Harvey sat up, his face peering out the window at the enormous truck.‘One, two, three, four …’
The first time she’d passed one, a few hours ago when they reached the main highway between Brisbane and Longreach, she’d been nervous as the car shuddered and shook, but now she felt strangely exhilarated by it.
‘… twenty-three, twenty-four …’
Sophie gave the driver a wave as she passed the cab, the open road stretching out in front of her.
When they’d crossed the Queensland border the previous day, she’d breathed a sigh of relief.One more milestone on her journey.She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but the light seemed different this side of the border.It was the kind of light that made eyes squint and skin weathered and leathery.
She’d bought a map at the petrol station in Parkes and worked out a route that would keep them in mid-sized towns.They’d driven for nine hours the previous day until they reachedCunnamulla, population 1200 according to the brochure on the front desk at the tourist park, which she read while giving one-word answers to the too-friendly receptionist.That was another part of her strategy: don’t talk too much.She needed to be as forgettable as possible.
Some of the towns out here were tiny.They’d driven through one a few hours ago with a population of 78, according to the welcome sign.It looked like they were all on the veranda of the pub.Charlie had begged to stop, but Sophie had said no.A single mother with three kids in tow might get too much attention from locals who didn’t get many visitors.Charlie was still sulking.
How much further was Longreach, she wondered, glancing at the clock?An hour maybe—
There was a loud bang and the car wobbled and lurched.
Fuck.
Charlie’s head snapped up as she hit the brakes.‘Did we hit something?’
Jasmine leaned forward between the two front seats as Sophie pulled onto the shoulder of the road and came to a stop.
‘We’ve popped a tyre.’
‘What do we do?’Charlie said.
‘We change it,’ Sophie replied, trying to sound confident.She’d watched a YouTube tutorial in preparation for a moment like this, hoping she was being unnecessarily pessimistic.Apparently not.
Charlie gave her a doubtful look.‘You know how to change it?’
‘Yep,’ Sophie said.‘Everyone out.’
She looked at the shredded tyre, then up at the sun, which was worryingly low in the sky.Night fell quickly out here at this time of year.
‘Help me get the bags out, Charlie,’ she said, opening the boot.‘The spare tyre’s under here.’
When the boot was clear, she pulled a handle to remove the cover and saw the jack and the wrench, just where the tattooed man in the video said they’d be.She passed them to Charlie, who was starting to look less uncertain and more impressed.Once she’d removed all the tools, she lifted the tray that covered the tyre and gasped as though she’d been winded.There was an empty space where the tyre was meant to be.
Charlie frowned.‘What?’
She put a hand over her eyes, thoughts reeling.Why hadn’t she checked it?How could she be so fucking stupid!She felt a surge of rage.Fucking Ryan.He must have removed it.How was he still controlling her?Trapping her?
‘Fuck!’she yelled.
A gentle hand on her back.‘Mum?’Charlie said.
She forced back tears, refusing to cry.Refusing to give Ryan that power over her.
She took a breath and looked at her son.‘The spare’s not here.We need to flag someone down.’
Chapter 61
A warm breeze caressed Nel’s bare arms as she stood on Lauren’s veranda watching Leo and Archie in the garden below.Behind them, the ocean looked like a painting.She breathed in deeply, trying to place the sweet woody smell in the air.It was triggering a memory, something to do with Maddie, but it lay just out of reach.
‘Ready?’Leo’s voice carried on the breeze, followed by the crack of the ball on the bat.They were playing Classic Catches, a game they’d invented that involved one of them jumping off the trampoline and diving to catch a ball hit by the other, who stood on the grass below with a cricket bat.They’d convinced Steve to remove the safety net from around the trampoline.
Archie flew through the air and landed on the lawn.Nel grimaced, thinking of potential broken bones, and held her breath until he rolled over and held the tennis ball aloft to claim the catch.He tossed the ball to his brother and jumped back up ready for the next shot.She decided she’d seen enough and sat down at the table that Lauren had set on the veranda.
