by Jennie Jones
Luke gave her his OIC stare. ‘We might be getting there. Anyone got a problem with that?’
‘Not me,’ she said with a flippant smile. ‘I just won fifty bucks.’
Luke relaxed enough to smile too, then lifted a hand in farewell to Rob, who raised his chin in acknowledgement and then helped Donna load the last of the chairs onto the back of the truck.
Luke turned and gave himself a minute. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent Rachel a text. Just checking you haven’t skipped town and left me dateless for tomorrow afternoon. He added a smiley-face emoji and pressed Send.
He got a reply within seconds: It’s not a date.
He sent her a red heart with an arrow through it and had to hold onto a smile when she sent him a devil face in response. He sighed as he shoved the mobile into his pocket. If they weren’t playing games with their flirting, he had a feeling he might actually be getting somewhere.
‘Can I see your driver’s licences?’ he asked the builders when he walked their way.
‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ one man said, but he pulled his wallet out of a back pocket and the other four followed suit.
‘And you are?’ Luke asked.
‘Foreman.’
‘Need to keep a tighter check on your manners while around town, please,’ Luke said, taking the licences. He glanced around. ‘Where are the two I hauled in yesterday?’ The two who’d fronted Rachel in the street.
‘Sacked,’ the foreman said.
‘Really? Why?’
‘You complained to the company.’
‘Did I?’ He hadn’t been able to get hold of the company.
He took their licences and went to the wagon. The in-car computer system told him their registrations were in order and that none of the men had criminal records, but he made a note of the licence numbers and sent them through to Jack with a request to dig deeper. The bulldozer of a guy who thought he had pull over a woman—whether Donna was a cop or not. The two who accosted Rachel, and the two from Mt Girra that Solomon had followed. Something wasn’t right.
‘So where’s your boss?’ he asked when he returned to the builders.
‘I’m the foreman. I’m in charge.’
‘No visits from a supervisor at the building firm?’
‘He lets us get on with the job. He knows we can handle the issue.’
The issue? An unusual turn of phrase for a builder. ‘Good. No problem then.’ Luke handed their licences back. ‘Not even an outstanding speeding ticket. Thank you for your cooperation. This is the third time I’ve had cause for concern though. Be aware my patience only runs so far.’
Next, Luke pulled up outside the shire CEO’s house a few kilometres out of town. Donald Wiseman had been sent out here to cool off after his political career had gone bust due to a mess up with an expense account and he wasn’t happy about it. He was still referred to as ‘new’ even though he’d been in Mt Maria just over a year. Nobody liked him any more than he liked them, and Luke suspected he was already manoeuvring his way back into the political arena.
‘It’s Saturday,’ Wiseman informed him when he opened his front door. ‘Unless the town’s on fire, whatever it is can wait until Monday.’
Luke halted the door that was about to close in his face by slapping the palm of his hand against it. ‘Afraid not. I have some questions for you about the museum builders.’
Wiseman paused, his mouth compressed. ‘What about them?’
Luke studied him. Conceited prig, but suddenly nervous. ‘I understand the company was brought in by you. I’d like the company’s contact numbers.’
‘They’re on their website.’
‘Can’t get hold of them.’
‘Probably because it’s Saturday, Sergeant Weston.’
‘Senior Sergeant Weston,’ Luke said, with a smile that cost.
‘I contracted them, they’re doing a good job. What’s the problem?’
‘You awarded them the contract,’ Luke said patiently. ‘Out of a number of firms tendering, I suspect. So I’m wondering why bring a firm all the way from Perth when Kalgirri is closer?’
‘That’s my business, Weston.’
‘If they’re causing trouble, it’s my business.’
‘They’ll be done in a week. Just let them finish and the whole lot of them can leave and we can get on with our weekends without interruption.’
‘Okay,’ Luke said. ‘I’ll bring them in to the station for a chat and do it that way. And maybe I’ll get the shire to look into the work contract.’
He walked away, figuring he’d get as far as Wiseman’s gate, but he was only halfway down the garden path when he was called back.
‘All right!’ Wiseman yelled.
Luke turned and gave him a questioning look.
Wiseman baulked, and glanced around the front of his yard, checking for something, or someone.
‘What happened?’ Luke asked as he made his way to the front door.
‘The firm’s owner is a personal friend,’ Wiseman said, sniffing as though it was difficult for him to breathe the same air as Luke. ‘I’m a bit strapped at the moment and he offered me a loan. I accepted, and then he asked me to get him this contract—which his firm is fully capable of handling, so you can forget about getting the shire to look into it. They can do the job.’
‘Did he say why he wanted it?’
‘No. I told him it would look odd.’ He shuffled in the doorway and didn’t meet Luke’s eye. ‘And then I was threatened.’
‘By who?’
‘Some man telephoned and told me he was taking charge of the builders and I was to make sure nobody went to the site. Told me I was the only one allowed to check on progress and so forth.’
‘What’s his name?’
‘He gave my secretary the name Peter Morrison when he called me at the town hall, but I don’t know if that’s his real name.’
There were no Morrisons at the site earlier. ‘Do you have a list of every builder at the museum?’
Wiseman shook his head. ‘They told me to mind my own business. Wouldn’t give me anything.’
‘Have you had contact with this Morrison again?’
‘Not a word. Don’t know who he is. I never saw him—he just threatened me by telephone—even though he spoke politely, believe it or not.’
Peter Morrison, Peter Fletcher. Similar enough to warrant a deeper look. ‘What did he sound like, this Morrison? Did he have an accent? Was he Australian? Was his voice low or high pitched?’
‘Australian. He didn’t talk a lot—just the few sentences telling me what I had to do—which was keep everyone away from the museum and that if I didn’t cooperate I wouldn’t see my money and I might lose a lot more than that.’
‘Age?’
‘Probably about your age.’
‘All right. This is what I want you to do—’
‘I’m not doing anything that’s going to put me in harm’s way,’ Wiseman said, blanching and taking a step back inside his house, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the door.
Luke withheld the curse he tasted in his mouth. ‘What’s your problem with Rachel Meade?’
‘Nothing.’
He answered too quickly and Luke’s hackles rose. ‘So why pester her? I understand you told Mrs Arnold about Miss Meade changing her name.’
‘I don’t want anything to do with her. I’m waiting for her to make her first cock up on the job so I can fire her.’
‘Why?’
‘Because she’s trouble,’ Wiseman spat. ‘That’s why.’
‘What makes you think that?’ Luke asked, his attention fully focused.
‘That Morrison guy—he asked me if there were any new young women in town.’
‘Why the hell would he want to know that?’
‘How should I know?’
‘You didn’t think it suspicious?’
‘I didn’t want to prolong the conversation. I’d been warned, hadn’t I? The Meade woman is young and t
he only new person in town—and she’s not who she says she is. She’s no good.’
‘What did you tell Morrison about her?’
Wiseman’s pale face suffused with blotchy colour.
‘You’d better start talking, Wiseman, otherwise I’ll pull you in and put you in lockup for four hours. Maybe that’ll loosen your tongue.’
‘I told him who she really is—Rebecca Smithfield. Run a check on that name, sergeant. I bet you find trouble attached to it.’
‘Who else did you mention from town? Which other women?’
‘Nobody. He thanked me for telling him about the Meade woman. Then he cut me off.’ He blew his breath out in some sort of gruff exasperation. ‘Threatens me, then thanks me. He’s weird.’
Luke ignored the desire to get his handcuffs out. If he took Wiseman in, it would be obvious to the builders that the police knew something was going on. ‘You’re in lockdown, Wiseman,’ he said. ‘You don’t step out of this house. I’ll come to you if I need to talk to you.’
‘I have to go to the museum site tomorrow. They’re expecting me. I go every two days.’
‘You’ve suddenly come down with gastro,’ Luke told him. ‘I’ll let it be known around town. I’ll tell people I was here today discussing the town’s Bushfire and Emergency Response plans.’
‘Are you threatening me, Weston?’
Luke smiled.
* * *
Luke got into the wagon and fired her up, then took his phone out of his shirt pocket and rang Jack. If blood could boil, his had almost burned through his veins. Wiseman. That stupid son of a bitch.
‘Just about to call you,’ Jack said as soon as he answered. ‘I can confirm: Rebecca Smithfield went out with the sergeant. He’s a firearm and tactical defence instructor, and yes, he taught her how to shoot.’
Luke slammed the wagon door closed.
‘Nice work,’ Jack said. ‘We hadn’t got this one.’
‘What else did he say?’ Luke closed his eyes, not wanting to hear anything personal about that relationship, but he’d have to if it was relevant.
‘I didn’t like the sound of him. Jumped-up sort. Said she disappeared. Although he admitted their short relationship fizzled out but I don’t think he liked that she ended it. Next day he went to the place she was renting, and she’d gone. Didn’t hear from her again. Said as far as he knew she didn’t carry a Swiss Army knife, although he couldn’t be sure because they never met up at her place.’
‘This can’t go on for much longer, Jack. Let me bring her in.’ If the builders were watching Rachel—why, and for who? And what did this Morrison want with her?
‘Negative,’ Jack said. ‘Don’t haul her in. Just give me a bit of time.’
‘Why?’
‘I’m looking into something—and I’m going behind backs.’
‘I hate whatever it is you’re not telling me.’
Jack sighed hard. ‘If she’s for real, she hasn’t had much luck with men, has she? Sorry about all this. You know … if you were hoping it was going to go somewhere.’
‘Not an issue.’
‘Doesn’t sound that way.’
‘I’ve got my mind on the job. Nothing more.’
‘I know that, Luke—I’m just sorry this is happening at all. I hope she’s not involved. I hope you’re right.’
Info was mounting up on the wrong side of chance. The Swiss Army knives used in the attack in her flat and in the attack on the sergeant connected Rachel, and he wanted to ensure Jack understood that Luke believed she was innocent. ‘She’s not in on it,’ he told Jack again, convinced of it but still without proof. He told Jack about the conversation he’d just had with Wiseman.
‘Peter Morrison?’ Jack said. ‘Never heard of him but I’ll check it out.’
‘Rachel has been forced to run from something. I need to protect her. I need to do that twenty-four-seven now. I need Will.’
‘No. That’s an order, Luke.’
‘Let me bring her in. Unofficially.’
‘You can’t. Unless the operation says you can and I’m saying you can’t. If you pull her in, anybody out there looking for her is going to scarper to the tri-border and it’ll be bye-bye bad guys.’
Luke straightened in his seat. ‘Who’s looking for her? What do you know about this Morrison?’
‘I don’t know anything yet,’ Jack said, frustration mounting in his voice.
‘I no longer give a shit about Operation plastic bloody Garland,’ Luke said. ‘You don’t give a shit either, otherwise you wouldn’t be sniffing around behind backs. Tell me what you know.’
‘Actually, I do give a shit. This is my ticket out of paperwork-land. Give me until tomorrow.’
Jack cut him off and Luke steadied the anger inside him so that he could swallow his heart and not get choked by it. He scrubbed his hands over his face and squeezed his eyes closed. Some days he wished he was a welder or a marathon runner. Fortunately, most days outweighed the few where tiredness crept in and his doubts took a front seat. The only thing he didn’t like was being kept in the dark. And stuck out here, he had no resources for delving deeper into whatever mystery Jack was trying to solve.
He pulled the troop wagon away from Wiseman’s property and took the bypass to the southern end of town. He did a fast drive-by of Rachel’s house. Her car was there, the front door open but the flyscreen closed. He didn’t slow as he passed; if she’d seen or heard the police vehicle she wouldn’t have time to determine who was driving it.
He stopped the wagon halfway back to town and called her.
‘Hello?’ she answered, sounding cautiously surprised.
‘Hi, how are you?’ he asked, grimacing through the cheery note he’d put into his voice. ‘You didn’t reply to my text message earlier. Did you get the heart I sent you?’
‘I sent you a devil.’
‘Oh, yeah—I got it. I forgot.’
‘Is everything all right?’ she asked.
‘Just up to my neck in paperwork. Wanted to hear your voice.’
Silence. He wasn’t supposed to be calling her. She’d told him firmly that they were not going to be dating.
‘Okay,’ he said, unsure how to end the call now. ‘Look, you’re not alone.’
‘I’m not what?’
He wanted to tell her she wasn’t going to be alone from now on. That he’d be out there tonight, keeping an eye on her. Looking out for her. But he’d been instructed not to. ‘I meant me,’ he said quickly. ‘I’m not alone. So I’d better go. But if you need anything, just call me.’
‘I’m fine. I don’t need anything.’
‘Right then. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Bye,’ she said, sounding wary, or probably just confused as to why he was calling her.
Luke pulled away from the verge and debated his next move. He instinctively felt that he needed backup; that Rachel was in more trouble than he’d originally thought. He needed Will, but he was under orders not to include him. There was currently only one other trustworthy resource available to him.
Instead of returning to the station and a cloud of doubt and concern, he stopped at Solomon’s place. He parked outside the gate and walked down to the stables where Solomon was loading two large water containers into the back of his already packed ute.
‘What is it?’ Solomon straightened when Luke arrived at the far stable.
‘My brunette,’ Luke said. ‘She’s in trouble.’
Solomon slapped the tailgate of his ute closed and secured it. ‘And?’
Regret whispered in Luke’s ear. Regret that he hadn’t told either Will or Solomon straight away. It was all well and good to know Jack and trust him—mostly trust him these days—but he should have been utilising the skills of those around him, not someone four hundred kilometres away.
‘I don’t know. Maybe I’m …’ He put his hand on his head as though it might pull the perplexities together in his brain. He’d been determined to stay close-mouthed, as ordere
d, but he hated not knowing the identity of the offender hanging around Rachel. ‘It might not be me—this person Tani says is looking for me. It might be someone after Rachel.’
‘Tani’s never wrong.’
‘I know.’ Tani Jones had helped the police track missing hunters and lost tourists and he’d found them in places the searchers would never have thought to look. Luke had to take notice, no matter that official police work was telling him it wasn’t him being hunted down.
‘This is between you and me,’ he said to Solomon. ‘I haven’t even told Will any of this yet.’ He gave Solomon a rundown of everything he knew so far, and everything he didn’t know: Wiseman, Serenity, the money launderers, Jack, and Rachel and Fletcher. Solomon listened, appearing calm but his attentiveness deepened as Luke relayed the story.
‘I’m going to have Will keep a watch on the builders out at the museum,’ Luke said when he’d finished with the facts. ‘Wiseman’s been blackmailed into using them. He’s frightened of them. Two of them pestered Rachel in the street, one of them came close to punching her. Two of them were out at Mt Girra, and one ugly brute took a verbal swing at Donna.’
‘And what about this Morrison guy?’
‘Peter Morrison is the name he goes by but there’s nothing on him in the system. I don’t even know what he looks like.’
‘Wiseman’s a stupid bastard,’ Solomon said. ‘Are you keeping an eye on your lady?’
Luke nodded. ‘I’m going home to change, get some food, then I’ll be in the scrubland opposite her house until morning.’
‘So this Morrison—could it be him that’s after you? Tani says the guy’s from your past.’
Luke tensed. ‘But is he sure? There are a few guys out there at the moment, all of them under suspicion.’
‘It’s one guy. From your past. Think.’
Luke took in the view around him, giving himself time. Most of the paddocks were dry but the few in use for the horses were covered in green grass thanks to the sprinklers and a bore. As he stared at them, any number of faces popped up in his mind. A hundred mugshots. Two hundred. But one man was stuck in his head. ‘Just over two years ago,’ he said. ‘He fought me. It was an odd kind of a fight. He kept pushing me off him, but he wasn’t running away. This might be the guy Tani’s sensing. He said he’d find me. But if he wants revenge, he’s at the back of a long queue.’