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Dale wasn’t sure which hurt more. The fact that anyone could be callous enough—sick enough—to murder an innocent, young girl, or that the police thought anyone on the station was capable of such a thing. He considered Karri a good friend. As did everyone else who worked and lived here. It wasn’t right. The Sarge must have it wrong. Karri must have been killed by a stranger. But as the Sarge had so succinctly put it, no one else could’ve got in or out over those two days. The place was completely shut off because of the floods.
Daisy must be feeling a lot like he was. Scared and confused. Not able to understand how she’d become a person of interest in a murder. Not for one second, did he think Daisy was the killer. First of all, she’d been with him all that afternoon. And secondly, he knew deep down inside she was incapable of such a crime. In a strange twist of fate, they’d become each other’s alibis.
Did she feel the same way about him? Did she feel unequivocally that he would never harm another human? He searched her eyes, looking for any form of doubt buried in them; hoping to find trust and not censure. He needed someone to talk to about everything. And over those past few nights in the laundry, he’d felt a deep connection with Daisy. Felt like he could talk to her, when no one else around him would. His mother was going about her day as if this was some kind of minor inconvenience. Perhaps hoping if she ignored it hard enough, it’d all be over soon, and she could go back to running the resort exactly the way she wanted. Steve was also burying himself in work. Steve had never been a talkative one in the first place, one of those strong silent types, who did the work and never complained. Skylar was usually occupied in the kitchen. He’d managed to get her to put down the knives for five minutes yesterday when he checked in on her mental well-being. Apart from being shocked, she also seemed to be in a place of denial, much like their mother. It was like this terrible catastrophe was driving his family further apart; not bringing them closer, as it should.
He’d asked her if anymore food had gone missing, but she waved away his question, saying there were much more important things to think about than a few mislaid steaks. Alek, Bindi, Sally, and even Wazza, had become a tight group since Karri turned up in the creek, almost as if they were sticking together. Dale always had a great relationship with the staff, treated them like an extension of his family. But he could feel a slight disconnect between them, a coolness had developed. Perhaps it was his imagination. But perhaps they feared the family might try to point the finger at one of them and were closing ranks to protect themselves.
Driving over this afternoon to pick up Daisy, he’d devised a plan to get her alone. But now, he was unsure. He almost didn’t ask. But maybe it was something they both needed; a way to get their minds off the terrible happenings for an hour or so. Skylar had made him a special picnic to take. All he had to do was get her to say yes.
“Daisy.”
“Hm?” She tore her gaze away from the window to look at him.
“I’d like to show you something. Will you come with me?”
“I’m not sure. What is it? I should probably just get back to Ryan.”
His stomach dropped. She was going to say no. “I’d like to take you to the top of the escarpment. You get an amazing view of the country below. We can watch the sunset from there, it should be a good one tonight.”
“Really?” That seemed to spark her interest.
“Yeah. We can eat dinner up there. Skylar made us something special.” Drat, perhaps he shouldn’t have said that. Now she’d know he’d been planning it all along.
“Hmm.” She gave him the side-eye as she pretended to consider it, while staring out the window. A tiny smile played over her lips, and he knew she was teasing him.
“I really shouldn’t. But I’ve wanted to get up on the escarpment from the first day I arrived. And how can I resist such a gallant invitation?”
“Is that a yes?”
“I guess that’s a yes.” This time, a genuine smile lit her face, the first he’d seen since he picked her up today. That smile made him feel lighter, took away a small fraction of the heavy cloud hanging over his head.
“Cool.” He couldn’t keep the wide smile off his face, either. “Come through the kitchen and I’ll grab our picnic.”
Skylar was in the kitchen, of course. Even though they’d had some cancellations—people who decided that a resort currently under the cloud of a murder investigation wasn’t the place they wanted to come—they were still over half full. His sister stopped what she was doing and looked up from her chopping board. A pile of finely sliced, homegrown radishes sat neatly on the board. She must be going to cook her famous char-grilled lamb chops with radish ratatouille and mint and feta tonight. At least Skylar had her cooking to keep her occupied. It kept her completely focussed for hours on end, which helped to hold the horror of what’d happened to Karri at bay.
“Hi, Daisy. Good to see you again,” Skylar said, genuine pleasure in her tone. Then she frowned when she suddenly realized why Daisy was here. “Have you been interviewed yet?”
Daisy merely nodded.
“What a fucked-up situation, hey?” Trust Skylar not to hold back on her feelings. “I can’t fucking believe they think any of us had anything to do with it.” She slammed the knife down onto the chopping board, splitting a bright-red radish clean in half.
“Yeah, I hope they figure it all out soon, so they leave us alone.”
“Amen to that, sister.” Skylar flicked her blonde ponytail over her shoulder and went back to her chopping board. “Your picnic is in the cool room,” she added, raising an amused eyebrow in Dale’s direction. He studiously ignored his sister as he opened the door and found the wicker basket neatly tied up with a red ribbon on a shelf at the back.
“Thank you.” He gave Skylar a quick hug on his way through the kitchen. “Is there—”
“Yes, I packed everything you asked for, you big loon.” Skylar punched him in the shoulder as he let her go.
“Are you coming?” he asked, as he noticed Daisy still standing on the other side of the large kitchen island, staring at the two of them, an undecipherable look on her face. Almost as if she were enjoying their sibling banter. As if she wanted to join in. Did she have any brothers and sisters? And what about her mother and father, the rest of her family? He hardly knew anything about her. Perhaps he could remedy that tonight.
“Yep,” she said, refocusing on him.
He grabbed his hat from the rack near the door, and a spare one for Daisy, and led the way outside, the basket swinging from one hand. But instead of heading toward his truck, he took the dirt path up to the machinery shed at the top of the rise.
“Are we walking?” Daisy asked, surprised.
“No. We’re taking an ATV,” he replied, placing the hat gently on her head. It was now late afternoon, but the sun still had some sting, and the brim would help to keep the setting sun out of her eyes.
