Vanished by James Delargy (free novel 24 TXT) 📕

‘Okay,’ said Naiyana. ‘I’ll follow you in our ute.’

‘No, we go in mine,’ said Ian. ‘That way your husband has transport should something happen to Dylan.’

It was a statement loaded with threat. Was something going to happen to him when Ian and Nee left? Were the other two going to come and take him or Dylan? Should he take his son and leave? Get a head start? Or should he follow them?

He stayed in the bedroom as he heard the rattle of the miner’s ancient ute as it pulled away. He wondered what to do next, silently asking the rifle for help.

89

Emmaline

They followed the directions Ulysses gave them for the sound of the engines. The Keenan Run was barely worth the name, traversed at little more than walking pace from the far side of Ulysses’s house, down a small incline, up the other side, twisting and turning as if trying to shake them, the track almost gone in parts, overgrown, the 4x4 struggling to navigate it.

‘Could anyone come this way?’ asked Rispoli as the vehicle jerked over another series of bumps.

‘Not from this side,’ said Emmaline, holding onto the handgrip. ‘This track hasn’t been used in a while.’

The Run lasted five kilometres that took nearly thirty minutes to navigate.

It eventually levelled out, widening at a patch of ground nestled close to a small bushy hill and fenced off by trees. There were, however, distinct tyre tracks in the dust, side by side as if two vehicles had recently parked there.

Emmaline got out of the 4x4 and looked around. There was nothing that would indicate a reason for anyone to be there. No posts, no cables, no water trough, nothing. There was barely room to turn.

‘What are you thinking?’ asked Rispoli, creeping around the edge of the site.

‘I think one of these treads will match the crashed ute.’

‘Assuming we get something from Forensics.’

‘And the other set?’ asked Anand.

‘How far is it to Kallayee from here?’ asked Emmaline.

A quick check of the tablet and Anand had an answer. ‘Seven clicks. South-west.’

‘And do you have to go through Hurton?’

‘It doesn’t say.’

‘Let’s try.’

Leaving Anand there, promising to contact Barker ASAP to collect both him and a cast of the tyre tracks, Rispoli and Emmaline navigated the rest of the Keenan Run. Around the hill, the scenery opened out. After a kilometre they came across the pleasure of hard, smooth tarmac. From there they steered west towards Hurton.

‘Do I keep going?’ asked Rispoli.

Then Emmaline saw it. A dirt road to the right.

‘No, down there.’

Rispoli swung onto a road that went part way towards Hurton, before joining the broken tarmac of the once well-maintained road to Kallayee. From there it was a couple of kilometres to town past the TV trucks.

‘What did that tell you?’ asked Rispoli.

‘One of those tracks will be the miners’ transport. The other will match the Maguire’s ute. If we ever find it.’

‘But why meet all the way out there?’

Emmaline pursed her lips. ‘A negotiation.’

‘Over what?’

That she wasn’t sure. ‘Maybe over how to live in town together.’

‘Again, why out there?’

‘If the miners and the family knew of each other’s presence then there would have been tension. They needed a neutral place. Away from prying eyes. They needed to negotiate to keep each other’s secrets and keep the peace.’

Given the three bodies, however, it seemed that negotiations had broken down.

90

Lorcan

There was silence. Not even Dylan was talking. He was just staring. In silent judgement at his father letting his mother go. With Ian.

Lorcan toyed with following them. He could have tracked the dust cloud. But what if they veered onto the main road? That was harder to answer.

‘Can we go?’ pleaded Dylan.

‘They might be gone,’ said Lorcan, failing to hide his dejection at the situation. At his own ineptitude. He felt sick with shame.

‘I only want to go out and play.’

Dylan didn’t seem one bit concerned that his mother had left. She had gone and she would come back. The boy was living in perfect innocence and ignorance. But if he wasn’t going to follow Nee then neither of them were leaving the house.

‘We’ll stay inside until Mum gets back,’ said Lorcan, resting the gun on the floor beside him.

‘When will that be?’

Lorcan squeezed his eyes shut to avoid a question he feared the answer to.

91

Mike Andrews

Like Pavlov’s mutts they were cleaning the machines. Ian says jump, they say how high. The sweat that rolled off his forehead wasn’t just from the sweltering heat. It was also from the anger.

‘So he fucks up and we get stuck doing the heavy labour?’ said Mike. Without the machines drowning out all and sundry, Stevie would be able to hear his invective. Not that he expected anything back other than some watered-down ‘let’s keep the peace’ bullshit.

‘Is this worth the hassle?’ asked Stevie, his fingers oily from poking inside the grinder. ‘We could go back home and find other jobs. They might be shit but the thrill of this has gone, hasn’t it?’

It was accompanied by the same look of despondency Mike had last seen when they were given the heave-ho from Skyline. All lumped together as one. Stevie was a good employee. Not an agitator like he was. He was also a good friend.

‘We shouldn’t be kicked out of this, literal goldmine, because of one guy, Stevie. If we were alone in this town…’

Mike glanced at his friend to see if he was receptive. Stevie shook his head.

‘Ian isn’t here to stop us,’ said Mike. ‘Neither is Naiyana. You could take care of the boy while I talk to that bastard father.’

92

Emmaline

The atmosphere in the caravan was as thick as the stench of cigarettes. She didn’t dare leave the windows open during the day in case of scaly intruders or coming back to find everything layered in sand. Out the window a few TV lights still glared, reporters barking into microphones like dogs throughout the