The Lost Man(51)

‘Oh.’ Ilse frowned. ‘No. It was a surprise, that’s all. Don’t go around saying that please, Sophie. They’ll feel unwelcome.’

‘How’s Lo?’ Nathan asked.

‘Asleep in your mum’s room.’ Ilse beckoned to her daughter. ‘Your turn now.’

‘But –’

‘Sophie. Please. Not tonight.’

Grudgingly, Sophie stood up. ‘Good night.’ She looked at her mother, belligerent. ‘Are you coming to tuck me in?’

‘In a minute,’ Ilse said. ‘Go and get ready.’

The screen door slammed. Even lit from behind, Ilse looked exhausted as she came out and leaned against the railing. She opened her mouth but said nothing, as though unsure where to start.

‘What do you make of what Lo said earlier?’ asked Nathan, by way of an opening.

‘I don’t even know what to think. Cameron never said anything to me. Obviously.’ There was a sour note in her voice as she stared out into the darkness. ‘Not to mention that whole thing with that woman trying to contact him.’

‘Cam told you about Jenna, though?’

‘Of course.’ Ilse’s face clouded. ‘He said she was a girl he met at a party once whose boyfriend got jealous. He made it sound funny. Like a misunderstanding.’

Nathan didn’t say anything. It had been a lot of things, but funny wasn’t one of them.

‘He’d been so stressed lately. He was –’ Ilse stared into the dark. ‘Something had changed these past few weeks. Probably around the time she tried to get in touch, I realise now.’

‘It would have been a bit of a shock, I suppose.’

‘Yes. I imagine it was.’

Ilse looked at Nathan. He could hear the gentle rush of the night wind. A small voice floated out from inside the house.

‘Mummy. I’m ready.’

‘In a minute,’ Ilse called, then turned back to Nathan, more urgent now. ‘Listen, no-one actually believed what that girl said about Cameron, did they?’

‘No. Of course not.’ He opened his mouth again, then stopped.

‘What? Tell me.’

‘It’s nothing, really. I was just going to say –’ He wavered. ‘Maybe Steve did, for a while.’

‘Steve Fitzgerald? At the clinic?’

‘Yeah. Maybe. Not believed her exactly,’ Nathan said, trying to remember. ‘I mean, he took it seriously, I suppose. That’s his job though, isn’t it? As a nurse. And he’s that type as well.’

He was put in mind of Steve’s constant nagging. His unannounced visits and constant questions and his insistence that Nathan come to the clinic. He was persistent to the point of intrusion.

‘Not seriously enough for it to turn into a formal issue, though,’ Ilse said.

‘No. It didn’t go anything like that far.’

Ilse exhaled slowly. ‘Cameron never really got on with Steve.’

‘No. Well, I guess you tend to remember things like that.’

Sophie’s voice called out again. ‘Mummy!’

Ilse ignored it this time, keeping her eyes on Nathan. ‘You always believed Cam?’

‘Yes. Absolutely.’

‘No doubt at all?’

There was a strange note in the air that Nathan couldn’t quite place. Her face was hard to read in the weak porch light, and he squirmed a little as he felt a long-buried guilt resurface. Cameron may not have told his wife everything, but looking at her now, Nathan could bet he had told her some things.

‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘No doubt.’

Ilse’s face altered a fraction into another expression he couldn’t interpret. Sophie’s voice rang out again.

‘For God’s sake. I’d better go.’ She opened the door and paused for a moment. ‘Good night, Nathan.’

‘Good night.’

She disappeared inside and Nathan looked down at Duffy, who wagged her tail and offered no comment. Nathan sat there for a minute longer, then put Sophie’s guitar down and wandered down the verandah steps and out into the dark of the yard, Duffy at his heels. He waited for his eyes to adjust. All was quiet from the backpackers’ caravan. They must have made their peace, for now at least.

When he could see well enough to make out Carl Bright’s grave underneath the gum tree, he walked over and stood at the edge, unable to shake the feeling that he’d stuffed up. He’d meant to reassure Ilse, but could tell he’d missed the mark. He had fallen short in defending Cameron, and not for the first time. Nathan looked down at where his dad lay.

‘What’s this bullshit I hear about some girl?’ Carl had said. He’d hung up his call from the sergeant and summoned his two eldest sons.

Nathan remembered hovering, his back against the wall, as Cameron stuttered through an explanation. After a minute, Carl had cut him short and turned to Nathan.

‘Where were you when this was going on? Sniffing after that little bitch next door?’

‘Jacqui, you mean.’

The back of Nathan’s head bounced against the wall with a sharp smack. Carl hadn’t even bothered to look at him properly as he’d lifted an arm and taken a swipe, his attention focused on Cameron. The blow had come too fast for Nathan to defend himself; not that he necessarily would have anyway. Sometimes it was easier not to. He realised Carl was still waiting for an answer and this time Nathan just nodded. Yeah, I was with Jacqui.