‘You don’t have a lot of common sense, do you, Snow?’
‘Oh,’ Snowie says. ‘I don’t, um. Leon, mate, I’m sorry, I –’
‘I gotta get rid of the bodies now,’ Leon says.
‘Leon –’
Leon turns around and shoots Snowie in the head.
The shot is incredibly loud inside the tin shed. Sound bounces off the concrete floor, off the metal walls, reverberates inside my skull. Even though I’d been bracing myself for it, it hits me like a migraine.
Amie has not been bracing herself. Maybe she’s watched enough TV to imagine how scenarios of this type usually end, but I don’t think she ever thought this sort of stuff could bereal. The shot takes her completely by surprise. She makes a brief high scream, which cuts off abruptly as her breath leaves her. Her knees go out from under her – I have to turn and grab her arm with my tied hands.
Snowie is quite obviously dead. Apart from the way he tumbled boneless to the floor, we all saw the red spray come out the back of his head. I can only look at him lying there for one second before I have to close my eyes.
Leon engages the safety on the gun and pulls a crumpled handkerchief out of his trouser pocket. He starts wiping the gun off with the hanky. When he’s confident it’s fully clean, he passes the hanky-wrapped gun to Mick.
‘Get rid of that,’ he says. ‘Then make some calls. Release all the packets early. Everything slated for tomorrow goes out right now. Plus I want a clean-up crew here for the equipment.’
‘You could just torch the place, boss,’ Mick suggests.
And I hold my breath. This is the deciding moment. If Leon chooses to cut his losses, we’re fucked – Snowie is dead, and me and Amie will be next. Everything we are will be reduced to a headline: three bodies in a burnt-out shed in the back of beyond.
It seems particularly shit because I’ve got something to live for now. If I’d been in the firing line even a few months back, I might not have minded. But the last week or so has made anything seem possible, even life. I don’t want to go now. Things have only just started getting nice.
Leon stands incredibly still for the space of three of my tortured breaths. Then he turns and walks closer to me. Rakes me up and down with his eyes.
‘You had potential,’ he says.
I don’t know what to say. Saying anything could be bad. I just nod.
Amie is beside me, weeping silently, shuddering. I lift my hands and tuck her into the circle of my arms and chest. Leon looks at us, sighs out his nose.
‘I don’t want these two done on any property connected to the club,’ he says to Mick, over his shoulder. ‘And a fire will only draw attention. Just get the crew here. And get the tarp out of the van.’
I try not to let my exhale escape too loudly.
Mick disappears through a door in the back of the shed, his phone pressed to his ear. He returns with a folded blue tarp which he dumps beside Snowie’s body.
Leon turns to the left-hand wall, and it’s like I’d forgotten Ando even existed.
‘Boss –’ Ando starts.
‘Spare me.’ Leon pulls his smokes out of his jacket pocket. ‘The load in the van goes to Melbourne. Put the body in the back. Put the whole fucking lot of ’em in the back. You follow behind the van. When you get to the saltworks, take a left and you can do ’em there, then get back on the road. I’ll give instructions to the driver about the pit-stop.’
That’s our death sentence, right there, and he’s ordered it like he’d order a pizza. But it’s bought us some time.
Ando wets his lips, steps forward. ‘I want the girl.’
‘No.’ My head whips to face him.
‘You don’tgetto say no,’ Ando grinds out.
‘Iget to say no,’ Amie says. She slips out of my arms, slides around behind me.
I raise my tied fists. ‘You touch her and I’ll fucking –’
My hot speech is cut off by the feel of something cold. Leon has a gun pressed to my temple. Amie is clutching my arm. Ando is grinning with sharp white teeth.
