“Yes,” Heather said, panting.
“They want me to turn the outside light off. It’s filtering into the house.”
“That’s fine. Maybe we’ll sleep a bit.”
“We get up early round here. With the sun. I’ll make sure you get some food in the morning,” Matt said.
“Thank you,” Heather said.
“No probs,” he said.
“You’re very kind,” she said, just to keep him looking at her and not at the ropes the kids had hastily draped around their wrists. Not to mention the hole behind Olivia.
“I don’t know about that. All this…it’s Ma’s decision…well, like I say, I have to turn the light off, but, as you say, maybe you can get some kip, you know?” he said.
“When does the sun come up?”
“This time of year, around five o’clock.”
“Thank you. We will try to sleep until then.”
“Before you go, I would like to say something,” Hans said.
“Oh?”
Heather’s heart was in her mouth. She looked at Petra, but she didn’t appear to know what Hans was going to say.
“I want to ask about this lady’s husband. She seems to think that something happened to him. Is he, um, is he dead?”
“Yeah. He’s dead. Danny killed him. I couldn’t have prevented it. I didn’t see the blade on him. Fast bugger.”
“You understand that this has nothing to do with my wife or me?”
Matt nodded. “Duly noted. Get some sleep if you can,” he said, then exited and locked the door.
He turned off the light and Heather waited until he had gone back to the farmhouse before moving. She took the ropes from around her neck and removed the ropes from the kids’ necks.
“All right, Olivia, you go first,” Heather said.
“I think…perhaps…we should come with you,” Hans said.
“You both want to come?” Heather asked.
He and Petra had a brief conversation in Dutch.
“Yes,” Petra said.
“All right, then,” Heather agreed. “But you do what I say. The kids are the priority. OK?”
“Yes.”
Heather took the penknife from her pocket, cut the ropes on their wrists, and unhooked the ropes from their necks.
“Olivia, you and Owen go first. Keep low and wait for us in the long grass over by the edge of the farm.”
“What if someone sees us?” Owen asked.
“In that case, don’t wait for us, just run and keep running,” Heather said. “Try to hide somewhere until you see a police car.”
“OK,” Owen said.
Olivia crawled through the hole and vanished into the darkness.
“What’s it like out there?” Owen asked.
“It’s all clear, come on!” Olivia said.
Owen went next. He had a little trouble getting through the hole but he made it. Heather turned to Petra and Hans. “You have to come immediately.”
“We will come,” Petra said.
Heather lay down on the dirt floor and pushed the water bottle out ahead of her. She crawled through the dirt, and in just a few seconds she was outside. Most of the stars were obscured by clouds, and the air was still. She could hear someone playing music in one of the distant farm buildings.
She pushed herself up to a crouch.
“Over here!” Owen whispered. He was hiding behind an ancient steamroller a few yards away. She ran to him. “I told you to go to the grass!”
“The grass is too far away,” Olivia said. “We would have gotten lost over there. We would have had to shout to find each other.”
Heather nodded. Petra’s head appeared in the hole, and she pulled her long lean frame through quite easily. Hans came immediately after. “Over here!” Heather said. They came over and crouched behind the steamroller.
“Now what?” Hans asked.
“Now we run like hell,” Heather said.
13
Matt woke with a start. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Something was wrong beyond the bigger wrong of what they were about to do to the Baxter family.
Blue was awake. Looking out the window. Nose up against the screen.
Matt pulled back the curtains. The sun was starting to come up. His watch claimed it was 4:50, and he could believe it. Jesus. Owen and Heather and the Krauts—or, more accurately, the Dutchies—would all be dead by 9:00.
Killing that little boy, bloody hell. That was going to be rough. But what choice did they have now? Ma would never let the cops take Danny away. He was the youngest boy, and for Ma it was love/hate. Unlike most of the family, Danny didn’t sit around all arvo drinking grog. Danny had gone over to the mainland and got himself a job and a girl. Poor bastard. Nah, Ma would never let them take him. It would be the bloody Alamo out here before she allowed that.