""I've been thinking about what constitutes truth these days."" ""How do we know what is or isn't the truth?" ""And then what if a story becomes truth?" ""How do you tell the difference between one and the other?" ""Dodgy ground, this truth thing."" " What are we looking at?" " Wait and see." "I want your honest, unfiltered reaction." "Not far now." "What's the school bus doing out here?" "Taking the kids to school?" "Well, isn't it miles off the route?" "Yeah, I suppose, strictly speaking, but..." " Denis takes detours." " Why?" "Sometimes people call him up to grab their kids when they stay at their aunty's and stuff." "Other times, he just likes going for a drive." "This one time, on a bloody hot day, pulled up at the river and let everyone jump out and have a swim." "Oh." "Just up here." "What do you reckon?" " For the bathroom?" " Yeah." "To replace the perfectly good but much smaller window that's already there?" "Well, to improve the view." "So it matches the view from your long-drop?" "Yes." "Same theory." "To make you as one with the world." "And the world as one with me in my bathroom?" " Pass." " You sure?" "Yeah, but thanks for bringing me all the way out here for this." "Yeah, no worries." " Hey, g'day, Sean." " Hey, Woody." "You here on council business?" "No." "Hey, how did you go with that front door with the stag on it?" "Brenda hated it." "Oh, did she?" "That's a shame." " I have to go." " Yeah, righto." " Catch you later, Sean." " What was that about?" "Oh, Sean works for the council, but he's doing up his place..." "No, the way he reacted when he saw me." "Oh, that." "Um..." "I wouldn't worry about that, if I was you." " You have to try kina." " Kina?" "Sea urchin." "But you crack them open." "And there's like this delicious snot inside." "Next time Dad goes diving, I'll get him to get you some." "Oh, great." "Can't wait." "Uh-oh." "Should we go another way?" "Nah." "She knows not to mess with the Turners now." "Ah!" "Ow!" "Man." "What's wrong with her?" "Hey." "Hey." "Hey." " Are you even in this class?" " No." " Is it still the column thing?" " What is?" " Sean, from the council." " Oh, that." "Um..." "No, everyone's cool with that now." "I think people just dig there's a celebrity in town." " I'm not a celebrity." " In Weld, you are." "That's probably why Sean reacted like that - your celeb factor." "He took one look at me and fled?" "Well, you know." "People have weird reactions to celebrities." "Well, fear isn't usually one of them." "What's going on, Woody?" "I can't say, alright?" "It's..." "It's not in my nature." " What isn't?" " Well, to gossip, alright?" " Gossip's bloody evil." " What gossip?" " That'd be passing on gossip." " Well, is the gossip about me?" "Even that'd be saying too much." "Telling the gossiped-about person what the gossip is is not passing on the gossip." "That's easy for you to say." " George." " What?" " Uh, stop." " Stop what?" "The car!" "Denis zones out sometimes, eh?" " How do you mean gossip?" " School full of teenagers, Dad." " All they do is gossip." " About us, specifically?" "You mean about your stupid column?" " Well, maybe." " So yesterday's news." "Thank God." "Tell me about Denis." " The guy who drives the bus?" " Yeah." " Why?" " Well, I saw the bus today." "Not where I thought it would be." "Yeah, the route kind of changes from day to day." " Why?" " I don't know." "We're just along for the ride." " Why are you asking?" " Oh, no reason." "Hey, I might drop you at school tomorrow." " See ya, Dad." " See ya." " Are you coming in?" " Just need a quick chat." "Nothing concerning you guys." " Hello." " Hi." " Mr Turner." " Penny." "Any chance of a quick chat to the principal?" "He's very busy." "Is it important?" "Only if you consider the lives of your students important." "Bevan." "Bevan Monteith." "Pleased to finally meet you, George." "Take a seat." "Listen, I'm sorry I didn't welcome you in person." "But things have been very busy here." "I'm sure you understand." "The bus driver that does runs to and from the school here..." " Denis?" "He's a lovely chap." " Yeah." "Well, what about him?" " Well..." " Mind you, strictly speaking..." "The bus run does fall in the domain of the ministry and not the school, just... just so you know." "So when the driver runs a stop sign and collects an oncoming car, with your students on board, that won't be your problem?" "Hm..." " Go!" "You're late!" " Yeah, I know." "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." " Running a bit late." " Yeah, so I gathered." "How are you doing?" "Well, people keep giving me weird looks and a wide berth, but apart from that..." "Idiots - I've told everyone I can not to believe a word of it." " Of what?" " What's being said." "And, of course, you haven't heard." " That is so typical." " Heard about what?" "People just piss me off, you know." "Happily sticking their noses into other people's..." "Heard about what, Katie?" "Don't know how I can sugar-coat this." " So don't." " Basically..." "What I heard... was that you used the insurance money from your wife's... death to buy your place here." "No." "That's not right." "Yeah, well, that's better than the rest of the story." "Which is that the reason you ended up in Weld was because the Australian police think that you murdered your wife for the insurance money and you had to get out of the country." " What?" "!" " I know!" "It's complete bullshit." " That's what I told the person who told me." "Which was who?" "Please don't do that thing where you'd rather not say." "Oh, nah, no way." "It was Zac." "I'm just saying what I heard, OK?" " Believe everything you hear?" " No." "Well, you clearly believe it enough to pass it on." "Only to you." "Why am I so special I'm the one you impart your great knowledge to?" "You talk to him a lot." "He's gonna pop into one of our chats how he murdered his wife for the insurance money?" "Do people seriously think I'm a murderer?" "I don't." "Well, thank you..." "for telling me." ""When you are the victim of gossip, you have two choices " ""ignore it until people move on" ""or track down the source and destroy it."" " Where'd you hear it from, Zac?" " You spoke to Katie, right?" "Yeah." "I want to know who spoke to you." "Oh, is this this nonsense that's been going round?" " You heard it too?" " I heard it when he heard it." "But I didn't blab it to anyone and everyone." "I didn't blab." "Just asked Katie if she thought it was true." "Of course it isn't true." " Is it?" " Of course it's not!" "I want to know who started the rumour, who you heard it from." "And please don't try to protect them." " No, never." "It was Monty." " Yeah, Monty." "They reckon he murdered his wife for the insurance money, they couldn't prove anything, so he buggers off over here." "He buys a house he's never seen before, pays for it in cash." " In actual cash?" " Well, not actual cash." "But one lump sum." "No mortgage or anything." "That's the sort of money an insurance policy gets you." " I did not murder my wife!" " No-one believes you did." " Except for Monty." " No-one who isn't an idiot." " So how did your wife die?" " Zac!" " What?" "You don't just bloody blurt out a question like that." "Sorry if it was on the nose, but if everyone knows the truth, then that'll put the kibosh on the rumours." "How my wife died is nobody's business except my family's." ""Of course, one of the complicating factors" ""in hunting down a lie is that the truth can actually be worse." ""Don't get me wrong." "The lie must be extinguished." ""But sometimes the ideal is that the whole truth" ""does not emerge along the way."" "Kia ora, and welcome to McNamara Real Estate." "How can we help?" "George!" "Let me guess." "You've decided to sell." "Monty." "Tell me if this rings a bell." "It's the story of a man who murdered his wife, scored the insurance and used the cash to buy a house in another country." "Sound like the sort of story you might have passed on, Monty?" "George, with all due respect, I never said..." "When people say "due respect", there's generally no respect." "I am full of respect for you." "I'm overflowing with respect." "Which is why I was at pains to point out that you didn't pay in cash, 'cause that would have seemed suspicious." "Rest of the crap, you were happy to pass on." "Well, not happy." "It pained me." " But you still passed it on." " This is a small town, George." "The people out there need to fill their lives with something." "Otherwise, they go mad." "And who was it that filled your life, Monty?" " Who told you?" " It's not important." "It is to me." "Hello?" "Just giving you a heads-up, Dad, that you're gonna have to pick us up after school." "'Cause we just found out that, for some reason," "Denis the bus driver got fired today." " Are you still there, Dad?" " Yep." "No-one here knows why." " It's a total mystery." " Right." "Everyone's pretty cut up about it, mainly because they have no idea why Denis would be fired." "Well, I will, uh..." "I'll see you after school." "It's like he deliberately wants everyone to hate us." " Where'd he go?" " He went out the back way." "Didn't say why." "Denis'll be devastated." "Driving that bus was his life." " Ow!" " Hey!" "That's assault!" " Nah." "It's OK, Billy." " Is it, Arlo?" " Is it OK?" " Hey, hi, hi, everyone." "Now, I just want to assure all of you that we will have a new driver on tomorrow and that normal services will resume." "So thank you." "What is wrong with your bloody school, Bevan?" "You know, any idiot can drive a bus." " Come on." " George!" "George!" "Hey, this whole bus situation." " Talk about a can of worms." " Really?" "Well, it turns out he didn't even have a driver's licence, let alone a bus driver's licence." "Heads are gonna roll over this." "I can promise ya." "I should probably get the kids home now." "Oh, yeah, yeah." "Of course." "And, um, thanks for your help, OK?" "No worries." "Uh, Mum asked me to ask you if I could get a ride home." "Otherwise I could walk." "Sure, Billy." "Climb in." " Hi." " Hey." " Hi, Mum." " Hi there." " Thanks for bringing him home." " No worries." "Hey, have you got a sec?" "There's something I want you to see." "Yeah, sure." "Do you mind if I turn this down a mo?" "Yeah." "Yeah, sure." "Whatever." "There's someone I want you to meet." "This is Denis, our bus driver." "Denis, this is George Turner." "Yeah, hi." "Welcome to my world." "I don't know whether you got the full story, but Denis got unfairly fired as the bus driver." "Yeah, I got most of that." "I was wondering if you'd write a column on Denis's behalf about how all it takes in a small town is one person with a bee in their bonnet to totally ruin a man's life." "Can I have a quick word?" "Awkward." "When you say "ruin a man's life"..." "He seems relatively happy painting." "Apart from the music." "Denis paints when he's depressed." " It's a form of therapy." " So the painting is good, then?" "Well, no, because Denis needs to spend time in the community." "Yeah, but if the painting makes him happy, then..." "Look, if you don't want to write the column, just say so." "No, it's not that - it's just that when you say" "I ruined a man's life, I think you're taking it a bit too far." "You ruined his life?" "Well, no, because it doesn't seem ruined, to be honest." "Going back to the bit where you said "I ruined a man's life"..." "Because it was me who raised my concerns about Denis's driving." " Valid concerns, as it happens." " You cost him his job!" "No." "I saw something that worried me." "I took it to the school." "I thought they would talk to him." "Obviously, I had no idea he didn't have a licence." "But, yes, I suppose I did cost him his job." "Do I feel sorry about that?" "No." "Because after what I saw, I did not feel safe putting my kids on the bus with him behind the wheel." "And if people want to hate me for that, then fine." "Hell!" "I'm a murderer anyway - they may as well add this to my list of crimes against the... ..the... the good people of Weld." ""People talk." "That's natural." ""Where there's a void, it gets filled with speculation." ""But it's the silence that is actually louder than any words."" "OK." "Yes, I'm the bad guy, again." " Can we move on, please?" " What you did today was uncool." "That's my job as a parent - take the cool from your life." "Yeah, well, Denis never drove badly when he had kids on board." " Then you were lucky." " Matter of fact, he was..." "Probably the best thing about school." "Oh, for heaven's sake" " I'm sorry for being so concerned about your safety." "Who are you kidding, Dad?" "This isn't about us." "This is about Mum." "This is all about you still not dealing with it." "I'm dealing with it perfectly well, thank you very..." "No, you're not." "You're pushing your guilt onto us." " That's nonsense." " And that is you in denial." "No, this is more a three than a one." "I mean he's in denial now, not that he's still stage one." "I know, but today was classic stage three " ""I couldn't save her, but I'll save the kids."" " Dubious." " What are you talking about?" "What stage you're at, or not at." "After Mum died, Grandma Trish gave us this article about the Kubly somethingy model..." " Kubly?" "Ku..." "Kubler-Ross." " Yeah, that's the one." "To help us understand our grief." " It didn't help at all." " Not in the slightest." "Pretty fun trying to figure out what stage everyone else was at." "There are fives stages of grief." "One - denial." "Two - anger." " Three - bargaining." " Four - depression." "And five - acceptance." "I always thought it was weird that depression's stage four, because isn't getting depressed, like, the first thing that happens when someone dies?" "Well, yeah, unless you're Uncle Terry, who went straight to anger when he punched a hole in the wall and broke his hand." "But Uncle Terry's permanently angry about everything." "And I'm a stage three, am I?" " You were today, I reckon." " You tend to move around a lot." "Mmm." "It's kind of hard to keep track." "Like bringing us to New Zealand." "I don't think there's a stage for that." "Good to know." "Come on, Arlo." "We have to go!" "So Dad will have told Katie, right?" "And Katie will have told Billy." "Which means Billy would have told all his friends." "Yeah, Billy doesn't really have any friends except me." "Yeah, true, we do have that on our side." " Get on." " Sorry?" "Put the helmet on." "Get on the bike." "Because you say so?" "Because, trust me, if you value your life, you don't want to be on the bus today." "Well, don't get on the bike." "Or just completely ignore whatever I say." "Well, come on." "Hurry up!" "Come on!" "I haven't got all day." "This isn't school." "See, I knew you were one of the smart ones." " Uh, why are we here?" " I wanted you to see." "Right." "See what?" "This is the land Big Mac and his rich mates want to buy, put a fence around it, fill it with old people." "And why am I meant to care?" " Because you live here." " Against my will." "And 'cause sooner or later, you'll have to choose sides." " Why?" " Because everyone has to." "Says you." "Look, if you don't choose a side, you're on his side, because that's how he gets what he wants, by people doing nothing." "And what makes you think I'll choose your side?" "Smacking Lindsay McNamara was a clue." " I'm not proud of that." " You should be." "So, what do you want from me?" " Your heart." " Seriously disturbed." " OK, your phone." " Why?" " To give you my number." " Why would I want your number?" "For when you decide what side you're on." " Now we are forever connected." " Or until I delete you." "Or that." "Mate, I just..." "I can't stress enough how sorry I am." " That's quite alright, Woody." " Nah, look, I've been..." "It's been eating away at me ever since I first heard that bloody gossip." " Hello, George." " Constable Tom." " Mind if I pop in for a second?" " No, no, no." "Why should I?" " What?" " Mind." "No!" "No, why would you?" "Well, I keep asking myself the same question." "Actually..." "..I'm here to reassure you... ..about things being said about you." " They're not true." " Yeah, I know." "And I have the proof." "You do?" "I made a few inquiries with my colleagues across the ditch..." " Your colleagues?" " In Australia, yeah." " The New South Wales Police?" " Yep, that's them." "What, you made inquiries with the police about me?" "Follow up what I'd been told, in case it turned out to be true and I had an international incident on my hands." "But I can now state that for a fact... ..that they had no idea what the hell I was talking about." "Who told you the gossip about me that turned out not to be true?" "George, mate, police never give up their sources." " It was Siouxsie." " Siouxsie?" "Monty's daughter?" "Why do I need to wear a helmet?" "So you don't die if you fall off and hit your head?" "What if I want to go out in a blaze of glory?" "Falling off a scooter?" " Why are you picking on me?" " I'm not." "You rode past, no helmet." " I'm just doing my job." " Yeah?" "Well, why aren't you doing your job arresting the real criminals around here?" "Ones that kill their wives for insurance money, for example." "Glad to say it was all nonsense, and... ..you can be rest assured that this is not a police matter anymore." "Oh, and on that note, thanks for the other thing." "What other thing?" "Well, the whole Denis scenario could have gone ballistic if not for you." "What?" "You mean Denis getting fired?" "I mean Denis not being qualified for the job he was employed to do." "Your early warning was a godsend." "Yeah." "Yeah, good for you, mate." "Good for you." "No work today, just so you know." "Oh, dear." "People do love Denis." "But the law is the law." "Eh, George?" "Hey, stop assaulting my friend." " We need to report her." " No, we don't." " But that's actual assault." " No, it's not." "It's different." "I think it's her way of saying she respects me." "Maybe even, deep down..." " She might even like me." " What?" "She just has problems expressing it." "That's all." "She expresses herself by punching you?" "Yeah." "But it's OK." "It... doesn't really hurt." "No." "It's not OK." "It's messed up." "Lindsay McNamara is not expressing her love through violence." "OK, let's just say we have an understanding." "Yeah?" "We'll leave it at that." "But I don't understand your understanding." "Arlo." "Arlo!" "When I brought this to your attention," "I wasn't looking to get Denis fired." "But he has no licence." "And, therefore, there was no other alternative." "Yeah, but maybe there's some way he could do a bus-driving course?" " Well, yeah." "Yes." " Well, good." "But he'll never drive a bus again." "I mean, not for this school." "There was talk of fraud charges, alright?" "Until we found out he'd done the run for free all these years." "Now there's budgetary implications, not to mention the complaints about the temporary replacement driver." "But without the fraud charges and with an actual licence, there must be some chance of getting Denis reinstated." "Look, I'm sorry, George, but this is not a road that the school can go down." "I hear it's you I should be unhappy with." " Sorry?" " The whole bus fiasco." "I'm fielding all complaints the replacement driver is a maniac." "Look, I did what I thought was right." "It turned out I was." " The man didn't have a licence." " I know." "And I agree." "He couldn't stay on in the job." "And I was joking." " Oh." " Sorry." "I don't get why I should feel guilty when apparently it's OK for everyone to go around saying whatever they want about me." "You mean that crap people are saying about how your wife died?" " You've heard, obviously." " Yes." " From who?" " I don't know." "Loads of people." "I told 'em all to pull their heads in and stop talking crap." " Well, thank you." " You're welcome." "Are you OK?" "For a wife-killer?" "Hunky-dory." "Thanks for asking." "There have been complaints about my driving?" "I heard you drive the school bus like it's the ambulance." "There's nothing wrong with the way I drive the ambulance, or the bus." "But you only volunteered for the ambulance so you could drive fast." "That's not... entirely true." "Ooh." "Murderer alert." " He's not a murderer, Hannah." " I know that, Fiona." " It was a joke." " Not one of your good ones." " George." " Fiona." "Hannah." " Katie." " Hey, George." "We're mocking Fiona." "Everyone hates the new school bus driver." " Who's the new bus driver?" " Fiona." " Temporarily." " Well, I'm sorry about that." " Why are you sorry?" " You don't know?" " Know what?" " You haven't told them?" "Generally when someone tells me they've done something stupid," " I don't spread it round." " Well..." "You have my permission to spread it far and wide." "Let the court of public opinion talk about that as well as every other aspect of my life." "'Scuse me." "Spread what?" "Mr McNamara's not here." "He's right there." "His exact words were," ""If you see George Turner coming, I'm not here."" "No." "No." "That's not what I said." "It doesn't matter." "It's you I want to talk to, not him." " Me?" "You told Constable Tom the rumour about me." "I might have." " Did you start the rumour?" " No." "Well, who told you?" "What?" "Monty, I don't need his likes, dislikes or personal life." "I just..." "G'day, Renee." "I just need to know which side he's on." " Maybe he doesn't have a side." " Nah." "Those writer types, they always have a side." "Move your beer." "And I want to make sure he's on mine." "And if he's not, we can always use the whole wife thing over him." "I only passed it on 'cause I thought everyone else already knew." "I mean, normally, I'm the last to hear." " And?" " And what?" "Oh, right." "You want to know who told me." "Get out of it, Monty." "Dad left me in charge." "Get on." " Get out." " OK." "Do something else." "Hello." "Dad says it's because of you they're here." " Who?" " The creepy Australians." "Oh, the Turners?" "Well, I did sell George the house, if that's what you mean." " Yeah." "Why?" " Because it's my job." "Did you, like, do a background check on them?" "Why would I do that?" "Because do we really want people who killed their wives living here?" " Sorry?" " Killed them dead." "For the insurance money." "Then ran away from the cops and ended up here because you sold them a house." "Really?" "I know this for a fact." " For a fact?" " That's what she said." "Well, she's 16 years old." "How could she possibly know it "for a fact"?" "Good question, and exactly the question I asked her." "How do you know this for a fact?" " Duh." "Because of who told me." " Which was...?" "Why I didn't want to tell you in the first place." "Who was it, Monty?" "OK, but..." "You're not gonna like it." "Hey, Dad." "How was school today?" "You mean apart from the bit where the new bus driver drives like a complete lunatic?" " Great work, Dad." " How was your day, Arlo?" "It was OK." "You know what I've been doing today?" " Writing?" " I wish." "No, I've been tracking down the source of the rumour about how we're hiding here because" "I murdered your mother for the insurance money." "What?" "!" "That was the gossip you were talking about?" " People actually believe that?" " Some did." "Man, these people need to get lives." "Any idea where that rumour might have come from, Arlo?" "I'm really sorry." "OK?" "I..." "I panicked." "We want to know why you and your stupid sister don't just go back to Aussie." "'Cause we like it here?" "Well, no-one likes you." "And you're not welcome here." " Maybe we can't go back." " Why?" "Why do you think?" "Are you, like, hiding here?" "Yeah." "Maybe we're hiding here." "And that's why we can't ever go back." "I thought you moved here 'cause your mum died." " Maybe the two are connected." " How?" "Maybe... ..my dad killed Mum for the insurance money." " How could you say such a thing?" " I told you, I..." "I panicked." "I..." "I wanted her to leave me alone and..." "I panicked." " Bullcrap." " The police couldn't prove it." "But they know he did it." "And they were making our lives a living hell." "And so we had to move here." "But..." "Trust me, Lindsay." "You don't want to mess with my family, especially not my dad." "What, do you think writing that stupid column was the only way he made his money?" "Nah." "We're connected, Lindsay." "To what?" "To a bunch of people that you don't want to mess with." "And did this genius plan work?" "Sort of." "How could you treat the memory of your mother like that?" "I didn't know anyone would actually believe it!" " But to tell such a lie?" " Maybe I was taking after you." "What?" "Well, you and Mum used to lie all the time, about what you did while she was earning money." "Remember George Turner, the international jewel thief?" "They were jokes, Arlo, for our friends." "This was kind of a joke, for a reason." "Yeah, Dad, isn't an important point here that your son is being bullied?" "It's not his fault he responded by being an idiot." " I wasn't being an idiot." " Hey, I'm on your side here." "I don't want you on my side." "I can deal with Lindsay." "Really?" "Because I am more than happy to have a word with her." " No!" " Guys, I've got this." " Just... stay out of it." " Your funeral." "Oh, so... we can make jokes about funerals now." " Hey!" " Well, can we?" "Because..." "I don't know what I can and can't say anymore." "Telling everyone Dad's a murderer?" "That's a no." "Yeah, I know, and I've said, I'm really sorry." "It's just, I've..." "I've got this theory." "What theory?" "It's about Mum." "What about her?" "Her and Kubler-Ross." "It's like we're stuck in stage one - denial." "That's where you don't talk about it." "And we never, ever talk about Mum." "It's like we're scared that one of us is gonna burst into tears, and... so we're just not saying anything." "I..." "I don't think that's healthy." ""Silence is where the lies grow." ""And the only way to stop the lies growing is with the truth." ""Even when the truth is, in some ways, worse..." ""..than the lie it replaces."" "This is a really dumb idea, Dad, and none of their business." "But it is." "That's the point." "It's become their business." "So it's better they know the true story." " But then everyone will know." " So be it." "Least it'll be out in the open." "No room for gossip." "So who are you gonna tell?" "Start with everyone I've already spoken to about the wrong version." " So all the groupies, then." " The what?" "Your fan club, your harem." "Whatever you want to call them." "Oh, come on." "Even you must know what I mean." "Those women - those ones that look at you like you're fair game, fresh meat." "The ones that want you, Dad." "They're not just being friendly." "They have other reasons." "No." "You're seeing way too much into it." "Am I?" "Whatever." "It's not a game I want to play." "So... over to you." "Just count me out of it tonight." "Fine." "I will." "Hey, Woody, it's George." "I need a favour." "There's no reception here." "But there will be once all this is little boxes filled with old people." "You got a thing against old people?" "No, of course not." "I just..." "I just think a place like this shouldn't have a fence around it." "It should be for everyone." "I get that." " That mean you're on my side?" " Your side?" "You're in charge, are you?" "Actually, um..." "It's just me, at the moment... ..working under the cover of night." "Like a Maori Batman." "So, what do I have to do to be on your side, then?" "Come on." "Thanks, everyone, for coming here at such short notice." "Woody clearly has excellent powers of persuasion." "No, I just dropped your name, and they all came running." "Anyway, I've gathered you all here today 'cause I... ..I want you to spread a rumour for me." " I don't do that." " Yeah, I know that." "But I was hoping in this case, you'd make an exception, because it... it's the truth, about how Laura died." "And I figured..." "I figured you should all be the... ..the first to hear the truth..." "..which is, yeah, I did kill her." "We'd been... out to lunch and a spot of shopping, and, uh..." "Laura bought shoes, of course." "Then it was time for her to get back to work and for me to get back to..." "well, nothing much." "And as she walked away... ..I just couldn't help myself." "Hey." "Nice arse." "I spoke." "She wasn't looking." "And she got hit." "So, in effect, I did kill her." "And people should know that." " Dad, that's... that's not true." " Yes, it is." " No, it isn't." " You weren't there, Arlo." "No, but I read everything the cops gave us." "And I listened to everything they said to us." " Arlo, Arlo." "No." " Dad." "I don't know." "Maybe you didn't, 'cause you were in that weird headspace." "Dad, what about the fact that the guy was speeding?" "Or what about how he ran a red light 30 seconds earlier and was texting while driving?" "Dad, what about the fact that... ..Mum was on a pedestrian crossing when she got hit?" "It's classic stage two, Dad." "Anger." "Trying to find someone to blame." "The truth is that Mum got hit by an idiot driving a minibus." "Not by you." "Not by Denis." "That's the truth." "Uh, and, you know, if it helps any, if the last words I ever heard were "Nice arse"," "I reckon I'd die a happy man." "It is the nature of small towns to gossip, especially the men." "That is not gossip." "That is information flow." "Well, I just make sure the rumours about me are true." "'Cause then that way, they're not rumours." "I even started a rumour about myself once." " Yeah?" " Didn't catch on." "First time one of my kids caught me at the sun beach, all manner of stories went around the school." "Some of them were so good, I wish they were true." "When Denis moved into my place, my studio, there were all these rumours that we were lovers." "Hey, don't worry." "No-one can see you." " And the cops aren't gonna catch you." " Know that for a fact, do you?" "Yeah." "I do, actually." "I put a GPS tracker on Constable Tom's car." "It's at his house, which means he's tucked up in bed." " So, what am I meant to write?" " Uh..." "Something good." "Otherwise I won't let you join my gang." " Your gang of one?" " It's a real exclusive gang." "Ah." "That meet your high standards?" "Yeah." "Yeah, you passed the audition." "Yay for me." "Want to walk me home, Maori Batman?" "Mm-hm." "Yep." "Mate, a dude with money." "A house." "Even your house." "Alright." "Who's good with kids." "Who has an actual talent and isn't too shabby on the old eyeball..." "Mate, you're gold in the gene pool of Weld." "Only two questions as far as you're concerned." "And what are they?" "How do you feel about that?" "I'm not sure." "And..." "Which one you gonna choose?" "You're fired." "OK, let's cheers." " Cheers." " Cheers." ""The thing about the truth" ""is that once it's out there, it is a very powerful force." ""Unstoppable, even." ""While telling the truth is liberating, we also have to accept that in our lives," ""we all love a good mystery." ""And a little bit of mystery is good for the soul."" "Finished?" "Yeah." "Did you tell everyone?" "Yes." "I hope you know what you're doing." "Do I ever?" "'Night." "Goodnight."