Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2)(26)

‘You were never tempted to go along?’

‘No. I don’t know. He used to ask. At first, anyway. But you know, I was sixteen, seventeen. Angry.’

Carmen smiled. ‘Aren’t most kids at that age?’

‘I suppose.’ It hadn’t always been the case, though. Falk could remember a time when he used to follow his dad like a shadow. Out on the paddocks on their farm, his head no higher than the low fence line as he chased his dad’s long, steady paces. The heavy sun had made their shadows even taller and their blond hair glow almost white. Falk had, he remembered, wanted to be just like him. That was another thing he could see with the cold clarity of hindsight. The pedestal had been too high.

Carmen was saying something.

‘Sorry?’

‘I asked what your mum made of it all?’

‘Oh. Nothing. She died when I was really young.’

Giving birth to him in fact, but Falk avoided specifying that where possible. It seemed to make people very uncomfortable, and prompted some – women, usually – to look at him with an appraising glint in their eye. Were you worth it? He avoided asking himself the same question, but at times caught himself wondering what his mother’s last thoughts had been. He hoped not entirely full of regret.

‘Anyway. That’s how I ended up with these.’ He added the last of the maps to the stack, put them aside. Enough. Carmen took the hint. The wind whistled and they both looked over as the window rattled in its frame.

‘So. No Alice,’ Carmen said.

‘Not yet.’

‘What now, then? Is there any mileage in us staying up here tomorrow?’

‘I don’t know.’ Falk sighed and leaned back against the headboard. The search was in professional hands. Even if she were found in the next hour – in any state from safe and sound to weather-beaten and bloodied – Falk knew they would have to find another way to get the contracts they needed. Alice Russell would not be returning to work immediately, if at all.

‘Daniel Bailey didn’t know who we were,’ he said. ‘Or if he did, he did a good job of hiding it.’

‘No. I agree.’

‘It’s almost enough to make me feel this has nothing to do with us, except . . .’ He glanced at his phone, silent on the bedside table.

‘I know.’ Carmen nodded.

The recording. Hurt her.

Falk rubbed his eyes. ‘Forget what was said for now. Why would Alice try to call me from out there?’

‘I don’t know. It sounds like she tried to call triple zero first but couldn’t get through.’ Carmen thought for a moment. ‘Still, honestly, you would not be the person I’d be calling if I were stuck out there.’

‘Thanks. Even with all my maps?’

‘Even so. But you know what I mean. It has to be something to do with us. Or you. I can only think she was backing out. Did she seem worried last time you spoke to her?’

‘You were there,’ Falk said. ‘Last week.’

‘Oh right. No other contact since then?’

It had been a forgettable meeting. Five minutes in the carpark of a large supermarket. We need the contracts, they had said. The ones linking to Leo Bailey. Please prioritise them. It had been framed as a request. The tone had made it clear it was an order. Alice had snapped that she was doing her best.

‘Did we push her too hard?’ Falk said. ‘Make her somehow slip up?’

‘We didn’t push her any harder than usual.’

Falk wasn’t sure that was true. They’d been feeling the pressure from above themselves and had duly passed it down the line. Shit rolling downhill, the most traditional of business models and one Falk was sure Alice would be familiar with. Get the Leo Bailey contracts. The Chinese whisper passed from their ears to Alice Russell’s. Falk and Carmen had not been entrusted with the significance, but the secrecy surrounding the order spoke volumes. Get the contracts. Alice Russell may have disappeared, but the pressure from above had not. Get the contracts. That was the priority. Still, Falk glanced again at his phone. Hurt her.

‘If Alice slipped up, someone had to notice for it to cause problems,’ Carmen said. ‘What about speaking to Alice’s assistant? Breanna McKenzie. If something’s up with the boss, the assistant’s usually the first to know.’

‘Yeah. I suppose the question is whether she’d tell us or not.’ Falk thought that might depend on how much shit Alice herself had sent rolling in her assistant’s direction over time.

‘All right.’ Carmen squeezed her eyes shut, rubbed a hand over her face. ‘We’d better let the office know. You haven’t spoken to them today?’

‘Not since last night.’ Falk had called in after getting off the phone with Sergeant King. News of Alice Russell’s disappearance had not gone down well.

‘Do you want me to take the hit?’

‘It’s all right.’ Falk smiled. ‘I’ll do this one.’

‘Thanks.’ Carmen sighed, leaned back. ‘If Alice had a problem before the retreat, she would have called us before setting off. So whatever’s happened, it happened in there, yes?’

‘Seems that way. Ian Chase said she seemed all right when they set off. Not that he would necessarily be able to tell.’