The Pacific Highway swoops from the hilltops of northern Sydney to cross Broken Bay among oyster leases and overgrown islands. Beyond Broken Bay lies steel city Newcastle, and beyond that is the North Coast, rainforest towns with names like windchimes: Bellingen, Dorrigo, Coffs. Congratulations. You're halfway there.

It's a hell of a trip for six in a car, and Danielle hadn't been making things easy. She and Stephen were getting very friendly. Mark was antsy. They needed space. Why not steal another car? Good idea, said Leslie and Stephen. The others dropped Mark, Leslie and Stephen in the middle of nowhere on the Glenreagh to Grafton road, north of Coffs. The three headed off the road to a clearing.

What happened then? Stephen says Leslie wanted to kill Mark and "use Dani for the truck up to Queensland." Stephen was shocked, shocked! Leslie got angry and told him to give Mark a shove. Mark caught up with them, sat down on a log in the dim clearing and lit a cigarette. Blue smoke spiraled into the canopy. Stephen pushed Mark over, got scared and bolted. When he came back, Leslie boasted: "I killed him with my own two hands."

Leslie has a different story, of course. He said he fell behind the other two and heard them arguing over Danielle. When he reached the clearing, Stephen had Mark in a headlock. Leslie shouted not to make so much noise and dragged Stephen off Mark. It took the men a while to realize Mark was dead.