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

Chapter 50


DEZ STARED AT the ceiling. He seemed to be looking for an escape hatch from his daughter’s accusations.

‘Let me show you one of our albums,’ he said. He went to a nearby cabinet and fished out a photo album. I put the book between Snale and me and started flipping through the pictures. Gangly teenagers, all lanky with knobbly knees and big smiles, crouched on rocks before the sheer edge of Last Chance Valley. Some were climbing a huge rock formation in the desert. Some stood pointing towards the horizon. Bright faces, sunburned girls and boys sitting in the light of a fire.

‘What sort of leadership stuff do you do with the kids out there?’ I asked.

‘Navigation, emergency survival techniques, a bit of endurance and adventure training.’

Kash had perked up beside me.

‘That sounds awesome!’ he said. ‘How’d you develop the program?’

‘Oh, I’m an old reservist, myself.’

‘ That’s great.’ Kash downed his Scotch quickly. ‘I’d love to know what techniques you’re using. Do you get them into any self-defence tactics?’

‘Well, I would, but I don’t have much experience in –’

‘Oh, wow.’ Kash pulled his chair in, sat upright like an obedient German shepherd. ‘I have some great drills for young people. Leadership stuff, like you’re looking for. I got my certification as a recruit trainer a while back. I could definitely assist.’

The two fell into conversation. Bella appeared in a couple of the photographs, hanging out at the edge of the frame, fiddling with her bag or staring at the fire. She was watching me from across the table, one leg drawn up so that her elbow rested on her knee, pushing food restlessly around her plate.

‘Did you go on many of the expeditions?’ I asked.

‘A few,’ she said. ‘It was usually me behind the camera.’

Snale looked at an image of Dez leading a bunch of kids through a search-and-rescue drill, four of them carrying another on a stretcher. Bella seemed the only person not interested in the photos.

‘So who killed Theo Campbell?’ Bella asked idly, with a mouth full of beans. I had to draw myself away from the adventures before me.

‘You tell me,’ I said.

‘I think he was into some tricky stuff.’ She smiled. ‘He was starting to get a bit loose with the rules by the time I was ready to leave here for uni last year. Around that time he caught a bunch of us on the south ridge hanging out, smokin’ weed.’

I looked to Bella’s father to see if he’d react to his daughter’s admission. But he was busy talking to Kash.

‘ Chief Campbell didn’t do anything,’ Bella continued. ‘Didn’t even take it off us. Just stopped and chatted for a while. I half expected him to ask for a toke. Guess he was getting old. Didn’t care anymore.’

‘And who exactly were you up there smoking weed with, young lady?’ Snale asked.

‘You know me, Vicky.’ Bella tapped the side of her nose. ‘I’m good with my secrets.’ Something over my shoulder, through the glass doors to the porch, caught her eye. She leaned sideways, took another spoonful of beans into her mouth.

‘Better get your guns out, coppers,’ she said, seeming amused and nodding towards the doors. ‘There’s trouble out there.’





Chapter 51


THE SOUND OF footsteps, followed by thumping at the front door. I’d risen from my chair instinctively and dashed down the hall, my gun stupidly still on the coffee table where I’d left it before dinner. Zac Taby was leaning against the door, bashing on it with his hands. He all but fell into my arms as I yanked it open. He was drenched in sweat and shaking.

‘They’re after me! They’re after me!’

‘What the hell’s going on?’

‘Help! They shot at me! They’re trying to kill me!’

I went out into the night. It was quiet. On the road in the distance I could see a car stopped, its headlights picking up the evening dust shifting in the gentle breeze, the occasional fluttering of a locust attracted to its beams. I started down the garden path and out of Dez’s front gate. Kash was close behind me, actioning his pistol.

‘Who is it?’

‘Probably Jace Robit and his merry band of meatheads.’

‘If they fired a shot at that kid, we’ll need to bring them all in.’

‘ I’ll just talk to them,’ I said, waving him off. ‘Stay here. We don’t want to present a hostile front.’

The car remained idle, the engine humming as I approached. I could see there were four men in it. The elbow hanging out the driver’s side indeed belonged to the leathery brown body of Jace Robit. He was watching me approach with a small smile playing about his lips. I knew these men. Though they’d used their truck tonight to chase down a frightened teenager, cracking pot shots off over his head to put the fear of God into him, he wasn’t their usual quarry. These were the guys who went out chasing, hunting, gutting bush pigs and kangaroos. The bloodthirsty, bored, angry men of small towns who had too much firepower and not enough targets to keep them satisfied.

I gained speed as I approached the car, lifted my boot as I got within range and kicked the mirror off the driver’s side door. The mirror and its casing smashed into the road, glass sparkling in the dim light.