by David Burton
Shaun hoped he was wrong. The idea of a plane trip and overnight stay with Megan was almost too exciting to think about. But it wasn’t the only reason he was so desperate to go.
‘The car,’ he said, ‘from Scotts. The early car hire return and flight to Brisbane. It’s got to have something to do with Tyson. It has to. There’ll be answers in Brisbane.’
Will didn’t look convinced. ‘We don’t know that. And we can’t just fly into Brisbane and walk around investigating a murder. It’s massive. Besides, what kind of connection have we got? We’re just going to walk into the Scotts office and demand answers?’
Shaun was silent, but Will was right. He hadn’t been to Brisbane since last year. His mum had taken him there just after his dad died. It was supposed to be a fun holiday to make him forget about everything. But it hadn’t worked.
‘There’s a chance, though,’ he said. ‘And you’re great at debating.’
Will rolled his eyes. ‘Please. I’m amazing. But that’s not the point.’
‘Let’s just see if we can talk to Megan this afternoon, okay?’
Will hesitated.
Shaun noticed the awkward silence.
‘What?’ he said.
‘Wellllllll,’ Will began, ‘you don’t want to tell the police first?’
‘No. Like I said, they didn’t believe me the first time. They just went and told my mum, and she thinks I’ve lost it. We’ve got to tell Megan first. She deserves the truth. I want to tell her.’
He took a deep breath. If he wanted people to believe him, he’d have to stay calm.
‘She needs to know,’ he said.
‘She’s not here,’ Will said after they had completed their lap of the play area that surrounded the big pool. There were half-a-dozen small kids taking lessons from a burly coach, and a bored attendant at the front counter was sucking lazily on a rainbow Paddle Pop. But no Megan.
‘I guess we’ve got to go tell the police. Don’t we?’ Will lifted his hand up to block the glare from the sun.
‘I don’t know.’
Will stopped and looked at the pool. ‘Didn’t you say the body came up at you?’ he said.
‘What?’
‘When you saw the body, you said there was nothing at first, but then it came to the surface.’
Shaun bit the inside of his cheek while he remembered the image. ‘Yeah.’
‘That’s weird,’ said Will. ‘It means that the body must have been weighed down by something, at the bottom, that then came loose just as you stood on the shore and saw it float up.’
‘Yeah, I guess.’
Shaun hadn’t processed it like that before, but now that Will had said it, of course it was bizarre. What had the body been weighed down by? And why? Had the killers drowned him, tied some sort of anchor to him and then come back to get the body? It didn’t make any sense.
A sudden thought lit Will’s face. ‘Maybe there are more bodies down there, weighed down, waiting to come up.’
‘Maybe,’ Shaun said, thinking about the possibilities. The film flashed through his mind. A serial killer on the loose in their little town. Hard to believe.
‘Look, we’ve got to tell the police,’ Will said, ‘if there’s a possibility of more than one body. Or—’
‘Hey.’ There was a quiet voice behind them.
Shaun turned around.
It was Megan.
Megan looked tired. Shaun wanted to hug her. And it wasn’t about being closer to her. He just wanted to hug her; he couldn’t think of anything else that would bring her comfort. Especially when he knew what she didn’t: that Tyson was already dead. He was never coming home.
‘What are you doing here?’ said Will.
‘I thought you might turn up,’ she said, looking at Shaun. He smiled weakly.
He stepped forward and put his arms round her, felt her weight sink into the hug, heavy and grateful.
Will hugged her too, and that was strange to watch – Shaun had never seen them so close before. Sincerity was unusual for Will. It was like Shaun had arrived on another planet, right from when he had touched the dead man in the water. They were at the pool, on a Friday, as normal, except fully clothed in the baking sun, with Will there too, and this dark shadow looming over them.
‘I’m so sorry,’ said Shaun.
She looked down. ‘Thanks. It’s weird. He’s just literally disappeared. Nowhere to be seen. We’ve been out searching for three days now. My whole family.’
The story poured out of her, easy and willing. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to anyone outside of her family since the madness started.
‘At first I thought Dad was being stupid. Because all that happened was that Tyson’s girlfriend, Millie, phoned to say he hadn’t come to see her like she’d expected. I thought he’d just gone to get drunk somewhere. But Dad freaked out. He got our neighbour and my cousin and a few others to form a search party. But there weren’t enough cars, so my dad hired a bunch.’
Shaun felt Will glance at him. He had been right. The Grants on the car hire form were Megan’s family searching for Tyson.
‘I seriously thought it was an overreaction,’ she continued. ‘But it’s Friday now and he’s nowhere …’ Her words trailed off and she looked away.
‘They’ve checked the lake. And storm drains. They’ve gone out and checked the cliffs near the mines. Cause they think he might have …’ Again, she couldn’t finish the sentence.
Shaun swallowed, suddenly feeling guilty. They were right to check the lake, but they were too late. He needed to tell her. Now.
‘Let’s sit down somewhere,’ he said.
They found a table under a bright blue shade cloth. Shaun could feel his heart throbbing under his skin. He wasn’t sure what was worse: telling Megan that her brother was dead, or not telling her and watching her nurture a false hope.
‘Um,’ he began, ‘Megan, I’m so sorry.’ He didn’t know what else to say.
‘Sorry, this is so awkward,’ she said. ‘I don’t know why I’m here.’
‘Nah,’ he said, smiling. ‘It’s good to see you. I was worried. You haven’t been replying to messages.’
She looked down. ‘I know. It just felt weird, even texting. Like, what is there to say? Everyone’s been out looking for ages and there’s nothing to do. Mum’s crying at home. Dad and everyone are doing laps of everywhere in town, but he’s nowhere. How can someone just disappear?’
Shaun’s chest tightened. ‘I think I know something,’ he said.
Her eyes flicked up at once. ‘What? What do you mean?’
‘Okay, so—’ He took a breath and closed his eyes. ‘I think I saw him. Tyson. In the lake. Floating.’
Silence.
Shaun opened his eyes and looked at Megan, her face open and disbelieving. ‘What … what? Like, swimming?’
Shaun swallowed. ‘No, like, floating upside down. He wasn’t moving. He was still.’
‘What?’ she said, but it was barely a whisper.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said again.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘He was just floating in the water. I found him because I ran from school when Tenner hit me, got me in the eye and, um, yeah, he was just there. I didn’t know who he was at first, but when I heard at assembly that Tyson was missing, I knew it had to be him. I only met him a couple of times but I knew that it was him then.’
In the distance, a small child dive-bombed into the pool. A crow cawed on the fence line.
Megan straightened herself up, breathing in, trying not to cry. ‘Are you sure?’
Shaun nodded. ‘Yes.’
She leant in closer. ‘Really? How can you be?’
He felt himself tense. If even Megan didn’t believe him, what was he supposed to do?
He took her hand. He would neve
r have been brave enough to touch her like this normally. He looked her in the eye. ‘I promise,’ he said. ‘It was him.’
She swallowed and took her hand away. ‘Dad said he might have killed himself, he was so sad, I guess, ah—’
But Will interrupted her. ‘No – it’s not suicide. He was hit on the head.’
Shaun didn’t think it was possible to feel any worse. His stomach was a tiny ache inside him.
‘Right, Shaun?’ Will said.
Shaun felt Megan’s eyes on him once again. If her brother had died, please let it not be by his own hand. Let it be because of an attack.
He nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s right. He was bleeding from his head. Like he’d been hit.’
She stood up, suddenly wild. ‘We should go. God, is he still there? Is he—’
Shaun got up, trying to reach her hand to calm her. ‘No, no. He’s not there. I went and I ran to the police and then when we came back to the water he was gone.’
‘What?’
‘He was gone. He wasn’t there anymore.’
‘What?’
Shaun knew she had heard him. But she couldn’t believe it.
‘He wasn’t there anymore.’
Then she howled.
Shaun had heard that sound before, and it made him want to run away. Instead, he just stood and watched as she crumpled onto the table and cried.
When they arrived at Megan’s house it was unlocked and empty. Piles of clothes everywhere, unwashed dishes. Shaun noticed a stack of photo albums on the dining-room table. They’d been looking for an image to help in the search. A few photos had been pulled out, each showing Tyson at a different age. His beaming, goofy face had remained the same since he was a baby. When he was a child his woolly hair had been untamed, then combed and gelled into different shapes in his teens.
‘Mum? Dad? Millie?’ Megan yelled down the hall. No answer. She pulled out her phone.
Shaun and Will tried not to look at each other. The grief belonged to this family and it felt intrusive to be part of it. Neither of them had been in Megan’s house before, or seen her as broken as she had been at the pool. Shaun felt like he had seen her naked. She didn’t seem to care, and that made it worse. She was completely preoccupied with finding her parents. Then Shaun would have to tell the awful, bone-shattering story again. And Megan’s dad had a reputation around town.
Peter Grant was a big bloke and head of the mine workers’ union. The union was an organisation set up to protect workers from being ripped off. Shaun’s dad had been involved with them, going to meetings and protests and stuff. But for as long as Shaun could remember, Peter Grant was the guy in charge. Shaun had often seen his face splashed across the front page of the local paper. When his dad died, Peter had brought round a hamper from the union, and had a long, quiet conversation with his mum. He seemed to fill the house with his body, somehow larger than himself. Shaun didn’t want to have to tell Peter his son was dead.
Megan hung up. ‘They’re at the police station,’ she said. ‘The police wanted photos of Tyson. Let’s go.’
For the hundredth time that day Shaun’s heart sank to his shoes. Police station? He’d have to face Charlie again and tell his story. But the bastards would have to believe him this time. His mum would be called, and he would sit in silent triumph as dickhead Charlie explained that he was sorry, he was wrong about Shaun, and that Shaun had really seen a body.
The station was a short walk from Megan’s place. They didn’t speak a word on the way, so Shaun jumped slightly when he felt Will tug at his arm.
‘Look!’ Will said.
Across the road from the police station was a ute. At first, Shaun didn’t see what the big deal was. Then he noticed the rego.
839 LZE
It was the ute that had been returned early by Scotts on the night Shaun found Tyson. And just from looking at it, Shaun knew two things instantly.
First, it was a ute built for mining sites. Both sides were labelled with large black and fluoro-yellow stickers that announced the radio call number: EB12 90. Mining vehicles were labelled like that for easy identification on-site.
Second, the tray was big enough to fit a body. Shaun had seen this happen many times. Miners too drunk to stumble to their accommodation would be heaved into the back of a ute just like this one. He’d seen them drive past his house. If the ute did move Tyson’s body, anybody who noticed it in the back would probably assume Tyson was drunk, even in broad daylight.
Megan let out a throaty sob when she saw her mother waiting on the path outside the station. She ran and her mother’s arms swallowed her whole. Will and Shaun gave them some space. Maybe Megan would tell her mum herself. Shaun was relieved at the thought.
Will tugged on his arm again. ‘Did you see?’ he hissed, nodding towards the ute.
‘Yeah. But we don’t know what it’s got to do with anything. We just know it was brought back early.’
‘Yeah, but still. If they moved the body—’
‘I know.’
Megan was telling her mum something in between quiet tears. This was it. Shaun felt her mother looking straight at him. Huge eyes, glassy with grief, searching him for answers. She walked towards him.
‘Is this true?’ she said.
Shaun felt the world stop turning.
‘Yes, I’m afraid so. I’m sorry.’ He had expected her to howl, but she didn’t flinch. Not a single part of her moved.
‘We should go inside,’ she said. ‘We need to tell everyone.’
The four of them walked into the police station.
The tiny entrance hallway was crowded. Megan’s father, enormous and towering, was in a doorway.
‘What?’ he said, his voice already hollow. He could tell from his wife and daughter’s faces that something awful had happened. Shaun looked at the floor. Charlie was there too.
‘What’s happened?’ Peter said again. He looked to his wife. ‘Elaine? Tell me.’ But no-one answered.
Charlie stood up straight, having clocked Shaun and realised what was about to happen. ‘Let’s get you into an interview room,’ he said, trying to shuffle the Grants away.
‘Tell me,’ Peter said, his voice firming with anger.
‘Dad, it’s—’ Megan began, but Charlie tried to usher them inside before she could finish.
‘Just hold on,’ he said. ‘We’ll be right in a minute.’
But Peter wouldn’t move. He was standing in the doorway. He spoke directly to his wife. ‘Tell me,’ he said. ‘Now.’
Elaine’s voice was flat. ‘He’s dead, Peter.’
The room was silent. The walls around them stretched.
‘He’s dead and Shaun found him, floating in the lake. Facedown. He’d been bashed over the head.’
At that, Charlie was alert and moved towards Megan’s dad.
‘No!’ Peter bellowed as Charlie stepped in front of him.
‘Let’s go into the room, mate,’ he said, touching Peter’s shoulder.
Peter turned on him, quick as a snake. ‘Get away! GET OFF ME!’
He belted Charlie’s hand off him and it made a sharp thud against the wall. ‘No!’ he yelled again.
Megan stretched out her arms, her voice once again fresh with tears as she muttered something incomprehensible and they fell into each other. The noise was unreal. Peter was a wounded bear. Shaun thought about leaving. He’d done his duty, after all, and the police hallway suddenly felt like a private space where he had no business. But before he could finish the thought, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Charlie.
‘Come with me,’ he said.
The boys followed him into the depths of the station. It was mostly empty. All the doors were open except for one: an office at the other end. Through the window he could see two people talking. Sergeant Baker and a guy in a suit. He had a moustache.
Shaun’s mind stopped. He felt the fresh kiss of air conditioning. He hadn’t eaten all day. His skin prickled. He felt light and sick.
‘I think I need to, um—’
Charlie managed to get a bin under him just in time. A thin strand of watery vomit came up.
‘Jesus,’ Will breathed.
Shaun caught his breath. Charlie put them in a white room with a desk and a couple of chairs. A large window looked out back down the hallway. He went to get them water.
‘You right?’ said Will.
Shaun shook his head. ‘Yeah, it’s just all a bit real.’
‘Was that the guy you spoke to in the first place?’ Will nodded at the door.
‘Yeah. Charlie.’
‘He must be shitting himself. He’s just realised he didn’t report a murder.’
‘Yeah, I guess so.’
Shaun briefly remembered the boots. They were still at the back of his wardrobe in his room. He hadn’t told anyone about them yet. In the rush, he hadn’t thought of it. And now it felt awkward to bring it up, but everything felt awkward. And unreal.
Charlie reappeared with the water and Shaun gulped it down, wiping the acid stench from his breath.
‘So,’ Charlie said, taking a seat and breathing deep, ‘are you telling me that you think the dead guy you saw was Tyson? And you went and told his little sister?’
‘Why are you talking to him like that?’ Will said. ‘He hasn’t done anything wrong.’
But Shaun was distracted. The guy with the moustache was walking down the hallway, back to the exit. He turned and saw Shaun. Their eyes met.
‘Who’s that out there?’ said Will.
‘Answer my question first.’ Charlie didn’t blink. ‘Did you tell Megan that you saw Tyson in the water?’
‘Yeah,’ said Shaun. ‘Because I did.’
The guy with the moustache was gone now. Back out to the entrance hallway.
‘Are you sure it was him?’ said Charlie.
‘Yep.’
‘Why didn’t you know it was him when you first came to see me?’