“Yeah.Is there somewhere I can drop a hard copy?”
“Hang on.”Murmuring in the background.“How about at the lighthouse?”
A great suggestion.She needed a dose of lighthouse serenity.“I’ll watch the sunrise tomorrow.”
“All right.We’re close, Dot.It won’t be long.”
Dot hoped she was right.“Take care—oh and call your parents.Matt said they’re frantic.”
“Will do.”
She hung up, then checked the time and called Matt.
“Have you heard from Nhiari?”he asked.
“Yes.She’s safe.”
His exhalation was loud.“When is she coming back?”
“I’m not sure, but it sounds like she’s on to something.I don’t think it will be long.”
“Thanks, Dot.”
“Your big sister can take care of herself, Matt.She’ll be fine.”
“I don’t like not knowing where she is.It’s hard convincing Mum and Dad she’ll be all right, without telling them what’s going on.”
“I told her to call them.”
“Great.Thanks, Dot.”
She went back to her notes with renewed energy.She had to get the information collated by morning so she could give it to her friend.
It was midnight by the time she finished her notes and photocopied everything.She blinked rapidly.There had to be a pattern here, but right now she was too tired to see it.
Her yawn almost cracked her jaw and made her eyes water.
She’d get nothing more done tonight.She took photos of all her scribblings as a backup and placed the copies in an A4 envelope for Nhiari.
On her way to bed she stopped by the vase of flowers and inhaled the sweet scent of the rose, unable to help herself.They really were beautiful and she hadn’t been able to bring herself to throw them out just because Oliver had given them to her.It wasn’t their fault.The tiredness eased and she smiled.
Tomorrow.She’d find the pattern and put an end to Stonefish once and for all.
***
Dim light glowed on the horizon as Dot headed out to the lighthouse the next morning.She had tucked the envelope under her jacket so it wasn’t visible to anyone who might be watching.On the drive, she wound down the window and breathed in the cool morning air, allowing it to wash over her face.She should do this more often.One advantage of living on a peninsula was she got to witness the sun rise and set over the ocean.It never ceased to centre her, make everything in life fall into perspective.
It was late enough in the season that the lighthouse car park was empty.She inhaled deeply and stretched as she got out.The glow on the horizon was brighter now and soon the sun itself would appear.Birds chirped as they fluttered from bush to bush, greeting each other and the day.She wrapped her arms around her to ward off the chill and turned in a circle, scanning the horizon.She and Nhiari used to leave each other notes in the rusted, old, metal box on the other side of the wooden logs which marked the edges of the car park.The box might have been used for storage at some stage in the past.
Dot wandered over.No one could have followed her here.The land was flat and any car on the road could be seen or heard.But that didn’t mean Stonefish hadn’t set up cameras around Retribution Bay.They seemed to know everything that was going on before she did.
She crouched to do up her shoelace, turning on her phone torch to see what she was doing, and to shine the light through the gap in the side door of the storage box.A few cobwebs, but it was dry.She slid the envelope through the gap and then stood, hopping up on the storage box to sit and watch the sunrise.She stuck her hands in her pockets and breathed deeply again.
This was her favourite place.Her safe space.As a kid, she’d bike out here and sit in the lighthouse’s shade, looking out at the ocean or Retribution Bay.She could get out of the house, where she was ignored, and pretend her parents would be missing her and counting the hours until she came home.As she grew older, she’d stay later and later wondering whether her parents would grow worried and search for her, but they never did.Often they thought she’d been in her room all along.
Nhiari would sometimes take her family’s motorbike and ride along the base of the ranges, through dirt tracks, and meet her.Or Mark would pick her up and take them both to the beach to swim.He’d understood her need to get out of the house and had encouraged her friendship with Nhiari.Perhaps he wanted to make sure she had someone else she could rely on so there was less pressure on him, or to get her out of the way so she didn’t know what he was up to.
Or perhaps he was just being a good brother.
