Fifty Fifty (Detective Harriet Blue #2)(37)

‘Hmm,’ I said. ‘It’s nice.’

‘There are more here.’ He led me into the living room. ‘Make yourself at home. Can I get you a glass of wine?’

Kash was standing on the porch looking at the cows in the field, a small glass of what might have been Scotch in his hand. I could only see a slice of his profile, but he looked sad. I wondered if he’d spoken to Tenacity while I’d been out with Jed. He noticed me through the window, glanced a little guiltily at his Scotch. I smiled.

The girl who wandered out from the kitchen came as a surprise. A waif-like figure with long blonde hair. Dez’s daughter. She’d managed to escape her father’s squat, bulky frame but she had his ginger freckles snaking down her cream-coloured arms. She came over and stood beside me, admiring the sketch.

‘This is from the north side,’ she said, pointing. ‘They walked around the whole valley trying to find the best way in before they descended. It was treacherous. They lost a couple of horses just trying to get down.’

‘Harriet, allow me to introduce my daughter, Bella. She’s been hearing stories of the Destro settlement since she was a kid.’ Dez was setting the table. I took a chair on the end, next to Snale.

‘Do you live here with your dad?’ I asked. Bella smirked. She was wearing a T-shirt that read ‘I’d wear it if it came in black’ and shorts, a pair of expensive slippers. She went to a nearby chair and sat down.

‘Hardly. I’m just visiting. I’m supposed to be studying for end-of-year exams. I’m at Sydney Uni, law and politics.’

I almost choked on my drink.

‘Yeah.’ Bella gave me a forgiving smile, curled her feet up into her chair like a cat. ‘I know who you are. I’ve been following your brother’s case since the girls started disappearing. Most of my courses were online at the time, so I wasn’t around, but people were pretty scared. I watched it all on the TV. And then Dad told me you were out here. I mean, wow. Did you have any idea your brother was killing chicks?’

‘ Bella!’ Dez snapped. ‘Detective Blue doesn’t want to discuss her brother’s situation. This is supposed to be a friendly dinner.’

The girl shrugged.

Dez put out snacks and we made small talk about the town and its various characters. Kash was quiet, staring into his drink. In time Dez cleared the plates and we sat down at the dining table. I could feel Bella’s eyes wandering over me while I talked to Snale.

‘Do you know much about her brother’s case?’ Bella asked Snale, leaning around me.

‘Bell, really,’ Snale sighed.

‘Hey, everybody’s got skeletons in their closet,’ the girl said, playing with her fork. ‘I don’t think you’ve got anything to be ashamed of, Harry. Our people slaughtered the Indigenous inhabitants of Last Chance Valley when they settled here. They banished the survivors to the desert. Two centuries later there’s only one of them left, loitering out there in the badlands like a stain no one can get out.’

Dez sighed at the ceiling. ‘Do we have to talk about this?’ Bella was watching me carefully, waiting for a reaction. ‘People think they called it Last Chance because of all the desert,’ she said. ‘Your last chance for food and shelter before the big barren nothingness in all directions. But it’s not true. The Destro family turned up, and told the natives to get out. And when they wouldn’t, they gave them one last chance before they came down the mountainside with their guns.’

‘Bella!’ Dez thumped the tabletop. ‘Go into the kitchen and check on the roast.’

The girl sauntered away, leaving tension and embarrassment in her wake.





Chapter 49


‘THIS IS WHAT you get when you send your children to university.’ Dez ran a hand over his receding hairline, made a stiff tuft of the dark orange hair that remained. ‘They come back critical thinkers. Ready to question everything.’

‘Is she right?’ I asked as Bella brought out some small plates of an entree. ‘Did your ancestors kill off the Indigenous population of the valley?’

‘The history is not as concrete as Bella would have you believe,’ Dez said. ‘The Destro people kept diaries and logs, and there are things we can infer from their letters back and forth to England. But it was mainly the womenfolk doing the writing, and they didn’t note that sort of thing down. Certainly there were fatalities. But we don’t know if that’s because there were accidents when the Indigenous people tried to help the Destro family settle or what. Jed’s ancestors were nomadic, as I understand it, so I don’t see why our people wouldn’t have just moved them on if a disagreement occurred.’

‘ Last Chance Valley is an anomaly out here,’ Bella said. ‘As you’ve likely noticed. The soil is different. It holds water. It’s sheltered. The high rock walls make hunting easier. This is the best place for a settlement for hundreds of kilometres around. I wouldn’t give it up without a fight, if it were me.’

‘Well, it’s not you, darling.’ Dez smiled stiffly and patted his daughter’s hand. He continued. ‘Whether some were killed or not, the majority of the Indigenous residents resettled outside the valley and then moved on. Now, only Jed remains. I’ve tried to bring him back into the fold but he’s not interested. He’s a stubborn man.’