by Sarah Barrie
‘Yeah, I reckon it is. We should hurry. I don’t think she could make that much noise if she was swimming but I don’t want to bet on it. And she could be hurt. We need the guys.’
‘I should start down there. I don’t want her to drown.’
‘You’re pregnant. You’re not going down some stinking hole. I need some rope, something like a big bag to get her out in.’ Ebony judged the abilities of her lungs against how far it was back to where the men were working, then shouted, ‘Lee!’
Both men turned. Excellent. She waved her arms around, they waved back and headed for the ute.
Ally tipped horse feed out of a plastic tub and raced over with it then disconnected the hose under the windmill to tie around the handles, talking to Luna the whole time.
The men’s car pulled up before Ally had the final knot secured and the two police officers by the road arrived behind them.
‘Everything all right?’ one officer asked. ‘We heard a shout.’
‘The dog’s fallen into an old well.’
Lee grimaced. ‘How the hell did a dog move that?’ He pointed to the metal sheet.
‘It was already askew,’ Ally said.
Lee grabbed a small torch from the ute and stepped around Cam. ‘The cows can’t get in here with the fence around it. What else would move it?’
‘You reckon that ladder’s actually any good?’ Cam asked Lee.
‘I hope so. I don’t want to fall in that stink.’ He put a foot on the top rail, bounced up and down. ‘Seems okay. Jeez.’ He coughed. ‘That’s it. We’re filling this thing in. You don’t have any other missing animals, do you?’
‘I hope not.’
He climbed down, balancing moving with care with the urgency of rescuing the desperate dog. ‘Start lowering the bucket. You sure you didn’t move this – bump the side of it with the slasher or something as you did the fence line?’
‘No.’
So who did? An uncomfortable thought began to form in his mind. He didn’t want it forming in theirs so he kept speaking as he shone the torch down. He could make out two eyes. ‘She’s not too far down. The smell must have attracted her. I think she’s –’ He almost heaved at the smell of rot, became dizzy with it. He stopped for a minute, pulled himself together.
The light didn’t illuminate much but wood and stone. The stone was yellow and brown, with the occasional slash of black. Decayed wood held its position or fell when brushed against. There wasn’t a lot of room. Luna’s barking echoed, glancing through his head in the small space.
‘I’m coming, girl. Hold on.’ He got a better look at her: she was standing in an inch or two of foetid water, holding up her front paw. She stopped barking and began whining. ‘I think she’s okay, maybe a sore front leg. She’s standing not swimming I –’
Another set of eyes glowed faintly under the thin layer of water. All the breath left his lungs. For a moment, as he stared at Fiona’s bloated corpse, the world tilted, and shock almost took his legs out from under him.
He desperately fought back the nausea, took the last step down and scooped the dog from its soft landing. The torch slipped and dropped to the water, shining up towards him. There was another corpse, much older, only a small amount of black, leathery skin stretched across a skull protruding from the water. A few patches of hair stuck out haphazardly, and below it more bones, clothing, debris. A skeletal hand stuck out of the mess in a macabre wave. He didn’t bother with the bucket, just got himself up the ladder with one hand, dog in the other. Scrambling over the edge, he stumbled a few feet away and heaved violently.
‘Lee? Are you all right?’
When Ebony would have run to him he held a hand out behind him, kept her back.
‘What is it?’ Cam asked.
Lee pulled himself together: he needed to keep calm and he needed to get this stink off himself. He got unsteadily to his feet, and closing his eyes, felt the bile rise again, fought it down.
‘We need Ben. We’ve found the pit,’ he said. That was enough. He’d mention Fiona when he could talk without losing his stomach. ‘I’m going to hose myself down.’ As Ally had taken the hose off the tap by the windmill he walked to the washbays.
‘Who was it?’ Cam asked, following him.
‘What?’
‘It wouldn’t stink like that unless someone had been dropped down there recently.’
He looked around – one of the police had also followed them. ‘Fiona.’
‘Oh, man. I didn’t even know she was missing.’
‘Looked like a few days. Maybe. I don’t know. How long does it take for them to swell up like that? There were others – older. God, Cam, I’m covered in that shit.’ He stripped off everything but his boxers and turned the hose on himself, scrubbing the nozzle all over himself until he was red with scrapes.
‘I’m going to need that hose when you’re done,’ Ally said, coming up behind him, holding Luna by the collar.
When he passed it over, Ally got to work on the dog. ‘So … you found a body down there, right? Who was it?’
‘Oh jeez, how did you figure that out?’
‘Your reaction, and because someone was out here last night. I’m guessing that person dumped her and when he was interrupted, he didn’t get the cover shut.’
‘It was Fiona,’ Cam confirmed.
‘Fiona?’ Ebony joined them. ‘You found Fiona? Down there?’
‘Yep.’
‘Here come more police.’
They watched a police car and another unmarked car bump in. Indy climbed out of the first.
‘I heard the report. Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely. If you don’t mind, now that the stink’s dropped back to putrid, I’d like to shower. Get some clothes on.’
Ally hugged herself and stared back at the hole. ‘Rob pushed his brother Billy down an old mine shaft while they were both still children. That must be it. It should have occurred to me. I should have thought of it.’
‘It wouldn’t have made any difference,’ Cam told her. ‘They were already dead once they got there. It’s just one more reason Rob wanted this land so much, I guess.’
‘Why don’t you all head up to the house? I’ll send a couple of officers with you and come up when I’m done here,’ Indy said.
CHAPTER
31
For hours, officers came and went from the scene. The paddock was taped off and owners of the horses stabled at Ally’s were kept back. Ally went back down with Cam to move horses away from nearby yards and to put the cattle into another paddock.
Officers went in the hole, then came back out carrying things. Lee watched them work while he kept an eye on Ebony, who sat on the veranda, an observer, however distant – and reluctant. If things didn’t go right in the next few weeks, that’s where the hunters would have put her. Perhaps Ally and Cam would have owned the place their whole lives and never known she was down there, under them. Like they hadn’t known those other girls were down there.
‘You ever going to come in?’
Ebony looked at him and smiled as best she could. ‘I don’t know. How many showers have you had?’
‘Enough, I think. Come here.’
She stood and wrapped herself around him. He nuzzled at her ear, kissing the sensitive skin underneath. Despite the horror of the day, his body warmed.
‘I just want to hold on to you,’ he murmured. A shudder worked its way through him. He’d been through an ordeal and was wiped out, could see those images every time he closed his eyes.
‘I should help Ally put some dinner together.’
‘And I should probably go.’
‘Don’t. Stay here tonight. Don’t go home alone after today.’
‘I can’t stay, Ebs. I’ve spoken to Ben, he’s down there and doesn’t need us tonight. I think I just need to sleep.’
‘Okay.’ She walked inside. ‘Ally, I’m going to stay at Lee’s tonight.’
‘Right. I’ll let Cam know where you are when he’s out of the show
er. Can Lee get you to work tomorrow?’
‘I could,’ Lee said, joining them. ‘But I’m fine, Ebs. You don’t need to fuss.’
‘I agree with her,’ Ally said.
‘I’ll just grab some things.’
Lee watched Ebony head down the hallway. ‘She doesn’t have to come back.’
‘She wants to.’
‘She thinks I need the company after heading down that pit today.’
‘It wouldn’t make you a wuss to want some after that. Besides, you’re always looking out for her. It’ll make her feel good to give something back.’
‘I suppose.’
‘You don’t want her there?’
‘Of course I do. I want her every damn minute.’
Ally’s lips pressed together in an understanding smile. ‘You are the sweetest guy.’
‘That’s not a label I’ve ever actually aspired to.’
A laugh bubbled up. ‘Well, you are. So before you go locking her in a high tower for the night, make sure that’s where she wants to be.’
Ebony returned with her overnight bag and he took her back to his place. He wondered what he was going to feed her. ‘I don’t have much for dinner. We were supposed to have picked up pizza.’
‘That’s okay, I’m not particularly hungry.’ She kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘But I could drink a cup of tea.’
He filled the kettle and set it to boil. Placed tea, milk and sugar on the bench.
Ebony opened the drawer to find a spoon, drew her hands back like lightning when she saw the handgun. ‘You have one too?’
‘Yeah.’ He shoved the drawer shut again. ‘The spoons are over there.’
‘Is it loaded?’
‘While you’re here, it is.’
‘I hate guns.’
‘I know. I’m not a huge fan of them either. But that day Rob had you by the throat with that big mother hunting knife I wanted a gun more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life. These are not ordinary circumstances. While you’re here, under threat from those bastards, the gun stays. I know you decided not to practise anymore with the dart gun, I know you didn’t like it. But it gave you the basics. This one –’ he pulled it out again, showed it to her, ‘is pretty easy to use. I don’t want you to ever have to touch it, and once this is all over, it goes. But Ebs, if it’s the only thing standing between you and one of those monsters, you take it, you aim and you pull that trigger.’
‘I think it would kill me to shoot someone. To know that I’d hurt them, or worse – killed them. That would just eat away at me until there was nothing left. I know you’ve had to do it. And you live with it. And other police have to too. It must take the most incredible strength. But I couldn’t do it. Not even to save my own life.’
He pulled her in and rested his chin on her head, closing his eyes. ‘I don’t want to think about that. Any of it.’
‘But I do.’ She laughed a little self-consciously. ‘I think about it a lot. What if things don’t go right? What if this person somehow manages to get me? What would it be like to go through one of those hunts? Does it hurt to die like that? Does it take long to bleed to death?’
‘Stop.’ He took her head in his hands and pressed his mouth to her forehead. ‘I’m not losing you. You’re right – killing someone doesn’t ever go away. It eats at you – it’s hell. But I’ll kill that bastard myself without hesitation, and anyone else who gets in the way, if I have to to keep you safe. And I’ll never have a bad moment over it.’
‘You’re worried.’
‘I’d be a hell of a lot more worried without Ben. These things he’s found out, the links he’s made, no one else got them, no one else put it together. And that friend of Martin’s who traded cars? He’d been interviewed already and no one got anything. Ben pulled him back in for ten minutes and got what he needed. He’s the best at what he does and every moment of his time is being focused on this, on you. And he’s got a kick-ass team out here. We’re going to get Rob, we’re going to get this other mongrel. You just have to believe it.’
CHAPTER
32
‘I’m fine, Dad. You should see the police. They’re everywhere.’ Ebony spoke to her father while Lee drove her to work. ‘Yes, truly. I’m nearly at the surgery. Lee’s driving me. Well, we can talk about that later. Tell Mum I’ll call her tomorrow night. Okay. Bye.’
‘You shouldn’t have told him it was me.’
Ebony’s eyes lit with temper. ‘He may as well get used to it.’
He just hoped they could get over this war before her father began another one.
He pulled in to the surgery, glanced across the road, saw police. Good.
‘Don’t be cross.’ He kissed her until the temper ebbed and warmth filled her eyes. ‘Come on, I’ll walk you in.’
‘Okay.’
He followed her into the surgery, exchanging greetings with Carla and Indy.
‘Where’s Nick?’ Ebony asked.
‘He’s been down already and has gone back to do some more unpacking. He’ll be back shortly.’
‘What’s the latest on the victims in the well?’ Lee asked Indy.
‘More than a dozen bodies so far. Probably some older ones. The exact findings will take a while to come through, but two have already been identified as local girls. Ben said you’d know who they were.’
‘Yeah. Bella’s friends. Their parents must be devastated.’
‘They’ve been informed, and yes, they are.’ She paused. ‘You hanging around?’
‘No, I’ve got things to do.’
‘Thanks for the drop off,’ Ebony said.
‘Have a good day. I’ll see you this arvo.’
‘You will?’
‘As if I wouldn’t.’ He’d just bent down to kiss her when Indy called out.
‘Ebony, do you know the man coming into the surgery?’
Ebony looked around Lee. ‘Never seen him before.’
Indy was over the counter before the doors were fully open, one hand extended, the other on her weapon. ‘Stop there. Who are you?’
The man was in his late twenties, Ebony decided, wearing a cheap suit and a slightly panicked expression. ‘I’m Michael – Michael Brown. I’m just – I’m a rep for YouVet – it’s a pharmaceutical company. I just wanted to –’
‘You don’t have an appointment.’
‘No … But an email was circulated last week. I just thought I’d call in, show the vets here some products … Who are they?’
Two plain-clothed officers appeared and flanked him, one taking his suitcase from his fingers.
‘If you’d be kind enough to come with us, sir, we just need to verify your identity.’
‘What’s this about?’
‘Just this way please.’
‘I didn’t realise appointments were such a big deal around here. What is this, the Twilight Zone? I haven’t done anything!’
Ebony removed the hand that was covering her mouth and looked nervously around the room. Then she began to giggle and couldn’t stop. ‘I bet he never sets foot in another business in his whole life without making an appointment.’
Lee grinned back down at her. ‘Feel safe?’
‘And then some. Indy, you cleared that whole counter in one leap.’
Indy was staring out the doors. ‘No big deal,’ she answered, distracted.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘A stranger turns up in this town before opening hours straight out of the blue? Even if he’s not our target, he could be a diversion, or a test of our response times and tactics. Until he’s cleared, I’m keeping an eye on the street, and on anyone else who might be hanging around.’
‘Oh.’
Nick came in, looked around and picked up the tension. ‘What’d I miss?’
‘Some vet rep entering the Twilight Zone,’ Lee replied.
‘Oh, was it a YouVet guy? We got an email about a possible visit a few days ago.’
Indy relaxed a fraction. ‘Then he probabl
y is who he says he is.’
‘How would you manage this in the city?’ Ebony asked Indy. ‘Every second person through the door would be a stranger.’
‘We couldn’t work it this way,’ Indy said.
‘Do you really think he’ll even try to get me here? If he has the slightest idea what he’s doing, he’s going to notice there’s police hanging around.’
‘Depends on how desperate he is – or how clever he thinks he is.’ Indy was interrupted by a voice in her earpiece. ‘He’s clear.’ She grinned at Ebony. ‘You want to hear about vet products?’
‘You think he’d come back in?’
‘Right now? I think he’ll do whatever he’s told. Poor guy’s gonna need counselling.’
The rest of the week continued without problems. When Ben suggested Lee stay with Ebony in the apartment over the surgery, Lee agreed. Ben had said it was easier for the police to keep an eye on her if she was in town, which made sense.
But the apartment, the surgery, were becoming prisons. The constant awareness of being watched by police was stifling. The worry of whoever else might be watching was terrifying. She couldn’t even run in the mornings. When she’d mentioned it to Lee, he’d gone out and bought her a sparkly new treadmill with an app that linked to Google maps, letting her virtually run round the block. It wasn’t the same, but the sentiment touched her.
With every day that passed, the weight of her anxiety became heavier and heavier.
One more week, Ebony thought, checking the date on her computer as she wrote up some notes on the Friday afternoon. One more week until the hunt. One more week for this monster to come for her. What was he waiting for?
‘Hey.’
She jumped, startled, before sending Lee a smile. ‘Hi. Just finishing up. Did you come through the back?’
‘Yeah. Cam, Ally and Mia are bringing pizza round. Mia has some girlie DVDs with her.’
‘Girlie DVDs huh? What are you guys doing then?’
‘Apparently we have to sit through them with you.’ He wrapped his arms loosely around her and kissed her. ‘Did you know Ally had a bet running with Cam about us?’
Ebony’s dimples winked in amusement. ‘How many did it get to?’
