The girl who wandered out from the kitchen came as a surprise. A waif-like figure with long blonde hair. Dez’s daughter. She’d managed to escape her father’s squat, bulky frame but she had his ginger freckles snaking down her cream-coloured arms. She came over and stood beside me, admiring the sketch.
‘This is from the north side,’ she said, pointing. ‘They walked around the whole valley trying to find the best way in before they descended. It was treacherous. They lost a couple of horses just trying to get down.’
‘Harriet, allow me to introduce my daughter, Bella. She’s been hearing stories of the Destro settlement since she was a kid.’ Dez was setting the table. I took a chair on the end, next to Snale.
‘Do you live here with your dad?’ I asked. Bella smirked. She was wearing a T-shirt that read ‘I’d wear it if it came in black’ and shorts, a pair of expensive slippers. She went to a nearby chair and sat down.
‘Hardly. I’m just visiting. I’m supposed to be studying for end-of-year exams. I’m at Sydney Uni, law and politics.’
I almost choked on my drink.
‘Yeah.’ Bella gave me a forgiving smile, curled her feet up into her chair like a cat. ‘I know who you are. I’ve been following your brother’s case since the girls started disappearing. Most of my courses were online at the time, so I wasn’t around, but people were pretty scared. I watched it all on the TV. And then Dad told me you were out here. I mean, wow. Did you have any idea your brother was killing chicks?’
‘Bella!’ Dez snapped. ‘Detective Blue doesn’t want to discuss her brother’s situation. This is supposed to be a friendly dinner.’
The girl shrugged.
Dez put out snacks and we made small talk about the town and its various characters. Kash was quiet, staring into his drink. In time Dez cleared the plates and we sat down at the dining table. I could feel Bella’s eyes wandering over me while I talked to Snale.
‘Do you know much about her brother’s case?’ Bella asked Snale, leaning around me.
‘Bell, really,’ Snale sighed.
‘Hey, everybody’s got skeletons in their closet,’ the girl said, playing with her fork. ‘I don’t think you’ve got anything to be ashamed of, Harry. Our people slaughtered the Indigenous inhabitants of Last Chance Valley when they settled here. They banished the survivors to the desert. Two centuries later there’s only one of them left, loitering out there in the badlands like a stain no one can get out.’
Dez sighed at the ceiling. ‘Do we have to talk about this?’ Bella was watching me carefully, waiting for a reaction. ‘People think they called it Last Chance because of all the desert,’ she said. ‘Your last chance for food and shelter before the big barren nothingness in all directions. But it’s not true. The Destro family turned up, and told the natives to get out. And when they wouldn’t, they gave them one last chance before they came down the mountainside with their guns.’
‘Bella!’ Dez thumped the tabletop. ‘Go into the kitchen and check on the roast.’
The girl sauntered away, leaving tension and embarrassment in her wake.
Chapter 49
‘THIS IS WHAT you get when you send your children to university.’ Dez ran a hand over his receding hairline, made a stiff tuft of the dark orange hair that remained. ‘They come back critical thinkers. Ready to question everything.’
‘Is she right?’ I asked as Bella brought out some small plates of an entree. ‘Did your ancestors kill off the Indigenous population of the valley?’
‘The history is not as concrete as Bella would have you believe,’ Dez said. ‘The Destro people kept diaries and logs, and there are things we can infer from their letters back and forth to England. But it was mainly the womenfolk doing the writing, and they didn’t note that sort of thing down. Certainly there were fatalities. But we don’t know if that’s because there were accidents when the Indigenous people tried to help the Destro family settle or what. Jed’s ancestors were nomadic, as I understand it, so I don’t see why our people wouldn’t have just moved them on if a disagreement occurred.’
‘Last Chance Valley is an anomaly out here,’ Bella said. ‘As you’ve likely noticed. The soil is different. It holds water. It’s sheltered. The high rock walls make hunting easier. This is the best place for a settlement for hundreds of kilometres around. I wouldn’t give it up without a fight, if it were me.’
‘Well, it’s not you, darling.’ Dez smiled stiffly and patted his daughter’s hand. He continued. ‘Whether some were killed or not, the majority of the Indigenous residents resettled outside the valley and then moved on. Now, only Jed remains. I’ve tried to bring him back into the fold but he’s not interested. He’s a stubborn man.’
‘You tried to enlist him as a tourist attraction,’ Bella retorted.
‘A what?’ Snale asked.
‘I tried to get his help on the leadership program,’ Dez said. ‘Bella is convinced I was being racist.’
‘You were.’
‘I run a program every year with kids from the surrounding towns,’ Dez explained to me. ‘Anyone can apply for it, and I liaise with the teachers to find out who the best candidates are. Who has the most potential. I take three or four kids out into the desert, and we do exercises. I thought maybe Jed could help me out, with some of his cultural knowledge. As part of the government reconciliation program, Jed’s people were given native title for a lot of land out there beyond the town limits. I don’t know that he makes much use of it. There’s nothing out there. But he legally owns it, and he could exclude us from it if he ever desired. I thought maybe he could take us around, you know? He’d know things. Desert sustenance, for example. The importance of certain landmarks and animals to the Aboriginal people of this area.’
‘Racist.’
‘Bella!’
‘What? It’s racist,’ she insisted. ‘You’re making a whole host of degrading cultural assumptions. You assume this guy must be some sort of mystical Aboriginal tracker just because he’s got Indigenous heritage.’ She waggled her fingers like she was doing a magic trick. ‘He’ll talk to you about the rainbow serpent and how the kangaroo got its tail and he’ll just forget about all the rape of his native land stuff. All that unpleasantness is in the past, right?’
Dez covered his eyes.
‘Even if this guy did have loads of really interesting cultural knowledge, why would you assume he’d want to share that knowledge with you?’
‘Why wouldn’t he?’ Dez shrugged.
‘You’re right.’ Bella sipped her wine. ‘Of course he would. He’d be so pleased to be of assistance, to be invited to be a part of the town.’
‘What do you suggest I do with him then?’
‘Don’t do anything with him,’ Bella said. ‘He clearly wants to be left alone. Leave him alone. The guy doesn’t want to connect with the people of this town because he doesn’t like them. You can’t make people like you.’
‘How could you not like us?’ Snale said. ‘We’re lovely.’
‘Someone’s trying to kill you all, Vicky,’ Bella said. ‘You can’t be that nice.’
Chapter 50
DEZ STARED AT the ceiling. He seemed to be looking for an escape hatch from his daughter’s accusations.
‘Let me show you one of our albums,’ he said. He went to a nearby cabinet and fished out a photo album. I put the book between Snale and me and started flipping through the pictures. Gangly teenagers, all lanky with knobbly knees and big smiles, crouched on rocks before the sheer edge of Last Chance Valley. Some were climbing a huge rock formation in the desert. Some stood pointing towards the horizon. Bright faces, sunburned girls and boys sitting in the light of a fire.
‘What sort of leadership stuff do you do with the kids out there?’ I asked.
‘Navigation, emergency survival techniques, a bit of endurance and adventure training.’
Kash had perked up beside me.
‘That sounds awesome!’ he said. ‘How’d you develop the program?’
>
‘Oh, I’m an old reservist, myself.’
‘That’s great.’ Kash downed his Scotch quickly. ‘I’d love to know what techniques you’re using. Do you get them into any self-defence tactics?’
‘Well, I would, but I don’t have much experience in –’
‘Oh, wow.’ Kash pulled his chair in, sat upright like an obedient German shepherd. ‘I have some great drills for young people. Leadership stuff, like you’re looking for. I got my certification as a recruit trainer a while back. I could definitely assist.’
The two fell into conversation. Bella appeared in a couple of the photographs, hanging out at the edge of the frame, fiddling with her bag or staring at the fire. She was watching me from across the table, one leg drawn up so that her elbow rested on her knee, pushing food restlessly around her plate.
‘Did you go on many of the expeditions?’ I asked.
‘A few,’ she said. ‘It was usually me behind the camera.’
Snale looked at an image of Dez leading a bunch of kids through a search-and-rescue drill, four of them carrying another on a stretcher. Bella seemed the only person not interested in the photos.
‘So who killed Theo Campbell?’ Bella asked idly, with a mouth full of beans. I had to draw myself away from the adventures before me.
‘You tell me,’ I said.
‘I think he was into some tricky stuff.’ She smiled. ‘He was starting to get a bit loose with the rules by the time I was ready to leave here for uni last year. Around that time he caught a bunch of us on the south ridge hanging out, smokin’ weed.’
I looked to Bella’s father to see if he’d react to his daughter’s admission. But he was busy talking to Kash.
‘Chief Campbell didn’t do anything,’ Bella continued. ‘Didn’t even take it off us. Just stopped and chatted for a while. I half expected him to ask for a toke. Guess he was getting old. Didn’t care anymore.’
‘And who exactly were you up there smoking weed with, young lady?’ Snale asked.
‘You know me, Vicky.’ Bella tapped the side of her nose. ‘I’m good with my secrets.’ Something over my shoulder, through the glass doors to the porch, caught her eye. She leaned sideways, took another spoonful of beans into her mouth.
‘Better get your guns out, coppers,’ she said, seeming amused and nodding towards the doors. ‘There’s trouble out there.’
Chapter 51
THE SOUND OF footsteps, followed by thumping at the front door. I’d risen from my chair instinctively and dashed down the hall, my gun stupidly still on the coffee table where I’d left it before dinner. Zac Taby was leaning against the door, bashing on it with his hands. He all but fell into my arms as I yanked it open. He was drenched in sweat and shaking.
‘They’re after me! They’re after me!’
‘What the hell’s going on?’
‘Help! They shot at me! They’re trying to kill me!’
I went out into the night. It was quiet. On the road in the distance I could see a car stopped, its headlights picking up the evening dust shifting in the gentle breeze, the occasional fluttering of a locust attracted to its beams. I started down the garden path and out of Dez’s front gate. Kash was close behind me, actioning his pistol.
‘Who is it?’
‘Probably Jace Robit and his merry band of meatheads.’
‘If they fired a shot at that kid, we’ll need to bring them all in.’
‘I’ll just talk to them,’ I said, waving him off. ‘Stay here. We don’t want to present a hostile front.’
The car remained idle, the engine humming as I approached. I could see there were four men in it. The elbow hanging out the driver’s side indeed belonged to the leathery brown body of Jace Robit. He was watching me approach with a small smile playing about his lips. I knew these men. Though they’d used their truck tonight to chase down a frightened teenager, cracking pot shots off over his head to put the fear of God into him, he wasn’t their usual quarry. These were the guys who went out chasing, hunting, gutting bush pigs and kangaroos. The bloodthirsty, bored, angry men of small towns who had too much firepower and not enough targets to keep them satisfied.
I gained speed as I approached the car, lifted my boot as I got within range and kicked the mirror off the driver’s side door. The mirror and its casing smashed into the road, glass sparkling in the dim light.
‘Hey! What the fuck!’
Jace shouldered the door open, jumped down and grabbed my shoulder, fingers going for the underside of my arm in a bruising grip. I gave him a half-strength jab to the face, sending him stumbling back, more surprised than injured.
‘I told you to leave that kid alone,’ I said. ‘You got hearing problems?’
‘And I told you that we handle things ourselves out here,’ Jace said. The other men were out of the truck now and all around me. Two were behind me, blocking Kash’s advance. My partner was on the road, a hundred metres back and approaching fast, his gun by his side.
‘That kid’s a danger to our town.’ Jace pointed at the house. ‘We want him out. I don’t care what you do with him. Take him back to the fucking city with you. Take him into – what d’you call it – protective custody.’
‘He hasn’t done anything wrong.’
One of the farmers behind me snorted.
‘You’re not from around here, sweetheart,’ Jace sneered. ‘You’ve got to understand. There are people who belong here, and people who don’t. And the Taby kid doesn’t belong. In the bush, you have the native animals, and you have introduced species.’ He held one palm up, then another, separate. ‘Like feral cats. They prey on the natives. If you don’t squash ’em before they multiply, suddenly you’ll be overrun.’
‘Thanks for the environmental science class,’ I said. ‘Truly enlightening. I have a couple of lessons of my own, you know. But you’re not going to enjoy them. So I’m telling you just one last time. Get back in that truck and fuck off home, before I decide to start teaching.’ A ripple of surprise went up through the group of men around me. They looked at each other and laughed. None of them backed down.
‘Harry.’ Kash was at the edge of the gathering now. ‘Don’t.’
‘Don’t what?’ Jace sniffed, looked me up and down.
‘You heard the man, Elliot,’ I said, cracking my knuckles. ‘He said they handle things themselves out here. So let’s handle it.’
Chapter 52
WHEN I FIGHT men, they try to put me on the ground first. They don’t want to punch a woman right away. Not until they understand that I’m no ordinary woman. They figure they can grab me and push me into the dirt and I’ll realise that I’ve been playing big boy games and I need to go back to my dolls and stop fooling myself. Jace Robit was a hard man. Wiry strength from years working on farms, burning off fat and loading muscle around uncrackable bones. His big hands came for my shoulders again. I ducked and stepped sideways, gave him a fast uppercut to the ribs, knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled, tried to swing an arm around the back of my neck. I bowed out of it, stepped behind him and kicked him in the arse.
A short, involuntary laugh from the men around him, a sudden betrayal. Jace’s fury was rising quickly. Big mistake, fighting angry. I was enjoying this. I wanted them all to jump in at once. This was my therapy. I sidestepped Jace as he came for me again but he saw the move, swung and glanced his knuckles off my ear. I took the pain. Lapped it up gratefully. I stepped forwards and faked a left jab, punched him square in the nose with my right.
Blood on the dirt. Exhilaration zapped through me at the sight of it.
‘Steady on!’ One of the farmers stepped towards us, having had quite enough of my show. He grabbed me from behind and I kicked Jace in the chest, used the backward momentum to shove me into the second attacker, the two of us barrelling into the ground. I rolled, righted, stepped on his hand and heard a crunch. The man screamed.
‘Grab her,’ one of them said. ‘Fucking grab her, John!’
‘Yeah, John,’
– I beckoned the man with a wave – ‘come grab me.’
The two of them lunged at me at once. Hardly fair, but not unexpected. They thought I’d back up, so I dove instead for John’s legs and felt him tumble over me, his own momentum working against him. John’s friend came for me and I kicked up at him from the ground, catching him in the chin.
Jace’s nose was pouring blood down his face as his friends dragged him to his feet. The men gathered together to reassess the situation. Mentions of a ‘psycho bitch’.
I wasn’t done yet. But when I beckoned the men forwards again, none of them moved. They just stood there, panting, bewildered by the first devastating round.
‘Come on,’ I urged. My own fury was starting to rise. No one moved. ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake! You pussies!’
I watched the men drive off past Dez’s house, standing in the dark beside Kash. My partner had surprisingly little to say at first. We walked back down the dusty road together under the stars. I hadn’t even exerted myself enough to break a sweat. The punch in the ear had caused a warm, throbbing pain that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. I reached up and held it, relished in the hurt. It would bruise. It’d be hard to sleep on it. That was something, at least. Kash laughed after a while and I looked up at him.
‘I thought you said we didn’t want to present a hostile front,’ he said.
‘That wasn’t hostile,’ I said. ‘Hostile would have been arresting them on sight. They wanted us to speak their language. I spoke it. I just wish they’d held out longer.’
He didn’t reply. I knew how it sounded. My brother was accused of being one of the most vicious, violent people in the nation’s history, and here I was, upset that I hadn’t been able to beat a bunch of men into unconsciousness. But the words just came out of me before I could stop them. Kash glanced sideways at me and I caught it – the wary look of someone assessing a threat.