Vanished by James Delargy (free novel 24 TXT) 📕

her ultimate revenge for him staying out drinking all night. More punishing than mere silence. As his grandfather had often said, there was a thin line between being the perfectionist who liked things done right, and being the gobshite who forced everyone to adhere to that impossible standard.

‘I meant to tell you when you were in town, but you had the ute and there was no signal.’

‘I’ll have to go to Kalgoorlie.’

‘Take Dylan with you. Make it a road trip.’

‘I don’t want to babysit him while I figure out what I need. I’m not a DIY expert, remember?’

‘That’s obvious,’ she replied.

Quick and painful. He tried to come up with a snappy reply but was thwarted.

‘Look, I want to do this but if I’m going to live in the desert, then I want to live like Priscilla.’

‘Priscilla wasn’t a complete bitch though, was she?’ Lorcan was smart enough not to say this out loud.

‘Make it an overnighter. Down in the afternoon, back the next afternoon. Maybe you can even take yourselves fishing or something.’

‘And leave you here?’

‘At least I’ll get some sleep. And maybe he will too.’

31

Emmaline

Emmaline had just landed in Leonora and got into her car for the drive back to her lonely caravan when she got a call from MCS HQ. It was Zhao with two pieces of news. Firstly, that the blood types found in Kallayee didn’t match. This meant two separate victims, or at least two injured parties, and secondly, that they had received information from the Maguires’ credit card company and bank. Lorcan’s phone was still being worked on.

Lorcan’s card had last been used in Hurton on 28 December, at Mallon’s hardware store. Naiyana’s last expenditure was earlier than this, on 25 December in Hurton. Grocery store. Last minute items for Christmas dinner, guessed Emmaline.

The bulk of the card expenditure didn’t raise any questions. Hardware products and groceries. The things necessary for survival; food, water and shelter. Heat wasn’t as much of an issue during the summer.

The overnight stay in Kalgoorlie on 19 December was different. It was about a five-hour round trip and according to the records, a load of DIY furniture and some other bits and pieces – including a harness – were purchased then and the day after, Monday 20 December. Five hours was a long day trip but for a family on a budget – both were in overdraft by the time of their last recorded expenditure – it made more sense to come back. Unless the overnight stay was a cover for something else.

A call to the motel – a bottom-of-the-range one on the Red Line north of the city – confirmed that a Lorcan Maguire had stayed there on the nineteenth. And not alone. Emmaline’s interest peaked. Was he meeting someone about the stolen information? Selling it to a rival or back to INK Tech? But if so, INK Tech would have called off the lawyers threatening the other companies. Unless Nikos was trying to cover his tracks. He was a man with experience in that field.

But no, Lorcan had been accompanied by a small boy. The owner confirmed Dylan’s description. This seemed to blow a hole in her theory. Maybe the overnighter was because Lorcan didn’t want to do a five-hour round trip with the kid in tow. Maybe there was nothing sinister about the overnight stay at all.

But it did mean that Naiyana had been left alone in town. Had father and son fled to Kalgoorlie after a fight? Seamus Maguire had noted that there had been some tension. And there would certainly be tension without a functioning house to live in.

32

Naiyana

Complete silence.

But inside she was a melange of noise, fear and anticipation, her guts churning and occasionally being unable to resist a yelp from the build-up. The butterflies made her feel light-headed as she swayed from her perch on the camping bed. This was anticipation she hadn’t felt in ages. The same anticipation that she felt when they’d taken BS Foods to court. She hoped to feel the same sense of accomplishment at the end.

For the first time in six years, she was spending the night alone. No Lorcan and no Dylan. And though there were nerves there was excitement too. For which she felt a little guilty. But only a little. There was only a little harm in wanting them gone. It was only natural to want a break, to want something different. Maybe that was cold and callous but when life was difficult you had to adapt and change. That was natural. This might be the start of a new dawn, the precipice so close. What lay ahead was unknown and that was exhilarating. She had never done anything like this before. These feelings – this – wasn’t something she could vlog about. Not ever.

From the silence came a faint scratching sound, like something was tearing at the picture she had constructed of herself over the years. The vigilante housewife, the outback mother, the loving parent and wife. The scratching ripped a corner from the perfectly embossed photo. It was perfect no more. It was time to see what was underneath.

33

Emmaline

The caravan was as she left it. Infused with nicotine and sadness. Holding onto the last few days of a sick old man, and parked close to a dilapidated house infused with the last few days of a strong-willed family. She had again refused to take a hotel room in Leonora. She would slum it here until she got some answers. Stay close to the beating heart of the mystery. Build and maintain a bond with it.

She was as alone as Naiyana Maguire had been on 19 December when her husband and son had been in Kalgoorlie. Had it been Lorcan’s decision to stay over, or her decision to have some space? She’d never been married so Emmaline felt she was grasping a little, but marriages were like long-term relationships made formal. With