Narelle nodded. ‘He’ll buy me a new phone anyway. Something really nice. I am so looking forward to this.’
This was as much as Grace could deal with.
‘Tell me about Elliot,’ she said. ‘What does he look like?’
Narelle smiled and shook her head. ‘Oh, no,’ she said. ‘He told me never to talk about that to anyone. Never tell anyone his last name or anything about him. He has to protect his identity.’
‘Then I won’t ask. I have to go now. Let’s make a time for when I’m going to pick you up. Whatever happens, you have to be there.’
The girl laughed. ‘Nothing’s going to stop me.’
‘You do realise you won’t be coming back? Your family will be worried about you and they’ll call the police. You realise that as well?’
She shrugged. ‘How are they going to find me? They won’t be looking for me with you.’
‘I guess not. Okay. Tomorrow afternoon at three.’
‘I’ll be there. This is going to be the longest day in my whole life.’
Grace made the time to talk to Duncan before she left.
‘How’s it been?’
‘She’s been locked in her room most of the time. She won’t talk to me. Mum won’t talk to her. Sometimes she talks to Dad. Then he gets upset and argues with Mum about her. It’s horrible being in the house. Is anything going to happen now? It’s like we’re living in no-man’s-land.’
‘We’re waiting on the results of our investigations. I honestly can’t say more than that.’
‘If Narelle’s not going to be charged with anything, can’t we just know that and get on with our lives? Get her to snap out of this?’
‘I can’t tell you one way or the other what’s going to happen. But our first concern in this is for you, your family and your sister. As soon as we can, we’ll advise you what the next step is.’
‘When hell freezes over.’
‘Whether you believe it or not, it’s true.’
He only shrugged. ‘It’ll get worse before it gets better.’
When she drove away from the house, Narelle stayed in her mind like some monstrous, innocent child about to run happily to her own murder. In the present, she had her own encounter with Griffin to go to. Less dangerous than tomorrow’s-she hoped-but still unappealing in the extreme.
This time in the Lane Cove National Park there was no black Porsche, just the blue Audi waiting for her. It was a clear autumn day, warm, the sky cloudless. If it hadn’t been for whom she had to meet here, it might have been just another day in paradise. Griffin was waiting for her at the picnic table. She had dressed carefully for this meeting, not over the top. She had her hair out; something she hadn’t wanted to do but Clive had insisted on it.
Griffin didn’t get up; his solidly built figure took up space on the bench. He was dressed casually without a tie and had brought along an
‘Have a drink.’
‘I don’t drink,’ she said.
‘You can drink just one glass with me.’
‘I can’t even handle the smell of it.’
‘Chris said you used to drink a lot. Is that why you don’t drink now?’
‘Yes,’ she said, seeing no point in any other answer. Then she realised that hearing Newell’s name had not affected her. He was a ghost already losing its potency. ‘Narelle’s all ready to go as planned.’
He brushed this aside. ‘I don’t want to talk about her. You look very nice. Tasteful. I don’t like it when women dress like sluts. I got you this,’ he said and handed her an envelope, as if it were a present.
It was a picture of her at nineteen when there was no scar on her neck. She’d had her hair cut short then. Her emotions seemed so close to the surface, her eyes almost raw with feeling. Had she ever been that young? Even though she was laughing, her eyes were so sad. Back then, the only way to deal with grief had been to live constantly in the present. Once this scrap of paper had been part of a photograph of the band, but someone had cut the other musicians away, leaving only her.
‘I like the way you look in that photograph. You look very beautiful.’
‘There’s only one place you could have got this,’ she said.
‘I took it off Chris. He wasn’t going to need it.’
She put the picture back in the envelope and laid it on the table. Griffin picked it up and put it in his pocket. He was staring at her.
‘I’m still glad your hair is longer now. Eat something.’
‘After you.’
With his eyes still on her, he took a piece of bread and dipped it. She did likewise. He smiled.
‘Breaking bread,’ he said, still looking at her. ‘I wanted us to do that together.’
She ate. Under his gaze, she barely tasted the food. She was trying to pin down the way he was looking at her. His cold blue eyes were staring and intense, they never seemed to leave her face. They frightened her, badly. She might be a professional, an agent who was working, but there was no way around that feeling.
‘We were going to talk business,’ she said.
He looked at her with a friendly expression. ‘Let’s say you’ve accurately described what this business is. What do you think you can do for us?’
‘Don’t you think someone in my position could help you out quite a bit?’
‘An accountant would be more useful. Law enforcement agencies aren’t that hard to avoid if you’re careful.’
‘You’re one step ahead of them, are you?’
‘Yes, always. Now if what you’re trying is blackmail, that could be very dangerous for you.’
‘We’re partners already, aren’t we?’ she said. ‘I’m putting my safety on the line for you.’
‘And you’re being paid for it. I can’t use you in the money side of things, you don’t have the skills. But I can use you for what you’re doing now.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Will you trust me?’ he asked.
‘Why?’
‘I will pay you double what you’ve asked me for, which is a lot of money, if after you pick up Marie tomorrow, you do what I ask you to.’
‘Which is?’
‘You have to wait until tomorrow to find out. But it’ll tell me whether you’re genuine or not.’
‘I thought you were going to give me more information about the business. That’s why I came.’
‘And I’ve asked you to trust me. That’s what you have to do first. Now let’s talk about something else. I want to know about you. Tell me about your daughter. She’s in childcare, isn’t she?’
Slowly Grace shook her head.
‘No, tell me.’
‘Off limits.’
He stopped eating to look at her. ‘I want to know.’
‘Off limits,’ she repeated.
He went back to eating. He was angry by the look of it, although the anger was contained. Grace watched him in silence for some moments.
‘What is this meeting really about? Because you keep changing the rules on me.’
‘No, Grace. You’re the one who keeps changing on me. You’re going to become a part of my work. If I can rely on you, you’re going to help me fulfil obligations. I wanted to spend a little time with you to work out what sort
