by Bowes, K T
The vehicle flew behind the hotel, slamming onto the seal with a bump. Logan needed both hands at the top of the road to make the turn onto the highway. He gunned the five kilometres to Nev’s new place at the front of the Du Rose property, near the main road at breakneck speed. He kept both hands on the wheel but Hana deliberately left hers on his thigh. She twitched her fingers over the hard material of his jeans, causing him to feel distracting sensations that made him almost miss the turn, jerking the vehicle round it too quickly to have been safe. Chastened by the presence of her daughter already asleep in the seat behind Logan, Hana removed her hand but smirked with satisfaction at her vague reflection in the side window.
Chapter 36
“Just go back to the hotel, babe. I’ll call you as soon as I can. I’ll get a ride back with Tama or one of the others.” Logan’s kiss on Hana’s lips was far too lingering for either of them. He spun out of the driver’s door and slammed the heavy metal behind him, striding quickly over to a knot of gathered males.
The construction workers wore bright fluorescent orange vests and stood out like beacons amongst the farm staff. A teenager wearing the fluro uniform sat with his head between his knees, vomiting periodically onto the muddy ground. Logan squatted down next to him and said something, rubbing his back in a tender motion. He looked up, spoke to Toby and jerked his head and the stockman strode off towards Nev’s house.
Hana shifted her rounded belly across the divide between the seats, narrowly avoiding the jutting gearstick in her back. She adjusted the seat from Logan’s long-legged position and lowered the steering wheel. By the time she got the seatbelt around her and plugged in, she saw Toby appear from the house with a mug of liquid, which he bent down and gave to the boy on the ground. The teen passed a shaking hand across his eyes and took a sip. Logan recoiled as the liquid shot straight back out again, splashing the boy’s clothing and spattering against the ground.
Hana checked behind her and began to reverse the huge vehicle along the track from the paddock gate. Eventually it would be fenced off from Nev’s property but for the moment, it was a sea of heavy wheel ruts, many of which turned in a large arc onto what would be Nev’s garden. Hana braked sharply as a police car with strobing lights pulled silently in behind her and jerked to a hasty stop. Irritated at her blocked exit, Hana followed the wheel ruts and did a U-turn, trespassing onto her brother-in-law’s property.
As Hana came level with the police car it remained in place, blocking her exit and the driver wound the window down. “I’ll have to ask you not to leave the property, Madam,” he said politely, inclining his head towards the space behind the ute. “Please reverse over there and someone will be along shortly to speak to you.”
“I just dropped my husband off,” Hana said with a whine in her voice. She glanced around at the sleeping toddler behind her. “I need to get back next door. I have a meeting.”
“Sorry Madam, nobody on and nobody off. Those are the orders. Are you the householder?”
“No!” Hana said, irritation creeping into her voice. “I just dropped my husband off here.”
Her eyes widened as the policeman got out of the car and stepped towards her. He flipped open a pocket book. “What’s your name?” he asked, still polite.
“Hana Du Rose,” she sighed. “And my husband owns all of this and the site next door. I just dropped him off. He’s over there.” And he’s going to be absolutely loving this, she thought crossly. This was her punishment for disobedience. The reason for Logan’s haste to get there became apparent to Hana as the policeman eyeballed her with professional detachment.
“What’s the problem?” Logan’s voice out of Hana’s view sounded authoritative and the cop turned smartly on his heel. Hana’s heart sank and she refused to look at her husband. She could hear the slight veins of, ‘I told you so,’ in his tone.
“I’d like this lady to park over there on the grass. The detective will want to speak to her when he arrives,” the cop replied, his voice still polite and business-like.
“My wife is co-owner of this property with me and gave me a lift here. I just arrived,” Logan stated in challenge. “But I can provide her details and she’ll be happy to be interviewed later. As you can see, she has my daughter in the back and is heavily pregnant. If you want to detain her, that’s fine but please suggest somewhere more appropriate than here.” Logan’s arm moved to take in the mud, the wheel ruts and the impossibility of Hana exiting the vehicle without either slipping over or getting filthy.
The policeman hesitated. “I have my orders, Sir,” he intoned, still polite but forceful. Another police car pulled up behind his, further blocking the gateway. The civilian vehicle which followed it, had its rear end half on the fast road behind it, looking dangerously vulnerable. A tall figure unwrapped himself from the passenger seat and eyed the filthy ground with distaste. Seeing the mud bath in front of him, he stayed where he was.
“What’s going on Du Rose?” he shouted and Logan visibly stiffened.
“Oh, for f...” Logan eyed his wife’s raised eyebrows and stopped the expletive’s casual escape. “What?” he shouted back instead.
“Get these vehicles shifted!” the man demanded and Logan looked pointedly at the cop. Reluctantly the uniformed man seated himself back in the car and looped it round behind Hana, clearing the way for the following cop car and the civilian vehicle. The tall man folded himself back into the grey Mondeo and it drove through the ruts and stopped in front of Nev’s front door.
Logan stepped up onto the ute runner board and leaned his elbow on the open window. He peered in at Hana with an amused look in his eyes. “Just say it!” she snapped crossly. “Say, it’s your own fault and get it over with.”
Logan tipped his hat back on his head and stretched his long arm behind Hana’s head. His strong fingers massaged the tension out of the back of her neck with capable skill and she almost moaned. “Do you want me to say it?” he asked, his voice husky and Hana shook her head.
“Not really. I should have just stayed home.”
Logan’s other hand slipped a long red curl behind Hana’s ear and he let his fingers trace the line of her cheek, running his thumb underneath her bottom lip on the soft skin there. “Oh, I don’t know,” he smiled. “I quite like having you around.”
Hana tutted in exasperation and tried to bite his finger. Logan laughed but the mirth disappeared from his face at the sound of the familiar voice behind him. “How come all murder cases involving you, result in me being knee deep in mud?” Detective Inspector Odering appeared in Hana’s peripheral vision and she smiled with insincere pleasure.
“Hi, Detective,” she said. “Would you be able to interview me real quickly? I need to use the bathroom.”
Logan stepped down and Odering pulled open Hana’s car door, immediately spotting her rounded stomach through her tee shirt. “Ah, congratulations once again,” he intoned pleasantly. “My young sergeant here will just do a cursory check of your vehicle and then I’ll send someone to take all your details.”
Hana’s son’s face appeared next to the inspector and he looked embarrassed as he gave a cursory wave. “Hi, Mum,” he said lamely.
“How come you’re both here?” Hana asked, shaking her head to clear her confusion. “Aren’t you based in Hamilton?”
“Yeah,” Bodie replied, examining his brown, caked work shoes with disdain. “We’ve just been seconded up here for a few weeks to...”
“When the family reunion is over, could I trouble you to check this vehicle?” Odering huffed and Bodie pulled a face at Hana and rolled his eyes.
“Hang on, why would you be checking my ute? I just got here and Hana turned around and was on her way out when your man stopped her. What’s the point?”
“Just do it!” Odering growled at his subordinate and then eyeballed Logan. “Because I said so.”
“Mum! What happened?” Bodie shrieked suddenly, drawing attention from the crowd by the gate. He pointed at Hana’
s rounded stomach in horror and she blanched under his critical stare. Logan laughed with an unhelpful snort.
“Well, it’s like this. When a man and a lady have a loving hug...”
Hana shot her husband a chastening look and he shrugged and wandered back to the vomiting construction worker, who had moved onto heaving up his lunch.
“How could you?” Bodie hissed crossly. “This is embarrassing!”
Hana’s face fell and she felt swiftly older than her years, the pleasure dying in her green eyes at their chance meeting. Detaching from her son, she sought the sympathy she saw in Odering’s eyes and asked him politely, “Please can you get on with the search. I really need to go.”
The detective nodded and reprimanded Bodie with a jerk of his head and a sharp instruction, “Send Hawera over here and you get on with cordoning off the area.”
Bodie hesitated and shot his mother a look of disgust before leaving. Odering shifted awkwardly in the mud as it spread gleefully up his dark trouser legs. “He’ll calm down,” he said with uncharacteristic gentleness and Hana nodded, momentarily lost for words.
“Am I really such a disgrace?” she whispered, dangerously close to tears, aware that a few minutes ago she had been a sensuous temptress to her gorgeous husband, abruptly reduced to the status of scrawny-old-woman-embarrassingly-pregnant-again.
“No, Hana, you’re not a disgrace.” Odering stood in the gap close to her and lowered his voice. “You’re the same age as my wife and our youngest is four. Her older children reacted exactly the same as your son, but they do come round, I promise.”
“Thanks,” she acknowledged his kindness, pressing her finger and thumb over the bridge of her nose to prevent the threatening tears of disappointment. Hana sniffed and inhaled deeply. “What are you searching for?” she asked the detective in a small voice.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But we got a call an hour ago to say a body was found on these premises and we drove in and caught you leaving...” Odering held up his hand in supplication. “I know, Hana, I know. But I’m doing this by the book, love. So my officer will check your car and then you’re free to go. If you could just let us do our job and I’ll look around with him. It’s about continuity. What kind of detective would I be if I let a vehicle out of the crime scene with the murder weapon inside - whatever that might turn out to be?”
Odering opened the rear door and searched around inside, running his hand around all the nooks and crannies and peering into the pockets behind the seat. He was quiet and gentle around the sleeping child, not wanting to alarm her if she woke to an unfamiliar male face and Hana felt strangely grateful. The boot of the ute crashed closed with less care from the other officer.
“I don’t even know what’s in the boot,” she grumbled as Odering returned to her side. “The pram I think, Logan’s tack maybe.” Her brow furrowed as she tried to think what the copious space might contain and Odering smiled genuinely.
“There’s nothing there that I wouldn’t expect, Hana. So go home and someone will be along in a while to ask a few questions of everyone there; if we need to. Your husband’s boring holes in the back of my head, so just smile and nod nicely and be on your way.”
Despite herself, Hana did smile and her pretty green eyes sparkled mischievously. She opened her mouth to speak and Odering laughed. “Don’t even think about it Mrs Du Rose. Arresting Logan is on my bucket list. Making the charges stick is an item by itself and occupies a whole line.”
“Fine,” Hana snorted. “See you later then maybe.” She put the ute into gear and drove slowly through the gate as another strobing police car tried to squeeze past her. Being the bigger vehicle, Hana held her nerve and forced it to back out onto the highway and drove off with a smirk, tempered by the sadness at her son’s reaction to her pregnancy. Again.
Chapter 37
“Oh let me take my little moko,” Leslie cooed as Hana struggled through the front doors of the hotel carrying a sleeping Phoenix. She went easily to Alfred’s wife and snuggled into the voluptuous neck with a sigh.
“I wanted to see Will,” Hana said, not wanting to get caught upstairs in the apartment right then.
“Yes, yes, you go on. Come up when you’re done and we’ll have a snack.”
“Nack,” Phoenix said, popping her head up immediately interested. Her drooping eyes and tousled hair smacked of a child that should still be sleeping.
Hana thanked Leslie and burst through the museum doors, making far too much noise for the serenity of the place. An elderly couple, examining a glass case containing postcards and personal letters, jumped in fright and Will glared at her. Hana bit her lip and fidgeted.
“Henri Du Rose fought in the second world war with the Māori Battalion,” Will continued. “The postcards are from his wife, Phoenix to him at the front. He returned injured in 1941 and they married. But he wasn’t the same man who left this mountain, sadly. He had shrapnel in his head that moved continually and he suffered from depression. Nowadays we would say he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but not then.”
“That’s so sad,” the female guest commented in a drawling American accent. “Mind you, we don’t treat them any better now, do we? The number of homeless veterans in our country is a disgrace. At least he had a family to come home to.” She bounced her curly white hair in emphasis and Hana’s impatience made itself known in the agony on her face and her pent up body language. Will nodded to her and jerked his head towards the work room at the back of the museum.
The whole area had once been an enormous guest sitting room with games facilities and the space towards the back had contained a toilet and washroom. Logan had ploughed money into the renovations to please his wife and the ensuite area had been converted into a workroom to Will’s specifications. Hana walked briskly to the sliding door and entered, throwing herself roughly down into a swivel chair that objected to her upset with a groan. Will appeared shortly after, wheeling himself across the wooden floor noisily.
“What’s got youse?” he asked, dropping the carefully crafted speech he used for the guests. “Yous in a hurry? We can do this another time.” He stared at Hana’s foot jiggling on the floor with curiosity.
“We’ve got a massive problem!” Hana exclaimed. “The cops are crawling all over Nev’s place. They’ve found a body.”
“That’s bad,” Will agreed. “But why’s it our business?”
“Because it has to be the blonde drover. That’s where the Du Roses buried him after his affair with Antoinette. He went missing remember and his brothers came down from Auckland searching for him. For all we know they’re in there too.” Her voice rose with a squeak, “It could be a mass grave, right behind Nev’s new house.” Hana clapped her hand over her mouth and paled. “Ugh, Phoenix and Wiri played in the mud from the footings the other day, while the builders were stopped after the wet weather. What if the children had found the body? They would have been traumatised. I could have been traumatised!”
To Hana’s horror, Will let out a hoot of laughter. She was infuriated. “What’s to laugh about? This is serious. I thought you were my friend!” Her pretty eyes narrowed and her face crumpled unattractively. Will snickered.
“I am your friend, but youse also my entertainment.”
“But don’t you get it? Now they’ve found the body, there’ll be a massive investigation and they’ll want to take the diaries away...”
Will’s eyes bugged horribly. “They’s not takin’ them diaries anywhere! They won’t have climate control or wear gloves. Na. Not gonna happen.”
“So what do we do?” Hana panicked. “We’ve got the evidence to show that one of the Du Roses killed Caroline’s father. Phoenix said it wasn’t Reuben, but she must have known the body would be found one day. She might have been lying to protect her son in case he was still alive when there was an investigation. She was very far sighted. I wouldn’t put it past her.” Hana tapped her fingernails nervously on the bench in front of her. “Are a
ny of the diaries out on show?”
Will shook his head. “No, they’re all in the safe for now until I get through the history of ‘em. Then I’ll decide. I’ll keep ‘em there.”
“But what about the cops?” Hana dropped her voice to a whisper. “If they come looking, we’ll be deliberately withholding evidence. Phoenix seemed to think the drover’s disappearance was something to do with this mysterious JD and from something Logan said recently, I think that man’s still alive. He owns that strip of land at the front of the property by the main road.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Will scoffed. “He’s long gone now. Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll call up my niece in Hamilton and see if she could digitally scan all the diaries we have in the cradle she’s got. I’ll get them down to her and at least then if the cops come wanting their evidence, I can give them a digital copy. They’ll have to accept that ‘cause they ain’t gettin’ the originals.”
“But then everyone will know that Caroline’s married her half-brother.” Hana ran a hand over her eyes and noticed mascara on her fingers when she examined them. She tutted in irritation.
“Not our problem,” Will reassured her and placed a gnarled hand over Hana’s.
“Well, it will be when she turns up here strutting around and causing trouble!” Hana spat crossly.
“Youse have a habit of turnin’ ‘ifs’ into ‘whens’ girlie,” Will sighed. “There’s no whens yet. We don’t know enough. So let’s not be worrying before we have to, hey?”
“Bloody diaries! Why did the kaumatua have to bring them back? Logan said they were a box full of trouble. Thank goodness he doesn’t know how much yet! I don’t want to be an accessory to murder and I don’t want Caroline back here,” said Hana, panic making her green eyes flash like precious emeralds.