Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2)(88)

‘Emergency? Can you hear me –? Shit.’ Her voice was high with desperation. She hung up. Head down, she checked the phone. Tried again, punching in three digits, all the same. Triple zero.

‘Emergency? Help us. Is anyone there? Please. We’re lost. Can you –?’ She stopped, took the phone away from her ear. ‘Shit.’

Her back rose and fell as she took a deep breath. She pressed the screen again. A different number this time, no three-digit repetition. When she spoke, her voice was far quieter this time.

‘Federal Agent Falk, it’s Alice. Russell. I don’t know if you can hear me.’ There was a tremor in her voice. ‘If you get this message, please, I’m begging you, please don’t pass the files on tomorrow. I don’t know what to do. Daniel Bailey has some photos. Or his son does. Pictures of my daughter. I can’t risk upsetting him right now, I’m sorry. I’m trying to get back to explain. If you hold off, I’ll try to think of another way for you to get the contracts. I’m sorry, but she’s my daughter. Please. I can’t do anything that might hurt her –’

A rustle and the tread of a footstep behind her. A voice in the dark.

‘Alice?’





Chapter 27



Falk and Carmen sat alone in the lounge, not saying much. The sound of Margot Russell’s sobs had floated through the door for a long time, and then all of a sudden had stopped, leaving an eerie silence. Falk wondered where she’d gone.

They heard a car pull up on the gravel and Carmen went to the window. ‘King’s back.’

‘Any sign of the twins?’

‘No.’

They met King in the lobby. His face was greyer than usual.

‘How did it go at the station?’ Falk said.

The sergeant shook his head. ‘They’re getting some legal advice, but for now they’re both sticking to their stories. Bree’s insisting Alice was already dead when she found her, Beth reckons she knows nothing about any of it.’

‘Do you believe them?’

‘God knows. Either way, it’s going to be a nightmare to prove anything. A forensics team from Melbourne’s up at the site now, but she’s been lying out in the rain and wind for days. There’s dirt and mud and bits of rubbish everywhere.’

‘Was there anything of interest in her backpack?’ Carmen said.

‘Like a stack of BaileyTennants’ financial records?’ King managed a very grim smile. ‘I don’t think so, sorry. But here –’ He rummaged through his backpack, and pulled out a USB stick. ‘Photos of the scene. You see anything you need, you can ask the forensics guys to show you when they bring it all down.’

‘Thanks.’ Falk took it. ‘They’re looking at that grave beside the cabin as well?’

‘Yeah. They are.’ King hesitated.

‘What?’ Carmen was watching him. ‘What is it? Have they confirmed it’s Sarah?’

King shook his head. ‘It’s not Sarah.’

‘How do they know?’

‘It was the body of a man.’

They stared at him. ‘Who?’ Falk said.

‘We got a call at the station an hour ago,’ King said. ‘That ex-bikie in jail has struck a deal he’s happy with, and he’s told his lawyer he reckons the body in that hole is Sam Kovac himself.’

Falk blinked. ‘Sam Kovac?’

‘Yeah. This bloke says the bikies were paid to get rid of him five years ago. Sam had been talking up his connections with his dad, attempting to get in with the group, probably. But this guy reckons Sam wasn’t right in the head, too unstable to be trusted. So when the bikies got a better offer, they took it. The buyers weren’t interested in how it was done as long as the body was never found. They just wanted Sam to disappear.’

‘Who were the buyers?’ Carmen said.

King glanced out of the window. The wind had dropped and the bushland was strangely still for once. ‘They went through a middleman, but apparently it was an older couple. Well-off. Prepared to pay well. But weird. Not quite right themselves.’

Falk’s mind reached for possibilities, found only one.

‘Not Sarah Sondenberg’s parents?’ he said, and King half-shrugged.

‘Too early to say for sure, but I reckon that’s who they’ll be looking at first. Poor bastards. I suppose twenty years of grief and uncertainty can do things to a person.’ King shook his head. ‘Bloody Martin Kovac. He’s ruined this place. He could’ve given those poor people some peace. Maybe avoided a bit of heartache himself. Who knows? Either of you got kids?’

Falk shook his head, picturing Sarah Sondenberg, with her newspaper-print smile. Her parents, and what the past twenty years must have been like for them.

‘I’ve got two boys,’ King said. ‘I always felt for the Sondenbergs. Between you and me, if it is them, I can’t throw too much blame their way.’ He sighed. ‘I reckon you can never underestimate how far you’d go for your child.’

Somewhere, deep in the lodge, Margot Russell’s plaintive wail started up again.





Day 4: Sunday Morning


‘Alice?’

Alice Russell jumped. Her fingers fumbled to end the call as she turned towards the voice, her eyes wide as she realised she was no longer alone on the path. She took half a step back.