‘There’s a …’ He gripped the wheel. ‘There’s a couple of awkward questions that need answering.’
EVAN
Ipatted the dirt down with the shovel, making a nice, smooth mound of earth where I’d buried the box of my father’s trophies. The spot I’d chosen was between two of the aluminium sheds, an indistinct patch of weeds where the soil was soft and mossy from lack of sun. My phone rang as I was heading back to the house, dusting my hands off on the legs of my jeans.
‘I want to ask you a few uncomfortable questions,’ Russell said.
Immediately, the hairs on the back of my neck began to rise. Russell didn’t have any problems asking uncomfortable questions. In fact, saying the wrong thing and making people around him uncomfortable were some of his favourite hobbies. I stopped beside a rusty body of a Landau that had grass growing across its entire windscreen, blocking out view of the interior. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Well,’ Russell said. ‘What’s happened is that Dodge’s entire team has been stood down from duty by Gail Caplan. During that process, Knowles has been doing his handover to his counterpart on Gail’s team, and he’s started telling the guy about the traffic cameras. The ones he’s been working through, one at a time, interviewing all the drivers who came in and out of Redbelly that night.’
I put my head down and kept walking.
‘Knowles has tried to find the printout that you had at the beer garden,’ Russell said. ‘But he can’t find it. Because Dodge has it. So Knowles figures he’ll just make his own printout directly from thetraffic cam database. Only, he notices that there’s an extra car on there now.’
‘Okay.’ I drew a long breath. ‘Okay, Russell.’
‘That car belongs to an Uber driver. Knowles calls the Uber driver, and what does he say?’
‘He says he drove a guy named Christopher Powder into Redbelly on the night Chloe was murdered,’ I said.
‘Are youshitting me, Evan?’
‘No,’ I breathed. ‘No. I’m not. I covered up the fact that Chris was in Redbelly at the time of the murder. He’s the young guy at the pub. The one that was on the CCTV.’
‘I’m going to fucking kill you!’
‘It’s not a big problem.’
‘ “It’s not a big problem”?!’
‘I’ll admit to it.’ I went to the house, pulled the door shut. ‘It won’t blow back on you. I’ll say my son was there, engaged in underage drinking, and I panicked and covered it up.’
‘How could you do that? How could—With your history— What were you—’
‘Could you take a minute and breathe, and complete a sentence?’ I said. There was silence on the line. ‘You’re not completing any of your sentences, Russell.’
More silence. I went to my car and slipped into it, sat in the sun-warmed stillness.
‘Listen, Evan.’ Russell paused. I got the feeling there was someone else there, inhibiting him. I could hear the airy roar of a car in the background. ‘I’m catching a weird vibe off you.’
‘Okay.’
‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s just … not having seen you for a while. And the past few days. Are you and Delle okay? Is Chrissy okay?’
I bit down hard on my lips, wiped tears from my face. ‘Yeah? We’re fine. Everybody’s fine. I just, uh … I did something dumb. Again. I’m embarrassed. There’s nothing more to it.’
‘Mmm.’ Russell was quiet again for a long while. Uncharacteristically quiet. ‘I want to see you. Where are you right now?’
‘I stopped at Dad’s.’
‘Okay, stay there. I’m heading to Pemulwuy, so I’ll have to drive right past. I’ll meet you at the end of the road.’
‘Why are you going to Pemulwuy?’
‘I’ve got evidence to hand in. On Linda Special’s case. I’m hoping for DNA.’
‘What?’ I put my head against the steering wheel. Pressed the phone hard against my ear. ‘Are you kidding me? You’ve got something new? How? It’s been fifty years!’
