He didn’t answer immediately and in her peripheral vision, Georgie saw his Adam’s apple working hard. She half-turned and glimpsed Kat’s eyes, round and hollowed. She faced forward and watched the fast swish of the windscreen wipers.
Finally, Lunny said, ‘Probably not, but we need to try.’
Hannah
Cooper tucked harder into Hannah’s body, winding her. He’d been crying for ages.
She was close to tears too, but had to put on a brave act. ‘It’s okay.’ She kind of sang it. ‘Everything’ll be okay in the morning.’
She didn’t believe it herself and wondered if she’d convinced her brothers.
Coops stopped crying. ‘Hanny, did you find BD yet?’
Her heart shrivelled. She’d tried, but the thing could be anywhere. ‘Not yet, but we’ll find it in the morning. All right?’
For a few seconds, she thought he’d bought it. But then her little bro bawled until he whooped for breaths.
Hannah felt a surge of anger. At the stupidly cold, bad weather and at herself for causing this whole disaster – getting them lost, with no food, drenched through. But not at Coops for losing his favourite toy or her little bros for tagging along.
It was one hundred per cent her fault.
Riley shifted in and put his arms around Cooper too. After a while, Coops stopped crying as hard.
‘We’ll be right, Coops.’ Riles sounded all upbeat until, ‘Won’t we, Hanny?’ stuttered out.
He sounded like that when his bottom lip quivered. Right before he cried.
She automatically stroked both their heads and repeated, ‘It’s okay. Everything’ll be all right in the morning.’
Meanwhile, Hannah’s teeth chattered and she screamed on the inside.
DAY TWO
THURSDAY 29 SEPTEMBER
Chapter 9
A clock chimed twelve slow dongs for midnight from the corner of the room, a reminder that time was moving forward and there was still no sign of the missing kids. Sam’s heart grew heavier with each toll.
One of the four phones on the coffee table exploded into the bluesy-soul of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. Hers. She pounced on it.
‘Sam?’
Her stress levels ratcheted. ‘Boss!’
‘That’d be me.’
Strangely, a security blanket floated over her and she flashed back to first meeting John Franklin in the Daylesford police station last December. In her shiny new uniform and on her first day as a probationary constable, she’d been nervous and jumpy, and he’d spoken in the same laidback manner, quickly relaxing her.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Kat pick up her phone, obviously wondering why her dad hadn’t called her first. Georgie leaned back, arms crossed, expression inscrutable, while Lunny perched on the edge of the couch, his ramrod spine showing his tension.
‘You’ve had some dramas there, I take it?’
Sam fought the lump in her throat and managed, ‘You could say that.’
Then everything rushed out. The missing kids, atrocious weather, lack of available help from nearby stations. Their two failed searches of the property and the odd behaviour of the caretaker. Lunny’s futile attempt to navigate the local roads and their inability to contact Mrs Savage.
Franklin stood with one booted foot on a bench in the change room at Ballarat’s headquarters, using the knee of the same leg as a prop. He rubbed his forehead while he talked with Sam, feeling the furrows deepen.
In the time between retrieving the first messages about the trouble at Mount Dandenong and now, he’d recovered from the initial shock. He knew each of the Savage kids, especially Hannah through the boxing studio and her friendship with Kat. He was terrified for them, but for the moment this shadowed slightly behind his concerns for the team—Kat, Georgie, Sam, Lunny and Josh—and the other kids on camp.
His mind flashed to the Camp Silvan bloke, Seb. He’d be feeling it too, along with the staff at Upalong. Franklin wondered if the owner had stayed away as planned or returned once he heard of the crisis.
‘Is Patrick Belfrage there?’
‘Huh? What? No. He’s staying in the city.’ Sam continued her earlier thread, ‘Oh, Jesus, I’m sorry. If only –’
Her sense of culpability worried him. If she got sucked into the blame game, she’d be no use to anyone. If only he had magic answers. He groaned.
She must’ve heard. ‘Boss?’
‘Try not to stress, Sam. There’s nothing more you can do until morning and by then the kids could’ve turned up under their own steam. Right?’
Her ‘Yeah’ came out flat-toned, but she sounded more spirited with, ‘Got it, boss.’
‘Can you put…’ He faltered. Same problem as before: Kat or Georgie first? ‘Can you throw Kat on?’
He heard murmurs, then his daughter yelled down the phone, ‘Dad!’
The nearly 200 kilometres between them hurt him physically and he squeezed his eyes shut.
‘Hey, grasshopper.’
She moaned. ‘Dad, I’m sooo sorry.’
‘What for?’
‘It’s all my fault –’
He cut her off. ‘Didn’t the boys run back to Hannah?’
‘Yeah but –’
‘And around then, the three of them disappeared?’
‘Yeah.’
Franklin kept to short-sharp questions to defuse her misery. ‘Do you know if anyone forced them to go?’
‘No, but whether they ran off or were taken, it’s still my fault.’
‘Did you force them to go?’
‘Oh, Dad! No, but –’
‘Right then. It’s. Not. Your. Fault.’
‘I guess but –’ Her voice choked.
He dropped into a softer tone. ‘Don’t blame yourself.’
‘But it’s my fault they came on camp.’ Kat sounded raw. He visualised her tugging on a hunk of her hair, the green in her hazel eyes bright from tears. ‘And it’s my fault that Hannah got away. I should’ve been looking out for her but…me and…’ She didn’t finish.
Franklin reckoned now wasn’t the time to press. ‘It looks like Hannah and the boys ran off. If so, they’re the ones that did the wrong thing. Agree?’
‘Yeah. S’pose. Sort of.’
Unless the kids hadn’t gone of their own accord.
His daughter read his mind. ‘But, Dad. What if they’ve been kidnapped?’
‘Don’t say it!’ That was the sarge in the background. He’d yelled, sounded upset and angry. That wasn’t good – Lunny normally held it together.
‘Kat.’
She didn’t answer and Franklin repeated, ‘Kat!’
Still no response, he cupped his hand around his mobile and his mouth to amplify his voice at her end, but muffle it from those in the Ballarat station and yelled, ‘Kat!’
‘Sorry. I’m back.’ Her words were clipped.
His head thumped. She was too young to deal with this. ‘I’m coming up there. It’ll take me a while, but –’
‘You can’t. You’re rostered on again tomorrow afternoon.’
‘I’ll call in sick.’
She made a flat buzzing sound.
I hate it when she does that to me.
She said, ‘No way, Dad. You never take sickies.’
He countered, ‘So, I have plenty up my sleeve, then.’
Just as quickly, she floored him with, ‘What would Bull say?’
If Bull knew he’d faked it, he’d kick him out of CIU. If that happened, he’d have cocked up his chances of a career with the Ds and let everyone, especially him and Kat, down.
‘He won’t know. Doc’ll give me a certificate.’ Franklin rarely exploited his badge but knew their family doctor would sign off a medical certificate, even retrospectively, for the sake of the three local kids.
‘No. Don’t worry, Dad. We’ll handle it.’
He wavered, torn between doubt, desire to trust his friends and reluctance to lie to Bull. Foremost, he was desperate to believe
Hannah, Riley and Cooper would return before he’d reached Mount Dandenong.
Buy some time.
‘Can you put Georgie on?’
Kat said, ‘Okay’ distractedly, then, ‘Bye. Love ya.’ She hung up, instead of handing the phone over.
Franklin sank onto the slatted bench and stared at his phone, barely aware of the haze of Boomer’s pissy aftershave lingering in the change room and asking himself What should I do?
After Franklin’s call, silence fell and the energy level flattened. Sam slumped, deflated because he had taken it well, but waiting until morning was empty advice. On top of that, the sarge’s outburst made her worry that he was losing grip.
She’d have to step up. ‘Right.’
The others glanced at her.
‘We can’t do nothing. And I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t sleep.’
They agreed.
‘So, let’s talk strategy.’
‘I wish Josh could be in on this,’ Kat said.
Georgie shrugged. ‘He’s had a few hours’ rest.’
As Lunny conceded, ‘It would be good to check on the boys,’ Elke shuffled into the family room, her eyes lost in black-ringed hollows.
‘I can’t sleep well.’ She pointed to her belly. ‘I stay with the girls. You go speak with Josh.’
Lunny promised to send Seb back. Sam nodded her thanks, hoping her face didn’t reveal how disturbed she was by the housekeeper’s constant eavesdropping.
‘Bloody hell!’ Lunny grumbled as Georgie helped him up, then righted the potted bush he’d knocked over. ‘It’s a real pea-souper again.’
‘Yeah.’ She trained her torch in front and waved her other arm as they inched forward in close formation. ‘But at least the storm’s backed off.’
Besides the odd curse, no one spoke until her light shone on the doorway to the double-storey guest building. Georgie shifted aside as Sam reached to try the handle, then rapped on the doorframe. She was impressed with how well her young cop friend was coping with the high-stress situation.
Not so for the teen in half-shadow behind her – she needed an infusion. Georgie watched Kat wipe her palms on her jacket at a thump from upstairs, and when a light came on and the door swung open less than a minute later, she saw her expression morph from craving to guilt, then something darker.
Georgie flicked her gaze to Josh in the doorway, glimpsing his attempt to connect with Kat. When she dropped her eyes he flinched, then pulled back his shoulders.
Seb joined them and was easy-going about helping up at the house. Once he had gone, they gathered inside. Lunny took a phone call, while Sam updated Josh. Georgie watched him work his jaw.
Sam finished with a sigh. ‘So, a whole lot of nothing.’
In the lull that followed, they heard Lunny say, ‘Ah, righto, mate.’ He disconnected. ‘That was Bernie Willy, our man from Olinda.’
They could do with some help.
‘He put out a KALOF, so all units will keep a lookout for the kids. We’ll have to fill in gaps and give them pics of the kids, but at least the basics are in the system.’
That’s something.
‘Bernie doubts he’ll make it over tonight, but he’s going to inform the local detectives, let them know we’ve a runaway or possible abduction on their patch. Most kids turn up safely and pretty quickly, so it won’t crank up into a full-scale investigation yet.’
Georgie saw Sam mask her stricken reaction.
Lunny went on. ‘Rolling with the good news–bad news, apparently the weather bureau got it wrong and today was just the tip of a freak polar blast. Victoria’s in for flash flooding, sub-zero temps and heavy snow, but possibly not down to this level. So brace yourselves!’
‘You know what?’ Kat interrupted.
They all faced her.
‘The Agterops are strange, especially the husband.’
No one disagreed. Georgie pictured Agterop doing the palm thing to her face back at his cottage, recalling his aggressive Get out before he’d slammed the door. Her hands balled.
Kat added, ‘I mean, three kids are missing and he’s doing nothing. What’s with that?’
‘People are all different.’ Sam motioned between them. ‘Just because we’d pitch in –’
Kat cut her off. ‘Well, I think we should take a closer look around their place.’ Colour dotted her cheeks.
Georgie agreed – she’d planned to do that at the first opportunity anyway, whether she went alone or they attacked it together. ‘Given that the weather’s set to deteriorate, waiting would be a mistake.’ Buzzing with adrenaline, she added, ‘Let’s do it.’
Anything was better than just talking.
She challenged Lunny with a look and was surprised by his nod. She angled towards the exit, shocked when little Tom rounded the landing on the stairs. His ginger hair resembled a cobweb broom, with curls sticking out in every direction, and his glasses sat crookedly on his nose.
The boy’s eyes bugged as he skimmed over their group. He jumped down the last three treads, stumbled and hurled himself at Lunny’s legs.
‘What’s up, little man?’
Face still buried, the boy said, ‘I’m scared.’
Lunny tousled his hair, then crouched down so their eyes were level. He fixed Tom’s glasses and spoke softly. ‘Everyone’s a bit scared for Riley, Coops and Hanny, so we’re doing everything we can to find them. And you’re safe here. Okay?’
Tom cuddled into the sarge. ‘But what if you get lost while you’re trying to find them, Mr Lunny?’ His voice was muffled.
‘I promise you I’ll be careful.’
Georgie’s forehead creased when Tom said, ‘But everyone I love ends up leaving me. They die.’
Her heart went out to the little boy who’d lost his brother and his dad within months, both by shotgun.
Lunny patted his shoulder. ‘Now, Tom…you’ve still got your mum and I’m right here. Correct?’
Georgie’s breath caught.
When the boy didn’t answer, Lunny repeated, ‘Isn’t that true, Tom?’
‘Yeah.’
Georgie exhaled and a little tension released. One crisis averted. That just left the major one.
Sam’s chest knotted as she watched the scene between Lunny and the eight-year-old, but when she glanced at Kat, she saw a vulnerability that shocked her. At sixteen, Kat often acted more like twenty-six, probably because she’d had to grow up fast. As the only child of a single cop father, the teen regularly dealt with things not going to plan, being alone too often and wondering if her dad would return from shift unscathed.
But fear stripped back the years now, and while the sarge continued to reassure little Tom, Sam sensed she wasn’t alone in worrying about Kat. Sure enough, she found that Josh was staring at Kat, revealing more emotion than usual around his eyes. Sam liked the good-looking boxer but she didn’t feel that she knew him well. He was more controlled than most boys of nearly nineteen. Maybe it was because of his martial arts training, or something deeper rooted. He edged towards Kat until their shoulders brushed. She hesitated, then pressed into him.
Sam turned to see how Georgie was coping. She caught her checking the time and shuffling closer to the front door.
She flicked a look at her own watch: 12.52am.
Oh, God. The kids have been missing nearly nine hours.
Chapter 10
They swept their flashlights across the yard and paced in synchronisation, approximating a formal line search, though their search party consisted of just four. Even worse, Sam was the only one trained in this type of thing – such as her limited experience at the academy went.
Her crew were Georgie, Kat and Josh. The sarge’s assurance to Tom that he was going nowhere left him no option. He had to stay at the guesthouse or lose the trust of Tom and the remaining kids, but he’d use the downtime to plan for tomorrow and make more phone calls.
So, Sam was responsible for Franklin’s girlfriend, his precious only daughter and another
teenager.
Great.
She drew back her shoulders making little difference to her tiny height but somehow it pushed down the drowning sensation. They’d make do.
Periodically, one would yell, ‘Hannah! Riley! Cooper!’
There were plenty of noises but not the ones they were desperate to hear.
As they neared their target, Sam whistled, quick and quiet but a clear signal to the others. Their steps grew stealthier. They ceased to call out.
Wind howled through the trees, then subsided until Georgie could hear the persistent whirling noise she’d noticed when they arrived and had since grown accustomed to. It was louder now.
If I were a sci-fi buff, I’d think it was a swarm of UFOs.
Her semi-smile was gone with the hum in the next gust. She shivered, tugging the collar of her leather jacket up around her neck.
A long string of bark whipped beside her. Lots of people swore that dry, dead-still days were the ones to worry about, a theory corroborated by the tree taking out their original base of Camp Silvan on a perfect spring day last week. Even so, Georgie didn’t trust trees in storms – the weather bureau didn’t warn against sheltering under them for the fun of it. The shrubs she searched among now didn’t bother her, but the towering gums were too close for comfort.
The wind died and she heard woo, woo, woo. The owl seemed close. Georgie supposed it watched them, curious about the disturbance to its nocturnal reign. A few hours ago, its calls had spooked her but now, like the UFO hum, it’d become normal on a night when everything else seemed unpredictable and bleak.
Busy with thoughts about owls and other creatures of the night, she almost missed it, but a tap on her subconscious made her glance behind and backtrack. Georgie crouched and shone her torch directly down. Her pulse quickened and she whistled, just like Sam had done earlier.
Sam was closer, but Josh reached Georgie first. He squatted beside her, then Kat next to him, and Georgie saw their knees touch as if both craved contact.
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