Du Rose Sons

by Bowes, K T

  Hana tried to put her head between her knees and groaned as her protruding stomach prevented the action. “I feel sick!” she stated, the force of her misery communicated through her tone. Odering appeared with a glass of cold water, his shiny shoes resting next to Hana’s socks on the quarry tiled floor. Hana sat up and took the glass, thanking him with her eyes. “Why does this stuff always happen to me?” she complained and Odering screwed up his face in sympathy. “As if my life isn’t complicated enough!” Hana slurped the water unattractively, rivulets running down her chin and splashing onto her cardigan.

  Hana heard the door open and peeked up, seeing Odering’s heels disappearing through the gap. She turned to Will with her eyes wide. “You have to let him have the books!” she said to him. “This isn’t funny. Logan could go to jail for killing Sylvia because of what I’ve said.”

  Will’s jaw dangled slack and ugly, displaying the gaps in his gums where teeth used to be. He shut his mouth and a grin spread across his face. “You think I made that up? Geez woman. You are one hell of an actress!”

  A horrid foreboding snaked across Hana’s chest and the colour drained from her face. “The diaries are really gone?”

  “Yes!” Will looked appalled. “I don’t tell lies, woman! Course they’s gone!”

  “Oh that’s terrible.” Hana looked genuinely sick and then a flush of hope lit her cheeks. “Or maybe it isn’t. If they’ve been destroyed, then that’s awesome. No more of Phoenix’s tales to hurt everyone. Oh, but what about Logan.” Her expression became sour again. “The one about the blonde drover could have helped him. Damn.”

  “Youse missin’ one very important point,” Will said softly, his eyes studying Hana with fierce intensity. “Whoever has them diaries...well, they’ve got power over this family. Lots of it.”

  Chapter 41

  “Fingerprint guys say the safe’s been wiped. No new prints. There’s a few of Will’s on there but nobody else’s.”

  “Figures,” Hana said, keeping her tone level. “I’ve never touched it. No point. Will wouldn’t give me the code. Logan doesn’t really go in there. So whoever took the diaries covered their tracks.”

  “How come?” Odering sipped his hot tea with care, observing Hana over the rim of his mug.

  “Oh, I didn’t like what I read. It’s amazing how a little knowledge can be such a dangerous thing. I read four volumes in total, not in order but they were damaging enough.”

  “In what way?”

  “Mainly parentage. If I hadn’t already known that Reuben was Logan’s father, I’d have found out through the diaries. Other people had affairs and fathered children who’ve grown up thinking they belonged to someone else. Just one big mess really. I threatened to burn the one about the blonde drover and Will confiscated it. He put it in the safe and promised he’d catalogue it and leave it there.”

  “Why that diary in particular?” Odering asked, making himself sound deliberately conversational.

  “Not because of the drover, if that’s what you’re asking.” Hana smiled at Logan’s old adversary. “Rueben’s wife had an affair with the drover before he disappeared. Then she had a child. It was the ramifications of that which shocked me, nothing else. The child’s grown up thinking she was abandoned by her family, when the truth is that she arrived here because her birth mother couldn’t live without her.”

  “But surely that’ll help her with closure?” The detective looked confused.

  “It won’t, I promise.” Hana gave a heavy sigh and defeat stampeded across her face. “For every ounce of comfort that might offer her, it has to be balanced against the distress it’ll also bring.” Hana leaned forward in her seat and lowered her voice. “Because that child recently married her half-brother and is apparently blissfully happy.”

  “And committing incest. I get it.” Odering set his mug on the table. “Ok. I understand now.”

  “So do you promise to be careful with everything I tell you?” Hana asked with sincerity. “And I’ll refuse to disclose her name, whatever you do to me.”

  Odering smiled. “I’m not gonna bloody torture you, Hana. Keep your secret, unless it’s relevant to the investigation. But this business about the drover that went missing is of interest. Don’t suppose you have a name for him?”

  “No, sorry. That would have made life a heap easier because then Will and I could have looked for him and reassured ourselves. The trouble is, the diary only said he disappeared and his brothers came looking for him months later. It doesn’t say he was killed or who did it, just that he suddenly wasn’t here anymore. Phoenix had her suspicions but that was all we had to go on.”

  “Ok.” Odering stood. “I’ll get one of my officers to take statements from you and the curator and for now, they’ll have to account for your odd comments to Doctor Seuli. Unfortunately your statement counts for very little as the wife of the suspect, but Will’s should help. I can’t clear Logan though, Hana. I hope you understand that. From what I’m already hearing, he had good reason to get rid of the deceased, more than most!”

  “Thank you,” Hana breathed, her heart filled with foreboding. “If you could also find out who took those diaries - that would be a weight off my mind too. I have a very awkward conversation brewing with my husband that I’d really rather not sit through.”

  Odering patted Hana gently on the shoulder and smoothed his slender hand across her back. “You’ll be fine sweetheart. Your husband’s not an idiot. He’ll understand.”

  “Yeah.” Hana didn’t sound so sure.

  She hauled herself out of her chair after Odering left, finding the short journey almost insurmountable. Will waved to her from the end of the ground floor corridor and she acknowledged him, both of them tired and overwrought at the latest development. The old man kissed the palm of his hand and blew it towards Hana with care and she struggled to prevent the ready tears falling. She raised a smile for his sake alone and continued on her journey, using the spiral staircase off the main lobby and arriving in the loft apartment puffing for breath. The space seemed airless and Hana felt lightheaded.

  “Hey, gorgeous.” Logan sat in the lounge reading a bedtime story to a dozing Phoenix. He kept his voice low as her eyelids drooped and she cuddled into his chest, thumb tucked in her mouth and rosebud lips periodically twitching. “If I snuggle her up tightly and sit in the back, would you be able to drive home?” Logan whispered. “I think she might stay asleep then. The olds have gone to bed already. No stamina.”

  Hana slumped into the chair opposite. “There’s no point me driving us up the mountain tonight. Odering wants to talk to you. Now.” Hana’s body language was defeatist and Logan’s eyes widened in alarm.

  “What’s going on, babe?”

  “He’s letting me talk to you first. Then he wants you to go downstairs. He’s using the family lounge to take statements.” Hana found it hard to look at her husband. She exhaled and tiredness swamped her. “I tried to help negate the stupid comments I said to the doctor a few weeks ago. He’s made a statement to the cops saying I appeared scared for my life. He’s reported that I claimed you got rid of people who got in your way. It puts you squarely in the frame for killing Sylvia.” Hana’s voice stayed monotone as she struggled through the speech she prepared on the way upstairs. “I didn’t say you specifically at the time, I said the Du Roses. But there was a reason why I thought that and I should have shared it earlier. I read in your grandmother’s diary about a blonde drover who had an affair with your Aunt Antoinette. She had a child, a baby girl who was very obviously his. She had bright blonde hair and...it doesn’t matter anyway, but the child arrived here when she was two and Reuben allowed it. When your aunt died, he brought the girl up...”

  “Caroline?” Logan’s wide grey eyes registered horror. “Geez, that’s...weird. But it still doesn’t explain why you thought I’d kill you.” He looked hurt.

  “Because the blonde drover disappeared mysteriously and nobody ever saw him again. Family came loo
king and went away disappointed. Phoenix thought someone on the property disposed of him.”

  “You should have told me, babe. Bloody diaries. I never wanted the damn things opened.” Logan shook his head, his eyes dulling with sadness. “So Odering wants me now?”

  Hana nodded. Tears sprung from her eyes. “Yes. Will went to get the diary to show Odering why I said that comment to the doctor. And I went to see Odering to explain. But...” Hana’s voice adopted a frantic note and a sob escaped. Logan’s face softened and he stood up, laying Phoenix down on the chair and swaddling her up in the sweater he yanked over his head. He took a stride towards his wife but she held up her hand to halt his progress. “Someone broke into the safe and stole all the diaries. So now I can’t show him and he’s only got mine and Will’s word for it. So instead of making things better for you, I’ve just made it worse...”

  Logan ignored her resistance and with one stride, scooped her into his arms and held her tightly. “Shhhh,” he whispered, supporting her with his hands in the small of her back. “It’s gonna be ok. None of this is your fault. Don’t cry, Hana, please. We’ve both shed enough tears over this family.”

  Hana’s breath came in stilted gasps as the weight of her misery buried her underneath its cloying fingers. She tried to speak but nothing sensible came out. Logan kissed her damp cheeks and ran his thumb under her eyes, smoothing the delicate skin with gentle strokes. “I’m going downstairs now,” Logan said, sounding more confident than he felt. Stress raised the livid scar under his right eye, making it look white against his bronzed complexion, but Logan smiled at Hana and tried to infuse her with love. “Babe, can I just ask you one question?”

  Logan pushed Hana away from his chest, keeping her upper arms in a firm grip. Her face was blotchy and puffed from crying, snot and tears dotted around her cheeks and chin. “What...?” she sobbed.

  “Do you think I killed Sylvia?”

  “No!” Hana’s face expression changed to one of incredulity. “What a stupid question!”

  Logan laughed. “That’s my girl. I can face anything if you believe me.”

  Hana shook her head. “Idiot! Of course I don’t think that. Sylvia was leaving. She’d done her worst. If you were going to bump her off, you’d have done it when she first arrived or when our marriage hit the rocks.”

  “Oh, so not complete exoneration then? Just bad timing.”

  “You know what I mean,” Hana sulked and hiccoughed from her crying. “I’m just saying.”

  Logan shook her gently. “Fair enough. Right, I’ll go down and see my mate Odering now.” Logan let go of his wife’s hands and leaning in, gave her a last, smouldering kiss. “I love you, Hana Du Rose.” His smile was tight.”

  “We’ll wait here for you,” Hana whispered.

  “Might be a while,” Logan shrugged as he walked away from his wife, glancing back once over his shoulder with a wan smile.

  “I’m praying it won’t be,” Hana answered and slumped into the chair as her husband stepped down the stairs, his cowboy boots clicking on the treads. “I’m really praying it won’t.”

  Chapter 42

  Hana woke with a start as a cool hand ran across her forehead. She tried to sit up and groaned, “Oh, my back!”

  “Shhhhh,” Leslie’s voice was hushed. “Moko’s sleeping. I put her in the spare bed. You wanna go too?”

  “No. I’m waiting for Loge.”

  The big woman tutted. “You had an argument?”

  Hana sat up, every bone in her body sending darts of pain into her brain, in punishment of her disregard of its comfort. “What time is it?”

  “It’s after three. What you doin’ still here? Where’s Logan?”

  “The cops think he killed Sylvia.”

  Leslie’s eyes widened to froglike proportions. “Truly?”

  “Of course he didn’t!” Hana’s irritation escaped without control and her eyes lowered with guilt. “Sorry, Leslie. It’s been a long day.”

  “Get some sleep, kōtiro,” the old woman urged and Hana shook her head.

  “Would you keep an ear open for Phoe, please? I’m going downstairs to wait for Logan in the lobby. I can’t settle and I need to walk around a bit. I’ll take my phone. Text me if you need me and I’ll come straight up.”

  “I’ll get Alfie to text,” Leslie replied. “I’m too old for them tricks, honey.”

  Hana rose with difficulty and kissed the woman on her cheek. On impulse she wrapped her arms around the voluptuous body and rested her head on Leslie’s shoulder. “I love you, Kōkā.”

  Leslie sighed loudly and gathered Hana into her, squeezing her tightly and infusing her with affection. Hana’s use of the Māori word for mother, or aunty, secured their relationship and moved it onto a different level. Leslie sniffed with emotion and kissed Hana wetly on the temple. “Don’t be long. And leave the bottom door unlocked for yourself.”

  Hana used the spiral staircase to the ground level and slipped out into the lobby without making a sound. Soft lamps lit the area and the heavy front doors stood strong against the winter chill, the kauri wood dark through the glass of the inner doors. All external doors were locked at midnight by an efficient security team. The reception desk stood empty, all keys secured in the adjoining office that had been Miriam’s and the hotel was devoid of human noise, most sensible guests asleep. Hana looked around her, knowing the space intimately in daylight but confused by the shadows encouraged by the surrounding darkness. She lightly fingered the back of an armchair, intending to sit and wait for her husband’s return but thirst built in the back of her throat and exited as a dry cough. “Cup of tea,” she said to herself and walked towards the kitchen instead. “Then I’ll sit and wait.”

  The kitchen door creaked on its hinge as Hana pushed it open. It sat in darkness but for the lamplight sneaking through from the family dining room. Male voices hushed at the sound of her entering. Hana scurried towards the light, the burgeoning hope crushed in her chest at the absence of her husband and her face fell. “Sorry,” she said. “I thought Logan might be back.”

  “Na, not yet,” Tama said, his voice muted in tones more suited to a library. “Liza met him at the station with the big guns. Last I heard anyway.”

  Hana observed Tama’s companion, who pushed a glass of water back and forth across the knotted wood. “Sorry, Ryan. This must be really hard for you.”

  The boy shrugged and his fingers forced the glass into a dangerous pirouette. “It’s ok. I know Logan didn’t kill her. Wouldn’t have blamed him though. She was poison.”

  Hana knitted her brow and winced. She flicked her eyes towards Tama who rolled his eyes. “Would either of you like a hot drink?” she asked, dropping easily into the role of mother. Tama smirked.

  “I wouldn’t mind some of that hot chocolate you make, Ma. Granny Miriam kept a secret bottle of brandy on the top shelf.”

  “Fetch it down for me then,” Hana conceded. “And I’ll make some.”

  Tama’s long arms reached easily up to the top shelf of the pantry and retrieved the dusty bottle of expensive brandy. There was a decent gap at the neck where it had been used but the liquid sloshed happily inside as Tama placed it into Hana’s hands. “I remember this,” she said. “We had some on my wedding night when Alfred cut his finger. Miriam poured it.” Hana stroked the label with reverence, her resolve to using it dissipating.

  “It’s just a bottle of booze, Ma,” Tama breathed and kissed Hana’s forehead. “Hurry up, woman. I like your special hot chocolate. Get on with it!”

  Hana clattered around with a saucepan and milk from the chiller. The clock ticked on the wall heralding the arrival of the half hour between three and four and she sighed. The staff would begin appearing around five for the breakfast preparations. With a shrug, Hana stole a goodly amount of the milk for her cause, shirking the inevitable rising guilt. She boiled the milk on the immaculate industrial stove, adding the chocolate powder and brandy and watching the liquid pearl with the ex
tra ingredients, occupying herself and sparing her brain the futile exercise of worrying.

  “Here you go,” Hana placed two large mugs on the dining table and went back for her own.

  “You shouldn’t be drinking alcohol,” Tama chided her as she returned sipping her own.

  “Whatever,” she replied rudely. “I’m not meant to be having sleepless nights or worrying either. What’s one more sin at the moment?”

  “True, true,” Tama conceded and smiled, pulling his face out of his drink with a brown, milky moustache adorning his facial hair.

  “How did you know Liza was with Logan?” Hana asked, defeatism creeping into her tone.

  “She texted me earlier,” Tama replied.

  “Oh. I didn’t know you and she had any kind of relationship.”

  Tama reached across and grabbed Hana’s hand. “We didn’t, Ma. But when I moved up to Auckland she asked for help with some jobs at her place on my days off. Then I started staying there when she was in Wellington. It gave me somewhere to go outside the bunkhouse. Her place is real posh, ya know. She’s grown on me. She ain’t so bad really.”

  “Yeah,” Hana kept her opinions to herself.

  “Anyways, in times of trouble, family sticks together.”

  Ryan waggled his eyebrows and then turned to Tama. “Why do you call her, Ma?” he asked, pointing at Hana.

  Tama wiped his spare hand across his mouth, dislodging the creamy foam from his upper lip. His other fingers stroked Hana’s, like the consolation prize for Liza’s replacement of her. “She just is. She loves me for what I am, the good, bad and the ugly. I can talk to her about anything and she gives me good advice and sometimes runs interference with Uncle Logan...if I’m really persuasive.” Tama gave Hana a cheeky look and she scowled.

  “I do not!”

  “Na, not often. Only when it’s serious.” He pulled a face and bit his lip.

  “My mum wanted me to go with her when she left,” Ryan said sadly. “The last thing I said to her was, ‘Go away. I hate you.’ Why did I have to say that?” A solitary tear plopped onto the table and began to soak into the bare stripped wood. Hana reached sideways and took the teenager’s writhing hand in hers. Ryan gripped onto her fingers with a ferocity she hadn’t expected, embracing the lifeline with a sobering verve. Tama stared at their joined hands and a curious look passed across his features. Spotting the root of jealousy and insecurity, Hana increased her pressure on Tama’s fingers, clasping their hands together and breathing permanence into their relationship. Tama relaxed and the smile in his grey eyes was a mixture of relief and adoration.