‘I could bring my rescue cage. Transfer my branch with the volunteer group. What region is that?’
‘The Hawkesbury.’
‘Right. Maybe if you have a minute now and then between, like, investigation stuff, you could drive me to some wrangles.’
We both looked out the dining room doors to the yard, across the lawn I used to mow, to the spot where Bridie kept her animal rescue cage. It was by the hose reel, where she’d dumped it after washing it last. It was never more than a couple of days between rescues, from what Georgia had told me. Bridie and Georgia had been deep into animal rescue for a wildlife group when the kid was small and Georgia was a constable working swing shifts. The teen got back into wrangling injured animals when she started high school, seeking a distraction from the chaos of our divorce.
‘That could work,’ I said. She smiled.Actuallysmiled.
Bridie headed for the doors. ‘So let’s go then.’
EVAN
Iwas taking corners too fast, the Kia Sportage grinding on the gravel on the unsealed roads, kicking up dust. My mind ticked away as I drove. Thinking about the crime. About cameras. The properties I was passing were few and far between, marked only by the occasional milk-urn letterbox standing sentinel beside a gum tree, or a sign hanging from a wire fence:Trespassers will be shot.
I was twenty minutes out of Redbelly and coming in hot. My stomach kept plummeting. Without warning, it just fell, a sickening dive that almost made me double over. I told myself it was guilt about landing Delle with Chris and his crew for the day. Or Dad’s reminder of my great shame. We were coming up on one year since the incident. Wiping sweat from my brow, I applauded myself for almost having forgotten it. My phone buzzed. Hayley Twitcher, my chief superintendent out of Gosford, calling me back.
‘Isn’t it your day off?’ Hayley asked in greeting.
‘Ah, yes. Technically. There’s been a murder in Redbelly Crossing. Have you heard about it?’
‘I saw sooomething on the readouuut …’ I could hear Hayley’s leather chair creaking as she adjusted her position. A computer mouse clicking. ‘Mmm. Oh, yep. One deceased. What is it?’
‘I’m hearing a stabbing.’
‘What are you going there for? Don’t tell me Dodge and his crew have called you in directly. He knows he has to go through me if he wants extra staff.’
‘No, he hasn’t. I just decided to head there.’
‘Why?’
‘Listen …’ My mind was whirring. I forced myself to slow down. ‘Boss, I’m hoping to pitch something to you.’
‘Oh, Evan, no.’
‘Iknow, Hayley, I know,’ I pressed. ‘But opportunities for me to make good after what happened are slim. Okay? Youknowthat. The last murder we had was a year ago and it was all wrapped up before it even appeared on the readout. And the one before that was a fucking accident. If I could just take a look at this thing and see whether—’
‘You do not assign yourself to cases, Evan. Especially when they’re out of area. Redbelly Crossing is Dodge’s turf. He probably has big dreams of making detective too, you know.’
‘Yes, but—’
‘Like I’ve told you a hundred times: if I were you, mate? I wouldn’t eventhinkabout applying for a rank upgrade consideration until the current command team has cleared out. You don’t want anybody on the decision team who will remember what happened. If you go up and you fail, it’ll be another few years before you can try again.’
I chewed my lip, wrung the steering wheel. ‘Yep.’
‘You know what I mean?’ Hayley asked.
‘I do.’ I gasped for air. Thinking about Delle, and Chrissy, and the almost imperceptible tightening I saw in their shoulders every time they left the house. Like they were walking into a hard, cold wind. Delle hadn’t run into the Sanderson family in town for a while. And things had been quiet at school between Chris and the Sanderson boy, as far as I knew. But this was my chance to make it all go away. ‘Boss, I just need this. Ineedthis. I would owe you. I mean, I know I already do. But I would owe you more. To the end of the world and back.’
‘I get it,’ Hayley said.
‘Can I go?’
She gave a heavy sigh. ‘Okay. Go. Stick your nose in.’
‘Thank you.’ I sighed. ‘Thanks, Hayley.’
‘Who’s the victim?’
