Angie heard Jack yell. Molly screamed and, as if in slow motion, Angie saw Tash putting her foot onto the bottom railing and hauling herself over the handrail. She stood there for a second, as if she was a swan poised to dive. Then she let herself fall over the edge.

  The bush is known for its silence but Angie had never heard a deep, heavy hush like it.

  Then came the awful, final thud of a body hitting the ground.

  CHAPTER 35

  Angie pushed her way through the crowd to get a couple of beers. She and Jack had met up at the pub to compare notes. She nodded to a couple she knew and waited, money in hand.

  When she was served, the barmaid did a double take. ‘Hey, you’re that cop who—’

  Angie interrupted her. ‘Could I have two pints of draught, please?’ she asked.

  The barmaid took the hint and poured them, taking her money.

  Gossip had spread quickly; the superintendent of Western Australia was dead. She had jumped at a local landmark so she couldn’t be arrested for murder. Angie had been impressed with the amount of truth that had been in the rumours. That was unusual for a small country city.

  Back at the table, Angie put Jack’s beer in front of him and took a sip of her own.

  ‘I can only have one,’ she said. ‘Charlie gets really bad wind from my milk, if I have too much alcohol.’

  The expression that crossed Jack’s face was laughable. A mixture of distaste and interest. ‘Amazing what effect a beer can have,’ he finally said.

  Angie smiled angelically, then it slid away. ‘You okay?’ she asked as her gaze dropped to the photo of Jack and Zara on his phone’s locked screen. ‘All done, huh?’

  Jack shrugged. ‘Yeah. Zara and I talked properly last night. It’s for the best.’

  ‘It’s still a big thing. You were together for years.’

  ‘We were, and I guess I always thought we’d get married, but . . .’ Jack shrugged. ‘It really is the right thing for us.’ He took a long slug of beer.

  Angie didn’t press the subject. He would open up in time.

  ‘Did Martin tell you about the IDs they found in Tash’s apartment?’ she asked to change the subject. ‘And the phones. I was surprised that Tash kept all of them. If she’d had any brains, she would have destroyed them. And the most exciting thing is they found Sammi Walker’s mobile there too. That clearly links Tash to Sammi.’

  ‘Martin’s barely speaking to me, but yes, I got the email. Five different IDs, drivers’ licences and credit cards from different inmates. She stole every time she went into a regional police station. As the super, she had every right to check every part of the station, so I guess no one raised an eyebrow when she checked the storage facilities.’

  ‘Exactly, but it was still an unusual thing to do. Maybe they just thought she was taking an extra interest in all parts of the force. Eric’s and Iris’s phones had been wiped so there wasn’t anything helpful on them, but that was good the phone company was able to give us the records of the numbers called.’

  ‘That certainly helped link Eric and Jase together,’ Jack agreed. ‘As did the diary. How fortuitous that Eric had hidden it behind the hot water system.’

  ‘Molly said she reckoned he must have put it behind the box of newspaper clippings before going to Perth, and she only saw the box that day when she was searching the house. His notes from his conversations with Jase really brought everything together.’

  ‘I’m usually left with unanswered questions at the end of cases, but with this one, I don’t have any. Eric covered off everything in that diary.’ Jack took another sip of his beer. ‘I talked to Molly. She’s going back to work.’

  ‘Best thing she can do,’ Angie said. ‘I suggested it this morning when I went around to see her. She’s got so much to come to terms with, but work will help keep her life normal and I really believe that’s what she needs at the moment. And we’re all here to keep an eye on her too. I bet my dad takes her under his wing. He wanted to know her phone number.’

  ‘Is he staying for a while?’

  Angie nodded. ‘For at least six months, or until I get Charlie into childcare.’ She gave a big smile. ‘I’m officially back at work.’

  Jack grinned. ‘That’s great news.’ Then his face fell. ‘Not sure I can stay in Kalgoorlie after what happened between me and Martin. I fucked that up.’

  Shaking her head, Angie leaned forward and put her hand on Jack’s. ‘No, you did what any good copper would and let the cards fall where they did. You investigated every angle and you didn’t turn a blind eye to the fact this could be a cop.’ She paused. ‘Just a different one from the one we thought.’

  The noise around them covered their silence as they both considered all that had happened.

  It was Jack who spoke first. ‘How does Molly feel about finding out that Martin is her dad?’

  Angie looked into her beer and turned the glass a few times before answering. ‘I think that will take a bit of time to come to terms with. Tash was right. Molly’s the product of a fling back when Sammi was still at the academy. It sounds like Martin’s trying to make amends for never telling anyone, but it’s going to be a bit of an adjustment all round.’

  ‘His wife must be more than a little surprised.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Angie said with a wry smile, ‘it’s not easy finding out your husband has a child with someone else.’

  Jack picked up his phone and unlocked the screen. ‘Speaking of,’ he said, ‘Will is waiting for you to answer him.’

  ‘What the hell?’ Angie took the phone and read the message.

  Hi Jack, you don’t know me, but I’m Angie’s ex and I’m the father of Charlie. Angie isn’t answering my texts. I’d really like to see Charlie. Do you think you could talk to her. From one bloke to another. Cheers.

  ‘Gutless bloody wonder,’ Angie said and gave the phone back. ‘He shouldn’t be involving you. I’m so sorry, Jack.’

  He shrugged. ‘I know he’s a prick, Angie, but maybe he does deserve a chance. He obviously wants to get to know Charlie. He had to go to a bit of effort to find out we’re working together and get my phone number.’

  ‘Ha, don’t kid yourself, Jack. He’s a detective too. Snooping is what he does for a living.’

  ‘Ouch,’ Jack said, putting his hand over his heart like she’d wounded him. ‘I don’t think you should talk about us like that.’

  That made Angie laugh.

  EPILOGUE

  ‘So, Molly, if we go back to the time when the person was leaning over your mother, I want you to look very hard. Tell me what you see.’ Rylee leaned back in her chair after making sure the recording was running.

  Molly had been talking to the PhD student for hours, and they’d just had a short break. She took a sip of water and cleared her throat. ‘Sammi was on the floor, in the same position as I’ve described a hundred times,’ she said. ‘There was blood. There was stillness and there was a noise. I haven’t remembered a noise before now.

  ‘I think it was crying. No, no, it wasn’t crying. It was . . . laughing. That person was laughing. Laughing that they’d murdered Sammi. Why would someone laugh? Because they think they’re safe? They’ve fixed the problem? Sammi must’ve been a problem.

  ‘The pantry was getting hot and I needed to move. My knees were hurting, so I tried to move without the person hearing. But I couldn’t.

  ‘Something behind me fell, and there was a crashing sound.

  ‘The person looked up and I saw a strand of hair escape from their shower cap and then I saw a silver chain around their neck. Eyes I didn’t recognise. A woman, I knew it was a woman, but no one I recognised.

  ‘She walked towards the pantry, then changed her mind. Turned and went to leave. Without seeing me. But she knew I was there. Before she walked through the door, she turned back again and looked straight at me.

  ‘And then she whispered something. I barely heard the words.

  ‘“Do you know how to keep a secret?”’

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Big thanks and love to Mike and Donna, and Tuesday. Especially Tuesday (!) who took me to Lake Ballard and Kookynie so I could use these places in the novels. Also thanks for the excellent dinners we all have. Having you in Kalgoorlie makes life fun.

  Huge gratitude to Anna Valdinger, Maddy James, Lachie Jobbins, Pam Dunne, Taylah Massingham and everyone who plays a part in whipping a very raw piece of work into something that is going to be readable! Thanks for your belief and patience in me along with all of your hard work – especially Maddy at the end, when things are crazy and you have to work all hours to make the deadlines. Also thanks to everyone in marketing who create wonderful campaigns to get books in front of readers.

  Thanks as always to Gaby Naher from the Naher Agency; you’re wonderful! And to DB who is always there.

  To you, the reader: thanks for coming along with me and embracing my new direction. I hope you’re enjoying these Kalgoorlie books as much as you’ve enjoyed the previous Detective Dave series. Keep an eye out, you might see him make a cameo appearance in the next book! Maybe . . .

  Thanks to all the booksellers, librarians and people who recommend my books to others. You are so important to authors. The best recommendation is a verbal one and I really appreciate those of you who do this for me.

  To the Thursday Lunching Ladies. What fun we have. Much love and gratitude to you – with whom I can bounce ideas around, talk through plot points that aren’t working and ask for advice when needed. You are the best!

  No matter how much or how little you find, you will never, ever own the gold. It will always own you.

  After a scandal, investigative reporter Zara Ellison and her partner, policeman Jack Higgins, have moved to Kalgoorlie but they are each struggling with this fresh start. The wild mining town has its own rules, and its inhabitants – drawn by the lure of gold and riches – guard their secrets carefully.

  Zara feels adrift in the swirling red dust of the lawless bush city, without sources or any leads for the hard-hitting stories she’s known for. Jack is out of the detective squad and trying to find his feet back in uniform.

  On an isolated stretch of highway, a pair of grey nomads is involved in a devastating accident, which leaves more questions than answers. Zara starts digging for her own kind of gold, while Jack’s investigation sends him on a parallel path towards a dangerous smuggling ring.

  In the wide open spaces of the outback, some secrets are buried deep.

  ‘This land is millions of years old and has held secrets that we are able to uncover to this very day, yet the same land seems to have swallowed Max without a trace.’

  In the middle of Missing Persons Week, teenager Max Galbraith disappears after a party at the two-up ring on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie. With hundred-year-old mine shafts hidden in the area, no one can be sure whether he got lost while under the influence of drugs or if something more sinister has happened.

  Lily Carter, a talkshow radio host, receives information about Brendan Cook, another Kalgoorlie teenager who disappeared in similar circumstances the year before. But the police didn’t launch a full-scale search for Brendan. Why not?

  Enter Detective Angie Sullivan, new to Kalgoorlie and yet to understand how the town works. With no clear links between the two cases, and Lily accusing the police of incompetence, the town is tipped into uproar. What secrets are hiding out there in the bush? And can Angie discover them before any more kids go missing?

  About the Author

  Bestselling rural crime author FLEUR MCDONALD has always had a strong affinity with the land and the vast Australian outback. Raised in Orroroo, South Australia, Fleur loves the open roads, red dust and magical sunsets. With twenty-seven fiction novels and more than one million book sales to her name, Fleur has built a strong following of loyal readers with an insatiable appetite for her craft and characters, most notably Detective Dave Burrows.

  She spends much of her year behind the wheel, traversing our big country, scouting inspiration and potential storylines for future books and appearing as a guest speaker at a range of events, including country shows, ladies’ days and writers’ festivals. A trailblazer in all aspects of her life, Fleur has been a jillaroo farming the land for more than twenty years, founded DVassist to help regional dwellers access crucial support for family and domestic violence, and raised two children with developmental and speech delays, teaching them Makaton sign language to communicate.

  These days, in between putting out two books a year, she has her sights set on learning to fly a plane. Fleur now lives in Esperance, Western Australia with her two adult children, who come and go as they please, and fur child, border collie Shadow.

  Also by Fleur McDonald

  The Prospect

  The Missing

  Contemporary Detective Dave Burrows series

  Red Dust

  Blue Skies

  Purple Roads

  Silver Clouds

  Crimson Dawn

  Emerald Springs

  Indigo Storm

  Sapphire Falls

  The Missing Pieces of Us

  Suddenly One Summer

  Where the River Runs

  Starting From Now

  The Shearer’s Wife

  Deception Creek

  Broad River Station

  Voices in the Dark

  Out in Nowhere

  Young Detective Dave Burrows series

  Fool’s Gold

  Without a Doubt

  Red Dirt Country

  Something to Hide

  Rising Dust

  Into the Night

  Shock Waves

  Copyright

  HarperCollinsPublishers

  Australia • Brazil • Canada • France • Germany • India • Italy • Japan

  Mexico • Netherlands • New Zealand • Poland • Spain • Sweden

  Switzerland • United Kingdom • United States of America

  HarperCollins acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands upon which we live and work, and pays respect to Elders past and present.

  First published on Gadigal Country in Australia in 2026

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  harpercollins.com.au

  Copyright © Fleur McDonald 2026

  The right of Fleur McDonald to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968.

  All rights reserved. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Without limiting the exclusive rights of any author, contributor, or the publisher of this publication, any unauthorised use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expressly prohibited. HarperCollins also exercises its rights under Article 4(3) of the Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790 and expressly reserves this publication from the text and data-mining exception.

  HarperCollinsPublishers

  Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper

  Dublin 1, D01 C9W8, Ireland

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia

  ISBN 978 1 4607 6692 7 (paperback)

  ISBN 978 1 4607 1812 4 (ebook)

  ISBN 978 1 0381 0333 8 (audiobook)

  Cover design by Darren Holt, HarperCollins Design Studio

  Cover images by istockphoto.com and shutterstock.com

  Author photograph by Kelsey Reid

 

 

  Fleur McDonald, The Witness

 

 

  Thank you for reading books on GrayCity.Net
Share this book with friends