Dark Country (47 page)

He handed the camera back to her. ‘Can I get copies of those images, today?’

‘Of course.’ She opened the side of the camera, slid out the memory card and passed it to him. ‘Take the card. I’ve got spares.’

‘Thank you.’ He waved a hand at the camping ground behind them. ‘This kind of vandalism – does it happen often?’

‘It happens sometimes. A mob of louts, full of beer and testosterone, with no respect for others’ property, having what they’d
call “fun”. There’s something about the isolation and the wilderness that can bring out the Neanderthal. But—’

She stopped and, curious about her thought processes, he prompted her, ‘But?’

‘It’s just … Look, I’m no detective or psychologist, but I’ve been going over it these past couple of hours and it seems to
me that the murder doesn’t fit the same behavioural pattern. The vandalism is … well, if we were talking about animal behaviour,
I’d call it marking a territory. I suppose it’s the hoon version of it – refuting authority and order and claiming the space.’

‘But you think the murder is different.’

‘Yes. Possibly. It’s intense, over a period of time. Focused on a person, not property. And I know that cruelty can be about
power – it usually is – and vandalism also is, but vandalism is general, and cruelty … well, this seems more personal, more
emotional. Anger, or hatred or punishment.’

He stared out over the water, flowing along the path it had carved out over millennia, and considered her thoughts. She’d
put her finger on what was unsettling him: the two crimes didn’t naturally evolve from one into the other. If they had been
perpetrated by the same people, then something must have happened to shift the mood. Something, or someone.

His instinct guessed
someone
. Someone who’d manipulated the restless mob’s energy and adrenaline, turned it, focused it on a target and let it loose.

He’d seen it happen before, countless times. And he knew exactly how it was done, because he’d been that kind of ruthless,
manipulative bastard himself, more than once.

Bronwyn Parry grew up surrounded by books, with a fascination for places, people and their stories. She has worked in a range
of management and educational roles in Australian universities.

In July 2007 Bronwyn was honoured to win a prestigious Golden Heart Award from the Romance Writers of America for the romantic
suspense manuscript which became her first book,
As Darkness Falls. Dark Country
was her second novel followed by
Dead Heat
.

Bronwyn’s active interest in fiction and its readership is reflected in her PhD research into online communities of romance
genre readers and writers, and she is passionate about the richness, diversity and value of commercial fiction. Bronwyn lives
on about forty hectares of beautiful bushland in the New England tablelands, with her husband and two energetic border collies,
and loves to travel in Australia’s wild places.

Visit
bronwynparry.com