‘They’re inside?’ the man said.
I shifted my gaze from the open doorway and looked at Rohan. His eyes briefly closed as we listened to the gritty crunch of boots and I saw, out of the corner of my eye, the shape of a man standing in our cabin.
For a few moments he ducked his head in the glare and I got a good look at him. He was tall and sinewy, with a long neck and blond hair. His cheeks were sunken and his eyes close-set and deep. What formed his whole face was his narrow nose, everything pulled back from that – thin lips, cut cheekbones, small eyes. He was compelling in a severe and snobbish way, or possibly my position made me see him like this; he could just have been a shabby weasel-looking sonofabitch.
Denny was talking in lowered tones to someone out on the veranda. The man glanced around the cabin. His gaze lingered on the fridge and then skipped over to the pots on the stove. When he did look at us his small eyes flashed and I caught a glimpse of his narrow teeth as he smiled.
He looked at my face and my shoulder and then moved his gaze to Rohan. I also looked at Rohan, and was suddenly panicked – Rohan looked too good. He was dry and clean and rugged, dark and arrogant even wrapped up in silver tape and with his arms pulled back. The man rounded the table towards us. His clothes were wet, and I could sense his cold body, the internal shudder as he came to stand beside me.
‘Denny,’ he called over the table. ‘Did this one get shot? Is that what I heard?’
Denny kept murmuring out on the veranda and the man stiffened.
‘Come in here,’ he ordered.
Rohan and I exchanged glances.
‘Just give us a minute, Vince.’
Denny’s voice was hardly recognisable – not that her tone was different, although there was an odd fawning ring to it, but the proper way she put her words together was not like her. Or perhaps it was. Vince saw our eye contact and sniffed. He leant down between us with his hands on his knees.
‘You raped her,’ he said quietly.
It wasn’t a question, or even a statement – more a discloser between men.
We were both still.
‘I know you did. Both of you.’
He took turns in looking over us.
‘Which one of you hit her?’ he asked.
Rohan nodded.
‘Now how did I guess that? I wouldn’t own up so quick if I were you.’ He lowered his voice. ‘My idea of a good time has changed somewhat.’
Denny walked inside, with the rifle slung over her shoulder. There was a girl with her. She was willowy and dark-eyed. Her frizzy crop of black hair was the most obvious indication of her Aboriginality, but clues were everywhere – her full mouth and light-brown skin, the pale underside of her hands. My eyes moved rapidly between her face and Denny’s. I saw the likeness and realised Denny was part-Indigenous. Denny wasn’t as dark as the girl, and her hair was finer, but there it was, in Denny’s face, the unmistakable mystique of black culture. I looked at Rohan and saw he’d known this all along; he was looking at the girl, but not with the sudden revelation I felt – his eyes were steady and regretful.
Denny put a protective arm around her. The girl stood as high as Denny’s shoulder. Mid-teens are always hard to judge, but I thought she was about thirteen. She looked out from below thick black lashes at Rohan and me. There was heavy sorrow in her bottom lip. Denny was speaking in her ear, telling her it was all right, that she was with her now.
I heard Denny whisper, ‘They won’t hurt you.’
Vince opened the fridge and took out the roast chicken we’d half-eaten. He sat the plate on the bench and tore off a full section of white breast meat. Denny dragged the plate across the bench and sat the girl down on a stool.
‘Eat very slowly,’ she said. ‘Just little bits for now. I’m just going to get the bags.’ She pressed her hand to the girl’s wet shoulder for a moment before leaving.
The minute Denny stepped out of the cabin the atmosphere tuned to a new higher pitch, and it wasn’t us. The girl stopped chewing. Vince wiped his greasy lips and looked at her. ‘Stop it,’ he hissed.
He continued staring at her. ‘You said anything?’
The girl began to get off the chair and Vince reached across and held her wrist. He shook his head and the girl sat back down.
Rohan and I looked at one another.
Denny brought in two wet backpacks. She unzipped one on the table and dragged out clothes, looking for dry things.
‘Cozy set-up,’ Vince said, with a mouth full of chicken. ‘I can see now why it took you so long.’
‘Don’t,’ Denny said.
‘You got the bunker key?’ he asked.
She nodded.
‘Give it here then.’
‘I’ve hidden it; I’ll get it in a minute. Let me look after Nicky.’
Vince looked at me. ‘What happened to him? How did he get shot?’
Denny shook out a light pink jumper. ‘There’s bread in the cupboard by the stove.’
‘Where?’ Vince said, spinning around.
He began opening cupboard doors. Rohan twisted his shoulders to get Denny’s attention. She wouldn’t look at him. Vince laughed when he found the bread. He held it above his head.
‘Will you look at that!’
Denny went over to the girl. ‘Let that settle first,’ she said softly to her, moving the plate away. ‘There’s a fireplace through there. You get changed and warm. Sit down and I’ll bring you in a hot drink. There’s Milo, Nic. I can make you a hot Milo with sugar.’
Nicky stood and walked into the lounge room. Once she was gone Vince was more relaxed. He ripped off chunks of bread and eyed Denny.
‘I’ll wait for Dad,’ he said. ‘Might leave these two for the morning so we’re not doing it in the dark. They look pretty comfortable there. Where are Mum and Dad? They should have gotten here before us. Maybe they can’t see the lights from the river?’
Denny’s face lost its fullness. When she spoke her voice was harsh. ‘I know what happened while I was gone,’ she said. ‘Nicky told me when I came back. I know what you and your father did to her.’
Vince put down the bread. He wiped his mouth.
‘She told me what you made her do, and your father. I can’t believe what animals you are.’
He took one step forward and Denny brought the rifle over from her shoulder. It was a swift and practised move. She took a full magazine from her pocket and I realised she’d aimed the gun at us unloaded. The action was clunking back and a bullet in the chamber in the time it would take a novice to take the gun from their back.
‘Don’t raise that gun at me, Denny.’
She did.
He backed up. ‘I don’t know what she told you, but it’s not how it sounds. We didn’t hurt her. You were gone so long and we didn’t know. And, anyway, you can’t tell me nothing happened here. We didn’t hurt her. Ask her, she’ll tell you.’
‘Oh, she told me.’
‘I knew this would happen. You’re overreacting.’
‘You raped her!’
‘No! No we didn’t. We didn’t force her. She was fine. I knew she’d do this. She’s not the child you take her for.’
‘She’s fourteen!’
‘She liked it.’
‘You bastards! She didn’t like it. Like it?’ The gun creaked in Denny’s grip. ‘I know. So don’t even try. She told me everything. And she told me how you all threatened her. Your mother locked her in the basement so she couldn’t come to me. You wouldn’t feed her. What is wrong with you people? I trusted you, you and your parents. I thought she was safe with you. I should never have left her. She should have been with me.’
‘Don’t play so innocent on this. It wouldn’t have happened if you came back when you said you would. Why did you take so long? Getting fat with your new friends? Bit too comfortable to come get your sister? What did you think would happen? We were starving – remember what that was like?’
‘I risked doing it. Not you. I walked in here with no idea what would happen. As soon as I could, I left the note down at the river. I had to get the bunker key.’
‘You could have had these guys tied to chairs within two minutes. And don’t make out there was any decision – it was always you coming in, wasn’t it. Don’t think I don’t know how that mind of yours works. I saw the cogs turning when you first told us about the man you’d seen in the bush. Nicky wouldn’t have gone with you even if you’d asked. We wouldn’t have let her – she was our insurance you’d come back.’
‘You took advantage of a child and scarred her whole life. How does she forget? It’s so fucking sick. And your mother? Your snob-fucking mother – she does nothing? What the hell went on in your heads?’
‘These two are no different. Switch circumstances and it’s the same deal. Don’t you remember our little talk? I said these two would rape you, and what did you say – as long as it wasn’t Nicky.’
‘So you knew how I felt and you went ahead and did it!’
‘Put the gun down. Don’t play your
GI Jane
games with me.’
Denny screwed up her face. ‘I want to know how you thought it would work? How you thought I could live with any of you after what you did?’
‘And I want to know how you thought it would work with these two weekend warriors. Because I don’t doubt you had your mind made up before you even came in here. You took your time because you were busy with the groundwork – laying down the foundations for you and Nicky. Except you’ll be thinking to keep someone around to do your dirty work. Because you’re only good up to a point, aren’t you? Can’t quite finish the job. Not as ruthless as you think. Such a waste, all that army training, Denny. Didn’t they tell you when you signed up you’d have to be capable of killing?’
‘I’ve never had a good enough reason before.’
‘You can’t even kill an insect.’
She walked around towards him. ‘Well everyone has to start somewhere.’
‘You’re going to kill all of us? Because that’s what you’ll have to do. Is that what you want for Nicky – a bloodbath? That’ll scar her more than anything we did. These two aren’t going to be any good after this. People don’t take kindly to being bound and gagged.’
‘That’s right. They don’t
like
it.’
‘That wasn’t me. And I told him never again.’
‘So nice of you. Was that a family discussion? While she was locked in the basement?’
‘I know it sounds bad.’
‘No, it doesn’t sound bad. It
is
bad. It’s evil.’
‘So you left her again? You came back here without her.’
‘I had to. I thought it was just one more day. And think about how hard that was for me – to have to turn away and leave her one more night with the three of you.’
‘But they wouldn’t let you back in, would they. And you’re going to trust them? You can’t trust them too much to have to tie them up.’
‘I didn’t want Nicky coming in with guns loaded and confusion.’
‘They’ll kill you and keep Nicky – someone who’s not so much trouble.’
‘No, it’s only you and your father who like frightened girls.’
‘It wasn’t like that. Bring her out here. She’ll explain.’
‘Are you insane?’
‘We weren’t rough with her. She does this to you – plays up to you, because you baby her. When you weren’t around she used to flirt with me, even when you were there. Look, it was in a bedroom, with protection, and not every night. I shouldn’t have to explain. There were times when she came.’
‘Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! It’s worse for her, you idiot. It’s worse that you confused her and made her like it. That’s her shame, you arsehole! You’ve ruined every orgasm she has for the rest of her life.’
‘It’s not that bad! You make it bad with this overreaction. We were stuck at that house, waiting and …’
‘Bored?’
‘If you ask her —’
‘You are nuts.’
‘Nicky,’ he called.
Denny swung the butt of the rifle around and hit him in the side of his head.
‘Don’t speak her name!’
He stumbled back. Rohan rocked and grunted madly in the chair to be released.
Vince straightened with his hand over his bloodied mouth. He touched his split lip and wiped the blood from his fingers on his shirt.
‘My parents are coming,’ he said. ‘Have you forgotten?’
‘They’re dead,’ Denny said.
Rohan groaned in disbelief.
‘What?’ Vince said.
‘They’re both dead. They were the shots you heard.’
‘Mum and Dad are dead?’
‘That’s why I split you up. While you were up the bluff I was down at the river.’
‘You killed them? You shot Mum and Dad?’
‘I would have just taken Nicky. I just wanted to bring her here, where I knew she’d be safe. No-one would touch her here. I made it so no-one would touch her. But after what you did to her? I trusted you.’
Vince wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He looked over at us. When he spoke his teeth were stained red.
‘You didn’t kill my parents. You haven’t got it in you.’
‘That’s the mistake you make – thinking you know me.’
‘You’re shaking, Denny.’
Denny blinked to clear her vision. She kept readjusting her grip on the rifle. ‘Denny,’ Rohan managed behind his tape. ‘Pull the trigger. Now.’
‘See,’ Vince said, ‘even the ape over there knows.’
Denny started to cry. ‘I hate you … I want to be with my family. Nicky and I should be with our family.’
‘Denny,’ Rohan said, clearer now as the tape loosened. ‘Untie me.’
Vince licked the blood from his teeth. ‘No, look what you did for Nicky – took her from that life. You saved her from all that. All this is because of you.’
The gun barrel dipped as Denny cried.
‘She might have missed out on her culture, but at least she’s properly educated. But then …? With what’s happened? The world now? She might have been better equipped with her family and her culture. It is a bit of a shame neither of you can survive on your own – you don’t know the first thing about the bush. So much for all those native skills. Nicky can thank you for everything that’s happened to her. She’s where she is right now because of you.’
Denny shook her head. Vince calmly stepped forward and took the gun from her. ‘Oh, Denny,’ he said. ‘I might not be able to forgive you this time.’
In a quick and stabbing movement he brought the butt of the rifle down on the top of her head. She collapsed out of view.