The Lost Man(57)

‘Sorry, mate. Not your fault. When are you coming back?’

‘Not ’til the first week of Feb.’

‘February!’

‘And only if another couple of jobs come in.’

‘I can’t wait until then. I need it fixed now. Harry reckons the water might be coming.’

‘If it floods, I’ll be even longer.’

‘So what am I supposed to do?’

‘Look, I can talk you through a few ideas,’ Dave said. ‘Got a pen?’

Nathan scrabbled about and found one under the phone. The battered family log book lay open on the side table and he flipped to a fresh page near the back. He started making notes.

‘I’ve already tried that,’ he said a few minutes in.

‘All right, well, in that case,’ Dave started talking again. Nathan stopped writing after a few words. He’d tried that too. He was pretty sure the coolroom needed a part. He started to close the log book, then stopped. As Dave continued speaking in his ear, Nathan flicked back a few pages.

Anyone going further than the homestead fence was supposed to make a note of where they were going and when they expected to return. In theory, the log book was filled in every time. In practice, it was clearly done only as often as anyone remembered.

Only half listening now, Nathan read over the most recent entries. Harry was presently out inspecting a water bore, apparently, while Ilse – Nathan traced his finger over her writing – was indeed riding in the paddock bordering the driveway. As Simon had said. It was the same place she’d been the morning Cameron disappeared, Nathan remembered. When her husband had stopped to talk to her for the final time before he drove away.

‘I’m sorry, mate,’ Dave was saying, and Nathan tuned into the phone conversation again. The man was clearly waiting for a response.

‘Thanks anyway, I’ll have another crack at fixing it myself,’ Nathan said.

‘I wasn’t talking about the coolroom.’ Dave’s frown was almost audible down the line. ‘I said I was sorry to hear what happened to Cameron.’

‘Oh. Right. Thanks.’

‘I liked him a lot. He was a good bloke.’

‘Yeah.’

‘What a bloody shock it must have been.’

‘It was.’

‘Any idea what, you know, made him do it?’

Nathan flicked the log book back to the date that Cam had gone missing. He saw his brother’s firm capital letters: LEHMANN’S HILL. Nathan felt something hard in his chest. Cameron had expected to return the following day by dinner time, if not before, according to the book. Nathan pulled Cameron’s card out of his back pocket. Two words in the same handwriting. Forgive me.

‘No,’ Nathan said. ‘No idea.’

The line above Cameron’s entry was filled with Liz’s cursive letters, noting that she’d taken Sophie’s horse for a hack, due back that afternoon. On the line above that, Harry had written that he and Simon would be out checking the bores, with an expected return by dinner. Bub’s misspelled scrawl the previous day noted that he would be staying out in the north paddock before driving to Lehmann’s Hill to meet his brother. Nathan ran a finger down the surrounding lines. There were no other entries for the day Cameron had gone missing. He flipped back and forward a few pages, then closed the book.

‘Anyway, mate,’ Dave was saying. There was an awkward note in his voice. ‘I realise this isn’t a great time for you, but I’m still going to have to invoice you.’

‘Right.’ It came out more bitter than he intended.

‘No choice, I’m afraid. It costs me a hundred in fuel to come up that north road.’

‘I know.’ Nathan’s heart sank, as it always did these days when money was involved.

‘Look, seeing as it’s Christmas, I’ll knock a bit off the call-out fee.’

‘Yeah? Thank you.’

‘No worries. I had to be at Atherton anyway on Thursday so it wasn’t a totally wasted trip.’

‘You were out at Atherton?’ Something snagged in Nathan’s mind. He reached out but the thought dissolved before he could grasp it.

‘Yeah, generator problems. And sorry again to hear about Cam. Bloody shame no-one saw him in time to help.’

That tug again. Sharper this time but gone as quickly.

‘Thanks, Dave.’

‘Good luck with the coolroom.’

Nathan would need it. He hung up and stared at the phone for a long minute. Finally, he turned to head outside and jumped as he saw someone leaning against the door to Ilse’s office, watching him. Simon, again. Nathan wondered how long he’d been standing there.

‘Did you want something else?’ Nathan started to walk past him but Simon took a dithery half-step at the same time and they came to an awkward halt.

‘Have the police said any more about what they think happened to Cameron?’

‘No. Why?’

‘Just interested. I liked him a lot. But the police are taking it seriously?’

‘I suppose. But it’s pretty much only the one cop around here anyway.’

‘I know. That’s so weird.’ Simon gave a half-laugh. ‘Is he coming out here to talk to us all?’

‘To the house?’ The guy hummed with a nervous energy that made Nathan itch. ‘Is it a problem if he does?’