Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2)(62)

In Falk’s ear, the ringing stopped and went through to Lauren’s voicemail. He swore silently and left a message asking her to call him as soon as possible.

As he hung up he leaned in to look more closely at the nearest collage. A partly faded image had caught his eye. It was an outdoor shot in a setting that reminded him a little of the Giralang Ranges. Alice was wearing a t-shirt and shorts bearing the Endeavour Ladies’ College logo, and was standing beside a raging river, head up, kayak paddle in her hand and a smile on her face. Behind her, a group of damp-haired, rosy-cheeked girls were crouched by the vessel. Falk’s gaze snagged on the girl at the end, and he made a small noise of surprise. Lauren, he realised. The pinched look she wore now was buried beneath a layer of puppy fat, but like Alice, she was still entirely recognisable, especially around the eyes. That photo must be thirty years old, he thought. It was interesting how little they’d both changed.

His mobile trilled loudly in his hand, and he jumped. He looked at the screen – Lauren – and forced himself back to the present.

‘Is something wrong?’ she asked as soon as he answered. ‘Have they found her?’

‘No, shit, I’m sorry. It’s not about Alice,’ Falk said, kicking himself. He should have made that clear in his message. ‘We’ve got a problem with her daughter. She needs somewhere to stay for tonight.’ He explained about the online images.

There was such a long silence, Falk wondered if they’d been disconnected. Playground politics were something of a mystery to him, but as he listened to the dead air, he wondered just how fast the school mums would move to distance their offspring from Margot.

‘She’s not handling it too well,’ he said finally. ‘Especially with everything with her mum.’

Another silence, shorter this time.

‘You’d better bring her around.’ Lauren sighed. ‘Jesus. These girls. I swear, they will eat themselves alive.’

‘Thank you.’ Falk hung up and headed down the hall. Opposite the stairs, a door opened onto a study. Carmen was sitting behind a desk staring at the home computer. She looked up as Falk entered.

‘Margot gave me the password.’ Her voice was low and he shut the door behind him.

‘Anything?’

Carmen shook her head. ‘Not that I can find. I’m searching blind, though. Even if Alice did save anything useful on here, she could have called the files anything, put them in any directory. We’ll need to get the permits in place to take this away. Get it searched properly.’ She sighed and looked up. ‘What did Lauren say?’

‘She said yes. Eventually. She wasn’t too keen though.’

‘Why, because of the photos?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe partly. Maybe not though, it sounded before like she has enough trouble with her own kid.’

‘Yeah, that’s true. She won’t be the first or last to judge Margot over this though, you watch.’ Carmen glanced at the closed door and lowered her voice. ‘Please do not tell Margot I said that.’

Falk shook his head. ‘I’ll go and let her know the plan.’

Margot’s bedroom door was open and he could see the girl sitting on her hot pink carpet. She had a small suitcase open in front of her. It was completely empty. She was staring down into her lap at her phone and she jumped as Falk knocked on the doorframe.

‘We’ve arranged for you to stay at Lauren Shaw’s tonight,’ Falk said, and Margot looked up in surprise.

‘Really?’

‘Just for tonight. She knows what’s going on.’

‘Will Rebecca be there?’

‘Her daughter? Probably. Is that okay?’

Margot picked at the corner of her suitcase. ‘Just that I haven’t seen them in a while. Does Rebecca know what’s happened?’

‘I imagine her mum will tell her.’

Margot looked like she wanted to say something, but shook her head. ‘That’s fair enough, I suppose.’

There was something about the way she said it. Daughter’s mouth, mother’s voice. Falk blinked, again feeling strangely unnerved.

‘Okay. Well. It’s only for one night.’ He gestured at the empty case. ‘Pack a couple of things and we’ll drive you over.’

Distracted, Margot reached out and grabbed two garish lace bras from a pile on the floor. She held them in her hand, then looked up, watching him watching her. Something flickered across her face. A test.

He kept his eyes firmly on hers, his expression completely blank.

‘We’ll wait for you in the kitchen,’ he said, feeling a wave of relief as he shut the door on the cloying pink room. When had teenage girls become so sexualised? Had they been like that at his age? Probably, he thought, except back then he had been all in favour of it. At that age, a lot of things seemed like harmless fun.





Day 3: Saturday Afternoon


For once, Beth was sorry when the rain stopped.

While it had been drumming down on the cabin roof, it had been difficult to talk. The five women had spread themselves out around the larger of the two rooms and stayed that way as the late afternoon wind blew in through the missing windows. It wasn’t actually a lot warmer inside than out, Beth admitted privately, but at least it was mostly dry. She was glad they had stayed. When the rain eventually petered out, the silence draped itself thick and heavy around the cabin.