Page 33 of Down the Track
‘You’re not to blame, Charlie. For anything.’
‘Aren’t I? We both know that if I’d spoken up sooner, Jess might still be with us.’
‘We don’t know that. Just like we don’t know if that man is out there wandering around lost … or if he’s dead.’
‘And maybe if I’d just paid more attention to whatever was going on with him, I wouldn’t have abandoned him out there in bloody Woop Woop like that kid wrote.’
‘Mate,’ Hux said, ‘you’re beating yourself up over this and you don’t need to be.’
‘Really? Whose fault is it we’ve had jobs cancelled? Mine. It’s not that I forgot to collect the Ferrises. It’s not that I was late. Icouldn’t do it, Hux.’
Hux sat back in the uncomfortable greige chair he’d dragged next to Charlie’s bed. ‘I can fill in on whatever charter work we have booked while you get your head in order, Charlie. A week, a month, a year, no problem. Whatever you need, I can get it done.’
But Hux had another skillset which was just as well honed.
TYSON: Damn straight we do.
Before any journalists started sniffing around town, maybe he could have a crack at identifying who Dave really was. Work out who he was and find him, hopefully alive and well and just bloody thoughtless about the people who’d been slogging their guts out looking for him.
And if he was nowhere to be found? Well, then Hux would have to come up with a scenario as to why a guy would want to be left out there off Doonoo Doonoo Road with nothing but two pies, twenty litres of fuel, some groceries in a duffle with a broken zip, an abandoned caravan and a mystery mate at a nearby opal lease. One that made sense.
‘Maybe I can do more than help with the charters,’ he said. ‘Tell me, the guy, Dave … did he come across as a nice bloke? A nutter?’ The outer parts of Queensland had their share of misfits, off-grid types who mistrusted anyone and everyone, loners who were content to come into town once a month for supplies.
Charlie threw back the sheet that was covering him. ‘Let’s go home, Hux,’ he said. ‘I want my wife and kids. Also, I don’t fancy a night here listening to old mate.’ He cocked his head at the curtain. ‘We can talk on the way.’
‘Sure,’ said Hux. ‘We’ll be up, up and away as soon as the sun’s up. Which is going to be at …’ he pulled up his electronic flight bag app, ‘… five thirty-five am.’
Charlie groaned. ‘You’ve lost your night rating? Mate.’
‘Sorry. I haven’t needed it and requalifying every year was a pain in the arse … I let it go.’
They both listened to another wet wheeze from behind the curtain.
‘Shit,’ said Charlie.
‘Uh-huh. The good news is the tea trolley’s here. Let’s convince the nurse to leave the biscuit tin with us along with a mug of tea each, and you can tell me what you remember about Dodgy Dave.’
‘Thanks, Hux. And hey.’
Hux looked at his friend. ‘What?’
‘Maybe when we’re done working onmyproblems, you can tell me what your evil ex-girlfriend’s doing back in town.’
CHAPTER
13
Fourteen and a bit years ago
Squatting in a trench on a titanosaur site somewhere west of Winton, digging
Jo was singing along to lyrics about oceans and silver cities while she triple-wrapped thin electrical tape about a marker peg when a shadow fell over her.
She looked up and it took a second for her eyes to focus. The sun had drooped low in the western sky, and its rays were gilding the dry earth with a red shimmer. A man stood over her, dressed in the moleskins and fitted chambray shirt that every male west of Toowoomba seemed to keep in their closet. Instead of the wide-brimmed hat most country men wore, however, this guy’s face was in the shadow of a funky grey hat, like he played a banjo in a cool retro band or—
His mouth was moving. But what had he said?
She pulled the earphones out. ‘Excuse me?’
