The Island(21)

“Just go easy on the girl, mate,” Matt said to Jacko.

“I know what I’m doing,” Jacko said and patted down Olivia. He turned to Heather. “You last, princess,” Jacko said.

“She’s the troublemaker,” someone muttered from the doorway.

“Yeah, I know,” Jacko said and pushed her face against the shed wall. Heather felt his rough hand move up and down her legs. He reached in her jeans pockets, took her money and the cigarette pack from yesterday, slapped her ass pockets, and ran his hands up over her back and under her arms. “Marlboro,” Jacko said, pocketing them.

“Cigarettes?” Tom blurted out. As if Heather’s secret smoking habit from that lost world mattered now.

“Is she clean?” Ivan asked.

“She’s clean,” Jacko said. “Now, what about tying ’em?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this,” Kate said. “What do you reckon, lads? Tie their hands, space them well apart, and then—see those ewe hooks on the ceiling?”

“Yeah?”

“A rope from each of those hooks to a rope around their necks. Take the slack out of it, and that way they can’t move around in here to help untie each other. What do you think?”

“Who knew it? Kate’s a bloody genius!” Jacko said and all the men laughed.

“This is madness! You can’t do that to children!” Heather begged them.

Jacko turned to Tom. “She really is a troublemaker. She is going to get you and your family seriously hurt, mate, if she doesn’t shut up.”

Heather shook her head at Tom.

“I think my wife is worried something might happen to the kids,” Tom protested. “You can’t possibly think about putting nooses around the necks of small children.”

“Eye for an eye, then,” Ivan said with an unpleasant laugh.

“If you tie the rope around their waists, you can secure them to the side of the hut that way. I think that will be safer for everyone,” Tom suggested.

“Secure them to what? Those planks? Nah, mate. The hooks are the only way,” Kate said. “Just tell your bloody kids not to move around too much and they won’t choke themselves to death.”

“Hang about! What if they stand up?” Matt said. “Your plan is rubbish, Kate.”

Kate glared at Matt. “Tie their hands, rope around the neck going to the ewe hook, and another rope from the neck to the plank behind their head. That satisfy you?”

“They won’t be able to move a bloody inch.” Jacko laughed.

“That’s the idea, mate,” Kate said.

Heather watched helplessly as the children were sat down on the floor, their hands tied in front of them, and a noose run from each one’s neck to a hook in the ceiling. Another rope around the neck tied them to the wall of the shearing shed. Tom was next. She was last. Jacko pushed her down, tied her wrists together tight, and put two ropes around her neck.

“Make sure it’s good and tight on her,” Ivan said. They took almost all the slack off the noose and she could barely move a muscle without the ropes starting to choke her.

“Maybe we should tie their hands behind their backs?” Jacko asked.

“Oh my God, how have we made this so bloody complicated? Just leave it!” Ivan said.

“All right, mate. Everyone cozy? Right, just hold on to your knickers until Danny gets back,” Jacko said and closed the door on them, plunging the shed into darkness.





8



Matt took Kate by the arm and led her away from the shearing shed.

She shook him off. “What?” she demanded.

“We can’t do this. We can’t keep these people. One of us is going to have to go over to the mainland and get a cop,” Matt said.

Kate took a step away from him.

“Are you crazy? You want me to tell Jacko you just said that? Or Ivan? Or Ma?”

“We have to think about the future, Kate. You know as well as I do that the trust fund is running out. How long can we keep this all going? Two more years? Three?”

“What’s your point?”

“That eco-lodge idea Terry had. It’s a good idea. Tourists coming over legit. Staying the night, spending money. We all benefit. But if we do this, it’s all over, isn’t it? Forget it.”

“Terry’s dead.”

“Yeah, but the idea isn’t. You agreed with it. You, me, Janey, maybe some of the others. We talk to Ma before Ivan and Jacko and that lot get her worked up.”

Kate was shaking her head. “Ma thinks you’re the golden boy, Matt. She trusts you.”

“I’m thinking of Ma. I’m thinking about what’s best for all of us. You want Jacko to run this thing? With half a jug of grog in him? Bloody Jacko?”

“They came over here. They killed Ellen. They’ll get what’s coming to them!” Kate insisted.

“This is going to end up with more people dying. Ivan told me what happened to that girl Jacko picked up in the early 2000s. Jesus! It doesn’t have to be that way. We can talk to Ma, you and me! Our whole future is at stake here. Look, when the trust’s done and the money’s gone, what will we have to fall back on? Nothing. The eco-lodge, tourism—that kind of thing could save us.”