Vic had read the Sunday and Monday papers with trepidation as they waited to depart from Australia, but there had been nothing about where Susan was or linking her to his Jane. He was not convinced this hunting of her was finished but it was out of his hands.

  So he decided that he and his new bride, along with little David and Annie should enjoy this visit to an exotic location. Tomorrow they would do a boat trip out to sightsee in the Gulf. The next day was a rest and relaxation day, visiting the shopping centers and big buildings before an early departure on the third morning for their London leg.

  As they left their airport terminal for the coach to the city the baking heat hit them. Vic felt at home in this desert place, a different landscape but with similar air-feel to his home. He wondered how he would handle the cold rain and mist of Scotland after this place’s blasting heat which barely eased with the setting sun.

  Their days passed like a magic interlude, out in the sparkling Gulf waters on the first day, heat shimmering off the shore horizon. On their second day they mostly lounged around the pool, teaching their children to swim, with a brief lunchtime foray to a huge shopping centre.

  As Jane lay in the circle of Vic’s arms on that last night in the Gulf, he asked her if she was still as happy to be married. They had not talked about what happened on the day with the journalist. With all the other activity of the wedding it had largely passed her. He hoped he could now consign it to the dustbin of history.

  However, to this question, rather than giving an immediate answer in her normal way, he felt Jane pause, as if thinking. He looked at her closely. He found himself sinking into her blue eyes. Just when he felt himself losing all other threads of memory in this pool of light she spoke. “I was fully happy before and now I am glad to be married. It has a feeling of rightness for me and in making you the father of my children.

  “One thing I do not understand though is who that man was, why he asked that question, and what it meant. I most don’t understand what it was that made you so angry. I have never seen you angry before. With that man you frightened me, not because I thought you would hurt me, but because you were so quick to act against him. There was danger in you in that minute that I did not know existed.

  “If I have done something that caused your anger towards him I feel I need to know and yet the knowledge scares me so. The only thing he said that made sense to me was my name.

  “One day last Christmas, at the farm in the country, I saw a piece paper with the travel bookings for Tom and Elinor MacDonald. I knew it must be my parents, because people called them Tom and Elinor. So it told me that, as their daughter, my surname must have be MacDonald too.

  “I could not remember having that name, but knew it must have been so. So I thought, I have been married before, that is where my babies came from, and that man’s surname must have been Bennet.

  “Then, when that man, Ross Sangster, was asking me questions, he asked me to try and remember being a little girl. I told him I remembered going to my grandparents farm in Scotland. Since that day I have remembered how people called me Susan, or Susie, or sometimes, “little M”, after my aunt Emily. So then I knew that my other names were once, Susan and Emily.

  “So, when that man came up to me and said, “Susan Emily MacDonald,” I knew he was talking to me and I wanted to help him. But when he asked me about marrying the best friend of the man I killed I did not understand.

  “Did I crash a car and kill that man and in doing so did I lose my memory?

  “Or did I cause some other accident that killed him and if so what was it?

  “And why did him saying it make you so angry that you punched him, over and over again, until he fell to the ground?

  “So it has not spoilt being married. But each day my mind asks these questions. Even though it frightens me I think I need to know.”

  Now it was Vic’s turn to think, to try and wrestle a safe answer out of his mind that was true but not dangerous. To mask his uncertainty he put his fingers in her hair and kissed her. She kissed him in return. Soon the question was lost in other pleasures.

  After, as she lay with hair spilling into his face, she said. “My question still remains from our wedding day.”

  He said, “I will start to tell you, one little bit at a time. But if I frighten you please tell me to stop.”

  “Before I met you, you were with my best friend. His name was Mark, Mark Bennet. He is the father of your children. One day he died, I don’t think it was your fault, but some people said you killed him. That man I hit wrote it in a newspaper, saying other bad and untrue things about you too. So, on our wedding day when he asked that question, I got very angry.”

  Jane nodded, “I am glad that is all it was. That is all I need to know.”

  Vic felt relief that Jane had asked for nothing further, though her lack of curiosity also troubled him.

  Instead she placed his hand on the bottom of her belly and put her own hand over it. “Now I have something to tell you. Under there a new person is growing, I can feel his spirit touching mine like butterfly wings. I think his name will be Vic. He will be our child, the product of love and bodies joined.”

  Vic lay there, keeping his hand pressed to that place, lost in amazement that a part of him had created a new life within the body of this gorgeous woman. He felt overcome by a joyous wonder that it could be so.

  Next day they came on to London and then flew on to Glasgow, having decided it was safest to go straight there. From there they caught the train up into the highlands with her parents. They marveled at the glorious scenery of lochs and snow covered mountains.

  Jane found more and more childhood memories returned as she saw this place, she knew the mountain and lake names, she remembered the little villages, and finally, as they drew near to their own stop, she was bubbling with excitement. As they came to the small village railway stop she could feel herself bursting with impatience.

  She saw her aunt in the distance and knew her name without prompting. “Aunt Ada,” she called out and ran into her arms. “It is so good to see you and remember you. I feared you would be strangers. I am so happy to know you, even though it is only a memory from when I was a little girl.”

  They brought their new family to their country house. It was not so large and grand as in her childhood mind, but was warm and comfortable, tucked into a hill with a lake below, with her grandparents house just behind it.

  As they looked out a late afternoon mist was rising in the valley and far across the heather hillside she saw deer heads, raised proud and tall against the skyline. It felt so good to have returned to a place full of memories.

  Chapter 33 – Anne’s Meeting

  It was the Monday after the wedding of Vic and Jane. Anne and David had decided to treat themselves to a couple days in Alice Springs, before flying to Darwin for the rest of the week to ensure that all the legal issues about Susan and Vic were properly tidied away. Despite the minor hiccough of the arrival of that uninvited journalist on the Saturday, which they had only glimpsed and not spoken of since, it had been a wonderful few days.

  The bride, still Susan, in Anne’s mind, looked radiant and spectacularly beautiful in her dress of fine pale turquoise flowers set into delicate lace. Anne, as a bridesmaid, had a soft turquoise toned dress. It matched perfectly with both her auburn hair and the rich brown skin of Jillie, similarly attired.

  She had found Jillie and all Vic’s family to be delightful people, so warm and welcoming to her and Susan, who of course they called Janie now. It was funny how names rolled off the tongue in this place, Annie, Jillie and Janie as the bride group, little Annie and Davie as the flower and ring carriers, she dark haired and cheeky, him blondish and serious.

  She felt incredibly connected to these children, perhaps because from she and David had come their names and also that they were the nominal godparents, even though missing at the baptism. But they had both taken seriously the promises given to ensure these kids were OK, whatever happened to the mother.

  Anne felt so blessed that her prayers were answered with her friend returned to her. Even though the damage to her was still writ large in the vacant parts of her mind and in her simplicity, she was there again and that was infinitely precious.

  Today they had all waved their farewells at the airport as the Cairns jet departed, and then had come back to town, each couple or group to enjoy their own private time before they went their separate ways in a day or two.

  Tonight they were having a group private dinner of all the remaining family and friends as a way to both say goodbye and give thanks for this wondrous time. Now she and David had decided to lunch in the Mall and do the local sights and shopping before a quiet afternoon by the pool. Tomorrow they would do a tourist trip out along the McDonnel Ranges to the gorges.

  They settled into a simple salad lunch after a surfeit of rich food, she reading a magazine and David the newspaper.

  A woman came to their table, not a waitress, clearly seeking Anne out. She must be older as her hair was grey. Something about her was familiar, though Anne could not recollect from where. She was softly spoken and polite and her voice was young. Anne looked at her intently, trying to recognize the familiarity. She realized she had glimpsed her at the wedding, walking away, leading the journalist in a kindly manner. But that was not the familiarity, it was in the face and on that day she had only had a back view.

  The woman said, “You are probably wondering who I am and why I have come to you. My name is Cathy, once Cathy Rodgers, though I use a different surname now.”

  With the words, it all came clear in Anne’s mind. “Oh my God,” was all she could say, no other words would come.

  David looked up, he had been impervious until now, but his brain was working fast, replaying the words and joining the dots, “That Cathy. The one we have sought for over two years now.”

  Standing a few steps behind, as if awaiting the outcome was the black man who Vic had punched. David felt his gut tighten with anger at what this man had written, cause of so many problems. But this girl was so polite that his anger stayed contained. He invited her to join them, and then asked her, forcing politeness into his voice, “Is the man behind with you?”

  She looked at Jacob and nodded. “He has come to make an apology for the harm he has done. I thought he should begin with you, her best friends. But that is not why I came. I came to seek your help for myself. I realize I cannot hide away any longer but I do not know how to rejoin the world. I have disguised myself and led a simple life for over three years now.

  “I suppose I should just ring my parents and ask them to come to me, but I find myself unable. Too much has passed, with too much pain, to just go home again. But I am tired of running and I am tired of hiding and I don’t want my parents suffering to continue. I have asked Jacob to help me to tell my story, perhaps in public and he has said he will. He will write no more of Susan, she has earned her right to a new life.

  “So now I ask that you hear what he has to say first, then allow me to tell you of me and what has brought me here.”

  David and Anne both nodded and Cathy invited the man to join them. His words were simple, “I have done your friend great wrong, in what I wrote and spoke. One day I will apologize to her myself. But today my apology is for you, her friend who has walked in her shoes and suffered along with her.”

  Anne took his hand, “I thank you, I cannot speak for her but what you have said is enough for me, the past is the past and cannot be undone. The future is what we can change.”

  He nodded and said, “Thank you.”

  David held out his hand to shake, “She speaks for me too.”

  So they sat and shared their stories.

  Cathy told the story of her three years of living a simple hidden life as an old woman who cleaned around the town and how she had befriended Vic’s mother, thus hearing of the wedding.

  Anne told the story of the diary, the parts in it that Mark had written about Cathy, telling of her early life and its pain, parts that the inquest had deliberately withheld, even from her parents lest they cause further harm.

  She said, “I know what your uncle did to you as a child and why you fled. I also know your uncle has been missing for nearly three years now. It is not known if he has gone into hiding or if it is something else. But he is missing too. Because of what he has done we chose not to tell that part of the story.”

  Anne asked if she could ring Cathy’s parents to tell them of meeting her.

  Cathy shook her head. “Soon I hope, but not now. I need to know fully about my Uncle first. I cannot see my parents and tell them this until I know the truth about him, whether he is hiding or he is dead.

  “Before I knew what you have told me about him being missing I had decided to confront him with Jacob present. I would have asked him to admit to what he had done, to give him the choice to go and tell it to my parents and the police or I would do if for him.

  “Now it seems we cannot do that. So now we must try to find him for ourselves. If he is out there I may be able to reach him when others cannot. Jacob has the skills and contacts of an investigative journalist to help in this.

  “If we locate him it will be as I have said. We will give him a choice to turn himself in and admit publicly to what he has done. If he does not then Jacob will write and publish his story for the whole world to read. That is the only way I can see for real justice to be done.”

  So David and Anne agreed to help in this quest. They offered money, but Cathy said she had more than enough. Instead they arranged an introduction to Alan who was dealing with the English Police in the search for this man.

  Cathy said that armed with this information they would conduct their own search for him. If he was hiding somewhere there must be others that knew, and she would try and find a way to reach him through people who knew. It may take some months but that is what she and Jacob would do. She said she would give it six months and then, if no trace was found, she would contact her parents.

  Two days later Anne and David met with Cathy and Jacob in Darwin at the police station. Information was exchanged along with the promise that should anything be found Jacob and Cathy would let both the English and Australian police know.

  Two days later they were on a plane bound for Iraq.

  Chapter 34-Crocodile Sisters

  Beck and Ross were together again in Darwin, after a wonderful weekend in Brisbane when they had crossed the bridge from friends to lovers. Beck was very busy sorting out the arrangements for the pardon, doing briefs to all and sundry. The need to keep them in the strictest confidence was a challenge.

  Ross was now very cautious about what he said about this whole thing, following the cautionary tale about the leaking and consequences. They knew there were others who could also be the source of something getting out. He and Beck both waited in trepidation lest the journalist from London spring a discovery of Susan’s location, but all remained silent.

  Finally it was all done, the pardon had been signed and delivered, the wedding had occurred and Susan and Vic had flown away. Of Jacob nothing was heard, he seemed to have faded away without sign. Both Beck and Ross breathed a sigh of relief as their day to day lives continued.

  A few days later Alan came on the phone to Beck, saying, “The word is around town that you have a new man. Sandy and I would like to invite you both out to dinner with a dear friend of ours, Charlie, otherwise known to friends as the real Crocodile Man. His wife is making her legendary catfish curry this Friday night and she told us to bring any extras we can find. So I thought of you, particularly as I hear that you and that Queensland doctor who saw Susan are now an item. I thought you might like to meet a few of the locals and hear a bit of the back story about how this all unfolded.”

  Beck had no hesitation in accepting. Alan and Sandy were good company and it was great to be out in the open with Ross. This relationship somehow felt different from her previous one night stands and she wanted the whole world to know about them.

  They drove to the address given, carrying beer and wine in their arms. Charlie greeted them at the door. She had seen him from a distance at the previous legal proceedings but had never spoken to him.

  His eyes twinkled as he met them. “Aha, more friends of the girl with the crocodile stone.”

  Beck look puzzled. Alan came over to bring join the welcome and he explained. “Charlie means ‘Susan’, I suppose you could call us all the ‘Save Susan Committee’, not that she knows about us. But now you have played your part of helping her and now she is on her way to the other side of the world so we wanted to welcome you to our group.”

  Alan brought them over and introduced them to two others who Beck also knew by sight, the flaming English redhead, Anne, now becoming a significant TV celebrity and her drop dead gorgeous boyfriend, David. Beck knew he had been engaged to Susan before, and was now hooked up with her best friend. He was also something of a TV celebrity with all the publicity.

  At first she felt a bit overawed with all these people. However, in the course of drinks and plate of curry the ice was soon broken. Within an hour they felt like they had been friends forever.

  As they talked, Alan told of the wedding, a week ago now and how the journalist Jake had waited outside the church with camera and microphone in hand for them to come out. He said that Vic had dropped him with some well directed punches and some other nameless people, had warned him off and then left him nursing a cut face on the edge of the street, then how the girl, Cathy, long lost, had found him, taken him in hand and led him away. She and Ross listened in trepidation and then relief as it the story emerged from Anne and David that Jacob would trouble Susan no more.

  It felt to Beck like a stone of fear was lifted off her heart and she said a silent prayer of thanks for this deliverance.