Du Rose Sons

by Bowes, K T

  “Oh no!” Hana’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh my goodness. I was angry with Logan. I didn’t mean it!” She ran a shaking hand across her face. “What have I done? You all think Logan did it, don’t you?” Her voice rose with anxiety and Bodie leaned in to his mother, putting a hand quickly over her mouth.

  “Mum!” he hissed. “Shut up! I’m not meant to be telling you any of this. It’ll cost me my job if someone finds out! But yes. On the basis of that, it certainly looks like it.”

  “You don’t understand...I...”

  “Mum, I’m only telling you what a well-respected local medic said. He actually stepped into the hole and said, ‘Oh thank God! I thought it was going to be Hana Du Rose!’ It’s too late now. The investigation’s heading this way. I think Odering wanted me to wind Logan up so he made a mistake. They have a long history, Mum. They can’t stand each other and this isn’t gonna end well. You need to explain some stuff and quickly!”

  Hana took a long breath in and told her judgemental son the whole sorry story. Bodie was appalled. “Geez! So he was knocking off this woman?”

  “No! I told you he wasn’t. I just thought he was. He can’t have killed her, Bo. He’s been with me for days now. He’s stuck to me like glue. I’ve really needed him and he’s been there. There’s been a handful of times when we’ve been separated but he hasn’t been by himself. He’ll have been with the other guys on the farm. I’m sure he can get an alibi for all his time over the last week or so.”

  “Well, you’d better hope so.” Bodie’s face was serious. “Mum, why don’t you come back to Hamilton? You can live with me and Amy as long as you want to. You don’t have to stay here.”

  “I’m fine!” Resignation dawned in Hana’s eyes. “You’re never going to believe me, are you?”

  Bodie shook his head. “No, sorry. And nor is anyone else.”

  “How come Odering doesn’t think I did it?” Hana asked. “I had more to lose than anyone. I’m sure one of the waitresses from the dining room could verify I sat with her a few nights ago and Sylvia seemed upset towards the end of the conversation.”

  Bodie leaned back in his seat. “See, you’re the only person who’s mentioned that. We’ve had cops downstairs for the last hour taking statements and not one of them heard anything about you meeting with the deceased. Your husband runs a very tight ship, Mum. Nobody will dare say anything against you or him. Which is why any alibi he gets here is worthless. Not one of the staff will speak out against him. Can’t you see that?”

  “But Logan didn’t kill her!” Hana maintained and Bodie shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, Mum. But I think you’re deluded. And you’ve got one hell of a nasty wakeup call coming your way!” The young police officer stood up and scraped his chair back under the table. He kissed Hana lightly on the forehead and dumped his bowl and spoon in the sink. With a wistful smile he walked away, turning as he fitted his feet back into his shoes and bent to tie the laces. They were streaked with loamy mud, despite Bodie’s efforts to clean them. A flake of stained tissue stuck to the heel. “You know what, Mum? I was so jealous of anyone ever replacing Dad that I saw off every guy who showed an interest in you. I made a mistake. Any of those jerks would have been better for you, than this.” He waved a uniformed arm expansively to take in Alfred’s apartment and the life that Hana had chosen for herself and he was gone, clattering down the stairs to the floor below. Hana heard the fire door at the bottom hiss closed behind him, leaving her with a heaviness nothing would dispel.

  Chapter 39

  “Hey, babe. Don’t cry,” Logan crooned, pulling Hana’s tearstained face into his chest. “It’ll be ok. I didn’t do it and nor did you. These things always work out. It’s just gonna take time for the cops to work through everything. We have to wait.”

  Hana sniffed harder and a sob struggled free from her throat. Logan’s body tensed. “What did Supercop say? Did he upset you?” His voice hardened and Hana gulped.

  “No. He just spelled out the facts and it made difficult hearing.”

  “Yeah. It’s pretty rats. I mean, the woman was a pain in the ass but it’s a horrid way to go. And then there’s Ryan. What happens to him now?”

  A clatter in the stairwell made the couple jump apart hurriedly, greeted by the sight of Ryan running full pelt up the steps. He tripped at the top and Logan jumped up in a defensive stance. “My mum’s dead!” the boy screeched. “She’s dead!” Tears streamed down his face, spattering on his white chef uniform.

  “Oh, I know darling. I’m so sorry.” Hana stood and held her arms out to the boy and he rushed forward, almost overbalancing her. She stroked his hair as he sobbed over her shoulder and down her neck, unashamed grief pouring out of him in loud, guttering heaves. Logan retreated to the bathroom and relieved Leslie, who surged into the kitchen oozing capability and comfort.

  “Poor baby,” the old woman cooed to the boy, including Hana’s tears in the wide sweep of her affection. “Youse both been having a terrible year.” She rubbed hard on Hana’s back and then bustled off to make the ever present pot of tea. Ryan’s grip on Hana’s upper body lessened and after a few sniffs he reluctantly released her.

  “Sorry,” he whispered and swiped a hand across his eyes. “You’re the last person I should expect sympathy from. She made your life a misery. How can you be so nice to me when she was such a bitch to you?”

  “Because I know what it’s like to lose a parent, Ryan. And so does Logan. Even if you didn’t particularly like them much in life, it doesn’t stop it hurting once they’re gone. She was still your mum.”

  “I’ve got nobody now.” The boy’s eyes brimmed with tears and several of them plummeted downhill and splashed off his shirt.

  “Don’t be daft,” Hana said softly. “You’ll always have us. Family is family.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not family am I?” Ryan said with resentment and Leslie half turned from the sink. “Mum came to see me, Hana. She told me. Logan’s not my dad.”

  Hana saw Leslie’s body tense, her back growing rigid and stiff. “I know, sweetheart,” Hana soothed, “but if it helps, I know who is.”

  Ryan shrugged. “No matter. Now I know it’s not Logan, I don’t really care anymore. I wanted it to be him so bad.” The boy plunged into sobs again and Hana embraced him, letting him bury his sodden face in her hair. Leslie plonked the teapot down on the table and raised an eyebrow at Hana, who shrugged. Leslie had already guessed. Hana wondered how, but both women knew Michael wouldn’t be interested in the boy.

  “It might not be as bad as you think, honey,” Leslie said in a gentle voice. “We think Logan’s half-brother, Michael is your daddy. So that means Alfred is your poppa and Tama’s your half-brother.”

  Ryan’s head shot up, abruptly interested. “What, that big guy who was here before? The fireman?”

  Hana nodded. “Yeah, Tama. He’s Michael’s son too. So you’re still family.”

  Ryan sniffed hard, a snot-gobbling snort that sounded vile. “Do I have to leave here and go back to England?” he asked, fear and confusion in his face.

  “I’m not sure,” Hana replied. “Honestly, I’ll look into it for you but surely if we can prove that Michael’s your father, you should be entitled to citizenship. Either way, Logan will know how to sort you out a visa to work here even before that.”

  “Already underway.” Logan’s voice was clear and gruff as he ruffled Ryan’s hair on the way past. He grabbed himself a glass and filled it from the cold tap. “Liza’s sorting it out for me.”

  Leslie rolled her eyes and Hana bit down on her smirk at the older woman’s distaste for Logan’s sister. “Would you guys be ok if I nipped downstairs? I need to see Will about something.”

  “We’ll be fine. Alfie’s just gettin’ Phoe out of the bath,” Leslie smiled. Logan looked at his wife curiously.

  “Will’s gone back to his unit. I saw him wheeling himself over there as I got home.”

  “Oh, that’s ok. I’ll call by
his place. I won’t be long.” Hana left quickly before Logan could voice an objection. She gathered her boots into her arms at the top of the stairs and skipped heavily down them.

  At Will’s ranch slider, Hana rapped hard. “Will, it’s me, Hana. Please come to the door. I need your help!”

  “Wait up!” the old man’s shape wheeled towards the door, dodging the furniture in his way. “Where’s the fire?” he intoned crossly. “It’s bloody open, get yerself in here now you’ve made all this fuss.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Hana tripped over the lintel and almost pitched herself into the old man’s chair with him.

  “What’s with you, woman?” he bellowed and Hana jumped and added sadness to her agitation. “Na, sorry love. Ignore this old man. I just need to take a pain killer and I’ll be right.”

  Hana followed Will to the kitchen, suppressing the urge to push his chair faster in desperation. She watched him pop a tablet out of a blister pack and slip it between his lips with shaking fingers. Hana grabbed a glass out of an eye level cabinet and filled it with water, handing it to the old man. She shifted her weight from foot to foot with great impatience. “Will, I have to give the cops the diary about Caroline’s father really quickly,” Hana said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. “It’s all gone wrong. The body they found isn’t the blonde drover. It’s Sylvia! And now, because of what I said to the doctor about the Du Roses burying their problems, they think Logan got rid of her. I’m such an idiot!”

  The child kicked out and Hana gasped as her bladder took the force. She ran a hand over her rounded stomach and groaned. Will’s expression shifted from obstinate to concerned. “Hey, let’s go sit in there. Take the weight off your feet, love. Tell me what’s goin’ on. And slow, mind!”

  Hana ran through her tale and Will listened with avid concentration. “Youse certainly know how to complicate your life, child,” he chastised her when she’d finished. “But I agree. Youse need to go and speak to this policeman and tell him everything. They’s bound to want to dig up that whole area lookin’ for another body but at least they’ll know why you said what you did. Otherwise they’s gonna think the worst of your tāne. He don’t deserve that.”

  “Thank you,” Hana breathed with relief. “I know we didn’t want this, but that was before Logan got put in the frame for murder. I don’t see what else we can do but let them have the artifact.”

  Will nodded and patted Hana’s writhing fingers. “Right, you go and find this detective inspector and I’ll fetch the diary from the safe and find you. Truly, it’ll all be fine.”

  Hana nodded and stood up. The old man waved off her offer of help to exit the building and sent her on her way, shaking his elderly head after her. “Geez woman! Thank the good Lord I haven’t known too many like you,” he commented gruffly as he struggled with the door key and then the ramp. “For sure I’d be dead already!” He waved a gnarled hand at Hana as she looked back at him, her cardigan flapping around her legs in the wind. His gesture of reassurance soothed her and she headed back to the house with determination in her step.

  Chapter 40

  “So that’s why I said what I did about the Du Roses,” Hana concluded. “I feel really guilty about it now. I was under an incredible amount of pressure and I’d just read in the diary that the blonde drover disappeared and nobody seemed to know where he’d gone. If you go back through the police records for then, there might be a missing persons’ report.”

  Detective Inspector Odering eyed Hana with a look of utter bemusement and faint annoyance. “So you knew there’d been a murder on this property and actively concealed it?”

  “No! Not at all!” Hana cried. “For all we knew, he took himself off somewhere and had a perfectly nice life. Phoenix Du Rose wrote that he disappeared and she didn’t know where he’d gone. But there’s a problem with handing the diary over.” Hana’s green eyes flashed with concern and she held Odering’s suspicious gaze so hard, he couldn’t look away. “There are things in the diary which would be very damaging to the family. Only Will and I have read it. As curators of the Du Rose Museum, we’ll permit you to take it away for a limited time and copy those parts of it that are relevant to your investigation, but if you ever make any of it public and damage my family, I’ll go as high as I need to make you pay. Do we understand each other?”

  Odering’s gaze faltered and then renewed its determined, piercing effect. “You have no control over what I choose to do, Mrs Du Rose. I’ll issue you with a receipt and reserve the right to conduct my investigation however I see fit. This is a murder inquiry.” He smiled woodenly to accentuate his point. Hana gritted her teeth and took a step towards him.

  “I repeat, Detective. If you do anything to hurt my family, I’ll make sure you suffer too.”

  “Are you threatening me, Hana? For goodness sake, woman. This is almost comical!” Odering laughed and Hana fought a wave of humiliation.

  “Laugh if you will,” she said, a hardness taking over her pretty face, adding angular lines and contours. “But making an enemy of Judge Du Rose would be a stupid thing to do, even for you. I could imagine the fun she’d have, legitimately turning over your shoddily presented cases in her court and making you look an absolute fool every opportunity she got. And there’re other family members who I’m sure would wade in quite happily. So laugh at me all you want, Detective. But don’t make the mistake of underestimating us.”

  Odering gulped visibly and Hana struggled to hide the violent tremors shaking her body. They started inside her core, condemning her mafia threats and her offence against everything she believed in. The voice in her head cried, who are you? Hana ignored it and maintained her attacking stance, keeping her pregnant body still and from the outside at least, composed.

  Clattering sounds against the heavy dining room door made her turn and she wrenched the handle with relief. Will stared up at her from his wheelchair and Hana stood back wordlessly to admit the old man. He settled himself in the room and put the brake on his wheels and then Hana’s friend eyeballed the tall detective. “We got problems,” he announced and Hana’s eyes widened.

  Odering rolled his eyes and dragged a dining chair from behind him, slumping down into it with apparent frustration. “Do we really? Why am I not surprised?”

  Will bristled. “Don’t be so damn disrespectful you young buck. I might be a cripple but I outrank you in age and genealogy and don’t you forget it! Be careful how you speak to the whānau of the Kīngi.” Will’s voice held an edge of steel that Hana always understood existed, but the force of it petrified the occupants of the room into stillness and Odering into shame.

  “I’m sorry, sir.” He rose to his feet again. “It’s been a long day. I’d like to see the diary Han...Mrs Du Rose told me about and then I’ll be on my way. I can assure you both I’m only interested in the parts relating to this investigation and any others that might come about because of the contents of the diary. Nothing else.”

  “See, that’s the problem,” Will stated huffily. “Someone’s robbed the safe. The whole damn lot’s gone. All eight of ‘em!”

  “What?” Hana whirled on the spot. “How?”

  Will shrugged. “Someone opened the safe. I unlocked the museum door and wheeled in like always and the thing stood wide open. All gone!”

  Hana gaped like a fish, her bottom jaw hanging loose. Odering sighed audibly and she faced the policeman down in fury. “Oh, right, I get it. You think we’ve done this on purpose do you?”

  “Well, it is a little convenient,” he sniffed.

  “How?” Hana shouted, no longer caring that her voice carried a hint of hysteria. “How can it be convenient, you silly man? You would have been able to read about the blonde drover and understand why I said what I did to the doctor. Now there’s nothing and you’ll carry on thinking my husband killed Sylvia. How convenient is that? It’s all I had to give you. And now it’s gone!”

  “Hey, hey honey,” Will reached out a wrinkled hand
to the distraught woman. “Calm yourself, kōtiro. This is no good for your pēpe. Sit, sit!” He indicated the seat next to Odering. Hana shook her head.

  “I can’t sit down. This is terrible!” She ran a shaking hand over her eyes, failing to hide her distress from the two men. “I don’t understand! You set the combination and were the only person who knew it, apart from Logan.”

  “Er, about that. Mr Du Rose din’t know either. It was only me. I asked him if he wanted it and he said no, he wasn’t bothered.” Will snuffed with a small laugh. “I asked what he’d do if I died in the night and he said, he’d tie the safe to the back of his mare, tow it up the mountain and drop the whole damn thing off the top where it belongs. Said he din’t care for his tipuna wahine’s troublesome ramblings.”

  “Oh. Great.” Hana looked crushed. “So why are we even bothering?” She shook her head slowly from side to side, doubting Logan’s enthusiasm for her latest project and wondering if it was simply his way of keeping her occupied. “Fantastic.” Hana sensed the fight leave her and she wobbled on her feet. Will reached out a hand and placed it in the small of her back.

  “Sit down, woman! Youse makin’ me anipā.”

  “You’re not doing much for me either,” Odering relented. “You look sick.” He took Hana by the forearm with a firm grip and led her to the chair, not letting go until she was safely seated. He turned to Will. “So the safe was open and only you have the combination? So it’s been burgled?”

  “Yep,” Will’s sigh was heavy and defeatist. “I had some coins and a money pouch in there and some other bits that were quite valuable. They’s all still there. Just the diaries, every last damn one.” He perked up and looked at Odering with a hopefulness in his eyes. “Could your guys do fingerprinting and DNA or something? We really need them diaries. I hadn’t finished cataloguing them. I was meant to take them into Hamilton tomorrow and get them digitised. Damn, I’ll have to contact my niece and tell her I won’t be there now.” He tutted, a promised treat denied him.