The cops spent two hours picking apart Ellie Deacon’s bedroom. Thick fingers awkwardly probed through underwear drawers and jewellery cases. The note was almost missed. Almost. It was written on a single page torn from an ordinary exercise book. It had been folded once and slipped into the pocket of a pair of jeans. On the page, written in pen in Ellie’s handwriting, was the date she had disappeared. Underneath that was a single name:Falk.
‘Explain that. If you can,’ Deacon said. The bar was silent.
Falk said nothing. He couldn’t. And Deacon knew he couldn’t.
The barman banged a glass down on the counter. ‘Enough.’ He looked hard at Falk, considering. Raco, holding his police badge visibly in his palm, raised his eyebrows and gave a tiny shake of his head. The barman’s eyes instead settled on Dow.
‘You and your uncle, leave. Don’t come back for two days, thanks. Everyone else, buy a drink or get out.’
The rumours started small and by the end of the day were big. Falk – sixteen and scared – holed up in his bedroom with a thousand thoughts clamouring. He jumped as a tap sounded against the window frame. Luke’s face appeared, ghostly white in the evening gloom.
‘You’re in the shit, mate,’ he whispered. ‘I heard my mum and dad say. People are talking. What were you really doing on Friday after school?’
‘I told you. Fishing. Up river though. Miles away, I swear.’ Falk crouched by the window. His legs felt like they wouldn’t hold him up.
‘Anyone else asked you yet? Cops or anyone?’
‘No. They’re going to, though. They think I was meeting her or something.’
‘But you weren’t.’
‘No! Course not. But what if they don’t believe me?’
‘You didn’t meet anyone at all? No-one saw you?’
‘I was on my bloody own, wasn’t I?’
‘Right, listen – Aaron, mate, are you listening? Right, anyone asks, you say we were shooting rabbits together. On the back paddocks.’
‘Nowhere near the river.’
‘No. The paddocks off Cooran Road. Nowhere near the river.All evening. OK? We were mucking around. Like usual. We only hit one or two. Two. Say two.’
‘Yes, OK. Two.’
‘Don’t forget. We were together.’
‘Yes. I mean no. I won’t forget. Jesus, Ellie. I can’t –’
‘Say it.’
‘What?’
‘Say it now. What you were doing. Practise.’
‘Luke and I were shooting rabbits together.’
‘Again.’
‘I was with Luke Hadler. Shooting rabbits. Out on the Cooran Road paddocks.’
‘Say it until it sounds normal. And don’t get it wrong.’
‘No.’
‘You got all that, yeah?’
‘Yes. Luke, mate. Thanks. Thank you.’
