‘She would . . .’ said Jack. ‘If she thought . . . best thing.’ He gasped in pain. ‘Something went wrong . . . Georgia . . . her and Bree’s backpacks . . . Jasmine and Cierra’s backpacks gone . . . they were supposed to . . . they left before I got here . . . Bree . . . girls must have been taken . . . only reason. Someone took them.’ He dropped his head to the side and spoke no more, falling into fitful moans.

They all looked at each other.

‘It’s impossible,’ said Murphy.

‘You don’t know Madison like I do,’ said Eliza, feeling sick. ‘She’s capable. But some of it . . . it doesn’t make sense.’

‘Oh, you mean like how Georgia fucking died?’ said Murphy.

‘They set it up themselves,’ said Con, his voice giving nothing away. ‘But if they were going to wait for him . . . surely they wouldn’t have left for no reason.’

‘And who attacked me, up on the mountain? One of them?’ said Eliza. She wiped the sweat from Jack’s forehead. ‘Jack, you sweet idiot, what were you thinking?’

Con was back on his phone. ‘Gabriella, are you there?’ He put her on speaker for the others’ benefit.

‘We’re waiting at the top of the trail. An ambulance is on its way, but the commander has ordered a chopper from Launceston: if we lose Jack, we lose the girls. How’s he doing?’

‘Tell them to hurry,’ said Con. ‘And call in Forensics. We have evidence here, the last place the girls might’ve been.’

Murphy stalked out of the hut, slamming the door behind him.

‘Murphy?’ shouted Con. ‘Gabriella, Murphy is coming your way. Keep hold of the car keys and stop him from doing anything stupid. Careful, he knows how to pick pockets.’

The sound of a motorbike engine rumbled outside the hut.

‘Shit! He’s taking Jack’s bike. Gabriella!’ shouted Con into the phone.

‘On it!’ came her breathless reply.

Eliza squeezed Jack’s hand, but he didn’t squeeze back.

I’m sorry, Jack. I need to tell them about the fight.

CHAPTER 24

MURPHY

Murphy rode Jack’s dirtbike down the trail, manoeuvring around the rocks and roots, the headlight illuminating the muddy tyre tracks that showed the route Jack had arrived by.

He was approaching the end of the wallaby trail now, the sound of the engine rattling inside his helmet, the visor raised to keep from getting water-blind from the raindrops. He saw lights up ahead, coming up fast. Tom and Gabriella, standing in his way, waving him down, shouting for him to stop.

Murphy revved the engine and drove straight through.

They dodged to the side, their faces a blur in the rain and torch beams, and then Murphy was on the wider four-wheel-drive track, the bouncing headlight lighting the road and the tree limbs that spread over it, ghostly arms reaching for him.