‘Finally!’ Kensy exclaimed. ‘I can’t believe we couldn’t even get two minutes on our own the whole time we were away.’ Sparing no detail, the girl explained everything. She pulled the pieces of toilet paper from her pocket and passed them to Max, who had moved into the front passenger seat for the short ride home from where they had just dropped Tinsley and the children in Warung St. Dash had surprised everyone when he said they wouldn’t be heading back until Monday as he had to meet a man about some cattle. Tinsley clearly had no idea about his plans and, given the children had an important choir rehearsal first thing, she didn’t fancy a terse phone call from Mr Thacker or that awful receptionist, Ms Skidmore, if Van and Ellery weren’t there. Fitz had promptly offered them a lift.
‘Is that meant to be a dot?’ Max asked, squinting at the tissue.
Kensy sighed miserably. ‘I think there’s only one word and I have no idea what it means.’
Max fetched a notepad and pen from his daypack and started scribbling. There were a couple of gaps, but it didn’t take him long to work out what the word was meant to be. ‘Kens, of course you know what this means – unless you paid absolutely no attention in our Maori language classes.’
Kensy grabbed the notepad and gasped. ‘Aotearoa! Do you think they could be in New Zealand?’ She stared at the neatly printed letters on the page. ‘How did I not see that?’
Fitz scratched his fake beard. ‘Don’t worry, Kensy – that won’t be the last mistake you make in this business. Your father and I almost missed a target entirely when we were newly minted agents and I mixed up the towns of Dunstaple and Barnstaple. Let’s just hope Anna and Ed get in contact again soon. At least it sounds as though they’re close if they need help.’
‘I suppose.’ Kensy’s heart swelled inside her chest. ‘I miss them so much.’
‘I know you do, sweetheart,’ Fitz said, looking at her in the rear-vision mirror. ‘Did either of you learn anything interesting about the Chalmers while we were there?’
Kensy nodded. ‘Tinsley is lovely and I can’t imagine that she would ever want to do anything to harm her children – even though I would.’
‘You just don’t like the fact that Van has a massive crush on you,’ Max said, ducking away from Kensy’s attempt to jab him in the ribs.
‘I’d like to crush him,’ Kensy said. She realised she’d forgot to mention the farm manager, Nick, and went on to detail her walk with Tinsley. ‘He was unloading a whole lot of boxes, but since when do you need formaldehyde on a farm? Don’t they use that to preserve dead things?’
‘It has many purposes,’ Fitz said, ‘but you might want to look it up.’
‘There were other things too. Aluminium salts and thim-something,’ she said. The name was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t quite catch it. ‘Why can’t I have your photographic memory, Max?’
‘You know, Dash lied about what he was doing today,’ Max said. ‘We heard him on the phone last night saying something about biohazard transport boxes and a pick-up at nine o’clock. He said that if they wanted to play hard ball then clearly they had no idea who they were dealing with. And why would they have biohazard boxes at the farm? That’s weird too.’
‘Mmm,’ Fitz said. ‘Given that The Chalmers Corporation HQ is in the city and their Australian factory is located out at Norwest, that does seem strange. Dash certainly hasn’t lost any of his famous Chalmers charm – he had half the mothers at the cricket match swooning all over him yesterday and he was loving every second of it. Did Tinsley mention anything about his assistant, Lucy, being at the match?’
‘No,’ Kensy said. ‘Was she there?’
Fitz nodded. ‘He hopped into the car with her for a little while and they were talking, but unfortunately I was busy attending to a batsman with a nosebleed, so I couldn’t really tell what they were up to.’
Fitz drove into the garage and shut off the engine. Kensy had done a quick scout for Curtis, but this time he was nowhere to be seen. The threesome piled out of the car and grabbed their bags.
‘I think Song’s been busy,’ Max said as he pushed open the door into the house. A mournful country tune filled the air along with the smell of a freshly baked chocolate cake. The butler was singing at the top of his lungs and hadn’t seemed to notice their arrival.
Kensy charged up the stairs into the kitchen, where Song was busy putting the finishing touches to the icing. At the sound of her footsteps, he spun around and threw the spatula at her. Kensy caught it without missing a beat and licked it from top to bottom. ‘Mmm, my favourite.’
‘Good afternoon, Miss Kensington. I’m glad you like it.’ Song turned back to sprinkle hundreds and thousands on top of the cake. ‘How was your sojourn in the countryside?’
‘Strange,’ the girl said, collapsing onto a stool at the island bench. ‘What about you?’
‘I called around to the Chalmers’ residence and had a lovely cup of tea with Rosa. Her adoration of Mr Chalmers is quite unnerving, but the woman can certainly make a mean vanilla slice,’ Song said. He dusted his hands, then turned back to Kensy as Fitz walked into the room to put on the kettle. ‘She informed me that Dash and Tinsley’s marriage is a very happy one and that Mr Chalmers is the best husband in the world.’
‘Yeah right,’ Kensy scoffed. ‘There’s something odd about the whole situation, if you ask me. Cherry Tree Farm is absolutely gorgeous. And there are literally hundreds of photographs of Dash and Tinsley and the children smiling everywhere – in silver frames on sofa tables, on the walls, even in the bathrooms.’
Max appeared, having taken his bag straight upstairs. ‘It made me feel a bit sad about never having had that,’ he said, sitting down beside his sister. ‘I suppose it would have been tricky to cart around loads of pictures when were moving every six months.’
Fitz glanced up from where he was pouring boiling water into the teapot. ‘I’m sorry, Max, I never knew you felt that way.’
Kensy scrunched up her nose. ‘Why would you feel sad? It was totally creepy,’ she said. ‘It’s like they have this veneer of perfection, but scratch the surface and there’s something very weird about that family. Which reminds me – why did they have a photo in their house of Uncle Rupert and a beautiful woman looking as if they’re madly in love?’
Song and Fitz exchanged a meaningful look.
Fitz poured himself a cup of tea and stirred in a splash of milk. ‘I suppose you’ll probably find out one day, so it might as well be now,’ he said, and took a long sip of his tea. ‘Your uncle was engaged to Dash Chalmers’ sister, Abigail. She was the love of Rupert’s life, but she drowned in an accident before they were married. He never talks about it and you’re not to bring it up either – with anyone, including your grandmother.’
‘That’s awful. Poor Uncle Rupert,’ Kensy said.
‘Wow, that’s horrible,’ Max said, frowning. ‘I’m glad the Chalmers have a photograph of them – there’s nothing more important than family. When Mum and Dad come back, I don’t care wherever we live, I just know I want there to be pictures.’