Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
NICK
The lights of the oncoming traffic were soft and fuzzy in the drifting fog.
Mid-afternoon and it had barely even thinned.
Depressing as hell, and less than promising for finding Chloe alive and well with every hour that passed.
The damp cold sank into your bones and the fog messed with your sense of direction.
If Chloe hadn’t found somewhere to shelter early on, she’d be in big, big trouble.
I swallowed around the growing lump in my throat. We’d find her because we had to. It wasn’t a choice. I wasn’t losing my mother . . . again.
My mother.
The word came with the same mix of emotions it always had, but it was getting easier to use.
Increasingly, it slipped seamlessly from my tongue before I had a chance to haul it back, tripping me up as I struggled to maintain any sense of objectivity about the whole thing.
I was hurtling down that rabbit hole at breakneck speed, a small boy finally getting his mother back.
For better or worse, and in this case, it was definitely both, Chloe Fisher was my mother. And I wanted her back in my life.
A warm hand slipped over my thigh, and I turned to find Mads watching me with a sad, almost wistful smile in place.
“It’s okay, you know. You’re allowed to hate what she did and still love her at the same time.
It’s not a betrayal of yourself. It’s just .
. . life.” He shrugged. “It’s messy as hell. Ask me how I know.”
I turned back to the road, eyes brimming. “How do you do that? Read me like a fucking book?”
He chuckled. “It comes with the boyfriend job description. Rule number one and every other rule in the book—make him believe you can read his mind.”
My mouth tipped up in a warm smile. “You’re such an idiot.
” I handed him my phone. “Here, make yourself useful. Call Samuel and give him an update on what we’ve learned, especially about the Crow brothers.
But keep Jacko’s name out of it.” I shot him a look.
“He won’t be happy not knowing the source, but Samuel’s not stupid.
He’ll likely figure it out. Either way, we’re gonna need his help.
We have to find some official way to get Austin’s finances in front of the police, and he’s our best bet. ”
Mads scrolled through my phone, grumbling, “Yeah. Don’t bullshit me. The real reason you want me to call is because you don’t want to talk to him yourself. Because you know he’ll tear you a new one.”
“True, there’s that.” I turned onto the main road heading east toward Chloe’s townhouse. “But I also know he won’t say no to you. He thinks you’re the sensible one.”
“I am the sensible one.” Mads tapped the screen and held the phone to his ear.
“Samuel? Hi.” He cast me a look that said exactly what he thought about me.
“No, sorry. Nick’s driving.” He listened for a moment, then rolled his eyes my way.
“I’ll be sure to tell him, although there were a lot of expletives in there to remember.
” He chuckled at whatever reply Samuel gave and then said, “Well, Nick asked me to call to—” He went quiet for a moment.
“Yes. Yes, I know. He is a little shit. You’ll get no argument from me on that score. ”
“Hey! That’s—” I stopped mid-sentence when a car coming toward me caught my eye. “Mads, look! Isn’t that—”
But Mads was still talking. “We received some information about Austin that Nick thinks you should—”
“Jesus, that’s them!” I barked as a dark blue Honda blitzed past us going the other way.
Mads’ gaze jerked up. “Who? Wh-what are you doing?” He braced against the dash as I made a last-minute U-turn and headed after the Honda.
“For fuck’s sake.” Mads straightened in his seat. “What was that for?”
The Honda stopped at a red light about a hundred metres up the road, and rather than pull up behind them, I swerved alongside the kerb to wait until it changed.
“That’s Belinda’s car.” I pointed to the Honda. “With Austin driving. Remember he told Wright he was going to drive her to the hospital to negotiate extra time off?”
Mads frowned. “So?”
“Soooo, I don’t trust him,” I bit back, instantly regretting it. “He knows that we know that he’s lying about stuff, right?”
Mads nodded.
“What’s going on?” Samuel shouted through the phone.
“Just wait a minute, will you?” I kept my eyes glued on the traffic lights while I explained to Mads, “What if he’s about to do something to cover his tracks? Or go back to the cottage while we’re not there? He’s in debt, and we just told him we have a twenty-thousand-dollar book sitting there.”
“That’s a bit of a risk, don’t you think?” Mads argued. “He’s hardly going to do that when Wright knows he heard about it.”
“I know. I know.” It sounded batshit even to me. “But here’s the thing. We think Austin is involved in Chloe’s disappearance somehow, right?”
Mads’ eyes narrowed. “Yes, but we don’t know how, that’s the problem.”
“Whatever.” Nick dismissed my concern. “If he is involved, and let’s say it’s some kind of ruse to make her look far worse than she actually is so that he can press for her power of attorney—”
“But Chloe asked you to have power of attorney,” Mads argued.
I held his gaze. “But Austin didn’t know that until this morning, did he? When this was already in play.”
Mads swore, “Shit. You’re right. But how would he convince her to leave with—” He stopped. “Goddammit. The Valium.”
I nodded. “Which means he already knows where she is. And he could be on his way to cover his tracks as we speak.”
“While Belinda is at the hospital,” Mads finished.
“All right. You follow them and I’ll talk to Samuel, then walk back to Chloe’s to see if I can get Wright to listen.
It can’t be more than a couple of kilometres, right?
” He looked through the windscreen at the persistent drizzle and grimaced. “Dammit, you owe me.”
“More than you’ll ever know.” I kissed him soundly and his cold cheeks lit up.
Mads muttered something that sounded like sweet-talking arsehole as he grabbed his jacket from the back seat and got out of the car. He looked at me through the open door. “Promise me you’ll be careful. And I mean careful.”
“I promise,” I rushed.
Mads stared a moment longer, his worried gaze boring into mine.
“Mads, I promise.” The lights turned green and the Honda’s taillights disappeared into the gloom. “I’ve gotta go. I love you.”
He gave me an odd look before answering, “I love you too.” Then he slammed the door shut and I peeled away from the kerb.
At the traffic lights, I glanced in the rear-vision mirror to find him still staring after me, his phone to his ear.
The hospital was larger than I’d expected for the size of the town, the car park bursting at the seams in the inclement weather.
Rather than find a park, Austin drove into the busy covered drop-off area by the main entrance, and I was forced to watch from about fifty metres away over the top of two rows of cars.
In-between all the comings and goings, I almost missed Belinda emerging from the Honda and heading into the main building.
Curiously, Austin didn’t head into the car park itself but pulled around the side of the building.
I couldn’t follow without giving myself away and so I waited.
A few minutes later, the Honda re-emerged and Austin headed for the exit.
I frowned. Austin had implied to Wright that he would be staying with Belinda at the hospital while she applied for extended leave, so where in the hell was he going on his own? My Spidey senses were crawling and I hurried to follow.
At the main gate when Austin turned south on the road out of town, my suspicions grew.
I let two cars get between us before I followed.
After a couple of kilometres, the Honda made a left turn onto Wickham Pass—according to the GPS—a narrow country road which afforded almost no cover.
Since I was the only car to take the turn with him, that put me front and centre in Austin’s rearview mirror.
I slowed, putting some distance between us. If it meant I lost him in the gloom, too bad. Austin had seen the Ford rental at Chloe’s. There’d be no explanation if he clocked me in his mirror.
A mix of farmland and vineyards bordered the road, or at least what I could see of it through the gloom.
That quickly changed when Wickham Pass began a steep climb out of the valley.
The fog thinned to a dull grey sky, the terrain becoming increasingly rugged.
Steep hills planted in forestry and native bush replaced the gentler patchwork of viticulture and river flats below.
The snaking twists and turns made it harder to keep tabs on the Honda, and it wasn’t long before I completely lost him.
Somewhere along the way, he’d taken a turn off the road and I’d missed it.
“Shit.” After a couple of hundred metres without sighting Austin again, I made a U-turn into a rest area on the opposite side of the road and parked to gather my thoughts.
He couldn’t have got away from me. Not in a few seconds.
There had to be a turnoff that I’d missed.
I put the car in gear and retraced my path at a virtual crawl, scrutinising every break in the tree line no matter how small or overgrown.
I was almost back at the last spot I’d sighted the Honda when I finally found it—a narrow overgrown gravel track heading off along the eastern edge of a pine plantation.
The track was barely wide enough for a single vehicle to pass and disappeared into dense bush, past an unreadable sign lying on the dirt to the side.
I made another U-turn and pulled to the side of the road, weighing my options.
Promise me you’ll be careful. Mads’ final words gnawed at my brain.
Then I thought of Austin. Of his mountain of debt and the Crow brothers’ propensity for making life miserable for people like him. How desperate would that kind of scrutiny make a man? It didn’t take much imagination.
Did I really have a choice?
But I’d promised Mads.
I reached for my phone to call him. To let him know where I was and that I wanted to follow Austin and see what he was up to.
But the console was empty.
I swore and rifled through it again, flinging pens and notes into the back seat before opening the glove compartment and emptying that as well. I was checking the door pocket when it came to me—an image of Mads talking to Samuel after I left him at the traffic lights. Talking on my phone.
“Fucking fuck, fuck!” I slammed my fist on the steering wheel, cursing my stupidity and knowing that the second Mads realised he had my phone, he would’ve been consumed with worry until he heard from me again.
I pictured him pacing with his phone in his hand waiting for me to call, and here I was in the middle of fucking nowhere with no way to get in contact.
Dammit. I’d screwed up . . . again. Together. We were supposed to be in this thing together.
I glared at the gravel track, contemplating my options. As far as I could see, there were two. Leave and head back with no answers and potentially put Chloe in further danger, or risk doing what I’d come to do without anyone knowing what I was up to.
In the end, there was no decision. I couldn’t risk something happening to my mother.
I had to know why Austin was here. And I had to trust that Mads would have my back.
That he’d understand. I had to believe he’d do the same if it was Shirley.
That he’d put Shirley above his own safety. Above my worry for him.
Wouldn’t he?
I shelved the niggling doubt as unhelpful and began to crawl up the bumpy gravel track.
It didn’t go far, as it turned out, snaking around a stand of mature pines that hid it from the road before exiting onto a small clearing where it ended at a large wooden gate with an old Department of Conservation Track Closed sign nailed to the top bar.
The Honda was parked to the side of the gate, but there was no sign of Austin.
Rather than risk crossing the clearing in full view of anyone watching, I steered the rental car off the gravel and bumped my way over thick roots and sucking mud to park behind a couple of pine trees.
It was the best I could do. With the engine off, I sat for a moment and scanned the clearing once again.
Silence hung over the bush except for the sweet call of a tui somewhere to my right.
The stillness made my skin crawl and my pulse quicken.
I pocketed the key fob but left the car unlocked in case I needed to make a quick exit.
Then I threw some old tree ferns over the roof in a loose attempt at camouflage, which turned out better than expected if you ignored the ominous sound of scratching paintwork.
Satisfied with the result, I followed the edge of the clearing around to the gate.
A large wooden board sporting a map of the trail hung askew from a single nail with another Track Closed sticker plastered across its face.
A handwritten addendum in faded marker pen read Bridge collapse.
Track impassable. Use Holbrook Crossing as an alternative.
Angling my head to better read the grubby map, it seemed this particular track had been part of a series of connected trails that formed a much longer multi-day route. There were several huts marked along the way, including one not far from the gate.
I studied the beginning of the trail on the other side of the gate. Overgrown and barely passable, I doubted if many people had passed this way in years. The bridge was only a kilometre or so in, not much of an afternoon hike if you couldn’t cross it.
I drew a deep breath and scouted the clearing again. It had likely been a car park for hikers at some point when the track was open but no longer.
So why was Austin here? I had a pretty good idea, but standing at the gate wasn’t going to answer the question, for sure.
I looked from the Honda to the track, unable to shake the guilt gnawing at my conscience.
Promise me you’ll be careful.
I was pretty damn sure Mads wouldn’t consider what I was about to do in keeping with the spirit of that promise, but Austin had come to this godforsaken place for a reason.
Given that I couldn’t shake the feeling it was because he had my mother stashed somewhere in there, the only way I was going to find out was to follow him in.
And if what I suspected was true, Austin Pattinson was going to regret the day he’d ever been born.
I sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “Well, babe, you did say I had great instincts. Let’s hope you’re right about that.”