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“I was. I might still be.”

Varesh smiled. “It wouldn’t surprise me. You could talk underwater.”

Tim looked up at him briefly. “You’d miss me if I ever shut up.”

Varesh ran his hand over Tim’s buzz cut. “I already do.”

Tim’s eyes filled with tears, and he clamped his lips together, locking his jaw in place.

The cloud cover had broken apart, leaving bigger gaps where sunlight beamed through. The road lay ahead of us, empty save for the one car heading in the same direction, maintaining the distance between us.

Every kilometre took us closer to something more permanent, every roadside marker making my heart beat faster.

I’d meet Sadie soon. See the farm—and, as much as I hated to admit it, find a resting place for Tim.

We were almost there.

The car up ahead had turned off a while back, leaving us to finish the last few kilometres on our own. The road narrowed until the centre line disappeared, and the gravel on either side widened.

Our ETA dropped to seven minutes, then five.

Now we were down to three.

Ava’s fingers tapped on the window ledge. There was nothing I could do to make the waiting easier, so I kept quiet.

Tim struggled into a sitting position, fighting through a rasping cough before he settled again. “Are we here?”

“Almost.” I pulled up to a T-intersection and paused, turning onto Bolton Street.

Behind the wire fence on the left, rows of olive trees were spread out over acres and acres of land. Dew weighed down the silvery green branches, and nearby, a kookaburra cackled from a tree.

Ava flattened a hand on her stomach and let out a slow breath. “I feel like I’m going to throw up. This must have been how Kirby felt.”

“She’ll be here, love,” Tim said. “She promised me, remember?”

Ava nodded quickly. “I’m counting on that.”

A break came in the olive plantation, and I slowed, swinging into the gravel driveway. A modern, rust-coloured steel sign stood beside the entrance gate, flanked by stone walls. Bolton Olive Estate, est. 1995.

Ava’s knee jittered so hard she had to stop it with her own hand. “She’s in there somewhere. Right there. Behind that gate.”

Hopefully.

My shoulders tensed, and I flicked another glance at the rearview mirror.

Tim had pushed himself up, his features tight with pain. Varesh sent me a tortured look as he supported him, one hand behind his back, the other on his arm.

I pulled up to a keypad mounted on a steel pole.

“Anyone know the code?” I asked, lowering the window. There’d been no mention of it in Sadie’s video.

Ava shook her head, her lower lip pulled between her teeth.

“We’ve never been here before,” Varesh said. “Theo didn’t mention a code before he left.”

The trees lining the long driveway blocked the house from view, and the fence was too high to even think about getting everyone over it.

“Oh, look.” Ava nodded at a border collie as it shot around the corner, barking madly.