‘Of course it’s ridiculous.’ Phaedra looked like her interest in the missing guy was less than zero. ‘But the Champion family have cancelled the muster work we’d had booked in for most of March—they reckon they’re using the choppers out of Cloncurry. They said it was to do with their son being mates with one of the Cloncurry pilots, and maybe that’s true, but … The thing is, boys, if we lose any more business, we’re going to struggle to make the loan repayments on that fancy new chopper.’
Charlie slumped into an office chair. ‘Who called to get their deposit back?’
‘The electricians headed up to that property past Julia Creek. Reckon they’re right to drive.’
‘Might be unrelated,’ Hux said, because Charlie was looking very off and being very quiet.
‘Yeah, nah. Alicia—she does the bookings for the sparkies—says they heard Charlie was a no-show for the Ferrises on Sunday and they don’t want to risk getting stuck three hundred kilometres away from a cold beer on Friday arvo if no-one turns up.’
‘This thing seems to have gone from zero to sixty in half a heartbeat,’ Hux said. ‘We don’t even know for sure the guy’s bloody missing.’
‘That’s the problem,’ Charlie said. ‘The not knowing.’
Oh, shit. Charlie’s hands were shaking so Hux took the mug of coffee off him. His face had gone clammy, despite the fact the aircon was blasting twenty-one degrees of chilled air at them. If he’d been like this the other day after the missing man was a no-show, no wonder he’d not been able to see to the R22 after landing. It was a wonder he’d made it home at all.
‘Hey,’ he said gently. Because Charlie was right: the not knowingwashard. The not knowing was a killer. ‘This is not just happening to you, all right? This isus.Weare facing this. Together. So don’t worry about the repayments, okay, we will manage because I can cover it. No problem. And I can call the sparkies and—’
‘Can’t … breathe.’
Phaedra leapt up from her desk and flew around to Charlie’s side to pat his back. ‘Hux, do something.’
Shit, like he knew what to do. Should he grab a paper bag? Did they have a paper bag in the donger? He could rig something up with A4 paper from the copier and gaffer tape, but—
He was overthinking this. ‘Charlie? Just take it slow, man. Big breath in. Big breath out.’
‘Chest … hurts.’
Fuck! Hux lunged for his phone. It was a Tuesday, just past midday, and you’d think there’d be someone at the Yindi Creek Medical Clinic, but for the fact the last GP had left town three years ago and now the clinic was only staffed when the visiting nurse from Longreach was doing her circuit of baby checks.
Number Five had done a year of med school but failed. Then a year of vet school, also failed. Forget her. Number Three was the one he needed: the nurse. She was about eight hundred kilometres away in Rockhampton, but she was all Hux could think of, and thankfully she answered on the second ring. He put her on speaker.
‘Laura? Got a bit of a situation here. Charlie’s crook. Sweaty, trouble breathing, says his chest hurts, sudden onset.’
‘Ask him if his left arm hurts. Pins and needles, that sort of thing.’
Hux looked at Charlie, who managed to shake his head.
‘He says no.’
‘You need to take him to a doctor. Could be his heart. This is about the missing guy, isn’t it?’
Of course. Sal would have been in Laura’s ear. And Regina’s. And Fiona’s. The Numbers—the ones without Y chromosomes—were tight that way.
‘Maybe.’Definitely. Customers cancelling and a negative article in theEchoand getting behind on a business loan were bad, too, but nothing Charlie couldn’t handle with his eyes closed and one arm tied behind his back. But being blamed for someone being missing? Too much. Then factor in a hormonal, very pregnant, emotionally needy wife?
Yeah. This problem ran deep.
‘Might be a panic attack,’ said the tinny voice through the speaker. ‘Either way, you need to get him down to Longreach Hospital to get checked out. Like, right now.’
‘I’m on it. Thanks, Laura. I’ll call you later with an update.’
Thank heavens he’d refuelled the R22 from the airfield’s avgas bowser. ‘Come on, buddy, looks like we’re going for a ride. And Phaedra, you think you could go over to Sal’s and let her know?’
Charlie gripped Hux’s arm. ‘Don’t … tell … Sal,’ he wheezed. ‘The baby.’
Crap. Hux couldn’t not tell Sal. She’d kill him. She’d turn him into mincemeat and feed him to her cat.
‘We’ll look after Sal and the baby. But you know she’ll want to be with you.’