“Excuse me, officer.”
The officer turned.
“I know this lady—”
“Is that you, Aaron?” Kathy looked up. “Oh, Aaron, please help us.”
“What’s happened, Kathy?”
The officer replied, “We’re not sure, a few people have gone missing and we’re trying—
“They’ve vanished, Aaron, Mackenzie and Paul. Both vanished.”
The officer continued, “Maybe six or seven, maybe more have gone missing . . . could I leave this lady with you? I need to get back and help with managing the incident.”
“Sure.”
Aaron took Kathy’s arm and led her over to an area where they could sit down, a low concrete wall supporting a garden bed. Aaron looked around the street. It was eerie with no traffic. Some people were rushing to the barriers closest to the incident but being discouraged and directed away by police and emergency service workers.
“I’m sorry, Kathy. I’ve just got here so I've no idea what’s happened.”
“I can tell you . . . based on what I’ve heard from others, Mackenzie and Paul cross this street every work day. But this morning they vanished . . . just vanished.”
Aaron frowned. “What do you mean, ‘just vanished’?”
“That’s it, Aaron, they just vanished, like they fell through a hole or something. But there are no holes.”
Aaron had a bad feeling about this. “Why do you think Mackenzie was one of them?”
“I was meeting her for a quick coffee. She didn’t turn up. I tried her phone, and Paul’s. I went down to where she works. She hasn’t turned up for work and they haven’t heard from her. I prefer not to think the worst, Aaron, but I believe both her and Paul have vanished.”
“Maybe their train was delayed?”
Kathy shook her head. “No. She would have phoned, or Paul would have.”
“Kathy, I’m sure there’s something there . . . maybe recent heavy rain has caused some erosion under the road, you know, a sinkhole.”
“Maybe . . . but I was over at the site, there are no obvious holes. I don’t mean to be rude Aaron, but it’s real . . . she has vanished.”
Kathy’s name was called. They turned to see her husband, James.
James hugged Kathy and gave Aaron a nod.
“Hi, James.”
Aaron looked at Mackenzie’s parents, holding each other and staring in the direction of the incident site. It was in some ways good that they were both in the city this morning. A large media contingent now assembled around the site, with a lot of pushing and shoving going on.
“James, I’ll have to get Kathy to explain what’s going on because I need to get to work. I may be able to find out some info at work. I’ll give you a call if I discover anything. I’m sure there’s an explanation coming.”
“Thanks, Aaron.”
Aaron headed towards work. He could use some resources there to investigate further. He looked back at the intersection. It was the same intersection where the girl was hit by the car. A coincidence? Or were some places tagged for bad things?
He had a gut feeling that Lucas was involved and he had reneged on his promise.
Lucas had underestimated Aaron’s feelings for Mackenzie.
Chapter 16
LUCAS WAS CONCERNED.
He was driving back from the execution of the transfer. The Professor wasn’t with him today. They decided Lucas knew what he was doing, and someone needed to be at the property to look after the guests when they arrived. Lucas leaned forward and looked up at the sky. It was quite gloomy, with dark clouds. He felt electricity in the sky. He punched the steering wheel. Sorry, Mackenzie. I didn’t mean to zap you. Who was that idiot who pushed her? But it was his fault, not the guy who pushed her. He had chosen to do the transfer at that time so he could catch a glimpse of his darling. The voices in his head were telling him these things happen for a reason. It’s all planned out.
He would have to agree with those voices. He knew that he had to stay within the strategy. They only wanted to get the law breakers, and he was scheming about how to get that girl. But he no longer had to do that. He hit the steering wheel in triumph. He had crossed from anger to joy. She’s going to be there. He smiled; he hadn’t felt this good for quite a while.
A sign came up on the right, giving directions to a private hospital. That triggered another mood change in Lucas. What if she’d been deformed or something like that? She’ll be fine. He lost one of the homeless test dummies the other day. The person did not return after a transfer. He told the Professor about it and the Professor told him not to worry, things had been fixed up. She’ll be fine. There would be no deformities.
Was she okay? The battle in his head continued as he drove and he wondered where the homeless test dummy he lost was.
As Lucas got closer to the property he had to go into a holding pattern behind a red ute. It looked like a painter’s vehicle. Tins of paint bounced around the back of the ute, and a dog was pacing and swaying from one side of the ute to the other, restrained by the chain around to his neck.
The turn-off to the property was coming up. Lucas got a surprise when he saw the turning indicator for the ute come on. This was not good timing. He followed the ute into the property. The painter pulled his ute into a gravel parking spot near the steps that led up to the main entrance. Lucas pulled up beside the ute and went over to greet the visitor.
“Hello, can I help you?” Lucas asked.
“Oh, hi . . . sorry to disturb you, but I was sent to pick up a ladder that we left here some weeks back. We did a paint job on that large shed of yours.”
“Do you know where it is?”
