Page 69 of Larapinta

‘And Emma’s like Dad and Ryan. Here. Are you allowed to carry a tray of cups?’

Ellie nodded. ‘That won’t hurt.’

‘Okay, go and sit down in the living room and I’ll bring the sangers and tea and coffee in.’

‘Is James okay here with you?’

‘Of course he is.’ She shot Ellie a grin. ‘I’ve got lots of ice cream.’

Ellie put the tray on the low coffee table in the living room. She sat down on the leather lounge looking out through the wide window overlooking the water of Darwin Harbour. The sky was mirrored in the water today and the usual brown murkiness was masked by the reflection of the clear winter sky. Two cruise ships were moored at Fort Hill Wharf. Even though it was heading towards late afternoon, there were a lot of kids in the wave pool and a crowd of walkers in the park below.

‘Life goes on,’ Ellie said as Dru came into the room carrying the tea and coffee pots, and food on another tray. ‘Look at the normality out there.’

‘We’re pretty lucky, Els. We’ve had a good couple of years lately. A new brother, a gorgeous sister-in law, and a tribe of babies on the way.’ Dru put the pot on the end of the table away from where James had settled with one of his toys.

‘A tribe?’ Ellie raised one eyebrow.

‘Well, the beginning of a tribe. Once this all gets settled, and now with our new generation coming along, we have to be positive. We’ve all got a lot to look forward to.’ Ellie caught Dru’s eye and she knew that they were both thinking about Emma. ‘Mum will be home soon and we can put all this behind us.’

Connor and Kane came in from the study.

‘I’ve been talking to Greg again, and as far as he can check, the Larapinta Luxury trekking company has been quietly closed down.’ Connor picked up the mug of coffee that Dru had poured for him.

‘What do you mean closed down?’ Ellie asked.

‘No, wrong term, sorry. I should have said locked down. The office buildings have been closed, the staff have ostensibly taken leave, but Greg’s discovered they’ve all been taken to a safe place.’

‘Why, and what do you mean by a safe place?’ Dru asked before Ellie could.

‘Put it this way. Interpol and the Federal Police are doing everything they can to stop this hitting the media and that’s why the local police aren’t aware that there’s been two murders. They’ve just been advised the track is closed. And to make sure no one goes on it.’

‘A young couple,’ Ellie said.

‘A couple who were on the trek.’

‘Can Greg find out anything about them? I mean are they sure it wasn’t just an accident? Maybe they fell?’

‘No, Ellie, there’s something big brewing here. Greg said he’s never seen this level of security in all the years he’s been watching. Even when we were in the Federal Police force,’ Connor said. ‘We know how the relationship between Interpol and the feds work, and for this level of security and the huge effort to keep it quiet, something big is going down. From what Greg can get from the Interpol chatter and the communications with the Federal police, he’s also hacked into—’

‘Hang on,’ Kane interrupted. ‘Isn’t this breaking the law?’

‘Kane, be quiet. I don’t care what Greg’s doing as long as we find Mum. And you know as well as I do how good the law is,’ Ellie added cynically.

Connor glanced at Ellie. ‘Now that we’ve got the maps and know where the Feds have targeted, it gives us a good start. First up, we’ll map a search grid and fly along the trail and a couple of kilometres to the north and south of each side. If anyone pulls us up, Kane works for Makowa Lodge at Yellow Water, and Ryan and I are businessmen who’ve hired him on a day trip to take a look at the West McDonnells.’

Connor picked up his coffee and Kane continued. ‘The more you girls know about our plan, the better you’ll feel. We’ll be okay. And with any luck we’ll spot some of the trekkers from the air.’

‘Won’t the Federal Police be searching from the air too?’ Dru asked.

‘No, not according to what Greg can make out, they’ll only be doing a road and ground search. They have two targets and they’re trying to keep a very low profile and not spook them. The police have road blocks south of the Birthday Hole turnoff and west of Glen Helen at the top of the trail where it goes south-west to the Mereenie Loop.

‘Why is it so hard to search the trail?’ Dru asked. ‘Is it really so isolated?

‘Yes, where the bodies are is a walk-in area only. There’s no road access and they can’t have got away in vehicles because there’s no access apart from some of the waterholes and trail stops. But there’s none of them or road access on the leg of the trek where it all went down. The only thing that we’re worried about is some information that’s just been shared from the trekking company. None of the guides have turned up anywhere or been in touch with base since this morning. If there’s problems, they all have sat phones that go on the trail every day, so as well as the two guides on the trek today there were another two guides who went to the waterhole where they were staying tonight. Four sat phones. None called in and none are answering. They’ve been trying to ping the phones to find their location, but haven’t had any luck so far.’

‘Destroyed?’ Kane asked.

‘Greg suggested that. They’ve sent another guide out to where the trekkers were supposed to camp tonight in one of the four-wheel-drive company trucks with a Fed police officer in a company guide uniform, but there’s no sign of the guides who were setting up tonight’s camp. The tents were half set up, but they’ve both disappeared. A female guide, Jodie, and Dave, a male guide. Plus, there’s no sign of the first trekking truck that had the night’s gear in it.’