“Well—”
“I’ll drive you,” Falk said.
Zara looked over in surprise. “Yeah? Thank you. I’ll get my stuff.”
“You don’t have to—” Raco started as she disappeared down the hall, but Falk shook his head.
“It’s fine. Happy to.”
“Yes,” Naomi said suddenly. She visibly brightened. “Heshould.” She whipped her head around to Falk. “It’s a great festival. You should definitely go, Aaron. Check it out properly. It’s actually run by a very good friend of mine.” She drained her coffee and stood, gathering her fleece as she shot another glance at him, coy now. “You know her, I think? Gemma Tozer?”
“Yes,” Falk said, carefully. “She was at the festival last night.”
“Of course. Of course.” Naomi pursed her lips thoughtfully and nodded. She leaned a toned hip casually against the table. “But you’ve met, I mean. Before last night. In Melbourne, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Great. How nice. And tell me, what did you and Gemma get up to out on the town in the big city? Few drinks, dinner?” Naomi glanced at Rita, who was doing her best not to appear wholly invested. They were enjoying this.
“That sounds about right.” Falk couldn’t help but smile himself.
“Fabulous,” Naomi enthused. “And I don’t know about you, but I always think Melbourne is so beautiful at night, all lit up.”
“It is.”
“Did you—I don’t know—get the chance to take a walk at all? Soak up the atmosphere?”
“A little. It was raining.”
“Ah. Yes.” Naomi managed to look practically misty-eyed. “Although, in the right circumstances, a little rain can be quite pleasant in itself.”
“It can.”
“Well, I have to say, it sounds like it was a really lovely evening.”
“Yes, thanks, Naomi.” Falk saw Zara reappear in the hall, ready to go. “It was.”
“Mmm.” Naomi zipped up her fleece, flipped her blond hair over one shoulder, and fixed him with a conspiratorial smile. “That’s what I heard, too.”
15
“They all pretend that they were still friends with her,” Zara said out of nowhere.
“Who does, sorry?” Falk looked over as he turned in to the festival parking lot. They had driven in silence most of the way to the site. He had been lost in his own—not unpleasant—thoughts, largely involving a replay of Naomi’s words on a loop.That’s what I heard, too.
Zara shrugged in the passenger seat. “All of them. Naomi. Rita, even. Like they’re so sorry they didn’t go and speak to my mum on that last night. But it wasn’t unusual or anything. Naomi said it herself, she hadn’t really talked to Mum in a year. Probably hadn’t seen her for two. Rita would be the same, if you asked.”
“Well, adult friendships can be like that, sometimes.” Falk touched the brake as a parking attendant indicated for him to wait, then directed him to an empty spot. “You can go for long stretches without—”
“Yeah, I get that. And I know Mum wasn’t the easiest person to get hold of. Over in Adelaide. New husband. New baby. But everyone acting like it was so out of character that they hadn’t made the effort to catch up with her—” Zara fiddled with her seat belt. “It just annoys me, that’s all.”
Falk looked at Zara and remembered that call in the Racos’ kitchen last year. Kim on the phone screen, Zara leaning forward to tap her finger against the glass, cutting off her mum as she spoke. Falk doubted, as he drew the car to a stop, that Kim’s dwindling friendship circle was the whole issue here.
“So.” Zara was staring out of her window as Falk killed the engine. “Do you want me to show you why none of this stuff about Mum makes any sense?”
When he didn’t answer, she twisted in her seat toward him.
“My uncle’s probably shown you his notes, hasn’t he? The ones he thinks I haven’t seen.” She frowned when he didn’t respond. “I mean, you’re a cop, too, right? So? What did you think?”
