by Ben Onslow
“Whose?” I ask.
“Jack Fraser and Ela Hennessey.”
I look at Ela. I’d expected them to get a match for my fingerprints, but never suspected they’d have Ela’s on file.
As soon as we’re out of Fitzgerald’s hearing, and Nick’s gone, I say to Ela, “So, you’ve got a criminal record?”
“No.” Ela opens the passenger door of the Land Rover and gets in.
I grab her door before she can shut it. Lean on it and watch her. She’s acting pretty cagey. “They don’t keep your fingerprints on file unless you’ve been charged and convicted of something.”
“Then they’ve made a mistake.” I get a look flicked at me but no more explanation. She shuts the door like she wants to shut me up. I have to move my fingers out of the way real fast.
I walk round to the other side and open the driver’s door.
Ela looks over at me. “You and Nick should have told Fitzgerald about recognising Vincent,” she says, changing the subject.
“He’d just tell us to stay out of it.” I get in. “Me and Nick want to find out a bit more first.”
“Telling Fitzgerald still sounds like a good idea to me.”
“Soon. When we’ve got something to tell him.” I shut the door, wind down the window, lean on the window frame and watch her. “So what did you do to get arrested?” She mightn’t want to talk about it but I’m curious, can’t imagine her beating anyone up or stealing anything. But she’s surprised me a couple of times today.
She still doesn’t tell me. “Vincent’s killing people.”
I’m not going to be side-tracked. “Come on. What did you do to get arrested?” I coax.
She just flicks another sideways look at me, then pretends to look out the window, still not talking. Finally, she says, “You go first.”
“Dangerous driving.”
“Big crime,” she says, head still turned away. Still staring out the window.
“Yeah. Lost my licence for six months. It was a pain in the arse actually.”
She just keeps looking out the window.
I lean over, put my arm around her shoulders and whisper in her ear.
“Come on. What did you do?”
Ela turns slowly. Swivels under my arm, pulls a bit of a face. “Much the same as you.”
“Dangerous driving? In that ESD of your mum’s?”
Ela shook her head. “No. A HyperMarket trolley.”
“You’re kidding?” Ela shakes her head and gives me a half smile. I don’t believe her. “They convicted you of dangerously driving a HyperMarket trolley?”
“It sounds ridiculous put like that,” Ela snorts. “But not convicted; the charges were dropped.”
“So what happened?” I ask.
Ela leans forward. Fiddles with the rear vision mirror, plays with the gear lever, generally wastes time for a while.
Then she starts talking, a bit hesitant. “Me and Amon…”
“Amon?” I ask.
Ela nods. “He’s a sort of friend,” and her voice is cross.
“Keep going,” I say.
“… and four of our friends, were walking though the carpark at the mall.” She looks at me.
“So far it doesn’t sound like the crime of the century.”
She goes on. “We’d been at the Vids. Anyway we saw some trolleys that had been left out and Amon suggested we have a race. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
And the story went on. It did sound like she’d been recklessly driving a HyperMarket trolley and her trolley crashed into a parked SelfDrive, rolled, her friend Isabelle tumbled out. Ela stayed on the scene because Isabelle’s arm was broken. But this Amon, this sort of friend of Ela’s, and two of the others buggered off and left Ela there.
“What were you charged with?” I ask.
“Everything.” Ela gives another shrug. “It kept changing: vandalism, theft, damaging private property, reckless endangerment. Between the insurance companies and the HyperMarket owner and Isabelle’s mother, Vector were getting plenty of suggestions.”
“And the others didn’t own up?”
Ela shakes her head. “Amon is scared of his father.”
“The arsehole,” I say, and Ela giggles.
“You wouldn’t have taken off, would you?” she asks.
“It would be tempting. You’ve met Patsy.” Ela giggles again. Then I remember how often I’ve seen her look at her phone then delete Txts.
“Is it Amon Txting you?” I ask.
Ela nods. “He thinks I’ll get over it and be friends with him again.”
“Will you?”
“No.”
“So how did you get away with it?” You’d think she’d be in re-education at least after all that.
“Amon’s dad is a lawyer and he got them to drop the charges.”
“How?”
“They had no evidence.”
“Why not, there’s DroneCams everywhere in that City of yours.”
“The Drones couldn’t see us. We had an App.” Ela shifts a bit and hauls her Com out of her pocket. She slides her finger across the screen and goes all shimmery. I can just sort of see her.
“Turn it off, you’ll get us killed.” I check outside the car for Stealth Hovers materialising out of the dark. “Where’d you get it?”
The shimmery arm moves and Ela reappears.
“Amon stole it. We all have it.”
Bloody Amon again. Still his App looks like it could come in handy.
“Does it just make you and your clothes invisible?” When Ela hazed I could see the outline of her against the car seat but the seat was still there.
“It makes anything really close to you invisible. We tried it when Amon first got it. A tennis ball in your hand hazes but the edges of a book you are holding still show.”
“Can you put it on my Com?” I haul the Com out of my pocket.
“I could do it now.” She takes my Com and passes it across hers.
I see the Coms flash when they connect. She touches her screen. The App icon appears on my Com. Ela hands it back to me and I shove it in my pocket. I might try that App out when we’re a little less conspicuous. Sitting outside a police station is not the best place.
“So you got away with the trolley thing?”
Ela nods. “Mum and Lucan’s dad and Amon’s dad managed to smooth things out. Mum offered to pay for the damage to the ESD and the trolley. All our parents are pretty important, so I think Vector backed off.”
“The poor little Elite got her mum to buy her out of trouble,” I say, and think I’ll get a laugh. But Ela just gives a bit of a shrug and stays real quiet, looks out the window into the dark.
Then she looks back at me and she’s teary again. I can’t keep up with her. What’s upset her now?
Maybe she’s just tired. I’ve just seen her run for two hours straight, carrying a rifle.
“Come on,” I say. “I’ll take you home. We need to have a look at those documents before we see Jacob again. And we need to go check those drill sites tomorrow like Jacob wanted.” I turn the key and start the motor.
“Okay.” She’s still real quiet and clutching her Com.
Back at the pub we go to find Patsy to see if she knows anything more about Vincent.
“The Willis boys were talking about him this morning.” Patsy takes two clean glasses off the shelf, fills them – ice, water – pushes them over to me. I give Ela a glass. Mum picks up a cloth and starts drying glasses from the machine, putting them back on the shelf. “Kept calling him the Godfather, like it was a joke; they seemed worried.”
“When are they meeting him again?” Mum doesn’t need to know what we know yet. She’d tell us to leave Vincent to Jacob and Fitzgerald.
“They said tomorrow morning. And Vincent has booked in here; says he’s staying for a week maybe.”
“Here?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“How would I know? It’s not like he
pulled out his Com and gave me a copy of his itinerary.” That’s my mother with the smart mouth.
I lean against the bar. Watch the ice clink in my glass.
“When did he book in?”
Mum dries another glass and it goes onto the shelf with the rest.
“He rang about an hour ago. Booked two rooms for two weeks, starting tonight. Should turn up soon.”
Mum shuts the glass washer, and wipes the front of the door.
“What do you think of Vincent?” I ask her.
She leans one elbow on the bar, chin on her fist.
“Typical loud mouth Aussie,” she says.
“Do you want to try talking to him?”
She looks doubtful.
“Why?”
“See if you can find out anything.”
Ela butts in.
“Will that be safe?” she asks.
“Mum’s only going to talk to him.”
Mum smiles at Ela. “I can handle any Casanova; I’ve been doing it for years. Don’t worry about me,” she says.
14.
The Mountain
Thursday 16th Feb 2051
10:30 a.m.
“I’m all set to do what Jacob wants,” says Ela.
I’ve just got back from checking out Jacob’s place. We can finally go to the drill site. She’s in the running clothes again, all glossy and Elite. Silver eyes with charcoal lashes, hair so dark it almost looks black. And those factories wasted even less fabric on today’s outfit.
“I can see,” I say, can see a hell of a lot actually. Tiny shorts, tinier top, slim hips, attitude.
“What’s wrong with this?” she asks, arms out a bit looking down at herself.
“Nothing.” I nod at the door. “Come on.”
We go outside, and she hops in the passenger side of the Land Rover.
I check my rifle is in the rack still, then climb into the driver’s side.
We go out of town towards Karangahake. Then along an old mining road and pull into a carpark beside a stand of kauri.
She gets out of the Land Rover. Starts to put the Com into her shorts pocket.
“Put it in the glove box,” I say. “Your Com will have a Locate on it and we’re not meant to be here.”
“What are you doing with your Com?” she asks.
I open the back door and let the dog out, then turn back to Ela to answer her question. She’s half in half out of the vehicle, all legs and hair.
And it hits me. Jacob is completely wrong. She’s not pretty. She was pretty when she was a kid. Now she’s hot.
Ignore that insight.
“Didn’t bring it,” I say.
Mon does a lap around our feet. Then runs up the road to the corner and back. I get my day pack out and the rifle. Sling them over my shoulder. Make sure all the doors are locked.
“Why are you taking your rifle?” Ela asks.
“Might run into some vermin.”
“There are no vermin left.”
“Still deer,” I say. “You saw one yesterday.”
“But this close to town?”
“Yep.” I start walking up the road.
After a few seconds Ela runs a bit to catch up.
I adjust the way the pack is sitting. Settle the rifle more comfortably on my shoulder. Then walk to the locked gate. The day is one of those hot humid ones, sky heavy with cloud.
I take off the rifle, and the pack, lean them against the fence. I put my hand on the top of the post and leap over the stile. Mon wiggles under the gate.
Then Ela climbs up on to the stile. I put out my hand to help her. She takes it and steps down to the first cross bar. Then she steps down to the next level with those legs. She watches me with those eyes, then steps down onto the grass.
I’m still holding her hand.
Ela just stands there watching me looking puzzled.
I finally remember to let go her hand. Go to my pack and rifle. Lift them over the fence. Settle them back on my shoulder. Signal the dog, and walk away.
The road I’m heading towards winds up the side of the mountain.
Mon keeps stopping and looking back at her.
“Wait,” she calls out and runs to catch up with me and Mon.
“So where are you taking me?” she asks.
The dog shoves between us.
“Get out Mon,” I say.
Mon looks hurt, stops, goes to the side of the road and starts sniffing the weeds.
I keep walking.
She waits for me to answer.
I don’t.
She can’t stand the silence.
“Well?” she asks.
The road winds through the bush like a wide, mustard coloured ribbon. The bush crowds in on both sides, the mountain rises to the right and drops down into the valley on the left.
“I’m taking you around to the back of the mountain. Jacob and I were there about two weeks ago and we came across a clearing in the bush that had been used to land a helicopter. There were a lot of tracks so we followed them and found a series of sites where someone has been taking core samples.”
“Don’t DoE do that to check for rogue plants?”
She’s good with the questions.
“No, they take plug samples and they use Hovers. These look like prospecting sites.”
“How do you know?” she has to run a few steps again.
“Dad has worked in the mining industry for years,” I say. “He used to take me with him and show me what they did.”
“Where?” she asks.
“In Mackay, Australia.”
“Does he live there?”
“He lives in Sydney and Hovers out there when he’s working.”
“What was he doing?”
“Prospecting for a firm there. I used to stay with him.”
“Are you allowed to travel?”
“Not anymore.”
Miss Hennessey nods. At least that shows she knows a little bit about the way we have to live.
“So you think that’s what someone is doing here?” she asks.
“Yeah, but it shouldn’t be happening. Mining was stopped here years ago.”
We walk along. Ela’s quiet for a while.
“How does that relate to Jacob?” she asks.
“The sites go onto the back of his farm.”
“You think someone is prospecting on our farm?”
I nod.
“And every time we check, the sites have moved further around the mountain.” Before she has the chance to ask more, I hear the sound of a vehicle coming towards us.
I stop and look back down the road. Put my arm out to signal for Ela to stop and move to the side. She looks back along the road we have just walked up. Mon growls, hackles rising.
I take the day pack from my shoulder. Put it under a tree by the side of the road. Fish in my pocket for a round, then I take the rifle, open the bolt and slide the round in.
Ela watches me.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“Just a little precaution. Stay by the edge of the bush.” I’m holding the rifle in front of me, across my body, balanced in both hands, relaxed but ready.
A silver ute comes around the corner and slides to a stop beside us. Henry Willis winds down the window and leans out. He has a black cap on a shaved head, a cigarette in his mouth, red in the face. Pretty much the way he usually looks when he meets up with me. Pretty sure he’s followed us from the pub.
“Why are you here Fraser?” he snarls, eyeing the rifle.
“Just going for a walk. Bruce.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Nice day for a stroll,” I say.
Charlie Willis leans across Henry.
“Hey, you’re the bird at the pub. Come for a ride with some real men,” he says to Ela.
Henry pushes him back out of the way, gives him a warning look and then turns round. Puts his hand on one of the two rifles lying in the parcel tray.
I change my grip, adjust positio
n so the butt of my rifle is pressed against my hip and the end of the barrel is aimed at Henry.
“Get your hands back on the steering wheel,” I say slowly, with each word emphasised. “I don’t mind putting a hole in you but it would be a pity to damage the ute.”
Henry hesitates. Looks like he might take his chances. His hand hovers over the rifles. Pauses. Thinks better of it. Then does as he’s told and puts his hands back on the steering wheel.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask. I relax and move the rifle, holding it the way I was before. It’s a good question, but he could probably ask the same one of me and Ela.
“Mind your own business.” Henry puts the vehicle in gear, revs up a bit, then the wheels skid on the metal as he takes off in a cloud of dust.
We watch the cloud move up the road.
“What was that all about?” asks Ela. “It was like something out of a wild west Vid.”
“That’s the Willis brothers.”
“Really? Bruce Willis?”
“No, he’s Henry, but calling him Bruce makes him real mad.”
I keep walking.
“Why are they here?” Ela’s still trying to keep up with me.
“Hunting I guess.”
“For what?”
“Pigs.”
“Pigs too?” she asks like she doesn’t believe there are still wild pigs here anymore than she believed in the deer. She nods at the empty space on the road the Willises left. “I guess that was the vermin?”
“Yeah, real lowlife.” I stop at a sign on the edge of the road. It’s faded and cracked. You can just make out the words. ‘Dubbo Track 6km to top of mountain’.
A track winds its way up the hill and into the bush.
“We’re going up here.” I turn onto the narrow track and start to climb up the bank.
We scramble up the steep part and then as it levels out walk in single file. It is difficult to talk so we trudge along in silence.
In the bush it is dark and moist, like another world. Every now and then we get a glimpse of the mountain through the trees, surrounded in heavy cloud and mist. The top isn’t visible.
I survey the mist.
“It will probably rain soon.”
Ela stops to look at the cloud that is causing the humidity. Brushes a couple of leaves away from her shoulder and wipes the moisture off her arm.