4.

The yellow police tape was still hanging in strips around the door of Luke Hadler's

farmhouse. It caught the morning light as fork parked next to the police car on a patch

of dead grass out the front. The sun was still some way from its peak position, but fork

skin was already tingling from the heat as he got out of the car. He put his hat on and

surveyed the house. He hadn't needed directions. He'd spent almost as much time at that house

growing up as he had at his own. Luke hadn't changed much about the place since he'd taken

it over from his parents, fork thought as he rang the bell. The chimeko deep inside,

and he was struck by the feeling of having travelled back in time. He felt such an uneasy

certainty that a cocky 16-year-old would swing open the door that he almost took a step

back. Nothing moved. Windows shrouded by closed curtains gazed out like a pair of blinded

eyes.

fork had lain awake for most of the night thinking about what Jerry had said. In the morning

he'd rung and told Jerry he could stay in town a day or two, only until the weekend.

It was Thursday, he was expected back at work on Monday, but in the meantime he would

go to Luke's farm. He would look at the financials for Barb. It was the least he could do. Jerry's

tone made it clear he agreed. It was almost literally the least fork could do.

Walk waited for a moment, then made his way around the side of the building. The sky

loomed huge and blue over yellow fields. In the distance a wire fence kept a shadowy

tangle of bushland at bay. The property was very isolated, fork noticed properly for

the first time. It had always felt full of life when he was young. His own childhood

home may have only been a short bike ride away, but it was completely invisible somewhere

...