The Survivors, стр. 62

Chapter 24

They were early, but others were even earlier and the library was already busy.

Ash’s dog Shifty was tethered by his leash to the bike rack outside, and Kieran rubbed his head as they passed. He remembered the day Ash had found the dog, lost or abandoned and lurking in a shifty manner around the delivery entrance of the Surf and Turf. Ash had felt bad and taken him home, where both the dog and the name had stuck.

Kieran looked past Shifty now to a notice taped above the returns chute informing visitors that the community meeting was to be held in the function room. It was unnecessary. The thick hum of chatter drifted out through the bookshelves, and the room was already near capacity as Kieran edged his way in with Mia. Verity and Brian were behind them. Mia took one look at the standing room only and turned the bulky pram around.

‘I’ll park it in the lobby,’ she said as Kieran lifted Audrey out. She wheeled the pram away, disappearing past the audiobook stand.

Kieran surveyed the room. Someone had offered Brian a seat and Verity was trying to convince him to take it. Eventually, the person in the next chair stood and gestured to Verity, who looked embarrassed but sat them both down gratefully, her grip tight on Brian’s wrist. Kieran swapped Audrey to his other arm and found a place to stand near the door.

The rows of seating faced a raised area at the front of the room, where four chairs sat empty behind a table. A laptop was open and Bronte smiled out from two large photos projected onto a presentation screen. She was dressed like she was going somewhere in the first image, smiling like it was a special occasion. In the other, she was sitting on a wall in a garden in jeans and bare feet, her arm around a large sleepy-looking Golden Retriever.

Liam was not there, Kieran could tell simply from the atmosphere. Sean had come though, as had Julian. They stood together in the far corner, their backs against the wall and arms folded across their chests. The weather-beaten man to Julian’s left was leaning towards him confidentially, chatting away while stabbing at the air with his folded sunglasses to make a point. The next couple along were looking anywhere else as they pretended not to have noticed either Julian or Sean.

Julian seemed to be trying his best to ignore everyone, staring straight ahead with a fixed gaze and nodding only occasionally as the man rambled on. Sean had his head down as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Kieran tried to make eye contact, but Sean didn’t look up. The room was too busy for Kieran to fight his way over and, to his shame, he felt a faint stirring of relief that he didn’t have to make the choice.

Kieran noticed movement and saw Ash raising a hand to him through the crowd. He was seated in the second row, his other arm slung over the back of Olivia’s chair, rubbing her shoulder blade with his thumb. Olivia’s mum Trish sat on her other side, her back perfectly straight. They watched silently as a camera crew set up near the lectern.

‘Hey, guess what? I finally met G.R. Barlin,’ Mia whispered as she slid in next to Kieran. ‘I caught him signing his own books in the recent returns section. We both pretended he wasn’t, though.’

Kieran smiled. ‘I’m sure you were very tactful.’

‘I went for gushingly complimentary. I meant to say I loved his books and accidentally said I loved him. He was very gracious.’ Mia looked around the room herself for the first time, her smile fading now. ‘No Liam?’

‘No.’

Kieran could see Lyn sitting a few rows over. Her eyes flicked to Julian, then she leaned over and murmured something to the woman sitting beside her, who looked similar enough to be a sister. The second woman’s face tightened.

Kieran heard a voice behind him.

‘Sorry. Could I –?’

He turned to see George Barlin squeezing in and took a step sideways to make room.

‘Thanks.’ George looked grateful. He was wearing yet another chunky cardigan. Kieran wondered exactly how many he owned. George smiled at Mia. ‘And hello again.’

If he was at all embarrassed, he hid it better than she did. George took stock of the rows of chairs filled with people packed shoulder to shoulder.

‘Be here or be square, hey?’ George said, without humour. ‘At least people are more civil to each other in real life than they are online.’

Kieran nodded. ‘I see that community forum’s been taking off.’

‘It really has.’ George’s face was serious. ‘People need to watch themselves, actually. A lot of defamatory comments are being hurled around in there. Especially as no-one’s been charged yet.’ He glanced towards Sean and Julian, who had barely moved.

‘Is anyone moderating it?’ Mia asked, reaching out to take Audrey from Kieran as the baby started to grizzle.

‘There used to be a couple of people. Volunteers, I’m guessing, but that was back when it was mostly rates and rubbish complaints. If anyone’s doing it now, they’re overwhelmed. There’ve been posts on there for days that should never have been allowed up in the first place.’

‘About Liam?’ Mia asked.

‘Some,’ George said. ‘Not all –’

He broke off, taking a step back as Detective Inspector Pendlebury attempted to edge her way in through the door.

‘Excuse me,’ she said, her words suddenly very audible as a hush of anticipation fell over the room.

Pendlebury ignored it and threaded her way through the crowd to