A country dusk had begun to settle over the town of Shattered Falls as Rebecca climbed into her car and patted the seat, indicating that Sarge should join her. The dog did not hesitate, jumping and landing clumsily before climbing into the back seat. She flicked the headlights on and reversed out of the driveway as Jake watched from the front door. Jake giving a teenage style non-committal wave, that was little more than a raised finger. Rebecca hardly noticed.
She could feel pins and needles in her hands and almost a tremble throughout her body, but her grip held steady on the wheel and her eyes on the road ahead. She seemed a picture of calm, despite the whirlpool of thoughts swimming in her head.
What the hell had Matt been trying to tell her? Why did he have Nashy’s phone? A phone that had apparently been missing for fourteen years. Had Nashy been driving Matt’s father’s car when it had forced her mum and dad off the road? How could he do that and carry on hiding it all this time, and how could he bear to look Rebecca in the eyes?
The main street. Tracey’s store. The pub. Everything passed by in a blur as the unanswered questions continued to spin through her mind and Rebecca felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She wound down the window and the chill breeze cleared her head. Sarge must have sensed something, or maybe she was unhappy with the cold air now spilling into the car as she nuzzled Rebecca’s elbow and gave a soft whimper.
By the time they bumped over a potholed section of road which seemed to mark the boundary of town and bush, darkness had fallen. She flicked between high and low beam as other cars randomly passed by and hit the brakes suddenly twice, as kangaroos shot across the road in front of her, but they were far enough away not to cause any issues.
“It’s okay girl.” Rebecca did her best to reach back and pat Sarge but only managed to slap her on the nose.
“Sorry girl. We’re nearly there. Make a deal with you okay. You look after me and I’ll look after you.”
Rebecca surprised herself when she almost missed the turn off to the camping grounds at The Pane. The car’s back end slewed slightly to the left on the darkened road, but she safely made the turn onto the rough dirt track that ran around both sides of the dam. The Pane was uncommonly quiet. She had expected to see several campfires but tonight there was no one. She sat, idling the car, wound up the window and looked down the long stretch of water, its calm surface disturbed as a flock of wood ducks settled beside the old jetty. She smiled as she remembered the pocketknife that she had lost from that jetty. A gift from her dad, with a plastic, mother-of-pearl like handle, which despite its true fifteen-dollar value had been the most valuable treasure she had owned at the time. She had heard her Mum call after her as she had run off with it. “Be careful now.” And then she had heard a much quieter Mum say to her father “My god, did you see that smile? That’s one proud girl.”
When it had fallen from her pocket, weeks later, through the cracks between boards in the jetty, whilst she had been soaking up the mid-day sun, watching a yabby crawl in the shadows, she had been devastated. They had tried to recover it, but the soft mud and occasional smashed beer bottle hidden below, made the search impossible. She thought of that even now. Loss was a bitch and sometimes, it took a lot more from you than a fifteen-dollar pocketknife.
At the far end of the dam she saw another set of lights. Parking lights, and through the dim red shine she could just make out the motion of a car sitting idling just like hers. It was, she could now tell, Matt’s car and despite a growing feeling of apprehension, she took her foot of the brake and began the last hundred metres to what would hopefully be the truth.
Matt was leaning against the front of his car, staring to the west, catching the last few moments of the dwindling twilight. He turned as Rebecca’s car came to halt beside his and Sarge began to growl.
“Easy girl. Easy. I’ll leave the window down for you. Just stay.”
Rebecca opened her door and forced herself to get out and take steps that felt like walking through boot-sucking mud. She knew it was all in her head but just knowing that did not seem to make it any easier. She looked back toward the car to see Sarge, with head and front paws hanging out the passenger window, ready to spring out at the first sign that she was needed. She turned back as Matt spoke.
“I wasn’t sure you would come…and I’m sorry I had to take off. That coppers got it in for me. Ever since he worked out who my dad was.”
“He’s just watching out for me…and I don’t think you can blame him.”
“I know. I’ve been keeping secrets, but I had too. I didn’t know who I could trust. But I think it’s time you knew everything.”
“Then tell me.”
Matt took a few steps forward and sat on a long log that acted as a barrier for cars and looked up at Rebecca. She took a seat at the other end of the log.
“Ok where to start.”
“My Pop always said the beginning is a good place.”
“Yeah. I reckon he’s right. Well you know who my dad was. He was a drunk lots of the time but he was my dad all the time. He was never violent. Not like some of the drunks that beat their kids or their wife. Dad had a lot of issues when he was young with one of them type of drunks, and I reckon that’s a big part of why he turned out like he did. His dad, who I never met, well dad didn’t talk about him much, but mum knew about him. Let’s just say he was one the worst type of drunks. Dad did his best to grow up and not be that sort of person, but things got him down and it was a way out for him. When he met my mum, he was as clean as could be, but he slipped a few times, lost his job and that was a spiral he couldn’t escape from. Even did a couple of stints in jail.”
“I know your Dad wouldn’t have caused the accident on purpose, but…”
“That’s just it Rebecca. He didn’t cause the accident. I came down here, got the job at the mill. Stayed down here, away from my family to prove it.”
“Family?”
“Yeah. I never let on to anyone. I got twin girls and my wife back home. We’re separated now but we’re working things out. Guess the anger in me from what dad told me wasn’t healthy for our relationship.”
“That’s why you rushed back to Queensland straight from the pub the other night.”
“Yeah. Gracie, she’s the oldest of twins had broken her arm. Climbing a big old plum tree at her Aunties place. She’s fine…but I had to go. Needed to go.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. Anyways back to what Dad told me. Damn I don’t reckon you will believe me. It’s probably best you listen to this.”
Matt pulled the old phone he had shown Rebecca earlier, out of his jacket pocket.
“This phone. It’s been a mission to keep it charged. But the message on it…well you need to hear it.”
“I know who’s phone it is. Are you saying Nashy had something to do with this?”
“Just listen. Like I said we found it in dads’ car when we got it back from the police.”
Matt punched at the buttons on the phone and held it in front of him.
Rebecca listened to the message that seemed to boom in the stillness of late twilight and within seconds began to sob heavier than she had in a long time, right up to the last words, when it felt like her body turned to ice and her world turned black.
“Rebecca. Rebecca.”
When Rebecca focused again, Matt was crouched in front of her with his hand on her shoulder but was pushed aside when Sarge pushed her way between them.
“Ok you two. I’m okay.”
“Thought you were going to faint then. You lurched forward like you were going to fall on your face.”
“I’m okay.” She rested her palm on Sarge’s head and nodded to Matt. He stood back up and sat back down on the log.
“You need to play that again. I heard it but… it must be wrong. Something I misunderstood.”
Matt once again punched at the buttons on the old mobile phone and sat it on the log between them. Rebecca calmed herself this time and listened intently as her mother’s voice began to speak.
‘Hello.’
‘Cameron?’
Another voice, her fathers ‘Just call him Nashy.’
‘Nashy it’s Karen Ford. David was going to ring, but he’s in a bit of a state. We just need you to do us a favour. Can you keep an eye on David’s Dad? We have to go down to be with the kids at my mum and dads, and we’ve got some legal stuff to look into to.’
Rebecca’s father cut in again. ‘Got to get a lawyer.’
‘Just keep an eye on Pop for us.’
‘and if that prick Caplan comes anywhere near him…just…shoot the bastard.’
‘David.’
‘He’s been trying to steal my wife behind my back. My best friend for Christ’s sake but he’s gone too far now.’
‘Nashy, just look after Pop. We’ll be back as soon as we can. I just need to get to my kids’
The message ended and silence enveloped them.
“My god. Uncle Paul. He was harassing mum. That’s who she was talking about in her diary.”
“Yeah about that.” Matt walked back to his car and returned with a plastic sleeve filled with papers.
“This is probably the most illegal thing I’ve ever done.”
Matt handed the sleeve to Rebecca. “What do you mean?”
“I stole these out of his cop car while he was searching my caravan. They’ve been ripped out of another book…and I’m sorry but I read them. They just confirmed everything.”
Rebecca pulled the pages from the sleeve and for the next fifteen minutes she read snatches from pages torn from her mother’s diary in the bright headlights of Matt’s car.
“It was him. All the time…but how does this prove your dad wasn’t driving.”
“Well, that’s where you are going to have to put a little faith into what my dad told me.”
“Faith? Just tell me.”
“After the accident Mum took us kids back to Queensland to live with her parents. Dad did a couple of years in prison and eventually he came up too. He got a job with the council and stayed sober until his last breath.”
“He died?”
“Yeah. Punished his body too much with booze and smokes…but before he went, he told me he needed to clear something up. Needed to restore some small piece of personal dignity.
The night of the accident he was drunk as usual and was driving home or back to the pub. He doesn’t remember which, but he does remember driving along and seeing a police car at the side of the road. At first, he thought it was an RBT but when he got closer, he could see the car had hit a roo or something and had swerved off the road. It was just near where you turn onto the highway. It was Paul. The car had a flat and probably a broken axle. Paul was flustered. Like a mad man, dad said and in a hurry. That’s when he took over driving Dad’s car, and they took off chasing something. Guess now we know he was chasing after your mum and dad. They caught up with them just before crossing the range and Paul tried to get them to pull over, but they just kept driving. Paul was screaming how sorry he was. How he would lose his job, lose his wife. Lose everything…and then he tried to force them to pull over...but it went all wrong.
After the crash…Paul and dad tried to get down to them. Other cars had stopped. Paul turned to dad and said, ‘You were driving and if you ever say any different, I’ll make sure your kids end up spending their lives in prison just like you’ and then he took off.”
“Your dad should have told the truth about what happened…shouldn’t have let it go this far.”
“My dad was drunk. He had a reputation. No one would have believed him and the only good thing in his life was his family. He would have given up his freedom to make sure we were safe.”
“I’m so sorry. I’ve been so angry at him for such a long time.”
“You don’t need to be sorry. It’s not your fault but, hopefully you believe me now and you know whose fault it was.”
“It’s a lot to process. A lot. I need time…and his wife just died. I don’t even think I could face him now.”
“You should keep this for now too.” Matt handed the phone to Rebecca.
They sat silent for a moment until the lights from another vehicle shone down over the dam.
“Ok Rebecca. I’ve given you a lot to think about. Maybe a night to get your head straight will help.”
“Maybe. Maybe not, but yeah, I think it’s time to head home.”
They stood and turned back towards their cars and the dam. The lights from new vehicle at the other end of the dam were on high beam, and they had to shield their eyes.
“Just pick a place to camp dickhead.” Matt muttered as he squinted at the headlights, and then as the flashing blue lights on the roof of the car began to strobe and the siren sung, they both swore.
“So much for having time to process. You should go Matt. It could get ugly.”
“I’ve been hiding from him for too long, and there’s no way I’m leaving you with him.”