Exiles (Aaron Falk #3)(96)

“You don’t think it was just a distance thing?” Falk felt the weight of Eva’s small hand gripping his. “Her moving to Adelaide, maybe some mental health issues in there as well?”

“Well, yeah. I did think that. But if I take a step back, it feels like there’s more to it. On one hand, okay, it’s a few unreturned phone calls or Kim not mentioning that she’d left her job, or never getting around to visiting. But for her to drift away from everyone she used to be close to feels…” Raco shrugged. “Deliberate, I suppose. That night at the festival wasn’t unusual. It was how things were between us and Kim. It’s like she was gone before she was even gone.”

They slowed on the path to let a children’s mini-train on wheels trundle across in front of them, groups of energetic kids and their tired-looking parents waving from the carriages. Eva dropped Falk’s and Raco’s hands to wave back, and they both dutifully did the same.

“They friends of yours, Eva?” Falk asked as she enthusiastically waved them off into the distance, and she looked at him like it was a silly question.

“No. It’s what you’re supposed to do here.” Her tone had enough of Rita in it that Falk had to smile. “It’s fun.”

“You know what? You’re right, Eva. It is.”

With the track ahead clear once more, they walked on, the lights from the rides throwing bright colors onto their faces. Falk turned back to Raco and had opened his mouth when the words simply disappeared. It happened without warning as, in a dormant part of his mind, something stirred. Whatever it was shifted, heavy and stubborn, only to resettle awkwardly. It left behind a mild but distinctly uncomfortable sensation, as though Falk had forgotten something he really needed to remember. He blinked in confusion. What had triggered that?

He walked on, doing his best to fade out the noise and bustle around him as he tried to capture the thought. A few paces ahead, Eva pointed at some people on a ride. And there. There it was again, another unwieldy shudder, before the sensation sank back into the depths. The uneasy feeling lingered, though, pulsing and persistent. There was too much going on around for Falk to get a clear read. Still, he waited. Nothing more. Finally, he gave up and looked over at Raco.

“So what are you thinking?” Falk said. “With Kim?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it probably doesn’t add much in real terms. Doesn’t change the fact that Zoe was found alone. Or that Kim must have taken herself out of that east exit, or that her shoe turned up in the water. But I can think of a few reasons someone might cut themselves off, and none of them are good. It’s a red flag any way you look at it.” Raco glanced down at his daughter. “You know, if a report like that came across my desk at work, especially with a baby involved, I’d have been asking questions straightaway. Getting some of the health teams involved, I’d be thinking maternal welfare checks, that kind of thing.” New lines formed on his face. “You can be too close sometimes. See what you expect to see, not what’s really in front of you.”

The alert pulsing in Falk’s head ratcheted up a whole notch.

“There’s Mummy.”

Eva pointed, and up ahead, Falk could see Rita standing by one of the baby rides. The concern hadn’t quite left her eyes. Charlie was there, too, talking to his older brother and Rohan, all three leaning in to hear each other over the music. Shane was checking his phone, frowning at the screen, but Naomi was nowhere to be seen. On the far side of the track, the ferris wheel rose into the sky. It creaked and groaned through its lazy rotation.

“You coming over?” Raco said to Falk as Eva pulled on his hand.

“Yeah. I will. Be there in a sec.”

Falk slowed and stepped clear of the path. He watched Eva run ahead of her dad, arms outstretched, and suddenly found himself picturing her just a few minutes earlier. Waving at the train ride, sounding a lot like her mother. The alert was coming faster and louder now because in Falk’s head, that thing that felt so heavy and stale and worn was moving again. Not just moving but taking on a different shape. He closed his eyes and forced himself to focus. The shape was something he recognized, but as he turned it over and then over again, it shifted and reformed in an unexpected way, catching a new light. And different shadows, too. Ones that made it look both familiar and like something else entirely.

Falk’s eyes flicked open. He stepped onto the path and walked a few fast paces, stopping when he reached the base of the ferris wheel.

We see what we expect to see.

Falk ignored what was right in front of him and instead cast his mind back, re-creating the scene in front of him as clearly as he possibly could. This same spot, twelve months earlier. What had happened?

Gemma and Naomi had been there. A short distance along that same path, their heads close as they spoke. Rohan, too, underneath the wheel itself, chatting to the Queensland tourists. Elsewhere on the grounds, out of sight, Raco and Rita had been with their children. Shane and Charlie at the vineyard stall. Zara making her way to the bushland party. Joel, lovesick and alone at the first-aid station. And Falk himself, here in this spot.

We see what we expect to see.

Falk looked up. Because now, he was thinking about more than just that moment last year. He was thinking about other things, too. About Kim on the phone to Charlie and Zara. What was said, and what wasn’t said. And Joel at the east exit sticking to his story. And Raco checking the fence perimeter. And the most efficient and terrifying way to make a parent do anything you might want them to do. And how Eva Raco, like her mother, was sometimes so very right.