Deadman’s Track

by Sarah Barrie

  Uh-oh, Tess thought, seeing the open admiration in Jasmin’s eyes and the simmering resentment in Libby’s. The pretty young blonde with no sense falling for the much older marriage-in-trouble guy could mean problems.

  ‘Don’t worry about the guys,’ Riley said, catching up to Tess as they moved off. ‘They’re just showing off. And Brock’s pissed off because Jasmin hasn’t been able to take her eyes off that James guy. She flirts with everyone she comes in contact with. It’s just the way she is.’

  ‘Trying to play alpha male to win her attention back while he’s out here is stupid. And maybe have a quiet word to Jasmin about toning it down with James. Jasmin might not mean anything by the way she behaves but it could be damaging.’

  ‘Right. Sure. Of course.’

  Riley fell back and Tess felt a small tug of guilt at her sharp tone. She could only hope getting that out of the way would make the rest of the trip smoother. A light drop of rain hit her face, then another. Well, they wanted an adventure, she reminded herself as she thought about the steep, muddy incline to come. They were going to get it.

  CHAPTER

  33

  Jared finally got back to the station around mid-afternoon. ‘Shuttle buses are not designed for comfort,’ he told Indy, entering her office to swap keys. She’d driven his car to work and was taking the shuttle bus back to Calico Mountain after her shift.

  ‘Thanks. They all got off okay then?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Uh-oh,’ she said, eyeing him. ‘Tess was huffy this morning, and your tone suggests likewise. What’s up?’

  He shrugged. ‘I stupidly suggested she should rethink heading out in this weather. Now I’m Aaron.’

  Indy’s face screwed up. ‘She’s going to be a bit touchy about that sort of thing for a while. She acts all practical and on top of everything but all this crap with Aaron has hit her harder than she lets on. And if there’s one thing I’ve never known her to do it’s make the same mistake twice.’

  ‘Oh, great—now I’m a mistake.’ He immediately lifted a hand in truce. ‘Sorry, shouldn’t bring this stuff into work. Has Finlay shown up yet?’

  ‘After the shop closes. With Jai away, he hasn’t got anyone he can ask to watch the place.’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘You might want to talk to Roberts, too. You’d asked them to keep an eye on Jai’s place during their patrol?’

  ‘I didn’t think it would hurt. Why?’

  ‘Jai went out last night. Roberts and Perry followed him to South Hobart, where he parked on one street, headed off on foot to another with a backpack. When they stopped him, he told them he was visiting a friend, then showed up a couple of minutes later looking worse for wear and out of breath. For some reason he’d left his car on the main road.’

  ‘Strange. Right, I’ll go talk to Roberts.’ He headed for the door.

  ‘Okay. Jared?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘I’m sure she just panicked. Tess is head over heels about you or she wouldn’t have considered getting wrapped up in anyone else so soon after Aaron. She knows you’re different. You’ll work this out.’

  He hoped so. It niggled in the corner of his mind as he spoke to Roberts, then filled in the rest of the day catching up with work. By six he was tapping his pen on his desk in impatience to get the day over with.

  ‘Tank said after work,’ he said to Indy when she came in. ‘I assume that meant just after five.’

  ‘I would have assumed the same thing,’ she said. ‘So call him. We’ve gone along with his request and now we need to hear what he has to say.’

  ‘Agreed.’ He called Tank’s mobile and then the shop but both numbers rang out and went to voicemail. He tried again, waited a few minutes and then tried a third time. When he still couldn’t get through to Tank, he went searching for Indy. ‘I can’t get him on either of the numbers we have so I think I’ll go looking for him.’

  ‘I hope he hasn’t done a runner,’ Indy said. ‘If he has, we’ve made a massive mistake.’

  Jared didn’t think so. ‘I can’t see him leaving Riley. I’ll let you know when I locate him.’

  He drove out to the shop. It was closed, so he went to Tank’s home and noticed the car in the driveway. Annoyed that Tank had come home instead of going to the station, Jared knocked on the door. It opened under the weight of his fist and swung in to reveal a mess: a lamp had been pulled over, the coffee table was on its side, a curtain had been ripped from the window. He quickly checked the rest of the house, but found no sign of Tank.

  He called Indy as he checked the backyard, the garage. ‘I’m at Finlay’s house. Looks like a struggle’s taken place. I think someone’s taken him.’

  He heard the muttered oath, then, ‘Hang there for me, would you, while I get some people out to go over the place for evidence.’

  ‘Yeah, you bet. Damn it, Indy. Riley talked to him this morning. We’re just too late.’

  In the two days since dropping Tess and the others off on their hike, Jared had done everything he could think of to locate Tank, on top of assisting Indy in managing the ongoing manhunt for Orvist. Tank’s house had revealed no clues, nor had the shop. In desperation and with barely enough basis to deserve it, he managed to get a warrant to search Jai’s house. ‘I’m at Wharton’s house with Emily and Roberts now,’ he told Indy over the phone. ‘I’ll let you know if we find anything.’

  ‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ Indy said. ‘Someone was definitely looking for something. But what? Tank said he’d already handed over the diamonds.’

  ‘Maybe he lied. Shot through with them.’

  ‘Or someone caught up with him and well, that’s not going to have a happy ending. I’m worried. He was so genuinely concerned for Riley’s welfare. I just can’t see him bailing.’

  He ended the call and walked into Jai’s house. It looked no better than Tank’s.

  ‘They’ve been here too,’ Emily said unnecessarily.

  Jared left Emily and Roberts downstairs and found Jai’s bedroom. He went through the already opened drawers, looked under the bed, moved to the open closet. There were a couple of backpacks and a few boxes of junk on the floor. One backpack was light, empty, the other was open, cash spewing out of it. ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Hey, Henry!’

  Henry Roberts came bounding up the stairs. ‘Yeah, what—whoa!’

  ‘Is this the bag you saw Wharton with?’

  ‘Nah, that one was empty. I would have noticed if it was suddenly full.’

  ‘Maybe it shouldn’t have been. You said he came out looking like he’d been in a fight. Something must have gone wrong.’

  Roberts nodded thoughtfully. ‘Could have been us, I suppose. If he was up to something underhanded, having the police out the front questioning you wouldn’t go down too well. Someone broke in here and didn’t take all this?’

  ‘It’s not what they were after. Do you remember that address you saw him go into?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Get Em. We’ll go take a look. I’ll get Indy to meet us out there.’

  They arrived at the house at almost the same time, and he got out of the car to meet Indy a couple of properties down from their target.

  ‘Anyone about?’ she asked.

  ‘Not sure yet. Haven’t heard anything. Obviously can’t see much,’ he said and gestured to the wooden paling fence with the overgrown shrubs that somehow even managed to obscure the view of the second storey. ‘Em went around the back. It’s not a block-out fence on that side, looks more like a security fence designed to keep people out—you know, one of the spiky ones we’re not going to be able to get over, with a big padlocked gate.’

  ‘Seems like overkill.’

  ‘Depending on what they’re doing in there, perhaps not.’

  ‘Tell Emily and Henry to stay where they are in case anyone makes a run for it out the back.’ She sized up the property again. ‘Are you armed?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Then let�
��s go find out what requires this much security.’

  They slipped quietly through the gate to the front door. Music was on and the smell of stale cigarette smoke lingered by an overused ashtray. Indy’s step squeaked on the decking and she froze, but no one emerged. She indicated for Jared to move to the window. He looked inside, squinted through the space between the almost closed curtains. A small front room had a doorway into a kitchen. A shadow moved across the wall. At least one person was in there. He signalled that back to Indy then ducked under the window and took a look from another angle. In the corner of the room sat Tank, tied to a chair. His body was limp, his head lolling. Cuts and bruises covered every visible area of his body.

  He turned to make Indy aware and saw her eyes widen, her gun level at something behind him. ‘Put it down!’ she ordered.

  He ducked just in time to hear a bullet whiz past his back. Another shot, this one from Indy. A thud. He spun around to see the gunman lying on the ground.

  ‘Damn, you’re fast. Thanks,’ he said.

  Indy was already moving past him to check on the man lying on the ground. She swore quietly, talked to Emily and Roberts on her radio, then headed for the door. When it didn’t open, she kicked it in. He followed, watching her back. A man appeared from a back room and sprinted up the stairs when he saw them, ignoring their commands to stop.

  ‘I’ll go. You check Tank,’ he said, and took the stairs cautiously. He found the guy in the master bedroom, dragging a window open.

  ‘Don’t move!’ he ordered. ‘Step away from the window, hands—’

  The man threw his legs over the window ledge and leapt.

  ‘Damn it!’

  Almost immediately the screaming from outside suggested the jump had gone wrong. Jared checked and saw the guy hanging upside down from the security fence.

  ‘He’s impaled himself!’ Emily called out, as she and Roberts attempted to take the man’s weight.

  Jared rushed back down the stairs and through the empty block next door to the outside of the fence. He got his shoulder under the screaming man. The man was pierced through his thigh, close to his groin. By the amount of blood he’d already lost, he’d damaged a major artery.

  ‘Step out,’ he told Emily, ‘go help Indy with Finlay. And let the ambos know we’re going to need cutting equipment.’

  ‘Get me down!’ the injured man demanded. ‘Get it out!’

  Jared recognised the voice as belonging to one of the gunmen from Tank’s shop. Tank had been right about being set up.

  ‘We can’t do that. Sorry,’ Roberts told him.

  ‘You sick bastards, let me down!’

  ‘If we pull you off that thing we could do a whole lot more harm than good,’ Jared said calmly. ‘We have to wait for help.’

  ‘Then call them!’

  Jared decided to use the man’s desperation to his advantage. ‘Why don’t you tell me exactly what’s been going on here?’

  ‘Nothing!’

  ‘Geez, you’re getting heavy. Is he getting heavy, Henry?’

  ‘Really heavy,’ Roberts replied.

  ‘Yep. Not sure I can keep the pressure off.’ Jared wasn’t kidding. The awkward position wasn’t easy to hold and the threat was followed up by an involuntary shift.

  ‘Argh! Not telling you shit!’ The wail of the ambulance as it came around the corner had the guy all but sobbing.

  ‘That ambulance is for Tank. They don’t know about you yet,’ Jared told him.

  ‘Oh, man. Please. He played Cochrane.’

  ‘Who did? Tank? He didn’t hand over the diamonds?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah. He did. But it was never about the diamonds.’

  ‘Keep talking.’

  ‘Cochrane wanted to make Maddie’s death look like a robbery gone wrong, so all her stuff was pinched during her hit. But all he really needed was her ring and her phone. Only the kid gave us the wrong ring. Kid’s a sook, so Pax reckons he’s run to Tank and Tank’s swapped ’em over for leverage or payback. But the stupid old bugger won’t tell us where it is.’

  ‘Why are Maddie’s ring and phone so important?’

  ‘I can’t—I—where’s the ambulance?’

  ‘I’m still deciding if I’m going to let them know you’re here.’

  ‘The ring has an NFC chip in it!’ the guy said desperately. ‘An electronic key. You tap her ring to her phone and—boom—you’re into all her offshore accounts and shit. Millions. Man, I’m gonna pass out.’ He was as damp and pale as anyone Jared had ever seen. A trickle of sweat dripped from the guy’s cheek and ran down Jared’s hand.

  ‘Okay, just take it easy. The ambos are coming, all right?’

  He saw the paramedics running around the corner and tried to shift aside enough to let them work.

  ‘Rescue truck is coming with the equipment,’ one paramedic said.

  ‘I’m gonna need protection,’ the guy managed.

  ‘I’ll protect you, buddy. Until you testify, you’re my new best friend.’

  The guy’s head fell back in semiconsciousness. Pained gasps escaped his lips. His eyes widened when he saw another paramedic arrive with an angle grinder. ‘You gonna cut my leg off?’

  ‘No. No, of course not. Relax, okay? They’re going to cut the spike off,’ Jared said calmly. ‘They can’t remove it until you get to surgery.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’re going to be okay,’ Jared said. The words ‘hang in there’ came to mind, but as he already was, there didn’t seem to be much point saying them.

  CHAPTER

  34

  Tess huddled in her jacket and stared out from their elevated position at the Surprise Bay campsite past the twisted branches of the trees to the wide rivulet that cut through the broad expanse of beach. Beyond, islands of vegetation stretched into jagged fingers of ancient rock that defiantly speared out into the ocean.

  This was one of her favourite places on the track. In better weather, the sunset reflected everything the eye could see in gold, crimson and vivid orange. Tonight the sky was leaden grey, the view hazy with heavy fog. There was beauty in its wild, untamed nature, but the time of year was costing the group more than they knew.

  ‘It’s still lovely, isn’t it?’ Riley said, coming to join her. ‘Even when it’s at its worst.’

  Tess smiled at her, appreciating the observation. ‘I love it. I’m not saying I also wouldn’t love a hot shower and a warm, dry bed …’

  Riley laughed. ‘Me too. We could get a better day tomorrow though, right?’

  ‘Not sure.’ Yesterday’s walk from South Cape Rivulet to Granite Beach had been relatively smooth, but the weather had been uncooperative. Beach walking had been hard going, with the wind doing its best to knock their legs out from underneath them, and the bush walking today, wading through water and mud and negotiating difficult, slippery sections of track, had been tiring and time consuming. ‘The forecast is suggesting it could clear.’

  ‘I hope so.’

  ‘So do I. I took a look at the rivulet below us earlier. It’s not promising. If we can’t cross it, we’ll be stuck here until it lowers.’

  ‘At least we’ve got a good spot.’ Riley looked out over the view as Tess had done. ‘We’re going to turn in soon.’

  ‘Good idea.’ She went to her tent, and as the others were making tea, decided to have one. Tents close together in a circle, they sat at the entrances, happily comparing sore muscles, blisters, scratches and scrapes.

  ‘How am I going to walk for another week in these boots?’ Jasmin complained as she examined the raw red skin of her toes and blistered heels.

  ‘You should have worn in your boots,’ Riley told her. ‘There was a big section of Tess’s notes telling us how to prepare.’

  ‘Oh I … think I left the notes at the shop,’ Jasmin admitted. ‘It got a bit out of control, remember?’

  Tess set water to boil on her fuel stove and added a sachet of chocolate to her mug. ‘You’re going to need to take good ca
re of those feet,’ she told Jasmin. ‘Antiseptic, gauze and keep them as dry as you can. You should undo your boot laces, open the boots right up and hope they dry out a bit.’

  ‘In this on-again, off-again drizzle?’ Riley asked. ‘How? Everything’s wet. Even this cost-a-fortune waterproof jacket doesn’t seem to be able to handle this weather.’

  ‘Getting your shoes out of the weather will help,’ Tess said, with a pointed look at the boots tossed haphazardly on the wet ground.

  ‘Can’t we start a fire?’ Jasmin complained. ‘Just long enough to stick the boots in front of to dry?’

  ‘Sorry,’ Tess said. ‘No open fires.’

  Jasmin finished tending to her feet and put away her bandaids, then pulled a notebook from her pack.

  ‘Oh, here we go,’ Brock said.

  ‘What is it?’ Libby asked.

  Jasmin opened the book up and sat it on her legs. ‘All sorts of stuff I found on the area.’

  ‘Bullshit stuff,’ Brock muttered with a smirk.

  ‘Take it easy, mate,’ James said.

  Brock inhaled loudly, his face tight. ‘You know, I’m just about sick of you having an opinion on everything I say to my girlfriend.’

  ‘Whoa-ho-ho!’ Chris exclaimed loudly, elbowing Alex. ‘Look out, it’ll be on in a minute.’

  ‘Better than the game of cards we were thinking of playing,’ Alex said.

  ‘Brock, don’t,’ Jasmin pleaded. ‘Let’s just have a nice evening.’

  ‘Yes, thanks,’ Tess said with a sharp glare for all of them. The tension between Brock and James had increased since the beginning of the trip. Jasmin’s refusal to leave James alone and the bickering between her and Brock hadn’t given the growing animosity any opportunity to calm down, and Chris and Alex seemed to enjoy inflaming it. ‘Why don’t you tell us what you found, Jasmin?’ she prompted, feeling a bit like a kindergarten teacher.

  Jasmin dragged her eyes from Brock and smiled thinly. ‘Strange stories, unexplained stuff … I like that sort of thing.’

  ‘Oh, so do I,’ Libby said enthusiastically. By the look that passed between Libby and James, Tess suspected the tone was more about changing the subject than any real interest, but Jasmin’s smile became more genuine.