The Long Road Home by Fiona McCallum

Author:Fiona McCallum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQ Fiction

Chapter Twenty

It was the morning after his mother’s visit and Rick was just leaving his farm when his phone rang. He hadn’t put it in the hands-free cradle so he pulled over to answer it. ‘Danni Mobile’ was lit up on the screen. Uh-oh. No doubt I’m in trouble for upsetting Mum again. ‘Danni, hi.’

‘Where are you?’

‘On my way out to the home place to check the sheep and take a general look around.’ Being the good son that I am … Why? Where should I be?

Then he realised there’d been something odd about her tone. Danni was a nurse, she didn’t get panicky, but that’s just what she sounded like.

‘Why? What’s up?’

‘Mum’s gone.’

‘Huh? What do you mean, Mum’s gone?’

‘Dead, Rick.’

‘What?’ A strange calmness came over him. ‘How? When?’

‘I think she committed suicide.’

Oh my god. No. Surely not. ‘Shit. What do you need me to do?’

‘Just get here. I’ve called the police and ambulance. They should be here soon.’

‘What about Matilda?’

‘She’s on her way.’ Rick stamped down the niggle of annoyance of being, as usual, the last to know. ‘And of all the times for Owen and Matt to be away with the kids on a school camp. Look, I’d better go.’

‘I’m not far away.’ He put his vehicle into gear and spun his wheels in the loose gravel edge of the road before he got back onto the firm surface. Jesus. But drive carefully. He felt a little guilty at being relieved he’d gone for a walk, dawdled over breakfast and then checked the sheep on his place first and hadn’t been the one to find her. Danni’s work meant she was much better equipped.

How did she do it? Is there a big pool of blood somewhere? The thought made him feel queasy. He swallowed. Or is there now a rope hanging in the shed – its frayed end swinging in the breeze? He shuddered. He was afraid of what he might soon see. He took a deep breath against his racing heart. And then the guilt cut in again, slicing through his fear and other uncomfortable thoughts. He should have made his mother say what she’d wanted to yesterday. But he hadn’t stopped her, had he? You couldn’t make someone say something they didn’t want to, just like you couldn’t make someone stay alive if they didn’t want to, could you?

Unfortunately, suicide was not an uncommon occurrence out here. Rick knew plenty who had chosen to end their lives, including Alice’s dad. He didn’t judge them. They had their reasons. But why his mother? She’d seemed sad and lost, a bit overwhelmed by where to start with running the farm and putting her life back together, but it had only been a bit over a week. Where was the woman who always said you had to give something a damned good shot before deciding it wasn’t for you and giving up? She’d usually said this about trying new foods, mainly vegetables, when he’d been a kid, but still … Wow.

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