She looked up and her eyes met Nel’s.‘We thought she must have been with you, Nel.When it got to about nine and she still wasn’t home, I rang the Foleys, but Cath said Nel had got home just after eight.’
Nel felt Cath stiffen beside her at the mention of her name.
‘That was when I started to worry.We waited a bit longer, telling ourselves that any minute she would turn up.But she didn’t, so we decided that Geoff would go out looking for her in the car and I’d stay at home in case she came back or rang.’
She twisted her wedding ring as she spoke.Geoff’s hands hung by his side, his gaze distant.
‘It was almost midnight when Geoff came back.He said he hadn’t found her and that we should go to bed, that she’d come home eventually.I lay awake all night, convinced she must be dead or abducted, but telling myself it was just an act of teenage rebellion.I’d picture her waltzing back in, telling us to chill out, apologising flippantly in that sing-song way she had that drove me mad.’
A long silence.
‘What happened then, Faye?’Nel prompted.
‘When daylight came and she still wasn’t home, I knew something was terribly wrong.I woke Geoff.He can sleep through anything.’She let out a hollow little laugh and shook her head.‘We rang the police and reported her missing.And then, three days later, she was found.Dead.’
Faye paused, still twisting the ring, anguish on her face.‘Those first few years after we lost her, I was barely living.The only time I didn’t feel pain was when I was asleep, so I took Stilnox and stayed in bed.I spent eighteen months like that—sleeping, or staring at the wall.Then eventually I started to come out the other side.I started painting instead.’
Faye’s face hardened.She glared at Geoff then looked back at the crowd.‘That’s when I started to think back to what happened.I kept replaying that night over and over in my mind.And there were some things that didn’t make sense.’
She shook her head, looking down at her hands.
‘Like what?’Nel asked gently.‘What didn’t make sense?’
Faye looked up at her.‘When Geoff got home the night she disappeared, his pants were dirty and torn at one knee.He said he’d walked around the cliff track looking for her, but that didn’t explain why they were so dirty or why they were ripped like that.The day after she went missing, I tried to find them, but they were gone.When I asked him where they were, he said he threw them out.At the time, I didn’t think much about it—I was out of my mind worrying about Maddie—but it bothered me.’
She was speaking to Nel now as if they were the only ones there.‘It was more than that though.I started to wonder, why didn’t Geoff want to call the police that night?It seemed strange, in retrospect.Out of character.I had terrible guilt about that for a long time.I kept thinking, if we’d called the police then she mightnot have ended up dead.’She shrugged sadly.‘But now I know that’s not true.’
Nel nodded, encouraging her to go on.
‘And I couldn’t understand why Geoff wanted to drop the case.He was very insistent, so I went along with it, but it seemed strange to me.Our daughter was dead.Witnesses saw her ex-boyfriend’s car in the area where she was last seen.Why wouldn’t he want to pursue it?’
She stood taller now, her eyes flashing with resolve.‘It didn’t add up.I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me.So in the lead-up to the 2013 election, I confronted him.I told him he needed to tell me the truth or I’d go to the police.’
She turned to Geoff.He looked back at her, eyes pleading.
‘Tell them,’ she said.It was an order.
Chapter 73
Geoff stared back at Faye for a long time.
‘Tell them,’ she said again.
The room was utterly silent.Geoff’s gaze travelled over the faces in front of him.Then he looked at Faye again.Her face was hard, resolute.Nel could feel her heart in her throat.
‘Tell us, Geoff,’ Nel said.He cleared his throat and started to speak.
‘It was like Faye said—she stayed at home, while I went out in the car to look for Maddie.’He gave a small shrug as though he didn’t understand why any of this was necessary.‘She often went to the lighthouse lookout so I went there first, but when I got there it felt deserted.I stood at the top of the stairs, shouting her name, but there was just … silence.’
He shook his head, clearly irritated.Because of this moment, Nel wondered?Or was he recalling the emotion of the memory?
‘It was already after ten when I got back to the car.I considered going home.I thought she was probably fine, but Faye was worried so I decided to check if she was at the Warners’ place instead.’
Nel found Roy’s face among the crowd, his mouth a thin line.‘Roy answered the door in his dressing-gown, clearly annoyed by the late-night visit.I explained why I was there and he called outto Ryan, but he said he hadn’t seen her.I had no idea where else she could be, so when I left the Warners’ I drove up and down every street in town.
‘By eleven o’clock, there was still no sign of her.I was about to give up when I thought of the cave.I used to go there as a boy.It’s not technically a cave, but it feels like one because a rock ledge protrudes over a flat area big enough for a few kids to shelter.I’d found Maddie and Ryan there one night, a year or so before, smoking cigarettes and drinking cans of beer.She’d been grounded for weeks after that.
‘I wondered if she might be there.The path to get around from the lookout is rocky and narrow, only a couple of inches wide in some places, so I thought it was unlikely, but she had to be somewhere.I decided I would check there, then I’d call it a night and go home.’
