Page 88 of The Meaning Of You

A knock on the glass had everyone turning toward the ranch slider. A man poked his head through the opening. “That CCTV footage is ready when you’ve got something to work with.”

Samuel nodded and turned back to the group. “The search of Justin’s property unearthed a treasure trove of evidence and information, much of it encrypted, digital and otherwise—seems Justin liked his codes. There’s still a team working on it now. But there was no evidence of any underground railway for domestic violence victims, so I’m not sure where that leaves us in that regard.”

I looked away, remembering my own mother and wondering how things might’ve been different if she’d had someone like Justin on her side to help her out... helpusout... regardless of the morally grey stance he took in most other areas of his work.

I swallowed hard and asked, “Have you told Lizzie?”

Samuel grimaced. “Like I could avoid it. She’s been on my case all day since the fire, and when Jerry let me know about Mads, I told Mum the basics. She’s horrified and also furiouswith Davis. She wanted to drive over but I managed to put her off... for now, at least. Don’t know how long that will last.”

Shirley spoke up. “I should call Jonas, Madigan’s brother. His family live in Sydney. They deserve to know. He’s Madigan’s next-of-kin.”

Samuel nodded. “When we’re done talking.”

Shirley didn’t look too happy about being told what to do but she gave a curt nod. “I suppose that works. But I’m not a child, detective, so please don’t treat me like one.”

Samuel wisely let it go and turned back to me. “Okay, now we need you to go through everything again.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Nick

“No,”I snapped, glaring at Samuel. “This is a waste of fucking time. I’ve already told you everything. You should be out there now, looking for him.”

“And where exactly would you have us look?” Samuel eyeballed me until I squirmed. “A little direction to narrow things down would be helpful. The sooner you start talking, the sooner we might get that. You’d be surprised what you remember the second and even third time around.”

I swallowed the caustic reply bubbling on my tongue and said, “Fine.” And I began outlining everything I’d found out about Davis’s research, what he had been up to prior to the accident, his relationship with Justin, the break-ins, the caravan, everything right up to the kidnapping of Mads. They listened in silence until I was done.

Ian was the first to respond. “Mads said they were waiting for you, right?”

I nodded.

“But there was no vehicle on the property?”

I thought about that. “Other than mine, no.”

Ian and Samuel shared a look, then Ian continued, “They didn’t vanish into thin air, so they had to have had transport stashed somewhere. Think it through.”

I closed my eyes and thought back to the drive home. Mads had been quiet; we both had. Visiting the crash site had taken an emotional toll and I understood Mads was giving me space to process it. We turned into Mads’ road and— “There was a car,” I blurted. “An SUV, parked on the verge outside his neighbour’s place. I remember Mads turning to look at it as we passed. I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

“Describe it,” Samuel interrupted.

I thought back. “I think it was a Ford Explorer but I can’t say for sure.”

Samuel slid forward on his seat. “Colour?”

I tried to picture it but my pounding brain made it hard to think. “Grey? No, blue. Yes, blue. Dark blue.”

Samuel shot to his feet and called it in. When he came back, he said, “They’ll check all the CCTV around this area for similar vehicles in that time frame.”

Thank God.They were finally doing something.

I thought I was done, but Ian asked me to go through it all again. That’s when the questions started.A lotof questions. Questions about the fake passport and licence. Why I’d thought Davis might be having an affair. The state of my marriage before the accident. Davis’s writing career and his next book. About Lachlan King. About Davis’s death. About the car I’d seen parked up the road when we’d driven back that morning.

The last set of questions focused on my relationship with Mads. I floundered to define it, something not missed by Samuel who gave me a look that said we’d be discussing it later. Well, he could fuck right off for a start.

“Enough,” I growled. “I don’t have anything else.”

Ian pressed on regardless. “This notebook you think they wanted?—”

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