Deadman’s Track

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘Okay, then,’ Tess said. ‘We should run through some scenarios.’ She stepped back inside the office and Jared slipped in behind her. ‘What are you going to do if you get separated from the group, get lost?’

  ‘Call for help?’ Riley said.

  ‘What if you don’t have reception? Have you ever used a sat phone?’

  ‘No,’ Riley admitted.

  ‘What about a PLB?’

  They all looked at each other. ‘We don’t know what that is,’ Jai said.

  ‘A personal locator beacon. You all need to carry one so you can activate it if you get lost or hurt.’

  ‘We kind of just assumed Aaron would take care of that stuff,’ Riley said.

  ‘You still need to at least know what these things are and how to use them. Let’s run through a few more.’

  Jared listened with interest as Tess talked to the group. He was so engrossed he cursed in surprise when his phone rang. He stepped outside the office to answer it.

  ‘Denham.’

  ‘Are you still at the shop?’ Indy asked. Her urgent tone had him making sure no one could overhear.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘What’s happening?’

  ‘Cochrane just got his deal. He gave up the name. It’s Tank Finlay.’

  ‘Shit,’ he muttered. ‘Do you believe him?’

  ‘He did four years for theft in Melbourne. Diamonds. And he did some work for Cochrane. We know that because he testified against him at his trial in return for immunity from prosecution for his role in Cochrane’s money-laundering operation.’

  Jared glanced at Tess, catching her eye. She frowned slightly.

  ‘Are you on your way?’

  ‘Yeah. Jared, do me a favour and get Tess out of there before we arrive. Just in case.’

  CHAPTER

  25

  Tess was torn between making absolutely sure the group was prepared and not wanting to keep Jared waiting forever. They had to have been almost an hour already. She glanced back and saw him talking on the phone. He looked serious. Whatever he was saying, it wasn’t an easy conversation. Or was he just getting sick of waiting?

  ‘So that’s about it. Oh—there was another couple I believe may have booked in to go too. I’ll have to check on that.’

  ‘Yeah, we know. That’s fine,’ Riley said. ‘Tess, we really appreciate it. Thanks.’

  ‘The wilderness out there will rival anything you’ll experience anywhere in the world. It’s truly magical, stunningly beautiful, and I really want you to have an unforgettable experience. You’d just have a better chance of that in the warmer months, that’s all.’

  ‘Tess,’ Jared said, entering the office, ‘sorry but something’s come up. We need to go.’

  ‘No problem, we’re done. I’ll be in touch regarding gear hire, Riley.’

  They walked to the front of the shop, the rest of the group following. The window shattered and glass rained down. Before either of them could even fully take that in, gunshots cracked.

  ‘Get down!’ Jared’s voice, his body over hers as he tackled her.

  From her position on the floor under Jared, Tess saw three men in balaclavas with guns coming into the shop. Beyond the shattered window, a car slowed, the driver staring. Another car pulled over sharply, the driver already on the phone.

  ‘You need to get everyone back in the office, understand?’ Jared ordered.

  Tess nodded and rolled out from under him. To her right, Jasmin and Brock were huddled together behind a set of shelves. She gestured for them to go to the office, where Chris and Alex were peeking around the door, then another crack had her ducking behind the shelter of a display cabinet.

  ‘You bastard!’ one of the masked men growled, and dragged Tank by the scruff of his neck out from behind the counter. He pushed him to his knees and pointed what looked like a sawn-off shotgun at his head.

  ‘Dad!’ Riley raced past Tess towards the gunmen. Tess lunged and dragged her back. She saw a gun aimed in her direction, then a gunshot hit the wall somewhere behind their heads.

  ‘No! Dad!’ Riley screamed.

  The man who’d shot at them pointed the gun again. His eyes landed on Tess’s. Time seemed to slow as she grabbed at Riley, hoping she might have dragged her further back, but all the room in her mind was taken up with one thought: He’s going to shoot me. She knew she had to think, to do something. But she couldn’t.

  Jared stepped into the gunman’s line of sight with his hands raised, blocking them from harm. ‘Take it easy, mate. Don’t do anything stupid. Why don’t you put the gun down, tell us what you want?’

  ‘Shut up!’

  ‘No one’s been hurt, you can still get out of this. The cops are on their way so—’

  ‘I said shut up!’ The gunman looked over his shoulder at the sound of more glass shattering. The third man was rifling through the jewellery cabinet.

  ‘Where are the diamonds?’ the first gunman demanded.

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

  ‘Take whatever you want,’ Jared said, louder. ‘No one’s going to try and stop you. But take the gun away from his head. You wouldn’t want to accidentally do something you’ll regret.’

  There was a splintering of wood as the locked drawer under the till was split open. ‘What’s this?’ the third gunman called, and lifted a piece of jewellery that looked like a bracelet.

  Instead of taking the gun from Tank’s head, the first man shoved him with it. ‘Where’d that come from, eh?’ He kicked and Tank doubled over. ‘Well?’

  ‘I don’t know!’ Tank said breathlessly, shakily raising his hands up by his head. ‘Please, I don’t know.’

  ‘Hey,’ Jared said to the second gunman. ‘You don’t want this to go bad, okay? You should take off, now. Let the others take the fall for this.’

  ‘Get back!’ the gunman ordered urgently, but he looked strained. ‘Don’t take another step!’

  Sirens, the flash and whine of them from somewhere in the distance, were rapidly getting closer.

  All three gunmen looked at each other and the third stopped searching.

  ‘We need to go!’

  The one on Tank nodded, sneering, then lifted the gun. ‘This is for Maddie!’

  ‘No!’ Riley screamed.

  Jared sprung and the two rolled, the gun pointing up between them. The second gunman dragged Jared off, smacked him with the butt of the gun, and the third pulled the first gunman to his feet.

  ‘Move!’

  As they headed for the back of the shop, the first gunman aimed his weapon at Tank once more, sending Jared and Tank back behind the counter.

  As soon as the assailants were gone, Riley pulled away from Tess’s unsteady grasp and ran to her father, falling in front of him. ‘Dad, are you okay?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Tank said, getting unsteadily to his feet.

  ‘Good,’ Jared said, gingerly touching his jaw where the gun had hit it. ‘Tank Finlay, you’re under arrest.’

  ‘What?’ Riley cried.

  Police cars were screaming in, officers were spreading out, calling, some running through the shop in the direction the gunmen had gone, others scattering. It was chaos.

  Tess got to her feet and went back to the office, where the others were huddled. ‘It’s okay, it’s over.’

  Jasmin’s tear-streaked face was red and swollen, and she clutched at Brock like her life depended on it. Alex and Chris were already on their feet, watching the proceedings with mile-wide grins. She left them to it, walking as though in a daze back to the shop. She felt hands on her a second before she was pulled into Jared’s arms.

  ‘Are you all right?’ he asked urgently.

  She let the warm security of him soak into her for a moment before answering. ‘Yeah. The others are too. They’re still in the office.’

  ‘Jared?’ Indy came in, followed by several officers. ‘Tess, are you hurt?’

  Tess stepped back. ‘No.’

  ‘Thank God.’ S
he turned to Jared. ‘They’ve taken off down the street. We’ve got cars in pursuit. Does anyone need an ambulance?’

  ‘No, we’re all fine.’

  ‘Great, I need everyone back at the station. Em will take Finlay.’

  Tess sat nursing a cup of cold coffee. She’d been told she could go home hours ago, had even been offered a lift, but for some reason she hadn’t been able to move. She’d wanted to stay at the station, with people and lights and movement and sound. With the look on the gunman’s face as he pointed that gun at her still in the front of her mind, she needed all those things to remind her she was alive, she was okay. Back home in the dark loneliness of her bedroom, it would be too easy to fall apart and let the events of the night overwhelm her. She was alive. She was okay. That just needed to sink in a little longer. Brock and Jasmin had left, but Riley and Jai were still beside her. Jared and Indy were talking to Tank. She’d heard nothing on the gunmen.

  She yawned and checked the time—1 am. She was getting restless, needed to move. Riley sniffed and Tess turned, smiling tiredly. Jai had an arm around Riley and was dozing lightly. ‘Want me to get you anything?’ Tess offered.

  Riley shook her head. ‘No, thanks. How could he do it?’ she asked for the millionth time. ‘How could he arrest Dad? He’s the victim!’

  ‘I’m sure there must be details we don’t know,’ she said, as she had each time Riley had voiced the question. ‘We’ll find out more soon.’

  ‘I should have thanked you. That guy shot at me. You probably saved my life. I nearly got you shot, too, didn’t I? I’m sorry. I was so worried for Dad.’

  ‘I know. We’re fine. It’s over.’

  ‘I don’t get who Maddie is, either. I mean, what was that about?’

  Jai opened his eyes and Tess caught something, some flicker of discomfort. ‘Do you know?’ she asked him.

  ‘What? Oh.’ Jai’s eye contact fell away. ‘Just, um … no, not really.’

  Two uniformed officers stomped by, sparing them a quick look before heading down the hallway.

  ‘Maddie,’ Riley murmured. ‘Hey,’ she asked Jai, ‘what was the name of that woman killed on the boat at the yacht club?’

  ‘Can’t remember,’ Jai said.

  ‘Madison Wilde,’ Tess said. And then putting it together, she continued, ‘So that’s what this is about. The gunmen must have found some of her jewellery at your dad’s shop.’

  ‘The bracelet,’ Riley said with a confused frown. ‘The one the guy held up. I wonder how it got there? Dad’s been so careful about any diamonds coming in.’ She glanced at Jai. ‘Have you seen it before?’

  ‘Nah,’ he said. ‘Never.’

  ‘Dad’s been set up!’ Riley got to her feet. ‘I need to see him. Talk to the detectives.’

  ‘Sit down, Riley,’ Tess urged. ‘They’re several steps ahead on this, I’m sure.’

  The door opened as she spoke and Jared came out. He seemed surprised to see them still sitting there.

  ‘Dad’s been set up!’ Riley told him.

  ‘Relax, Riley,’ Jared said. ‘We’re just having a conversation. Tess, why are you still here? I asked Emily to take you home.’

  ‘She offered but … I thought I may as well wait.’

  ‘Are you letting my dad go?’ Riley asked.

  ‘We need to keep him a bit longer. Why don’t you head home and get some rest? It could be a while. Tess?’ He led her out of earshot. ‘You must be exhausted.’

  ‘No, I’m fine. I couldn’t have slept earlier anyway.’ She smiled self-consciously.

  ‘It’s been a hell of a night.’ He tucked a loose strand of hair gently back behind her ear. ‘You’re allowed to admit you’re shaken up.’

  ‘Okay, I’m shaken up. But mostly I’m relieved it’s over.’ Then, because she had recovered enough that the sympathy in his eyes was starting to embarrass her, she changed the subject. ‘Do you really think Tank had something to do with the murders?’

  ‘I don’t know. We didn’t find any stolen goods from the theft or any evidence linking Tank to the murder. We can’t hold him indefinitely based on a gunman’s accusation and a missing piece of jewellery that may or may not have been the piece belonging to Madison Wilde. He’s saying he was set up and maybe he was. We’re going to hold him while we finish searching the shop and his house. If we don’t find anything else, we’ll have to let him go.’

  ‘And the gunmen?’

  ‘Still searching. You really should get some rest.’

  ‘Okay. But I’ll drive myself back.’

  ‘If you’re sure. Hey, how about we get that dinner tomorrow night?’

  ‘Sounds good. I’ll sort it.’

  ‘Detective Denham?’ an officer called.

  She smiled again at his worried expression. ‘I’m fine. Go get the bad guys.’

  CHAPTER

  26

  ‘I’m really not sure we should have left,’ Riley said as they got out of Jai’s car. ‘Dad might need us to go get him again at any time. They can’t hold him forever.’ She slammed the door hard, shattering the silence of the street. ‘The whole thing is a joke.’

  ‘Hey, take it easy, okay? The police have to do their job. It might help them find the guys that did this.’ His nerves prickled at his words. Though his system had long stopped firing on overload from the attack, his gut had continued to churn with guilt. He’d had no choice, he told himself. But it didn’t make him feel any better. Hurting Tank was bad enough, but Riley could have been killed tonight. She didn’t deserve any of this.

  Riley checked her phone as they walked to the front door. ‘But what if he needs us?’

  ‘Then we’ll go back and get him.’ He pushed through the door where the agency nurse was waiting with a coffee in the kitchen.

  ‘Hi, are you guys all right?’ David asked, getting to his feet.

  ‘Yeah, thanks for staying back,’ he said.

  ‘No problem. It was on the news. What happened?’

  ‘Do you mind if we talk about it tomorrow?’ Jai asked, glancing at Riley. She had large dark circles under her worried eyes. ‘We’re wiped.’

  ‘Yeah, of course,’ David said. ‘Still want me here at eight-thirty?’

  ‘If that’s okay.’

  ‘Yeah, I can do it.’

  He saw David out and turned around to see Riley checking her phone again. ‘Come on, up to bed.’

  ‘I feel like I should shower,’ she said as she reached the staircase, ‘but I just want to sleep.’

  ‘Then sleep,’ he said and wrapped his arms around her, kissed the top of her head. ‘I’m going to go check on Pop. I’ll be up in a sec.’

  ‘K.’

  He watched her trudge upstairs and told himself everything would be okay. But he didn’t really believe it. Evan was sleeping soundly, one arm thrown across his face, snoring quietly. He hadn’t changed out of his clothes. Looks like David had lost the shower argument today. What was going to happen to Pop if he was caught? The guilt welled up again and threatened to overwhelm him. There was at least a small chance Tank would be left with no choice but to dob him in. He closed the door and smacked hard into Pax as he turned to go upstairs.

  ‘And he’s back,’ Pax said. ‘Took ya long enough.’

  ‘Where did you come from?’ The anger was instant and violent. ‘You want to tell me what tonight was about? Did you organise that?’

  ‘No,’ Pax said. ‘I followed orders. Remember our talk?’

  ‘They were going to shoot him! Who was it? Wilde’s people?’

  ‘I certainly hope it looked like that. I told ya I’d get this off our backs. I know what nights Tank works back late. Problem was, ya failed to mention you were all going to be there.’

  ‘I didn’t know what was happening because you wouldn’t tell me! And I don’t have a phone number to contact you. Besides, if we hadn’t been there to see it, what was the point of the show?’

  Pax shrugged carelessly. ‘I planted a witness on the street,
mate. So what’s the story? What do the cops think?’

  ‘I don’t know. Tank’s not saying anything as far as I can tell.’

  ‘Nah, he wouldn’t.’

  ‘I don’t know why. If you’re going to get him killed, what’s he got to lose?’

  ‘Riley. And you. He doesn’t want to drop ya in it. I wonder how he’d feel if he found out you’d planted the stuff in the shop?’

  Jai dragged his fingers through his hair restlessly. ‘You didn’t give me a choice! That’s Riley’s dad! He’s been good to me. What’s going to happen now? Why didn’t you leave the bracelet behind if you wanted him to take the blame for everything?’

  ‘I wanted him to take the blame and be dead. Cops charge him now, he’s out of reach.’

  ‘You can’t kill him!’

  ‘I just do what I’m told.’ Pax bent down to get in Jai’s face. ‘So do you, understand?’

  ‘I did, didn’t I?’

  ‘Yeah, and ya need to do something else.’

  His stomach lurched, his temper spiked. ‘You’ve got to be—’

  Pax put a bag in Jai’s hand. ‘Ya lose this, ya life is over, got it?’

  ‘What’s in it?’

  ‘Doesn’t matter. I was supposed to hold on to this until the boss got out of prison, but my face everywhere is making him nervous so he’s got someone coming to collect it. Ya need to deliver it to him on Monday night.’

  ‘Why Monday?’

  Pax’s look was impatient. ‘Just details, mate. They don’t concern ya. Put the bag in ya backpack and go to this address.’ He put a piece of paper in Jai’s hand. ‘Go through the gate, knock three times, leave it on the doorstep and pick up the one waiting. Drive away. That’s it.’

  ‘Where will you be?’

  ‘I’ve got a few other loose ends to tie up.’

  ‘So I do this, but that’s it, right?’

  ‘It’s not over until you’re told it’s over. Anyway, I’ve got another shitload of money for ya. It’ll be in the backpack ya pick up when ya drop off the bag.’