Page 143 of The Vanishing Place
“I gave Four that meal. I set that plate in front of him.” Tia’s tears filled the quiet. “I had no idea what Peter had done.”
“They poisoned him? Just for talking?”
“You don’t understand. Peter demands, without exception, thatwe hold ourselves separate from the outside world. He says we would be better to eat possum bait than to be poisoned by the sinful words of outsiders. And Peter’s word—the Guardian’s word—is law.”
“Guardian?”
“The Guardian of truth. Of God’s message.” Tia’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Peter claims to speak for God. He says that separating ourselves from the corrupt world is the only way to stave off evil and save ourselves.”
A wave of heat pulsed through Effie’s brain. The scene, the empty hut, Morrow’s words.My team were all over that hut for a day and a half.They didn’t find a trace of your sister.It didn’t add up.
“But the police went through the hut,” she said. “There was no evidence of Peter or you. There was nothing to indicate that anyone else had been there.” Effie hesitated, trying to make sense of it. “And the prints on the knife, they were small…Anya said that when she left you, that you were dead.”
Tia didn’t answer.
“I don’t understand.” Effie frowned. There were so many holes, so many things that didn’t make sense. “If Anya loved Peter, why would she run away? Why would she—”
“She was scared.”
Effie pushed her fingers into her temples. “It doesn’t make—”
“People only see what Peter wants them to see,” said Tia. “Peter controls everything. He is everything. And Anya loved him fiercely. She would never have left him. They would have died in the trees together.” Tia paused. “But then, Anya loved Four too.”
Effie pulled against her restraints, willing herself an inch closer.
“The last thing Four did,” said Tia, “before he took his final breath, was to unchain her. To set her free.”
Effie waited for more, but Tia fell silent. A second. A minute.
“Anya cut a cross into Four’s chest,” Tia said eventually, “so that God would know to take him.”
Effie closed her eyes and pictured Anya in Koraha, waiting for her.
“There’s something else you should know,” Tia went on. “Peter, he’s…Peter is Asher’s dad. Except he’s not Asher. His real name is Adam. Adam lied to us…about his name and who he was.”
Effie stared at the door, at the spot where her sister sat on the other side, then she reached her hand out.
“Adam didn’t die that day, Effie.” Tia took a breath. “Adam never left.”
A cold understanding pulsed through Effie’s chest. “Is Asher—Adam, I mean—is he…?”
“Yes,” said Tia. “Adam is Anya’s dad.”
Effie covered her mouth with her hand, knowing what her sister was going to say next.
“Adam brought Peter here. Adam did all of this.”
1994
Adam removed theuntouched plate of food from his sister’s room.
Dinah sat on her bed, staring at the wall. Her mouth hung open slightly, and strands of greasy hair stuck to her face. She didn’t look at him. She didn’t move her head. Maybe she hadn’t noticed him slip in. Adam could be quiet as a mouse when he needed to be.
Dad had boarded up Dinah’s window in the new house, but Adam had stuck up pictures of the beach and the forest for her. There was a pretty one of a fantail too. Dinah liked birds.
“I’ve brought you some tea,” said Adam. “Peppermint.”
But she just stared at the wall. His sister had cried and screamed for months after the baby. The house had echoed with it, even when Adam was sure that she was sleeping. And if ever Adam went near her, she tried to attack him. One time, she’d scratched a deep chunk out of his cheek, and the scab had taken weeks to heal.
