“I’ll ask Roger about it.” Dot tapped her pen. “Have you got anything else to add?”
“Only that Cheryl had nothing to do with this. I did everything.”
Cheryl started crying again. “We didn’t want to. They’re going to kill our boy. I can’t lose another child.”
Lara stood and hugged Cheryl. “It’s OK. Dot will find them and arrest them.”
The confidence Lara had melted Darcy’s heart.
Dot didn’t look nearly as confident. “I’ll do my best, La La. Do you want to tell your story now?”
His daughter nodded and sat. “I was mad because Dad and Brandon went into town without me and Faith wouldn’t tell me why.”
Darcy sighed. “I should have told you the truth, pumpkin. I didn’t want to worry you.”
“You should have,” she said. “Faith wanted to come treasure hunting with us, but I said she couldn’t.” She glanced at Faith. “I’m so sorry.”
Faith hugged her. “It’s all right. You’re allowed to be mad sometimes.”
Lara spun her empty mug around. “Jay and I rode up to the ridge, but it was getting stormy and Dad said never to go into the gully when it’s raining. I wanted to go back, but Jay said it wasn’t far and we’d be quick. There weren’t any wallabies near the cave, which means they know something we don’t.” She smiled at Matt. “Uncle Matt taught me that.
“When I got into the cave, Jay bumped into me and I fell to the ground. He tied me to a rock. I was so scared, especially when it started to rain, but I couldn’t reach the knife in my pocket, so I had to saw the rope on the rock, and it took forever.”
Jay hung his head. “If I’d known the gully would flood, I never would have done it.”
“Then Faith arrived, and she freed me, but the river was running so fast already, and she almost slipped and was swept away. So she pushed me above the cave and then a tree hit her.” Lara shivered, and both Faith and Darcy squeezed her. He smiled at Faith over Lara’s head. They would protect her together.
“I ran up the slope, ’cos I heard a car coming. It was Dad.”
“You were so brave, pumpkin. You helped rescue Faith because you told me what happened.”
“I’m sorry you almost died because of me,” Lara whispered.
“I would always choose to save you,” Faith told her. “You have nothing to apologise for.”
Lara threw her hands around Faith’s waist and squeezed her. “Thank you.”
“Anytime,” Faith whispered. “I love you, Lara.”
“I love you, too.”
Darcy wanted to bundle them both up and keep them safe forever.
“Brandon, I need to get your statement about what Roger said to you during your meeting,” Dot said.
“He didn’t say a lot. Just went through the contract and asked me to sign. I asked him why they wanted the land so badly and he didn’t know. Said it wasn’t for him to question those higher up than him.”
Which was next to useless to them.
Dot finished her questioning and then got to her feet. “Jay, you’ll come with me.”
“What will happen to him?” Lara asked.
“He’s under arrest for kidnapping you and the property damage.”
Lara glanced at her dad. “But they were going to hurt Nathan.”
“He almost killed you, pumpkin.”
