Valerie Parv by Return to Faraway

Author:Return to Faraway [HR-2778, MB-2529] (v0.9) (epub)
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER SEVEN

'She'll be all right, Shan. Tammy knows this property like the back of her hand.'

She wished she had Dave's confidence. He didn't know about Tammy's attempted suicide or her recent threat to try again. She debated whether to tell him then decided that there was time enough for that if anything came of his interest in the girl. 'I suppose you're right,' she sighed and forced herself to sit down, although it was an effort not to jump up and start pacing again.

'That's better,' Dave smiled. 'God knows, I'm as worried about her as you are but I just have this feeling that everything will be all right. King will soon find her and bring her back.'

Yes, if anyone could find her, he could. And he had his aboriginal tracker on standby, a man whom the Northern Territory police often called in to help locate missing people. He had an uncanny ability to follow a trail which was invisible to anyone else.

'If only I hadn't started that business about her mother,' John said miserably.

Rona patted him on the shoulder. 'If it hadn't been you it would have been one of us. We've all worked with Joanna Price and we know what she was like. Working with her daughter, sooner or later someone was bound to make comparisons.'

If only King would see it like that, Shan brooded. But she remembered too vividly the savage look in his face when he made it clear that she would regret discussing Joanna with anyone. He would never believe that the cameraman had spoken on impulse, little realising the damage he was doing.

If anyone was to blame, it was King himself. He was the one who insisted on building a fantasy image of Joanna in Tammy's mind. Joanna's publicity machine had worked overtime to build the nice-girl image which was the one Tammy cherished but she wouldn't be able to work in the film industry for long without finding out the truth. Surely King could see that?

She twisted her handkerchief in nerveless fingers. 'How long has it been?'

Dave glanced at the grandfather clock. 'It took us an hour to drive back to the homestead, and we've been sitting here for another two—three hours altogether.'

'Then why isn't there some news?' she asked in anguish.

Dave gave her a curious look. 'Is there something about all this that you haven't told us?'

She averted her eyes. 'No, of course not. Tammy's just ... highly strung, that's all. She's liable to do something silly.'

His relief was immediately apparent. 'As long as that's all you're concerned about. I just thought there might be something more to it.'

'Tea's ready if anyone's interested,' Mrs Gordon said from the doorway. Her face was drawn and strained and she wiped her hands repeatedly on a spotless apron.

'No thanks, I'm not hungry,' volunteered Shan. 'But the rest of you go and eat. I'll have something later.'

Reluctantly the others drifted towards the dining room leaving Shan alone. Relieved to be free from their scrutiny, she resumed her restless pacing up and down.

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