All of these things passed through Leah’s mind in a heartbeat and she sat up straight, alert and friendly, all the way to Tiverton.
The town was a string of shopfronts with a pub at one end and an agricultural machinery yard at the other, and a few hectares of tin-roofed bungalows, oleander bushes and lawns on either side. Leah thanked the driver and asked about campgrounds and caravan parks.
The driver pointed. Go to the end, first right, the caravan parks on the edge of the creek there.
Thanks.
Mosquitoes, lots and lots of mosquitoes.
So Leah went into the pharmacy and bought insect repellent and was about to leave when she saw a face she recognised. She froze, watching the cop car creep past along Main Street. Then before the pharmacist got suspicious she turned to a rack of sunhats and swivelled it a few times, staring past the straw rims to the street outside, thinking it through. The cops name was Drew. So, they’d demoted the bastard, sent him to this one-horse town in the middle of nowhere. But if Drew had been demoted, so had others, meaning the bush could be crawling with men just like him. Leah would have to get out of the state as soon as she could.
She went back to the pharmacist. Its a bit embarrassing, I’m supposed to take a urine sample to the doctor but I left the sample jar at home and…
The pharmacist glanced at Leah’s backpack and frowned.
Leah smiled disarmingly. I’m staying at the caravan park.
The pharmacists face cleared. He sold Leah a sample jar, said, You can use the loo out the back, and turned to an elderly man who had banged his ankle and couldn’t stop it from weeping. The old man was deaf and soon he and the pharmacist were shouting at each other to be understood.
Leah stepped into the corridor and opened and closed the toilet door without going in and used the din in the front of the shop to cover her exit by the back door.
She found herself in a weedy yard. A gate at the end opened onto an alley, which led to streets and more alleys and eventually to an oily paved area behind a service station. A proper map, thats what she needed.
Five minutes later she was strolling out of town as if she had all the time in the world and no criminal intentions that might concern the good citizens of Tiverton. According to the map, there was a state park one kilometre to the east. A secondary road ran through it, and if she was lucky shed catch a ride before it got dark.
Another tip from her unwritten guide: Remember that in the long shadows and setting sun of late afternoon, drivers may not see you until its too late.
chapter 3
It was not Leah but her backpack that caught the full force of the passenger-side bumper of the muscle car. Leah had positioned herself at the far end of a rest stop, her pack at her feet, beyond the rubbish bins and two metres clear of the tarmac, giving motorists plenty of room in which to pull off the road once they’d spotted her. But the sun was low on the horizon and fell in a hard bright band across the raked windshields of the passing cars. Leah saw the drivers squinting against it, unable to see her. She could cross the road and hitch a ride in the opposite direction, but east meant back to the city, and her old strife, so she stood where she was and waited for someone to slow down and pull over. Then that muscle car veered at her suddenly, leaving the sealed surface, all four tyres spewing dust and gravel, tail twitching as the driver sought traction, and then it was upon her. Leah stepped back instinctively and flinched as her pack was flung aside like a… like a body.
Her heart hammering, Leah stared after the car, which fishtailed past her in the dust and stopped, its brake lights flaring. Other instincts kicked in then and she coolly noted the colour, make and number of the carfire-engine red, latest model Monaro, this years registration and prepared to run.
But something made her hold back. There had been an element of panic and confusion in the motion of the car, as though it had not been choreographed to kill her. Sure enough, the front doors opened a moment later, a young guy getting out of the passenger side, a young woman out of the drivers side. The young woman spoke first, her voice shaky.
God, are you okay?
And the guy said, Jeez, when I heard that thump I was sure wed collected you.
The girl hurried toward Leah. I’m so sorry, I just didn’t see you, the sun…
The guy sauntered after her. She wanted to listen to Triple J, I wanted Fox FM, and the next moment—
I took my eyes off the road for just a second, honest, the girl said.
She was now standing directly in front of Leah, full of the beat of strong emotions: excitement, relief, curiosity. She wore tight red jeans, slim-line lace-up ankle boots, a white T-shirt that showed the tops of her flushed breasts. She was good-looking in a careless way, as if she sought and found risky distractions in lifelike almost running down hitchhikersbut got bored easily. She removed her dark glasses and clamped the frames on top of her head, revealing grey-green eyes that were more amused than apologetic.
Your lucky day, she said, barely suppressing her laughter.
For me, maybe, Leah said, eyeing the backpack, tumbled in the dust.
Well buy you a new one, no probs, the guy said.
He stood by his girlfriend and put his arm around her waist until they were joined at the hip and grinning good-naturedly. Leah assessed the guy rapidly: early twenties, dark hair cropped short and dyed purple at the tips, earring, eyebrow stud, jaws chomping away on a stick of gum. Black jeans, black T-shirt, black studded belt, black shoes as chunky as blocks of carved wood.
There was a moment of silence and then the girl said, Wherere you headed?
Leah shrugged. Wherever the road takes me.
If shed read these two correctly, they would heartily approve of an unconventional life. Shed never have given that answer to a straight-looking person. Straight people always had specific destinations.
Well, get in, the guy said. Hed stopped chewing long enough to absorb Leah’s answer, now was chewing hard again. Least we can do for you.
The girl grabbed Leah. Yeah, come with us, she said, swinging Leah’s arm as if delighted with her, with herself, with life. For the ride of a lifetime, she said, giggling.
Leah disengaged, crossed to her pack, and dusted it off. The flap was torn, a buckle snapped in two, but it was otherwise intact. Couldve been worse, she said.
Great, the guy said. Hop in the front. Ill drive.
The girl sashayed at her boyfriend, poking him. Yeah, right, put me in the back so I cant listen to Triple J.
They guy gaped at her in mock dismay. Who, me?
She waggled herself at him. Thats right, big boy.
It was all for Leah’s benefit, as if they were in love with being lovers and believed the old saying that the world loves a lover. But all it did was make them look younger, and in ordinary circumstances shed have avoided them like the plague. Right now she needed them.
A few minutes later they were leaving the state forest and heading into a region of low hills and grazing land. Leah, in the passenger seat, felt insulated from the world and settled back, feeling more secure than she had for days. Then she felt fingers reach around from the back seat and rest on her shoulder, and a soft voice breathed warmly in her ear, I’m Tess, this is Mitch.