A police car pulled up beside them, the siren giving a short whoop.
Murphy kept his gun against Carl’s chin. ‘Did Jasmine play the game?’
‘No. Bree said Jasmine didn’t know anything about it,’ said Carl.
Constable Cavanagh stepped out of the police car and Murphy pulled the gun away from Carl’s chin, although he kept a hold of him.
‘Con? Gabriella?’ said Cavanagh. ‘Someone reported a confrontation here. They found your Eliza – she was at the hospital with Wren. Except it was Monica, not Eliza. She was just driving Eliza’s car.’
‘That’s impossible, Monica was with us,’ said Con, turning to Murphy. He saw the realisation dawn in Murphy’s face, just as it occurred to him. ‘We’re idiots.’
Murphy loosened his grip and Carl scrambled away, sprinting off down the road.
‘We let her go,’ said Murphy.
‘That’s not all,’ said Cavanagh. ‘Someone saw Eliza and Madison in Tom’s Landcruiser, headed up to the Tiers. When they heard the report of people chasing Eliza, they called it in.’
Something occurred to Con. ‘Could Eliza know more about the Kundela Game than she told us?’
‘If she knows the Kundela Game is the reason Denni killed herself . . .’ said Gabriella.
‘Then she blames Madison for Denni’s death,’ said Con.
‘Where would she be taking Madison?’ said Gabriella.
‘The cliff from the video,’ said Con, while at the same time, Murphy said, ‘These so-called Sacred Cliffs.’
‘How do we find those?’ said Con.
‘Jack Michaels will know,’ said Gabriella, pulling out her phone.
‘Jack Michaels?’ said Con, a prickle of guilt. ‘I forgot all about him.’
‘Well, he’s awake and recovering,’ said Gabriella waspishly. ‘Luckily I remember all the important witnesses. This is why you need a partner who’s a detective, not a drug dealer.’
‘Your civilian pet was Eliza, so I don’t think you can talk,’ said Con.
‘Drop us off at Eliza’s house – I need my car,’ said Gabriella to Cavanagh, climbing into the squad car.
Con held out his hand to Murphy. ‘We’re gonna need that gun, Murphy. I can’t have you walking around with it.’
‘Who do you think I’m gonna shoot: Madison or Eliza?’
Con kept his hand out.
Murphy handed the Glock over.
‘Cavanagh, when you get back to the station, bag this as evidence but . . . keep Murphy’s name out of it.’
They all climbed into Cavanagh’s Stinger, Gabriella calling the hospital to speak to Jack while the sirens blared.
CHAPTER 51
ELIZA
Eliza slowly brought the Landcruiser to a stop. Ahead of them, through gaps in the trees and out over the high cliff, were the ancient Tasmanian mountains, clouded, the deep blue of eucalyptus mist. They were on a downward slope of red dirt and jagged rocks that led right to the cliff’s edge. Eliza pulled the handbrake and switched the engine off.
Madison beat on the top of the cab, screaming. To Eliza, it was a beautiful sound.
The edge of the cliff was perhaps 20 metres away.
Eliza climbed out of the Landcruiser.
‘Please, Miss Ellis,’ said Madison, her make-up ruined by tears and sweat. ‘Please . . .’
Eliza found a thick branch fallen from a snow gum, covered in leaf litter. When Eliza lifted the branch, Madison started shouting, ‘No, no, no, no!’, but Eliza only dug it in deep right in front of the rear wheel.
She opened the back door and retrieved Tom’s hunting rifle from beneath a blanket on the back seat. She slung it around her shoulder and moved around to the front door of the cab, reaching inside to release the handbrake.
She locked the doors and then walked to the edge of the cliff.
‘Please! Miss Ellis, please!’
The mountains. The breeze. The bush and rocks and bluffs. The blue sky and pearl clouds. A wedge-tailed eagle wheeling on the wind.
Eliza threw two sets of keys over the edge of the cliff, the handcuff keys and the Landcruiser keys.
‘Please . . . Oh, God, help me!’ screamed Madison.
Eliza walked back behind the Landcruiser, the slope setting her above Madison, and sat on a rock at the side of the road. She rested the rifle across her lap.
For a short time she watched Madison sobbing, pleading. Then she said, ‘I’d like to leave this town. There’re too many memories here.’
‘Miss Ellis . . .’
‘Let me tell you the best memory. It was my big sister Kiera arriving with Denni. I knew. The moment I saw Denni, I knew. I wanted her – as a child. I wanted to save her, nurture her, give her what I never had. Limestone Creek was supposed to be a fresh start for Denni. A new life.’ Eliza looked Madison in the eye. ‘And then she met you.’
‘Miss Ellis, please —’
‘Before Denni came . . . I didn’t feel lost, exactly,’ Eliza said, her throat bone dry, ‘but I felt like nothing I did mattered. No legacy. A dry womb. I had only my students, my work. But Denni – Denni was a treasure.
‘You took her under your wing, and I thought, “this is perfect”: Madison Mason, the most popular girl in school, the leader of the pack, taking an interest in my Denni. You, Jasmine, Georgia, Cierra, Bree. Good friends, the perfect gang. It was like a cloud had lifted – I can’t imagine what Denni went through under Kiera’s care. Nothing good.’
Madison clung to the cab guard, wretched. ‘Please . . .’
‘But then the clouds came back. She was depressed, angry, emotional, distant. It crept in slowly, along with her new obsession: the Hungry Man. That was when your subscribers boomed. Denni loved telling me all about it, your ghost-tour videos. I’m not sure why, but that’s when Tom started to take an interest in her.
‘You didn’t just know about Tom’s interest in Denni, you wanted her to go for it: you encouraged her. I know, because Bree told me. She told me many things, once Denni died . . . after you murdered her.’
‘You texted me,’ said Madison suddenly, gasping. ‘On Georgia’s phone. You took that phone off Georgia and pretended to be Bree. You pushed Georgia off the cliff?’
Eliza was silent. She held onto the gun.
‘You killed Georgia!’ She yanked at the handcuffs, then began kicking the cab guard.
‘I wanted all of you dead. Eventually.’
‘What else have you done?’ She tried to chew at the links in the chain.
‘You isolated Denni. All of you. Spread rumours. Made her feel worthless. Made her think that all she was good for . . . was to die. To leave this world behind.’
Madison slumped to her knees in the tray of the Landcruiser. ‘Please . . .’ she whimpered.
Eliza stood up and pushed against the ute with her foot. She felt the resistance of the branch against the tyre, the only thing holding the car in place on the gentle slope. She saw the terror in Madison’s eyes, and it went some way towards soothing her. Denni had suffered for months at Madison’s hands. It was only right that she suffer too. Eliza wanted her to know not just what awaited her but why this was happening. That it was Eliza who was the one doing it; she was in control, like she always had been.