‘How did it go out there?’ she asked neutrally. She was flanked by her two daughters, and seemed to be working hard to maintain a brave face.
‘Okay. Glenn’s going to call you,’ he said. ‘He let us bring Cam’s car back. It’s outside.’
Ilse gave a small nod. ‘Thanks.’
Nathan felt a soft hand on his shoulder now and moved his chair to give Liz space to sit down. She looked even worse under artificial light. The skin around her eyes was taut and shiny from crying. Katy put a plate in front of her and Liz stared at it with a faintly puzzled air. The phone in the hallway started ringing and Liz and Harry both pushed their chairs back.
‘I’ll get it,’ Liz said. ‘It might be Glenn.’
‘What did he say to you all?’ Ilse asked as Liz left the room.
‘Nothing much we didn’t already know,’ Harry said. ‘He asked a bit about Cam’s state of mind. How things were going on the property.’
‘And what did you tell him?’ Ilse was watching Harry closely.
‘What you’d expect. That things were going well here, but Cam had been worried about something.’
‘Did he ask what?’
‘Of course.’
‘And?’
Harry’s face barely moved but he kept his eyes on Ilse. ‘And none of us were much help. So I reckon he’ll be wanting to ask you.’
Ilse shot a look at her daughters, who were watching now. ‘Maybe we should talk about this later.’
For a few minutes the only sound was cutlery against plates and the ticking of the kitchen clock. Nathan cleared his throat and turned to Harry.
‘I thought I’d go to Lehmann’s Hill tomorrow. Try to fix that mast.’
‘That’d be good. Bub can give you a hand.’ He looked at Bub, who nodded.
‘It’s fine,’ Nathan said. ‘Xander’ll come.’
Harry shook his head. ‘It’s a long way and the radio’s down. Take Bub too.’
Nathan opened his mouth to reply when Liz appeared at the door, her face strangely fixed. ‘Glenn needs to talk to you,’ she said to Ilse, who stood up and left the kitchen.
‘What’s wrong?’ Harry said.
‘Nothing. Everything’s fine.’ Liz flashed a rigid smile at the girls. ‘But a quick word outside, Harry, if you don’t mind.’
Nathan saw his confusion mirrored in Bub and Xander’s faces. They heard the slam of the screen door as Harry followed Liz out, and a moment later the hum of low voices on the verandah. The backpackers looked at each other, their meals forgotten on their plates.
A minute passed, then another. No-one came back. Slowly, they all picked up their forks and continued eating. After what felt like a long time, Nathan heard fast footsteps in the hall and the screech of the screen door again. Another murmured voice on the verandah, inaudible but with a new sense of urgency in its tone.Ilse, he thought. He waited, but still no-one returned to the kitchen. Finally, he pushed back his chair, six pairs of eyes on him.
‘Back in a minute.’
The conversation stopped dead as he stepped outside. Harry cut himself off mid-word and Liz looked up. She had both arms wrapped tightly around herself. Ilse, who appeared to have been looking from one to the other, now fixed her eyes firmly on Nathan. He wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell him, if anything. The yellow porch light cast a sickly glow over them all.
‘What’s going on?’
No-one answered him straight away.
‘Anyone?’ he tried again. ‘What did Glenn say?’
Harry shot a look at Liz. ‘He was going through the police records this afternoon for his report and he found a reference to Cameron.’
