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Graysen reached for her hand and Sandra curled her fingers around his. ‘What happened to you pair?’ he asked. ‘Did you see what Zed did? Is that why you got off the trail? I did notice you took off pretty quickly after we’d stopped for morning tea.’

‘Jenny’s been wary of them since the first day,’ Clive said.

‘Zed and Miska, that is,’ Jenny clarified. ‘Paul and Cecily were just spoilt brats, a bit typical of the current “entitled” generation, but they were harmless.’

‘Do you know they’re missing too? And PD?’ Sandra asked.

‘Or we’re assuming they are,’ Graysen added. ‘They’d supposedly headed back to the Chasm with Cecily with a turned ankle, but when I climbed higher, there was no sign of them on the trail. And if they had got back, I’m sure the company would have sent P.D. ahead to Birthday Waterhole to join up with Jodie, or sent another guide along the trail to catch us all up. If they were waiting at tonight’s camp, the alarm would have been raised when we didn’t turn up. It’s just all too quiet out here. I don’t think anyone is aware that the trek has come to this.’

‘Seven of us haven’t turned up. Maybe Zed and Miska continued on, and then told Jodie that we’d all turned back for some reason,’ Jenny said.

Graysen frowned. ‘It’s all guesswork. All we know is that there’s no one out looking for us. What made you think they weren’t genuine, Jenny?’

‘I know now I should have said something earlier. They just seemed off kilter to me from that first night. And then she seemed to take on a new personality when we headed out—all sweetness and light. Then when they said they were in Aberdeen and Clive asked them where they were living, Zed said quickly they weren’t there yet. They contradicted themselves a couple of other times when I was talking to them too. It’s the sort of thing most people would maybe not even notice, but it registered with me, and my senses went on alert. I don’t believe they were ever in Aberdeen and I doubt if they were doctors. No proof, just instinct.’

‘Jenny was a top detective before she retired,’ Clive said proudly. ‘Worked on, and solved many high-powered cases, and received many commendations.’

‘They just seem to be like cardboard cut-outs to me,’ Jenny continued. ‘They had no history. No personal comments apart from putting on the lovey-dovey “this is my wonderful wife and we’re on our honeymoon” story. No substance.’

‘You’re very astute, Jenny.’ Sandra moved closer to Graysen as the cold wind sent a shiver through her. ‘My girls, and Peter too, always told me I was too trusting, but I do like to see the best in people.’

Graysen squeezed her hand. ‘In normal social circles, that’s not a bad thing.’

‘I had forty years in the police force and thirty-five as a detective before I retired. I learned that many people hide behind a front for some reason or another.’

‘Graysen and I were talking about greed being a motivator. I’ve had personal experience of that.’

‘I looked up that case after you mentioned it the other night. Went back to the old files when we had service at Standley Chasm last night. Even though I was working in Sydney, I remember when it happened. It must have been very hard for you.’

‘It was a difficult time.’ Sandra cleared her throat as emotion threatened to take hold. ‘What do you think Zed and Miska are doing? Graysen saw something. Something so horrendous I still can’t process it.’

‘We overheard them on the trail, but we’d already hidden by then. What did you see, Graysen?’ Clive asked.

‘After you guys left, and Zed had been along the trail to stow the pack, I climbed higher. Like I said before, I couldn’t see Paul and Cecily and P.D., but couldn’t see Andrew either. I lifted my camera and panned around to the west.’ Graysen’s voice was flat and held no emotion, and Sandra wondered how he stayed so calm after what he’d seen.

‘Zed had a rifle with a sight and he lifted it as I watched. I moved my camera to see where he was pointing just as the projectile hit Maggie in the head. Miska was standing beside her and as Maggie fell, she moved forward and pushed her over the edge. It was on one of the highest points just after the Bridle Path lookout.’

‘I said maybe she’s not dead,’ Sandra said slowly.

‘There’s always a chance,’ Jenny said. ‘The human spirit is an amazing thing.’

‘Andrew showed us that by getting this far with his head and facial injuries, and I suspect he has a broken rib or two.’ Graysen turned to Jenny. ‘Why were you hiding, and what did you see and hear?’

‘You were about to head up to the knoll when Clive started to feel a bit unwell. I came back to see if you and Sandra would walk with us because I was worried he was going to pass out. Zed had his back to me and I saw the rifle with a big telescopic sight in his hand. And a silencer. No one has a setup like that unless they are going to kill somebody. He didn’t hear or see me. I took off quickly and hurried back to Clive. By that stage he was really giddy and perspiring—I’ve thought about it and I wondered if Miska put something in his tea.’

‘I told Jenny when I felt better that it had a bitter taste to it, but I thought nothing of it at the time.’

‘She made tea for Andrew too, but Sandra and I didn’t want one.’

‘I grabbed Clive and made him leave the trail with me. We hid just under the trail behind some rocks until they went past. It was fairly tense for us, wondering if they would be looking off the track, and that’s when we heard Zed say to get a move on because we were getting too far ahead.’

‘Bloody tense isn’t the word,’ Clive said. ‘My head was spinning, my stomach was churning and I was trying hard not to spew.’

‘That’s when we knew they were after us all. It was clear that they were looking for us and we knew we had to hide. There was a small stand of trees in a gully not far down, and I prayed we’d have time to get there by the time they came back. Because they’d know that we weren’t ahead of them very quickly. I’d heard the muffled shot, and that seemed to give us the speed to get down.’

‘I was as dizzy as all get out,’ Clive said. ‘I slid down most of the way and ended up falling and rolling the last fifty metres. I’m a bit bruised and sore, but nothing to compare to Andrew. I was on a grassy slope with a few rocks. That poor bugger looks like he came down a rocky cliff.’

Jenny took over. ‘We got to the trees and I settled Clive behind a log with both of our packs and told him not to move or speak. I stood behind a tree that was wide enough to keep me out of view from above. If you remember from the past few days my hat and fly net are dark brown so when I looked around the edge of the trunk, I knew I was camouflaged. I watched them walk back and forth along the trail for almost an hour. Clive, God love him, was as quiet as a mouse.’