The Lost Man(40)

Chapter 14



They set off for Lehmann’s Hill just after dawn. Nathan drove, with Bub next to him and Xander in the back.

He adjusted his mirrors as the sun’s reflection rose, blinding red behind them. They were heading west, towards the desert, and the sky loomed huge above the perfect flat horizon. By the time they hit the edge and turned north, they would be able to see the dunes: huge sandy peaks running north to south for hundreds of kilometres.

Xander had helped Nathan collect the mast repair instructions and tools from Cameron’s car before they set off. The equipment was all there. If Cameron had never intended to go to the mast, Nathan thought, he’d made an effort to hide the fact.

The house had barely disappeared from view behind them before Xander leaned forward from the back seat. ‘So what’s the story with this woman that everyone’s whispering about?’

He’d clearly been itching to ask and Nathan couldn’t blame him. Dinner the night before had been swiftly abandoned as Nathan had stood out on the verandah with Ilse, Harry and Liz, whispering and talking themselves in circles. It wasn’t long before Lo and Sophie had poked their small heads around the screen door to see what was happening, followed by Xander.

Ilse had hastily bundled the girls back inside, ostensibly to put them to bed, and hadn’t come back. Nathan had shaken his head at Xander – Not now, mate – and the boy had reluctantly retreated. Liz, stiff-limbed and red-eyed, had eventually gone inside without another word. The sound of soft crying had floated out on the night air. Nathan wasn’t sure who it was. He and Harry had talked until it was time to turn the generator off, then Nathan had lain awake on the couch for hours. His eyes felt gritty in the morning light, and he rubbed them now with his knuckles. It made them worse.

‘Jenna Moore,’ Bub said from the passenger seat. ‘That’s who they’re all worried about.’

‘Did you hear much about that back then?’ Nathan said. It had all been before Bub’s time. He would have been – Nathan worked it out – only about seven when it happened.

Bub shrugged. ‘This and that.’

Nathan realised both Bub and Xander were looking at him expectantly. Out in front, a cow stepped onto the track and wandered across. He slowed to let it pass, but it stopped dead, turning its head to look at them. Nathan came to a halt and waited, then sounded the horn. The cow didn’t move, just blinked slowly.

‘Christ. Back in a sec.’

He put the car in park and jumped out, walking slowly towards the animal. That was enough to get it moving, followed by the small herd waiting on the other side of the road. Nathan automatically ran an appraising eye over them. They looked healthy and well fed. Cameron – or Bub, Harry, whoever, he quickly corrected himself – would have no trouble finding a market for them when the time came.

‘Anyway,’ Xander said impatiently, leaning forward as Nathan got back in. ‘Who’s Jenna Moore?’

Nathan focused on the road as he drove. He realised he had never actually told the story out loud – he’d never been asked to – and suddenly wasn’t sure where to start.

‘It was all years ago,’ he said eventually. ‘I was nineteen, so Cam must have been seventeen. Yeah, he was, actually, because he was still underage.’

Bub gave an amused grunt from the passenger seat at the suggestion that Balamara observed the legal drinking age with any real enthusiasm.

‘It was around this time of year,’ Nathan went on. ‘The week between Christmas and New Year, when everyone who’s coming back has come back. All the property kids were home from school or uni or their city jobs or whatever they’d been doing.’

Cameron had been on holidays ahead of his final year of boarding school in Brisbane, while Nathan had been splitting his time between working on Burley Downs and nurturing a hot and heavy mutual flirtation with golden-haired Jacqui Walker next door.

‘There was this party in the dunes outside town,’ he said. ‘I can’t even remember who organised it. Some of the Atherton guys, I think. Anyway, we all drove in for it. Some kids we’d done School of the Air with back in the day, a few of the station hands, backpackers, that kind of thing. Most people had left school, so were more my age than Cam’s, but he was welcome to come along. Everyone knew him, obviously.’

It had been a good night, Nathan remembered. Warm, but not too hot for once, and the inky sky was heavy with stars as they parked their utes and four-wheel drives in the sand. Someone lit a campfire and cranked up the music as the booze was passed around.

Nathan had driven there with Cameron, and had spotted Jacqui the minute they’d pulled up. She had been sitting by the fire with another girl, who was laughing at something and idly braiding and unbraiding her thick hair in the orange glow of the flames. They were both sipping beer. Jacqui had seen Nathan and given him one of the smiles she’d been giving him lately and Nathan had nearly fallen over himself in his haste to get out of the car. He’d almost forgotten Cameron was even there until his brother appeared at his shoulder, his tall shadow flickering against the ground.

‘The girl, Jenna, was working on Jacqui’s dad’s property,’ he said. ‘She was English, out here backpacking with her boyfriend. The boyfriend had had to stay behind and work at the station, so she’d come alone to the party with Jacqui.’