Gith (22 page)

'You think that?'

He shrugged. 'Don't know, bro. All I know is, there isn't
another suspect except Moss at this stage.' He was quiet for
a second, and then he let out a big breath of air. I couldn't
figure out what he was thinking. He sounded like the world
was getting at him. Or maybe it was just me. I thought maybe
I ought to ease up on him a bit.

'Sorry,' I said.

'No sweat.'

'There's something else we need to talk to you about. What
happened last Saturday. Gith and I want to take it further.'

He looked at me. 'You sure?'

'Bloody right. Those bastards shouldn't get away with it.'

'No,' he said, 'you're right. We'll need you to make a
statement. More important, we need one from Gith. Unless
you want to go the route that she's not capable of making
one.'

'Bugger that.'

We looked at her.

'Okay?' I asked her.

'Gith.'

'It could take a while,' I told Hemi.

'Sooner the better.'

'How about she and I put something together and get it to
you. Would that do?'

He looked at me like he was going to say no but he didn't.

'It'd be a start, bro.'

***

THE NEXT DAY we got a visit from Ma. She hugged us
both even though we were none too clean. She hung on a bit
longer than usual too.

'Does Dad know you're here?' I asked.

'No. Don't worry about him. He'll come round.'

She sat down at the table and I made her a cup of tea.

'Well,' I said, 'it's nice that one member of the family
manages to come and visit.'

'Don't be bitter. It never does any good.'

'The way I see it, Gith and I are no different from how we
were two weeks ago. So why is everyone suddenly treating us
like we've got a disease?'

'You know why.'

I guess I did. On some level. It was easy for the two of us,
locked in our own little world. Other people had other points
of view, some of which I might have shared myself once.

'We can't help it,' I said. 'It's not going to change.'

Gith stood up and came to me, put her arm around my
shoulders. I hugged her to me. Ma looked at us for a second
and sighed. She sipped her tea.

'Family's family,' she said.

'We're thinking of moving. Getting out of here,' I told
her.

'Oh dear. Well, I can't say I blame you. Just don't be too
hasty, that's all, eh?'

***

THERE WERE TWO other members of the family who
hadn't totally turned against us. Len and Kath had more
important things to worry about. Len was moving to the
hospice in Palmy and Kath was going with him to stay there
until the end. Gith and I shut up shop for a few minutes and
went over to say goodbye. I carried Len to the car. He weighed
nothing. Kath stowed the bags in the boot and then handed
me a set of keys for the house. Gith and I hugged her.

'Give us a call if you need anything.' I pointed towards our
place. 'You know, anything you might have forgotten. We can
always run down with it.'

'Thanks, love.'

Gith had tears in her eyes.

Kath hugged her again. 'Don't worry, we're okay. He's
settled in his mind now. It's brought us really close together
in a way.'

We waved as they drove off. Then we went inside and made
sure everything was secure. The place felt empty and cold and
lonely and it was good to get outside again into the garden,
where the bees were working hard in the summer flowers. We
walked back to work.

I gave Gith the keys. 'You take these up to the house,'
I said, 'and I'll open up again.'

'Gith.'

It was a slow day and I spent a lot of it thinking about
Len and Kath. That evening, though, I said maybe we should
start work on Gith's statement for Hemi. We sat down at the
kitchen table with a pad and pen. I started to ask questions
and when I got a yes I'd try and turn it into something Gith
thought was right. We didn't get far.

'You drove back here from Ma and Dad's place?'

'Gith.'

'What time? Was it dark when you left?'

'Narg.'

'Was it dark when you got here?'

'Neely.'

'That's good,' I said. 'You driving in the dark. Weren't you
scared?'

'Bit.'

'Then what did you do?'

'Walk.' She made little walking moves with her fingers.

'Where?' I had to ask the question. 'To Brenda's?'

She didn't answer, just stared at me. I felt again what an
idiot I had been.

'Saw,' she said. 'Curtain. Window.' I could see the anger
coming back, the feelings building in her again. It wasn't
going to be Brenda pth this time.

'Jesus, Gith. I'm . . .'

'Aargh!' she yelled and she went for me, thumping at me
with both fists. She knocked my glasses half off but I managed
to grab her and hold her still. After a few seconds we both
relaxed and I let her go.

'I'm sorry,' I said. 'I truly am. It was just . . .' I had no
reasons. I just felt bad that I could ever make her feel any
kind of pain.

She closed her eyes, the long brown lashes folding down,
and I remembered all those hours I had spent watching her in
hospital. Slowly, two tears eased out from the corners of her
eyes and ran down her cheeks.

'We don't need to do this,' I said, shoving the paper away.
'Not now.'

She pushed back her chair and stood up, looked at me in
a way I couldn't read. She wasn't angry now, just kind of sad.
She walked away. I sat there for a while, thinking how dumb
I had been, feeling just how much I needed her. There just
wasn't anything or anyone that mattered more to me.

After a while I went to see where she was. I thought maybe
she would be in her own room but she had gone to my bed.
I lay down beside her and reached out to her.

'Hug,' she said.

***

ON SATURDAY WE took the Riley for a run to Tapanahu,
purring along at a steady sixty mph on the open road. We
had lunch in the little place next to Founders Park and came
back mid-afternoon. I had hoped the trip would put Anneke
Hesse out of my head but it didn't. After Pita had gone and
I'd cashed up, we sat on the verandah and I started to talk
about it again.

'If it was Kocher,' I said, 'he must have taken her somewhere
before he dumped her on Moss's place. Where did he go? His
house? There'd be evidence there, then. And it must have been
his house — where else could it have been? Unless he took
her up to the lake the back way. Or straight to that patch
of bush. That would've been a big risk though. Too big.' I
thought for a little while, turning it over. 'And that's funny,
eh. The risk thing. It's almost like he had the whole thing
planned out — dumping the body on Moss's farm, planting
that hair in Moss's wagon. And yet it must have been spur of
the moment. I mean, he didn't plan to have her get into his
vehicle that Monday — it just happened.'

Gith raised her arms like she was pointing a gun.

'Pag.'

'He shot her?' I didn't get it.

She shook her head. No. Then she made a snorting sound.

Pig. Gun. Hunting.

'You mean it's like hunting. You know what you're going to
do but it's just luck then, when it happens.'

'Gith.' She nodded.

'Yes, but people don't usually go hunting on their own, do
they? It's much better if . . .'

Jesus, I thought. That's weird. Why the hell were we
thinking it was one person? Why not two? Wyett and Kocher.
They were mates. It was Kocher in Wyett's van. And I knew
Wyett was a bastard, the way he'd treated that woman in
Katawai. He liked to hurt people. So Kocher picked her up
and took her back to his place, and he called Wyett and they
did whatever they did and took her up to Moss's farm. How,
though? Not in that Starlet — or the van either. A Pajero
could do it though. What say Parline was in on it too? The
three of them, thick as thieves. Somehow that package seemed
more important than ever. Suddenly I felt nervous about it. It
needed to be in a safer place.

I went into the bedroom and reached up to the top of the
wardrobe. The duffle-bag was gone. A second of panic but
then I figured it had to be Gith.

'That bag with the package in it, did you move it?' I asked
her.

'Gith.'

'Where is it?'

She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out
the keys to Len and Kath's house. All right, I thought. That's
fair enough.

'What about tea?' I asked.

'Narg,' she said. 'Pup.'

'I don't want to go to the pub.'

'Nar, nar.' She tapped herself on the chest. 'Me. Pup.'

'You want to go to the pub?' I couldn't believe it.

'Gith.'

And why not? I thought. No more hiding, right?

'Well, I'd better come too.'

'Gith.'

It was still light but the sky in the west was turning orange.
We walked the length of the main drag arm in arm. There
were no kids outside Dong's place but there were a few other
people about, including Susie Smeele, who was taking in her
street sign.

'Hi,' I said as we passed. 'Nice evening.'

'Hi.' She looked a bit surprised. I could feel her staring
after us as we walked on.

There were only two smokers outside the door of the back
bar. They moved apart to let us pass.

'Evening,' I said.

'Gidday, Ken,' one of them said.

I opened the door to the bar. Gith went in first. We stood
there, looking round. It took about four seconds for the hush
to come down and the eyes to swing towards us.

'What do you want to drink?' I asked.

'Beer,' she said.

'You sure?' She never drank alcohol.

'Gith.'

'Okay.' I wasn't at all sure.

We crossed to the bar. Lofty Gunning was serving.

'Gidday,' I said. 'I'll have a jug and two glasses.'

He looked at me. 'How old is she?'

'
She
,' I said, 'is twenty-three. You want to see her driver's
licence?'

'Sorry, mate. Have to ask. Okay?'

He served us. The buzz of talk had lifted again. I guessed they
were all talking about us. Except for Mark and Tom and Monty,
who were staring in our direction. Monty waved us over.

'Long time no see,' Tom Kittering said. 'Glad you changed
your mind.'

'Hello, little lady.' Monty held out his hand. Gith shook it.

'Hi,' she said, smiling. Then she shook with the other two.
Tom grinned, showing lots of teeth. Mark looked kind of
awkward.

I poured Gith a beer, watched as she took a mouthful,
waiting to see what she thought of the taste. Nothing.

'Cheers,' I said. The five of us clinked glasses. I looked round
the bar. I guess it was about half full. No sign of Ray Tackett or
any of his mates. I felt looks from the other tables coming our
way, but most people were pretending they didn't care.

The talk wasn't easy. Having a woman at the table was bad
enough, especially for somebody like Mark, but this was even
tougher. We stared at one another.

Tom cleared his throat, 'Well . . .'

'Me,' Gith said. 'Pup. Never.'

'She's never been in a pub before,' I told them.

Mark laughed. 'Bloody hell! And you picked this place to
start?'

She pointed down the room at the TV screen up on the
wall. There was a basketball game going on.

'Thooty,' she said. 'Thoon.'

'Footy,' I said, translating. 'When's the game?'

'About an hour,' Monty said. 'Hurricanes and Crusaders.'

'Go Cruthaders,' she said. I could see the grin she was
trying to hide. 'Go Richie.'

'Better not say that too loud,' Tom told her. 'Not round
here.'

'They're all Hurricanes fans,' Mark added.

But that pretty much did it. Monty said something else
about the game and the talk started to roll. Pretty soon, and
who knows how, we were on to the question of facial eczema,
spore counts and whether or not there was a difference
between Monty's place in Pakenga Valley and Mark's further
up the main road towards Tapanahu. Gith just listened,
sipped her beer with the littlest sips I've ever seen. In half an
hour she'd drunk a spoonful. By then we were arguing about
Simon Ingrest's new scheme for a quiz night at the pub.

'Fifty-dollar bar tab, they reckon,' Tom said.

'Bloody nonsense,' Monty told him.

'We could put up a team.'

'For what? A bloody quiz?'

'Why not?' Tom turned to me. 'You'd be in, wouldn't you,
Ken?'

'Narg,' Gith said, pushing me on the arm. 'Dumb.'

They laughed.

'No,' Tom said. 'He'd be good. We could get questions
about cars. Or movies. You watch a lot of movies, eh?'

'Never remember them though,' I said. 'That's good in a
way. I can see the same one twice and it's fresh as new.'

Tom turned to Monty. 'Seriously, though. You're a
knowledgeable bloke. You're one of these Internet whizzes,
aren't you?'

'What's that got to do with anything?'

'Knowledge,' Tom said.

'Porn,' Mark said. And he looked at me.

'Cut it out,' Monty told him.

I didn't hear any more because I suddenly felt Gith go
tense. Ray Tackett had just stepped through the door. He was
with Wayne Wyett. She had been waiting for him, I could
see. Now what?

Nothing happened for maybe ten seconds and then she
put down her glass. 'Thcuthe,' she said, and turned away from
the table.

I could feel the hush come down again as people figured
out what was going to happen. Tackett and Wyett had got
themselves jugs and had picked out an empty table. Gith
walked right up to them.

'Hi,' she said.

They looked up, stared at her. Wyett had a silly grin on his
face, showing two rows of rotten teeth, but Tackett looked
kind of worried. She turned to him.

'Bobby,' she said. 'Nithe boy. Good boy. Okay?'

He didn't answer. He was staring in a weird way like she'd
totally floored him.