Exiles (Aaron Falk #3)(95)

“Hey, you made it.”

Falk felt a hand on his arm and turned at the voice. Rita.

“How was your evening?” she asked, interested but not intrusive.

“It was really nice, thanks.”

“Well, it’s about to get even better because we’re heading over to tackle the kids’ rides in a minute.” She grinned. “If you want to join me for the walk? Please say yes.”

“I would, but—” Falk scanned the group. Across the track, Raco’s older brother, Ben, was shepherding his various children out of the way of passersby while managing to simultaneously hold a conversation with Rohan. Zoe was watching them from her stroller, looking bored. “Where’s Greg?”

“He’s with Eva and Zara. They’ve gone to see Joel at the first-aid station.”

“By the east exit? Did he say why?”

“No. Just to say hello, I think.” Rita had caught the note in his voice, though, and frowned. “They should be back soon.”

“Right.” Falk’s eyes met hers. She’d lived with a police officer long enough that some things could go unsaid. “Listen, has he mentioned anything to you?”

“About what? Kim?”

“Yeah.”

“Not to me. Not today, anyway.” Rita shifted her weight to glance beyond Falk, over to where the rest of the family was starting to move, gathering up children and belongings. She turned back. “Go and talk to him. You know where we’ll be.”

The east of the site was as empty as always, and Falk passed only a handful of people after he cleared the rides and stalls and drew closer to the exit.

He spotted Raco straightaway, standing alone, a few steps beyond the rope that hung across the break in the fence. He had his back turned and his arms folded across his chest as he stared out at the bushland. Joel and Zara were watching him in silence from the first-aid station, while Eva played with Joel’s blood pressure cuff. They all looked up as Falk came nearer, and he caught a flash of relief cross the teenagers’ faces. How long had Raco been standing there like that? Falk raised a hand to them, then ducked under the rope himself.

Raco turned at the sound. “Oh. G’day.” His voice was flat, and his eyes slid straight back to the reservoir track. He wasn’t smiling.

“Hi, mate,” Falk said, stepping onto the path beside him. They stood shoulder to shoulder, looking down to where the body of water lay hidden beyond the trees. Falk hesitated, but only for a moment. If he couldn’t trust Raco, he couldn’t trust anyone. “Gemma says the answer is around fifteen months before Kim disappeared.”

“Right.” Raco didn’t sound surprised. He looked over, caught Falk’s expression, and his voice changed. “Don’t worry. I’ve asked everyone.”

“Yeah? When they last saw Kim?” Falk felt a tiny thread of relief run through him. He hadn’t really been worried, but still. Ahead, the silvery shadows on the trail shifted as the breeze rustled the trees. “Why?”

“Just trying to get it clear in my head,” Raco said. “So around fifteen months, Gemma reckons, since she had significant contact with Kim?” He nodded. “Sounds about right.”

“Does it?” Falk frowned, trying to follow.

“Naomi says the same. Shane reckons a bit longer for him. Zara was in touch more often, as you’d expect, but even she found Kim hard to get hold of. Charlie says he hadn’t seen her in person for a full year. Rita and I hadn’t seen her in two.”

“Okay.” A fair while, then, Falk thought. For all of them. But he wasn’t sure what— “Daddy?” They both turned to see Eva on the other side of the exit. “Can we go?”

Zara was following a few paces behind and shrugged an apology. “She says she’s had enough.”

“No worries, don’t blame you, mate,” Raco said, ducking under the rope and taking his daughter’s hand. “Yeah, let’s go.” He turned to Zara. “You coming, too?”

Zara hesitated, then glanced toward Joel, who was patiently tidying up the equipment Eva had been fiddling with. “I think I’ll stay here for a while.”

“All right. Come on, Eva. We’ll find Mum at the rides.”

Eva extended her other hand to Falk, swinging herself between him and Raco as they headed back into the site. The sounds and music grew louder as they drew closer to the attractions, the crowd filling in around them.

“So what’s going on, mate?” Falk said as they walked.

“I really don’t know. Been thinking, I suppose,” Raco said over his daughter’s head. “I mean, I get it that Rob Dwyer has a hard time believing Kim didn’t talk to any of us on the night. For what it’s worth, I can take his point on that.” He shrugged. “But it was a really busy night. And then when Zoe was found alone, it didn’t feel like a stretch to chalk up the whole night to Kim behaving out of character.”

Raco’s mouth was a hard line as he swung his daughter. Screams from the rides echoed in the night air.

“But the thing is, avoiding us wasn’t out of character for Kim lately,” he said. “It hadn’t been for a while. Rita was right the other day, saying that Kim wouldn’t have come to the christening. She probably wouldn’t have. She’d been pulling away.”