Vic slept on the sofa in Alan and Sandy’s flat, while Buck and Julie slept in the spare bedroom. Sandy had wanted him to take their bed but he would not hear of it. They were all so keyed up they slept poorly.
In the early morning, an hour before dawn, he rose and walked the kilometre to Nightcliff beach, finding the walk amongst the shallows and wavelets of a far out tide soothed his jangling nerves. He was bursting with impatience to get back to Cairns and find a way to do more work in the Cape so as to get the chance to see Jane again.
He was determined to call her Jane in his mind, determined to create a new identity for this person within himself, not get drawn into an old identity and the problems of the past. He believed there was a continuity of identity between this person and Susan. But now for him she was Jane, not Susan and he would help her build a new life.
But first he had promised to go with Alan to seek an urgent appointment with the police commissioner, a senior lawyer for the crown and the judge, to see if they could find an official way to maintain secrecy.
Alan’s story would be that Vic had come to him for advice, indicating that he had some information about where Susan was but was determined not to reveal it unless he could get an ironclad guarantee from all concerned that this information would not be disclosed to anyone else without his consent.
Alan would state he was seeking to establish a legal basis about how to maintain confidentiality so as to give Vic the certainty he needed to share his knowledge. This could then allow the information to be passed to others who needed to know such as her extended family. This would also allow Alan to make progress with his long standing investigation of where Susan had gone.
Vic talked to himself as he walked along the beach, feeling the ideas form in his brain. He could feel steel inside, he would not give a millimetre, not without a watertight guarantee, something an independent lawyer could check and confirm; other promises were worthless.
If not he would walk away. By tomorrow he and Jane, if he could get her to come, would have vanished again, not that he was telling Alan or anyone else this. After that the only person he would communicate with, apart from his own mother, sister and Buck, was Susan’s mother as he trusted her.
He hoped it would not come to that, but in his mind he was clear that he would do it if it was necessary. He had learnt from Mark how to hide in plain view; now he made his own plan to disappear. He was confident he could pull it off if he must.
He returned just as the sun was rising and showered. He borrowed some clean clothes from Alan which were near enough to his size. Alan was about to head to work, but said he would ring him with the arrangements to meet the lawyers and others as soon as he could put it together. So he, Buck and Julie shared a leisurely breakfast with Sandy to pass the time.
While Julie and Sandy were chatting away Vic brought Buck onto the verandah so he could have a private chat. Vic found that his mind was much clearer now after his morning walk and wanted to put Buck in the picture, not that he did not trust the others but he did not want them involved, it was putting them in a bad place, particularly Alan and Sandy with their jobs.
He had a powerful sense it now rested with him to ensure this person’s safety, Susan or Jane, he would not leave this on trust to others.
He knew the others meant well. But he did not trust their ability to keep the lid on this. So, despite whatever promises might be made, his sense was that, now that he had found her, it would be too easy for others to find her through him. His flights last week could be readily tracked by the police as he had logged them with flight control. That meant any half-smart journalist could do it too, so a leak could be a disaster.
No matter what promises of secrecy were given, he reasoned that too many officials would get to know for it to stay secret for long. Even if people did not know exactly where to look there were not that many communities in Cape York. So it would not take long to check them all out.
So, while he had said he would go to the meetings that Alan arranged this morning, he had already decided that he would be on the lunch time flight to Cairns. By tonight he would be back in the community. He knew he could not return in his helicopter, it was too traceable. It would have to stay in Cairns; instead he would get a cheap set of wheels.
That way he could drive back there tonight and, if he could convince Jane to come away, they would be gone by morning. Together they would vanish into the big population spread out along the east coast of Australia.
What he needed was a bit of help with the arrangements, someone to look after the chopper once he disappeared, ideally someone who could buy him a cheap set of wheels in another name, and also a person who he could trust as a relay contact. Buck seemed like his best option here.
He also had a plan to throw a false trail, knowing that, despite his care, someone might hear a rumor that Susan had reappeared and try to follow him to her. One of his Alice Springs mates, another half aboriginal bloke with a dash on Indian was almost a dead ringer for him. Vic had a passport with his mother in Alice, from when he had done his one and only overseas trip to Bali with this mate. He would ask his mother to get Ravi to go overseas using Vic’s passport and return on his own one. He had even talked to his friends about getting away to Canada to start a new life, so it made a plausible destination. His mate should enjoy a couple weeks there on a holiday at Vic’s expense then the Vic identity could vanish and Ravi could return to Oz under his own name. It seemed straight forward; if it was not quite legal who was to know and his mother could arrange it on the quiet.
So he explained his logic to Buck; that he needed to arrange for them both to disappear for a while. That would give Alan and others time to sort out the legal issues, hopefully get a new real identity for Jane, clear up any arrest warrant and bail issues so that the police and media lost interest and let them quietly get on with their lives.
If they had time alone, he thought Jane would come to trust him and he could better protect her. Maybe in time it would not matter if her identity became known. But, right now, it needed to stay buried; anything else was like a fuse burning on dynamite.
Buck nodded, “Yes I can see that now, perhaps we should never have come to Darwin, it was my first instinct but perhaps it was wrong.”
Vic said, “No, you were right; it was good we came, particularly before Susan’s parents left. They needed to know, Alan and Sandy needed to know, I am glad they all know now.
“But it was always silly of me to think she could stay hidden for long in such a small place. The safest place for now is where there are lots of other people; it is much easier to hide in a crowd. So that is what I am going to do. I don’t know where yet, but I need you to be my contact to the rest of the world. At the moment there are three things I need. The first is for someone to take over my helicopter and pay its running costs, hopefully it can make enough to cover the mortgage. Perhaps one of the big stations around here can make use of it, and make the loan payments as the price.”
Buck nodded, “Yep that should not be too hard, we can do that at VRD if needed, just send me the account details for the payments.”
Vic continued, “Then I need a set of cheap wheels, nothing fancy, just a reliable old sedan from a car yard in Cairns which I can collect this evening. Best if it is not in my name as that will make it harder to trace me. Can you sort that if I arrange to give you the cash?”
Buck nodded again.
“And lastly I need an ongoing way to access my money without going to an ATM, or bank. My mother has an account which I put twenty thousand in, kept safe for a rainy day. So, if I ring through instructions of where I am each month, can you get her to start drawing out the money and sending it to me.
“I think a couple thousand for the car and another couple thousand a month should be enough, though I might need more from time to time, like to rent somewhere. Once I get a steady cash job I should not need it any more. I also need someone to keep track of what is happening up here, any court cases or other things like that. You might also tell Alan and Sandy in general terms what I have done, not the specifics, but enough so they don’t worry. I will also need Susan’s family’s address in England so that I can get in contact with them if I need to.”
Buck nodded. “Sounds like you will owe me a whopping commission by the end of all that, but it does not sound too hard, all in all. So leave it with me. I will text your mobile this afternoon with the car and parents’ contact details. You should buy a new SIM today and send me the number, just in case the old number is used to track you.”
Vic said, “Oh, one more thing for your and my mother’s ears only right now. I want to fake my departure to Canada from Cairns. I have a mate that could do it; he looks just like me. He could leave on my passport and come back on his own. That way any serious journalists that hears a rumor about Susan and tries to get to her through me will find I am officially out of the country. My mother can organize the trip part, but what I need is for you to put the word out in a couple weeks that this is what I have done, it will give a reason for why I have offloaded my helicopter and gone away.”
Buck said, “God you have it all planned out, vic. Mark would be proud of your brilliance; it is seriously sneaky and no doubt illegal, though that never stopped Mark in any of his schemes.
“While you are on a roll why don’t you just hit the road, get on your way back to Cairns. I think there is a half ten flight you can catch. I will go with Alan to any needed meetings. I can relay the information, nice and general about what we know. That will put another layer to separate you and slow down any traces. After all, Mark made us jointly responsible for this girl’s welfare. If you take care of her I can look after the rest.”
With that they shook hands, Vic made his brief goodbyes and was on his way. He knew he could trust his friends to let nothing slip.
He first went to Casuarina, had a super short haircut, and bought some new sets of clothes and a new phone. Then he withdrew all the available cash in his bank account. By eleven he was winging his way back to Cairns.