Deadly Secrets

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘Jordy. Thank you. You’re just the best. I’ll take real good care of him. I promise.’

  ‘I know you will. And thank your Dad. He loves you, Michael. He might not always get it right, but he’s doing his best.’

  ‘Aw geez, Jordy, I know.’ He turned his attention to Buster and slipped on his halter with a wide grin. ‘Hey, Buster. Let’s go home!’

  ‘Come on, move up!’ Jordan touched the heifer on the foot and coaxed her into position. As she worked, she thought about Reid, about that kiss. It was starting to annoy her that she could think of little else.

  So he’d kissed her. And it was blow-the-back-of-your-head-off hot. So what? She moved the heifer off, walked it in a circle. It was still just a kiss. No reason to obsess over it. And just because he kissed her didn’t mean he would do it again. Hell, just thinking about it made her hot. Maybe they could just have some fun…a little no-strings-attached fling; no history needed, no promises or confessions, no worrying about some stupid accident that had happened years ago…

  The heifer tossed her head, backed up, took some cajoling to move off. She wasn’t obliged to tell him, was she? It’s not like they were making any sort of commitment to each other. And now she was getting ahead of herself.

  ‘Come on, move up,’ she told the heifer when it dug in its toes and refused to cooperate. ‘Come on!’

  She was just getting to the ‘swearing profusely’ stage of the argument when the object of her thoughts pulled up in her driveway. Even as a little thrill ran through her, she smirked — she’d wondered how long it would be before he realised he’d left the folder behind.

  Reid stopped at the gate. ‘Hi.’

  ‘You back again?’ Oh God, who am I kidding? I’m already more than a little bit in love with him. No-strings fling? Ha!

  ‘What’s the matter…not happy to see me?’

  ‘Did you bring beer?’ she huffed, pulling the heifer sideways in the hope that shifting her off her balance might stimulate some sort of movement.

  ‘You’re asking your probation officer if he brought you beer?’

  ‘Is that what you are? I forgot. So get lost.’

  ‘No offence, Windcroft,’ Reid laughed, ‘but your manners are terrible.’

  Oh God, he was gorgeous. As she stood there she literally ached for him. No, she couldn’t have a fling with him — she couldn’t have anything with him because it was just too damn dangerous. Her feelings were too damn dangerous. He was her probation officer, Joel and Carol and Madi were her family. She had to keep this secret. It wasn’t safe to tell anyone, let alone someone in his position. And that bothered her a lot, because on a couple of separate occasions she had come close to telling him. Too close.

  To seal the deal in her head, she reminded herself that, even if she was naïve enough to think it would be alright, even if he knew and didn’t care, he would be heading back to the city when Neil came home, so there was no future in it anyway. Was there?

  And she really needed to stop thinking about this and concentrate on what she was doing. Impatiently, she attempted to blow a wisp of hair from her face. When that didn’t work, she released one hand from the lead rope to swat at it. The heifer took the opportunity to pull back. Hard.

  Swearing again, Jordan refrained from talking for some moments while she wrestled with it, then glared hard in Reid’s direction. ‘Stuck in cement, Tallon?’

  Reid made a show of looking at his feet, moving them one by one. ‘Nope.’

  ‘Wanna be?’

  Amused, he climbed through the fence and approached the heifer, which politely stood to sniff at the newcomer. ‘What are you trying to do with this thing?’

  ‘Take it over there.’ She pointed, and began walking.

  ‘Okay, Clover, make me look good.’

  ‘Clover?’

  ‘Isn’t that what you call cows?’

  ‘I don’t know. What fairy tale were you reading?’

  ‘One where they do what they’re told.’ He concentrated on part pulling, part coaxing the heifer to move forward.

  They made it to the gate and let the heifer loose with the others. ‘So what is this, another unscheduled check-up?’ Because he was standing just a little too close to her for her peace of mind, Jordan took a step back.

  He noted the move with a raised brow and a small smile and shook his head. ‘I need to pick up your folder.’

  She’d made her decision, so why was she so nervous? Her heart was pounding, her palms were sweating and her legs were just a tiny bit unsteadier than her breathing — all because he was looking at her with that damn smug, and slightly predatory, ‘you want me and I know it’ look on his face.

  ‘The folder? Oh yeah, it’s where you left it.’

  His grin widened. ‘And you didn’t even peek, did you?’

  ‘Of course not…you have very neat writing.’

  ‘Uh-huh. Let’s go get it.’

  ‘Okay.’ She gave herself a mental shake and led the way, silently berating her over-active hormones right back up to the house. ‘It’s on the table. Would you…like a drink?’

  ‘Yeah, a drink would be great. Just something cold, thanks.’ He sat at her table and flicked through the folder.

  ‘It’s all there.’ She frowned and opened the fridge.

  ‘Yeah…but in the wrong order.’

  She grinned at that, poured a couple of Cokes and handed him one. They drank in silence for a few moments while Jordan contemplated how to handle this. Eventually, she just blurted it out.

  ‘I don’t think yesterday was a good idea.’

  He sat back in his chair and considered her calmly. ‘Why?’

  ‘Do I need a reason?’

  ‘Yeah. You do. Because it was pretty damn incredible. So if you’re going to convince me it wasn’t a good idea, I need to know why.’

  Okay, so it should have occurred to her he’d want an explanation. Desperately, she searched her head for an excuse.

  ‘It’s just not a good time for me to…I have to concentrate on the sale and…technically you’re still my probation officer so…’

  After an eternity, he shrugged and got to his feet. ‘Okay. If that’s how you really feel, we’ll forget it ever happened. I have to head off.’ He picked up the folder and, with a nod, headed towards the door.

  Oh, God. Jordan groaned silently and closed her eyes on a frustrated sigh. It was ridiculous to feel offended at his easy dismissal. Perverse to get upset about the fact he had made it so easy. She’d done the right thing. Now she’d just have to go do something; work off this empty sensation in the pit of her stomach. When she opened her eyes, he was still in the doorway, and he was watching her intently.

  ‘I’m not convinced that’s how you really feel.’

  ‘I…’

  He dropped the folder, scattering papers all over the floor, then closed the distance between them and took her face in his hands. His thumbs caressed her cheeks, the line of her jaw, before sliding lightly over her bottom lip, his eyes following his touch.

  Her breath quivered out, and his eyes went back to hers. ‘I think we’d better make sure.’

  ‘Reid…’ The word came out as little more than whispered plea, but in acceptance or denial not even Jordan could have said. Gently he wrapped his arms around her and bent his head.

  His kiss was a long, slow, sensuous assault that lasted until she felt dizzy, until she couldn’t bring to mind one good reason why she shouldn’t be exactly where she was. Her arms were around him, though she wasn’t sure how they got there, and she was kissing him back, because where she was — cocooned in that warm, tender embrace — felt safe, felt right. And this moment was for feeling; not for thought, not for reason.

  Eventually, he lifted his head, holding hers so that she couldn’t look away, so that he could watch every emotion that crossed her face. ‘Tell me again how you feel.’

  She closed her eyes tight and pulled away. ‘I just can’t.’ Walking to the window, she hugged
her arms around herself and stared outside.

  ‘It’s this damn secret, isn’t it?’

  ‘I don’t know how to answer that without lying to you.’

  He released a long breath, walked up behind her and encircled her in his arms, kissing her on the top of her head. ‘Well, that’s something. Trust me.’

  ‘If it was just me…’

  ‘But it’s never been about you, has it? Who are you covering for? Madi?’

  ‘No. At least…’ She rubbed her fingers over her forehead, tried to think.

  ‘Would it help if I told you I’d seen Sean’s record? I can’t believe a woman as seemingly sensible as Madi would get involved with someone like that.’

  Jordan released a long breath and shrugged. ‘Back then, Sean was a nice enough guy. He’d been a bit wild in his teens, but by the time he and Madi hooked up he was older. And he had this energetic…engaging personality. And he was as hooked on Madi as she was on him.’

  ‘What about the drugs?’

  ‘He occasionally smoked a bit of pot but it was no big deal. Madi tolerated it. She had it in her head she could turn him around and, for a while, it looked like she had. They were going to get married, start their own business.’

  Because she was talking, he decided to prod a bit further. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Hal retired. He’d judged some drug case and let the guy off — copped a lot of flak for it and got out. Then he moved down here full time. For the first couple of weeks everything was still okay… but then Sean came home to Madi one day and said he had something lined up with his father that was going to set them up — get them a house, some real money in the bank and fund their new business. Madi wasn’t keen, but he was adamant. Whenever she asked him about it he just told her not to worry. It was short term. But he…changed.’

  ‘Changed how?’

  ‘His moods became erratic, unpredictable…violent. One night, Madi fronted him about it — demanded to know what he was doing at Hal’s. He stormed out, came back an hour later and trashed the house they were renting. He was raving, crazy. Madi tried to calm him down. When she got in his way she copped a fist in her face.’

  ‘You think he was hooked on something?’

  She nodded.

  ‘That sounds like more than smoking a bit of pot. Was it meth?’

  She hesitated, thought about it, nodded again. ‘We didn’t know that at the time…but later. Madi came to my place. She just wanted the night to calm down and clean herself up before Joel and Carol found out. When she told them, Joel went nuts. He fronted Sean at the club and they had a decent go at each other. Joel told Sean that, next time he laid a hand on Madi, he’d be dead. Hal got Sean an AVO on Joel. He said that if Joel kept mouthing off about drugs or came anywhere near either of them, he’d make sure he was locked up.’

  ‘Let’s go back a second. You said Sean had told Madi he was going into a high-profit business with his father that he wouldn’t explain then suddenly took up meth, and that Hal used an AVO and his job description to threaten Joel into backing off and keeping quiet about what had happened?’

  ‘That about sums it up.’

  Reid turned her around. ‘So it seems pretty obvious to me that the business was manufacturing meth, wasn’t it?’

  Jordan shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

  ‘But neither you nor Madi were ever involved in any way? There’s no way Hal Carter could pin anything on either of you?’

  ‘I wasn’t sure at the time. And I wasn’t taking any chances.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Now she had to be careful. ‘The drugs I had on me were Sean’s. I told the police I was going home, but I wasn’t. I was taking them to Harry when the accident happened.’

  Reid frowned in confusion. ‘Why would you keep that a secret?’

  ‘Because they were in Madi’s stuff. I couldn’t prove they were Sean’s. And…earlier that day Sean had had another go at her. Madi wasn’t in any state to defend herself. I wanted to keep her out of it. She’d been through enough.’

  ‘But you just said you were taking the drugs to Harry.’

  ‘Harry’s different to a bunch of feds. And Sean was dead. What was the point? Hal’s vindictive enough to…’

  ‘To?’

  ‘To make everyone’s lives very difficult. With the amount they found on me, it wasn’t worth it.’

  ‘And Sean knew you had them? Was he coming after you on purpose?’

  ‘No, he blamed Madi.’

  His eyes narrowed in thought. ‘Was he going after her? Where was she?’

  He was so quick, Jordan thought, she couldn’t afford to underestimate how he could piece things together. Or how well he could read her face.

  ‘I just told you, he’d already found her. He’d confronted her at Joel and Carol’s and beaten her badly.’

  ‘Did Joel find out about that before the accident?’

  What was he getting at now? Damn it, this was too hard — she couldn’t keep up with him. ‘He…got to Madi just beforehand.’

  ‘You’re choosing your words very carefully, aren’t you?’

  ‘I don’t want to lie to you.’

  ‘Omission can be a form of lying. You’re scooting around what actually happened during the time of the accident. Why it happened.’

  She made a sound of frustration. ‘Would you just back off?’

  ‘I have no intention of backing off. And I don’t say that as your probation officer.’

  ‘But —’

  He placed a finger over her lips, ‘I’m not going to ask you for anything else today. I’m going to give you some time to get used to what I just said, to think about trusting me with the rest.’

  ‘Reid…’

  ‘I’ll see you soon.’

  His phone was out before he started the car. ‘Brett…what do you know about Hal Carter?’

  There was a surprised silence, then, ‘What are you, psychic?’

  ‘I’m not following.’

  ‘I literally had the phone in my hand to call you. Man…that’s just freaky.’

  There was another silence, this time while Reid pondered his friend’s statement. ‘You haven’t been smoking pot again, have you?’

  ‘Whatever it takes, I do. For the job. For the good of all. Seriously.’

  ‘Uh-huh. I’ll just call you later…’

  ‘You’re not going to want to hang up. Yes, there was another poker game…however, Brian was bitching about how they’re down a man at Carter’s due to Beau’s…unfortunate accident. Being on the ball and brilliant in my own special way, I sensed an opportunity and casually mentioned that if a job opportunity opened up I’d be happier than a pig in shit to hang around, lose the transient mob and take a job where I had a steady supply of that first-grade meth Brian had so kindly provided. Next thing I know, I’m out at Carter’s and your best mate Hal is asking a lot of questions about my probation, and about all those little gems from my make-believe past I fed Brian. Then he changes the topic to the weather, feeds me some crap about a general maintenance position and tells me he’ll let me know.’

  ‘See anything interesting while you were out there?’

  ‘The man’s got a lot of sheds. A lot of sheds — and some mighty big padlocks.’

  ‘He’s still doing it,’ Reid concluded.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘Hal’s our guy. Get yourself in, I need details.’

  ‘Whatever you say, boss.’

  ‘And Brett? Just pretend to inhale next time, okay?’

  CHAPTER

  12

  Monday had dragged. There was nothing else Reid could do about his case until he talked to Joel or heard from Brett. He had no probation meetings, and he couldn’t shift his thoughts from Jordan. He’d almost gotten into the car several times to go out and see her, but he’d promised her a chance to think things through.

  At ten to five he’d wandered down to the café, and while he sat in a window booth, stirri
ng his coffee and waiting for Joel, he attempted to focus on formulating questions in his head. When his phone rang, he picked it up with a bad-tempered ‘What?’

  ‘Well now you’ve hurt my feelings.’

  Reid sighed. ‘Yeah, yeah. What’s up Brett?’

  ‘Should I be asking you that?’

  ‘No.’

  Brett chuckled. ‘I’ll preface this by saying I’m not stoned. Not even a bit. But I am awesome. In fact, if I was there you’d be kissing my feet right about now.’

  ‘Okay, bear in mind I’m not following, but you can be pretty damn sure I wouldn’t be.’

  ‘What if I told you I’m in?’

  ‘In?’

  ‘I got a new job. Seems Carter has some deadlines coming up. I’m officially on the payroll.’

  ‘What do you know?’

  ‘It’s big, buddy. You should see the set-up he’s got over there — two full sheds and enough raw ingredients to supply a small country. Pallets of iodine, red phosphorus, ether, hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide in one shed, methanol and the biggest stash of pseudoephedrine I’ve ever seen in another — it’s all there. Then Brian showed me the lab. Fuck me, it looks like a major pharmaceutical company’s set up shop.’

  ‘You’ve just made my year. But I’m still not going to kiss your feet. What were you saying about a deadline?’

  ‘There’s a drop scheduled for the Saturday night of those cattle sales. Hal’s hoping to get it out while most of the town are occupied. From what’s already piled up it’s going to be a big haul. The gall of this guy is just fucking out there.’

  ‘Great, we’ll schedule a meeting with the team this week.’

  ‘I can get away Wednesday without any problems, that’s it.’

  ‘Done. I’ll contact Tony. Good work buddy. Anything else?’

  ‘I walked in on a pretty heated argument between Hal and Brian. I got the impression Brian’s been helping himself to a little too much of the merchandise.’

  ‘That’s not surprising. He’s got all the physical symptoms of long-term abuse.’

  ‘Yeah, and he just gets more whacko by the minute. He threatened Carter with an “unfortunate accident”. Funny thing is, that’s exactly what he termed Beau’s murder as. Anyway, Carter issued him some kind of ultimatum. Oh, and your girlfriend’s name came up.’