Excerpt from The Lost Man by Jane Harper, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"No one was picking up the radio," Bub was saying. "No one's ever bloody up there this time of year, and with the tower out—" He gave a grunt of frustration.

"So what did you do?"

"Started driving in at dawn, but it still took ages before anyone picked up."

"How long?"

"I dunno." Bub hesitated. "Probably a half hour to get to the track, then another hour after that. Even then, it was only a couple of those idiot jackaroos over at Atherton. Took them bloody ages to get hold of the manager."

"They always hire dickheads at Atherton," Nathan said, thinking of the neighboring property to the northeast. It sprawled over an area the size of Sydney. It was, as he'd said, staffed by dickheads, but was still the best chance around there of connecting with anyone. "So they raised the alarm?"

"Yeah, but by then…" Bub stopped.

By then, no one had seen or heard from their brother for about twenty-four hours, Nathan calculated. The search was well into the urgent phase before it had even started. As per protocol, every surrounding property would be informed, and it was all hands on deck, for what it was worth. Over those distances, hands were few and far between, and it could take a long time to reach the deck.

"The pilot spotted him?"

"Yeah," Bub said. "Eventually."

"Anyone you know?"

"Nah, contractor based down near Adelaide. Been working on Atherton for the season. Some cop got him on the flight comms, told him to do a flyover and check the roads."

"Glenn?"

"No. Someone else. From police dispatch or something."

"Right," Nathan said. It was lucky the pilot had seen Cameron at all. The stockman's grave was two hundred kilometers from Lehmann's Hill and the main search area. "When did he call it in?"

"Mid-afternoon, so most people hadn't even made it to Lehmann's by then. It was pretty much only me and Harry out there still, but I was about an hour closer, so I said I'd drive over."

"And Cam was definitely dead?"

"That's what the pilot said. Had been for a few hours, by the sound of it. Cop still got on the radio and made him do all these checks." Bub grimaced. "I got here near sunset. The bloke had covered Cam over like he was told to, but he was pretty keen to get going. Didn't want to lose the light and get stuck here."

Fair enough, Nathan thought. He wouldn't have wanted to stay either. He felt bad that the task had fallen to Bub.

"If Cam was supposed to be meeting you at Lehmann's Hill, what was he doing out here?" He ran a hand over the smooth top of the gravestone.

"Don't know. Harry said he'd written in the planner that he was heading out to Lehmann's."

"Nothing else?"

"Not that Harry said."

Nathan thought about that planner. He knew where it was kept, next to the phone, inside the back door of the house that had once been their dad's and had then become Cameron's. Nathan had written in it himself plenty of times growing up. He'd also not written in it plenty of times, when he'd forgotten or couldn't be bothered, or didn't want anyone to know where he was going, or couldn't find a pen.

He could feel the heat bearing down on his neck, and he looked at his watch. The digital numbers were covered in fine red dust, and he wiped his thumb across them.

"What time are they due?" They meaning police and medical. They also meaning two people. One of each. Not a team, not out there.

"Not sure. They're on their way."

That didn't mean it would be soon, though. Nathan looked down at the tarp again. The marks in the dust.

"Did he look injured?"

"Don't think so. Not that I could see. Just hot and thirsty." Bub's face was tilted down as he touched the edge of the dust circle with the toe of his boot. Neither brother mentioned it. They both knew what it meant. They had seen similar patterns made by dying animals. A thought struck Nathan, and he looked around.

Excerpted from The Lost Man by Jane Harper. Copyright © 2019 by Jane Harper. Excerpted by permission of Flatiron Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.