‘Yeah.’

‘What for?’

‘I don’t know.’

She pulled away from him. ‘I know Brendan’s getting the guns. You going to shoot that old man?’

He didn’t move a muscle. ‘They said if I didn’t help them they were going to come back here for you.’

Her eyes fell, her breathing quickened. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I’ll be right. You go to your mum’s and I’ll meet you there tomorrow.’

She held his eyes. Cupped his cheeks with her hands so he couldn’t break the stare. ‘Don’t you do anything stupid.’

‘I won’t.’

‘You promise me.’

‘Alright, I promise.’

She let him go and he rubbed his cheeks and grinned. ‘Grip like a vice. Enough to break an arm.’

‘I’ll break you, you don’t come quick tomorrow.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’

He picked up his little girl once more and said to her, ‘You’re so beautiful.’

His wife said, ‘Wish you talked to me like that.’

‘Where do you think she gets it from?’

He gave Amy to Sarah and stepped away. In the doorway he looked back at his daughter and wondered what type of world he was making for her to inhabit. Then he turned and walked out of the house. Brendan was in front of him, his arms awkward with the two shotguns balanced across them like heavy planks of wood.

They drove into Newbury, over the old bridge. Judah had got in the backseat and sat there smoking. Brendan was driving, sweat coating his face, despite the cool air and the open window. Sidney’s leg was jumping. His chest hurt. And his shoulder. He wondered if that kangaroo had been sent by God and he was supposed to have succumbed to his injuries, to prevent him from aiding this mongrel on the back-seat. Maybe Doctor Wilkie was the devil in disguise, propping him up, sending him to hell all stitched up. Maybe Moore was the angel, one who Sidney was now travelling to destroy. But what choice did he have? Judah was just the start of it. Even if he somehow managed to run with his wife, avoid Judah, go someplace safe, Melbourne would still come. And there was his brother to think about.

On the left the church. Outside, three police cars with their lights flashing. Two officers standing there, probably more inside. An ambulance. Brendan accelerated.

‘Slow down, idiot,’ Judah said.

‘What happened there, you think?’ Sidney asked.

Brendan’s eyes were twitchy and Sidney knew that whatever had transpired there had involved his brother. Probably the blood coating his shirt.

‘You reckon that was the same cops parked outside Moore’s?’ Judah asked after they’d driven by.

‘Probably,’ Brendan said. ‘Not many police to spare in Newbury. Or Trenton. Both small towns.’

‘Good.’

‘Hopefully that’s where they’ll be concentrated then, not on searching for Caleb.’

They drove on down the main street, past the pub. As they cleared Newbury and were passing the pastures on the road to Port Napier, Sidney ventured, ‘What’re you going to do with Martin?’