“Dot’s superwoman,” Brandon said. “But she’s going to need help.”
About half an hour later, Dot crossed to them. “You can free the animals now.” She turned to Nhiari. “Let’s go deal with the rest.”
Matt’s heart twisted at the ache in her voice. Brandon stood and moved towards her, and Dot held up a hand. “Don’t.”
She strode into the bush.
Chapter 18
Georgie got to her feet, her eyes filled with tears. If only she could take Dot’s pain away.
Nhiari nodded in acknowledgement of Brandon’s attempt to help and then followed Dot.
Georgie trembled as the realisation hit her that it could be Matt lying on the dirt. They’d nearly been killed.
She’d run as fast as she could, knowing Matt could run faster and she was holding him up. It had been terrifying.
“Come on, let’s take care of those animals,” Matt said, heading over to the black ute.
She exhaled as she followed him.
These animals were in worse condition than the last lot Georgie had freed. She was horrified at the number of them all squashed in together in tiny containers. Right now she wasn’t all that sorry Jerry was dead.
He’d ratted them out.
They worked quickly to free the non-dangerous animals first, the small geckos and lizards which hadn’t been taped, just crammed together in lunch boxes and take-away containers. The larger lizards had been wrapped in masking tape which didn’t have quite the hold as the duct tape of the last lot, but would still damage the scales as it was taken off.
“Get me some water,” Georgie said.
Matt fetched a bottle as Brandon carried the first container with a snake away from the area.
She showered the first goanna in water, letting it soak in before she carefully peeled back the tape. It came back fairly easily. “Looks like Jerry used cheap tape.”
“Sounds like something he’d do,” Matt answered as he started on the next one.
They spent the next half an hour removing tape from agitated lizards. Georgie filled one of the containers with water and placed it away from the ute so the lizards could drink if they wanted to.
Brandon had freed the rest of the snakes and helped with the remaining lizards. Soon all that was left was the racehorse goanna, about a metre and a half in length.
The goanna had stopped hissing and was eyeing them warily. “Is it likely to attack?” Georgie asked.
“I reckon we’ve got a fifty-fifty chance. Hopefully it’ll be happy to have its freedom,” Matt answered.
“Georgie, you want to radio Dot and Nhiari to warn them?” Matt asked as he and Brandon lifted the cage to the ground.
“All right.” She took the radio Brandon handed her and walked away from the cage, scanning the bush for a glimpse of the police officers. It didn’t feel real that Jerry and Mark were dead. She wanted to see it for herself.
She followed the low murmur of the officers’ voices and saw the blue of their uniforms through the gaps in the shrubs. She moved around a bush, opening her mouth to call out and stopped short when she almost tripped over Jerry’s body. Shit. A bullet hole was in the middle of his chest and a pool of browning blood covered his T-shirt. His eyes were open, dull, and his body crumpled on the ground where it had fallen.
Dead.
Dead because he got involved with the wrong people, because he wanted a quick buck. Part of her felt sorry for him, but a stronger part of her wanted to kick him for ratting them out. He’d pretended to be Matt’s friend, he’d tried to sleep with her, but all he cared about was saving his own ass.
“What are you doing here?” Nhiari strode towards her. Behind her, only a few metres away, Dot was bent over the bodies of Mark and a woman, studying them clinically. Nerves of steel.
They must have all converged when Jerry had spotted them. Nhiari moved to block her view. “Georgie?”
They were all dead. Seeing them lifeless on the ground, flies swarming around them, put it into sharp perspective.
