The Labyrinth of Drowning

soon, if the woman in the hut knew what she was talking about.

Someone had been following her, she said, but she’d got rid of them. Did that mean Grace’s people were out there, tracking her? They had the means to do that. If so, why hadn’t they acted? Or had they already stopped Griffin’s car? He couldn’t know. He did know he didn’t trust Clive. If he drove out now, would he meet Griffin coming in? Where would that leave Grace if she was with him? No, he would wait. He couldn’t leave her alone in this place. There would only be Griffin, one man. She had to be armed as well. That was a point in their favour. And if no one came, then he would leave.

What he most wanted were shoes, but there were none, not even the pair of old thongs he usually tossed in the boot when he was going fishing. There were some rags. He tied them around his feet but they were almost useless. They had left his car tool kit behind. He searched through it and selected the heaviest spanner he could find. There was also the torch he always carried in his car, which was powerful. He took that as well. He made sure the handbrake was on, locked the car and took the keys. Then he went back to the Mazda, turned off the lights and locked that as well.

After this he followed in the direction his car was pointed. A breeze coming up from distant water ruffled his hair. Again wishing he had shoes, he reached the edge of an escarpment and looked down. A short, steepish fall onto rocks, young trees and ferns growing below. Soak the car in petrol and send it down here. Both of them burned to ashes, still alive when the fire was started. These were the people he was dealing with. No point in being sentimental about them.

A small arc of trees extended out from the forest towards the hut, coming closest to it on the far side near the back. He walked into the trees as quickly as he could, crouching down where he could stay hidden. It was a clear starlit night; extinguishing the headlights had brought a sense of peace to the scene. The silence around him deepened; he turned off his torch. In the quiet, he heard the calls of the night birds and rustling in the bush around him. Just the wildlife going about its usual business.

He had been there only a few moments when he became aware of a car making its way down the trail. No engine, no headlights. It was time for something to happen. In the darkness, Harrigan waited. He was supposed to be marked as a dead man, but this time the dead would bite back.

24

Grace could see the rounded shape of a hut at the end of the fire trail, a pale gleam of cement in the starlight. They passed Harrigan’s car on their right and came to a halt beside the blue Mazda. There was no sign of anyone.

‘Where is she?’ Griffin said. ‘She should be waiting in the car.’

‘She didn’t do what you wanted.’

He leaned forward to look into her face. ‘You keep quiet. Save your voice till later.’

He turned the lights on low beam. The hut’s door lit up dully as a dirty green. The clear ground about the hut itself became a lighter grey. The colours of the end of the world. Grace checked both sides of the hut as best she could. There was no one in sight. Why didn’t you come, Clive? Three times I called you. Why didn’t you come?

Carrying her gun, Griffin got out of the car and walked up to the Mazda, tried the doors. It was locked. He stood there looking around. Grace tried to move but she was pinned in her seat.

‘Where are you?’ he called out. ‘Why did you lock the car? I told you, we have no time. We can’t play any games.’ He turned on the spot. ‘Sara? If you’re here, come out. Stop playing these fucking games! There’s no time!’

There was no answer, only the silence of the night.

‘Are you there?’ Griffin called, anger in his voice. ‘Come out! Don’t do this to me!’

Again, nothing. He walked to Grace’s side of the car and opened the door. He reached across to unfasten her seatbelt and it struck her, the terror he’d said she would feel. I am here, this is real, there’s no way out. It took complete possession of her.

He stood back. ‘Get out.’

She couldn’t move. He laughed.

‘I knew it would happen,’ he said. ‘It always does.’

The laughter gave her something to hang on to, some residual stubbornness. She got out. I have nothing to lose now. Her body seemed to be flashing hot and cold; she felt she would lose control of it. Hold on. Don’t let them turn you into a thing they want you to be.

Griffin had her by the hair. ‘This way.’ Pulled her to just in front of the hut. The stars seemed to wheel overhead.

I want to see my daughter. I want to see Paul. I may not see them again.

‘Kneel.’

She knelt. He had put his gun away somewhere, a pocket perhaps, and produced a knife instead. He put it to her neck. She felt the bite of steel on her skin. He had nicked her.

‘Move and this knife will find the vein. I’m not like Chris. I know what I’m doing.’

She began to shake uncontrollably. She did not know how to stop it. There were tears in her eyes. He wasn’t looking at her.

‘Sara? Where are you?’ Again the only reply was silence. ‘There can’t be anyone else here. She must be here.’

‘What about the people who left our car?’ Grace was surprised to hear herself speak. Her voice was shaking.

‘They’re gone. You see, I told you. You’re starting to come apart now. I knew it when I saw how you reacted to Chris’s name that day in Westfield. This is the way to you. A knife and a can of petrol.’

‘You aren’t him,’ she said, some strange calmness coming out of nowhere.

‘What did you say?’

She stayed silent.

‘You’re not as frightened of me, is that what you mean? Feel that? You will be.’ He cut her again, a little deeper. ‘Stand up.’

She stood. In the car headlights, he looked at her neck.

‘You see-you’re bleeding a little. Everyone starts somewhere.’

He called out again. ‘Sara. I don’t want to wait. Where are you?’

A thumping came from inside the hut, a rattling of the chain on the door.

‘Oh, no, she didn’t,’ Griffin said. ‘I told her not to.’

The thumping continued.

‘I told you not to!’

Another bang, then more thumping, frantic. Holding Grace in a grip that twisted her down to the ground, Griffin looked around at the trees.

‘If you’re out there, Harrigan, you can watch me cut your partner’s throat. Sara! Stop that racket!’

The noise got worse, a constant drumming. Suddenly, Grace felt her bonds cut through, the rope fall away and the blood run stinging into her hands. He pulled her upright. She turned swiftly. He was there with her gun.

‘Do anything and I’ll shoot you. I won’t kill you but I’ll make you hurt. Anyone out there listening-hear what I just said. You take these.’ He threw a set of keys in the dust.

She picked them up, dropped them, picked them up again and dropped them from her still stinging hands. Finally she grasped them.

‘What am I supposed to do with them?’

‘Open the hut. I want to see what’s inside and I don’t want to open it myself. No one’s going to come up behind me.’

Grace put the key in, fumbled, dropped it, picked it up, dropped it again. This time she was stalling. If Harrigan was out there, she had to give him time. With his spare hand, Griffin hit her hard across the side of her