The Dry (37 page)

“And the day Ellie died?” he said.

Gretchen's face creased.

“I always knew Luke had lied for you.” Her voice was tight as the tears spilled over. “Because he was with me.”

“Did you hear that?” Gretchen opened her eyes and squinted at the sunlight filtering through the trees. The scrub grass tickled her back.

“Hear what?”

She could feel Luke's breath against her neck as he spoke. He didn't move. His hair was still wet, and his voice was sleepy and muffled. Gretchen tried to sit up but was weighed down by his bare chest pressed against her. Their clothes were in an untidy heap at the base of a tree.

They had stripped down to their underwear before diving into the cool river. Gretchen had felt the heat of Luke's body through the water as he kissed her hard and pressed her up against the bank. The underwear had come off and was now drying on a flat rock.

The river was high, and the water babbled and splashed as it gushed over the rocks downstream. Still, Gretchen heard the noise again. A dry snap deep among the trees. She stiffened. Another one.

“Oh shit,” she whispered. “I think someone's coming.”

She pushed Luke off, and he sat up, frowning and blinking.

“Quick.” Gretchen threw his jeans at him and tried to fasten her bra, hooking it wrong in her haste. “Get dressed.”

Luke gave a wide yawn, which turned into a laugh at her expression.

“All right, I'm moving.”

He checked that his boxers were the right way round before pulling them on. The path was some distance away and hidden by a thick curtain of trees, but they could hear the footsteps more clearly now.

“Please, will you get your pants on,” Gretchen said. She dragged her top over her wet hair. “We should go. It could be anyone. It could be my dad.”

“It's not likely to be your dad,” Luke said, but he pulled his jeans on all the same. He slipped on his shirt and shoes, and they stood shoulder to shoulder in silence, peering through the heavy canopy toward the mouth of the path.

Gretchen almost laughed when the slight figure emerged from the tree line.

“Jesus, it's only Ellie. She almost gave me a heart attack.” She realized she was still whispering.

The girl was walking fast, with her head bowed. At the river she stopped. She stared at the swollen water for a few moments, one hand pressed to her mouth, then turned away.

“Is she down here on her own?” Gretchen said, her voice swallowed by the rush of the river. She thought for a moment she heard another snap, but the path beyond Ellie remained empty.

“It doesn't matter.” Luke was whispering. “You're right. We should go.” He put his hand on her shoulder.

“Why? Let's say hello.”

“I can't be bothered. She's so weird lately. Besides, I'm all wet.”

Gretchen looked down. Her damp bra had soaked through her shirt.

“So what? So am I.”

“Let's just go.”

Gretchen stared at him. The water may have washed away the smell of sex, but the act was written all over his face.

“Why exactly don't you want her to see us?” she said.

“I don't care if she sees us, Gretch.” But he was still whispering. “She's a stuck-up bitch. I don't have the energy today.”

He turned and pushed his way quietly through the trees, away from Ellie, toward the small dirt track that led back to Gretchen's parents' farm. Gretchen took a step after him, then turned, looking back toward Ellie. She was beside a strange-looking tree, crouching down with her hand against a rock.

“What's she doing?” Gretchen said, but Luke was gone.

“When I heard she'd collected stones for her pockets, I didn't sleep for three nights.” Gretchen blew her nose on a tissue. “I saw her. If I'd gone to her, I could have stopped her. But I didn't.” Her words were almost lost in her tears. “I left. Of course. For Luke.”

Gretchen caught up to him a short way along the track.

“Hey.” She pulled at his arm. “What is going on?”

“Nothing, babe.” He took her hand but didn't stop walking. “It's just time I got back.”

Gretchen pulled her hand away.

“She knows you and I are together, you know. Ellie, I mean. It's not a secret.”

“Yeah, babe, of course I know.”

“So why didn't you want her to see us? Why does it matter if the others know we're serious now?”

“It doesn't. Let's drop it,” Luke said, but he stopped and turned to face her. He leaned in for a kiss. “Look, it doesn't matter. But what we have is so great. I just want it to stay something special. Between the two of us.”

She stepped away.

“Yeah, right. What's the real reason? You think there might be someone better on offer?”

“Gretch, come on.”

“Is that it? Because if so, Ellie's right back there waiting—”

Luke made a noise in his throat and started walking again.

“And there are a lot of guys round here who—”

“Don't be like that.” His voice floated over his shoulder. She stared after him. She loved those shoulders.

“What, then?”

He didn't answer.

They emerged from the track into the back paddock of her parents' farm and walked in silence to the house. Gretchen knew her mum and sister were still out. She could hear her dad knocking around in the back barn.

Luke grabbed his bike from where he'd left it against a tree and climbed on. He stretched out a hand, and after a moment, she took it.

“I want to keep some things between us,” he said, looking into her eyes. “But there's no point if you're going to act like a princess every time.”

He leaned in, but she turned her head away from his kiss. He watched her for a moment, then shrugged. She burst into tears as he rode away.

Gretchen let the tears slide down her beautiful face for exactly as long as it took her to realize he wasn't coming back. She felt a surge of anger and, wiping her cheeks, ran into the empty house. She snatched up the keys to the farm truck. She hadn't passed her test, but she'd driven around the fields for years.

Gretchen jumped behind the wheel and took off in the direction Luke had headed. How dare he treat her like that? She spotted his bike ahead of the crossroads. She pulled the truck back a little, keeping her distance, not yet sure what she would say when she caught him. Up ahead, a car trundled over the crossroads across her path, and she touched the brake. A moment later, she flashed through the intersection in her white truck.

Luke Hadler would not speak to her like that, she told herself. She deserved better. Luke took a sudden left turn, and for a heart-stopping moment she thought he was heading back toward the river and Ellie. If he did that, Christ, she would seriously kill him. She followed at a distance, holding her breath. At the last moment he slowed, guiding his bike into his own driveway.

Gretchen stopped some distance away and watched from the road as he opened the front door and went inside. She could see the outline of his mother hanging up washing out the back.

She turned the truck and cried all the way back.

“When I heard Ellie hadn't gone home, I went back to the river myself to check. I half expected to find her holed up with a sleeping bag, keeping out of her dad's way. There was no sign of her.” Gretchen chewed her thumbnail. “Luke and I argued about whether we should say something. But we weren't really worried at that point, you know? She'd been keeping to herself so much by then, I honestly thought she'd turn up when she was ready.” She said nothing for a long moment. “I never once imagined she'd be in that water.”

She turned to look at Falk.

“When they said she'd drowned, I couldn't forgive myself. What if we'd stayed and spoken to her? I'd thought something wasn't right, and I'd turned my back. I was so ashamed. I just shut down. I made Luke promise not to tell anyone we'd seen her. I didn't want anyone to know how badly we'd let her down.”

Gretchen wiped her eyes.

“Then when I thought things couldn't get worse, everyone started pointing the finger at you. Even Luke got scared. If they thought you were involved, what would they say if they knew we were down there? Luke came up with this plan. He'd say he was with you. It would help you; it would help us. And I could pretend for the rest of my life that I hadn't been there. That I hadn't gone to Luke when I should have gone to her.”

Falk handed Gretchen a clean tissue from his pocket. She took it with a small smile.

“You're not responsible for what happened to Ellie Deacon,” he said.

“Maybe. But I could have done more.” She shrugged and blew her nose. “I don't know what it was about Luke. He wasn't a bad guy, but he was pretty bad for me.”

They stood side by side for a while and looked out over the fields, both seeing things that were long gone. Falk took a breath.

“Listen, Gretchen, it's none of my business, but Gerry and Barb, and Charlotte, they—”

“Luke's not Lachie's father.”

“But if—”

“Aaron. Please. Just stop it.” Her blue-eyed gaze met his, but only for a moment.

“Fine.” He nodded. He'd tried. Enough. “It's OK, Gretch. But they're good people. And they've lost a lot recently. So have you. If there's a chance to rescue something positive from all this misery, you should take it.”

She said nothing, just stared back at him, her face giving nothing away. Finally, he held out the hand that wasn't burned. She looked at it, then, to his surprise, reached out and pulled him into a swift hug. Not flirty, not even friendly, but perhaps peaceful.

“See you in another twenty years,” she said.

This time, he thought that was probably about right.

42

Falk's family home now looked even smaller than he'd remembered. Both from childhood and a few weeks ago. He set off past it toward the river, skirting around the edges of the property. He wasn't too worried about seeing the owner this time.

In the hospital, McMurdo had rolled his eyes as he told Falk how a lot of people had swiftly changed their tune. Started to feel downright disapproving of those fliers all of a sudden. Twenty years ago was twenty years ago, for God's sake. Water under the bridge and all that.

Falk tramped through the fields, his head clearer now. Twenty years was twenty years, but some things shouldn't be swept away. Ellie Deacon. She more than anyone had been a victim of this town. Its secrets and lies and fear. She had needed someone. Needed him maybe, and he had failed her. Ellie was the one at risk of being forgotten in all the chaos. Like Karen nearly was. Like Billy.

Not today, Falk thought. Today he would remember Ellie, at the place he knew she'd loved. He reached the rock tree as the sun was starting to dip in the sky. It was nearly April now. The summer fierceness was fading away. They said the drought might break this winter. For everyone's sake, he wanted them to be right this time. The river was still gone. He hoped one day it would come back.

Falk knelt by the rock and pulled out the penknife he'd brought. He found the point where the secret crevasse opened, and started carving. Tiny letters,
E. L. L.
The knife was blunt, and the going was slow, but he persevered to the end. Finally, he sat back against the rock and wiped his forehead. He ran his thumb over the letters, admiring his handiwork. His burned leg felt like it was on fire from the pressure of kneeling.

The pain jogged a thought. With a grunt, he turned and reached into his crevasse, feeling for the ancient lighter he'd left there last time. Nostalgia was one thing, but after recent events, he didn't want to leave temptation around for anyone to find.

Falk knew he'd placed it deep, and at first his good hand found nothing but dirt and leaves. He reached in farther, stretching out his fingers. He felt the metal of the lighter as his thumb brushed against something soft but solid. He jumped, knocking the lighter away. Annoyed, he reached back in and paused as his hand hit the same object. It was rough but pliable and fairly large. Man-made.

Falk peered into the gap. He couldn't see anything and hesitated. Then he thought about Luke and Whitlam and Ellie and all the people who had been hurt by buried secrets. Enough.

Falk thrust his hand in and scrabbled around until he got a firm hold. He gave a tug, and the object came free with a sudden jerk. He fell backward, his chest screaming in pain as it landed on him with a thump. He looked down and sucked in a breath when he saw what he was holding. A purple backpack.

It was covered in cobwebs and dirt, but he recognized it at once. Even if he hadn't, he would have known who it belonged to. Only one other person knew about the gap in the rock tree, and she had taken the knowledge with her into the river.

Falk opened the bag. Laying the items on the ground, he pulled out a pair of jeans, two shirts, a jumper, a hat, underwear, a small bag of makeup. There was a plastic wallet with an ID of a girl who looked a little bit like Ellie Deacon. It said her name was Sharna McDonald and she was nineteen. A roll of money, tens, twenties, the occasional fifty even. Saved, scraped.

At the very bottom of the backpack was another item, wrapped twenty years ago in a raincoat to protect it as she packed. He took it out and held it in his hands for a long while. It was tattered and curled around the edges, but the writing beneath the hard-backed cover was there to read, in black and white. Ellie Deacon's diary.