‘Do you know where we are?’

‘Yes.’ He lifted his sleeve to show a waterproof compass strapped to his wrist by a paracord bracelet. ‘Because I know I can’t rely on my own sense of direction, not out here.’

‘But do you still know the direction to the ridge?’ said Eliza.

‘I’m trying to help you understand. Setting out, just the two of us, is stupid. Thinking that there might be something up there on the ridge, after all this time, and the weather we’ve had, is stupid. Searching out here, when we should be back where we know the girls have been, is stupid.’

‘Why agree to come, if I’m such a stupid little girl?’

‘Because, Miss Ellis, you aren’t a little girl and you aren’t stupid. Either you know something you’re not telling me or you’re driven by some emotion that’s overriding your better judgement. I’d like to know which one it is.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Darren pushed his sleeve down over the compass. ‘Well, we’re not moving until you tell me.’

‘You can’t do that.’

‘I want to find these girls more than you could possibly know,’ said Darren. ‘Until I find out what you’re hiding, we’re not going back to the trail.’

‘Darren . . . listen to me. Just get me to that ridge.’

‘Are you even listening to me?’

‘Fine.’ She pushed past him. ‘I’ll head there myself.’ She ignored the sting of the leaves and the drone of insects.

The copperleaf snowberry abruptly gave way to a small stretch of blueberry flaxlily, offering far better visibility of the ridge. She stomped through it, watching the sandstone ridge and its white gum directly ahead.

She could hear Darren walking behind her. She heard his low chuckle, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. ‘You know what’s really interesting, Miss Ellis?’

She ignored him, eyes on the ridge.

‘A second ago you had no idea which direction you were facing.’

‘You’re not the only one who knows how to read a compass, constable.’ She continued to stomp through the scrub covering the ground.

‘I’ll get to the bottom of it eventually, Miss Ellis,’ he said. ‘Whatever it is. I always do.’

You won’t have to wait that long, she thought to herself, Madison’s face appearing in her mind. Con would probably be waiting for her, back in town.

Darren’s words returned to her mind: You’re driven by some emotion that’s overriding your better judgement. There was an uncomfortable truth to that.

She thought of the permission slip in her pocket:

I give permission for Eliza Ellis to be strong.

Signed, E. Ellis.