Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2)(59)



Jill tramped through the long grass towards the cabin. At the door, she felt a prickle of unease. She had the sharp urge to turn and walk away, but there was nowhere else to walk to. Bushland and more bushland. She took a breath and stepped inside.

The interior was dim and it took Jill’s eyes a minute to adjust. She could hear a tinny rattle overhead. The roof was doing its job, at least. She took another step in, feeling the floorboards creak and sag under her feet. Lauren appeared in the doorway, shaking the rain from her jacket. Alice hovered behind, watching and saying nothing.

Jill surveyed the room. It was oddly shaped and bare except for a rickety table shoved against one wall. Spider webs hung thick and white in the corners and something had built a nest of twigs and leaves in a small hole in the floorboards. A single metal cup sat alone on the table. She picked it up experimentally, noticing the perfect ring it left in the dust and dirt.

Some cheap plywood boards had been nailed together at some point to create the sense of a second room. The twins were already in there, staring silently at something. Jill followed them and immediately wished she hadn’t.

A mattress was propped against one wall. Its fabric was speckled green with mould, except in the very centre. There, the floral pattern was entirely obscured by a large dark smear. It was impossible to tell what colour the mark had originally been.

‘I don’t like this,’ Alice said from behind Jill, making her jump. She was staring past her at the mattress. ‘We should keep moving.’

The twins turned, their faces hard to read. Jill could see that they were shivering, and realised she was as well. Once she noticed, she couldn’t stop.

‘Hang on.’ Beth wrapped her arms around herself. ‘We should at least think about this. It’s dry in here, and a bit warmer. And it’s got to be safer than wandering around out there all night.’

‘Has it?’ Alice looked pointedly at the mattress.

‘Of course. People die of exposure, Alice,’ Beth snapped. ‘We’ve got no tents, no food. We need shelter. Don’t write off this place because it was me who found it.’

‘I’m writing it off because it’s horrible.’

They both turned to Jill, who felt a wave of exhaustion crash over her.

‘Jill, come on,’ Alice said. ‘We don’t know anything about this place. Anyone could be using it as a base, we have no idea who knows about it –’

Jill felt the dust between her fingertips.

‘It doesn’t seem well used,’ she said. She deliberately avoided looking at the mattress.

‘But no-one knows we’re here,’ Alice said. ‘We need to get back –’

‘How?’

‘Find the road! Walk north, like we agreed. We can’t stay here indefinitely.’

‘It’s not indefinitely. Just until –’

‘Until when? It could be weeks before we’d be found here. We have to at least try to get back.’

Jill’s shoulders stung where her pack had rubbed two angry stripes, and every layer of clothing on her body was damp. Her heel was crippling. She listened to the rattle of rain against the roof, and knew she simply could not bear to step out into it again. ‘Beth’s right. We should stay.’

‘Seriously?’ Alice was agape.

Beth didn’t attempt to hide the triumph on her face. ‘You heard her.’

‘No-one is bloody asking you.’ Alice turned to Lauren. ‘Back me up. You know we can walk out from here.’

Lauren touched her forehead. The dirty plaster was coming unstuck again. ‘I think we should stay too. At least for tonight.’

Alice turned wordlessly to Bree, who hesitated, then nodded, her eyes firmly cast down.

Alice gave a small noise of disbelief.

‘Christ.’ She shook her head. ‘All right, I’ll stay.’

‘Good.’ Jill dropped her pack.

‘But only until the rain stops. Then I’m walking out.’

‘For God’s sake!’ Despite the cold, Jill felt a hot surge of anger flare from her aching shoulders to her raw heel. ‘Why do you have to be so difficult? We’ve already been through this. No-one is going off alone. You’ll stay until we agree to leave, Alice. As a group.’

Alice glanced at the cabin door as it swung open on its sunken hinges, throwing a rectangle of wintry light across her face. She drew a breath to say something then stopped, and closed her mouth gently, the tip of her pink tongue visible between her white front teeth.

‘Okay?’ Jill said. Her skull was pounding with the start of a headache.

Alice gave a tiny shrug. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. The meaning was clear. You can’t stop me.

Jill looked at Alice, and at the open door and the bushland outside, and wondered if that were true.





Chapter 15



Falk banged on Alice Russell’s navy blue front door and listened as the sound echoed deep within the house. They waited. There was a stillness, but not the hollow emptiness of a vacant property. He realised he was holding his breath.

The face had disappeared from the upper window as soon as he’d seen it. He’d nudged Carmen, but by the time she looked up it was a blank square. There’d been a face, he’d explained. A woman.

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