by Belle Brooks
I fall as the sound rings out like gunshots from behind me. I find my feet and aimlessly amble forward. A massive roar of thunder shakes the sky, causing me to jolt …
And then I feel it. Liquid slides down my arms.
One foot in front of the other. I have no idea where I’m walking to, but I just keep taking step after step. The hard pounding of heavy rain stings my skin. I’d know this feeling anywhere, and although I can’t see the droplets, I can feel them.
This is my only chance to survive.
I don’t look back. I don’t dare give my mind the chance to spy how close the flames of this fire lick at my heels. I just keep moving.
Four hearts are all that matter in my life. Three of those hearts wait for me to come home, the other one thrums intensely, trying not to stop. I can’t give up now. I have no choice but to outrun this fire. I need to outrun the wolf.
Reid
It’s late afternoon, and thunder cracks as rain buckets from the sky. It’s been pissing down for hours. I’m restless. I pace the floors, and I’m sure if I keep going this way I’ll burn a permanent track in my wake. My stomach churns, and my heart thumps viciously. Nothing can bring me calm. Nothing can take away this overwhelming fear pumping through my blood. Cruise is still nowhere to be found, and with every minute that passes I think more and more that he, my brother, is responsible for the disappearance of my wife. He has been given all the tools to carry this out. His fucking role as Frank Turvay, a once friendly face on the Bay, now turned serial killer, seeking revenge against those who loved him. I can’t shake the feeling that this is what’s been right under my nose the entire time. Has Cruise snapped? And if so, why Morgan? Cruise had the hots for her, he made sure I knew it the moment he met her, but he never acted on it. Or did he?
West, Gleaton, and Dyson have not made a peep regarding Morgan’s condition, safety, or if they’ve located her yet. Why haven’t they called? What are they keeping from me? Where are they?
The stress of the day is doing me in. Morgan. Where is she? Is she coming back? Why is no one calling? It’s been too long. Panic steamrolls through me. I need this to end now. Morgan needs to be in my arms, not in some bushland, not fighting for her life. I can’t help her. I’m useless, pathetic, and tortured.
I can feel Morgan slipping away from me. She’s fading, just as the day will soon enough. Another night without Morgan awaits me. We have no time left.
“What’s happening?” I yell the moment Maloney walks from the direction of the kitchen right into my view. “What do you know?”
Maloney shakes his head. His lips are pressed hard together. His chest rises and falls slowly.
He’s calm. Why is he so fucking calm?
“Come on, son.” Dad places his hand on my shoulder, and as I flick him away, I glare at Maloney with red-hot flames burning around my irises. I’m so fucking mad I know that if Maloney doesn’t say something, anything, I will drill his thick body through the wall, gun or not.
“That prick knows something, Dad.” I glare at Maloney. “Go on—deny you do. Lie to me. Lie to my face.”
My feet slap on the floor as I march until I’m standing nose-to-nose with Maloney. I want him to look into my eyes and tell me he doesn’t have any new information so that I can knock his fucking lights out.
“Reid, they have a location, but it’s broad. They’ll have to search it all.”
“It’s pissing down rain. How can they help her?”
“It may not be raining where she is.”
My eyes widen to saucers. I stop breathing. My head spins. I’m going to faint.
I stumble backwards. The room whooshes around me, and as I reach out my arms to grab onto the blurry shadow of Maloney in front of me, I fall.
“I’ve got you,” Dad says, and I can hear his sobs. Is he crying? My dad never cries. Never.
His hot breath rushes against my neck. His arms strangle my chest. “I’ll never let you fall, Reid. Not on my watch. They know where Morgan is. Reid, they’re bringing her home.”
“Morgan,” I whisper. It’s barely audible.
I sit on the ground with my head tucked between my legs. I’m trying to suck air into my lungs in small quick breaths, yet nothing seems to be filling them. Hyperventilation.
“Sssh. Sssh. Sssh. Come now. Come on, just breathe, love. Just breathe. Mamma’s here.” Mum hugs my head.
I hear tortured howls. They rumble and roar around me. I want to look to where the sound is coming from, but I can’t—I can’t move. I’m howling. I’ve lost all control. My mind has finally broken. I’ve lost my marbles.
My legs wobble as Mum helps me to stand. The room spins around me until the back of Dad’s head comes into view. I can’t do this anymore. Where’s my wife?
The sound of the door hitting the wall has me reaching out my hands. Thick arms push through Dad and John who stand in front of me. “Get out of my way,” he roars. “Reid, Reid.”
I’d know his voice anywhere. It’s the voice of the man who shares the same blood as me, whose job it is to protect me, to show me the way in life, to be my guiding light. My two-faced wife-stealing brother.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” A soaked light blue shirt with a pocket half torn off takes my vision. The colour of crimson marks his collar. Cruise’s nose is swollen and bruised, and his left eye blackened. There’s a cut to his cheek. “Brother, I only just found out.”
I press off my heels and launch myself at Cruise. I curl my arms around his neck and fold my legs around his waist to bring him down to the floor. I’ll mess his face up more than it already is.
We hit the ground the moment Cruise’s wet feet slip out from under him. I land on top of his chest, but he flips me underneath him before I have time to blink. Finding a strength I’ve never had, leads me to grunts and groans that see me back on top of Cruise and hunched over his face, straddling his waist.
Cruise gives up fighting. Cruise never gives up.
“Get off me.” He reels in pain. “What are you doing?”
“Where’s my Morgan? Where did you put her?” I strangle his collar. My knuckles turn a shade of white. “Tell me where she is!”
“Break it up.” Maloney’s voice booms. “Get off him.”
“No! Not until he tells me where Morgan is.” I slip my hands around his neck and press down, applying pressure that will cut off his airway.
“Reid. STOP!” Mum screams.
“He didn’t do it, Reid. He’s not responsible,” Dad shouts in my ear.
My ear pops, and a dull ache has me scrunching my eyes shut.
“Get off your fucking brother.” Dad applies pressure to my back as his fingers try to pry mine off Cruise.
“No! Get off, Dad.” I try to jerk away from him, but he’s much stronger.
I’m being dragged by my collar, my grip torn away, and I fight. I fight as if my life depends on it. Every pounding of my heels on the floor, every thrash of my torso, means I can go back to strangling the fucking life out of my brother.
I’m defeated the moment I feel my arms yanked behind my back.
Click, click. Click, click.
I hear the handcuffs secured before I even feel the pressure against my ulnas.
“Don’t make me arrest you for assault.” Maloney towers over me as I sit puffing.
A bead of sweat drips from his eyebrow and falls onto my cheek. I thrash my head. “Pig.”
“You want to play it this way? Do you think that’s a wise decision?”
“I think you have these cuffs on the wrong man. That’s what I think.”
Maloney grabs his radio from his holster. “Dispatch, RK-242.”
“Yes, RK-242, go ahead.”
“Constable Maloney here. We have located Cruise Banks. I need a unit to the home of Reid Banks, where our suspect currently is. It's about the missing person case of Morgan Banks.”
“Requested unit is on its way.”
Cruise sits across from me. His hands are pres
sed against his neck, his body slumped over itself. His knuckles are grazed. They’re fucking grazed.
“What have you done?” I yell, glaring in his direction.
“Nothing, you dumb fuck. I’ve done nothing.” He bolts upright.
“Reid, shut your God damn mouth. You’re helping no one.” Dad shoots me a death stare.
“Always on his side. You’ve always been on his side. Why? Because he’s some bigshot bloody actor? I’m the disappointment, aren’t I, Dad? Go on, admit it.”
Dad lays his head into his palms. He roars. I sit upright.
“You boys both make me proud. You’re my legacy. I’m proud of you both.” Dad drops his hands and points his finger at me. “Don’t!”
I huff loudly.
No sooner do Dad’s eyes disconnect, then he’s crouched in front of Cruise.
“Where the ever-loving fuck have you been?” His voice is stern, yet controlled.
“Wagga.”
“Wagga. Why the fuck were you in Wagga?”
“Escaping the world. Natalie said she wanted a divorce. I lost it, Dad. I lost it.”
“So you ran away. Are you telling me you hopped a plane to escape the issues, problems you’re having with your wife?”
There’s no reply.
“You smell like a brewery. Are you drunk?”
“No. Hungover as shit.”
“How did you get here?”
“Drove. Metho lent me his ute.”
“You’ve been with Metho this entire time?”
“Yes.” Cruise coughs.
“You drove drunk?”
“I drove. That’s all that matters.”
“Why are you so banged up, boy?”
“Bar fight.” He punches the words out abruptly.
“You look like you got your arse handed to you.”
“I did.”
He doesn’t even talk himself up. That’s unlike Cruise.
“We’ve been calling you nonstop. Natalie has been beside herself with worry.”
“She wouldn’t care if I lived or died. Ouch!” Cruise yelps.
I catch a glimpse of his face as his head bobs to the side after Dad clips him around the ear.
“Don’t be a fool. You probably did something to piss your woman off, and she probably said more than she meant to, but Natalie loves you, always has and always will. When she finds out you’re here …” Dad pauses. “You’re going to be a dead man. She thought you’d been taken too.”
“Morgan.” Cruise has agony in his tone.
“Still missing.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t know.”
“How did you find out?”
“Metho saw it on the television at the TAB. He raced back to tell me.”
“Why haven’t you answered your phone?”
There’s a long pause.
“Because I don’t know where it is. I lost it after I passed out in some bushes off Metho’s property.”
“Don’t you ever do this —”
“I know, Dad.”
Dad wraps his hand around the back of Cruise’s head and rests his forehead against his. “You had me worried. Sick with worry.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You need to be here now for your brother. Get upstairs, get out of those filthy stinking clothes, and pull your shit together.”
“No.” Maloney steps towards Dad. “Right now, Cruise is under investigation and those clothes, and his body, are evidence.”
“I didn’t take my sister-in-law. You have to believe me.” Tears drip from Cruise’s eyes when Dad sits to the right of him.
“It’s not a matter of believing you, mate. It’s a matter for the law to decide.”
“You’re kidding?” Dad huffs as he stands.
Maloney shakes his head. “Not a matter for anyone to decide, bar the detectives.”
“But he just told you where he was and what's happened since?”
“Look at his jeans. They’re muddy and grass-stained. His face is a mess. His shirt is bloodied.” Maloney’s finger points to Cruise.
“And that makes him look guilty.” Dad smacks his hand to his forehead. “My son didn’t do this. Max, he didn’t do it. And he has an alibi, with a witness.”
“Then you’ll have no problems, will you?”
Maloney walks around Dad and stands beside Cruise. “Are you coming willingly down to the station?”
“Yes.” It’s barely audible.
“Good.”
“I’m calling a lawyer,” Dad says.
“Good decision,” Maloney says.
“I never thought I’d have to call a lawyer for both my sons for the same fucking reason. I hope he doesn’t have to show, because he costs a fortune.” Dad holds his mobile phone beside his ear. “I’m not sure what the hell your mother and I ever did to raise boys who couldn’t keep their bloody wives satisfied and messed up their entire bloody lives in such an epic fashion.”
“Dad,” Cruise and I snap simultaneously.
“What? It’s true, ain’t it?”
We both know better than to reply.
My brother is led away by two coppers I’ve not seen before, while Maloney undoes the handcuffs he slapped on my wrists.
Cruise’s head hangs low. His shoulders are hunched, and when Dad taps his shoulder he cries out in pain.
“I’ll be right behind you, son.”
Cruise doesn’t reply.
“Does Natalie know?” I don’t know why I care, but I do.
“Yes. Natalie's out by the car, waiting. I think Cruise will have more to worry about with her than he does with the police.” Mum rubs her thumb across my cheek. “I’m going to go with your brother.”
“I figured,” I scoff.
“Do you honestly think he’s done this?”
I drop my head. “Nope.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“I’m mad though, Mum.”
“I know. I know you are. We all are. I’ll be right back.”
And just like that, my parents abandon me, leaving me without my wife or my family for support.
“Morgan’s on the news,” Kylee screams.
Maloney’s shoulder catches mine in our haste to get to the television. I snarl but keep running.
Three backs create a shield in front of the television. John, Ronald, and Kylee stand so close it’s impossible to see.
“Move,” I yell.
They don’t.
Clutching my shoulder with my hand, I push myself beside Kylee and stare at the picture of my wife filling the screen. Her brown eyes are soft and gazing straight into mine.
“Local Rockhampton woman Morgan Banks is still missing after another long day of searching by the police and SES volunteers. Hope for her safe recovery is dwindling for this small community, and the family are co-operating and offering any information they can to assist the Rockhampton police.”
The image changes from that of Morgan to a video of a stretcher with a blue tarp covering it. It’s held upright by men dressed in white coveralls as they carry the stretcher up a small embankment.
“The body of an unidentified female was found at Yeppen Lagoon early this morning. However, it’s not believed to be the body of missing mother and wife Morgan Banks.”
The video clip changes from the stretcher to that of Detective West, striding towards the front doors of the police station.
“Can you tell us if you’ve found any leads concerning Morgan’s disappearance?” Gregory, the news reporter who interviewed me, is holding out a microphone.
“We’re doing all we can, and we hope to return Morgan to her family safely.”
“The body this morning, can —”
“No comment at this time.” West strides through automatic doors that part and then close behind him.
“Morgan Banks is still missing, but as you just heard, the police are holding onto hope that they will be able to return Morgan home safely soon,” Gregory’s blue eyes look
straight through me.
“Nothing. We still have nothing.” I shake my head.
“They’re doing all they can,” Kylee says quietly.
“It’s not enough. Turn it off.” I twist on my heel and stomp towards the kitchen.
Maloney is on the phone when I make the kitchen table.
He must spot me, because he turns and walks towards Morgan’s sitting room.
I wait, glaring at Maloney’s back. I press my neck forward, trying to understand what he says. I can’t hear anything.
Maloney turns in slow motion. His hand drops to his side, still holding the phone in his grip.
“Max.” My voice shakes.
He steps towards me. “They’ve deployed two tactical teams to search. It’s a big area, Reid. All you can do now is pray.”
“Two teams.” My voice heightens. “Where?”
“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”
“Where?” My voice raises.
“Reid, come on. They have men on the ground; it’s all I’ve got for you.”
“Why isn’t everyone out searching?”
Maloney scratches his forehead. He’s hesitating. Why?
“Conditions aren’t great. It’s almost sunset. They’ll have every officer out, come morning.”
“Not good enough,” I bark.
Maloney throws his hands in the air and then shrugs. What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
“We’ll bring her home.” Maloney’s head bobs.
“And what if they don’t? What if he’s already—” I can’t even say it.
“Pray, Reid. All you can do is pray.”
Tonight will be the longest night of my life. The storm that started all this seems to play out again, and when the swing on the veranda smacks into the foundation of the house, I look to Maloney and feel like I’m starting this nightmare all over again.
Waiting, wondering, wishing, and fighting—fighting to find my wife.
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“There’s no better wolf than a dead one.”
This is the end.
The sound of cars makes my heart beat faster. The sight of a bitumen road gives me hope. The faces of my family waiting for me are all I can see as I battle to survive.
