A Light in the Dark (Taylor's Bend, #3)

by Elisabeth Rose

  He lowered his voice. ‘I feel responsible. I wrote that article …’

  ‘You didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, Arlo. There’s no excuse for doing that to Mia. She didn’t write it. What can I get you?’

  Arlo ordered then went back to Mia and sat down.

  ‘I’ll have to contact the insurance company. Is Stuey an approved repairer?’

  ‘I think so. He’s pretty good.’

  ‘Thank God for that, at least.’

  What could he possibly say to her? No words would help overcome her anger and outrage at this treatment. He wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to leave. Who could blame her? His heart sank as the image of a future together disappeared into the mists of despondency.

  ‘It’s like being cursed,’ she said suddenly. ‘Maybe that crazy witch woman really did put a curse on me.’

  Her eyes stared wildly at him and he stared back as his brain fumbled for something to say. He stretched across and enclosed her cold hands in his, gripping tightly when he felt how much they were shaking.

  ‘You’re not cursed,’ he said firmly. ‘And neither is the town. Stuey will fix your car and you can go home. Or I’ll drive you to Wagga today, right now, and you can fly back to Sydney. If that’s what you want to do.’

  Her eyes seemed to refocus, and she swallowed, blinked and shook her head. ‘No, you warned me there could be trouble and I’m staying, I already decided that. You’re right. I’m sorry … I … it just all got on top of me for a moment.’

  ‘Sure?’

  She nodded. ‘I’ll help you move after we see Stuey.’

  The ‘we’ pleased him more than her return to her customary rationality and the fact she hadn’t withdrawn her hands from his pleased him even more. He smiled and she smiled back, successfully this time.

  ‘Sorry,’ she murmured. ‘I don’t usually have meltdowns in public. It’s just that this is so senseless. Moronic vandalism—like the rabbit.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right. It’s on a different level to being physically threatened.’

  ‘Your coffee.’ Hannah placed the two mugs on the table and a plate with two chocolate brownies. ‘How are you, Mia? I want to apologise on behalf of the town. What a despicable act. I’m ashamed of my fellow citizens.’

  ‘Thanks, Hannah. That’s kind of you but you’re in no way to blame for what some lowlife does.’

  ‘It reflects on us all,’ she said. ‘Taylor’s Bend isn’t usually that type of town. You should write about that next time, Arlo.’ She gave him a fierce look, smiled at Mia and went back behind the counter.

  ‘She’s right,’ said Arlo. ‘It’s not that type of town.’

  ‘Except it is,’ Mia said. ‘Every town is when you scratch a bit of the shiny paint away.’

  After an encouraging discussion with Stuey during which he took multiple photographs for the insurance company then proceeded to clean the windscreen enough for him to drive the car to his workshop, Mia was happier. In spite of his laidback air, dirty overalls over a maroon jumper, bright green knitted beanie and muddy boots, Stuey radiated the confidence of an experienced mechanic, a man who knew everything there was to know about cars and their maintenance.

  ‘Don’t worry, love,’ he said. ‘We’ll have her back to you good as new in a day or two.’

  ‘That soon? It’s the weekend tomorrow.’

  ‘Gotta get onto it while the paint’s still a bit wet, see?’ he said.

  Mia nodded and handed him the keys. ‘Thank you very much.’

  ‘Any idea who the mongrel was who did it?’ he asked.

  ‘No. Rupe and Shannon are investigating. He said they’d be able to match the paint.’

  ‘Yeah, he’s a good cop, Rupe. He’s quiet but thorough.’

  ***

  With only one car, the move from Arlo’s flat to the house was slower but by the time Riley was due home everything they’d need for the first few days was in place, the heating was on and the house once again felt like a home. Arlo sent Riley a text to come straight to the house and he arrived with a grin as wide as a grand piano keyboard.

  ‘Great work, Dad.’

  ‘Mia helped. You and I can do the rest in the morning so no sleeping in.’

  ‘Sure.’ Instead of dumping his bag on the floor as usual he took it to the room he’d chosen.

  ‘Afternoon tea in the dining room,’ called Arlo.

  ‘Okay,’ floated back.

  Mia smiled. ‘One happy camper.’

  ‘Thank goodness.’ Riley wasn’t the only happy camper. Mia had cheered up considerably while they packed and carried and unpacked. She insisted on making Riley’s bed even though Arlo said Riley could do it himself.

  Riley came in and dropped two crumpled sheets of paper on the table in front of Arlo.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘From school. It’s okay it’s not another death threat.’ He sat down and began hacking into the date loaf Arlo had provided for afternoon tea.

  Arlo read the letter. ‘An excursion to Canberra,’ he said.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Do you want to go?’

  ‘Yeah, why not?’

  ‘Okay, just checking.’

  ‘There’s heaps to see there,’ said Mia. ‘I go to Canberra a lot for work.’

  ‘I’ve already been with my other school,’ said Riley. ‘Questacon was cool. You should go. They have these really cool things like an earthquake machine and a big cage with lightning in it.’

  ‘Write me an article on the trip,’ said Arlo. ‘And I’d like something for the next issue, please.’

  ‘Sure. I already have a few ideas.’

  ‘Good. Turn them into words.’

  ‘What’s front page?’ asked Mia.

  ‘Not sure. Depends if something happens. I want to do a follow up on the road maintenance. See if they have any plans for improvements. The council want to put their side now, of course. Having missed the deadline before, suddenly they’re eager to talk.’

  ‘Serves them right,’ said Riley.

  ‘I’ve had journos from Willoughby and Wagga on the line, too, about the Greenhill thing.’

  ‘But you don’t have any real proof of corruption yet, do you?’ asked Mia.

  ‘My sources are working on that.’

  ‘What about the piece on my dad?’

  ‘The reaction to that is local as you’d expect and apart from the incidents you’ve had people are generally keeping quiet. Surprisingly so.’ He turned to Riley. ‘I need to go back to the office for a couple of hours. You’ll stay inside, won’t you?’

  ‘I’m not going out there it’s too cold and anyway, Sam has what I had now. Can we have pizza for dinner?’

  ‘That sounds good. I’ll do that too,’ said Mia. ‘Pizza and a movie in my room with the TV. Perfect.’

  Mia left with Arlo but walked to Dot and Laurie’s store. To replenish her chocolate supplies, she said. She seemed so intent on a quiet night alone in her room much as he wanted to, Arlo didn’t dare interfere with her plans by inviting her to eat at the house.

  He drove to the office intending to bring his laptop and other files back with him. Georgia had been hard at work all day doing the layout for the next issue. He’d managed to stick his head in periodically to see if she needed assistance but knew she didn’t. She was capable of running the paper on her own now but he still felt guilty at neglecting his share of the work.

  It was dark when he closed up the office and went out through the empty flat. Compared to the house it was poky and cramped, he could see that now. He made a final check for items he and Riley might need and took his gumboots from the laundry. He had a garden to maintain.

  With everything stowed in the car he turned the key in the ignition and was met by the asthmatic wheeze of a dying battery. Damn it. He tried again but knew it was hopeless. He couldn’t remember when he’d bought a new battery and this freezing weather was guaranteed to kill an ailing one off. What a pain in the neck. Still
, he could carry his laptop and the files to the house and walk back to collect the pizza from the takeaway. He went back inside to load everything into carry bags, let himself out the front door and went to order the pizza hoping he’d correctly remembered the strict instructions from Riley as to the correct toppings.

  Chapter 20

  Mia woke abruptly, wide-eyed in the dark. It wasn’t the dream this time, something else had wrenched her from sleep. An explosion? She had a dim memory of a whump of sound. Light flickered at the edges of the curtains, reddish. Where was that from? She got up and pulled the fabric aside. A red glow rose in the sky across the street and to the left, back from the main street.

  A shockwave rippled through her body. That was near Arlo’s office. Or Hannah’s café. She dressed quickly and ran downstairs. The hotel was quiet, no night staff were on duty although the manager had rooms on the ground floor. She checked the keys in her pocket before she opened the main door. The street was deserted. Had anyone else heard it? They must have. People lived nearby. She ran across the road. A car engine sounded and the police cruiser shot past. Shannon and Vicky lived around the corner behind the police station. It must have woken them. No need to ring the emergency number.

  Hannah’s was closed and dark as were the neighbouring shops but the glow was brighter the closer she came to the corner, dreading what she’d see.

  A small crowd of people had gathered, huddled, dark shapes illuminated by the fierce orange light emanating from the newspaper office and the flashing lights of the police car.

  ‘What happened?’ she asked a man and woman at random.

  ‘No idea. Something exploded. We live up the road and it woke us up,’ the man said.

  The woman with him said, frantic, almost in tears, ‘Arlo lives there with his son. We think they’re still inside. Frank went down the drive and banged on the back door but couldn’t rouse anyone.’

  ‘We thought we’d have to break in,’ said Frank. ‘But Shannon turned up and said keep away there could be another explosion.’

  Mia broke in quickly, raising her voice for the rest of the group. ‘They’re not there. They moved out today.’

  ‘Arlo’s not in there,’ Frank shouted, his voice carrying much farther.

  Shannon came across. ‘Are you sure? His car’s in the drive.’

  ‘Yes,’ Mia said. ‘I don’t know about the car but I helped him move everything to my house today. Where’s the fire brigade?’

  ‘They have to come from Willoughby. We’ve only got the volunteer bushfire brigade. They’re not trained for house fires.’

  ‘Good grief! The office will be destroyed by then.’

  ‘Nothing I can do. The locals are on the way though. They can make sure it doesn’t spread. At the moment it’s still at the front.’

  Arlo arrived panting, with Riley close behind. ‘My God! What the hell happened?’

  ‘I heard an explosion,’ Mia said. ‘It woke me, didn’t you hear it?’

  ‘No. Shannon phoned.’

  ‘Thank God you’re all right. We thought you were inside,’ said Frank’s wife. ‘Your car’s there.’

  ‘Flat battery.’ Arlo walked across to peer down the driveway to the carport. ‘It might survive.’

  ‘Don’t go any closer, Arlo. The fire is in the office, but I’m not taking any chances. Something else could blow,’ said Shannon. ‘It’ll be a while before the fire trucks get here.’

  Arlo put his arm around Riley who was staring at the damaged building in shock. ‘Good thing we moved today, matey.’

  ‘The windows and door are blown right out,’ Riley said. ‘Everything in there will be gone, Dad. All your work and computers and stuff.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. It can be replaced and we’re okay.’

  ‘But, Dad …’ He looked near to tears.

  Mia said, ‘Riley, why don’t you go back home to bed. I’ll come with you, and your dad can stay here. It’s way too cold to stand around when you’ve been sick.’

  ‘Good idea. Thanks, Mia,’ Arlo said. ‘Go, Riley. Try not to worry about it.’

  She smiled and touched his arm. ‘I’ll stay till you get back.’

  Mia found cocoa in the newly stocked pantry cupboard at the house and made two mugs. Riley had his in bed while she sat on the chair from his desk.

  ‘Who would bomb the office?’

  ‘We don’t know it was a bomb. It could have been a gas leak or an electrical fault. They’ll have to investigate it.’

  ‘It’s not likely though, is it? Not after the other things.’

  Mia sipped the cocoa to give her time to formulate a reply. Arlo made a point of treating Riley like an adult when it came to sharing information about the situation they were in, but how much had he really told him? Did he know about her father’s murder? If he did, this would come as a terrifying escalation of the recent events, putting Arlo right in the front line. It was a terrifying escalation but Riley shouldn’t know that.

  He seemed to take her silence as agreement because he said glumly, ‘Dad’s going to send me home after this.’

  ‘It might be best,’ she said slowly. ‘I’d be worried sick if I were your mum and heard about it.’

  ‘But I like it here.’

  ‘It wouldn’t mean you couldn’t come back.’

  He looked at her. ‘I know what Dad thinks about your dad and Glenda, not just what he wrote in the paper. He really thinks someone murdered them.’

  ‘You do?’

  He nodded. ‘And now they’re after Dad, but I’m not frightened.’

  ‘You should be,’ Mia said sharply. ‘If we’re right, these people don’t care who else is in the way. You could both have been killed tonight.’ She took a sudden deep breath as the full import hit her. ‘It’s not a movie. It’s real.’

  ‘But now the police will be after them.’

  ‘Not if it’s made to look like an accident. They’re very clever.’

  ‘We’ve just had an accident. Nearly. Two will look suspicious, won’t it?’

  ‘I agree but if they try again and succeed in removing Arlo, who will try to prove they weren’t accidents? And if the office is destroyed there won’t be any proof of anything.’

  ‘Are you frightened?’

  ‘Now I am, yes. But I’m also worried about your safety.’

  ‘You’ll agree with Dad, won’t you, when he says I should go to Sydney?’

  She nodded. ‘Sorry, but yes.’

  Riley put the empty mug on the bedside table. ‘Thanks for the cocoa, Mia.’

  ‘You’re welcome. Try to sleep. See you tomorrow.’ She switched off the bed lamp.

  ‘Mia?’

  She paused.

  ‘Do you like my dad?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good, because he really likes you and Mum and James reckon he needs a girlfriend.’

  How simple it sounded. She smiled in the darkened room and pulled the door closed.

  ***

  Arlo arrived home just after three. He opened the door carefully and found Mia asleep on the red couch with a blanket over her. He hung up his coat and peeked into Riley’s room. Fast asleep.

  He went to the bathroom and washed his face and hands, the smell of smoke strong in his nostrils. He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower, the heat seeping into his body and relaxing the tightness of chilled muscles. What a nightmare. By the time the Willoughby fire trucks arrived the office section of the building was pretty much gutted. The local brigade had prevented damage to Hannah’s, the building on the other side and, along with most of the flat, the car and shed had survived intact. For all of their efforts he was more than grateful.

  He’d also managed to capture some pretty good shots on his phone meaning next issue’s front page was well and truly taken care of. If anyone thought Round the Bend was out of action they had another think coming. Bastards. This would attract much wider attention from the media and surely that wasn’t what they wanted. It smack
ed of panic.

  A forensic team was expected in the morning to establish the cause of the blast but the fire chief said he was pretty sure it was a deliberately rigged explosion in no way connected to the service utilities. Rupe and Shannon absorbed the news with impassive faces. Maybe now Rupe would take his suspicions seriously.

  When he came out of the shower in track pants and sweatshirt, Mia was sitting up, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

  ‘Hi. What’s happened?’

  Arlo slumped onto the couch next to her. ‘The fire’s out. The fire chief reckons it was deliberate.’

  ‘That’s terrifying, Arlo. You could have been killed.’

  He shook his head. ‘The flat was barely affected. I’d closed the connecting door and it slowed the pace. It was the office that was destroyed. Luckily, I’d moved a lot of papers to the shed and brought some things here yesterday. I’ve got my laptop and the more recent files I’ve been using. Georgia will be the same.’

  ‘That’s something.’ She sighed but it was almost a yawn. ‘Riley is sure you’ll send him back to Sydney.’

  ‘I will. I have to.’

  ‘I agree, but he really wants to stay.’

  ‘I can’t let him.’ He rubbed both hands over his face, feeling the roughness of stubble. His eyes smarted from the smoke and tiredness.

  ‘I said it doesn’t mean he can’t come back later.’

  ‘He talks to you.’

  ‘Yes, we get on pretty well.’

  He took her hand. ‘I’m glad.’

  ‘He’s a very smart boy.’ Mia stood up, gently disengaging his fingers from hers. ‘I’m going now.’

  ‘Stay.’ She wouldn’t, he knew.

  ‘Best not.’

  He didn’t argue. ‘Let me walk with you.’

  ‘No, stay in the warmth. Go to bed. I’ll be fine.’

  He went with her to the door, helped her on with her coat. ‘Thank you, Mia.’ He kissed her softly on the lips, tasting the sweetness of chocolate, before she slipped away into the night, leaving him with the tang of loss.

  His phone began ringing early the next morning. No Saturday lie-in for him after a few hours in bed. As he’d predicted, the media were all over the story, and a couple of TV network vans were in transit from their Wagga stations to get images of the smouldering ruin.