Murderer's Thumb (23 page)

They trudged over the soft ground inspecting all the nesting boxes they could find.

‘There are some near the Byrds' fence line,' Snake said. ‘But we'll have to wade through the swamp to get over the other side.'

Adam eyed the bog. It had been a dry summer; most of the water had evaporated but the earth was still moist. Reeds sprang up from the mud and hundreds of midges swarmed over the skin of algae that coated the water like the skin on cold soup.

‘OK, let's go,' Adam said, striding in and sinking ankle deep in the mud. He lurched forward, trying to keep his balance.

Snake was laughing and having the same trouble. The mud sucked at their shoes, making loud smacking noises. ‘I was going to take my shoes off,' he said. ‘But the mud's already done it.' He stuck one leg out in front of him to show Adam his black slimy sock. ‘Look! Gross!'

By the time Snake rescued his shoes, Adam had reached firmer ground and was scouting around for more nesting boxes. ‘There's one just a couple of metres away, and I can see two more upstream,' he pointed. ‘I'll check this one out first,' he said, leaving Snake to clamber out.

The nesting box was empty. Adam was beginning to lose hope. He'd have to ask Matt how many boxes there were altogether. Maybe the clue meant something else.

‘No good,' Adam said as he returned.

Snake was filthy. His arms and legs were covered in mud. He smeared the mud from his shoes against the nearest reeds.

‘They're ruined! I'll have to get new runners,' Snake was laughing and then froze. ‘Shhh!'

‘What?'

‘Look,' Snake said, pointing through the scrub to their left where a strip of the Redvale-Booradoo Road was visible. An orange Ford was parked on the verge.

Adam froze. ‘Fuck! It's my old man!' he said.

As soon as Adam arrived home he called Barry Timothy and explained about Kazek, but as there was no intervention order there was nothing the policeman could do. God! His mum would go crazy. It's what always happened. Her eyes would turn wild and desperate, the scratching at her legs would intensify, she wouldn't sleep.

How did he track them down this time? Adam had been careful with the phone number. They both had. Still it only took one kid at Booradoo Secondary College to say Adam was there and Kazek would be examining bus routes and maps. But how did Kazek trace them this far out of the city? Then he remembered the photographer at football training that night. The article in the
Booradoo Standard
. No doubt Kazek had found it on the internet.

Adam poured himself an iced water and went to his room. His magazines, which normally sat on the bedside table, were now on the carpet. The books had been tipped out of the shelf. On the floor lay a single sheet of light green paper: the palmistry map. He knelt to pick it up. Someone had been searching for something. The bogus letter? He'd left it on the desk.

It was gone. He'd been burgled. Then he froze. The main drawer of the desk was open. The diary! Gone!

‘Fuck!' he slammed the drawer, searched under the bed, flung his mattress over, checked behind the bookshelf, leafed through his magazines. Nothing—no letter, no diary.

Loody! Of course! Loody must have come looking for the letter. But he didn't have to, not after what Adam told him and Mongrel last night. He'd have given it to him if he asked. That was the basic plan. Get him interested and give him the letter. But the missing diary infuriated him. Loody must have taken it too. Now he'd know that the letter was a crock of shit. Or had he been over to check out the shack that morning?

No, it was impossible. Loody was milking with Adam. But Mongrel wasn't. He had time to investigate. He would have found nothing at the shack and then he'd have known Adam lied about the letter. He'd have wanted it for himself. He must have rung Loody, who decided to look for it. That would have been easy because he had access to the spare key behind the back door of the new farmhouse. It all made sense.

Adam swore again. How could he have been so stupid, thinking the diary would be safe in the house? He rubbed at his wonky eye. Count to ten. Deep breaths. He stood in the middle of the room hesitating. Should he check the rest of the house? Ring Barry? Ring Snake? Put his room back in order? He looked to the ceiling and took a giant breath, willing the oxygen to calm him. He decided to ring Snake. Landline or mobile? He could hear Rosemary's drill in his brain: ‘don't use mobiles if you can use a landline.' Stuff her. He rushed to the kitchen and punched in Snake's mobile number.

‘Are you sure it was Loody?' Snake said.

‘Must have been. There's no sign of a forced entry anywhere and I locked the house when I went out. Whoever got in had a key.'

Snake sighed. ‘Look…I know he's a complete tool but…he just doesn't seem a thief, if you know what I mean.'

‘And who does? Lina? How can you generalise?'

‘Oh come on, and you don't?'

‘Like what?'

‘Like country people are all macho dickheads.'

Adam felt his temper rise, but he said nothing. Snake was right.

‘Look, you'll have to move fast, go back to the swamp and find part five.'

Adam took another deep breath. His skull was tightening; a thumping headache loomed. ‘What if the old man's still on the road?'

‘I thought he didn't phase you. Go cross-country, through the paddocks.'

‘What if Loody sees me, follows or something?'

‘Come on, Stats! Do you want to do this or not? How come you've lost your nerve?'

Adam took a moment to answer. ‘Yeah…you're right,' he said. ‘This has got to me…I can't believe it's gone. It's so important and I've fucked up. Jesus!'

‘Everyone stuffs up, mate.'

Adam didn't reply.

‘Are you there?' Snake said.

‘Yeah. Can I meet you at the swamp?'

‘Better not. Dad was pissed off with me going out this morning.'

‘Why?'

‘Total fire ban day. Dad reckons even though I'm technically too young to attend a fire, we should all sit home and wait for the big call. Good discipline, you know?'

Adam had to admit he didn't. He held his breath and looked at his watch. It was twenty past two. ‘OK, I'll go. I have to milk at four. If you haven't heard from me before then, you know I'm in some kind of shit.'

‘Right. Good luck.'

‘Thanks.'

By the time Adam reached the swamp he was covered in a film of sweat. He scrambled, looking around, fearful of watching eyes. Old Byrd's farm sloped towards him, dry paddocks and a solitary gum tree. A dilapidated fence with a barbed wire trim formed the boundary. He kept low, crouching as he moved between the trees. He passed the nesting boxes he'd inspected earlier in the day. There were two more further upstream.

One was positioned a metre inside in the swamp on a dead stump. He waded into the mud, sinking past his ankles. When he reached the box he felt around inside. There was something hard and plastic. Adam's heart pounded. It had to be part five. He pulled out a film container and checked it. Inside was the rest of the diary.

Elated, Adam rolled the pages up, put them in his back pocket and extricated himself from the mud. He checked his watch. It was only ten minutes to three. It wouldn't take him long to walk up the hill through the paddocks to get ready for milking. He had plenty of time. He sat with his back against a tree on the dusty ground, avoiding a line of marching ants and began to read.

TWENTY-FIVE

Monday 2 October

Back to school today. I didn't want to get out of bed. Can't wait till I turn sixteen. Only three weeks to go. Then I'm out of here. Emma wants to leave Falcon Ridge too. She reckons it stinks. Too much gossip and not enough guys. Well she'd know!

She's had another fight with her mum. This time the Brolga threw out all her padded bras! What a waste of her sneaking out to buy them. Her mum said they were immoral. Oh please! She wants Emma to wear crop tops and singlets. She's so freaked out about women's bodies. I can see why she never finished training to be a nurse. Probably so grossed out. I'm glad she's not my mother. Then again, the one I've got is a bitch too.

I gave Matt a present today. It's a small key I found at an opp shop in Booradoo and it's like the one from the old desk in the lounge room here, except I don't know what it's from. Probably an old cupboard. They could almost be twins, soul mates. I did a binding charm over them, then gave him the copy. It's shinier than mine. He said he'd hang it on a necklace.

M.T.

Tuesday 3 October

Meredith's party is all set for the 14th of October. Should be great. She's invited lots of kids from school and some locals. It's BYO alcohol, but her Dad will be looking out for anyone who's really smashed. Otherwise we can pretty much do as we like.

I saw Matt tonight, coming back from his evening jog. I asked if he was going to the party. He shrugged and said he'd make up his mind later on. I guess it's the ‘scared of too many people' thing that he suffers from. I hope he turns up. Then I'd sit in the corner with him. Keep him company.

M.T.

Wednesday 4 October

Matt, Loody and Colin have been out on tractors all week, cutting grass in the paddocks. Emma said they were making silage. If the rain holds out they'll have a bumper crop.

I stayed home today because we had a maths test. Did a cryptic puzzle in record timing. Some days they are too easy. I've really got into the style the guy in the paper uses. I reckon I could compile them myself now.

M.T.

Thursday 5 October

Meredith's sick. She rang Emma this morning and said she wouldn't be coming to the shack with us Friday night. It won't be much fun without her.

Matt's still zooming round on the tractor. I saw him drive out of one of the paddocks on the way home from school. I wanted to wave, but Emma was sitting next to me, so I just smiled at him. He drove past when we were walking up the drive together. He kept turning back and grinning. Emma shouted at him to stop mucking around and get milking. Then she said to me, ‘Don't get any ideas. He doesn't need a girlfriend.'

I told her to mind her own business and that I never interfered with her line up of dickhead boyfriends. She told me to get stuffed, and stormed up the driveway.

Moody bitch.

M.T.

Friday 6 October

There's squashed cut grass all over the roads around here. You can smell it when you drive along, even from inside the bus.

Emma said sorry for going off at me about Matt. She just doesn't want to see him get hurt. Heard that one before. We made a deal. I wouldn't criticise her choice of guys as long as she didn't interfere with Matt and me. So I guess she's OK about me and her brother. I can kind of see now why she finds it a bit off. I guess I would too if I had a brother.

M.T.

Saturday 7 October

Last night was stupid. Because Meredith was sick there was only me and Emma, Loody and Mongrel. They were all being rank and getting really pissed. Well Emma was anyway. Nothing unusual for Loody and Mongrel. We mucked around playing a drinking game called white rabbits—you use your hands as rabbit ears to wave to someone in the group and if you stuff up you have to scull. Emma was so pissed she fell sideways and pushed me off the chair. That's when Loody undid his fly and flashed his dick at me, saying ‘suck this'.

I pushed him away. Told them I was going home. Emma laughed and said I was a stuck-up bitch. Well she can get stuffed. I'm not like her. I walked home and I'm still angry.

M.T.

Sunday 8 October

Didn't see Emma all day yesterday and I don't care. But I saw Matt though. He's playing cricket now the footy season's finished. He looks cool in his white uniform, but the floppy hat is bad. It has to go.

I spent today devising more spells: one to convince Matt to come to Meredith's party and another one to curse Loody. God, I so want to kill him. I should have kicked him in the balls or something. Trouble was, it all happened so quickly I didn't know how to react.

M.T.

Monday 9 October

Apparently the Brolga found out about Friday nights at the shack, care of Loody's big mouth. Meredith said the Brolga rang and talked to her mum. Said we'd all been drinking etc. Emma is in deep shit. She wasn't even on the bus today. So the whole thing is off. I'm glad. It had totally degenerated. We hadn't done a séance for weeks. I was the only person taking it seriously. Meredith reckons summoning Elaine Carmichael was a set-up just to stir Loody. Arseholes!

M.T.

Tuesday 10 October

I don't know what to do. I've never felt so bad for someone else. Emma came around this afternoon, said she wanted to talk. I thought she was going to apologise for the fight we had at the shack. But she said she needed help, advice about something. When she told me I was stunned. She was raped on Friday night by Loody and Mongrel. They got her so drunk she could hardly walk, then Loody raped her in front of Mongrel. Then he joined in. They said they'd bash her if she talked. She's terrifled.

I said I'd back her up if she wanted to go to the police. I'd tell them about how Loody flashed his dick at me and what he said, and how drunk Emma was when I left. I felt guilty then, guilty for leaving. I could have protected her somehow. But what could I have done?

Emma's made her mind up about leaving Falcon Ridge. She had another fight with her parents about drinking at the shack. She told me she's moving really soon. Her mum won't stop hassling her. Calls her a prostitute. Just what she needs after what happened. I asked if her parents knew about what those creeps did. She hasn't told them.

M.T.

Wednesday 11 October

I don't get Emma. She spills her guts about what happened on Friday night and then she's flirting with James Makovich during recess. She thinks he's cool because he's got his motorbike licence and rides to school. Big deal! Can't she give guys a rest?