Red (8 page)

• • • • •

Nineteen thousand four hundred hits came up when they put in Justice John Stanton. Red scrolled down through articles about him, taken from newspapers and websites, lectures he had given at universities and entry after entry of pieces he'd written to comment on the law.

‘What was it your dad said he was doing?' asked Peri.

‘Some commission or something like that. Royal, I think.'

Entering that brought up dozens more hits. Red scanned the pages: drug lords, police corruption, money laundering, global syndicates, missing gang members, murder. She turned to Peri. ‘This is unreal, like a movie. He's the boss of a big kind of investigation. Drugs and cops and stuff like that. But how would Dad fit in with all that?'

‘Maybe he's a private investigator or an undercover cop and he worked for this commission. See if you can find out where it is.'

Red pointed to the screen. ‘This article just went up yesterday.
Despite the dramas interstate caused by the
damage in Sydney and other parts of the eastern seaboard,
the Royal Commission will continue to take evidence,' Mr
Justice John Stanton said today. ‘Some of those who were
to appear before the Commission are missing, believed to
be deceased, but the Commission has many areas to
pursue and our work will continue in Melbourne
.'

Red pointed to the words,
missing, believed to be
deceased
. ‘That might be my dad,' she said quietly. ‘So, how do we get to Melbourne?'

‘Google that too.'

They were scrolling through railway timetables when Jazz came back into the bedroom waving a credit card. ‘We can use this. By the time Mum finds out I've taken it we'll be back and we can tell her all about it.'

‘We?' Red raised her eyebrows.

‘If you're going off somewhere, I want to come too.' Jazz held onto the card. ‘Come on, Ginger.'

‘It will be more expensive with three and it could be dangerous.'

‘I've got the card,' said Jazz.

Peri shrugged. ‘I reckon it's OK. She should come.'

‘OK.'

Peri and Red stepped back and watched as Jazz settled herself in front of the computer. She clicked through to the train booking page. ‘What names do you want me to put in?'

‘Peri and Ruby Martin.' Peri pointed at Red. ‘You've got more names than a whole footy team.'

Jazz typed in the details of the credit card. The completed tickets came up and she pressed Print. ‘Tomorrow morning,' Jazz said, ‘we get the train at Strathfield because that's the closest station where the country trains stop. Eight o'clock in the morning and we should get there about half an hour before that to find our seats.'

‘How do we get there?'

‘Walk. It's not far. I've done it heaps of times.'

• • • • •

In the afternoon Jazz pulled T-shirts and shorts from her chest of drawers and held them up for Red. ‘You have to have a couple of spares. You can't wear the same ones all the time.'

‘Peri wears the same ones all the time.'

‘Boys can get away with it.' She held up a pink top with ruffles around the neck.

Red laughed. ‘I don't remember much, Jazz, but I reckon I never wore stuff like that, it's not me.' She sifted through the clothes scattered on the bed. She chose a black T-shirt with swirls of muted green and red that made a spiral pattern, and a pair of black jeans.

‘These'll do.'

• • • • •

‘I want to leave a note for Mum and Dad,' said Jazz.

‘They're going to freak out.'

It was seven o'clock. They were in her room filling their backpacks with fruit and drinks from the kitchen.

‘Don't tell them where we're going,' said Red.

‘They'll just follow us.'

‘Tell them not to go to the police.' Peri hoisted his bag over his shoulder.

‘Dad is the police,' said Jazz.

‘Well, tell them Red has remembered something and we are just checking it out and we'll contact them tonight or tomorrow.'

‘Like I said, they're going to freak out,' said Jazz.

‘Too bad.' Red wanted to leave before Jazz backed down. There was a purpose now. This commissioner would know who her father was, maybe know what had happened to him, might even know who was after him, who wanted to kill him. Maybe getting the memory stick to the commission might save her dad's life. As she pressed the apples down into her bag, her hand brushed the book she'd taken from the school library. For a moment she thought of taking it out and leaving it on Jazz's desk. Her fingers felt the smooth, hard cover. She withdrew her hand, empty, and zipped up the pack.

Jazz scribbled a note and placed it in the middle of her pillow. As they moved quietly along the hallway they could hear Jazz's parents talking over breakfast on the back verandah. Peri opened the front door and they tiptoed through.

They didn't speak as Jazz led them along the footpath to the main shopping strip and across the park. Ahead of them was the railway line and after ten minutes they could see the sprawl of buildings that made up the station.

• • • • •

They were back in the chaos. The station was swarming with people. Adults with anxious faces clutched the hands of children who ran to keep up. A constant stream of double buses pulled up, each spewing dozens of new arrivals onto the footpaths. Salvation Army officers handed out free coffee and sandwiches. Men in uniforms with loudhailers shouted at the crowd. ‘If you're heading north take platform one, south take platform four.'

‘Melbourne?' said Red as she, Peri and Jazz put their hands out for sandwiches and drinks.

‘South.'

She turned to Jazz as they headed towards the platform. ‘Are there always this many people here?'

‘No. I've never seen it like this. Must be everyone just wanting to get out and away from Sydney.'

Red nodded. Jazz's house was cool and calm but it was a world away from what was going on in the city and the destruction near the beaches. It felt weirdly good to be out in it again.

They found the right carriage and swung their bags up onto the racks over their heads.

A young woman was there ahead of them, her thin body pressed against the corner beside the window. Her eyes were red and tired-looking but she smiled at them. ‘You escaping the mess too?'

‘Sure are,' said Peri.

‘Where are you going?' Jazz sat down next to the stranger. ‘I'm Jazz and that's Peri and Red.'

‘Kate. I'm off to Wagga. It's where my mum lives. I can't wait to get there. I just feel like a bit of Mum care.

You know, ask no questions, just put you to bed with a hot-water bottle or a bowl of soup.'

‘Were you in the big mess, then?' said Peri.

She nodded. ‘Up on the Northern Beaches.' She began to cry. The tears trickling over her cheeks took with them smears of black mascara. ‘My friend and I …we've lost everything … our cats, birds, garden …' She took a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. ‘Our house was knocked down. It's completely gone. In a funny way we were lucky. We were having dinner with some friends in another suburb, away from it all or at least from the worst of it. They reckon that the whole peninsula is wrecked. He's stayed down to help in the clean-up.'

‘But you're both alive,' said Peri.

She nodded. ‘A bit battered and bruised. And God I feel filthy.' She ran her hand through long, stringy black hair. ‘What happened to you?'

‘Pretty much the same. We're going to our uncle's place in Melbourne. We're all cousins and our parents are staying back to clean up, like your friend.'

While they were speaking, Red sat with her eyes pressed tightly closed. Did her mum ever tuck her into bed with a hot-water bottle and a bowl of soup? And her dad? Jazz said he made birthday cakes, special fancy ones. Did he make soup too when it was cold? She felt her stomach tighten, felt a wave of sharp, consuming fear wash over her. She jumped up and pushed her way to the end of the carriage. Her hands were trembling, then her whole body was shaking. Why? She leant against the carriage wall. Gradually the even rhythm of the train steadied and then calmed her. She took long, slow breaths and then made her way back to her seat.

‘What's up with you?' said Jazz.

‘Nothing.'

• • • • •

The train was speeding its way first through red-brick suburbs and then kilometre after kilometre of highrise apartments in slabs of dull grey concrete.

‘Have you ever been out this way?' Jazz said to Peri as they reached the edge of the city.

He nodded and was about to say something when her phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and looked at the others. Both Peri and Red shook their heads. Jazz read the name on the screen. ‘It's Mum,' she whispered.

‘Don't answer it.' Peri leant forward and stared at Jazz, who nodded and put the phone back in her pocket.

Kate looked from one to the other and appeared to be about to say something. She closed her eyes instead and leant against the window frame.

They were in open country now, dry paddocks of grass, more yellow in colour than green. Sheep and cattle gathered tightly together in the shade of the odd gum tree. Red pressed her face against the window glass.

‘You look like you're dreaming,' said Jazz.

‘I've got a weird feeling that I've been here before,' said Red. ‘I'm not sure though. Maybe somewhere like this.'

‘Maybe when you left with your dad.'

‘Maybe …'

A beeping sound.

Jazz pulled the phone from her pocket again. ‘Message,' she said, holding the phone for the others to see.

Where r u, ur folks keep calling me. They thnk I kno.
Txt me
.

‘It's from Lisa. She's my best friend at school.'

‘Text her back. Tell her we're fine.'

Jazz's thumbs danced across the pad. Red kept her face against the glass.

• • • • •

The sun rose higher and higher. Jazz kept texting. Red drifted into sleep.

She was woken up by a cry from Jazz. ‘My God. It's from Mum. She knows we're on the train.'

‘What?' Peri grabbed the phone from her. ‘Speak to her and tell her we're OK.'

Then the phone rang. On the second ring Jazz pressed the button to take the call. ‘Yes, it's me. We're fine. We know what we're doing.' There was a long pause. ‘No. They can't do that. No.' Jazz was shaking her head. ‘Please, Mum. You have to stop them. It's important. I don't care if he's made his mind up.'

Another pause. ‘I can't tell you …yes, I know, I love you too.' She hung up.

‘What was all that about?' said Peri.

‘God, you're not going to believe this. They know we're on the train. Dad got into my computer, don't ask me how. They found the stuff about the tickets and they just worked it out. He's talked to his mates and Mum says that they are going to be at the station at Albury and take us off.'

‘They can't.' Red was sitting forward, hands clenched.

‘Don't worry,' Peri said. ‘The cops are too busy with all the people who are missing and the looters and everything like that. They won't worry about us.'

Jazz shook her head. ‘No, you're wrong. You don't realise. Dad's really senior now. He's got mates in all kinds of places, guys he's worked with. He can just boss them around, tell them what to do. He'll have put our names in those databases already. You can bet on that. When we stop at Albury there'll be the local cops on the platform and that will be that. He could even be there himself. We'll have to tell them why we want to go to Melbourne. I should call Mum back.'

‘No. There's another way.' Red spoke quietly. ‘When the train gets to Albury, we won't be on it. We'll get off where she gets off, at Wagga.' She nodded towards Kate.

‘And then how do we get to Melbourne, smartypants?' said Jazz.

‘We'll work that out when we get there,' said Red. She settled back on her seat. They shouldn't be talking like this in front of Kate. They didn't know who she was. Trust no one.

Kate was staring at them. ‘I don't want to be a stickybeak but are you kids running away or something?'

Jazz shook her head. ‘No. It might look like that but we have to get to Melbourne to see this judge. We've got—'

‘Shhh,' Red frowned at her.

Kate screwed up her face. ‘Hey, are you in some danger?'

‘No,' said Red. ‘Well, maybe. But it could get complicated and dangerous and we have to keep it a secret. You can't tell anyone.' She glared at Jazz.

‘You
mustn't
tell anyone,' she said to Kate. ‘If police come and ask if you've seen us, don't tell them anything, please, especially what she started to say.'

The train pulled into Goulburn station.

‘Maybe we should get out here.' Jazz pressed her face to the window.

‘No. We're getting out at Wagga.' Red let her eyes close and her head drop forward. Why had Jazz come? It had been fine before with just Peri. She opened one eye to look at him. He was sitting with his arms folded, looking straight ahead. What was he thinking about? Who was he really? Why was he on his own? He had to have a family. Everyone had that. She slumped in her seat. Maybe he'd had a fight with his mum and dad and had run away and he'd got into trouble with the police. Or he'd been in a place where they put kids who were in trouble. Hadn't he said something about that on the first day she met him?

The train moved on through increasingly flat open country with occasional clumps of low bushes, a few straggly gum trees and fences stretching into the distance. From time to time Red caught a glimpse of sunlight bouncing off the tin roof of a farmhouse or shed.