Two-Way Cut

Did you give him your real names?

Of course not.

Is the panel van registered in your name?

No.

Then you have nothing to worry about.

Except a massive manhunt, which is bound to happen if they decide theres a connection between the body and the crashed van. And what if someone saw us get into this car?

They didn’t. The road was clear at that point.

But someone will remember those guys in the Range Rover, and seeing a blue Magna parked nearby.

They’ll remember the Range Rover and those two thugs, thats all. This car is pretty anonymous.

Leah shook her head. She was well acquainted with the flexible standards of private detectives. Many of them were ex-cops, and knew all the tricks. Many of them were crooked. But maybe she and Tess needed a man with Theos standards right now. Hed saved their lives and could take them to safety without involving the police.

The man you shot back at the farm. Who was he?

No idea.

You followed him?

Kind of. I was following you, and noticed that he was also following you. He didn’t spot me.

Leah thought about that as she watched a phone line dip and rise, dip and rise, between poles alongside the road. Birds on a wire. The dead man was after me, she thought, not Tess. Tess had goons after her, I hador havepissed-off cops.

So it would be wise not to bring in the police.

They rode in silence, lulled by the movement of the car. Tess was biting the inside of her cheek, now and then chewing her nails. She said, Leah, I don’t want to go back.

Leah reached out and folded her hand over Tess’s. I know.

You cant make me.

Well think of something.

You cant make me go back to that place.

Leah felt immensely tired. She felt safe now, but not rested, and knew that nothing was finished until things had been settled for Tessand that meant more work, and time, and concentration, and anxiety.

She stared out of the window, then at the back of Theos head. Theo, who do you report to?

My boss.

And he informs the school?

Suppose so.

Who at the school exactly?

Theo shrugged. Whoever signed the contract, I suppose.

In other words, Dr Heyward, the principal, the woman who didn’t want to believe Tess.

Look, Theo, why don’t you take us to a motel in the city, not the school, not your boss. If someones trying to kill Tess I want to do some digging around before we announce ourselves.

She didn’t think hed buy it, but he shrugged good-naturedly. Sure.

He began to slow the car. Theyd come to an intersection in the middle of a broad plain under the vast sky, nobody and nothing about, only their car, a distant blue mountain range, wheat struggling to grow in red soil, and a couple of stunned crows perched on the rim of a scummy sheep trough. That was the universe. The city was an unimaginable place to Leah just then.

Where are we going? she asked, as Theo turned off the highway.

Short cut, Theo said.

To where?

Horsham. Thats where we strike the Western Highway to Melbourne. Check the map if you don’t believe me.

Thats fine.

It was a fast dirt road, that was something in its favour. The big car floated above the corrugations. Soon the other road was far behind them and they were surrounded entirely by failing crops on low hills stitched together by dry creek beds, tired fences and sheep pads. Tess fell asleep. Leah’s eyes grew heavy.

She shifted position. Something was digging into her. She frowned. The dead mans watch. She dug one finger into her hip pocket to fish it out.

But just then Theo seemed to be fighting the steering-wheel. The car was swerving in the powdery dirt and gravel at the side of the road. She ignored it at first, trying to retrieve the watch, the steel band catching on the stiff seam of her pocket. Then it was free and she was reading the inscription on the back of the watch, To Theo, from your loving Anna, when the car slowed and carefully pulled over, and Leah heard, Might as well get out and stretch your legs, girls, weve got a puncture.

chapter 16

In the long days and hours of his ride through the endless wheatbelt country, van Wyk had come to realise how ill-equipped he was for this assignment. He was used to city streets, alleys, corridors, shadows. He was used to working close, in and out, no fuss, no trace. Out here, he felt exposed. Hours might, go by and hed not see another human being, much less signs of habitation. There were no shadows out here, nowhere to hide in waiting.

Hed felt better when he finally spotted the blue Magna driven by the private detective. Yesterday, in Prospect. His skin had tingled then. The hunt was on. Now all he had to do was follow the Magna until it led him to the target.

In the past, hed always worked from a profile of the target: photographs, home and work details, routine movements, the names and addresses of friends and acquaintances. This time all he had were photos. How do you anticipate the movements of a kid whos done a runner?

So thank God for the unwitting private eye, who had all the know-how, gadgetry and technical back-up to tap phone calls and follow the kid.

The whole thing had almost come unstuck after the debacle in Leighton Wells yesterday. The detective guy had thought hed lost the target, according to his logbook, but the silly bitch had later used her mobile phone, and that had led the Magnaand van Wyk on the Yamahato a bed-and-breakfast place in the foothills.

Van Wyk had thought hed have his chance then God, had it only been a few hours ago? Amazing how time flew when you were having fun. Hed dismounted from the Yamaha and wheeled it off the farmhouse track, into the shelter of some tree on the lawn, scouted around until he knew the layout of the place, saw the farmer leave with his wife, and ascertained where the target was.

And there was the second woman. Oh well, two for the price of one. He watched and listened for a while, using night-vision binoculars. Saw them getting undressed for bed and an old hunger had stirred in him for a moment. Youre a professional, hed chided himself.

Then he spotted the private eye. Hed already located the Magna, parked down by the road gate. Theo Reed was watching the cottage from a nearby clump of bamboo. Van Wyk saw him glance at his watch as if deciding whether to announce himself to the women there and then, or wait until morning.

Then the farmer and his wife returned, and that seemed to settle the matter for the detective. Van Wyk saw Reed duck away from the sweep of headlights and begin to retreat down the slope of lawn, shrubs and trees.

Right to van Wyks position. Van Wyk shot him in the head with the silenced .22.

Working quickly then, hed hunted in the mans pockets for keys and wallet, and run back to the Magna. A quick search revealed paperwork that detailed the case and the guys name: Theo Reed.

What to do? There was an extra element of risk in entering a darkened building and shooting not one but two people. And what if a noisy disturbance resulted, shouts, screams, glass breaking, lights coming on?