Exiles (Aaron Falk #3)(106)

“So neither of you will be home tonight?” she managed. “You’re both going out to the festival?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said. “Sorry.”

“What about Rita and Greg?”

“All of us are going.”

“Oh.” Shit. “Okay—” Kim was still trying to work out how to object, but Zara was too quick.

“Okay? Great, thanks, Mum.”

Kim could see her daughter smiling. She made herself take a breath and focus. They were still a long way from town. No one would be at the vineyard tonight. She tried to think.

“Charlie?” She thought she sounded pretty close to normal, but maybe not, because she could sense her husband on high alert now. Had he sped up the car? It felt very fast around the bends. “You and Zara can’t wait for me?”

“Look, Kim, not really. I’m sorry, but we’ll rearrange. I’ve got to do the stall. And Zara’s sixteen, she wants to hang out with her mates tonight. You remember what—”

“Yes, of course, I—”

Rohan’s hand darted out and took the phone from her. Kim wasn’t sure what she’d been about to say, but Rohan seemed to know before she did that it wouldn’t be the right thing. He held her phone screen pressed flat against his chest. He was breathing harder, Kim could see. So was she. She could barely hear the engine over the pounding in her head.

As she watched, Rohan slowly put his foot down on the accelerator. He glanced once at their baby sleeping in the back seat, then to her disbelief, lifted his remaining hand from the steering wheel. Kim’s heart leaped in her throat so hard she nearly gagged.

“Please. Rohan—” She formed the words but not the sound as the road zipped past the window, her lungs squeezed tight.

“You still there?” Charlie’s voice sounded far away on the other end of the line.

Painstakingly slowly, Rohan raised the hand that had been controlling the steering wheel and put his finger to his lips. He looked again in the rearview mirror at Zoe, then at Kim. The car skidded a little.

Kim nodded, her heart drumming, her pulse catching in her throat. Rohan held her gaze for a long moment. A sense of understanding passed between them, although Kim couldn’t quite have said exactly what she was agreeing to. Finally, so slowly, Rohan placed his hand back on the wheel. He took the phone away from his chest and passed it back. Kim breathed out the air she had been holding in, the release itself burning and painful. Rohan was talking, sounding so disturbingly ordinary that Kim struggled to take in the words.

“Hello? Can you hear us now?” Rohan had raised his voice half a notch, then dropped it again. “Sorry, guys, this is all a bit hard with Zoe right here. Look, could we just agree Zara should go tonight? Have fun. We’ll work something out for another time.”

“Great. Okay,” Zara said quickly.

“I—” Kim took a breath before she could change her mind, but Charlie was already talking.

“Hey, listen. Why don’t you stop by the festival instead?” he was saying. “We’ll all be there.”

“Well—” Kim knew instinctively how Rohan wanted her to answer. Her palm was slick against the phone. Forget what Rohan wants. What does Zoe need? Her daughter needed to be somewhere very safe. The festival? It was always busy, not just with tourists but with locals, too. Kim would know a lot of people there.

“Yes. Okay, then.” She found the words fast, before Rohan could stop her. “We’ll come to the festival.”

Her husband shot her a look she had never seen before.

“I’m catching up with my parents tonight.” For the first time, Kim thought Rohan sounded tense. “But yeah, we could maybe swing by.”

“All right,” Charlie was saying. Did he sound a little—what? Suspicious? Uncertain? Kim wasn’t sure. On the screen the fixed smile was back. “Good. Well, we’ll see you three there.”

“Okay. See you there.” Kim could feel Rohan’s eyes on her. She lifted the edges of her mouth into as much of a smile as she could manage and gently bit the tip of her tongue. Zoe was so small in the back seat. They were expected at the festival. The town was not far away. This was nearly over. She was nearly home.

“Great. Bye, Mum.” Zara sounded distracted. “Love you.”

“Bye, Zara.” Kim wanted to look at her daughter’s face, but instead she could see only the fabric of Zara’s top as she leaned toward the screen. “I love you—”

She was gone. The call went dead.

Kim looked at the silent phone in her hand. Rohan reached out fast and palmed it, placing it carefully back in the center console where he could see it. Kim wiped her hands on her jeans and made herself concentrate.

They were only thirty minutes from Marralee. They would arrive. They would go to the festival. Kim could picture it. A fragile bud of relief unfurled. She would find Charlie there. She would ask if she and Zoe could come home with him, and Charlie would say yes, because of course he would, because she and Charlie had always looked after each other. The bushland was thick around her. All that she needed was waiting at the end of this very long stretch of road.

Then Rohan slowed, and put the indicator on.





35


“Kim was never at the festival.”