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‘She’ll probably stay. It’s a good hour out there on a dirt road.’ Ellie frowned.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s not like Bill. He’s really not been himself lately.’ Ellie came to an abrupt stop on the lawn beside the covered area of the bar. Heather was standing in the doorway, her face wet with tears. Ellie ran over and put her arms around her.

‘What’s wrong?’ They led Heather away from the noisy crowd.

Heather hitched a sob. She turned and looked up at Kane. ‘Can you help me?’

‘What’s happened?’ Ellie kept hold of Heather’s arm.

Her voice broke. ‘I don’t know what to do. His car is still in the car park. His keys were on the ground and there’s a big smear of blood on the door. Really big. And on the ground too.’

Ellie threw a worried look at Kane.

‘Show us where his car is. Maybe he’s just hit a kangaroo or something on the way in.’ Kane kept his voice calm, even though all of his senses were on full alert.

When they reached the old battered Land Cruiser – and it did look like it had hit plenty of wildlife in its day – Kane crouched down beside it and ran his fingers over the smear of blood on the driver’s door. It was still wet. The dark maroon stain covered the chrome of the door handle and ran down in a broad splatter of drops to the ground where a large stain covered the gravel.

‘Maybe he cut his hand when he tried to open the door.’ He looked around. ‘Where were the keys?’

‘On the ground over there.’ Heather pulled them from her pocket. The leather of the key ring was damp with blood.

Ellie nodded. ‘Kane’s right. That’s what’s probably happened. He’s probably gone to the office to get the first-aid kit. Come on, we’ll go and look for him.’

‘As long as he hasn’t passed out on the way.’ Heather hurried away towards the administration building, closely followed by Kane and Ellie. The office was in darkness and the door was firmly shut; the only light shining through the glass window came from the drinks refrigerator inside.

Heather walked across to the staff entrance and tried to turn the handle. Kane put his hand on Ellie’s before she could follow.

‘Is there anything else I should know about Bill?’ He was surprised at the level of Heather’s distress.

Ellie shook her head as Heather walked back to them.

‘Later,’ she said in a soft voice.

‘Is there somewhere else around here he might have gone for help?’ Kane directed his question to Heather and she shook her head.

‘Everyone lives off site apart from you and Ellie.’

Kane was surprised; he’d assumed that the staff apartments were full.

‘Most of the staff live at Jabiru,’ Ellie explained. ‘And most of the Aboriginal staff have homes in the settlements along the river. So there’s really no one here apart from me who Bill would go to for help.’

‘Maybe he went down to your apartment?’

‘Maybe he did.’ Heather turned swiftly and followed the path to the back of the lodge. They hurried after her.

‘What were you going to tell me before?’ Kane kept his voice low as their footsteps crunched on the gravel.

‘Bill used to drink a lot. We used to find him passed out all over the place, but he’s been to AA and he’s been dry for a long time.’ Ellie leaned over and whispered close to his ear as Heather walked ahead of them. ‘She’s probably worried that he’s passed out somewhere now. He’s been acting a bit strange this week.’

‘If that’s the case, I hope he’s nowhere near the river.’

‘Oh, God.’ Heather’s harsh gasp filled his ears. She had stopped dead at the end of the path. Kane pushed past her and ran across to the figure lying prostrate on the path at the bottom of the steps near Ellie’s room.

‘Look after Heather.’ Kane crouched beside the unconscious man and placed his fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse. He let out a relieved breath as the strong beat pulsed steadily against his fingertips. ‘He’s alive.’

Kane rolled Bill into the recovery position. He sat back on his heels for a moment and pulled his own shirt off, rolled it up and placed it beneath Bill’s head before he ran his hands gently over the man’s body, looking for the injury that had caused the blood to be on the car door. The sounds of a car’s wheels moving slowly over crushed stones at the edge of the road behind the staff apartment block distracted him and Kane glanced up as the headlights swept across them. It was then that he saw Bill’s hand.