Page 78 of The Question of Us
“Fine,” I grumbled. “But I don’t like it.”
“Like I give a shit,” he snapped. “How about you just do as I say for once while I talk to Angela, who, need I remind you, isn’t at all happy about this shitshow. You’re messing in her backyard.”
“Great. Just what I need.” I did a three-point turn and headed back the way I’d come. “Someone’s bound to notice if I keep parading in front of the house like this. It’s a quiet road.”
“Then don’t be seen,” he answered slickly and I wanted to slap him.
“Now why didn’t I think of that?”
Samuel groaned. “Jesus Christ, I’m dealing with children. Tell me when you see their taillights.”
It didn’t take long. I caught them about a kilometre down the road and hung back as Samuel instructed. Another couple of kilometres and the lead car began to slow.
“Looks like they might be turning off,” I told whoever was listening. “There’s a tourist viewpoint sign pointing to a dirt road on the left. I think it leads to a car park.”
The front car made the turn.
“Yes. They’re taking it.”
“Drive past,” Samuel urged. “Don’t slow until you can pull over somewhere safe. Then kill your lights and text me your location.”
I did as he said, making a right-hand turn across someone’s driveway on the opposite side of the road, and then backing up into it. I killed the lights, texted Samuel my location, and kept my eyes on the dirt road to the viewpoint as I waited for him to reply.
“Come on, Samuel. Gazza and Nick could be in that car and I’m sitting here twiddling my thumbs. I need to see what’s happening. What if?—”
“Stay put,” Samuel growled. “You don’t have a chance against two men who are presumably armed. Angela is doing her best to convince her boss to let her check it out, but they’re not happy. It’s been a busy night in Wangaratta and they’re currently winding up a four-car accident on the state highway. In addition to that, Marty Klein is a big deal and well respected in the community, and here we are asking them to look into the whereabouts of two grown men who have been missing all of an hour at one of Marty’s parties.”
“A big deal, huh? Explains why they were so willing to believe his story, and Lee’s,” I grumbled.
“You don’t know that,” Samuel warned, lowering his voice. “That’s a big accusa—hang on.”
I heard muffled voices and figured one of them was Angela.
“Okay, so they’ve agreed to let Angela and her partner leave to check it out, but her bosses are less than happy with us, me included, thank you very much. They also emphasised that this better be a genuine emergency or else. Regardless, it’s gonna take them forty-five minutes to an hour to get to you from the accident site.”
“An hour?” I roared. “Did you tell them Nick’s been kidnapped and Gazza drugged?”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Samuel hedged.
“Like hell we don’t. If Nick and Gazza are in that car, they might not have ten minutes, let alone forty and we—oh fuck, one of the cars is coming back toward the main road.” I leaned forward to peer through the windscreen. “It’s the big SUV, not Gazza’s. It’s turning right onto the main road and heading back toward Marty’s. I’m going back.”
“No. It’s too risky,” Samuel pleaded.
I flipped on my lights and headed for the main road. “I’m gonna search that car park for Gazza’s car, and nothing you say is going to stop me. I’ll call when I find it.”
“Madigan, don’t?—”
I cut Samuel off before he could finish and accelerated down the road. I took the turnoff at speed and almost drifted off the dirt road into a thick stand of gums. Recovering just in time, my heart banged against my ribs like a crazy motherfucker and I didn’t blame it one bit.
Entering the sizeable car park designed for around sixty or so vehicles, I slowed and did a full loop. The viewpoint sat above a deep valley, which, even at night, under a canopy of stars and a half-moon, was pretty damn spectacular. Picnic tables and public barbecues were dotted along the valley lip. Restrooms satat the exit end. And tourist boards indicating various tracks and walks for the adventurous sat at either end.
But there was no sign of Gazza’s BMW.
My heart dropped as one possibility occurred to me. I glanced toward the steep drop-off and swallowed my panic. But a safety barrier sat between the parking lot and the lip of a bluff, unpassable except for one car-sized gap at the far end. I stared at the spot, licking my lips, persuading myself that there hadn’t been enough time for them to roll a vehicle over the edge. They’d been in and out too quickly. Hadn’t they?
Shit.I fumbled with my seat belt and popped the lock. I had to see. I had to know. I had the door half open when the side mirror caught the flash of something parked in the shadows on the far side of the restrooms. I slammed the door shut and drove back across the lot, my headlights illuminating a newer model black BMW backed into the bush.
I reached for my phone, my hands shaking. “I found it,” I blurted before Samuel had a chance to say a word. “It looks empty but I’m going to take a look.”
