Gith (24 page)

'What's that?' Kocher said.

Wyett made a move.

'Don't touch it!' Kocher shouted.

'It's not a bomb,' I said.

'What is it, then?'

'Give me my glasses and I'll tell you.'

'Like fuck!'

One of them, Wyett I think, was bending over the dufflebag,
opening it up. The brown of the package in the blur of
his hands.

'Oh, man! It's a fucking miracle!'

'What?' Kocher was standing next to him. I could see the
dark angle of the shotgun. 'Is that it?'

'Look,' Wyett said. 'Look here! Special K.'

'Call our friend,' Kocher told him.

More blurred shifting.

Then Wyett's voice. 'Rick? Hey, man! Guess what, my man!
You believe in miracles?'

'Give it here,' Kocher told him. Vague arm reaching out.
'Yeah, man. We got the missing goods . . . What — now? . . .
Right . . . Uh-huh . . . Okay, can do.' The arm went down. The
call was over.

'Okay,' Kocher said to Wyett, 'here's the deal. Number
one priority: we get the stuff out of here to somewhere safe.
Number two: we find out what this prick knows. How he got
on to us. But not here, right? Not round here.'

'Where we going? The old house? Like with Billy boy?'

'Yeah.'

'You got it! On your feet, Fat Man!' Wyett poked at me
with the barrel of the rifle.

I tried to get up but there was a jab of pain in my side and
I slipped down again.

'Give me my glasses,' I said. 'I can't see. I'll be a lot quicker
if you give me my glasses.'

'Fuck! Okay,' Kocher said, and then to Wyett. 'Give him
his bloody glasses.'

'No, man. No way.'

'Give him his fucking glasses!'

Wyett moved. I could see his hand reach up to the top
pocket of his shirt and then come towards me. I grabbed the
glasses and slipped them on. Seeing clear was a big relief.

'On your feet,' Kocher told me.

I stood up, pulled up my jeans. My left hand was cut and
there was blood on my right hand too, from my shoulder.
Kocher was standing by the door with the gun trained on me.
His bug-eyes seemed bigger than ever.

'Move,' he said.

I walked ahead of him out into the hall and through the
front door. Kocher sent Blackie back inside the house and
locked him in. I climbed into the van. Kocher followed me
and we sat the same as before. Wyett climbed into the driver's
seat and reversed down the driveway, swinging the vehicle
back round into the road.

Then the left rear wheel fell off.

I knew what she'd done soon as I felt the crunch. She
could have taken something from the motor instead, the
distributor arm maybe, but it wasn't easy to get into the
engine compartment on a van like this. Just as good to take
the wheel nuts.

The van had stalled. It was half out in the road, blocking
the driveway.

'What the fuck?' Wyett climbed out, went round to the
rear of the vehicle. 'Oh Jesus!' His voice was muffled but the
thump of his fist came through loud and clear. He came back,
opened the side door.

'We lost a wheel,' he said.

'What?'

'We lost a fuckin' wheel, man!'

Then, from somewhere beyond the house, 'Yoo-hoo!'

'I'll get you!' Wyett screamed and he ran, out into the
dark.

'Hey!' Kocher piled out after him. 'Come back, you stupid
prick!'

I got out real slow. Kocher had his back to me. He was
standing by the front of the van staring down the road at
whatever the headlights were shining on. I figured the light
would blind him for a second if he turned round, and that
outside he would be even less likely to use the gun. I eased my
way towards the back of the vehicle. The wooden fence down
the side of the section was a little less than shoulder height. I
ducked round it, crouching down, moving as fast as I could.
Long wet grass grabbed at my feet. On my right was a fourstrand
wire fence. I climbed over, fell and rolled into the dark
and dew of the paddock. A shout behind me.

'Fuck!' Kocher said.

I lifted my head and looked around. About twenty metres
behind me the lights from the van made a glow above the
fence. I could see the shape of Kocher's head and shoulders
as he stood looking out into the paddock. I waited. I had to
find Gith but I had no idea where she was. She could be close
to me here in the paddock, or away on the other side of the
house on the slopes of Bobrown Hill. Wyett was out there
searching for her. If I shouted I'd give myself away to Kocher,
and run the risk of her calling back or making a move that
would lead Wyett to her. I looked back towards Kocher. He'd
gone. Where? If he went to fetch Blackie I was in trouble. Yes,
I figured, that was maybe the biggest danger of all right now.

Way ahead of me, up a rise about three hundred metres
away, was a light. Monty's place. I got to my feet and started
to run towards it. Silence and darkness all around me. I looked
back towards Kocher's house. Nothing to see there. The lights
of the van had been turned off. What was he doing? His
number one priority was to get the package away somewhere
safe. I figured Gith would have fixed the Starlet too, so I
doubted he had a vehicle. Maybe he was walking. He had my
keys though. He could go back to our place and take the Surf.
I hoped to hell that Gith wasn't there. I figured she would
have more sense. If she was going to hide, it would be at Len
and Kath's place. Kocher and Wyett didn't know the owners
were away. They wouldn't think to look for her there.

I came to another fence. On the other side was Monty's
drive. The scrape of my shoes on the surface seemed just too
loud so I stuck to the grass at the edge. A steeper hill now.
Monty's house was closer. There was a light on in the living
room. Monty was still awake then? What time was it? I
couldn't tell. My watch showed nothing in the dark.

Sam didn't hear me. Or if he did, he knew who I was. I
reached Monty's front steps and started to climb them. There
was a bark, but not much of one. I reached the door, knocked.
It was ten seconds or so before a shadow crossed into the glass
of the window.

'Who the hell is that?' Monty's voice sounded thick and
heavy.

'Ken,' I said. 'I need help.'

'Ken?'

A light went on above me. Sound of the lock, door opening.
Sam standing there, wagging his tail, and Monty behind him,
staring at me, his face screwed up like he couldn't see that
well. I stepped forward.

'Whoa,' he said. 'Jesus, mate! What happened to you?'

I was relieved to see him, big time.

'I got kidnapped,' I told him.

'Kidnapped?'

'That fucking new neighbour of yours, Peter Kocher, and
his mad mate Wyett. Jesus, they had fucking guns and all.'

'What?' Monty seemed like he couldn't figure it out. He
stepped back, one hand still gripping the edge of the door.
'Well, come in, come in, for Christ's sake.'

He was wearing a dressing gown, hanging open to show a
grey singlet and boxer shorts underneath. Nothing on his feet.

'You in bed?' I asked. 'Sorry about that.'

'No, no,' he said. 'Just . . . shit, I don't know. Watching
movies. Drowning my sorrows.' Then he looked at me. 'You
bleeding? What the hell happened?'

'Wyett cut me.'

'What did he do that for?'

'It's a long story. I wouldn't know where the hell to start.
And Gith's out there too. He's fucking chasing her now. Jesus!'
A sudden wave of panic. 'We need to call the cops.'

'Who? Who's out there?'

'Kocher. And that prick Wyett. They're after Gith.'

'Peter Kocher?'

'Yes.'

He looked at me, at the blood on my shoulder, leaning
forward. 'Christ, that's bad. We better get that sorted out.
Come on.'

The front door was still open and I almost wanted to go for
it, to get back out there for Gith's sake. I needed help though.
I couldn't do it on my own.

Monty was heading down the hall. Sam gave a whine and
followed him.

'The cops,' I called after him. 'We've got to call them. And
a gun. You got a gun?'

'Hang on a minute,' he said, waving for me to follow.

I walked after him into the kitchen, not really knowing
what I was doing.

'Wait there,' he said and he was gone somewhere. I wasn't
thinking straight, I truly wasn't. I started walking the floor,
looking round for a phone or something. I wasn't sure what I
was looking for.

The house was open plan. The kitchen blended into the
dining room and the dining into the living room. I could see
a leather chair in front of a big TV set. On a little table beside
the chair was a glass and a jug of water, plus a big bottle of
something — whisky, by the look of it. It was half empty. I
took a couple of steps forward.

Monty was back but he didn't come from the kitchen. He
was there ahead of me through a door near the TV. He had a
box of Band-Aids in his hand, big ones.

'Here,' he said. 'Get your shirt off.'

I did what he said, looked at the hole in my shoulder. It
was still bleeding. He came up close. I could smell the whisky,
strong on his breath. He pulled the backing off a Band-Aid
and pressed it over the hole.

'Where's your gun?' I said.

'Gun?'

'Yeah — you've got a gun. Where is it?'

'In a cupboard in the back room.'

'Get it. For Christ's sake.'

Before he could answer, his mobile rang.

'Shit!' he said, turning away, looking for it. It was on the floor
by the chair. He picked it up. Weird, I thought. Somebody
calling this late.

Monty checked the ID and then answered the call.

'Yeah?' He listened for a while with a frown on his face.
Then he looked at me and rubbed the side of his head with
his free hand like he was trying to clear it. 'What? Oh, come
on, mate.' He turned and walked slowly away out of the room.
Sam followed him.

'Don't be bloody stupid.' Monty's voice, getting softer as
he moved away.

I stood there, kind of dazed. Like I said, I wasn't thinking
straight. Part of me was in a complete panic but another part
felt calm, like I was looking down from a long way off. I
knew there was something weird going on with Monty but I
couldn't make any connections to figure out what it was.

I took another Band-Aid out of the box and pulled the
backing off, tried to get the thing over the cut on my hand. I
made a mess of it — it got stuck to itself and wouldn't come
undone. I stood staring at it.

Monty was back, carrying a shotgun. Thank Christ for
that!

'Is it loaded?' I asked.

'Sure.'

I held out my hand. 'Give it here.'

'No, mate. No way.' He shook his head.

'I need it, Monty. Gith's out there and . . .' Something about
him — the look on his face — stopped me. He didn't believe
me. Here I was coming to his house with blood all over me
and he didn't believe what I was saying. And he wasn't going
to give me the gun. He wasn't going to help at all.

'We'll sort it out,' he said. 'Just hang on in there.'

And then I saw — I knew what it was all about. My skin
went cold.

'Kocher. That was him on the phone. Right?'

'Sit down, mate,' he said. 'Stay cool. It's just a mistake. A
misunderstanding. We can sort it out.'

'What the fuck's going on? Is he a mate of yours?'

'He's my sister's boy.'

'Sister?' Christ, the blind woman in Katawai. 'I never knew
you had a sister.'

'Not something I talk about much. She ran away when she
was eighteen. I was just a kid. Never saw her for years. Then
Pete turned up. They were in Katawai for a while until he
decided to move up here.'

'And?' I still didn't get it. None of it made sense.

'And nothing. He's family. We've done a bit of hunting,
that's all.'

Sam, I thought. Sam and Blackie. That day. There were
three dogs there. There was Sam in the back of Monty's ute
and that other dog in the grey Camry and then Kocher's
dog, Blackie, in the van. Blackie didn't bark though, did he?
And Sam didn't bark at Blackie. Only at the dog in the
Camry. Because Sam and Blackie knew each other. They'd
been hunting together.

'The day Anneke went missing. You knew he was there
getting gas, didn't you?'

He looked at me, then away. 'Yeah. I knew. We'd been up at
the lake checking out the old hide.'

'You saw her get into his van.'

'Nah.' He shook his head again. 'There's no way he did it.
He's not that sort. He's a good bloke. You know, a bit wild but.
I was just trying to keep him out of trouble.'

'So you made up some crap about her getting into a white
wagon.'

'It was Mavis gave me that idea.'

'Jesus, Monty!'

'Sorry, mate.'

Sam whined then. He stood up and gave a little bark and
moved towards the door.

'Pete?' Monty said. 'We're in here.' He moved aside to let
Kocher in. Except that it wasn't Kocher. It was Gith.

We stared at each other and in that second I saw Monty
tense like he was going to do something with the gun. I just
went for him. I had to. I got my hands round the shotgun
and twisted it in his grip. I was bigger than him and stronger
and it wasn't hard to get it off him. I'd forgotten about Sam,
though. He went straight for me, hitting me like a sack of
spuds, sinking his teeth into the top of my leg. I fell. I still
had the shotgun but he was in too close for me to do anything
with it. I tried to hit him on the head with the butt. I couldn't
get the angle right.

'Call him off! Call him off!' I yelled, but Monty just stood
there doing nothing. The pain in my leg was unbelievable.

Suddenly Gith was there on the other side of me, her hands
on the gun. It was waving about. Monty made a move like he
was trying to get it too. I let go. Gith swung the weapon up
and around. She pumped a shell into the breech and then she
pressed the muzzle against Sam's side and pulled the trigger.
There was a wet thud and the dog exploded. Blood and hair
and God knows what went everywhere.