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The kettle whistled, and she took it off the stove and filled two mugs. Then she turned slowly to stare at him.
Breaking the silence, she said, “That man you thought was my colleague is actually my brother, River.”
Dale pursed his lips. He hadn’t been expecting that.
“Okay,” he drawled, trying to figure out where this was all going. That might account for why she was so upset. She was clearly close to her brother. But why all the subterfuge? He said nothing more, giving her space to explain in her own time.
Daisy poured milk into her tea and stirred it slowly. The look on her face told him she might well be searching for the courage to tell him the rest. She drew in a deep breath. “We’re not doing environmental consultation, and we have no connection to the university in Melbourne, either.”
“Okaaaaay.” This time he drew the word out a little. It seemed as if almost everything Daisy had told him was a lie. But why? And why was it such an elaborate lie? “Let me guess. You weren’t born in Darwin, either.” He tried, but failed, to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
She brought his mug of coffee and her cup of tea over to the table, setting his down in front of him.
“No, I wasn’t.” She looked directly at him. “We’re both from Perth. My whole family is in Perth. I go to uni in Perth.”
Some of the brother’s cryptic note was making sense. At least now he understood what it meant when River said he’d dragged her all the way across the country. This was about as far away from Perth as you could get.
“So, what are you doing here in the middle of nowhere?”
She hesitated, twirling the cup in her palms. “My brother got involved with the wrong crowd.” She sighed and lifted her gaze to the ceiling. “He tries hard to do the right thing, but he always seems to land in trouble.”
Uh-oh, this didn’t sound good. It sounded like…
“He’s wanted by the police in Western Australia. But it’s all a big misunderstanding.”
Yep, that was exactly what it sounded like. The boy was mixed up in something illegal. And he’d somehow dragged his big sister into it.
“So, I got him out of there as fast as I could. He’s innocent. But the cops say he’s involved in the crime. An accessory to the fact. But he never hurt that man. He told me he tried to get them to stop.”
A sudden worry niggled at the back of Dale’s mind. “What kind of crime are we talking about?” he asked warily. It was suddenly very important that she answer this question. This was the crux of the whole matter, and a sudden lead weight settled over him as he waited for her reply.
“It’s in connection to murder.”
Dale’s heart stuttered in his chest. No. This couldn’t be. His blood ran cold. Surely, that was too much of a coincidence. The boy was under investigation for a murder in West Australia. And now, he just happened to be here when another murder occurred.
“Holy fuck,” he whispered.
“It’s not what you think.” she hurried to correct him. “He’s innocent, I know he is. And I know how bad this all looks. But there’s no way he would hurt Karri, either.”
Dale wasn’t so sure. He had to applaud Daisy’s conviction, but she was severely biased. She could be wrong. And if she was wrong… There was no point in arguing with her. He needed time to think over these revelations and come to his own conclusion. The coincidence was remarkable. It all began to make horrible sense to him. Why she’d been so desperate to get across the flooded creek. Why she’d looked so terrified when the police had arrived. Why she hadn’t wanted Senior Sergeant Robinson to come to the outstation; because she needed to keep River hidden. And now he knew about their connection, he could see the similarity between them. Even though River had light-brown eyes and dark hair, they had the same, heart-shaped face, the same high cheekbones. But there were so many other things that needed clarification.
“Why did you go on the run if he was innocent? Why didn’t you just go to the cops, explain how things went down?” he asked.
She stared at him as if he’d just sprouted horns out of the side of his head.
“You’re joking? The cops would’ve had him locked up quicker than you could blink. They can’t see past the color of our skin, most of the time.”
He was shocked by her statement.
“Don’t give me that look, you know the cops are biased. They stereotype us. Perhaps Robinson and King are exceptions. But come on, can you honestly say that most cops don’t take a second look whenever an Aboriginal walks in front of them?”
He stopped to consider her words. “I didn’t realize it was that bad,” he answered truthfully.
“No, well you wouldn’t, would you?” She arched an eyebrow in his direction.
He was about to argue, to deny he was racist. But then he stopped and thought about how he might look through her eyes. How he’d never experienced racism in his life. And how perhaps he was biased by his white privilege. There was a lot to unpack in that one statement, and Dale decided to shelve the argument for another time. There was plenty to think about in what Daisy had just told him, without going down that rabbit hole.
“But there is more to it than just being wanted by the cops,” Daisy said quietly into her mug.
