The Labyrinth of Drowning

pockets. The bush-covered hills behind her tall figure were a hard, massive shape against the softening sky. On the water, the last of the light had taken on an iridescent, diamond-shaped patterning, rocking with the movement of the waves. Boats, small and large, were moored some distance out. Was Clive’s boat out there? He had said that it would be.

Grace walked up to Sara. She was pacing restlessly up and down.

‘You’re hours late. Where’s Narelle?’ she asked.

‘Did you set that up?’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Joe Ponticelli. Did you set him on me?’

‘I said I don’t know what you’re talking about!’

‘First you change things. I’m told to come here to Brooklyn. And when I do, a motorbike with a pillion comes up behind me. In fact, it looks just like how Kidd got shot. They shoot through the passenger window. But they don’t get me, they get Narelle. I ran them off the road. I had a look. Joe Ponticelli’s dead. I wasn’t sure about the other one. If he wasn’t then, he probably is now.’

‘Where’s Narelle?’

‘Sleeping in the bush. She’s not going to wake up again. I had to go and wash as well.’

‘What about your car?’

‘I had to get rid of it. The one I’m driving now belongs to someone else.’

‘Then why bring it here? It’ll be traced. Did anyone see you?’

‘No! I’m more careful than that. Let’s get down to business. I’ve got the passport, the tape and I’ve got Narelle’s ID. I want to be paid.’

Sara looked at her and then around her into the dark, but there was no obvious sign of movement.

‘Is that her ID you’re carrying in that bag?’ she asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Let’s see it.’

‘No. Later. I’m owed a lot for this.’

Sara smiled arrogantly at her. ‘You’ll be paid in full, don’t worry about that. But that wasn’t supposed to happen. You never know who’s going to turn out to be unreliable, do you?’ She laughed softly.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘They were watching you all the way from Liverpool. Joel might have trusted you. I wasn’t sure I did.’

It was only when Grace had to deal with them that her backup had told her they were there. Clive’s directions.

‘Why did they go after me? I was delivering Narelle. What’s the point of sabotaging that?’

Sara didn’t reply. She stared at Grace with an almost frightened expression on her face. Then she shrugged.

‘I don’t know. I just told them to watch you. And you killed him! God.’

‘It was a stupid thing to do,’ Grace said contemptuously. ‘Next time you want backup, pick someone who’s not a lunatic.’

Sara looked away. ‘We don’t have time to talk about this. Let’s go.’

‘Wait a moment. Where’s Joel?’

‘Out there somewhere.’

‘That’s not good enough.’

‘It will just have to be,’ Sara snapped.

‘No, it won’t. Where’s Joel and where are we going?’

‘For a boat ride. What else?’

‘I’m not getting on any boat until I know where I’m going.’

‘Keep your voice down.’

There was silence as Sara looked around. Her face was barely visible in the dark, her expression unseen. She stepped forward.

‘I’ll tell you where we’re going,’ she said in a whispered voice. ‘But no way am I telling you where Joel is right now. Do we trust each other or don’t we?’

‘Where are we going?’ Grace asked.

‘Cottage Point. It’s not far. Now let’s get a move on. We’ve wasted too much time.’

What if she took out her gun and arrested Sara now? But she still didn’t know where Griffin was. The surveillance teams would have heard everything that had been said. They could get to Cottage Point if they had to. Are you going to follow me up the river, Clive? Fish me out?

‘How do I get back from wherever we’re going?’

‘Joel will drive you. It’s all organised.’

‘All right,’ Grace said. ‘Let’s go.’

The sailing boat, named Cottage Days, was waiting at the pontoon. It was smaller and neater than Grace had expected.

‘Is it only you?’ she asked.

‘I know what I’m doing. This is what I do to relax. I sail. I know this boat, I’ve had it for years. I know the river. I love it here.’ Sara’s sense of relief was obvious in her voice. ‘You can just be yourself here. Get in, and do me a favour: don’t talk.’

Grace sat in silence while Sara cast off and, using the motor, guided the boat past the other vessels and out into the channel. Stars covered the sky. This far from the city, it was possible to see out to other worlds. Sara turned off the motor and began to pilot the boat under sail. Then she started to laugh.

‘You killed Joe Ponticelli. Life has its twists and turns. Oh, what a joke that is.’

‘Why?’

‘You’ll find out.’

There was malice in her voice, almost childishly so.

‘Why didn’t you want me to talk?’ Grace asked.

‘Because I may not get to sail down this river again for a while after tonight and I want to enjoy it.’

‘Why? Are you leaving? Where are you going? I thought we were setting up a deal.’

‘Maybe you’ll be our Australian connection,’ she said mockingly.

They sailed on in silence for a short while. There was only the sound of the river, the presence of the forested hillsides and the soft, starlit sky. Sara had withdrawn, she was silent.

‘How long have you been sailing?’ Grace asked.

‘Since I was a kid. Don’t talk to me. I want to enjoy this.’

‘Why shouldn’t I talk to you?’

‘Because most people are fucking idiots and I’m not sure you’re not one of them!’

Grace waited. Sara was where no one could touch her, lost in the simple self-directed pleasure of what she was doing. Grace spoke, deliberately puncturing the emotion.

‘If you’re leaving, you’ll miss all this when you go, won’t you? There can’t be anywhere else in the world like this for you. Why do you have to go? Why can’t you stay here?’

Sara looked back at Grace, her expression shadowed.

‘It’s just the way things have to be,’ she said.

‘Is Cottage Point where you were going to bring Narelle?’

‘Do you think that would have been difficult? Elliot’s waiting for you at Cottage Point, Marie. Oh boy, let’s go. I want to see him as soon as I can.’

Sara imitated Narelle with too much savagery for Grace to laugh.

‘You just called her Marie.’

‘That’s her name when she’s with Joel.’

There was silence. Sara was staring out at the water.

‘You and Joel are an item,’ Grace said after a while. ‘Did it bother you when he spent time with Narelle?’

‘No,’ Sara replied. ‘Any more than it would bother me if he spent time with you. That’s what you want, isn’t it? It’s not just the money. You want him.’

Grace wondered why she found this so offensive when it had been part of Clive’s strategy from the beginning.