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She lifted her gaze long enough to see Finn get up from his chair around the campfire and stride toward her.
“Look,” she said, pointing at the thing, her mouth twisted with revulsion. “Is that…is that what I think it is?”
Finn hunkered down on his haunches and picked up a stick, poking carefully at the glob of fleshy substance lying in the dust.
“Fuck.” The curse was so quiet, Indy almost missed it.
Dale appeared at her shoulder and peered down. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Oh, holy shit. Is that…?” Dale reared back in a similar reaction to Indy’s when she’d first seen it.
“I’m afraid so,” Finn replied calmly. “It’s a human eyeball.”
“Are you sure?” Indy wanted him to be wrong. “I mean, it could be from a cow, or a… I don’t know, a kangaroo, maybe?”
“Nope. I’m pretty sure it’s human.” Finn stopped prodding the eyeball. “Where did it come from?” he asked, turning to look up at Indy.
“A crow dropped it.” As soon as she said the words, she knew how crazy they sounded. “It’s true,” she said, rounding on Dale with beseeching eyes. “I was just leaning against this tree and the crows were fighting over something, so I threw a rock at them, and this landed on the ground.” She couldn’t help the way her mouth twisted with distaste.
“If it really is human, then where did it come from?” Dale asked the question that was hovering on all their lips.
A few of the crew began to wander over, wondering what all the commotion was about.
“You’d better keep them away,” Finn said to Dale. “This might be another crime scene. We don’t want people messing with it.”
“What?” Dale blinked and looked up, as if trying to clear the image of the eyeball, all gory and covered in dust, out of his mind. “Oh, yeah, right.” Dale turned to the approaching crowd and waved them all back. “Go back to the camp, guys. I’ll fill you in soon.”
Indy stood as if rooted to the spot while Finn took over, yet again. This was becoming an all-too-common occurrence. She shook herself and tried to get her mind into gear.
“I’ll go call Nash on the sat phone,” she said decisively. “But I’m not sure he’s gonna believe me,” she added, taking one more look at the human organ lying on the ground. She shivered. Where the hell could that have come from?
She met Finn’s gaze, and it was as if he read her mind. He looked up into the sky to where the flock of crows was still circling. As if on cue, the birds took off, winging their way toward the repeater hill. Narrowing his eyes, he watched them disappear into the late afternoon sun.
“I think we need to find out where those crows are going.”
Dale looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”
“Crows are carrion birds, aren’t they?” Finn asked.
“Yes. They’re renowned for eating roadkill or dead cattle. Anything they can get their disgusting little beaks into.” Dale shuddered.
“Well, maybe they found a different type of carrion.” Finn stood and put his hands on his hips, still watching the birds, which were fast turning into little black dots on the horizon.
Indy turned to follow his gaze. Could there really be a dead person out there somewhere? Another dead body? What were the chances? Then she turned to stare at Finn. A lot of things she’d never thought possible had happened in the past few days. And if Finn were here to uncover a clandestine drug ring, then perhaps anything was possible.
“I want to go after those birds,” Finn said.
“I’m coming with you,” Indy shot back.
“Wait.” Dale held a hand up. “Exactly what do you think you’re going to find?”
“I don’t know,” Finn replied. “But we’ve only got around an hour of sunlight left, so I say we need to get going fast, whatever we do.” He stared at Dale, waiting for an answer. Indy could see how agitated Finn was, but if he were to keep his undercover persona intact, he had to defer to Dale, who was supposedly his boss. If only Dale knew the truth. “It’ll be well after dark by the time the cops get here. They won’t be able to do anything until morning,” he prompted, when Dale still didn’t answer.
Dale’s broad shoulders seemed to straighten as he came to a decision. “Righto. I want Mack to go with you. Take a sat phone and UHF radios. And if you haven’t found anything by nightfall, I want you back here. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Finn and Indy said in unison.
Finn sprinted toward the fire to tell Mack what was up, and Indy headed for the mess tent and the sat phone to call Nash. Less than five minutes later, they were on their way, the rest of the muster crew staring after them in bewilderment. Dale wouldfill them in soon enough. He was still standing guard over the eyeball, making sure nothing or no-one touched it before Nash got there.
Finn had wanted to take his motorcycle, but when both Mack and Indy insisted the horses would be better over the rough terrain, he’d conceded and saddled up Sahara. Indy had tossed up whether to take her dogs, but had left them tied to their kennels. They might help them sniff out whatever it was they were looking for, but she wasn’t sure what they’d find out there, and instinct told her to leave them safely tied up. The trio followed the trajectory the birds had taken, and in less than fifteen minutes, they’d crested the low saddle of the hill over a small rise. Finn reined in Sahara and they all stopped to stare at the country opening up on the other side of the hill below. Squinting into the distance, Indy let her gaze drift over the dry countryside, not sure exactly what they were looking for. The floodplain was very similar on this side as it was on the camp side. Open country, dotted with the odd bottle tree, interspersed with clumps of acacia, and stands of gum trees. The last swathes of grass, brown and desiccated, ran in patchworks around the trees and followed ravines and other low contours in the gravelly ground.
