Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2)(17)

‘It’s raining. The party’s over.’

‘Daniel’s leaving?’

‘I think they all are.’

Alice pushed past her, clambering out of the tent, catching Lauren’s finger with the heel of her boot. Lauren followed, rubbing her hand. Outside, the campsite had cleared. The twins were nowhere to be seen, but torchlight shone through the canvas of their tent. Jill stood alone in the circle, with her jacket zipped tight and the hood up. She was picking at a meal with her fork, staring into the dying fire as drops of rain hissed and sizzled. She looked up when she heard them.

‘There you are.’ Jill’s eyes flicked over them. ‘Please tell me you’re not breaking the rules, Alice.’

Silence. ‘Sorry?’

Jill nodded at Alice’s hand. ‘Phones aren’t allowed.’

Lauren heard the woman breathe out. ‘I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t realise it was in my bag.’

‘Don’t let Bree and Beth see it. The rules are the same for everyone.’

‘I know. I won’t.’

‘Is there any signal out here?’

‘No.’

‘Oh well.’ The last remnants of fire sputtered and died. ‘Then it’s no help to you anyway.’





Chapter 6



Falk and Carmen stared at King. The chopper swooped overhead, the wap of its blades beating down.

‘I didn’t know Kovac had a son,’ said Falk finally.

‘No, well, it wasn’t exactly your ideal family set-up. The kid would be nearly thirty now, product of an on-off thing Kovac had with a barmaid at his local. They ended up with this boy, Samuel – Sam – and it seems Kovac surprised everyone by taking to fatherhood more than you’d expect from your average lunatic.’ King sighed. ‘But he was already locked up by the time the kid was four or five. The mum had alcohol problems, so Sam ended up bouncing through foster care. He resurfaced in his late teens, started visiting his dad in prison – pretty much the only person who did, by all accounts – then dropped off the radar again about five years ago. Missing, presumed dead.’

‘Presumed, but not confirmed?’ Carmen said.

‘No.’ King glanced over as a group of searchers emerged from the trailhead, their faces showing no good news. ‘But he was a small-time crook with ideas above his station. Dabbled in drug dealing, hung around the fringes of the bikie gangs. It was only a matter of time before he followed his old man into prison for something or other, or ended up pissing off the wrong person and paying for it. We’ve got some people in Melbourne trying to firm it up.’ He gave a grim smile. ‘Would’ve been better if it had been done at the time. But no-one’s too upset when a bloke like Sam Kovac goes AWOL. Only person who gave much of a shit was his dad.’

‘What makes you think he has anything to do with Alice Russell?’ Falk said.

‘Look, I don’t. Not really. But there was always this theory that Martin Kovac had a base somewhere in the bushland. Some place where he could lie low. At the time, they thought it was probably near to where the victims were taken, but if it existed, it was never found.’ He frowned. ‘From the descriptions the women gave, there’s a remote chance this cabin they found could be connected to him.’

Falk and Carmen looked at each other.

‘How did the women respond to that?’ Carmen said.

‘We haven’t told them. Decided there was no point worrying them until we were sure there was something to worry about.’

‘And you’ve no idea where this cabin is?’

‘They think they were in the north somewhere, but “north” is a bloody huge area in here. There are hundreds of hectares we don’t know well.’

‘Can you narrow it down from Alice’s phone signal?’ Falk asked, but King shook his head.

‘If they’d been on high ground, then maybe. But it sounds like that wasn’t the case. There are pockets where you get lucky but there’s no real rhyme or reason. Sometimes they’re only a few metres square, or the signal will come and go.’

From the trail, a searcher called King’s name and the officer waved an acknowledgement.

‘Sorry, I’d better get on. We’ll talk again later.’

‘Are the rest of the BaileyTennants group still up here? We might need to speak to them,’ Carmen said as they followed him back across the road.

‘I’ve asked the women to stick around for now. All the men have gone back except for Daniel Bailey. You can tell them you’re assisting me, if it helps. As long as you share, of course.’

‘Yeah. Understood.’

‘Come on, I’ll introduce you to Ian Chase.’ King raised a hand and a young man in a red fleece extracted himself from a group of searchers and headed over. ‘He runs the Executive Adventures program out here.’ He almost smiled. ‘Let him tell you in person how bloody foolproof this is all supposed to be.’

‘It’s really easy if you follow the routes properly,’ Ian Chase was saying. He was a wiry, dark-haired bloke with eyes that kept flicking to the bushland as though he expected Alice Russell to emerge at any time.

They had driven back to the lodge, Falk and Carmen following Chase’s minibus along the isolated rural route. Now, Chase leaned one hand on a wooden sign marking a trailhead. Carved letters worn smooth by the seasons read: Mirror Falls. At their feet, a dirt track meandered into the bush before disappearing from sight.