The Labyrinth of Drowning

‘It was before you met Joel. Before you found out about all those things he taught you. You came here and you were happy.’

Before you let him turn you into a murderer.

‘What are you talking about? What are you getting at?’

Sara’s tall and slender figure was shaking. She stared at Grace, almost crying.

‘Nothing.’

‘Then stop talking rubbish and let’s go.’

‘Where to?’

‘Mona Vale Road. We have to hurry. We’re late.’

The car was a Mazda Grace hadn’t seen before. ‘Where’s your black Porsche?’ she asked.

‘Do you want to ride? Or do you want to walk?’

‘Why drive some cheap little blue Mazda when you can drive a Porsche?’

To her surprise, this comment, which was only intended to tell her listeners which car to look out for, had clearly hurt Sara’s feelings.

‘It’ll be good enough to get you where you’re going,’ she said, a crack in her voice. ‘That’s all that matters.’

‘Don’t tell me you’ve had to say goodbye to your car as well as everything else?’ Grace said as mockingly and mercilessly as Sara could have done.

‘Get in! We have to go!’

Sara drove in silence, staring at the road ahead, pushing the car. Her face was set; had she been walking, she would have had her head down and been powering through anything that got in her way. They climbed the steep slope up from Cowan Creek, through the national park, then too fast along the ridge out of the park to the main road. It was getting late. Grace allowed herself to think about Ellie and Harrigan. You’ll see me, she told them. Then Sara turned off Mona Vale Road into Terrey Hills.

‘What are we doing here?’ Grace asked.

‘Going where you want to go.’

‘Terrey Hills? Duffys Forest? What’s here?’

‘Wait.’

She drove deep into the heart of the rural suburb of Duffys Forest. The roads were dark and Grace couldn’t see any street signs. Finally she caught sight of one illuminated in the car lights.

‘We’re out in the sticks,’ she said. ‘The Bush Fire Brigade is just down there.’

‘But we’re not going there, are we?’ Sara replied with a razoredged smile.

There was a car a short distance in front of them along the road. Its lights were turned off. It drove for a little longer, then turned into a driveway. Grace watched a man get out and open the gate. Griffin. He cut his engine and coasted down the driveway. Sara had already turned off her car lights and followed him. When they turned into the driveway, Grace could just make out a For Sale sign out the front of the house.

‘Is this your house?’ she asked. ‘Or is it empty because it’s for sale and you’re just using it?’

‘Quiet!’

They coasted down the driveway into a garage with a light on overhead. Griffin had already pulled up in a white Toyota Camry. Sara stopped behind him. Grace recognised the numberplate: the car that had stalked Harrigan and Ellie to Kidz Corner.

‘Get out,’ Sara said.

Grace did so. She had her gun, they knew she did. Would it be enough to protect her from the two of them? This was enough. Time to bail out.

‘Why are we here?’ she asked Sara, who was standing by the open door of her car. ‘Why come here? It’s time to go.’

‘Not yet,’ Sara said.

Griffin came over. Grace stood where she could see both of them. Griffin didn’t even look at her.

‘Why are you so late?’ he asked Sara. ‘I’ve been waiting for your SMS for hours.’

‘She killed Joe Ponticelli.’

‘What?’ He turned to Grace, seeming to see her for the first time. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Because he tried to kill me. The same way Kidd got gunned down. I ran them off the road. They got Narelle. She’s in the bush.’

‘He wasn’t after you, he couldn’t have been. Unless-’ He stopped. ‘It doesn’t matter one way or the other now. Did you get Marie’s ID?’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay. We’ve no time now. Coopes won’t be with us tonight.’

‘Oh, why not?’ Sara asked, not hiding her disappointment.

‘Who’s Coopes?’ Grace asked.

‘An old friend,’ Griffin replied dismissively. ‘He can’t be involved. There’s no time.’

‘I wanted to see him. It’s the last time,’ Sara said.

‘Who is Coopes?’ Grace repeated.

Griffin looked at her in the weak light, a friendly, apparently candid expression on his face. ‘Coopes was going to help me pay you, but we don’t have time to take you to him now. It doesn’t matter. I have money inside the house.’

‘Are we still meeting at Halfway Hut?’ Sara asked.

He stepped forward, a finger in the air, shaking it at her as if it might transform itself into a blow. ‘Don’t. You should know-no-’ He left whatever he was going to say unfinished. ‘You should leave now. Make sure the gates stay open. And whatever you do, no games till I get there. Okay? Don’t underestimate anything. It’s too dangerous.’ He spoke harshly, angrily.

‘I know what I’m doing,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you there.’

‘Wait!’ He stopped her as she turned away. ‘Give me your mobile.’

‘What if I need it?’

‘You won’t. Give it to me.’

She handed it over, smiled angrily at Grace, then got into her car and drove up the driveway out of sight. Grace felt the chill of the smile. Then she asked herself: they’re an item, lovers supposedly. Why didn’t they kiss? Do they touch? Does he always talk to her like that?

‘What’s going on?’ she asked. ‘How do I get out of here?’

‘I drive you. Don’t worry.’ He stopped, listening. ‘Did you hear a car?’

‘Sara?’

‘No. After her.’

Grace listened but heard nothing.

‘There’s no one there,’ she said, with a touch of despair.

Where are you, Clive? You must have heard the pull-out signal. Are you here at all? You can find me. I’m wearing my wire.

‘Is that Marie’s ID?’ Griffin was asking.

‘Yes.’

‘Give it to me.’

She did, having no choice.

‘What about the passport and the tape?’

She handed them over. She watched him open the Camry’s door and put all these things in the glovebox, along with Sara’s mobile.

‘We’re taking all that with us, are we?’ she asked.

‘Come inside,’ he replied, ignoring what she’d said. ‘I have some things I have to get before we leave.’

She followed him but stayed back. If she took out her gun, she’d have to use it; probably to kill. Kill or wound. Wounds that incapacitated often did so permanently and sometimes killed. If she only had herself to rely on, she would have no choice. They reached the back door where he turned on an outside light.

‘Is this your house?’ she asked.

‘I should have inherited it,’ he replied. ‘But in the end I had to buy it.’