Kakadu Sunset

by Annie Seaton

  The headlights of an approaching car arced across the wall behind them, and she made sure it was David before she stepped out into the light. She was jumpy; but there was nothing wrong with being too careful.

  David closed the door of the dark SUV quietly and bounded up the steps and took her arm.

  ‘Where are they? Are they okay?’

  ‘They’re fine. Both asleep on my sofa.’ Although David’s face was in the shadows, Ellie could still see the bleakness in his eyes. ‘Come inside, and tell us what’s going on. Do you have any idea where Gina is?’ She kept her voice low.

  ‘Us?’ David stared at Kane as he stepped from the shadows. ‘I told you not to let anyone else into this, Ellie.’

  ‘It’s all right. You can trust Kane.’ She turned to Kane as he held his hand out to David.

  ‘Kane McLaren.’

  ‘David, Kane is a helicopter engineer here at the lodge, and a . . . a very good friend.’ What else could she call him? My lover? My boyfriend? ‘I’ve told him what’s happened. A little bit anyway.’

  The two men shook hands.

  ‘I think you should both come in,’ she said. ‘We all need to talk.’

  ‘No. I’m going out to look for Gina. Can the kids stay here with you?’

  Ellie put her hand on David’s arm as he headed towards the stairs. ‘Where would you look? You can’t go. First, she could be anywhere. Second, it’s too dangerous . . . do you want to be taken too? Think of your children.’ It was harsh to imply that Gina had been murdered but she had to convince David not to go rushing out on a wild goose chase.

  David stared out into the dark, before his shoulders dropped. ‘I suppose you’re right. I just feel so bloody responsible . . . and useless. I should have taken better care of my family.’ His voice was bitter.

  The two men stood back and waited for Ellie to go inside ahead of them. David followed her and crossed to the sofa, dropping to his knees, and cupped a hand on each of the children’s cheeks before leaning down and kissing each of them in turn. The look of anguish on his face brought tears to Ellie’s eyes. She cleared her throat, aware that Kane’s eyes were fixed on her.

  ‘Get everything sorted today?’ she asked him softly, tearing her gaze away from David and the children.

  ‘Yeah.’

  Chapter 31

  9.00 pm Friday

  Makowa Lodge

  ‘Nothing.’ David had just returned from checking their suite, hoping to find a clue to Gina’s whereabouts. He shook his head and walked over to the table where Ellie and Kane were sitting. ‘It looks like no one’s been in there since the room was serviced today.’ He picked up Gina’s phone from the table. ‘Now tell me exactly what happened and how come you’ve got this?’ He pulled out a chair and dropped into it, every angle of his body showing his despair.

  ‘I went to the crèche to see Heather.’ Ellie chose her words carefully.

  ‘Who’s Heather?’ David leaned forward, his eyes fixed on hers.

  ‘Heather Jarragah. She works here,’ Ellie said.

  ‘Keep going.’

  ‘And I was surprised to see the kids there so late. The phone was in a drawer in the desk where she was sitting . . . Considering what happened to Bill, I wondered if she knew something.’ Ellie frowned; she didn’t want to accuse Heather of anything but her behaviour had been strange. ‘She said Gina didn’t say where she was going. Maybe she just left her phone there by mistake.’

  ‘She was going to the day spa.’ David’s eyes were bleak. ‘Is Heather connected to Bill Jarragah?’

  ‘Yes, his daughter.’

  ‘What do you mean “happened to Bill”?’

  ‘Someone cut his finger off. We had to take him to the hospital the other night.’

  ‘What?’ David’s voice was loud and he glanced over at the sleeping children. ‘Bloody hell! Cut it off? Is that why his arm was in a sling?’

  ‘Hold on.’ Kane stared at David. ‘Can you just cut to the chase and tell me what’s going on here and why you haven’t called the police? And how you know Bill?’

  ‘They’re not to be involved.’ David’s response was terse and he punched his fist into his other hand. ‘Fuck. He’s capable of anything. It’s got nothing to do with Bill’s daughter. That bastard’s got Gina.’ He dropped his head into his hands. ‘He called me just before you did.’

  ‘What bastard?’ Kane glanced at Ellie.

  ‘Russell Fairweather.’ David lifted his head and his eyes were bleak. ‘But he’ll have covered his tracks so well, it will be impossible to get him on anything. He told me tonight he had a man killed.’

  Recognition of the name chilled her as Ellie’s eyes locked with Kane’s. Russell Fairweather.

  ‘Whoa.’ Kane put his hand up. ‘Can we backtrack a little? You still haven’t told me your connection with this and why your wife’s been abducted?’

  Ellie rubbed her hand across her forehead. ‘You don’t know who David is, do you?’

  ‘No? Should I?’

  David spoke quietly. ‘I’m the Chief Minister for the Territory. I’m being blackmailed by Fairweather. Foolishly, I thought I could handle it and I hid Gina and the kids here . . . but that bastard has connections everywhere. He even has my bloody phone tapped.’

  ‘Why didn’t you get help before this happened, David?’ Ellie couldn’t understand how someone in such a position could be blackmailed. Surely he had security men or something around him?

  ‘He threatened to harm Andrew and Binny if I did.’ David stared at the two children sleeping on the sofa. ‘I only had to keep them safe until Monday when there’s a committee vote taking place on a drilling licence. That’s why I sent Gina and the kids down here.’

  Ellie narrowed her eyes as the pieces of the jigsaw began to fall together for her. ‘Bill Jarragah is on that committee too, isn’t he?’

  Kane stared at Ellie. ‘You are fucking joking! Do you mean this is connected to the farm and Sordina’s murder?’

  ‘Yes,’ David said. ‘Fairweather mentioned his death when he threatened me tonight. I know he’s responsible. I wouldn’t put anything past the cold bastard.’

  Ellie held his gaze. ‘David, you need to know. Panos Sordina was Kane’s stepfather.’

  ‘Oh fucking hell.’ David’s voice shook. ‘Too many connections. All to do with this bloody exploration.’

  ‘Fairweather has to be linked to the fracking at the farm.’

  ‘So it’s got out then. I’m surprised. Fairweather’s even got the media in his bloody pocket. There’s been no publicity about the exploration application.’ David’s voice hardened.

  ‘I didn’t read about it in the papers.’ Ellie lifted her gaze. ‘I saw it myself.’

  ‘Saw what?’ Puzzlement crossed David’s face.

  ‘The fracking. They’re drilling at the back down near the river.’

  ‘Already? The exploration licence hasn’t been approved yet.’

  Ellie shook her head. ‘I saw a huge gash in the land when I flew over last week. The infrastructure is already in place. I went down there for a look and got escorted off the land.’

  ‘Jesus. What’s the point?’ David dropped his face into his hands again. His shoulders sagged and Ellie put her hand on his arm. ‘There must be something we can do.’

  Kane leaned forward and his voice was firm. ‘If Fairweather wants your vote, she’ll be alive.’

  ‘Will she?’ David didn’t lift his head.

  Ellie’s eyes filled with tears as they sat there quietly and she let everything that had happened run through her mind. Sordina’s murder, the fracking, Bill’s injury, the break-ins, Gina’s disappearance. Maybe she was on the wrong track with Heather.

  ‘Kane?’ She took a deep breath as she remembered Henry’s cold eyes. ‘That guy at the hangar today. I’m sure he has something to do with Gina’s kidnapping.’

  Chapter 32

  5.30 am Saturday

  Makowa Lodge

  ‘We’re missing
something.’ Ellie put her head down onto the table. ‘There’s nothing here that incriminates Fairweather.’

  While they had waited for morning to arrive, David had stared at his phone but it had remained silent; there was no further contact from Fairweather. Ellie had opened her email, and she and Kane trawled through the files that Emma had sent over until the first rays of light tinged the eastern horizon.

  Sordina’s early connections to the shadowy figure of Russell Fairweather had become increasingly obvious. They Googled both names together and came up with even more connections. In the Darwin social pages. At the races. A game of golf. Early newspaper reports of their association came to an abrupt halt about the time that Ellie’s father had died and Sordina had bought the property. The file Ellie’s mother had labelled ‘P_Sord’ was a series of photos of Sordina and Fairweather that were six years old. There was no indication of any association between them after Sordina had been elected to parliament. Strangely, not one hit on the search engine. And there was nothing to explain why her mother had even included them with all of the articles on fracking.

  ‘It shows us there was a connection between Sordina and Fairweather,’ David said.

  As they’d pulled up each report, parliamentary committee minutes and newspaper article, they were confronted by evidence of the dangers of hydraulic fracking; the amount of water alone needed for each drilling operation had astounded Ellie. With the wet season in the Territory dumping metres of rain each year, it was easy to see why Kakadu was such an attractive location for the process. In most areas, water had to be trucked in with tankers; in Kakadu it fell from the sky. Her mother had listed links to hundreds of articles on the carcinogens and toxic chemicals that had to be pumped into the wells.

  ‘The contamination of the ground water would spell the end of Kakadu.’ Ellie stared at David as he yawned and put his hand over his mouth. Exhaustion was evident in every line of his face and his eyes were bloodshot. He’d spent the night alternating between sitting at the computer with Kane and Ellie, and resting beside his sleeping children. Twice they’d had to convince him not to go tearing out to search for Gina. He’d gone back to the apartment and collected some clothes and toys for Andrew and Binny.

  Ellie tried not to stare at the red scarf he’d brought back with him and now held in his hand. His fingers played with it as he sat beside her.

  ‘Look at this one. Fracking even causes minor earthquakes.’ Ellie pointed to the link on the screen.’

  Kane’s deep voice interrupted her. ‘Look, there’s no doubt that your mother has done a lot of research into this. She obviously believes there is a connection between Sordina and Fairweather but there’s still nothing here to incriminate either of them. We’ve spent hours and we’re no closer to any information about your old place than we were when we started.’

  Ellie dropped her head into her hands. ‘I know.’

  ‘Could you talk to her? Find out what alerted her to Fairweather in the first place?’

  Reluctantly, Ellie lifted her head and looked at him. ‘I guess I’m going to have to talk to her about it, aren’t I?’

  ‘After we find Gina.’ Kane folded his hands on the table and the authoritative tones of his voice filled the room. ‘So this is what we are going to do. How many of the staff here do you know and trust, Ellie?’

  David went to speak but Kane raised his hand. ‘We have to involve others. The park is way too big to try to do it ourselves. You want to find your wife. We need help.’

  Ellie thought for a moment. ‘You’ve met most of them. There’s Terry and Steve. Jan, Jock, Amanda. Roscoe and his two boys.’

  ‘Are you sure you trust them all?’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘What about Bill?’ Kane stared at her.

  ‘I would trust him with my life. He’s always been like a second father to me.’

  ‘Okay, this is what we’re going to do. David and I will go up to the farm. The house is empty and they, or he or whoever, might have taken Gina there. They’ve already got their thugs up there guarding the place.’ His jaw was set as he fired instructions off. ‘Ellie, can you get someone to look after the children this morning?’

  She nodded.

  ‘What time do the guys start work at the lodge?’

  ‘They get together for a cuppa and plan the day’s work over at the workshop about seven o’clock.’

  ‘I want you to go over there and speak to the group you can trust. See if they can think of anywhere that Gina could be hidden around here. An old shed, an abandoned farm. Anything. Get them to keep a look out as they travel around.’

  David shook his head. ‘I’m not sure about this. What if it gets back to Fairweather?’

  ‘Do you have a better plan?’

  ‘No. I guess I’ll just have to trust your judgment.’ David glanced down at his watch. ‘It’s almost six-thirty.’

  ‘I’ll ask Jan to come and babysit and then I’ll make us some coffee.’ Ellie turned to the laptop. ‘Wait a minute, there’s one email I haven’t opened.’ The message had come in last night but she’d left it as there were no attachments. She clicked on the subject and scrolled down. ‘Yes! I asked Em to see if Mum knew the password to Dad’s Gmail account and she’s sent it to me.’

  ‘Daddy!’ David pushed his chair back and went over to the sofa as Binny stirred.

  Ellie watched David gather the little girl into his arms and the lump that had been stuck in the back of her throat all night came slamming back. The email was forgotten as she watched David hold his daughter close. Ellie swallowed and caught Kane’s gaze, not surprised to see a sheen of tears clouding his eyes.

  ‘Where’s Mummy?’ Binny asked.

  David caught Ellie’s eye and the anguish in his expression tore at her. ‘She’ll be back soon.’

  ‘With our new baby?’ Binny climbed down from her father’s arms. ‘I’m hungwy, Daddy.’

  ‘I’ve got some breakfast cereal and long-life milk in the cupboard.’ Ellie moved the laptop to the benchtop in the kitchen as David carried the little girl over to the table. She pulled out some bowls and put it all on the table for David, and then went back to the computer.

  The quiet voices of the children were forgotten as she successfully logged into her father’s email account.

  ‘How sad is this.’ She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand as Kane gently squeezed her shoulder. ‘Emails to Dad. Still being sent five years after he died.’

  It took a few minutes to scroll back through pages and pages of newsletters and ads covering the last five years. ‘Look, there’s a few emails from Panos to Dad, just before he –’ Ellie took a quick breath and narrowed her eyes as she leaned closer to the computer. ‘Oh my God. Read this.’

  She turned to Kane and a huge grin crossed his face as he read the email open on the screen in front of him.

  ‘We’ve got him, David. We’ve nailed the bastard.’

  Chapter 33

  6.50 am Saturday

  Makowa Lodge

  Kane kissed Ellie before he crossed to the Jeep where David was waiting. Andrew and Binny had hugged their father as Ellie stood with Jan on the verandah. In the end they had only told Jan that Gina was ill and that David had to go and see her. He waved to the kids from the car.

  ‘We’ll see you later, Ellie.’ He held up Gina’s phone. ‘If there’s any news, you have this number?’ Ellie nodded.

  Jan led the children inside and after the door closed behind them, Ellie said, ‘Be careful.’

  ‘I’ll call if we have any news,’ David said.

  ‘Me too. After I see the guys, I’ll see Heather and I’ll let you know what I find out.’

  ‘And Ellie, you be careful too.’ Kane held her gaze and she smiled at him.

  ‘I will. Hurry back.’

  Ellie watched until the vehicle disappeared around the building. Then she changed into her uniform and said goodbye to Jan and the children.

  ‘I shouldn’t b
e too long,’ she promised. Checking that the door was locked behind her, she headed for the office to look at the roster and see where Heather was today. She wasn’t going to warn her with another phone call.

  Luck was on her side. When Ellie entered the office through the back door, Heather was in the kitchen filling the kettle. She stood waiting until she turned around.

  ‘Bloody hell. Why don’t you sneak up on me?’ Heather’s eyes were red-rimmed and circled with dark shadows. Looked like she hadn’t slept either. Ellie closed the back door and flicked the lock over; she didn’t want anyone interrupting this conversation.

  Ellie crossed her arms and leaned her back against the door, waiting for Heather to finish. Her friend’s hands were shaking and she cursed as she dropped the packet of sugar and it scattered all over the tiled floor.

  ‘Shit. Look what you made me do, Ellie.’ Heather reached for the broom.

  ‘Leave the bloody sugar. I want to talk to you.’

  ‘What about?’ Her eyes were wary.

  ‘Why were you in such an all-fired hurry to get away last night?’ Ellie stared at her and Heather dropped her gaze.

  ‘I can’t tell you.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid. Of course you can tell me. Do you know where Gina is?’

  Heather dropped into a crouch and put her hands over her eyes. ‘I can’t tell you.’ Ellie kneeled down beside her as Heather began to cry softly. ‘It’s bigger than we can deal with, Ellie. I should have asked you for help, but it’s too late now.’

  ‘Heather, if you know anything at all, you have to tell me. The police aren’t involved . . . yet. But this guy has already killed people.’ She put her arm round Heather’s shoulder. ‘For God’s sake, if you know anything, tell me. You know you can trust me.’

  ‘I was in the car with Dad when a man rang him and Dad said he wouldn’t do it. He told me what the man wanted. For God’s sake, Ellie, Dad was crying when he hung up.’ She rubbed at her eyes. ‘I’ve never seen him cry before. They’ve already cut his finger off.’ Heather lifted her face and her eyes were scared. ‘When we got home, I took Dad’s phone and I rang the man back. He told me they’d kill Dad if he didn’t take her. So I took her. Dad doesn’t know.’