Who Killed Scott Guy? by Mike White Read Free Book Online Page A

the evening to make them all . . .’
    Macdonald started going out with Anna at the end of the fifth form, when he was 16. He passed four subjects in School Certificate—English, maths, science and woodwork—but by this stage he wasn’t terribly motivated, being more practical than academic. ‘I was only there to spend time with Anna and eat my lunch,’ he recalled.
    In 1996 he decided to go back to school for sixth form because the first XV rugby team was going to Argentina, but within a fortnight he came home and told his parents school sucked and he wanted to quit. His father told him he could leave if he found a job.
    Before he met Anna, Macdonald had a girlfriend who also lived on a dairy farm, and he had enjoyed lending a hand. And when he started spending time with Anna, he’d often pester Bryan Guy to see if he could help out. ‘Much to Anna’s disgust, we would find ourselves following cows to the shed or locking other herds away. Not really what she had in mind for a date with her new boyfriend, but I was having a blast.’
    So when school paled and Anna mentioned that one of their farm workers was leaving, Macdonald went home and told his parents he’d found a job. He quickly took to his new position, his meagre $17,000 salary no doubt augmented by the attraction of being around Anna. Bryan Guy described him as keen, diligent and observant, good with stock and farm management. ‘He became part of the family and we got on very well.’ Macdonald worked hard and spent much of his money on a series of increasingly flash utes, virtually obligatory toys for country boys.
    Apart from a brief stint driving tractors on another farm in 1999, it was the only full-time job Macdonald had ever had. Very early he had seen that other workers were there just to pick up their pay cheque, and he realised that if he put his head down and learnt from Bryan, there was a future on Byreburn for him. ‘Honestly, I could see myself staying there for the rest of my life. I just loved it,’ he wrote.
    Kerry Macdonald described his son as ‘a natural-born farmer. Very, very good with animals—he found his niche and excelled at it.’
    For his part, Ewen Macdonald loved being part of the Guys’ big family, with lots of cousins and grandparents and family gettogethers. ‘It was very infectious and they welcomed me with open arms, which I really enjoyed, plus I was dating the most beautiful girl in the world.’
    By 2000 he’d progressed from ‘shit-kicker’ to second-in-charge at Byreburn and was living on the farm in a cottage at 213 Aorangi Road with Scott, who had been two years ahead of him at high school. The pair played rugby together for Feilding Yellow’s under-21 team, would go spotlighting for possums and rabbits and often go to Himatangi Beach, where Scott would surf and Macdonald bodyboard. When Ewen was contemplating asking Anna to marry him, he talked to Scott, who encouraged him, saying he’d been hanging around long enough and the couple were made for each other.
    In February 2001, Macdonald took Anna to Nero Restaurant in Palmerston North and got staff to play her favourite song, the Dirty Dancing theme song ‘(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life’. He then stooped to one knee to ask her to be his wife. They were married in November that year when Macdonald was 21 and Anna 20. Scott was Macdonald’s best man and organised the stag party. Macdonald got so drunk, he swore he would never drink alcohol again—a promise he always kept.
    As well as Scott, Macdonald had his brother, Blair, as his groomsman. Anna’s friend Fiona Hill and her sister Nikki were bridesmaids. There was a huge marquee beautifully decorated with flowers; Macdonald’s mother, Marlene, made the wedding cake; and an ice sculpture of a cow sat centre stage.
    Many considered Anna and Ewen very different. Anna was sparkling company, extroverted, the star of school and repertory shows. Ewen was quiet, bottling up his emotions in the fashion of