The Outback (17 page)

Chapter 22

‘He did what?’

The news of Colin’s run
in with the old man came as a complete shock to Rose. Pierro had let her know
that the bus was running late, but that was the only part of the message he
passed on. When she heard about the attack, she was livid.

‘It’s not that big of a
deal,’ insisted Colin, hoping to placate her by playing it down. ‘We’ve talked
it over with Sam and he is going to speak to Joe. There is no way that Rhett
will be coming back to work after this.’

‘Of course it is a big
deal,’ she told him. ‘You have to report it to the police. We already know that
he has a criminal record and with those bruises he’s given you it isn’t going
to be hard to convince a jury to convict him.’

‘That’s exactly what I
don’t want. I’m not wasting my time getting involved in trials. This is
supposed to be a holiday.’

Colin was loath to admit
it, but he was more concerned that his own misdemeanours may come to light than
he was in seeing the old man brought to justice. There was no telling how much
weight Rhett had in the town and the Australian could certainly make some
allegations of his own. If it became known that the beating had been sparked by
Colin potentially muscling in on Rhett’s drug dealing then he himself may not
emerge from the resulting investigation with a clean record.

‘So you are happy for
him to get away with it?’ she asked.

Once Rose set her mind
to something she would rarely give up. This had been one of the things that
attracted Colin to her, but not on this day.

‘I didn’t say that I was
happy and it’s not like he is getting off totally scot-free, is it? He’s lost
the last job that anyone will ever be dumb enough to give him, which means that
he’s going to spend the rest of his miserable life rotting away at the bottom
of a bottle.’

Before Rose could
respond she was interrupted by a knock on the caravan door. Colin got up and
opened it.

‘It’s just us,’ said
Matt, who was standing on the step with Jenny. ‘We aren’t interrupting
anything, are we?’

‘Not at all,’ replied Colin,
who offered a condescending sideways glance to Rose. ‘We were just discussing
the pros and cons of getting involved with the Australian legal system.’

‘Colin thinks that we
should do nothing and let the thug that beat him get away with attempted murder,’
said Rose, from the bed.

Matt knew that his
friend would be looking to him for solidarity and he therefore tried to dismiss
the girl’s concerns.

‘I wouldn’t go so far as
to say that it was attempted murder,’ said the Englishman. ‘The old man stunk
of booze from the moment that he turned up at work. Come the morning, he
probably won’t even remember what he did.’

‘So would you work with
him again?’ asked Rose.

‘Well, that’s a
different question entirely,’ replied Matt.

Jenny crossed the van
and took a seat on the bed next to her sister.

‘Nobody is going to have
to work with him again,’ she said. ‘Matt and I have talked it over and we think
that so long as we all stick together there is no way that Joe will consider
giving Rhett another chance.’

Rose was not convinced.

‘It isn’t about the
work. It’s the principle. Do you seriously expect us to stay knowing that he is
out there? I’ve already been attacked once in this town and that was before we
had an actual enemy.’

Jenny offered Matt a
brief glance of concern before continuing the conversation with her sister.

‘You want to leave
Birribandi, don’t you?’

‘Well, why is that such
a big deal?’ Rose looked over toward Matt as well. ‘The four of us could get a
campervan and go together. It’s about time that we did some actual travelling,
after all.’

Matt shifted restlessly
in the doorway.

‘I can’t afford to leave
now. My visa has almost expired and I don’t have the time to look around for
another harvest job. This is now or never for me, I’m afraid.’

‘Well, I’m sorry,’ said
Rose, ‘but I cannot stay; not now.’

‘Maybe we should wait
and see what happens over the next few days,’ offered Jenny.

The younger girl was
torn between leaving with her sister and staying with her boyfriend. She had
come travelling with Rose and she knew that it was the familial bond that would
ultimately win through.

‘She’s right,’ said
Matt. ‘You will not be able to get a bus back to the city until next weekend
anyway. It makes sense to use that time to think things through a bit more.’

‘Okay,’ agreed Rose. ‘I
will give it one more week, but do not expect me to change my mind. As far as I
am concerned, my time in the outback is over.’

***

On Sunday, Sam visited
the caravan park. He had spoken with Joe and they both agreed that Rhett’s
contract should be terminated immediately. The only problem was that neither
Sam nor the man in Brisbane had been able to get in contact with their rogue
foreman. It was as if he had disappeared from the face of the Earth.

‘So where is he?’ asked
Matt.

‘No one knows,’ replied
Sam. ‘I’ve driven past his house twice now and his ute is not outside. His
neighbours said that he didn’t come home last night, which means that he could
be anywhere.’

‘He’s probably in the
pub drowning his sorrows,’ said Colin.

‘That was the first
place I looked. Joe has been trying to call him non-stop and he’s had no luck
either.’

Colin lit a cigarette.

‘Good riddance is what I
say. He probably thinks that we will have gotten the law onto him so will most
likely have split town. He must be halfway to Alice Springs by now.’

‘Could we be that
lucky?’ asked Matt.

‘Who cares? So long as
he doesn’t come back, I’m happy to stick around.’ He turned to address Sam, ‘So
where do we stand with work? None of us was ever entirely sure what
contribution Shawshank actually made, so his disappearance shouldn’t be a
problem, should it?’

‘That is for Joe to
decide. He is coming back in a few days and we will have to see whether he can
find a replacement, otherwise he may have to stay on himself.’

‘Surely he will let you
run things. From what I’ve seen you were practically in charge anyway.’

The Irishman took a drag
on his cigarette before turning his head and exhaling deeply. There was no
breeze, causing the smoke to be left hanging in the air.

‘It ain’t that simple,’
said Sam, who was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

‘Of course it is. All
you have to do is make sure that we get our pay at the end of the week. Surely
the books can’t be that hard to balance. Or has Joe been fiddling us all of
this time?’

Sam did not answer.

‘If you want, we can put
in a word for you when Joe gets back,’ offered Colin. ‘The way that I see it,
you should have been given this job already anyway.’

‘That won’t be
necessary,’ replied Sam. ‘Joe will find somebody who is more suited to the
job.’

Colin was about to
argue, but Matt intervened by shaking his head at the Irishman. He sensed
something in the way Sam spoke that told him the matter was not as clear cut as
Colin believed. The Aboriginal’s body language was clearly resigned and Matt
did not want to push him further.

‘Does this mean that we
will all get the next few days off?’ asked Matt.

Sam relaxed.

‘Joe thinks it is best
if we call off the next couple of days work. He is worried that Rhett may show
up at the field and try something stupid.’

‘Let him,’ said Colin.
‘He caught me off guard yesterday, but if he ever thinks he will get the better
of me again, he has another thing coming.’

The Irishman’s bravado,
though false, was understandable. It was not the first time that he had been
the victim of an assault since coming to Birribandi and on each occasion he had
been unable to successfully stand up to his assailant.

‘Well, we are not going
to take any chances this time,’ said Sam. ‘I have notified the sheriff of what
happened and he will have a discreet word with Rhett when he returns from
wherever he is. If he hasn’t already left, then he soon will. There is nothing
for him in this town after what he did to you.’

‘So the Police are gonna
run him out of town; is that it?’ asked Colin.

‘Not quite, but they can
make sure that he does not bother you again.’

Once Sam had returned
home it left Matt and Colin to update the girls with the latest developments.
They both hoped that the news would be enough for Rose to reconsider her
decision to leave prematurely. Her reaction would not quite be what they were
expecting.

***

‘This is even worse!’

Colin had been hoping
for a more positive response, but the more he thought about it, the less
surprised he was by his girlfriend’s reaction to the news of Rhett’s apparent
disappearance. Knowing that the Australian was out there was frightening
enough, but not knowing where he was, was simply terrifying

‘Sam thinks that he may
have done a runner,’ said Colin. ‘There is little chance that he will try any
kind of reprisal. With his previous record he would be setting himself up for a
return to prison for sure.’

Rose wrapped her
cardigan around herself as if the mere mention of a man so cold hearted as
Rhett was enough to lower the temperature of the room.

‘Well, I will feel a lot
better when I know for sure that there is a great distance between him and us.
As far as I am concerned, this changes nothing.’

Colin hoped that she
just needed more time. She was still feeling vulnerable after the mugging and
had grown more insecure as a result. He passed on news of her reaction to Matt
later that night. The Englishman was understandably disappointed, but like
Colin he was still hopeful that she would change her mind. Jenny, on the other
hand, took the news more positively. She agreed with the idea that the
Australian had most likely done a runner and would not dare return to the town.

‘Did Sam say that there
was definitely no chance of him showing up at work?’ she asked.

‘Pretty much,’ replied
Matt. ‘We asked him how it would affect the work that we do, but the answer
that he us gave was a little confusing.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, Colin suggested
that Sam himself should step forward to replace Rhett. It seemed like the
obvious solution to me too, but he became agitated when we put it to him. I
personally do not see the problem; he was pretty much running the operation as
it was, just without having to fill in the paperwork that went with it.’

Jenny winced when Matt
mentioned the paperwork part of the job.

‘You do realise that Sam
cannot read or write, don’t you?’

He stared back at her,
blankly.

‘I will take that as a
no then. Paul told me shortly after I started working here. You may have
embarrassed Sam a little when you brought up the subject of doing the paperwork.
He will not hold it against you, but you should probably be careful not to
mention it again.’

‘Thanks, I just wish
that I had known sooner.’

‘There are a lot of
things that I wish I had known sooner; things that could have saved us a lot of
trouble these past few weeks.’

He took her hand in his.

‘Do you think that Rose
will stay a little longer?’ he asked.

‘I hope so. She maybe
just needs more time to come to terms with everything. I’ll do my best to talk
her round, because I know that I am not yet ready to leave.’

They hugged. Matt really
hoped that Jenny was right, because the thought of completing his time without
her was not something that he even wished to consider.

Chapter 23

Boredom quickly descended
upon the caravan park without the necessary distraction that work brought with
it. The backpackers spent the morning lazing in their vans with neither the
impulse nor the energy to make the day their own. Only with the arrival of an unscheduled
visitor to the camp did they rouse from their slumber.

The sound of the car
engine alerted those inside to the outside presence. Colin’s van, which he was
sharing more and more with Rose rather than Matt, was the closest to the
entrance of the park. He became aware of his own heart beating as he pulled
back the curtain to view this new arrival. Despite him going to great lengths
to convince Rose that Rhett would not dare come to the park, the old man was
the first person that came to mind when Colin thought of who the visitor could
possibly be.

‘Who is it?’ asked Rose,
who was strewn lazily across the bed.

The window was small and
offered only a restricted view. By the time that Colin had reacted, the vehicle
had already passed into a blind spot. He heard a car door slam, but could see
neither the driver nor the vehicle.

‘I can’t see. Maybe you
should run and get Matt and the others.’

This aroused her
suspicions immediately.

‘Why would you need the
others? You don’t think that...’ Her voice trailed off.

‘It’s probably just Sam
or a friend of Pierro. I would rather not take any chance, that’s all.’

Rose got up from the bed
and slipped on her sandals before rushing toward the door.

‘Wait!’ he called out,
but she had already gone.

Colin fumbled into his
sandals and then went out after Rose. As he rounded the van he could see that
she was now a lot more relaxed as she stood cross armed in the driveway. She
turned to him as he approached.

‘It’s nothing to worry
about,’ she said. ‘It’s only Sheriff Lee. I guess that he must have retrieved
my purse.’

‘How can we help you, officer?’
Colin asked, with unconscious sarcasm, as he caught up with Rose. ‘You’ve got
some good news for us, I hope.’

The policeman did not
respond immediately. He instead waited until he had narrowed the gap between
him and the couple to a more personable distance. When the gulf had been reduced
to no more than a metre he removed his sunglasses and held them in his hands,
which he then crossed solemnly in front of his waist.

‘Unfortunately, we still
have no word on the items that Miss Miller had stolen. I am actually here today
regarding a different matter.’

Colin could feel his
muscles tense. The policeman seemed much more businesslike than he had been
during their previous meeting. He immediately suspected that this visit had
something to do with their missing foreman. His stash was sitting unguarded,
just metres away, and would not be hard to discover should the policeman have
received a tip off regarding his recreational habits.

‘Anything that happens
in town doesn’t really concern us, officer. Whatever the problem, I doubt that
anyone here would be able to help you much.’

Rose nudged her
boyfriend in the side. Whilst the Irishman was not short of charm, she had
noticed that he tended to come across as arrogant and smug when on the
defensive. She hoped that he had not inadvertently given himself away.

‘This is a rather
delicate matter,’ said the policeman. ‘Perhaps we could discuss it indoors.’

Colin was eager to lead
the lawman away from his van.

‘Let’s go to the dining
hall,’ he suggested. ‘There’s more room in there and we’ll be able to put a
brew on.’

***

Matt was on his way back
from the shower block when he saw the policeman follow the other couple into
the dining room. He immediately called for Jenny to join him in finding out
what was going on. Rose was making coffee when they entered, whilst Colin was
sitting opposite the policeman in silence. Matt pretended not to notice the
seated pair as he took a clean cup from the table and joined Rose at the
kettle.

‘It makes a nice change
not to be spending Monday morning in the field, doesn’t it?’ he said.

‘It’s wonderful,’ she
replied. ‘The longer we have off, the harder it will be to go back to work
though.’

She used a subtle
movement of her head to indicate the alien presence in the room. Matt offered a
delicate nod in return. He wanted to offer his support without making it look
like he was offering his support.

‘Maybe we should warn
Joe to start looking for replacements,’ he said.

He then filled two cups;
one for himself and one for Jenny. The aforementioned was still standing in the
doorway and he beckoned her in to take her cup. Rose, meanwhile, had filled
three cups.

‘Could you give me a
hand?’ she asked.

After passing Jenny her
cup, Matt took one of the three mugs from Rose and carried it along with his
own to where the two men were seated at the table.

‘Good morning, officer,’
he said, pretending to have noticed the policeman for the first time. ‘I hope
that you’ve brought good news.’

The policeman took his
cup and placed it on the table top to cool down.

‘Unfortunately not, but
it is news that concerns all of you, so I would be grateful if you and Miss
Miller would join us.’

Matt glanced towards
Colin seeking a clue, but all he received in return was a shrug. The Irishman
appeared nervous and was using the cover of blowing into his mug to take deep,
calming breaths of air.

‘Is this to do with the
mugging?’ asked Matt, but he had already deduced the answer.

‘No,’ replied the
policeman. ‘Unfortunately, we have been busier than usual the past few weeks.
First there was the mugging, and then there have been a spate of break-ins, and
we’ve also had two reported missing person cases to deal with; one of which has
now been solved.’ He glanced to each of the girls in turn as if what he was
about to say would affect them more. ‘The news is not pleasant so I will get
straight to the point.’ After a protracted pause he added, ‘Rhett Butler is
dead.’