A shrub!
Yet, it was like she was trying to scale the rim of a volcano, with the fire radiating up her leg.She had to talk about something.‘Earlier tonight,’ she said between gasps and winces of pain.‘Izzy told me that Tilly was staying at the Lodge for her safety.Because of her son.’
‘I know.’Porter sighed, pulling away the rag from his head wound.‘Even though there is no evidence that Sawyer’s alive, I think she’s afraid of him.And when a tough station woman like Tilly is worried?That tells me plenty.’
‘Is that why you’re working on her case?To give her peace of mind?’What she’d give to be home for that peace of mind, too.
‘Here, use me if you insist on walking.’He slung her arm over his shoulders.‘We’ll go west.’
‘Why?’
‘If Siri comes back, he won’t know where we are.But… before we go any further, now we’re on solid ground.Stay there.’He leaned her up against a tree, then ripped off a leafy branch from a nearby shrub.
She doubted they’d made even twenty metres, so far.Yet her ankle felt like she’d run a million-mile marathon.Would she make the distance?
Porter headed back to where her car had been swallowed.
‘What are you doing?’The thought of being alone while injured and lost, brought on a fresh layer of fear like ice shattering across her skin.
‘Hiding our tracks.’Porter swept at the dust all around the car including his own footprints, while walking backwards to her position on the rise in the pebbly shoal.‘In case Siri comes back, he’ll think we drowned.’
‘In dust.’She shuddered, rubbing over her bare arms, feeling the layer of dirt coating her skin.‘I’d never heard of such a thing.In Egyptian pyramids, maybe.Or in some horror movie.But not out here.’
‘Bulldust has taken out stacks of vehicles.I’ve seen it plenty of times as an outback cop.I’ve even buried the patrol car once, not as deep as your car.But I got whiplash, and a seatbelt burn, when the airbag exploded in my face.Ever since then, I’ve been wary whenever the bulldust settles too smoothly, like glass.I know it’s a trap.’
Pity she hadn’t seen it.Or listened to Porter back when there was still bitumen beneath the tyres.Now she had the joy of zigzagging through the scrub, hobbling in her ballgown that, somehow, still sparkled under the stars.
Beside her, Porter trudged on in his ruined suit and tie.
‘Where are we going?You must have a plan.’Hopefully his knowledge of Dixby Downs would help.
‘There’s a waterhole west of here.’Porter nodded towards the horizon.‘Few clicks, give or take.’
‘Long walk.’
‘With your ankle?It’ll bereallong.I can carry you.’
‘I can walk,’ she snapped, even if she had to lean heavier into his side.His arm around her was steady, his body heat comforting.
She tried to focus on that, to try and smother the gnawing load of fear curling in her gut.
‘Did Siri really plan to leave us out here to…?’Die.The word dried up like the dust at her feet.
‘Y’know, it’s not a bad murder plan.’
She shot him a scowl.‘Don’t sound so happy about it.’
He matched her frown.‘I’m not.But think about it.If they found us in that car—buried under all that dust, with no radio or a satphone—they’d reckon we were just another pair of fools who didn’t read the road signs.Unprepared city idiots who’d wandered too far off-road.’
His boots crunched steadily beside her awkward limp.
‘Wouldn’t look like murder, then,’ he said with his voice dipping low.‘It’d be just another cruel outback death.The kind that happens to stockmen and tourists alike.No violence.Just the land taking its due.’
She swallowed hard, feeling the grit settle in her raw throat.‘You’re really selling the romance of the Territory tonight, Porter.’
He grunted.‘Maybe next time, pick a date spot that’s not on theTop Ten Ways to Die Horribly in the Bushlist.’
‘I didn’t know that bulldust could be like quicksand.’
