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His arms went around her, but his kiss was brief.

‘Have you had a bad day?’

‘Dru, there’s a bit of a problem that we might need to follow up.’ Connor’s arms stayed around her.

‘A problem?’

‘Greg’s picked something up on his daily scan of the Feds. On the Larapinta Trail.’

‘What?’ She took a step back and looked at his serious expression. ‘What is it?’ A ripple of fear ran down her back. ‘You’re scaring me, Connor. What’s happened? Is Mum okay?’

‘I’ve been on the phone to Greg getting him to hack into the police network to get some more information.’

‘Information about what?’ Her voice rose in pitch.

‘There’s been an incident on the Larapinta Trial, and Greg’s finding out as much as he can.’

‘An incident?’ she said slowly. ‘What sort of incident?’

‘Two people have died in a cliff fall, but the bodies apparently haven’t been retrieved yet.’

Dru raised a shaking hand to her mouth. ‘It’s a long trail and I imagine there’d be a lot of trekkers on it. We can’t think the worst. That’s the sort of thing that Mum would do. Worry unnecessarily. I won’t.’ Her breath hitched on a sob, and Connor pulled her to him.

‘That’s my girl. That’s the right attitude. Sadly, two people have died, and Greg’s finding out what he can. He’s watching it very closely. It hasn’t hit the news wires yet.’ Connor frowned again. ‘There’s something strange about the chatter on the Federal Police scan. It’s marked as red alert “Highly confidential”.’

She put her face against her husband’s warm skin, his familiar smell comforting her as she fought back the chill that wouldn’t leave her. ‘I’m so glad he ended up getting a reliable satellite phone out there in his camp.’

Greg Francis was a partner in their security business. Once a colleague of Connor’s in the Federal Police, Greg had succumbed to post traumatic stress disorder, and lived off grid near Wyndham in remote Western Australia. Since they’d left the force and Connor had started his business, he had initially used Greg’s skills to retrieve sensitive information for him. Just before Dru and Connor had married, Greg had joined their business.

Through a couple of hackers he knew from their time in the Australian Federal Police, and with his excellent skills accessing the dark web, Greg had access to more databases than an everyday Google search would retrieve. Maybe not ethical—or legal—but Connor didn’t care. Dru knew Connor’s faith in ethical and legal practices had become jaded a few years back and whatever it took to get a job done, he and Greg would do it.

They stayed within the law . . . most of the time.

‘What does that mean? The red alert stuff?’

‘It means that no one is allowed to share any information or make any enquiries outside the room where the team will be working together. But listen, Greg said he’ll call back within ten minutes. Go and have your shower and I’ll supervise your exploding rice. And try not to worry.’

Dru forced a smile. ‘Do you think we should ring the others yet?’

‘I’ll give the guys a call once I’ve heard back from Greg. Emma and Dee are still in hospital, aren’t they?’

‘Yes. Emma’s going home tomorrow, I think. I hope.’

‘No results yet?’

‘Not that she’s letting on.’ Dru reached up and brushed her lips across his. Even at her height, Connor was half a head taller than she was. ‘Thanks for contacting Greg. I’ll be quick.’

Dru hurried to their ensuite and slipped off her work clothes. She stood side-on to the mirror as she did every night and smiled at her baby bump. Her throat closed as she thought of the deaths Greg had called about. There was no way it would be Mum; no one family could have so much tragedy, she told herself sternly.

She turned the taps on, and had a very quick shower, and it was only a few minutes before she walked back along the hall and into the study where Connor held the phone to his ear listening intently.

Walking across to the computer desk, she stood and put her hand on his shoulder; he was still listening—to Greg—Dru assumed, but he reached up and put his hand on hers.

‘Okay, mate, thanks. Keep following through and let me know if there’s anything we need to know.’ Connor disconnected and put the phone on the desk.

Dru spoke slowly, it was hard to form the words around her fear that something had gone awfully wrong. ‘What did Greg say?’

Connor stood and pushed the chair in. ‘It’s a young couple apparently. They still haven’t retrieved the bodies but they can ID from who was on the trek. The company have advised there were two couples of the trek, but no names have been released. It’s still being kept very quiet.’