Read The Good Daughter for Free Online Page B

expecting his mates to jump out from behind the trees, then squints at her and says, ‘There’s no-one in the restaurant – it’s just the staff and my mum. There’s been no-one but them in there all day.’
    Rebecca shakes her head. ‘No. She’s in there. I watched her go in. She went around the back. She’s been in there over an hour.’
    ‘I don’t think so.’
    ‘I watched her go through that gate.’ Rebecca points, feeling already the need to confirm it herself, doubt springing up that quickly. ‘She said she wouldn’t be long. I watched her walk across the yard. She’s in there.’
    He raises his eyebrows, shakes his head.
    Rebecca says, ‘But that can’t be right.’
    ‘From the backyard you can get out onto the riverbank – perhaps she’s done that.’
    ‘Did you check the toilets?’
    He smiles. ‘No.’
    ‘Can I come in and check?’
    ‘If you like.’
    His gaze settles on the car again, eyeing the caked-on dirt and dust, the metre-long jack on the back seat, the loose spanners almost the size of baseball bats.
    He says, ‘You’re the truckie’s daughter. You live out by Kincaid’s. You don’t mean that neighbour, do you?’
    ‘Yes – Mrs Kincaid, that’s who I’m talking about.’
    He unfolds his arms and turns to look at the gate.
    Up at the restaurant a woman walks out onto the veranda. The last of the daylight is gold-coloured down the side of her. She has a solid build, and is wearing a plastic apron; her hair is swept up in a bun, her face is tanned and shiny.
    She calls, ‘Did you get it sorted out?’
    He calls back, ‘She’s waiting for Joanne Kincaid.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘Has she been?’
    ‘No.’
    They fall silent. Something passes between them.
    ‘What?’ Rebecca says. ‘What’s the matter?’
    Aden turns to her, smiles in a way that suggests they won’t be meeting at the pub, that they’re about to swap names and details on a much more matter-of-fact level.
    ‘You’d better come inside.’
    Not the best of circumstances, but the first time all the same that a man has ever opened a car door for her and waited as she climbed out.

8
    It’s during the ride in, headlights illuminating the road, the green glow of the dash illuminating the car interior, that Zach’s father says to him, ‘You know it’s best not to say your mother was upset. It’s easier all round to keep things uncomplicated. If you have to, you can tell them I told you this morning about Aden Claas being related. You can say you don’t know how your mother felt about it. He’ll probably be there – Aden – helping with the search. Stay away from him. Same goes for his mother.
    ‘The police will be there already. The whole mess with Kara and Aden is going to be a part of it. I’m sorry about that, Zach. I really am. You’re probably going to hear things about what happened back then, and I want you to know that only five per cent of what you hear will be true. I want you to trust me and know I’ll always put you first. I wasn’t much older than you when all this started, and you know what my father said to me – what he told me?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘He said to invite her out – Kara Claas – invite her out while she’s pregnant and he’d run her off the road. Kill two birds with one stone – that’s what he said. He would have done it too – make the call and he’d do the rest.’ He tightens his hands on the steering wheel and stares out through the windscreen. ‘I couldn’t do it, though. Errors of judgement – the same moment where you lose concentration and cause an accident is no different to a lapse of judgement in other things. People cause injury to others every day. And if it’s done in the heat of moment, without thought, without control … there’s no place to lay blame. And that’s the difference, Zach – if it’s not planned, it’s no-one’s fault. If it is planned, well, that’s when you’ve got some right to apportion blame.’
    Zach says, ‘Did they