Page 33 of The Island

Heather fumbled the penknife into the floor as best she could just as the shed door opened.

“We need to talk to both of you again,” Matt said.

“We need water for the children,” Tom said.

“I’ll get you water. We decided we’d better talk to you and your wife before Danny gets here,” Matt said and began undoing the rope that tied Heather’s neck to the timber frame. Tom had an anxious moment as Matt looked at the floor near where Heather was sitting, but he didn’t see the penknife. Matt undid the rope around Tom’s neck and pulled them both to their feet.

“This is utterly disgraceful. You should be ashamed of yourself. You can’t keep us like this. These are little kids! What are you thinking?” Heather said to Matt.

Even in the gloomy light of the hut, Tom could see that Matt was embarrassed.

“Look, yeah, I’m sorry about all this. But I did bloody tell you not to come here,” Matt said.

“If you insist on keeping me and Tom so we can sort out some form of compensation, then so be it,” Heather said. “But you need to take the children to the mainland on the ferry.”

Tom gave her an I’ve got this look. He wanted to deescalate the situation. Heather was getting herself worked up. There was no way Ma would ever allow such a thing. “No, we don’t need you to do that. But our kids need water,” Tom said.

“I’ll bring them water. Come on,” he said. “Danny’s on the ferry. He’s nearly here.”

“I’m not leaving these children in here by themselves,” Heather said.

“I give you my word nothing’s going to happen to them. Trust me,” Matt said. He said it so sincerely that Tom believed him, and Heather found herself nodding.

“Come on, Heather,” Tom said. “Let’s be calm and we’ll go fix this.”

Kate was waiting outside the shearing shed with her shotgun. “She’s in the farmyard,” she said to Matt. “We brought Ma’s chair out.”

They trudged between the farm buildings and odd bits of machinery that resembled sinister modern-art installations.

They reached the farmyard, where the Porsche was still parked, and Tom noticed the Dutch couple’s camper van. Where were they in all this?

Ma was sitting in her rocking chair with about fifteen or twenty people gathered around her in the twilight. The flies had not dispersed when the sun set, and there was a smell of decaying kelp blowing in from the sea. Most of the adults were armed, Tom noted. Heather had better not try anything foolish.

“Danny’s coming. We better settle this now,” Ma said. “You two stand in front of me. We’re gonna sort this out like grown-ups. Fair dinkum and shake on it. Agreed?”

Tom nodded. “Of course. Once again, I am so sorry about Ellen. I apologize profusely on behalf of myself and my family.”

“Good,” Ma said. “You’ll have to apologize to Danny too. Make it a real bloody good one. He loved that girl.”

“I will. Yes. And, look, before Danny gets here, maybe we could come to an arrangement and present it to him as a fait accompli,” Tom suggested. “A fait accompli is a—”

“I know what it is!” Ma said. “I went to Mount Lourdes Grammar, didn’t I? Let’s see if we can get this sorted.”

Tom began to relax. Admittedly, Ma looked terrifying, but this was a note of compromise. The word sorted was a good sign. Also, there was a strong hint of Ireland in Ma’s voice. She must have come over here as a little girl. The matriarch of Dutch Island was not the descendant of some isolated inbred cult of pagan idol worshippers. She was just another immigrant trying to make good in a big country.

Tom gave Heather a reassuring smile. He walked closer to Ma, head bowed, hands bound in front of him like a defeated enemy. “Obviously, what happened here is a terrible tragedy. It was my fault and I’m sorry and my heart goes out to Ellen’s family and Danny.”

“Danny will be gutted,” a man said from the crowd. There was a general murmuring of agreement.

Tom bit his lip. Yes, the entire island was one large family, but Ma ran the roost. Her word would be law. All he had to do was persuade her.

“I’m very sorry about the accident, but there was nothing malicious in it. It was no one’s fault. It was just one of those things that happen,” Tom said.

“You were going too fast on that road,” Kate said, and again there was grumbling from the crowd.

Tom knew a heated dispute would be fatal to his cause. He just had to agree and appear contrite. “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps we were going too fast,” he continued. “I did try to save her. I tried hard. I’m a doctor and I did my best. And afterward, when we saw it was no good, we just panicked. We did completely the wrong thing. Look, there’s no way we can bring back Ellen. But we can offer you, um, compensation.”

“Do you mean money?” Jacko asked.