Page 103 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

‘I’m leaving now.’ Matt ended the call.

‘Be careful,’ Bree urged him, her voice full of concern. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to call the police?’

He was very sure. Calling the police might make an already awful situation worse. ‘I don’t want Vicki to be frightened. And I don’t want her to see her grandmother arrested. That’s what will happen if we call the police. I think Brian’s right, and I want to believe that, between us, we can get Sally to see reason. Let me bring Vicki home. And then get some help.’

He took Bree’s hands in his. ‘I have no right to ask this, but will you come with me? If Sally is … Brian and I might both need to help her. Vicki will need—’

Bree shook her head. ‘You don’t even have to ask. Let’s go.’

They re-entered the shop. The last customers were leaving.

‘We think we know where they are,’ Matt said. ‘We’re going there now. It’s going to be at least three hours.’

‘I hope you find her,’ Rose said. ‘Go.’

Bree hesitated. ‘Nan, is Mike about?’

‘He’ll be here soon. What do you need?’

‘Can he go to the farm, please, and help out?’

‘Of course. Don’t worry.’

For a moment, Matt considered asking Bree what she needed Mike for, but thoughts of Vicki, alone in the national park with her grandmother, pushed everything else out of his mind. They got into the car and, ignoring the speed limit, he headed south.

***

They drove in silence. Bree wished she could think of the words to say to help Matt. She couldn’t tell him Vicki would be fine, because they didn’t know that. They didn’t even know if she really would be at the campsite, but it was the only option they had. Bree didn’t want to even contemplate what would happen if they got to the place and she wasn’t there. The only option then would be to call the police and that would tear Vicki’s small family apart, with little hope of ever recovering.

About thirty minutes into the trip, her phone buzzed. She checked her messages.

‘It’s nothing,’ she told Matt, but it was something. Mike had arrived at The Gums. His text was to say that he and Anna and Maggie were waiting. The first of the twins was still not born, but Sky was all right. Bree was gutted not to be there. Apart from the rarity of such a birth, if the crias survived, they represented a lot of money for her delicately balanced new business. But right now, being with Matt was more important than anything else. She glanced at the phone one last time, noticing the signal had suddenly dropped to nothing, then put it away.

When they arrived at the agreed meeting spot, Matt pulled up in the pub car park and they got out of the car. Brian wasn’t there. It was late afternoon, dark storm clouds were rolling across the sky and the temperature was falling.

‘Vicki didn’t take a jacket to school today,’ Matt said in a voice quivering with anxiety. ‘She’ll get cold.’ He started pacing, his eyes moving from the road to the entrance to the car park and to the mountains in the distance and back again. ‘And where is Brian? He said he’d be here.’ He reached into his pocket for his phone.

Bree put her hand on his arm. ‘Matt. He’ll be driving, so he won’t answer. You’re not helping yourself or Vicki this way. Vicki will need you to be calm when we find them. And we will find them.’

She put her arms around him, meaning to give him a quick supportive hug, but he clasped her to him so hard she could barely breathe.

‘Thank you for being here,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I could cope right now without you.’

She held him tightly for a few seconds, searching for the right words to say.

Before she found them, a car pulled up beside them and Brian got out.

Matt let Bree go. ‘Have you heard anything?’ he asked.

‘No. I did try calling Sally, but there’s no phone signal where I think they are. Are you ready to go? Is your petrol tank full? There’s none where we’re going.’

‘Let’s go. It’ll be dark soon. Vicki will be cold and scared.’

Matt walked back to his car and got in. Bree followed and before long, they were driving into the mountains, following Brian’s white hybrid.

CHAPTER

42

---