Oliver’s eyes widened.The Dot he knew had once saved a spider from a swimming pool, despite her dislike of the creatures.“You’ll kill it?”His tone came out harsh and incredulous.
She turned to him, expression hard.“It’s the most humane thing to do.”To the others, she repeated, “You should get into the van.”
His students followed her instruction, but Oliver couldn’t move.He watched Dot stride back into the dark.After a brief silence, a shot cracked through the air.
Oliver jumped.She’d actually killed it.
Definitely no longer the sweet Dot he had known.
He stood where he was, arms wrapped around him to keep the cold at bay, waiting for Dot to return.
She didn’t.
He moved towards the bush, letting his eyes adjust to the lack of light.He could just make out the shape of Dot standing there.“Dot?”
No response.
He moved closer.His steps crunched over grasses, and he was about ten metres away when Dot called, “Go away, Oliver.”
The strength in her voice almost fooled him, if not for the slight waver at the end.It was rarely present.Dot had always kept up the facade of being strong and capable around others—he’d called it her police mask—but underneath all of that she was emotionally vulnerable.Her family had done a number on her.
He took several more steps towards her.
“Stop.”The waver was almost gone now.
“I know how hard you must have found that, Dot.”
She whirled at his words.“You don’t know anything,” she hissed.“You have no idea who I am, or who I’ve become.”She strode further into the bush.
Oliver rocked back at her words.This was reminiscent of the Dot he’d first met, the one with a wall a mile wide in front of her so she couldn’t be hurt.He’d spent time burrowing under it to get to the real woman underneath; the sweet, giving person with a wicked sense of humour and a penchant for bright colours and loud music.
What had made her revert to this woman?
Or were his memories twisted by age and sentimentality?
He debated going after her, but she was likely to keep walking.She’d come back in her own time.
With a sigh, he headed back to the van and his students.
Suzyn was cradling the joey and one look showed it was sleeping.Poor little thing.Andrew played on his phone, while Rajesh and Tom chatted about the upcoming footy draft.Not much of a research team yet, but hopefully over the week, they’d meld and work well together.
Suzyn glanced in the direction Dot had gone.“Is she all right?”
“She will be.”
“It was rough to have to kill the ’roo,” Tom added.
Oliver nodded.
“We should have flown up and then none of this would have happened.”Andrew didn’t even look up as he muttered his complaint.
Oliver bit his tongue.Though Andrew’s father was funding the expedition, it was Oliver’s decision where to spend the funds.Driving up and hiring a house rather than flying and staying in a motel meant they could stay longer if required, and Oliver could pay his students for some of their work.
But now they’d be stuck without a car for the foreseeable future.Would there be a mechanic in town able to fix the damage?Maybe they could walk from the house to the boat each day, but he’d have to make sure they could secure the equipment at night.
Too many issues and they hadn’t started the dive yet.
Headlights illuminated the road ahead of them, and Oliver turned away so they didn’t blind him.A small tour bus slowed and then did a U-turn behind them.
