He wasn’t the brains of the operation, but hat guy was also struggling to come up with a decent excuse. Neither were men she recognised, so they had to be from out of town. “I guess the police will go easier on you if you tell them who you’re working for.”
Mullet guy gestured to his friend. “Lance knows. I’m just helping out.”
Lance glared at him. “Shut up, Jay. Run.”
Lance took off towards the car with Jay taking only a second to follow. Georgie smiled and tapped the keys in her pocket, moving to see inside the traps. A few lizards and a couple of snakes. Georgie wasn’t entirely sure what the process was now. It would take the police at least an hour to get out here, maybe more if they were on other business.
“Where are the keys?” Lance shouted.
“You drove,” Jay responded.
As they argued, Georgie relaxed and moved back towards the car. They weren’t the cutthroat smugglers she’d been envisioning. Her radio came to life again. “Georgie are you there?” It was Dot.
“Yeah and I’m looking at two animal smugglers. You got the details of their car from Karen?”
“Yeah, we’re on our way. Are they giving you any trouble?”
Georgie raised her eyes at the two. Jay slumped in defeat and shook his head. “I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Lance scowled at him but didn’t say anything. He was the one to watch. He was already starting to sweat. “They shouldn’t if they know what’s good for them,” Georgie replied.
“I’d take her seriously, gentleman,” Dot responded. “We won’t be long.” Then she was silent. The men exchanged a glance, but otherwise didn’t move.
Lance narrowed his eyes. “You took my keys.”
Georgie felt a twinge of concern. “There’s no point trying to run,” she said. “There are only a couple of roads out of here and the police have your car details. They’ll catch you before you reach the Coral Bay turn off.”
Lance kicked the tyre and swore.
She exhaled and moved closer. “Have you been doing this long?”
“This is my first time,” Jay said. “Lance has been doing it for months.”
Lance punched Jay in the arm. “Shut up!”
Jay rubbed his arm and glared at Lance. “You said it was easy money. You said we wouldn’t get caught. My parents are going to have a fit.”
“Don’t blame me. You knew the risks.”
“You made it sound like the biggest risk was a snake bite.”
To be fair, that was a real possibility and a mulga was in one of the traps, so Jay had a point. Georgie retrieved a bottle of water from the car while they argued.
Maybe she could get some information from them while they waited. They might be less cautious speaking to her than talking with the police. She pulled out her phone and hit record on the voice app. “Who’s your contact in town?” It was a guess, but Jay glanced at Lance, his mouth open. “Yeah, I figured Stonefish had someone local.” Another guess and this time Lance’s eyes widened in fear. Bingo. “With Tan dead you must have a new boss.”
“Tan?” Lance frowned, but it was genuine confusion.
That was interesting. Maybe someone else ran this part of the operation. Lee had admitted to Ed there were more players in the game. “Tan must be the guy above your guy,” she said. “Why don’t you give me a name?”
“You’re not the police,” Lance said.
“Didn’t you say his name was Matt?” Jay asked.
Georgie gasped. He couldn’t possibly mean her Matt. There was no way Matt would get involved with this, no way at all. Besides, Matt was a common name, and he’d said he’d reported it to the police.
“I’m not saying anything. They’ll kill me,” Lance said.
Jay paled. “What?”
