Nathan showed him how to work through the frequencies. ‘Sounds okay to me. His EPIRB’s probably under the passenger seat as well.’
Ludlow reached down and pulled out the personal distress beacon. It was still in its box, and had not been activated.
‘You don’t use handheld radios?’ he said.
‘No. They’re all connected to the cars.’
‘So if you leave your vehicle, you’re without comms?’
‘Yeah.’
‘What’s the range?’
‘Depends. You can get twenty kilometres straight, further with the repeater masts, but there are black spots,’ Nathan said. ‘It’s line of sight, basically.’
The sergeant continued working his way through the car, running his gloved hands over the interior. He checked behind the visors, in the glove box, under the seats, then checked again.
‘I think his wallet’s missing.’ Ludlow raised his head. ‘It wasn’t in his pockets either.’
‘No. It’ll be at home.’
‘He wouldn’t carry it?’
Nathan, whose own wallet was on his kitchen table in his unlocked house a couple of hundred kilometres away, waved a hand at their surroundings. Why bother?
A hint of embarrassment flitted across Ludlow’s face. He opened a repair manual and flicked through the pages.
‘What are you looking for?’ Nathan asked eventually.
Ludlow hesitated. ‘Anything.’
He doesn’t know, Nathan thought.He has no idea what to make of any of this. He saw Xander frown. Probably thinking the same thing.
‘Are you going to dust for fingerprints or something?’ Xander said.
‘The Criminal Investigation Branch would need to fly out for that.’
‘And will they fly out?’
‘Only if there are signs of violence.’
They all turned their eyes to the car. The windows were not cracked, the seats had seen nothing worse than general grime and the mirrors were positioned at the correct angles.
Ludlow looked back at Xander. ‘I’m sorry.’
He worked on methodically, stopping short only when he opened the rear doors. He stood, as they had, staring at the water and food stacked neatly in front of him.
‘He left all this?’
Nathan didn’t have an answer.That’s supposed to be your job to work out, he thought.
Ludlow looked over. ‘Is there any practical explanation you can think of?’
‘I’ve heard of people –’ Nathan sounded desperate even to his own ears. ‘Sometimes people leave their vehicle for some reason – chase down a stray calf or something – and go further than they meant to. They start running and they don’t realise how far they’ve gone and suddenly they’re disoriented.’
Ludlow peeled off his gloves. ‘Do you think that’s what might have happened?’
‘No. I don’t know, I’m just saying. But I don’t think Cam would have got lost around here.’
