Blood Secret (12 page)

17

Best escape route was through the gate in the fence. With her back to the wall inside the doorway, she flicked her eyes to the gap in the hedge. A clear path from here to there, maybe a ten-second dash. She stuck an eye around the jamb again, just a brief glimpse, pulled her head back as alarm fired like sparks in
her veins.

A person halfway across the lawn. Not Max or Hayden. Someone big and silent. She closed her eyes. Not him, Rennie. He was locked away. This was someone else, some
thing
else – and nothing about it made her want to stop and ask first. She tightened her fist on the kettle, decided surprise was her best chance. She took a breath and launched herself through the door.

She ran straight at him, kettle raised like a club.

‘
Fuck!
'

It came at her loud and breathy. She swung, he ducked, stumbling to a knee.

‘Jesus, Rennie!'

Oh, Christ. It was Pav. ‘What are you doing?'
she yelled.

‘What are
you
doing?' He stayed on
his haunches.

‘
Me?
You're the one creeping around in the dark.'

‘I'm not creeping. I was looking for you.'

‘Shit, Pav. Why didn't you call out?' She swung the kettle in frustration, away from him this time,
heart thumping.

He got to his feet, keeping his distance. ‘The house was empty so I came to see if you were out here.'

‘So you could scare the crap out of me?'

‘No, look, sorry.' He ran a hand over his bald head. He was breathing as hard as she was. ‘It was so quiet and when the light went out, I thought something might be wrong.'

He didn't mean a power failure. That kind of ‘something wrong' didn't make you creep around. Max had disappeared and Pav jumped to the same conclusion she had: intruder. It should've made her uneasy to have her paranoia confirmed but what she felt was closer to reassurance. If Pav thought Max was with another woman, he wouldn't be worried about a
bad guy.

‘I thought the same thing when I heard the gate,' she told him. ‘I figured Max wouldn't come around the back and he wouldn't be creeping across the yard. Sorry.'

‘You're a scary woman when you decide to be.'

She smiled a little. ‘More than you know.' The adrenaline was still surging through her as she walked back to the studio to lock up, shoulders and legs twitching with the same energy that had made her charge without hesitation. The same drive that put her father in prison. Scary didn't describe what she was
capable of.

She flicked on the yard light, remembering Hayden as they walked to the house. His mobile went to message bank. As Pav let Trish in through the front, Rennie left Hayden a message: ‘Can you call me?' She tapped it out in a text, too.

Trish still had post-party eyes plus takeaway from the cafe. She flicked dials on the oven, making worried and relieved noises as Pav told her how he and Rennie had freaked each other out.

‘Cannelloni and salads, enough for four of us,' she said. ‘We thought you might need some company. Where's Hayden?'

‘You didn't see him on the way over here?'

‘No,' Trish said. ‘Where did he go?'

‘I don't know. He's been gone a while. We . . . he . . . was upset when I told him Max was missing. He took off.'

She frowned. ‘When was that?'

Rennie checked her watch. ‘Three and a half, maybe four hours ago.'

Pav stood beside her at the counter. ‘Have you tried calling him?'

‘Yes and I've texted.' She picked up the landline, dialled and left a new message: ‘Can you call, please? I'll come and get you, if you want. At least let me know where you are.' She heard the edge of anxiety in her voice that sounded like impatience, imagined the roll of his eyes as he listened to it.

‘I think we need alcohol, Pav,' Trish said. She pulled the lid off a plastic container, pieced together a cracker with cheese and held it out. ‘Eat something, Rennie.'

‘Why does everyone want to feed me?'

‘Because we need to do something. Here, eat – make me feel useful.'

Rennie smiled a little as she took the cracker. The bourbon and Coke Pav handed her went down a lot easier. She texted Hayden:
Pav and Trish r here. Pav can pick you up if you don't
want me.

‘What now?' she asked
them both.

‘Have you tried his friends?'
Trish suggested.

‘I don't know who they are. Max keeps a handle on all of that.'

‘Who does he talk about then?'

‘He hardly talks to me at all. I usually let him have Max to himself and when they're not together he's in front of the TV. I get the feeling the kids around here don't consider him a local these days and tend to fob him off. I know he used to ride his bike around with a couple of boys – brothers, I think – but I haven't seen them in ages.'

‘You mean the Beecher kids?' Trish waved her hands around her head. ‘Crazy, curly blond hair.'

‘That's them.'

‘The family moved to Singleton about six months ago.'

‘Well, he's not with them then.'

‘I could ring some parents with children around his age,' Trish tried. ‘See if anyone's seen him.'

Rennie knew what it was like to be the outsider kid and having anxious adults asking if anyone's seen little Johnny wasn't going to make him any more popular. ‘It's eight o'clock and only just dark. Maybe we should give him a bit more time.'

‘He knows his way around Haven Bay. I think we could wait a while,'
Pav agreed.

Rennie nodded at him, at Trish, not entirely sure. About anything.

‘Come on, let's sit.' Trish picked up the container of nibbles and Pav took Rennie's elbow, steering her over to
the sofas.

‘The detective wants to talk to you both about Max. I gave him your numbers.' Rennie sipped her drink, wishing the alcohol would hit a
little harder.

‘What did you tell him about the other times Max didn't come home?'
Trish asked.

‘I told him I've never known Max to disappear like this and that I don't know any reason he'd go off without telling me, which is the truth.' She had an itch of doubt and nothing to base it on except her own screwed-up history and she didn't want that colouring any decisions the cops might make. If Detective Duncan knew who she was, he might decide Max had good reason to do a runner.

‘Maybe we shouldn't mention it either,'
Trish said.

Rennie was grateful she wanted to protect Max but a story like that would come out. Leanne had been a local, too; someone would know her side of the story and Detective Duncan would wonder why they'd covered it up. ‘I don't want you to lie.' She turned her head. ‘You either, Pav. Is Max having an affair?'

He flicked eyes at Trish, reluctance and guilt
in them.

‘At this point, Pav, I don't care if he is. I just want to know
where
he is.'

He took a second as though considering how to phrase it. ‘If he's having an affair, I don't know about it. If he's with a woman now, I don't know who it is.'

‘But?'

‘I didn't know before, either.'

‘Trish said he told you.'

‘He did but not until after Leanne left. When it was happening, he told me the same as he told her, that he stayed with a mate somewhere on the other side of the lake.'

Rennie drained her glass and put it down hard on the coffee table. Okay, you want to know where he is, you've got to look everywhere, not just the obvious places. Cold, hard reality had kept her safe for years, no reason not to embrace it now. ‘Did you make a list of who he might stay with?'

Trish put a hand on her knee. ‘It doesn't mean that's where he is now.'

‘No, but I need to cross that possibility off my list. Do you know who he stayed with before, Pav?'

‘He never told me names but there's a woman who comes to the pub sometimes who knows him from before. I thought they must've had something going once. And a couple of months ago a woman at the sailing club, crew off one of the boats, came on to him pretty strong. I didn't think Max was interested but . . .' He shrugged.

‘What crew? Do you know her name?'

‘I'll make a few calls. The questions might get better answers if they don't come from you.'

She nodded. Max hadn't told her about the woman at the sailing club or the one at the pub. It didn't mean he was sleeping with either of them. It didn't mean he wasn't. She checked her watch. It was almost twenty-four hours since he'd left the party, and his son had been gone for more than four. ‘It's eight-fifteen. I'll try Hayden again.'

‘You text. I'll try him on the landline,' Pav said. He left a message, telling Hayden he wasn't in trouble, they just wanted to know he
was okay.

Trish fed her another cracker. Pav topped up their drinks. At eight-thirty, Rennie checked her phone. The battery was fine, the volume was up, there was no text, no
missed call.

‘What about Naomi and James? Maybe he went to their place,'
Trish suggested.

‘They were both here when he stormed out. I figured they would've rung if he'd turned up on their doorstep.' She picked up the phone anyway.

‘I'll give Rhonda Tapwell a call. Her kids know Hayden,' Trish said, getting up to find her own phone.

Pav pulled a mobile from a pocket and headed towards the hallway, saying, ‘I'll phone Ed at the sailing club.'

*

‘Naomi hasn't seen or heard from Hayden,' Rennie reported back to Trish and Pav. ‘She said James went to the office again. She was going to call him to see if Hayden phoned.'

The three of them were gathered at the end of the kitchen counter, Trish and Pav looking as uneasy as
Rennie felt.

‘Rhonda Tapwell's kids haven't seen him in a couple of months,' Trish said. ‘One of the boys looked up Hayden's Facebook page. His last post was on Friday morning.'

‘Did he say anything about coming up here?' Rennie asked.

She shook her head. ‘Apparently he was talking about school holidays and complaining about going to Cairns. I spoke to Jenny Penzo, too. Her son saw him a couple of weekends ago but not today. She was going to make a few calls and ask people to phone here if they knew anything.' Trish reached across the counter and pressed Rennie's hand to the cool marble top. ‘They'd both heard about Max and sent their condolences.'

Condolences? As though he was dead? He wasn't dead. He was missing. Now Hayden was, too, and . . . ‘Maybe Hayden's with Max.'

No one spoke for a moment. Three set of eyes flicked from face to face as the concept hung
between them.

‘What are you thinking?' Pav finally asked.

‘I don't know. Maybe Max came back to get Hayden.'

‘But he didn't know Hayden was coming,'
Trish said.

‘Hayden tried to call him from the train before he rang here,' Rennie told her. ‘He must've left messages and texts. So if Max had his phone, he'd know Hayden was here.' Rennie remembered the thud on the back fence last night, the dislodged brick. Was it Max out there? ‘Maybe he didn't want Hayden to worry about him.' Like she was worried.

Pav frowned. ‘How would Max find him?'

Rennie shrugged. ‘Maybe they've got a favourite spot. Maybe Hayden went there this afternoon and Max found him.'

‘Why would he even look there? Wouldn't he expect Hayden to be here?'

She remembered his words from this afternoon.
He's just gone somewhere
. ‘Maybe Hayden lied about not talking to him. Or they spoke after Hayden took off.'

‘Max's mobile's been dead for hours,'
Pav said.

Since mid-morning, Rennie had only got phone com­pany recorded messages when she dialled his number. She shrugged again. ‘If he's with someone, he could've borrowed theirs. He could've borrowed a car, too.' She remembered the mobile she had charging in the bedroom and a new thought crossed her mind. ‘He could have another phone. He could have a whole other life.' Christ, he could have taken the money
and
left with
another woman.

‘Come on, Rennie.' Pav wrapped an arm across her shoulders.

‘Don't do this to yourself,' Trish
told her.

She was grateful for their support but they didn't know about the missing money and James's accusation and that the revelations of the day were adding up to a Max that Rennie didn't recognise. Guilt and dread pounded in her head as she pushed away from them. She had a life Max didn't know about, that no one in Haven Bay knew about. She'd always figured ordinary people with decent, nice lives didn't need to keep secrets, that it was just her and her screwed-up family. She'd been so intent on keeping her own skeletons locked up that she hadn't wondered if Max
had any.

With a bad temper and affairs and
stolen money.

Could he have taken money from the business?

It felt like a horrible, disloyal thought and she wanted to hear Trish and Pav's reassurance there was no way he'd do it but after today, she wasn't sure their reply wouldn't start with, ‘Well, back before you knew him . . .'

And what about before he knew
her
? Would he believe it if she disappeared one night and someone from her old life turned up and told him about her trail
of destruction?

She walked to the dining table, clung to the back of a chair with a new scenario playing through her mind. Had Max taken the money and left with another woman to set up a new life while Hayden was in Cairns? Was he somewhere buying a new home, planning to pass the news on to his son when he was back and everything was in place? Had he got Rennie's frantic messages and Hayden's telling him he was on the train, ignoring her but coming back for his son?