Falk stared at her.
‘Help you how exactly, Barb?’
‘Well, find out what really happened. To clear Luke’s name. And for Karen and Billy. And Charlotte.’
At that she started rocking Charlotte in her arms, stroking her back and making soothing noises. The baby still hadn’t moved.
‘Barb.’ Falk leaned forward in his chair and placed his palm on her free hand. It felt clammy and feverish. ‘I am so sorry for what’s happened. To you all. Luke was like a brother back then, you know that. But I am not the right person for this. If you’ve got concerns you’ve got to go to the police.’
‘We’ve come to you.’ She removed her hand. ‘You’re the police.’
‘The police who are equipped to deal with this sort of thing. I don’t do that anymore. You know that. I’m with the financial side now. Accounts, money.’
‘Exactly.’ Barb nodded.
Gerry made a small noise in his throat. ‘Barb thinks money troubles may have played a part.’ He’d aimed for a neutral tone, fallen well shy.
‘Yes. Of course I do,’ she snapped. ‘Why is that so unbelievable to you, Gerry? Talk about burning a hole. If Luke had a dollar, he’d spend two to make sure it was gone.’
Was that true? Falk wondered. He’d never known Luke to be too keen to put his hand in his pocket.
Barb turned back to face him. ‘Look, for ten years I thought we’d done the right thing selling the property to Luke. But these past two weeks I’ve done nothing but worry we saddled him with a burden that was too much. With the drought, who knows? Everyone is so desperate. He might well have borrowed money from someone. Or had bad debts he couldn’t pay. Maybe someone he owed came looking for him.’
A silence stretched out. Falk found his glass of whiskey and took a decent swallow. It was warm.
‘Barb,’ he said finally. ‘It might not feel like it, but the officers in charge really will have considered all these possibilities.’
‘Not very bloody well,’ Barb snapped. ‘They didn’t want to know. They drove over from Clyde and took one look and said, “Yep, another farmer gone off the rails” and that was that. Open and shut. I could see what they were thinking. Nothing but sheep and paddocks. You’d have to be half off your nut to live here in the first place. I could see it in their faces.’
‘They sent a team down from Clyde?’ Falk asked, slightly surprised. Clyde was the nearest big town with a fully stocked cop shop. ‘It wasn’t the local guy? What’s his name?’
‘Sergeant Raco. No. He’d only been here a week or so. They sent someone over.’
‘You’ve told this Raco bloke you’ve got concerns?’
Her defiant look answered his question.
‘We’re telling you,’ she said.
Gerry put his glass down on the deck with a thud and they both jumped.
‘All right, I think we’ve said our piece,’ he said. ‘It’s been a long day. Let’s give Aaron a chance to think things through. See what makes sense to him. Come on, mate, I’ll see you out.’
Barb opened her mouth like she wanted to protest but closed it after a look from Gerry. She laid Charlotte down on a spare chair and pulled Falk into a damp embrace.
‘Just think about it. Please.’ Her breath was hot against his ear. He could smell alcohol on her breath. Barb sat back down and picked up Charlotte. She rocked briskly until the child finally opened her eyes with an irritated wail. Barb smiled for the first time as she smoothed her hair and patted her back. Falk could hear her singing tunelessly as he followed Gerry down the hallway.
Gerry walked Falk right to his car.
‘Barb’s clutching at straws,’ Gerry said. ‘She’s got it into her head that this is all the work of some mythical debt enforcer. It’s rubbish. Luke wasn’t a fool with money. Having a tough time, like everyone else, yes. And he took the odd risk, but he was sensible enough. He’d never have got mixed up in that sort of thing. Anyway, Karen did all the accounts for the farm. She would’ve said. Would’ve told us if things were that bad.’
‘So what do you think?’
‘I think – I think he was under a lot of pressure. And as much as it hurts me, and I tell you, it kills me, I think what happened was exactly what it looks like. What I want to know is whether I share the blame.’
Falk leaned against his car. His head was pounding.
‘How long have you known?’ Falk said.
