Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2)(22)

Now, she was face to face with her brother and they were arguing. The frozen-muscled, tight-lipped argument of people conditioned not to make a public scene.

Jill was leaning in as she spoke. She jerked her hand towards the bushland then immediately away. He responded with a single shake of the head. Jill tried again, leaning in closer. Daniel Bailey looked past her, over her shoulder. Avoiding her eye. Another shake of the head. I said no.

Jill stared at him, her face impassive, then without another word, turned and walked up the steps and into the lodge. Bailey leaned against his car and watched until she disappeared. He shook his head and his gaze landed on Ian Chase in his red Executive Adventures fleece. He looked embarrassed for a moment at having been caught arguing but swiftly recovered.

‘Hey!’ Bailey raised an arm, his voice ringing across the carpark. ‘Any news?’

They walked over. It was the first chance Falk had had to see Daniel Bailey up close. His mouth was set firm and there was definite tension around his eyes, but he still managed to look younger than his forty-seven years. He also looked a lot like the photos Falk had seen of his father, who was still on the board and a firm fixture in the company brochure. Daniel was less bent and wrinkled than Leo Bailey, but the resemblance was clear.

Bailey looked over at Falk and Carmen with polite interest. Falk waited, but could detect no visible spark of recognition in his eyes. He felt a small stirring of relief. That was something, at least.

‘Nothing new to tell you, I’m afraid,’ Chase said. ‘Not yet anyway.’

Bailey shook his head. ‘For Christ’s sake, they said they’d have her back today.’

‘Hoped to have her today.’

‘Would more funds help? I’ve said we’ll pay. They know that, don’t they?’

‘It’s not the money. It’s everything else.’ Chase glanced at the bushland. ‘You know what it’s like in there.’

Before they’d left the search site, Sergeant King had unfolded a grid map and shown Falk and Carmen the areas to be combed through. It took about four hours to properly search one square kilometre, he’d said. And that was in medium-density bushland. Longer if the terrain was thick or steep or had a water crossing. Falk had started to count the number of squares. He’d given up when he’d hit twenty.

‘Have they searched the north-west ridge yet?’ Bailey said.

‘It’s inaccessible this year. And too dangerous in this weather.’

‘All the more reason to check it, no? It’s easy to get off track around there.’

There was something about the way Bailey was demanding answers that rang a little hollow.

Falk cleared his throat. ‘This must be very difficult for you and your staff. Do you know the missing woman well?’

Bailey looked at him properly for the first time, both a frown and a question in his eyes. ‘Are you –?’

‘They’re police,’ Chase said. ‘Helping out with the search.’

‘Oh, right. Good. Thank you.’ Bailey held out a hand, introduced himself. His palm was cold, and the tips of his fingers were calloused. Not the hand of a man who spent all of his time stuck behind a desk. Bailey obviously got out and about in some form or another.

‘So you do know her well?’ Falk repeated as they shook.

‘Alice?’ Bailey’s frown deepened. ‘Yes. Quite well. She’s worked with us for four years –’

Five, actually, Falk thought.

‘– so she’s a valued team member. I mean, they all are, of course. But for her to drop off the radar like this –’ Bailey shook his head. ‘It’s very worrying.’ He sounded like he meant it.

‘You didn’t see Alice Russell before she set off with her group on Thursday, is that right?’ Carmen asked.

‘No. I arrived late. I’d been held up. I missed the group bus.’

‘May I ask why?’

Bailey looked at her. ‘It was a private family matter.’

‘I guess heading up a family firm you’re never really off the clock.’ Carmen’s voice was light.

‘No, that’s true.’ Bailey managed a tight smile. ‘I do try to keep some sort of separation though, where possible. You’d go mad otherwise. This was unavoidable, unfortunately. I apologised to the other team members. It wasn’t ideal, obviously, but it only set us back about an hour. It made no real difference in the end.’

‘Your team didn’t have any trouble reaching the meeting spot on time?’ Falk said.

‘No. It’s challenging terrain, but the routes themselves aren’t overly difficult. Or they’re not supposed to be, anyway.’ Bailey glanced at Chase, who dropped his eyes.

‘It sounds like you know the area?’ Falk said.

‘A bit. I’ve done a couple of hiking weekends here. And we’ve run winter corporate retreats here with Executive Adventures for the last three years,’ Bailey said. ‘It’s a great spot. Usually. But not the kind of place where you want to stay lost for long.’

‘And you’ve always come on the retreats?’

‘It’s the best excuse I have to get out of the office.’ Bailey started to form an automatic smile, then caught himself halfway, leaving his face locked in an unfortunate grimace. ‘We’ve always found the retreats to be very good and generally well organised. We’ve always been pleased, until –’ He broke off. ‘Well, until now.’