection, there's a hardness in the girl's eyes that she's never seen on the Richter girl.
'Hello,' she says, flashing her badge. 'I'm Detective Constable Harris from the Delany police. I'm looking for Saffron Brown.'
The girl's smile drops, and the colour drains from her face. 'I ain't done nuthin,' she says, her voice rising.
'Are you Saffron?'
The girl turns and flees inside, slamming the door in her wake. Sam is a step ahead, the door rebounding on her foot. She sprints inside, cornering her in the kitchen.
'I just want to talk, Saffron,' Sam says, eyeing her every move.
The girl assumes a fighter's stance: head up and hands in front of her body.
'Let's just sit and talk.' Sam indicates the kitchen table and chairs between them, lowering herself to a chair.
Saffron stands her ground for a minute before sinking into a chair on the other side of the table. No sooner was she in her seat then there's a rap on the open door and someone shouts her name. It's enough to distract Sam for the split second it takes Saffron to leap from her chair and shove her to the floor. Jael stops her just inside the door. She tries to push him out of the way, but he stops her long enough for Sam to regain her footing.
'Outta my way,' she screams as Sam comes in behind her and grabs a wrist. She looks up, and Jael winks at her from over Saffron's head. She grins her relief.
'Saffie, it's me,' he yells over her shouts.
She stops struggling and looks up, her face breaking into an instant smile and her free arm snaking around his waist.
'Jael, where'd y
ou come from?'
'Around.'
'Run,' she whispers in his ear. 'I gotta get out of here.'
He takes a firm grip on her shoulders. 'Looks like you need to stay,' he says, pushing her backwards.
'What are ya talking about? I need to get outta here.'
'I said you need to stay and talk to Sam.' His tone is firm.
'Sam?' Saffron says, frowning at him. 'Know her, do ya? Best buddies with the cops now? Sure have changed, haven't ya?'
'Some changes are for the better. Just take a seat and talk to Sam. This is serious.'
While he pushes Saffron into a seat, Sam closes the front door and turns the deadbolt, so she can't attempt another escape. She gets the formalities over and launches into her questions. Saffron's face drains of colour, and she starts fiddling with a cigarette lighter when Sam asks her what she was doing on the night of the party.
Saffron hedges around an answer, saying she can't remember; it was too long ago. She reaches across and lights a cigarette, blowing the smoke to the ceiling.
'There was an accident at the lake that night,' Sam says.
'So? What's that got to do with me?'
'A car with three people in it went into the lake. Maybe you saw something?'
Saffron denies being there. Her head is lifted high in the air, and her lips are pressed tight. Sam places her at Delany Lake, based on an eyewitness report, and Saffron continues to deny it, telling them they're mistaken.
'There's no mistake. I saw you,' Jael says.
She glares at him. 'So you dobbed me in?'
Sam sees the hurt on her face and the tears in her eyes.
'There's another girl who's taking the blame for this. We just need to know what happened and what you saw. Just tell the truth; it's the right thing,' Jael says.
'The right thing for who? Your little girlfriend? Since when did you get all self-righteous?' she accuses him.
'Just tell the truth,' he spits.
'Yeah, I was there. Was having a shit night and went for a walk.' She glances at Sam. 'I know it's dumb to walk by myself at night, but I wasn't thinking straight.'
