Rain Music

by Di Morrissey

‘Not too many places for her to hide or be hidden,’ commented Jack.

  Ned felt his blood run cold. ‘But what if they’ve hidden her? Tied her up and left her? We may never find her out here.’

  ‘Just keep looking,’ Jack said, exasperation in his voice. ‘We’ve barely started; it’s way too soon to give up.’

  They tramped through the scrub, yelling Bella’s name, stopping only to take a short drink or to catch their breath. It grew hotter. After a couple of hours, Ned and Brendan met at the top of a small ridge. Ned felt defeated.

  ‘There’s simply no sign of her. I’ve looked for indications that she might have come this way, but I can’t spot any. They must have taken her with them. Surely she would have heard us shouting by now if she’s nearby. This all feels so hopeless.’

  ‘I know. We seem to be going around in circles. Everything out here looks the same,’ said Brendan, standing on top of a small ridge. But even as he was speaking he started to point. ‘Hang on, what’s that down there?’ He took a step towards the gully on the other side of the ridge, peering at something just beyond it. ‘I definitely haven’t seen that before. Is it a shed?’

  Jack joined them. He strode up to them with the energy of a much younger man, hardly puffing at all as he reached them. ‘That’s part of an old mine, the Queen’s Hill mine,’ he said when he saw where Ned and Brendan were looking. ‘The thing you can see is the old steam boiler that once drove the machinery. The mine is well and truly deserted, and now it’s just a lot of rubble, old iron and uncovered shafts. Always a bit dangerous down there.’

  ‘You don’t think she might have stumbled into one of the mine shafts, do you?’ said Ned, his voice full of dread.

  ‘Let’s take a look,’ said Brendan.

  They scrambled down the slope towards the old mine.

  ‘Okay,’ said Jack. ‘Start looking and keep shouting.’

  Ned hurried to an old mine shaft and peered down.

  ‘I can’t see a thing inside. I’ll have to go back and get one of the torches.’ But he shouted down the shaft, ‘Bella, it’s Ned!’

  There was no reply.

  ‘Bella! Bella, answer me, please!’ pleaded Brendan as loudly as he could.

  ‘Bella, it’s safe now!’ roared Jack.

  They peered under sheets of rusting iron and around the piles of rubble while shouting over and over again. Ned couldn’t help but wonder if their efforts were futile.

  Suddenly there was a rattle and a banging, and a muffled voice came from inside the rusted metal chamber of the old boiler.

  ‘NED?’

  Ned’s heart leapt into his throat, and his voice broke as he shouted, ‘Bella! Where are you?’

  They all began rushing towards the rusting hulk.

  ‘She’s in there,’ yelled Ned, clambering over a heap of rocks.

  ‘I’m here, I’m here,’ yelled Bella, relief and near hysteria evident in her voice as she began to climb through the old fire door.

  Brendan was hot on Ned’s heels as the two raced towards the rusted boiler, until he tripped and fell.

  Bella was scrambling out of the old machine when Ned got to her. They clutched each other tearfully.

  ‘Bell . . . are you all right? They didn’t . . . hurt you?’

  ‘I’m okay. They tied me up. I thought no one would ever find me . . .’ She started to sob. ‘I could hear shouting for ages, but I was too frightened to stick my head out in case it was those men again. Oh, Ned, you have no idea how happy I was when I recognised your voice!’

  Ned held her tightly, love and relief sweeping through him.

  ‘Bella! Oh, Bella!’ Brendan came up beside them and Ned released his hold on his sister.

  ‘She’s okay, Brendan. She’s okay,’ Ned said reassuringly.

  Brendan couldn’t speak, he just held Bella tightly, smoothing her hair as he tried to calm her down.

  Gradually her sobs subsided. Jack walked over and passed her a bottle of water. ‘I expect you’d like a drink.’

  Bella nodded and drank eagerly, then returned the bottle to Jack with a faint smile.

  ‘Jack brought us here,’ said Brendan. ‘He found you. We couldn’t have done it without him.’

  ‘Thank you, Jack,’ said Bella quietly.

  ‘Are you all right to travel back in Carlo’s canoe? It’s a bit of a way,’ asked Ned anxiously.

  Bella nodded, burying her head in Brendan’s chest, his arms around her once more.

  Jack studied her carefully. ‘You sure you’re not hurt? What’s the matter with your wrists?’ he asked. Brendan released Bella and she held out her arms to Jack. He took both of Bella’s hands and studied them. ‘They tied you up and you struggled against the knots, did you? And how did you do this?’ He indicated the wound on the back of one of her hands.

  ‘Oh, Bella, you’re hurt,’ said Brendan, concern in his voice.

  ‘Jack’s right. They tied my hands together with plastic bags and I tore them off on a sharp bit of a branch. I knocked my hand against it and it got cut.’ Bella’s voice shook.

  ‘Jack brought along a first aid kit. It’s in one of our canoes. I’ll take care of your hands as soon as we get back to the river. It’s not so far away,’ said Brendan kindly.

  Ned had a myriad of questions to ask her, but he sensed that now was not the time. Bella seemed far too fragile and he just wanted to get her home as fast as possible.

  Bella clutched Brendan’s hand as he helped her walk along the gully towards the river. As they got close to the river bank, Bella stopped, frozen in her tracks.

  ‘They won’t come back, will they?’ she asked apprehensively. ‘They said they had to meet the boss at the cove. Something about a boat.’

  ‘Not likely. No coves around here,’ answered Jack.

  ‘Jack fixed their kayaks – they won’t be able to use them again,’ said Brendan in a satisfied voice.

  As soon as they reached Carlo’s canoes, Brendan found the first aid kit and tenderly put antiseptic cream on Bella’s wrists before dressing them.

  ‘Is it too late for the police to find them?’ Ned asked Jack quietly as he watched Brendan tie up a bandage.

  ‘I hope not. Those men are animals and you wouldn’t want them to get away with what they did to Bella. You’ll have to report it,’ said Jack, suppressed anger in his tone.

  ‘Let’s just get back to the river house as soon as we can,’ said Brendan. He stroked Bella’s arm. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘A lot better since you lot arrived.’ She almost managed a smile, but the look in her eyes showed her exhaustion.

  Jack and Brendan took the lead canoe. Bella sat behind Ned as he paddled. For a moment she leaned forward and put her arms around his waist, resting her head on his back, and hugged him.

  ‘Thank you, Ned.’

  Ned patted her hand. ‘I’m just so relieved we found you. Do you want to tell me what happened?’

  Bella was quiet for a while, but then she started to tell Ned what had taken place. Pausing frequently, as though not wanting to confront the incident any further, she explained what had happened. ‘It was just the one guy who wanted to take me, kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, I think. The other two were furious with him. He was such a nasty, nasty piece of work.’ Bella sniffed quietly behind Ned and he turned to give her an encouraging smile. ‘I couldn’t alert anyone. I didn’t think that anyone would find me. I was scared to death,’ she said, tears welling in her eyes.

  Ned reached around and squeezed her arm. ‘Bella, you’re safe with us now and I’m not going to let you out of my sight.’

  Bella was silent for some time after this conversation. Ned and the others paddled on. He was surprised by how easy the return journey was, now that his sister was sitting safely behind him. As they neared Carlo’s house and the scenery became familiar,
she spoke again.

  ‘Will the police find them, do you think?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Ned grimly. ‘After we report this, it will be up to them. The men could be local and the police might have an idea who they are.’ He turned his head around to look at her. ‘Listen, do you want to travel back home with Brendan? He said he was going to have to go tomorrow. Or I could take you back to Cooktown, or even Cairns?’

  Bella paused. ‘I don’t fancy staying out here for too much longer.’ She swallowed. ‘But if I go back early, Mum will ask questions, and as far as I’m concerned, I don’t want her to know anything about what happened to me if it can be avoided.’ She closed her eyes for a moment. ‘I’m feeling very shaken up. I know that I’ll have to talk to the police, but honestly, for the moment, I just want to rest and try to come to terms with what happened to me without having to talk to strangers. If you and Brendan are with me, I think I would manage things better, just for now, if I stay at Carlo’s.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Ned. ‘We’ll stay with you the whole time. Let’s see how you feel tomorrow.’ He continued to paddle in Jack’s wake. ‘If you want to stay on at Carlo’s, that’s fine by me.’ Ned reached back and patted her comfortingly. ‘Are you feeling hungry at all?’ Bella nodded. Ned felt the tightness in his chest relax. ‘A big meal coming up, then,’ he said. ‘I hope Jack stays. We owe him a very big debt. Honestly, Bell, I don’t think that Brendan and I would ever have found that little gap in the river bank by ourselves. I was so scared, Bella,’ he added softly.

  ‘You were scared? Listen, brother, don’t try to steal my thunder!’ Bella was trying to speak lightly but her voice was strained. Ned knew that Bella would rarely speak about this episode. Certainly their mother was never to know what had happened. For the first time in a long time, Ned knew that he and Bella were thinking the same way.

  When they arrived back, they beached the canoes on the river bank. Brendan came over and put his arm around Bella as they all went up the steps. Ned quickly went into the kitchen area and started to make coffee, sweeping up the spilled tea leaves as the others made their way into the house.

  ‘You okay?’ Brendan asked Bella for the umpteenth time.

  Bella nodded. ‘I’m still pretty shaky. I think I’d like to have a shower. I know it sounds silly, but could one of you sing out to me sometimes? I want to make sure that you’re still around.’

  ‘Of course we will.’

  ‘Will you stay for something to eat?’ Ned asked Jack, as Bella headed to the bathroom.

  Jack shook his head. ‘No thanks, time for me to get back home. I’m glad it turned out all right for your sister. She was lucky. But keep an eye on her, she’ll be in shock. She won’t want to go out again today. If you take my advice, you’ll let her sleep as much as possible. But you do need to report these men to the police this time round. At least one of those guys is very dangerous. The authorities will want to know.’

  ‘Jack, the three of us can’t thank you enough,’ said Brendan.

  ‘Well, as I said, glad it all worked out. See you around sometime,’ said Jack. ‘Want to open the gate for me, Ned?’

  When Ned got back from the gate, he decided that the easiest thing he could make was a pile of scrambled eggs, a few rashers of bacon and a stack of toast.

  ‘Have you checked on Bella?’ he asked Brendan. ‘Do you think she’ll be much longer?’

  ‘Said she would be with us in five minutes. But Jack’s right, she should spend today resting. Bella is being very brave, but I think that’s for our benefit. Hey, what did Jack mean when he said that you should report the men to the police “this time round”?’ asked Brendan.

  Ned sighed. ‘You know how I told you that the blokes who took Bella could be the same ones who invaded this place before? Well, I never told the police about that incident,’ replied Ned. Brendan’s face reddened and Ned hurriedly explained: ‘I don’t have a working phone out here and I didn’t want to drive to the roadhouse in the dark, and then the next day it didn’t seem like such a big deal.’

  Brendan threw up his hands. ‘I can’t believe that you could have ignored what happened to you! If you had taken the trouble to report it to the police, then Bella might have been spared this ordeal,’ he said.

  ‘I suppose so,’ said Ned mournfully. ‘But honestly, it never occurred to me that they might come back. I just thought they . . . oh, I don’t know what I thought. You’re right, Brendan. I should have reported them. What happened to Bella is all my fault.’

  ‘That’s nonsense,’ said Bella as she joined them in the kitchen. ‘How were you to know what they would do next, Ned? Abducting someone is a whole lot more serious than theft. Brendan, you have to understand that Ned didn’t have an easy way of calling the police, and it’s quite difficult to get to the roadhouse, as you found out yesterday. Ned couldn’t have known that they would come back. I don’t think he can be blamed for what those men did,’ she said protectively.

  Ned looked at Bella and said quietly, ‘Thanks for saying that, but I do hold myself responsible for what happened to you, and I really want to apologise for putting you in such a terrible position. I should have told the police what happened to me and I should not have let you persuade me to take Brendan up to the dam yesterday, leaving you alone in the house.’

  Bella went to her brother and put her arms around him. ‘Well, what’s done is done. Arguing about who is to blame won’t change anything. At least you found me and that is the main thing. Where’s Jack? I want to thank him properly for what he did.’

  ‘He didn’t want to stay,’ explained Ned.

  ‘What a pity,’ said Bella. ‘I don’t feel as though I’ve thanked him enough.’

  ‘Jack seems to be a bit of an enigma, doesn’t he?’ commented Brendan. ‘But he’s absolutely right about this – we have to report what happened to the police, no question. Bella, I don’t want to upset you, but would you recognise the men if you saw them again?’

  ‘I would know two of them again, but I’m not sure about the third man. It was dark and I didn’t really see him.’ Bella suddenly looked thoughtful. ‘But believe me, I would recognise the man in the tatty blue shirt again, anywhere.’

  ‘One of the men who came here the first time round had a blue shirt that was quite the worse for wear, too. The other guy had a mullet haircut,’ said Ned.

  ‘No mullet,’ said Bella.

  ‘Never mind,’ said Ned. ‘But I’ll bet anything that the bloke in the old blue shirt is the same one who wandered in here and helped himself to Carlo’s things. Enough of this, we’ll drive to the roadhouse first thing in the morning and report what happened to the police. In the meantime, let’s have something to eat. Brendan, can you do the toast? I’ll do the eggs and bacon.’

  Even though it was past noon, Bella ate very little. She pushed back her plate, apologised to Ned for leaving so much and announced that she was very tired and was going to bed, even though the sun hadn’t set.

  ‘I think that’s wise,’ said Brendan kindly. ‘We’ll take turns checking up on you. Is there anything I can get for you?’

  Bella shook her head and wandered off to her room. Ned and Brendan watched her with concern. She still looked very fragile.

  Brendan sat at the table and finished the last of his cold toast. ‘Poor Bell. I think she’s coping really well, considering. I keep thinking about what might have happened if we hadn’t found her. Thank god Jack was with us.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ said Ned. ‘He’s an interesting and complex bloke. Belongs nowhere and to no one. He’s his own man. You’ve got to respect that.’

  ‘Yeah. I suppose that’s why he’s buried himself out here. A loner.’

  ‘In a strange way I kinda see the appeal,’ said Ned thoughtfully. ‘But being so isolated is what made today so stressful. We couldn’t get to help when we needed it.’ He rubbed his face with
his hands. ‘I feel terrible about what happened to Bella. I feel so guilty. I should’ve gone to the police when those men first visited the house. Then this mightn’t have happened.’

  ‘Ned, if Bella sees no reason to hold a grudge, you shouldn’t beat yourself up. She’s safe and sound and that’s all that matters as far as I’m concerned,’ said Brendan.

  ‘Sometimes Bella can rub me up the wrong way, but I would hate anything to happen to her.’

  ‘Of course,’ replied Brendan. He glanced up towards Bella’s room. ‘I’ll just go and look in on her. She might not be able to sleep and I wouldn’t want her to be by herself.’

  Ned had always liked Brendan and was pleasantly surprised to have seen another side to him. Where once he had admired him as someone who was salt of the earth, solid if a bit unimaginative, now he saw that Brendan was devoted to Bella and quite brave enough to pursue people he thought were harming her. Now, as he watched Brendan head to the bedroom, he thought what a decent man he was. He hoped that Bella realised it too. Brendan was the sort of man fathers want their daughters to marry: kind, thoughtful and dependable. A bit of a contrast to himself, he reflected ruefully.

  *

  Ned slept fitfully that night, but when he headed into the kitchen to make coffee the next morning he looked out and saw Bella floating in the river with Brendan, and his spirits lifted. On an impulse, Ned made a pot of coffee and took it down to the river with some mugs.

  ‘Hi, you two. Want a coffee?’

  ‘We certainly do,’ Bella answered for both of them. They scrambled out and dried themselves, then sat on one of the benches under the trees.

  Peering at Bella, Ned noticed she looked pale, with dark shadows under her eyes, but at the same time she seemed calmer than the night before. ‘How did you sleep?’ Ned asked.

  ‘Not great,’ Bella replied. ‘But I want to go up to the roadhouse and contact the police as soon as possible.’

  ‘Good on you. We’d better get started soon, then. It’s a bit of a hike and I don’t want to keep Toni waiting too long, since she’s meeting us there. Are you heading back today, Brendan?’