by Sarah Barrie
‘Hey!’ she called, hammering on the fabric. When no one answered she opened the flap and found it empty. ‘They’re not in here,’ she said to Jai. Worry immediately began to churn in her stomach as all sorts of possibilities flashed through her mind.
Jai carefully tipped hot water into two cups, his expression closing into a frown. ‘I’m sure they’re fine, just visiting the pit toilet or something. Riley and I have been up since five but in and out of the tent. It’s possible they ducked off and we didn’t see them. Grab a coffee and give them a minute. There’s enough water here for a third cup.’
Tess took another long look around before nodding reluctantly. ‘Okay, but if they’re not back after coffee, I’m going looking.’
Riley came out of the tent still in the process of zipping up the final of several layers of clothing. ‘Morning.’ She flopped down next to Jai. ‘You know, the guide said it can be boiling hot one day and snowing the next, but I didn’t really believe it. Now I do.’
‘The weather’s clearing,’ Tess said. ‘Hey, you haven’t seen or heard from Alex or Chris this morning, have you?’
Riley’s hand froze midway with her mug to her lips. ‘They went back to the tent before we got up. Didn’t they?’
Tess shrugged. ‘They’re not there.’
Riley’s mug hit the ground, hot coffee sloshing over the sides. ‘We should find them! We should—’
‘Give them a couple of minutes in case they’re on their way back,’ Jai cut her off. ‘Riley, you need to be calm.’
‘Calm?’ she repeated, dragging the hair out of her eyes. ‘Brock’s missing, Jasmin’s hurt, all means of communication with the outside world has been stolen and we don’t have a clue who’s out there or why. Now Chris and Alex vanish and you’re sitting there drinking coffee like there’s nothing in the world to worry about?’
‘They’re two strong, fit guys together,’ Tess said. ‘Surely—’
‘But I’m not sure they were together,’ Riley interrupted. ‘When the guys came out at one to take over, Chris sat with Jas while Alex ducked off to pee.’
‘I forgot about that,’ Jai said.
Tess put down her coffee. She was too wound up to enjoy it now. ‘You’re right, I won’t feel better until I see them back here in one piece.’
‘Okay, you know what?’ Jai said, and got to his feet. ‘Stay here. I’ll give them a shout.’
‘No way. I’m coming with you,’ Riley said, clutching at his arm.
Tess watched them head up the hill. Jai was calling loudly, but much of the volume was blown away with the wind. She paced, watching for anything out of the ordinary. She heard Jai’s voice getting closer, and damn it—she needed to pee. She quickly ducked into the scrub just far enough, eyes darting everywhere for any sign of danger. The longer Jai called without answer, the more nerves jostled in her stomach. Why weren’t either of them answering? And why was that nearby tree creaking so loudly? Branches rubbing together in the wind? She got up, risked going just a bit further away from camp to check it out.
Came face to face with Alex.
She didn’t realise she’d screamed until Jai and Riley came pounding through the scrub calling her name.
‘Tess!’
‘Here.’ It hadn’t been branches creaking, it had been the rope gouging the tree branch as Alex swung lifelessly from it. She swallowed back the horror, tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Who could do that? Who could kill a big, strong, healthy man and get him up there? She couldn’t seem to speak, couldn’t take her eyes off him, so she felt rather than saw Jai and Riley stop behind her.
Jai swore. It came out raspy, as though he couldn’t quite drag in a breath. Riley was silent for several seconds, then dropped to the ground beside Tess and began to sob hysterically. Jai backed away slowly, then spun.
‘Chris!’ he called. Then again, more desperate, more broken: ‘Chris!’
‘Jai, wait!’ Tess managed. She swallowed with a dry throat and tried to think over her own shock and the sound Riley was making. Couldn’t. ‘Make her stop,’ she said, pressing her fingers to her eyes. ‘Riley—stop!’ she said louder.
‘Hey, babe, come here.’ Jai dropped shakily down beside Riley and wrapped his arms around her, speaking to her while she quietened.
‘Okay.’ Tess heard the wobble of threatening tears in her own voice and cleared her throat. ‘We’ll look for Chris together but we need to stay within earshot of each other and at least one of us needs to be able to see Jas’s tent at all times.’
Jai got to his feet and helped up the now quietly crying Riley. ‘Should we get Alex down?’ he asked.
Tess tried not to look into Alex’s lifeless eyes as she shook her head. Nothing inside her wanted to leave him like this, but she knew they had to. ‘We shouldn’t touch him. We need to back away and try not to disturb the scene any more than we already have. When the cops get out here they’re going to need to go over all this for any evidence. They’re going to want to hope there’s something here to help them catch whoever did this.’
‘You don’t think—he didn’t do that to himself, did he?’ Riley sniffed.
‘No. I don’t think so,’ Tess managed. ‘I don’t believe in coincidences. Someone’s doing this to us. We need to find Chris.’
They searched for an hour, then two.
‘It’s hopeless!’ Riley complained when they gathered near camp. ‘He could be anywhere. We could step right over him in some of these places and not see him.’
Tess didn’t add she was thinking it was too late anyway. Even if he couldn’t reach them, he’d be able to answer their calls, wouldn’t he? She looked through the trees to the campsite. ‘I want to check on Jasmin,’ she finally said. ‘She’s been alone too long.’
They traipsed quietly back and found Jasmin in much the same condition she’d been in when they’d left. Tess tried to wake her, to get some water into her, but Jas fought the water bottle. Giving up, Tess stepped back out to take a cup of coffee from Riley. ‘Thanks.’
‘This is not Brock, Tess,’ Riley said. ‘It’s just not. So who is it?’
Jai sucked in a deep breath when Riley’s gaze left Tess’s to meet his, then released it slowly. The idea it could be Pax wouldn’t leave him alone. It was just guilt, he told himself. Why would Pax go after all the other hikers and not him? But … maybe he should tell them anyway. Because keeping the story to himself was eating away at him.
‘Do you think Libby and James will be close to Melaleuca by now?’ Riley asked Tess.
Jai watched Tess’s gaze drift in the direction the couple had taken. Her face had lost all of its colour and tension was written in her frown lines. ‘Should be,’ she said. ‘If …’
If they’re alive. It wasn’t difficult to interpret her thoughts. He was thinking the same thing. ‘We need to widen the search.’ He got up and wrestled through his things, pulled out his knife.
‘And what, we’re going to take Jasmin?’ Tess said. ‘Whoever this is has already tried to kill her. Do you honestly think he’ll hesitate if we leave her completely alone?’
‘He only attacks at night. Gutless bastard!’ he all but shouted out to the tree line.
‘Jai—don’t!’ Riley pleaded.
‘I’m going alone,’ he told them more bravely than he felt. ‘You stay with Jas.’ Then to Tess, he said, ‘If Chris was dead, we would have found him.’
‘If Chris was alive, he’d be back,’ she replied. Her gaze landed on his heavily. ‘If he couldn’t get back, he’d hear us calling and answer. If he’s alive and too far away to hear us, you’re not going to find him anyway. Don’t go out there alone, Jai. Don’t risk it. We can’t lose anyone else.’
Riley got to her feet and placed herself in front of him. ‘Please don’t, Jai.’
He wanted to go. But even if this was Pax, talking to him, promising to give him the ring might not stop him killing him. Then Pax could go after Riley for the ring and Jai couldn’t protect her. And if
it wasn’t Pax? He could be risking his life for nothing when he should be protecting Riley and Tess.
‘Okay, fine,’ he mumbled, sitting back down. ‘So what do we do then? Do we stay? Go?’
‘Go?’ Riley gasped. ‘Libby and James are telling help where we are. They could be just a few hours away.’
‘I’ve been thinking while we were searching,’ he said. ‘Whatever’s going on only started when we reached this place. I don’t think we should stay here another night.’
Tess dropped her gaze to the ground, and some of her strength seemed to ebb. ‘Even if we wanted to leave, we can’t. This next part of the track … it’s the most difficult. We can’t stretcher Jas over it. And I’m not leaving her. Besides, I’m not so sure it’s this particular spot, because I’m not sure Brock went home.’
‘What?’ Jai and Riley said together.
‘I thought you said you didn’t think Brock was responsible,’ Riley reminded Tess. ‘I’m telling you he couldn’t do this!’
‘I don’t know Brock well enough to say. But we need to consider something else. At the same time Jasmin said she feared burning, she also mentioned Brock was scared of drowning.’
They were silent for a moment, then Riley’s eyes went wide. ‘You think something happened to him too? On the boat? You think he drowned?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You don’t think that old couple could have anything to do with it?’ Jai said. He knew he was grasping, blaming a small woman and an older guy with a dodgy arm.
‘I don’t know!’ Tess said again. ‘But when Chris joked about not wanting to die of boredom—’
‘Alex said something about hanging around. Oh my God.’ Jai’s stomach sank. Tess was right. ‘I remember.’ He dragged his hand through his hair. ‘Shit!’
‘What did I say?’ Riley whispered. ‘Was it snakes? Spiders? I can’t remember what I said!’
‘Riley, it doesn’t matter,’ he told her, hugging her to him.
‘Of course it matters! It might be about to matter more than anything. Jai, you said falling.’
‘And I agreed,’ Tess said quietly.
‘Then we stay away from heights,’ Jai countered in an attempt to be brave. ‘But Chris said boredom. You can’t really die from that, right?’
‘He’s gone. Whatever’s been done, it’s done,’ Tess said, then dragged in a deep breath. ‘We need to gather firewood. The driest bits we can find.’
‘What?’ Riley exploded. ‘After what happened to Jas and all your preaching, now you want to start a fire? What will it do to Jas to wake up and see flames?’
‘I know, okay?’ Tess snapped.
‘Riley, Tess is doing her best,’ Jai said quietly. ‘Listen to her.’
Riley nodded and sat, eyes downcast.
‘This could be life or death,’ Tess said. ‘We don’t know who and we don’t know why but we can’t assume one of us won’t be next. How will you feel tonight, sitting around in pitch-black darkness not knowing if whoever’s responsible for all this is miles away or right behind you?’
‘You’re right,’ Jai said. ‘Why would he stop now?’
‘Oh, God. We’re going to die.’ Riley buried her head in her hands while fresh, silent sobs racked her body.
‘No, we’re not,’ he promised her, meaning it. ‘I’m not going to let that happen.’
CHAPTER
39
Jared walked into Indy’s office to find her chewing on her lip, staring into space. ‘Something wrong?’
‘I just thought I’d try Tess again. Not being able to contact her is bugging me.’
‘You were the one who told me not to panic, remember? We know she was fine yesterday.’
‘I know. It’s just all that new information about Orvist has me on edge again. We’ve got to find him.’
‘I don’t think Finlay’s lying about not knowing where Orvist was staying,’ he said. He’d gone out to the hospital yesterday, quizzed Tank again, but it had been a waste of time. ‘Orvist wouldn’t want that sort of information to be general knowledge.’
‘I know, but I’ll feel better when—hold on, that’s Emily,’ she said, checking her phone. ‘She and Roberts are out at the Wharton property.’ She answered and put the call on speaker. ‘What’s up?’
‘We found a receipt screwed up in a plastic bag under Wharton’s bathroom sink. It’s from the jewellers down the road from the pawn shop. For a six thousand dollar diamond ring.’
‘That’s an expensive ring,’ Indy commented.
‘Must have been the engagement ring,’ Jared said. ‘The group were bubbling on about Riley and Jai getting engaged on the bus trip down to Cockle Creek.’
‘For a kid that’s supposedly been struggling, he sure seems to have a lot of cash to throw around. Why would he buy something so expensive?’
‘Young love?’ Jared guessed. ‘I spent half the trip down to the drop-off point shaking my head at how eager they were to tie themselves to each other for the rest of their lives.’
‘Ah, and on a morning you were fighting with Tess, too.’
‘You two had a fight?’ Emily asked.
Jared glared briefly at Indy before answering. ‘Just a small difference of opinion.’ Then it hit him: ‘Wrong ring.’
‘You had a difference of opinion over a ring?’ Emily asked slowly.
‘No.’ He breathed out a laugh. ‘Our impaled guy said Wharton had given them the wrong ring. Do we have a picture of Wilde’s ring?’
‘We had one of Wilde wearing it blown up that gives us a pretty good impression,’ Indy said.
‘Great. Em, come back to the station via the jewellery shop. See if you can get a detailed description of the ring Wharton bought.’
‘On it.’
Indy ended the call. ‘You’re suggesting Wharton’s ring went to Cochrane’s men, and Riley Finlay is wearing Wilde’s?’
‘It’s just a thought.’
Indy swung back in her chair, tapping her pen to her lips thoughtfully. ‘Why would he swap them? With what we’ve learnt, I would have bet Orvist wouldn’t have confided that the original ring contained a chip.’
‘And it’s useless without the phone anyway. Let’s think more simply. He might have thought Wilde’s was more valuable?’
Indy’s face screwed up dismissively. ‘Say Riley was on to him—she spent a lot of time at his place, right?’
‘From what we can gather, sure.’
‘Maybe she found it.’
He considered the implications of that. ‘And he couldn’t tell her the real reason he had it.’
‘Unless she’s in on it …’
‘If we assume for a moment she’s not, Riley discovering the ring would place Jai in a very difficult predicament.’
‘And he would have had to spend whatever it took to get an almost identical ring.’
He nodded thoughtfully. ‘Then he’s handed that one over, hoping they wouldn’t know the difference.’
‘Ballsy move.’
‘We don’t have a better theory at this stage.’ He got to his feet and shook his head. ‘It just seems so stupid to risk a run-in with Orvist and Cochrane over a piece of jewellery.’
‘Like you said—young love.’
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. ‘I guess it’s too bad. If he’s worked so hard and risked so much to keep her in the dark, the whole thing’s about to come crashing down around him. I wonder how he’ll explain us waiting with handcuffs as they step off the plane?’
CHAPTER
40
Tess knelt by Jas’s side for so long her legs went numb. The delirium had gotten worse through the night and though Jasmin had been restless, muttering and wheezing, she was weaker, senseless. Tess had spoken to her, quietly murmuring anything soothing that came to mind. She’d stayed with her, refusing Jai’s offers to take over, and she’d been relieved when, just before dawn, Jas had finally quietened, knowing she desperately needed the relief a deep sleep offered
from the intolerable pain. Exhausted, Tess had shifted position, put her head on her bent knees and slept lightly.
She’d been awoken not long later as Jas jerked in her sleep, dragging in a few noisy breaths before the tension seeped out of her again. Tess had gently tucked her back in against the early morning cold, and caught another short nap.
The next time she awoke the sun had risen higher in the sky, and Jas was still. Too still. Her eyes half open in death.
Another death was just too much.
Tess had been unable to do more than remain by Jas’s side while grief, anger and fear rendered her helpless, but voices outside were slowly penetrating the shock. They interfered with the loop her mind had been playing in her head since realising Jas was gone: This can’t be happening. How can this possibly be true? How much more can I take? She wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. All she felt was a painful lump, like concrete in her chest. It weighed her down, kept her from functioning, from processing, almost from breathing.
Another sound from outside. A billy being set up for hot water. It dragged her further back to reality. Riley asking for hot chocolate, not coffee. And as reality finally broke through she knew they had to move. Or they were all going to die.
Pins and needles in her legs and feet erupted painfully as her weight shifted. She needed to tell them. That was first. How was she supposed to tell them? Another friend gone, a beautiful young life snuffed out. ‘I’m sorry, Jas.’ It was a whisper through barely parted lips. ‘I’m so sorry.’ The tears did come then, a trickle that quickly became a deluge, running down her cheeks and soaking the knees of her pants. She waited until there were no more to shed, then she wiped them away and staggered out of the tent.
At Jai’s concerned frown she shook her head. ‘She’s gone.’
‘What? She can’t be gone.’ Jai lunged over and checked for himself, emerged a moment later, devastation etched onto his features. ‘God, no.’ His voice cracked. He sat back down, stared into nothing.
‘What’s going on?’ Riley asked, emerging from the tent.
‘Jas is gone,’ Jai said, pulling at his hair.