‘Um. Not so good, Mum. Actually, he and Sal and the kids are on their way out here. Laura’s driving up with the twins, probably, since it’s school holidays. And Fiona.’ Not that she’d replied to his message, but she’d come.
‘What? All of you, cluttering up my kitchen? You’re not coming here to check on us, I hope. We’re fine.’ His mum saying she was fine was one thing. His mum actually being fine was something else entirely.
Hux decided he’d just launch in with the big stuff first. Get the bad news out of the way and when the Numbers got here they could help sop up the mess. ‘The police have found some sort of drug residue in one of our helicopters.’
‘What?’ said his mother, in a dangerous tone. ‘How?’
‘It was the helicopter that Dave—the guy that Charlie reported to police—was flown in. He had some gear with him: fuel, groceries and a duffel bag. He must have had drugs in the duffel bag. That’s the only thing that makes sense.’
‘This sounds pretty serious, son.’
‘Bookings have already been cancelled after Charlie missed some jobs. We’d recover from that, if that’s all it was. But with the drug find? There’s no way we’ll be able to keep that quiet. If bookings dry up, Phaedra reckons the business doesn’t have enough cash to meet the finance repayments on the R44.’
‘We can help with the repayments, can’t we, Ronnie?’ said his mother.
‘I already offered,’ Hux said, ‘but Charlie gave me a bit of push-back when I suggested it. Says if the business can’t stand on its own two feet then it deserves to go bust.’
‘That’s nonsense,’ said a voice behind them. Hux looked up and there was Number One in the doorway. She was dusty and windblown, and carried with her a strong smell of horse.
‘Hi, Regina,’ he said. ‘Come and give Dad your opinion on his scones.’
She snorted. ‘I’m not falling for that trap. Is the kettle still hot? I could murder a cup of tea.’
Ronnie bustled about getting leaves into a teapot and mugs down from the dresser and Regina picked up where she’d left off.
‘Why shouldn’t you put a few bucks into the business? You’ve got more money than you need.’
‘I offered. He said no.’
‘Idiot,’ said Regina. Hux wasn’t sure if she was referring to him or Charlie, both of them, or men in general.
‘I know,’ he said soothingly. ‘Quick, have a bit of jammy scone while Dad’s not looking.’ Here went nothing. ‘The other idea I had to give the business a boost was some, um, marketing.’
His mum perked up. ‘I could do up a flyer on the computer like the canteen one I do for the Yakka each year, only with little helicopter cartoons instead of little steaming coffee cups.’
‘That … sounds awesome, Mum,’ he lied, ‘but I was thinking on a larger scale. Actually, it was Maggie’s idea.’
His mum loved Maggie. Everyone, in fact, loved Maggie, except for tourists, who didn’t hang around in Yindi Creek long enough to work out that under the gruff exterior beat the heart of someone who’d do anything for you and for the town drunks she regularly chucked out of her pub.
‘Well, you’ve driven all the way out here to spill the beans in person, son, so get to it.’
‘Okay. Well, first, here’s the other thing you need to know: a journalist is in town. Some bloke from one of the TV stations. He’s sniffing around old missing persons cases in the Yindi Creek Library archives.’
Silence met this announcement, other than the faint scratch of nails on the floorboards beneath the table as Possum continued snuffling along the joins in search of crumbs.
He cleared his throat. ‘Maggie thinks the surefire way to bury whatever bad publicity is about to start raining down on us and Charlie and the business is some good publicity. Somedifferentpublicity.’
All three faces were looking at him as though he had yet to deliver the punchline they weren’t sure they wanted to hear.
‘So … I thought I might hold a book event. At the library.’
Still no response.
He sighed. ‘A GavinGunnbook event.’
‘Do you mean—?’ said Malvina.
‘Yes,’ he said.
