Eliza jumped off the tray of the Landcruiser, climbed back into the driver’s seat. She turned on the ignition.
She drove higher into the mountains, Madison handcuffed to the tray, pounding on the cab with her other hand, screaming for Eliza to let her go.
If a helicopter flew overhead now, they might see the white Landcruiser, through gaps in the eucalypt canopy. And the schoolgirl thrashing and trying to break free of the handcuffs in the tray. But the whole search party was still focused on Lake Mackenzie.
Only Eliza could hear Madison’s screams. She smiled as she drove towards the bluffs.
CHAPTER 50
CON
‘Monica’s done a runner,’ said Murphy, returning to the kitchen. ‘I had a look, and she’s taken Tom’s four-wheel drive.’
‘Can’t say I blame her,’ said Con. ‘She’s probably gone to join the search for Wren. Don’t worry, I called Gabby and she’ll —’
There was pounding on the front door.
‘Speak of the Kiwi.’
Gabriella marched in, chest swollen in outrage. She pointed a furious finger at Murphy. ‘You! Dickhead! Steal my car again and I’ll kill you!’
‘Alright, Gab,’ said Con. ‘Listen —’
‘Don’t you start!’ she said, turning her finger on Con. ‘You’re only inviting me back into the club now you’re off the case too. Don’t think I don’t know!’
Murphy stood at the window. ‘Sorry to interrupt your couple’s quarrel, but there’s a kid messing around with your car, Con . . .’
Con swore and ran out the door, Murphy and Gabriella close behind.
‘He’s jumped over that fence,’ said Murphy, pointing.
‘Just leave it,’ said Con. ‘We have other things to worry about.’
‘Look what he’s scratched into your car . . . Kundela . . .’
‘The Kundela Game!’ Gabriella crouched down, running her finger over the scratches. ‘This is the same as on my car . . . K-U-N . . .’ She swore. ‘It was Georgia’s brother, Carl Lenah.’
‘What’s the Kundela Game?’ said Murphy.
‘We need to find out,’ said Gabriella. She ran for the fence. ‘Catch him!’
Cursing, Con ran out onto the street, sprinting along the footpath, trying to cut off the fleeing vandal.
It was Gabriella who caught Carl Lenah, two blocks away, behind a green bus stop shelter. Con and Murphy quickly caught up.
Carl was a short but stocky lad, face as angry as a thunderstorm. He was wearing thongs, which had allowed Gabriella to catch up to him. She pushed him up against the wall of the bus shelter.
‘Stay away from me, pigs,’ said Carl.
‘He’s drunk,’ said Gabriella. ‘You can smell it on him.’
‘I’m not drunk. Piss off.’ He struggled against her.
She pushed his shoulders harder against the wall. ‘Tell us about the Kundela Game.’
‘Piss off,’ said Carl.
‘We need your help, Carl,’ said Con.
‘I’m not telling you shit.’
‘Hold him still, Gabriella,’ said Murphy. He squared up to Carl. ‘Listen to me, kid. My daughter is missing. She’s dead for all I know. What does the Kundela Game have to do with Madison and Jasmine? Tell me.’
‘It has nothing to do with Jasmine,’ said Carl.
‘So what is it to Madison?’ said Murphy. He pulled the Glock from the back of his belt and pressed it up against Carl’s chin. ‘Tell me everything.’
‘Hey, hey, hey!’ shouted Gabriella.
‘What the hell, Murphy,’ said Con. He couldn’t believe he’d been so careless that he hadn’t taken the gun from Murphy after the situation at Eliza’s house.
‘I have nothing else to lose,’ said Murphy without emotion. He peered into Carl’s eyes, who had gone still. ‘I don’t mind going to jail for killing anyone who gets between Jasmine and me.’ He pressed the gun harder against Carl’s chin.
Murphy’s bluffing, Con realised, and he put out a hand to stop Gabriella from disarming him.
Carl hesitated. ‘It was . . . it was Bree who told me about it . . . me and her were a bit of a thing.’
‘You were dating?’ said Gabriella.
‘Shh,’ said Con, ‘let him finish.’
‘Don’t shoosh me, Con. You’re not in charge anymore,’ snapped Gabriella. ‘Relationships are important.’
‘Bree said Madison had some kind of . . . I dunno, freaky spiritual shit going on’, said Carl. ‘Madison reckoned she’d found a spirit guide, “Kundela”, who could show her the way through portals on what she called the Sacred Cliff. The girls started having these weird nightmares and all that. Bree and Denni both came to me. Because I’m Aboriginal they thought I’d know what was going on – but my sister wouldn’t have a bar of it. It’s all bullshit, obviously. There’s the kundela bones, but not bloody portals: there’s nothing Aboriginal in it. At all. But they must have got in my head, because I started getting the nightmares too. I was so pissed off, because this stupid white girl was using our history for her psych hippie shit . . .’
‘And then?’ said Murphy.
‘Madison said Kundela asked her to start the game. There’s this website she made. You put in your details and you send . . . you have to send Madison a nude, and then you get your first dare. They start off simple – going the night without sleep, burning a hundred-dollar note – and then they start getting bigger, like shoplifting, or . . . burning bigger stuff.’ He snuck a glance down at Murphy’s gun.
Con could feel the tingle of new connections, new theories. ‘Keep talking, Carl.’
‘My latest dare was to scratch “KUNDELA” into a cop car and take a photo. But then they said it had to be one of your cars: Badenhorst or Pakinga. Madison sends the tasks, but she reckons she’s getting them from Kundela – which is all bullshit – but when she starts “channelling Kundela” her voice changes and everything. And this Kundela tells us on the other side of the portal we’ll be kings and queens. But before that afterlife, you have to keep proving your worth.’
‘You know it’s bullshit, but you’re doing it anyway?’ said Murphy.
Carl bared his teeth. Murphy clamped the pressure point at the top of his trapezius – as always, shock and adrenaline were the best truth serum. Carl stammered, ‘Madison’s blackmailing me. The day they went missing, up on the trail, I was the one who knocked out Miss Ellis – that was the dare Madison had given me. Now she’s making me keep playing, else she’ll expose me.’
‘You’re the one who hit Eliza?’ said Gabriella.
‘Madison made me! She’s an animal. She’s got all those girls wrapped around her finger. Denni was convinced: she finished all ninety-nine of the tasks Kundela gave her, and then she killed herself on the mountain. Because that’s the way to get through the portal: the hundredth task. I bet that’s why Bree killed herself. I didn’t know what my sister was doing, but there’s no way that’s —’