Lawson's Bend Page 23

  ‘Later on I remember sitting on the platform with Georgie and Ethan being an idiot. If my memory serves me right, he’d brought in some extra booze and he and some of his crew were throwing a few back.’

  ‘I didn’t know that—they were drunk?’

  ‘Nah, not really. I don’t think they could get their hands on much. But you know, Ethan could never hold his booze very well.’

  ‘It always made him want to prove himself,’ Henny replied. ‘Which is why I suppose he caused a scene on the platform.’

  ‘Yeah, that and the fact that he never really got over you,’ he said with a smile. Henny glanced at him. ‘You knew that, right? He made a big thing about ditching you and then taking up with Kylie. But he always knew he’d made a mistake and he never had the brains to work out how to fix it. I guess we all do stupid things, some worse than others.’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘Do you believe in forgiveness, Henny? Could you forgive someone who wronged you?’

  Henny shifted from one foot to the other. Everything about this conversation was off. ‘I guess that depends what they had done. Although Mum always told me to take the higher ground—so yes, I suppose I do believe in it.’

  He didn’t answer straight away and Henny pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. How long until Stephen got here?

  ‘Do you remember the noise that bloody platform made as it collapsed?’ Dan asked before he took a sip from the bottle.

  Henny put her phone back in her pocket. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. It was like a clap of thunder right above your head. I never want to hear anything like it again.’

  ‘I’m with you on that,’ Dan said.

  ‘Listen, Dan, I’m not sure how to say this but I’ve found out that there were traces of drugs in Georgie’s system. We all know that she never did anything like that, so I’ve been wracking my brain to try and work out how it was possible. You were the last person to see her—did you notice anything?’ The light seemed to go out of his eyes. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Just what I said. Did you notice anything different about her or see who she’d been talking to before the platform collapsed?’

  ‘No, I mean I don’t know who she was talking to.’ He shifted his position on the step a couple of times. He took another swig from the bottle before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

  ‘Well, I just thought I’d ask,’ Henny said as she realised that Dan seemed agitated.

  ‘It sounds like a bullshit story,’ Dan said, looking over to her. ‘Someone is playing with you.’

  Henny drew in a breath and shook her head. ‘It’s not bullshit, Dan, it’s part of the official report. Georgie took drugs and I’m just trying to work out who gave them to her.’ ‘I don’t know why you’ve got to keep asking all these bloody questions . . .’

  ‘Well, I think that’s pretty obvious—I want to know what happened to my friend.’

  ‘Nothing will bring her back.’

  ‘No, it won’t—but the whole truth about that night needs to be exposed.’

  ‘That’s your problem, Hen, always sticking your nose in where it’s not wanted—just like your mum.’

  ‘My mum? What has she . . .’

  Dan cut her off. ‘The past is over, just let it go. Stop asking all these bloody questions and just let everyone get on with their lives. The memorial was a piss-poor idea, we should have just left it alone,’ Dan said quickly.

  ‘I don’t understand why . . .’

  ‘Because Harley would probably still be alive if we hadn’t had the damn thing. We should have just forgotten the whole thing ever happened. Remembering doesn’t do the dead any good—it’s just to make the living feel better.’

  ‘Well, you’re probably right but that’s a bit pessimistic don’t you think?’ Henny asked.

  ‘Just leave it, Henny. I don’t know what happened that night, I don’t know anything about drugs,’

  ‘I never said that you did.’

  ‘But that’s what you implied. I know what you’re like, Hen, clever and sharp. You pretend to be all sweet and caring but you’re trying to trip me up.’ Dan stood up. ‘You go on and on with your questions until . . .’

  ‘I think that you need to leave,’ Henny said. ‘Maybe go and sleep it off—I’ll tell Stephen that you wanted to see him.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere. It’s just another one of your ploys.’

  Henny frowned. ‘I’ve got no idea what the hell you’re talking about, Dan. You’re ranting and I don’t have any idea why.’

  ‘Because you don’t know what it’s like to carry around this guilt. It gnaws at you day and night until you’re hollow inside. It makes you do things that you’d never thought you’d do. I never meant to hurt her, I just didn’t know what the stuff would do to her.’

  A cold stone of dread settled in Henny’s stomach. Her back stiffened as she stepped away from the verandah rail where she’d been leaning.

  ‘Oh my God. You killed Georgie.’

  ‘Henny, just stop for a minute,’ Dan said, starting to rise. ‘I need to explain.’

  She shook her head before spinning on her heel and running through the front door, slamming it shut and locking it. Henny leant against the door and took a deep breath, then pulled her phone out of her pocket.

  ***

  Stephen had just made it into Lawson’s Bend when he pulled off the road to answer his phone.

  ‘Hey, Mark,’ Stephen said.

  ‘Hi Stephen. Listen, my great-uncle has spent the last hour trying to get me to change my mind, but I can’t come back to Lawson’s Bend—at least, not yet. But there’s something that you should know.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Why I can’t come back. I’m guessing that you and Henny may have thought that I had something to do with Harley’s death but I didn’t. His death is not on my conscience—but Georgie’s is.’

  ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’

  ‘I know some things that happened that day—things that could change the way people remember it.’

  ‘Enough with the riddles, Mark. What happened?’ Stephen said. He could hear Mark take a couple of breaths on the other end of the phone, as if steadying himself.

  ‘Dan had brought drugs to the break-up, and I was the one who bought them for him.’

  ‘Okay, stupid move for both of you but I don’t see what—’

  ‘Just let me finish,’ Mark said. ‘After the platform collapsed, I challenged Dan about what happened to Georgie. I asked if she’d taken any, and he said that she had. But Georgie was not that kind of person—I didn’t believe that she would’ve taken them by choice.’

  Stephen thought about Georgie for a second. Mark was right, she wasn’t a party girl—it just wasn’t in her nature. ‘So what happened?’

  ‘He told me that he had slipped it into her drink. You know what that means, Stephen? Georgie drowned because of the drugs. She was a good swimmer; she would’ve been okay if Dan hadn’t given her the stuff. And I got them for him. I killed Georgie!’

  ‘He told you that?’ Stephen asked. He was blindsided by what Mark was telling him. If it were true this was a whole side of Dan that he had never seen.

  ‘Yeah, and when I said that I was going to tell the police, Dan said that he’d tell them that I was a drug dealer, and . . .’

  ‘What?’

  Mark went on, his voice sounding haunted by memories. ‘He got angry and attacked me, and then he pushed me off the cliff.’

  ‘This is nuts,’ Stephen said. It felt like a bad dream. ‘And then what happened?’

  ‘Well, this is the worst part . . . I never told anyone. I was too scared of being found out, so I just shut my mouth and ran away. That’s why I’ve never came back. How could I? How could I face Georgie’s family and her friends? How could I live there when every part of the town will remind me daily that I killed her?’

  ‘You didn’t kill her. Stop saying that. You wer
e stupid and scared, that’s all.’

  ‘I got him the drugs—and I knew he wanted to get with Georgie. It doesn’t matter what you say, I know my own guilt.’

  ‘Look, that’s something we can talk about; but I need to know something . . .’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Was Harley there? Did he see any of this?’

  ‘No. The last I saw of him was when I pulled him out of the water. He was down at the shore.’

  Stephen glanced at his phone. ‘Listen, I’ve got an incoming call. I’ll phone you back as soon as I can. Oh, and Mark—thank you.’ He switched to the other call. ‘Henny, you’re not going to believe this.’

  ‘Stephen, I need your help. Where are you?’

  ‘Just got into town. What’s the matter?’

  ‘Dan’s here and he’s been drinking. Stephen . . . he killed Georgie. He just told me. This sounds crazy I know, but it’s true.’ Henny explained quickly. ‘He slipped some drugs into her drink, and that’s why she drowned.’

  Stephen’s heart was immediately racing, and then a noise in the background threatened to send him into full-blown panic. ‘Henny, what’s happening?’

  ‘He’s trying to get in—he’s trying to break down the door! I’ve got to go. Hurry, Stephen, ring the police!’ Henny said before the line went dead.

  ‘Henny, wait—damn it!’ Stephen punched triple-O into his phone before pulling back out on the road and driving as fast as he could towards Henny’s cottage.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Henny ran down the hall and into her bedroom. Dover was asleep on his teal velvet bed. She’d given him the next dose of his medicine a little while ago and it had obviously kicked in. She wanted to scoop him up and get him to the car but Dan stood between them and it, so that was out. Patting his head, she prayed that he’d be alright.

  Dan was still trying to break down the door, and from the creaking and splintering noises it sounded like he was succeeding. Henny headed towards the lounge room at the back of the house. A loud cracking sound made her turn in alarm to see Dan barrelling through the doorframe. He glanced at her bedroom door but then caught sight of her.

  Henny felt the adrenalin coursing through her body as she slipped out the back door and ran as fast as she could down the garden and out the gate. Without looking back she flew up the dirt track that led to the bush behind her house. Henny had walked Dover all through the area and she was sure that she knew it better than Dan. There were places within the tangled foliage where she could hide, she just had to make it to them. The ground was rocky and uneven but she kept her focus and pressed on, trying to ignore the pounding footsteps coming up behind her.

  As she turned down a narrower path, Henny looked back. Dan was moving quickly but there was still enough distance between them to give her a decent chance. She kept going down the track a little further before slipping between the trees and cutting across country.

  ***

  Stephen felt relief wash over him as he turned the corner and Henny’s house came into view. As he started to slow down, something in the afternoon sun caught his eye. Looking up, he saw Dan running up the hill behind Henny’s house as if the devil was chasing him. Stephen pulled the car over, jumped out and ran after Dan, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

  He was still some way behind Dan when he saw him veer down a skinny track.

  ‘Dan! Hold up—wait!’ he called out, but Dan didn’t stop.

  All Stephen could do was run after him. Because instinctively he knew that Henny was what he was chasing.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Harley

  Killop Reservoir, 2 February 2008

  Harley stumbled away from the clearing, not wanting to believe what he’d just seen. He could hear heavy footsteps closing in behind him and he started back down the hill. His heart beat double time as fear took hold. His breath came in short, sharp bursts as he scrambled through the undergrowth. The trees and bushes seemed to reach out their branches and tried to snare him as he passed—they scratched his face and tugged at his clothes. Dan caught up and clamped his hand on Harley’s shoulder and dragged him to a halt.

  ‘Harley, will you quit running? Everything is okay and no one’s going to hurt you.’

  Harley shook his head and tried to wriggle out of his grasp. Dan was his friend, Dan had always looked out for him, but something was very wrong. Dan had hurt Mark and then pushed him off the cliff. Harley had to find him and make sure that he was okay.

  ‘Can you just stop for a minute?’ Dan said.

  Harley turned his head and stared at Dan. ‘You pushed him. You pushed him.’

  ‘Calm down,’ Dan said firmly. ‘You’re working yourself up.’

  ‘You pushed him off the edge—why did you do that?’

  ‘We just had a fight, that’s all.’

  ‘He could be hurt.’

  ‘Oh, come on. Yeah it’s a drop but it won’t kill him.’

  ‘But why did you do it?’ Harley asked. ‘Has Georgie got something to do with it?’

  Dan stared at Harley for a minute. ‘Just how much did you overhear?’

  Harley looked down, breaking eye contact. His heart was still hammering and he wanted to find Mark, but Dan still had his hand on his shoulder. ‘You didn’t answer my question. What did you hear?’

  ‘That Mark said what happened to Georgie was your fault—what did he mean, Dan?’

  ‘Nothing, Mark was just talking shit. He’s upset about what happened and he’s lashing out. I didn’t do anything to Georgie—you believe me, don’t you?’

  Harley thought about Dan’s words. He wanted to believe him.

  ‘Listen, Harley, Mark’s upset and saying crazy things. If he told someone, even though it’s not true, I could really get in trouble.’

  Harley frowned. ‘What sort of trouble?’

  ‘Big trouble. The type that I might get taken away for. You wouldn’t want that, would you?’

  Harley shook his head. ‘No.’

  ‘I didn’t think so,’ Dan said with a smile. ‘Because if I went away, who is going to look out for you? Come on, we’ve been friends since kindergarten and I’ve always had your back. Remember?’

  ‘Yes, I remember. We’re friends.’

  ‘That’s right and you wouldn’t want to get me into trouble, would you? You’d want to protect me just like I’ve always done for you.’

  Harley nodded.

  ‘Good, that’s good,’ Dan said, giving Harley an awkward hug. ‘I knew that I could always count on you.’

  ‘What do I have to do?’

  ‘Nothing mate, just don’t tell anyone that you saw us on the cliff. Pretty simple, eh?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Henny scrambled over the rocky ground and through clumps of young saplings and gorse. The terrain had slowed her down a little and she had to be careful because the bush was riddled with ruins from the 1850s’ gold rush. And on top of the unexpected mineshafts that cropped up, parts of the area had been combed over by modern-day prospectors and their gold detectors, so it wasn’t uncommon to trip over more recent exploratory holes.

  Henny headed towards the quarry; there was a niche in a rock formation in the gully, hidden by tangled bush, that she had found by accident on one of her walks with Dover. If she could get there then maybe she could wait for Dan to pass and double back.

  It seemed like a plan—well, it was the only one she had. Henny winced as yet another twig scratched her cheek as she made her way through the undergrowth. The land began to dip towards the gully and Henny knew that her hiding spot wasn’t far away, but when she broke through a line of gums she saw Dan standing in the clearing.

  ‘You can’t run, Henny. I know these parts just as well as you do—maybe even better. I figured you’d be coming this way,’ he said with a smile. ‘You were either heading for the quarry or the res.’

  Henny stood straight but didn’t venture into the clearing. She surveyed the scene
and tried to work out what was her best bet of getting out of there. She could go back the way she’d come, but cutting through the bush again would slow her escape. On the right of the clearing was the path that led to the quarry—perhaps that was her way out? But first she had to get past Dan.

  ‘Just leave me alone, Dan,’ she called out. ‘Get out now and I’ll even give you some breathing room before I call the police.’

  ‘Sorry, Hen, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I said something stupid and now you know—there’s no coming back from that.’

  ‘So what do I know?’ Henny asked as she inched forward. Further to the left in the clearing, a metal detector enthusiast’s recent diggings had created a new series of holes that she’d noticed recently. They weren’t deep but it might be enough to throw Dan off so she had a chance to get away.

  ‘You tell me,’ Dan said with a tilt of his chin.

  ‘Alright. You had some drugs, and you slipped some into Georgie’s drink. You wanted her, and you knew that it was your last chance, so you thought you’d drug her and then do what you wanted with her. Except the platform collapsed, and she went under the water and couldn’t be found. And you knew that it was because of the drugs you gave her—she was normally a good swimmer who should have easily swum to safety. But she couldn’t because of what you did. So she drowned, and it was your fault. I remember that night—you were inconsolable, you kept screaming out her name and Stephen and Leon had to physically restrain you from diving back into the water. Everyone felt so sorry for you, but they didn’t know the truth did they? I’d bet that only a couple of people may have guessed your secret—Harley and Mark.’

  ‘That’s pretty good, Henny. I always thought that you were clever,’ Dan replied with a nod. ‘But I have to tell you that I never meant to kill her. I know that doesn’t count for shit but I never planned to do it.’

  ‘If I was that clever I would have figured this out a whole lot sooner. You were behind those nasty messages I got, warning me off, right?’

  ‘Right again.’

  ‘But why did you pick Georgie? I don’t understand it. She was lovely and funny and brilliant—I thought you liked her,’ Henny’s voice cracked as she said the words.