North Star (14 page)

He muttered a soft curse and his eyes seemed to be shadowed in dismay. ‘Kate . . .'

She turned and headed towards the portable camp sink to wash up. She lifted her hands to see that they were shaking. How could she have forgotten about that incident all these years? She hadn't thought of it again until just now, hearing that horrible noise.

When she was seven, she had been outside playing by herself when she'd heard a bloodcurdling yelp. Racing towards the stockyards, she'd been horrified to see Henry whipping one of his dogs. It was scampering back and forth, trapped in the corner as Henry snapped the whip again and again. Screaming for her grandfather to stop, she'd run, unthinking, between Henry and the dog and caught a stinging, burning welt across her shoulder.

She recalled the pain now, remembered lying in the dirt, sobbing. Above the roaring in her ears, she'd heard her gran screaming at Henry in a way Kate had never heard before, then gentle hands had helped her up and led her inside. When she came out the next day, the dog had disappeared, and so had the stock whip.

The rustle of branches nearby startled her from her memories and she glanced up to find John arriving with more plates.

‘See, I'm even domesticated.' He flashed a grin that made her heart flutter again.

‘So I see. I can finish all this, go sit down.'

He handed her the plates he'd collected but she fumbled and dropped them to the ground. ‘Damn it.' Dropping to her haunches, she gathered the plastic dinnerware, angry at herself for getting so flustered around this man.

Hunkering down beside her, John began to help. ‘Kate . . .'

His gentle tone caught her off guard. She swallowed. His face was so close she could see the flecks of silver surrounding the hazel of his irises. He smelled of wood smoke and outdoors, and as he leant towards her she felt the merest brush of his warm breath against her lips. The fire popped loudly and she blinked, pulling away as she remembered where she was and, more importantly, who was around.

‘I'd better go finish cleaning up,' she said, jumping to her feet and turning away.

Behind her, she heard John let out a slow, heavy breath.

‘Where's Liam?' Kate asked as she headed across the clearing towards the girls sprawled by the fire.

Georgia gave a half-hearted shrug without lifting her eyes from the iPod she was sharing with Amy.

‘Georgia! Where is your brother?'

Pulling the earphone from her ear, Georgia stared up at her mother in irritation. ‘I don't know. I haven't seen the little brat since dinner.'

He'd been sitting by the fire last time she'd checked, before she'd got distracted by John and his damn eyes . . . 

With a nervous feeling inside her stomach, she realised that both Liam and Matt were missing. Jenny looked up as Kate called out Liam's name.

‘Kate?' Jenny said questioningly.

‘The boys aren't here.'

Jenny walked over looking unconcerned, and once again Kate felt like an overprotective parent.

‘They're probably just playing spotlight,' Jenny said.

‘They weren't supposed to go far from the campsite after dark,' Kate muttered, trying not to panic.

‘No, they weren't.' Jenny's tone held a promise of a stern reprimand when the boys returned. Turning away, she called out to Nathan, who was sitting back from the fire talking with John.

‘Yes dear, you bellowed?' he joked, wandering over with a coffee in his hand.

‘The boys aren't answering. I think they might have wandered off too far for this time of the night.'

Nathan flicked a glance towards Kate and saw the anxiety shadowing her eyes. ‘I'll go have a look for the precious chicks and have them back with their mother hens in a jiffy,' he promised. Stopping to collect a spotlight, he headed into the tree line, calling out his son's name.

John came over and searched Kate's worried eyes. ‘He hasn't been gone long?'

She shook her head. ‘I don't think so. He was here earlier . . . surely no more than fifteen minutes ago.'

He gave a confident nod and smiled. ‘They won't be far away.'

After a while, Nathan came back, his face having lost its relaxed expression. John walked towards him and the two started talking quietly.

Kate began to panic, she couldn't stop herself. ‘What?' she asked.

‘No sign of them,' Nathan said briskly. He began looking for more torches and called the older kids over. He threw John a torch and Jenny picked up the lantern they'd been using to light the table as they ate.

They spread out in a rough line and made their way in the most likely direction the boys would have taken through the bush. After calling for over an hour, they returned to the camp and John radioed for assistance.

Kate sat down beside Jenny, too afraid to open her mouth to ask questions, certain she'd turn into a blithering mess. She forced herself to be calm. Straightening her shoulders, she focused on remaining positive. Liam was with Matt, and Matt was a country kid, born and raised around these parts. He'd know what not to touch and where not to go; all they had to do was locate them.

Then, from out of the bushes, came a stumbling, sobbing child.

Nathan dropped the map he was holding and ran towards his son, gathering him in his strong arms and hugging him close.

Liam wasn't with him.

After satisfying himself the child wasn't hurt, Nathan pushed Matt away and looked into his eyes. ‘Mate, what happened?'

‘We were playing spotlight and Liam went to hide. I couldn't find him, and when I called out he didn't answer me. I told him the game was over, but he still didn't come out.' His chin wobbled slightly but he shot a quick look at his father's face and seemed to straighten his shoulders and steel himself. ‘I told him I was going back to camp and he better hurry up and come out, but when he didn't answer I got worried he was really lost and I didn't know what to do.' He turned worried eyes upon Kate and she saw his lip tremble. ‘I didn't want to leave him out there alone, but I couldn't find him.'

Kate summoned a smile to pacify the anxious child, even though inside she was quaking at the thought of her own child all alone out there in the dark. ‘You did the right thing coming back. We wouldn't want two of you out there lost,' she assured him.

Jenny took Matt back to the fire to warm him and Kate had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop the sudden wail that threatened to rise up in her throat.

The men began trying to deduce from Matt's information the area they'd need to start searching and Kate stood back, wrapping her arms around herself to fend off the chill that had begun to creep its way through her body. Lost in her troubled thoughts, it took a moment to register that someone had slipped their hand into the crook of her arm.

Kate's eyes brimmed with tears at the sight of her daughter staring up at her with large frightened eyes. She gathered Georgia to her, and they held each tightly and took comfort from each other in a way they hadn't done in years.

John finished speaking with Nathan and Matt, then headed back to Kate. He took her hand in his and made her look at him. ‘Kate, it's going to be okay. I've got men coming in to help search, they'll be here as soon as they can. We'll find him.'

Kate nodded, and tried to smile her thanks, but the tears fell and she dropped her head in her hands. Kate felt Georgia's arm around her shoulders and was grateful to have her daughter by her side.

Lights bounced over the paddocks in the distance and soon there was a steady influx of vehicles and men, ready to search for a little boy lost in the bush.

Kate watched as John stood in the centre of the group and handed out maps and instructions, organising the search party with a calm yet urgent manner that went a small way to reassuring Kate that everything was going to be okay.

Two hours later, Kate made her way towards John, standing at the back of his police vehicle which served as the makeshift control centre for the search.

‘I need a torch. I can't sit here any longer. It's killing me. I need to do something,' she told him huskily.

‘Kate, the men know this place better than anyone. I know it's hard, but you'd be more of a hindrance than a help out there in the dark. They'll find him.'

‘It's been two hours! How far could he have gotten in such a short time? Why can't they find him?'

‘The scrub out there is thick and it's dark. It makes the going slower.'

Jenny brought over two steaming cups of coffee and handed them one each. The radio continued to burst into life every few minutes as groups checked in, and John kept track of everyone's progress. Kate stayed by his side.

As the night wore on, a chill crept into the air. Kate shivered involuntarily and John reached over the back seat, grabbing a blanket to wrap around her shoulders.

With a shake of her head, she tried to push it away, tears falling again as she thought of her baby out in the dark, freezing in his board shorts and T-shirt.

‘You won't be any use to him if you make yourself sick,' John told her quietly, tucking the blanket back about her and draping his arm across her shoulders for good measure as they sat on the tailgate of the vehicle's tray.

After another hour had ticked past, she threw off the blanket and stood up. ‘I can't stay here any longer. I'm going out there to search.' One look at Kate's defiant glare and John knew she wasn't going to be talked out of her decision this time.

‘Okay, but give me a minute, I'm coming with you.' He pointed to the map. ‘I have the men covering everywhere from here to here,' he said, dragging his finger in an arc. ‘I'm thinking we should go in this direction, since they haven't had any luck over there.'

Kate nodded distractedly. She was finding it difficult to take in information. She just wanted to get going.

There was no thick bushland to negotiate, but there were plenty of trees, the moonlight bouncing off their smooth white trunks in waves of liquid silver.

‘You grew up here, didn't you?' John asked.

‘On and off,' Kate replied, knowing he was trying to distract her from her terrified thoughts.

‘Must have been great with all this as your backyard as a kid.'

‘I missed it when I wasn't here,' she said.

‘And you haven't been back here before now?'

‘No.'

John glanced at her. ‘Your ex didn't ever want to see where you grew up?'

‘You ask a lot of questions,' she said, frowning.

‘Occupational hazard.'

There was a moment's silence, with only the sounds of the night and their footsteps between them. ‘My ex isn't a sentimental kinda guy,' she eventually said.

‘How did you meet him?'

‘He came through my checkout one night.'

‘How old were you?'

‘Sixteen.'

‘Wow, so he was your teenage sweetheart?'

‘Something like that.'

‘You don't like to talk much, do you?' he said.

‘I thought that was every man's ideal woman,' she said dryly, looking around at the dark shadows, lit by their torches and the bright moonlight overhead. ‘Do you really think he could have come this far?'

John gave a slight shrug. ‘It's not impossible, he's been gone a few hours. It depends whether he's walking in circles or not.'

‘It's such a big area to cover.'

‘If he's mobile, then the longer he walks the harder it will be to locate him in the dark. We'll have to wait until daylight to use helicopters. If we're lucky he's found a spot to sit it out and wait for help.'

John paused as he emerged from the trees into a clearing and Kate too busy watching where she was placing her feet, crashed into his back. The warmth of his body was a momentary comfort in the darkness.

Up ahead was the dark shadow of the old overseer's hut and Kate was filled with foreboding. ‘He can't have gone this way,' she said. ‘Let's go back.'

‘We have to check here first. Come on, it's just an old cabin,' John coaxed gently. Taking hold of her cold hand in his own, he led the way with his torch.

The old structure, its timber bleached a shiny grey by the sun, had a slight lean to it. Kate knew there were many of these old buildings on properties around the district. They'd once been used as either the original homesteads, or as shelter for drovers.

At the base of the single step leading to the front door, Kate stopped. ‘I'm not going in there.'

‘Scared of the dark, Kate?' John placed his hand on the door and pushed it open, the doorknob having long ago rusted out.

‘Liam?' John's deep voice carried through the small cabin, echoing in the dark. Dropping Kate's hand, he hurried forward.

In the corner huddled a small form, blinking against the shaft of torchlight.

‘Liam!' Kate weaved around John, racing to gather the child into her arms.