3 p.m.
When Walker goes into the pub, Susie is standing behind the bar at the other end, a cloth in one hand, staring at the empty street outside. Stones and White have gone to search for Todd Mullins and Walker’s looking for Grace. She wasn’t at the cabin as he’d expected and she’s not here either, he’s the only customer. Susie looks drawn. Her face is pale and wan, her eyes puffy. She’s been shouldering a lot of the burden, taking care of Vero, keeping the bar open, contending with the town’s competing factions, keeping the peace. The town asks a lot of her, he thinks.
‘How’re you doing, Susie?’ he asks, and she starts.
‘I didn’t hear you come in,’ she says. ‘What can I get you?’
‘Nah, nothing, you’re right,’ he says, walking down towards her. ‘I came to see how you are.’
She looks at him, and for a moment he thinks he’s overstepped, gone over some invisible boundary. Then she sighs, tries on a quick smile. ‘I’m alright,’ she says. ‘It’s hard for everyone. This kind of thing shouldn’t happen in a small town like this.’
‘Yeah, that’s true. But you’re looking after Vero and keeping the peace in here. It’s a lot.’
‘Well, it’s the least I can do for Vero. She really needs me right now. And I’m used to the other lot. Part of the job. You sure you don’t want a drink?’
‘Yeah, go on, then – I’ll have a Coke.’ The sugar and caffeine will give him a lift.
She brings over his drink, and pours herself one too, a big shot of JD into a short glass of Coke. He asks her: ‘Why are they all at each other’s throats here anyway? I haven’t noticed it in other country towns the way I do here.’
‘Opals,’ she says bluntly. ‘Marie Pidgeon has land, lots of land – her family have lived around here for a hundred years nearly. She’s the last of them, doesn’t have kids. When Mark Bailey turned up and offered to buy some of it off her, she wasn’t married to Mal and she wasn’t interested in grazing it so she was stoked, telling everyone she’d sold it for megabucks to some city slicker who didn’t have a clue. Then he started finding opals, making serious money. He’s loaded, you know …’
‘Really? It doesn’t look like it,’ says Walker. Wilson had said the same thing this morning, but he wonders if it’s just speculation. Bailey’s makeshift workshop, the little rented house – neither screams wealth.
‘Yeah, well, he doesn’t spend it here, that’s another part of the problem. He’s got a big shop on the Gold Coast, sells to millionaires from all over the world, and they’ve got a massive mansion there too. Vero’s shown me pictures of it, pool and water views, the lot. Anyway, Mrs P was gutted. She went from bragging about the sale to whingeing that he cheated her and she’s talked Mal into thinking the same way.’
‘What about the others? Paul and Scott wanted to tear a piece off those miners too …’
‘I don’t know about Paul. He’s probably just trying to keep in with Mrs P. Him and Nat haven’t been here that long, they only bought the roadhouse about three years ago. Scott – well, he doesn’t like Todd because of Karen. Scott and Karen had a thing together for a good few years. Then Todd turned up, making lots of cash and a bit more sophisticated, not that you’d know it these days, and Karen fell for him. When they got married, Scott was bad-mouthing Karen all over the place, calling her a gold digger and worse. He’s got over it a bit now but he doesn’t like Todd, or the other miners.’
‘You from round here too?’ asks Walker.
‘Yeah, sorta. I grew up in Longreach,’ she says. ‘I was working in a pub there when this job came up, must be nearly ten years ago now. Fancied running a place of my own and I was ready to leave Longreach too, needed to see some new faces. Might be time for another change, I reckon …’ She takes another long drink. He can see how tired she is, worn out.
‘How long have you known Vero?’ he asks. The two women seem very close but also quite unlikely mates, so different in style and background.
‘Three years,’ she says, smiling. ‘After Mark and Vero got married, she came up every season but only for a week or two, for the country races or the rodeo. We were mates right off. She’s such a laugh, the life of the party, but there’s a lot more to her. People only see that side of her, but she’s got sadness in her life too. Her family – well, she had a tough childhood and I know how that feels. And Mark was always working every hour god sent. I don’t think he was much of a husband, to be honest. I was stoked when she came for the whole season this time.’
‘What made her come up for the season this year, then?’
‘Well, actually, it’s a bit of a sad story,’ says Susie. ‘Did you know she was an Olympian, that she’s a pentathlete?’
Walker nods. ‘Yeah, I heard that …’
‘Well, there’s a long story about that and about how she was treated by her family as a kid, but more recently her mum was her manager. When Vero went professional about eight years ago, her mum ran the business side of things. That didn’t work out, Vero fired her, and it turns out that her mum’s been stealing from her, taking money from her accounts. Vero only found out earlier this year when some of her sponsors started legal action. They’re threatening to take her to court. She needed a break, needed to get away, so she came up here with Mark for the season. But Mark wasn’t being very supportive. That’s why I’m here for her. I’m happy to have her here.’
Walker makes a mental note of Vero’s financial difficulties. He’d like to ask Susie more about Mark but hears footsteps behind him, swivels slightly on his stool. A couple of old-timers coming in for a drink, taking their places in the centre of the bar. Susie walks over to serve them and Walker, watching her go, reckons Susie’s seen some tough times. There was genuine affection in Susie’s eyes when she spoke of Vero. She must be quite isolated here, there are few other women her age, and he can see how Vero would be both a welcome breath of fresh air and a confidante.
He thinks back to what he’s learnt about the rest of the town. Scott Hemmings should maybe be on Stones’s suspect board. He has a history with Karen Mullins and a dislike of the miners. Even Mrs Pidgeon and Mal have motive enough. He can’t imagine Mrs Pidgeon, older and with her tiny build, inflicting this kind of terrible violence, but she might have incited her husband, or even Paul or Scott, given her position of power in this town. He understands why Stones thinks that Todd Mullins is the prime suspect, but it seems there’s no shortage of other people who might have wished harm to Mark Bailey and Karen Mullins.