Vertigo by Karen Herbert

Author:Karen Herbert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

I go back to my desk and fight the effects of too many carbs until it’s time to leave. I’m down here for two days and need to check in to my accommodation. Then I’m going to Jana’s house for dinner. I leave the files on the table for tomorrow, lock the door, thank Kerry, and head out into lengthening shadows and cooling air.

Steph’s sister lives on acreage on the road to the coast. I turn into a gravel driveway signed with a rainbow-painted letterbox and the logo of the Australian organic industry. On one side is a horse paddock and on the other is bush, tall trees and thick undergrowth. Kangaroos are feeding in the paddock. There is no sign of the horses, but at this time of day, they’ll be gathered at the gate, waiting for someone to come out of the house with their dinner. The driveway curves right, bringing the house into view, as well as a wide river valley with north-facing slopes covered in vines. On the other side of the valley is a large, white building encircled by deciduous trees planted in even spaces. Everything is backgrounded by tall, solemn forest and the dome of the clear, twilight sky.

‘You’ve come in the back entrance,’ says Jana through my open window. She is pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with firewood and her blonde dreadlocks are sewn with purple ribbon. She follows my gaze. ‘Pretty view, isn’t it? Looks even better from inside with a glass of cab sav by the fire.’

On the other side of a post and rail fence, two horses lift their noses from feed troughs as I follow Jana to her fireplace and her wine bottles. I am uninteresting and they flick their ears and return to their dinner. Jana grills me as we crunch across the gravel.

‘You look great. Are you seeing anyone? When did you last see Steph? Sorry to hear about your dad. How is he now? How’s the inquiry? We’re all very excited that you’ve included our little neck of the woods. I can tell you so much. We have such a problem with homelessness down here. Especially with summer coming, and everyone in the city wanting to escape the heat. You should see the tents by the river. It drives the tourist bureau mad. Doesn’t set the right example, apparently. Well of course it doesn’t, but the solution is to build more public housing, not drive the poor sods out of town.’

She pauses for breath to open the front door, a monstrous slab that wouldn’t look out of place behind a moat. I breathe in the smell of roasting meat and work through her questions in order, dodging the one about love interests and filling her in on my dad and the inquiry.

Jana nods as she reaches into a wine fridge that is the same size as the fridge in Joleen Samson’s kitchen. ‘I heard about the building defects at Riverside. We know what everyone is up to down here – you only need to ask.

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