Two-Way Cut

chapter 15

He gestured them into the back of the car, saying, Theres no room in the front.

Leah saw that that was true. The front passenger seat and dash area was crowded with a laptop, probably for wireless messaging and making notes, CB radio, mobile phone, police scanner, and three vinyl and hard-shell bags that would probably contain a digital camera, a camcorder and a cassette recorder. The car was also fitted with a satellite navigation system, and an Esky sat in the footwell. There was even a plastic container, mercifully empty. Leah knew from her own experience that surveillance work often meant being cooped up in a car for hours with nowhere to pee. The work of private detectives was mostly routine and boring. They did everyday legwork for lawyers and insurance companies, taking statements, checking records, finding witnesses. They secretly filmed workers compensation claimants and cheating husbands and wives. They spent a large proportion of their time in front of a computer screen or in a car, which was like a mobile office.

The modern detective at work, she said.

The man appeared briefly perplexed, then realized what she was looking at and his face cleared. Yeah.

I’m Leah. You know who Tess is.

He nodded. She waited, watching him start the car, glance in the mirror and accelerate away. Finally she said, Do you have a name?

What? Sure. Theo Reed.

Don’t think Ive ever met a Theo before.

He shrugged, eyes fixed on the road. Guess its not that common.

Have you got ID? You are who you say you are?

In answer he fished inside his jacket, pulled out a thick envelope and passed it over his shoulder to Leah. Inside she found several A4-size pages stapled together. It was a contract between Penleigh Hall Church of England Girls Grammar School and Abbott Investigations Ltd., and countersigned by Dr Susan Heyward for the school and George Abbott for the company.

The school hired you, not the parents? Isn’t that unusual?

Reed shrugged. You’ll have to talk to the office about that.

Leah returned the contract to Reed. George Abbott is your boss?

Correct.

Are you going to tell him you’ve found Tess?

Already have, said Reed. Text messaged him on the mobile last night, once Id found the cottage, and again just now, before getting out of the car.

Tess seemed agitated. Are you taking me back to school?

Yes.

I wont go. You cant make me.

Leah joined in. Tess has good reasons not to return to that school.

Theo took his hands off the wheel briefly as if to say, Well, what can I do about it? All I know is what I was hired to do. He paused. Legally the schools got a duty of care. Anyway, shell be safer there than out here with guys trying to kill her.

Leah sat back in her seat and gazed at the endless struggling crops beyond the sagging fencelines. She said, Look, were glad you came along when you did, but much as I hate to say this, its time we involved the police.

No! Tess said.

No, Theo Reed said.

But you shot a guy, Leah said. The farmers probably already found him, and the bike. Hell report it for sure.

Theo turned and flashed her a look before watching the road again. Did you pay cash for the accommodation?

Yes.

Did you give him your real names?

Of course not.

Is the panel van registered in your name?

No.

Then you have nothing to worry about.

Except a massive manhunt, which is bound to happen if they decide theres a connection between the body and the crashed van. And what if someone saw us get into this car?

They didn’t. The road was clear at that point.

But someone will remember those guys in the Range Rover, and seeing a blue Magna parked nearby.

They’ll remember the Range Rover and those two thugs, thats all. This car is pretty anonymous.

Leah shook her head. She was well acquainted with the flexible standards of private detectives. Many of them were ex-cops, and knew all the tricks. Many of them were crooked. But maybe she and Tess needed a man with Theos standards right now. Hed saved their lives and could take them to safety without involving the police.

The man you shot back at the farm. Who was he?

No idea.

You followed him?

Kind of. I was following you, and noticed that he was also following you. He didn’t spot me.

Leah thought about that as she watched a phone line dip and rise, dip and rise, between poles alongside the road. Birds on a wire. The dead man was after me, she thought, not Tess. Tess had goons after her, I hador havepissed-off cops.

So it would be wise not to bring in the police.

They rode in silence, lulled by the movement of the car. Tess was biting the inside of her cheek, now and then chewing her nails. She said, Leah, I don’t want to go back.

Leah reached out and folded her hand over Tess’s. I know.

You cant make me.

Well think of something.

You cant make me go back to that place.

Leah felt immensely tired. She felt safe now, but not rested, and knew that nothing was finished until things had been settled for Tess—and that meant more work, and time, and concentration, and anxiety.

She stared out of the window, then at the back of Theo’s head. Theo, who do you report to?

My boss.

And he informs the school?

Suppose so.

Who at the school exactly?

Theo shrugged. Whoever signed the contract, I suppose.

In other words, Dr Heyward, the principal, the woman who didn’t want to believe Tess.

Look, Theo, why don’t you take us to a motel in the city, not the school, not your boss. If someones trying to kill Tess I want to do some digging around before we announce ourselves.

She didn’t think he’d buy it, but he shrugged good-naturedly. Sure.

He began to slow the car. They’d come to an intersection in the middle of a broad plain under the vast sky, nobody and nothing about, only their car, a distant blue mountain range, wheat struggling to grow in red soil, and a couple of stunned crows perched on the rim of a scummy sheep trough. That was the universe. The city was an unimaginable place to Leah just then.

Where are we going? she asked, as Theo turned off the highway.

Short cut, Theo said.

To where?

Horsham. Thats where we strike the Western Highway to Melbourne. Check the map if you don’t believe me.

Thats fine.

It was a fast dirt road, that was something in its favour. The big car floated above the corrugations. Soon the other road was far behind them and they were surrounded entirely by failing crops on low hills stitched together by dry creek beds, tired fences and sheep pads. Tess fell asleep. Leah’s eyes grew heavy.

She shifted position. Something was digging into her. She frowned. The dead mans watch. She dug one finger into her hip pocket to fish it out.

But just then Theo seemed to be fighting the steering-wheel. The car was swerving in the powdery dirt and gravel at the side of the road. She ignored it at first, trying to retrieve the watch, the steel band catching on the stiff seam of her pocket. Then it was free and she was reading the inscription on the back of the watch, To Theo, from your loving Anna, when the car slowed and carefully pulled over, and Leah heard, Might as well get out and stretch your legs, girls, we’ve got a puncture.