The House at the Bottom of the Hill (32 page)

Death had been soft, she thought as she looked at Grandy’s features. There was a hint of serenity on his face and no horrid contraptions in his mouth or throat. There’d been no time. He’d gone. Never to come back.

‘He told me he saw my mother,’ Junior said.

‘He loved her,’ Ethan said softly.

Junior took hold of his father’s hand. ‘Looks like he loved yours too.’ He glanced up at Ethan.

‘For one night,’ Ethan said. ‘He told me it was only the once.’

Junior nodded. ‘He was the best man I ever knew. Didn’t think he had secrets, but I was probably too close to him to notice.’

‘He didn’t mean any of this to hurt any of you.’

‘Of course he didn’t.’ Junior seemed to recover from his pain, and cleared his throat. ‘I’m sure going to miss him. But there’s only you and me here now, Ethan. So let’s get this done for him.’ He bent and softly kissed his father’s forehead. ‘Thank you for everything. Say hi to Mum, would you?’

Hot, sharp tears prickled Charlotte’s eyes as she said her own, silent farewell to Grandy.

Ethan gave Junior a long look, mouth drawn. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to say something to him I’ve never been given the chance to say before.’

Junior nodded. ‘Now’s the time.’

Ethan lifted Grandy’s hand and held it in both of his. He looked down at his father. ‘I love you, Dad,’ he said quietly.

Charlotte swallowed the lump of emotion rising in her throat.

Junior looked up at Ethan. ‘I’ve said that to him many times.’ His mouth moved as though he were chewing the words before he spoke them. ‘But I reckon hearing you say it for the first time was the best time I’ve heard it said.’

Ethan put his father’s hand back on the bed. ‘I’m so sorry, Mr Morelly.’

Junior gripped his father’s hand tighter. ‘We don’t apologise, Ethan. We’re brothers.’ He looked across Grandy’s body into Ethan’s eyes. ‘And my name is Edmond.’

Ethan inhaled a ragged breath, and Charlotte slipped out of the curtained room.

She walked the length of the empty and silent corridor for the umpteenth time and turned as the doors creaked open at the other end. Daniel walked through and paused.

Charlotte gazed at him. He’d come. He must have driven. The joy of seeing him was almost too much in the light of everything that had happened and all they’d shared before now. They’d bickered and quarrelled. They’d lied to each other. They’d argued in the rain a few hours ago but still, he was the only comfort she wanted.

He walked towards her, his arms out and Charlotte ran to him. He crushed her into an embrace and rocked her.

She breathed in the living aroma of him. ‘Grandy died,’ she said, face against his shoulder.

‘I know.’

‘Edie was born.’

He stroked the back of her head. ‘I know.’

‘And I’m not talking to you.’

He laughed, gently and softly. ‘So what are you doing buried my arms?’

‘Taking a bit of comfort.’ She’d been alone for two hours. Ethan was with Sammy and his new baby, and Junior had left to visit his sisters on the outskirts of the city. ‘I wanted a hug from someone and you’re the only person available.’

He held her tighter.

She should leave the security of his arms before the strong, steady impression of him melted the last of the emotional strength she had left. ‘I’ve done everything wrong,’ she whispered.

‘So have I.’

They shouldn’t be having this conversation. Not here, in the hospital where she’d said goodbye to one life and welcomed another. But the remonstrative words tumbled out anyway. ‘You shouldn’t have bought my house.’

‘I’m giving it back to you.’

‘I don’t want it.’

He tightened his hold of her. ‘We have to talk, Charlotte, but not here. I came to get you.’

‘You didn’t have to. I was going to hire a car.’

‘Capable as ever,’ he said, a smile in his voice.

How wrong could he be? His soft tease brought with it the many thoughts of the struggles she still faced. Her house, and what to do about it. She wasn’t even sure which of them owned the house. Did signatures cement the sale? Or would she have to wait until Daniel’s money hit her bank account? How long would it take her to pack? Would she even get to see baby Edie again? And Lucy—would Daniel take the dog?

Too many sensitive issues to think about in the hallway of a hospital. She gathered her thoughts tight and focussed on the now. ‘Did you come with anyone else?’ she asked, pushing away from him, sniffing back the tears and wiping her eyes with her fingertips. ‘Julia?’

‘No, Julia’s in town looking after little Lochie and helping out with …’

Charlotte looked up when he paused. ‘What’s happened?’

‘I came to get you because for a moment I forgot how capable you were.’ He smiled. ‘I didn’t even think about you hiring a car. But we have to get back to Swallow’s Fall now.’

‘Can’t we wait until we see Edie and Sammy?’

His smile faded as he shook his head. ‘I’ve got more bad news.’

Charlotte’s heartbeat thumped in her chest. ‘Is it the house? Is it Lucy?’

Daniel looked into her eyes, compassion and focus in his gaze. ‘Ted’s gone missing.’

One a.m. The emotional whirlwind she’d been through in the last hours had left Charlotte unexpectedly calm. Maybe it was the night sky laid above her like an iron-black mantle, or the cool, still air she walked through. She smelled more rain in the clouds that appeared like shadows in the sky. Maybe ghosts crossing the wilderness of life into the tomorrow of somewhere heavenly. Charlotte hoped so. Heavenly sounded perfect this late at night.

Her limbs ached. Her heart beat steadily but it ached too. Her mind raced and her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten properly in almost twenty-four hours. But that had been her only foolishness since Daniel had dropped her off at Mrs J’s house four hours ago.

She heaved the backpack more firmly onto her shoulder as she and Mrs J trod the wet, slippery land. The bag was packed with a spare torch and batteries; water; a minimal first-aid kit—the only one she’d had at home—some biscuits they’d been nibbling on as they walked the High Country in the darkness; a flask of coffee; a coil of nylon rope; a space blanket and a tin box full of matches and dry kindling.

‘Are we heading in the right direction?’ she asked Mrs J, who wore a padded body-warmer, tweed trousers and Wellington boots. Charlotte has slowed her pace over the last hour of trudging through fields and up and down hillsides. Mrs J hadn’t spoken for twenty minutes, her breathing hard in her chest, telling Charlotte she was tired, and probably couldn’t walk through the rest of the night searching for Ted.

‘We’re on the back end of Ray Smyth’s farm,’ Mrs J said. ‘We’ll descend from here onto the heritage trail.’

‘Where will the others be?’

Mrs J stopped walking. ‘Most likely Dan and Josh are skirting the other side of Ray’s place. I reckon the volunteer rescue folk will be fanned out around the hillside by the town.’

‘Here.’ Charlotte slid the backpack off her shoulder and put it onto a grassy mound. ‘Sit down for a while. Let’s take a rest.’ She led Mrs J to a seat-sized boulder and made her sit, then got the flask of coffee and two plastic cups out of the bag, and sat on the boulder next to Mrs J.

Mrs J sipped the lukewarm but still refreshing coffee as Charlotte wrapped her numbed hands around her own plastic cup. Summer or not, the night was cooler than she’d expected. Perhaps it was the air that floated around them in the silence and the unknown outcome of their endeavours that chilled her the most.

‘Will we find him?’ Charlotte asked.

‘Like as not.’

‘Has he been gone this long before?’ He’d been gone fourteen hours now.

Mrs J shook her head. ‘Only went missing once before. Four hours he was gone, although he thought he’d been away for weeks. Daniel found him at the bottom of the field behind the stock feeders’.

‘Poor Grace.’

‘She does her best.’

‘You all do.’ Charlotte had been more impressed by the gathering of people in the town when Daniel had driven her down Main Street around nine p.m. than with anything she’d ever witnessed. Every nook, shadowy corner and crevice around town had been searched. Every shopkeeper had opened up, switched on the lights in their shops and pulled blinds, lighting the street. Ted hadn’t been found. A two-kilometre radius had been combed, the townspeople calling out, shedding the beams from torches onto the verges and into every bush. Charlotte and Daniel searched Grandy’s farmhouse—skirting the perimeter of the gardens and driveway, and eventually breaking into the house to search that too. Daniel did it as carefully as possible, wrapping an old sack around his hand to smash a pane of glass on the farmhouse back door.

Charlotte hadn’t worried about being in Grandy’s house. His spirit wasn’t there; it was someplace better. But she’d felt the emptiness as they left, Daniel covering the smashed pane of glass with the hessian sack, and locking up behind them. Who would love the farmhouse next?

‘Just hope Ted regains consciousness,’ Mrs Johnson said, bringing Charlotte back to the night and the endeavours ahead of them.

‘You think he’s had an accident?’

‘Possibly. But I mean mentally back, not physically. If he’s hurt, I hope he found himself somewhere safe to shelter from the thunderstorm.’

Charlotte peered at the grass, thinking about Ted and his woes. ‘Many normal people say they’ve been taken by … by extra-terrestrials.’ Saying the word out loud felt silly, but she was determined not to make light of Ted’s issues.

Mrs J looked across. ‘You saying you believe Ted?’

‘I believe he believes it.’

Mrs J nodded. ‘I think we both know it’s a kind of post-traumatic stress.’

‘The twins?’

‘Things haven’t been so good at the stock feeders’ either. Fewer people coming in wanting goods. Less money to spend around town.’ Mrs J nodded at Charlotte’s backpack. ‘Hadn’t you better call Dan? Let him know where we are?’

Daniel didn’t know Charlotte had persuaded Mrs J to take her with her. Daniel didn’t know Charlotte was out on the hillside—and Charlotte knew he wouldn’t like it. ‘He’ll be busy. I’ll call him later.’

Mrs J frowned. ‘Doesn’t know you’re with me, does he?’

Charlotte was pretty sure a wisp of a smile slid across Clarissa’s face. ‘I’m not talking to him.’

‘So how come you were with him in town earlier, hooked to his side as you both looked for Ted?’

Charlotte shifted on the boulder and settled more comfortably. ‘He coerced me into staying with him.’ She’d run into Daniel’s arms at the hospital, and he’d been tender, but silence had settled between them on the drive back to Swallow’s Fall.

‘Man of force, our Daniel,’ Mrs J said with a hint of teasing in her tone. ‘What a thug, making you tag along with him— especially as you’re not talking to him.’

Charlotte grimaced. ‘He said he didn’t trust me not to go wandering off on my own.’ He was right, of course, but she wasn’t going to give him the benefit of knowing that just yet. He’d sent her to stay with Mrs Johnson and Lily up at their house and she’d gone, ostensibly willingly. But there was no way Charlotte was going to be held back from helping the search for Ted.

‘There’s a lot can be said without words, Charlotte.’

Charlotte didn’t want to continue this conversation. The secrets and lies uncovered in the last twenty-four hours had been mostly her fault—apart from Daniel going behind her back and buying her house, which was surely underhand. She didn’t know, and didn’t have time to think about it now. He’d said he wanted to talk later. Charlotte was done talking. She needed to get out of town and give herself time to recuperate and ponder the many events of the last five weeks. Events that had turned her from a self-assured woman into a saddened, lonely person hoping the quest had an end. Once Ted had been found, she’d pack all her belongings into her 4WD and leave Daniel to deal with his house and the townspeople. Although if she ever found out they’d allowed him to paint the weatherboard yellow, she might march straight back into town and show him phase three of the hammer grip manoeuvre.

Mrs J threw the contents of her plastic cup on to the grass at her feet. ‘Best get on.’

‘Why don’t you wait here, Mrs Johnson?’ Charlotte asked as Clarissa struggled to stand. ‘I’ll keep going.’ She stood up and helped Mrs J to her feet.

‘You don’t know where you’re heading.’

‘I’m unlikely to get lost if I hit the heritage trail soon, and I’ve got Lucy with me.’

At the sound of her name, Lucy padded up to Charlotte, cocked her head and waited.

‘I’ll rest a bit then make my way down the hill,’ Mrs J said.

‘You don’t have a mobile phone?’ Charlotte asked as she repacked the backpack.

‘Can’t afford one. Wouldn’t need one anyway, I’m only a twenty-minute walk into town.’

‘You’re a two-hour hike from town now. Here.’ Charlotte pulled her mobile phone out of the backpack and handed it over. ‘I’ll leave you the coffee too, but I’ll take the water in case I find Ted.’

‘Don’t know how to use a mobile.’

Charlotte unlocked the phone so anyone could use it, and showed Mrs J the screen. ‘If someone calls,’ although Charlotte had no idea who would—unlikely to be the realtor at this time of the night, ‘you press Answer. If you want to call someone, press Call and punch in their number.’

‘All right. I got that. I might give Lily a quick call. I’ll pay you for the cost, mind.’

Charlotte couldn’t help the laughter that tumbled through her lips at Mrs J’s politeness. ‘We won’t worry about that now.’ She lifted the torch from the darkened grass.

‘Take it easy on the downwards slope, watch your footing. It’s slippery.’

‘I will.’ Charlotte patted Mrs J’s shoulder, and in a moment of sudden appreciation, bent and gave her shoulders a quick hug.

‘You should hit the heritage trail in about an hour,’ Mrs J called as Charlotte tramped away, keeping the white tip of Lucy’s bobbing tail in view. A full moon tonight. Maybe Grandy had sent it to guide her.

‘She’s
what
?’ Dan stared Josh in the eye, blinking against the sweat running down his forehead. Five hours he’d been out looking for Ted. Not a lengthy time. He suspected the rest of the night and the day was ahead of him, but given the trauma of everything that had happened, his body was holding up but his mind told him he was whacked and needed a break.