iii

The week wore on peacefully, Kate and Jo had settled into a daily rhythm – breakfast and cartoons, reading lesson, a walk and/or a play in the park, lunch and then their afternoons varied. On Tuesday they had gone to get their haircut. On Wednesday they’d had a picnic in the hills with Steve and Josh, Kate’s younger brother, Jo had warmed up and relaxed a bit with Steve. Perhaps he was learning that not all men would hurt him. They had romped around the gardens happily while Kate had read a book. Jo had even been happy to include Josh; he was gaining confidence daily. On Thursday they had another reading lesson after lunch, Jo was making slow progress and Kate could see that he became easily frustrated, so she tried to keep the lessons short and fun. Bess had dropped by after work and stayed for dinner. Jo had proudly showed off his books and gave Bess one of his pictures. They had organised to catch up for a drink on Friday night.

They were enjoying the park on Friday afternoon with Kate’s brother when Kate spotted the man she’d seen on Sunday. He was standing in the trees, apparently studying the bird life, but Kate knew that there was nothing special about the birds in Fairfield Park. Not in the upper part of the park where they were, anyway. “Josh!” she called, “come here a sec’.” He jogged the short distance over to where Kate was sitting on the picnic rug and dropped down beside her. Jo was less than 3 metres away playing on the jungle gym. “Take a look at that man over there, Josh, I first noticed him on Sunday. What do you think?” Kate asked with tightness in her voice. Josh patted her on the shoulder as he looked over at the trees, “he looks pretty harmless to me, Kate, probably nothing to worry about,” he commented cheerfully, attempting to reassure her. Kate shivered, the tightness remained in her voice despite her brother’s cheerful demeanour, “I’m not so sure Josh, he creeps me out, and maybe we’d better go.” She got up, “Jo!” he ran over to them as Josh folded up the blanket. “Let’s go for a walk,” Kate suggested, “I want to show you something.”

By the time they’d returned home Kate had relaxed significantly, walking always helped. She’d taken the boys down the river path beside the Guide Dogs association and had stopped to watch the puppies being put through their paces. Jo’s eyes had sparkled as they watched. Kate’s mother arrived as they finished dinner, “I’ll do the dishes, Kate, you kids go out and have fun, give my love to Bess and Steve,” she said as she virtually pushed them out the door. “I’ll only be an hour or so, Mum, Jo will pick out a book for you to read to him,” Kate said as she pulled on her jacket. The evenings were still cool, “No rush dear, and don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

Kate virtually forgot her worries of the afternoon as she unwound with her friends. Josh’s new girlfriend, Sarah, was a charmer; she was studying Arts/Law at Melbourne Uni and had met Josh in a law tutorial. She was sipping on pale ale as she talked to Kate about her family. She had grown up on a dairy farm in South Gippsland and her father was still dairy farming outside her hometown. “It’s beautiful down there,” she enthused, “I miss it sometimes, Dad has had to diversify a bit over the last few years. My younger brother is developing a small goat farm, you should taste the cheese, delicious!” Josh swung over and put his arm around Sarah, “Maybe we should visit sometime?” he suggested. “Yes!” Sarah’s eyes lit up, “We could put you all up in the old milking shed, it’s pretty cosy in there…” They made a plan to go down there for the long weekend in November. It was getting late by the time Kate returned home. Her mum was dozing lightly with a book on the couch but woke as the front door opened. “Sorry I’m so late Mum,” Kate said as she bent down and kissed her on the cheek, “any problems?” “None whatsoever, dear,” her mother replied matter-of-factly and rose, “I’d better get going, your dad will be wondering where I’ve got to.” Kate farewelled her mother at the top of the stairs and read another chapter of her book before going to bed. She dreamed of cows and goats in the countryside. She was excited about next month’s trip.

Kate was just about to give up on the morning’s reading lesson when the doorbell rang, she had a bit of a headache, it was P.C. Smith again and he was with another officer. P.C. smith introduced Constable Moore, “we thought we’d drop by and let you know that we’ve made some developments in our search.” Kate directed them to the chairs around the table and they all sat down, “what have you discovered?” “Well,” began P.C. Smith, “He’s definitely not from Melbourne, we think he might be from the Sunraysia area in the North West of the State. A woman reported a domestic just outside Mildura about six weeks ago. Shots were fired and a woman and child were seen fleeing the scene. The woman and child have not been seen in the area since. The woman was a local known as Mrs Johnstone.” At the mention of the name Jo dropped his book and rushed to Kate’s side, he was obviously frightened. Kate hugged him and lifted him onto her lap, while P.C. Smith continued. “No injuries were reported and the woman and child have not been reported missing, that’s why it has taken us so long to discover this,” he explained, “we still don’t know anything about the boy, the neighbour who reported the domestic said he rarely left the house.” P.C Moore continued, “We’ve begun a search of the births register for 1992 to 1998, but it’s difficult. He may not have been born in the Sunraysia area. We believe that Mrs Johnstone moved to the town about four years ago.” “Of course we’ll let you know as soon as we make any further developments,” P.C Smith finished. “Thank you,” Kate said and then proceeded to tell them about her second sighting of the man in the park on the previous afternoon, “I just feel uncomfortable, he gives me the spooks.” The officers took a description and promised to check their database, “It might help to put you at ease,” P.C. Smith suggested. They rose to depart, “leave it with us,” P.C. Smith said, “We’ll get back to you as soon as we know anything.” Kate thanked them again as she farewelled them. She felt a bit better now the police had a description of the strange man in the park.

The message indicator button was flashing on Kate’s answering machine when they returned from the park. Kate was out of breath; they had been playing chasey in the park. She pressed the button, at first she couldn’t hear anything, but then there was heavy breathing, a chill went down her spine, she shivered and pressed the delete button, she hoped it was just a wrong number, but it had given her the creeps. The next message was from Steve, “Hi Kate, just wondering if you wanted to come with me to Belgrave with me tomorrow. I’m taking my niece on Puffing Billy and I thought that Jo might enjoy it too. Give me a call at home before nine, I’m catching up with the boys tonight.” Kate smiled, “would you like to go on a special train ride tomorrow?” she asked Jo, he smiled, “I’ll take that as a yes then.” She dialled Steve’s number; she knew it off by heart. “Steve? I got your message. Jo and I would love to join you tomorrow,” she laughed, “I haven’t ridden Puffing Billy since I was a kid! Do you know what the weather is going to be like?” she inquired. “Um, I think it’s going to be fine, but I imagine it will be pretty cool up there,” Steve replied. “Always be prepared for anything, I guess,” mused Kate. “I don’t recall you being a girl scout,” teased Steve. “That’s cause I wasn’t!” she taunted back, “Scout’s honour!” “Doesn’t apply if you weren’t a Scout!” he said with a tinge of scorn, though he was just teasing. Kate knew it and laughed happily. Steve asked how they’d been. Kate told them about the cop’s visits, “but otherwise uneventful,” she finished. “That’s good to hear,” Steve responded, “I’d better go, I’ve got to grab a bite to eat before I meet the guys.” “Is Josh joining you tonight?” Kate asked. “Not this time, I expect that he has a more important engagement,” Steve jibed. Kate giggled, “I forgot, Sarah’s brother is in town this weekend, dairy show or something. Well, have fun Steve, say hi to the boys from me.” “Sure, pick you up at ten tomorrow?” he asked. “Sounds great, we’re really looking forward to it,” Kate hung up, “pizza for tea?” she inquired of Jo. He nodded, Kate couldn’t be bothered cooking tonight, it had been a busy week. It would be nice to finish it off in the hills tomorrow. She picked up the receiver again and dialled the familiar number of the local pizza place. She was a Guiseppe’s regular.

They had an early night; tomorrow would be a big day. Guiseppe’s Special had been up to its usual standard and they had finished off their meal with Neapolitan ice cream, Kate favoured vanilla but Jo obviously enjoyed chocolate the most. Kate read Jo his favourite story, she was sure he almost knew it off by heart by now. She had gotten used to his silence and they understood each other now. Kate wondered if he had ever spoken. She watched him sleeping for a while; he slept through most nights now. Kate was relieved, she hoped that the happy times he was experiencing with her were helping to heal the pain of his past. He was too young to feel pain, Kate though as she drifted off to sleep, far too young….