Thank Christ we got the right result for Ness and her kids.
Georgie twisted to face him. ‘Ask me now.’
‘Can’t.’
She kissed him. With her lips pressed against his, she murmured, ‘You’re the one, Jack.’
He closed his eyes.
‘What AJ and I had’s in the past. He’ll go back to Hong Kong soon –’ She quickly added, ‘Not that it makes a difference.’
Relief shuddered through his body.
They stood with foreheads touching, while Franklin traced her shiner, a shimmer of anger in his eyes. Then he ran gentle fingertips over the gravel rash on the side of her face and chin from her skid on the road and scuffle with Ealding.
Her eyelids fluttered, and her mind was back in the Dog and Duck. She saw AJ smile when she’d told him she always wore his charm bracelet.
He’d held her hand tightly, and all the noise and movement around them diminished. ‘I don’t know anyone as passionate and loyal as you, as single-minded in helping someone or getting to the truth. It doesn’t make for an easy relationship, but you’re going to be hard for my next partner to live up to.’
Georgie had squirmed, embarrassed. Her feelings rolled from sad for the pain they’d been through to relief that AJ seemed okay.
‘Is he good for you?’
She had panged with guilt. ‘I never meant for it to happen.’
He’d squeezed her hand. ‘I know. We were moving in different directions, then circumstances happened that pushed us further apart and,’ AJ had searched her face as he found the words, ‘eventually pushed you and him together.’
Sharing a sad gaze, she’d answered his earlier question. ‘Yes, he’s good for me.’
‘I’m glad.’
Franklin cut into her thoughts, ‘Are you ready?’
Georgie opened her eyes. His head was cocked, probably wondering where her mind had gone. She answered him with a long kiss.
There was a white flash. Then a succession of them. She and Franklin broke apart and Georgie saw a pack of reporters and photographers, jostling for position. They thrust out microphones, held cameras high and talked and clicked non-stop.
The rabble circled in. Franklin wrapped an arm around her shoulders and journos bombed them with yelled questions, mostly directed at her.
‘What’s it like to be the centre of another high-profile case, Georgie?’
‘Georgie! Over here. How did you feel when Hannah Savage was found?’
‘Have you seen the family yet? What did they say about –?’
‘You’re a father yourself, Mr Franklin. How has this affected you and your daughter?’
‘It must be difficult to feel happy about the outcome when Marzena Betka—and possibly other girls—have been killed. Can you –’
‘Have you thought about joining the police, Georgie? You seem to be everything but on the payroll.’
The pack cackled collectively over that one.
Franklin caught their attention with a wave. ‘Sorry, no comment. Detective Sergeant Manthorp will deliver a live press conference at 9.00am. She’ll be happy to answer your questions. Excuse us.’ He held Georgie against him and piloted her through the throng.
They didn’t speak, even in the lift. Georgie eyed the other people travelling with them and couldn’t be sure none was a journo in disguise. The only one in Melbourne not here vying for her story was Matty. He would get an exclusive.
They descended to level three and she hung back while Franklin exchanged words with a ward nurse who escorted them into a private room. The nurse left, closing the door behind her.
Georgie’s eyes went to Hanny. Her face was covered in dressings, sutures, bruising and cuts. She was pale but managed a small smile and cuddled her two brothers. Coops was asleep with his blonde head lolling on her shoulder. Riley’s eyes were dark-ringed, drooping, but he intermittently widened them. Georgie wondered if he feared sleeping in case he woke to find he’d only dreamt that his family had reunited.
The scrape of chair legs drew Georgie’s attention to Ness who had jumped up, then staggered. Duane rose and steadied her elbow. She looked sick and weak, but her face filled with a smile as she joined them at the foot of Hanny’s bed.
She clutched Georgie’s forearm, did the same to Franklin, and said in a husky voice, ‘I can never thank you and everyone else who helped enough.’
Tears pooled in Georgie’s eyes and she couldn’t speak. She didn’t deserve Ness’s thanks considering she’d contributed to letting the kids escape in the first place.
‘Mr Franklin?’ Hanny groaned as she lifted her head and Ness hurried to her side, slipping an extra pillow behind her.
‘Can you let Kat know that I’ll see her in the boxing studio – like, soon?’
Georgie saw Franklin’s mouth open and shut, and when he nodded, a tear dripped off his nose. She found his hand and whispered, ‘You’re a softie…and that’s part of why I love you.’
Acknowledgments
Inspiration for Into the Fog came from a number of contemporary disappearances and murders in my home state of Victoria, along with a historic case in Daylesford dating back to 30 June 1867, when two brothers and their friend—boys aged four, five and six—left their homes in Connell’s Gully near Table Hill in search of wild goats and adventure. Their bodies were discovered on 14 September in Wheelers Hill, near Musk with an inquest finding they had died of ‘exposure and want’ (cold and starvation). While these real-life tragedies were the stimulus for themes in this book, all characters and events are a work of fiction.
I am indebted as always to the police members who assist with my procedural questions, particularly David Spencer of the Victoria Police Media and Corporate Communications Department for information regarding computer crime, data interception and processes, along with Tessa Jenkins and Joanne Morrison.
Thanks to serving volunteers of Victoria’s SES Amy Abikhair and Brian Anderson for reviewing my portrayal of the SES’s involvement in this fictional search. While Ando is the face of the SES in this story, several members undertake specific roles in coordinating search and rescue operations.
Special thanks to my editor Ruth Kennedy for her professionalism, dedication and care for the story, along with Marianne Vincent for her proofreading.
I sincerely thank Karen M. Davis, B. Michael Radburn and L.J.M. Owen for reading advance copies of Into the Fog. It is an honour to receive their generous words of support.
My appreciation also goes to Lana Pecherczyk of Author Zoo for designing a fabulous book cover with the photograph I took in the location of this fictitious disappearance; to Ebony McKenna for formatting; to Tara Coventry and Cassie Coventry for letting me run some teen-speak by them; and to Ruth Wykes and friends Judy Elliot, Raylea O’Loughlin and Sharon Gurry for their responses to early drafts of this book. And I am grateful to many other individuals and groups who inspire, encourage and support me.
You, my readers, keep me writing and sharing, so thank you – I’d love you to join me on Facebook and Instagram or follow my website.
My biggest thanks and love go to my muse, best friend and husband, Glenn.
Tell Me Why
Harvey & Franklin Book One
WINNER OF THE DAVITT AWARD READERS’ CHOICE
Picturesque Daylesford has a darker side.
Melbourne writer Georgie Harvey heads to the mineral springs region in central Victoria to look for a missing farmer, and she soon links the woman’s disappearance with the unsolved mystery surrounding her husband.
Meanwhile, maverick police officer and solo dad John Franklin is working a case that’s a step up from Daylesford’s usual soft crime: a stalker targeting single mothers.
Georgie’s investigation stirs up long-buried secrets and she attracts enemies.
When she reports the missing person to local cops, sparks fly between her and Franklin.
Has he dismissed the writer too quickly? And what will the truth cost?
; Dead Again
Harvey & Franklin Book Two
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A story from the ashes…
It is almost two years since wildfires ravaged the tiny town of Bullock, and Melbourne journalist Georgie Harvey is on assignment in the recovering town to write a feature story on the anniversary of the tragedy.
In nearby Daylesford, police officer John Franklin is investigating a spree of vandalism and burglaries, while champing to trade his uniform for the plain clothes of a detective.
When Georgie’s story and Franklin’s cases collide, she not only finds herself back in conflict with the man she’s been trying to forget since their first encounter, but she uncovers the truth about how the fires started – a truth no one wants to believe.
On The Job
Short Stories
The highs and lows of cops on the job.
The cases that make them, break them, bring them laughs, maybe even love.
Police on the beat, working one-officer shops and seasoned detectives pursue a cunning home intruder, a full-moon prankster, false friends, vengeful partners.
Adrenaline-charged car chases, unsanctioned surveillance, intense interrogation.
The impact of a child’s tragic death.
The import of unearthing what happened to an infant and her mother.
Lives saved and crooks captured.
This gripping collection of Sandi Wallace’s award-winning short fiction—‘Busted’, ‘Silk Versus Sierra’ and ‘Losing Heidi’—along with new and never-before released verse and stories, includes ‘Impact’, a finalist in the international Cutthroat Rick DeMarinis Short Story Contest.
About the Author
Sandi Wallace is a life-long crime-fiction addict and the author of rural crime thrillers and gripping short stories. She has won a host of prizes for her short crime fiction and the Davitt Award Readers’ Choice for her debut novel, which was also shortlisted for the Davitt Award Best Debut. She took a winding path towards her writing dream with stints as banker, paralegal, cabinetmaker, office manager, executive assistant, personal trainer and journalist, but if she hadn’t turned to writing, she fancies she would have been a police detective. Sandi is currently at work on a standalone psychological thriller and the next instalment in her series. She lives in the stunning Dandenong Ranges outside of Melbourne with her husband.
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Connect with Sandi at
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Website www.sandiwallace.com
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