Deadly Secrets

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘We’ve been talking,’ Joel began.

  ‘Of course you have.’

  ‘Tomorrow’s Tuesday.’

  ‘I know what day it is, Joel. I don’t have a concussion.’

  ‘My point is, it’s only a few days to the sale and you’re not going to be able to do everything yourself.’

  She shook her head slowly. ‘Why are we worrying about the sale?’ Then, looking at Reid, ‘Aren’t you going to have us arrested or something?’

  ‘Is that seriously what you think I’m going to do?’ He held out a hand and covered hers, and the show of affection surprised her into silence. ‘All you need to do right now is concentrate on getting your cattle sold so you can keep your property.’

  When she didn’t immediately reply, Joel spoke up. ‘I’m going to take your stud cattle to my place, then out to the showground on Thursday with Matt. It’ll be easier to keep an eye on them. The steers will have to stay and recover as best they can, but we’ll put them into your most secure paddock and have someone stay over with you until the sale.’

  Jordan’s eyes flew to his face. ‘You’ll what?’

  Harry cleared his throat. ‘I’ll do what I can, but if I can’t pin this on Hal quickly, I want someone here on the spot if he tries anything else.’

  Jordan removed her hand stiffly from under Reid’s and sat up straight. The whole three against one thing was frustrating as hell. ‘Okay.’

  ‘Okay?’ the men echoed almost comically. Her hands slid across to rub her eyes.

  ‘There are conditions. Joel, take my truck back to your place. It’s full of feed. Tell Matt he can have that little heifer he’s had his eye on in payment for tending to the other show stock. I’ll come over every day and do what I can with the cattle myself. Anyone else that helps with anything will be paid for it. I could use someone on the place while I’m at the sale but I absolutely do not need anyone babysitting me in my own home.’

  ‘I can live with that,’ Joel agreed wisely. ‘All except the leaving you here on your own part.’

  ‘He’s right, Jordan.’ Harry got to his feet. ‘And in anticipation of a long and redundant argument, I’m heading off. Night all.’

  ‘You’re out-voted, Jordan,’ Reid added when Harry had gone. ‘You can work something more suitable out tomorrow, but for tonight you should stay with Joel and Carol.’

  ‘I’m not going to be chased out of my own house!’

  ‘Fine. Then I’ll bunk on the lounge tonight and head off when Joel and Matt arrive back for the cattle in the morning.’

  ‘What? Whoa! Look, I have Mack and you know he’d rip someone’s arm off before he let them touch me.’

  ‘That may be so but I’m not putting all this on a dog.’

  Closing her eyes on a resigned sigh, Jordan got up. She just didn’t have the energy to argue with them. ‘I suppose you want dinner too?’

  ‘Great idea.’

  ‘Absolutely. I’ll start up the barbeque,’ Joel offered. ‘Reid, find us food.’

  Jordan rolled her eyes. ‘Suddenly they’re best friends.’

  Reid studied her with concern. Unsurprisingly, she looked about ready to fall over, but he decided he liked the idea of getting some food into her before she went to bed. Crossing the room, he opened the pantry and saw only cheap tins of food and half a loaf of bread. The distressed look he aimed at her almost had her smiling. ‘I don’t care how broke you are — tell me you don’t exist on this?’

  ‘Only sometimes, but not for guests. Veranda, last door along, big freezer. Take your pick. In the basket beside the freezer are the vegies from the garden this morning. Know how to make a salad?’

  ‘I think I can handle it,’ he said with obvious relief and headed outside. He found the chest freezer with no effort and lifted the double doors. A mass of meat to rival a butcher’s shop sat in front of him in neatly labelled vacuum-sealed bags. ‘Hello dinner!’

  Suddenly much more enthusiastic, he found the biggest t-bone steaks he’d ever seen and took three, then found the freshly picked vegetables and headed back to the kitchen.

  ‘Didn’t know you farmed dinosaurs.’ He dropped the steaks into the sink to defrost. ‘What are they, stegosaurus?’

  ‘Hereford,’ Jordan mumbled.

  She had her good arm folded on the table with her head resting on it while she spoke quietly to Joel. She looked so fragile — an illusion he knew was far from fact, but just then he felt fiercely protective. She caught his eye, and, he thought, some of what he was thinking, because her look was surprised, then vulnerable, then defensive.

  ‘You look ready to pass out,’ he observed, then kicked himself when she straightened self-consciously.

  ‘I’m —’

  ‘Fine, I know.’

  But she wasn’t fine, she admitted to herself. Everything hurt, the medication Tim had given her was making her nauseous and tired, and she didn’t know what was going to happen to Joel. Meanwhile, she was sitting in her kitchen, watching the most infuriating, attractive, unsettling man she’d ever met, chopping vegetables. She got to her feet and two sets of eyes tracked her progress. ‘I’m sorry… you’re right. I have to sleep.’

  ‘You should really try and eat something.’ The concern touched her, but she shook her head.

  ‘We’ll leave you a plate in case you’re up later and hungry, love,’ Joel offered.

  ‘Thanks.’ With a smile for both of them, she left them to it.

  Reid didn’t even try to sleep. All he could think about was Jordan. He went for a walk, made himself a cup of coffee and, setting himself up at the kitchen table, worked on his case until 4 a.m.

  At 7 a.m., after attempting to sleep for three hours with little success, Reid dragged himself off the lounge. His first stop was for coffee and he was headed there as Joel and Matt walked in.

  ‘Morning, Reid.’ Joel took a good look at him and grinned. ‘Rough night?’

  ‘Joel, Matt. That lounge is comfortable for about ten minutes, then it hardens like concrete.’

  ‘How’s Jordy?’ Matt asked.

  Reid was wondering the same thing. ‘Haven’t seen her this morning.’

  ‘Well, gotta be up before dawn to catch her, I suppose.’ Joel nodded.

  Reid hadn’t thought of that. He’d just assumed she was sleeping. Joel obviously read his thoughts and explained, ‘Ute’s gone, no dog around.’

  Reid just shook his head in disbelief. ‘She’s unstoppable. Want coffee?’

  ‘We were hoping you’d ask.’

  On the mountain, Jordan finished fixing the fence and threw her tools onto the back of the ute. She stretched carefully and yawned. She’d awoken at five and disappeared quietly to the shed to work her way through the mountain of tasks that needed doing for the sale. Now everything was clean, packed and ready to go, and every damaged bone, muscle and joint in her body was protesting loudly. She’d desperately wanted a shower this morning to take out some of the ache, but hadn’t wanted to wake Reid. Not that he’d looked particularly comfortable. She’d felt a quick stab of guilt when she’d seen him half on, half off the lounge. After all, there was a perfectly good spare bedroom next to hers. And wasn’t he going to be impressed if he ever found that out?

  Taking a moment to soak up the warming morning sun, she closed her eyes and absorbed the sounds of the forest coming to life around her. Mack sat and leaned against her leg and, when she looked down, turned his adoring eyes up to her face.

  ‘Who could have guessed you’d turn out to be such a good mate?’ She leaned down to scratch his ears affectionately and got a happy lick in return. ‘Come on, let’s get back.’

  She saw the work going on below as she drove towards the yards, saw Reid pause to watch at her approach and felt the now-familiar warm flutter in the pit of her stomach.

  ‘Hi,’ she greeted everyone, easing out of the ute.

  ‘Sore?’ Joel grimaced for her.

  ‘Loosening up,’ she promised. ‘Might grab a hot shower tho
ugh. I’ll help you load up first.’

  ‘Jordy, do you honestly think Matt and I need help putting this lot on the truck? Go have your shower, feel better. And put your sling on!’

  ‘Okay. Thank you.’ She lifted up on her toes and planted a noisy kiss on his cheek. ‘I’ll be over shortly.’

  ‘Once these few are loaded I’m heading into work, so take it easy this morning and come over about midday for lunch. I’ll have Matt mind the store this afternoon and we’ll go over everything then.’

  ‘Okay, will do. You off?’ she asked Reid.

  ‘Yeah. Got a pretty full day. Take care, alright? Go easy.’

  ‘I’ll —’

  ‘Be fine, I know. But if anything…just call me. I can be back here as quick as you need.’

  Jordan blinked in surprise. ‘Okay.’

  ‘See you.’ He climbed into the car and reversed, swung and drove away.

  ‘Nice of him,’ Joel commented casually as she watched his car disappear.

  ‘Yeah.’

  She was thrown at how the simple offer had floored her. It took things from the simple ‘attraction’ stage to the ‘care about’ stage. But…they were already there, weren’t they? What was last night? His staying wasn’t exactly for seduction purposes. How had they got there?

  ‘I’m going to go take that shower.’

  ‘Good. By the way, Madi and Matt will be staying here until the sale. And don’t go yelling at me. They insisted.’

  ‘Even I know when it’s pointless to argue,’ she called over her shoulder.

  CHAPTER

  13

  ‘So we’ve got a lab, a shipment ready, an offshore account, and a date,’ Tony relayed to the team at large as they sat around the table discussing the case. As you know, Brett’s been under on Carter. Brett?’

  Brett stood and approached the screen. ‘Okay, first let me introduce you to my friends.’ He clicked a button. Onscreen, Hal Carter and his men flashed up. ‘They’re known affectionately as Nasty, Sleazy, Smelly, Shifty, Crazy and Dopey.’

  ‘You’re one short,’ Detective Rita Jones pointed out.

  ‘They never got the seventh.’

  ‘But five faces on screen — six names.’

  Reid coughed, smirked. ‘Dopey’s Brett.’

  ‘Finally a nickname that makes sense,’ someone else commented.

  ‘I’m gathering Sleazy is our dead guy?’ Tony asked.

  ‘Yep, and you may as well put a question mark over Crazy too.’

  ‘Dunmore?’ Reid snapped to attention. ‘What gives?’

  ‘Brian’s gone.’

  ‘Gone?’

  ‘Carter’s claiming he pinched a decent stash and took off.’

  ‘You don’t think so?’

  Brett looked unconvinced. ‘He just vanished. Didn’t even clean out his room.’

  ‘Interesting. I wonder if he’ll turn up in a ditch like Davison.’

  ‘Any leads on that?’ Tony interrupted again.

  ‘Harry’s been looking into it, but nothing as yet.’ Reid shuffled through some papers. ‘What’s with the offshore account?’

  ‘It’s in Carter’s dead son’s name,’ Tony replied. ‘Every six months like clockwork, another million finds its way into this account. We’ve got people attempting to trace it back.’

  Reid did the math. ‘That’s what…a good twenty kilos a year?’

  ‘Depends on how well he’s paid. Regardless, it’s about to be our biggest bust yet.’

  ‘It’s good news. We’re another step closer,’ Rita said.

  ‘And your girlfriend’s clean.’ Brett smirked at Reid.

  ‘I wish you’d stop with that.’

  ‘If I was in your shoes, buddy, she’d be mine.’

  ‘Funny, I sort of thought you were attached to a stunning, leggy blonde psychologist who goes by the name of Kelly…’

  ‘Gentlemen…’ Tony cleared his throat. Neither paid any attention.

  ‘I said “If I were in your shoes”, remember?’

  ‘Yeah, well she turned you down anyway.’

  ‘Shot me down in flames, more like. Problem is, you get a smart mouth like that on a woman that looks like her and your brains just fall into your balls. It’s hard to keep a step ahead.’

  Rita laughed. ‘You losing your touch, Dopey?’

  ‘I nearly lost my arm.’

  ‘Would’ve liked to see that.’

  ‘It was entertaining,’ Reid acknowledged.

  ‘But you were pretty damn happy she put those pills back in my pocket.’

  ‘Gentlemen!’ Tony tried again. ‘Brett, let’s have it. Hal Carter. Go.’

  ‘Yes sir.’

  As they exited the meeting, Brett caught up to Reid and slapped him on the back. ‘Ready for this?’

  ‘Are you kidding? Bring it on.’

  ‘Personal, eh?’

  ‘This is the closest I’ve ever been to finding out who’s running the show.’

  ‘Put any more thought into what you’re going to do once you have?’

  ‘Not exactly.’

  ‘So what’s the go with you taking off? Usually before a raid I can’t drag you kicking and screaming from this place. Leaving the overseeing to Rita is unheard of.’

  ‘Rita’s more than capable.’

  ‘Agreed. However…’

  ‘I need to get back.’

  ‘I get that. Why?’

  ‘You’re just like a dog with a bone, you know that?’

  Brett grinned. ‘A hound dog. And you know that’s what I’ll do. I’ll just hound and hound and hound —’

  ‘The cattle sales are on.’

  ‘The cattle sales?’ Brett laughed in disbelief. ‘Wait, really? You’re leaving the biggest deal of your career to date…to attend a cattle sale?’

  ‘It’s make or break for Jordan. A big deal.’

  ‘Ah, for Jordan. Suddenly it makes perfect sense. But she’s not your girlfriend.’

  There was a clicking of heels on tiles. ‘Who’s not your girlfriend?’

  ‘Kel!’ Brett swept his wife around, dipped and planted a kiss on her mouth.

  ‘Hi there.’ She smiled and turned to Reid. ‘You just about finished with my husband, gorgeous? I’d like him back.’

  ‘Not long now, beautiful.’ Reid swept her around almost identically to Brett, then paused, sent Brett a wicked grin and instead, pecked her chastely on the cheek. ‘How are you?’

  Kelly laughed. ‘Lonely. If he won’t come back, how about we run away together?’

  ‘Sorry Kel,’ Brett said, ‘there’s now a small matter of a certain not-girlfriend he’s obsessed with.’

  ‘Reid obsessed with a woman? What alternate reality are we visiting here?’

  ‘I’m not —’

  ‘Hold on…when have you had time to meet a woman?’ Kelly’s eyes narrowed, started to dance. ‘In your little country town? You’ve fallen for a farmer?’

  ‘It’s not a dirty word, Kel,’ Reid replied wryly.

  ‘Of course not.’ She laughed in delight. ‘But you?’

  ‘Right-o. That’s it. I’m out of here.’

  Kelly watched, fascinated, as her friend of eight years headed down the hallway with a purpose. ‘Did Reid just say “right-o”?’

  Reid caught up to Tony just as he reached his office, and without waiting for an invitation, followed him inside. ‘I need five minutes to run a completely hypothetical situation past you.’

  Tony checked his watch, decided he could spare it. ‘I love those ones. Shoot.’

  Tony listened without interrupting while Reid told him about Jordan’s accident, then thought about it before nodding slowly. ‘Sounds like this not-girlfriend of yours has gone through a lot to protect the people she cares about. Right or wrong, she put herself in harm’s way to save her friend, then copped the fallout to stop this Tanner fellow being wrongfully charged with murder by a dirty judge. Just like it sounds as though Tanner at least tried to do what he thought he needed to
do to keep his family safe, and that he’s happy to cop anything that gets thrown at him now for that same reason.’

  ‘Yeah. How do I fix this, Tony?’

  ‘Ever heard of a deal, Easton? You get those drugs off Tanner, get statements, make sure they’re all willing to testify if it comes to that. I’m not interested in persecuting victims — just get your ass back to Whitewater Creek and get me Carter.’

  The showground was alive with animated chatter as busy cattle owners met up with friends and washed, clipped and settled-in their charges. Enormous, open-sided sheds housed row after row of gleaming stud stock, from massive bulls to tiny calves. Stall owners set up shop, volunteers put together show rings and the smell of coffee and fried food wafted on the air.

  The atmosphere was bright and cheerful, and Jordan loved it. She had so many wonderful memories of this place, of this particular show and sale. But this time there was a real urgency to it that clouded the fun. This time everything depended on the outcome of the sale.

  And she’d had to go and get herself injured.

  She was in the washbays, swearing under her breath, desperately trying to clip the belly of an unwilling Hereford heifer, but the clippers in her injured arm felt ten times their usual weight and just wouldn’t go where she wanted them to.

  Concerned this was going to be the worst job in history, she turned them off, frustrated, kicking a nearby bucket of water over just for the hell of it.

  ‘Trouble?’

  Jordan straightened and closed her eyes briefly. How was it he had the most amazing knack of turning up at the most unfortunate moments? Well, she might be ridiculously happy he was here…but she didn’t have to tell him that. Because where had he been for the last three days, anyway?

  She took a deep breath and turned slowly. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I answered that question the first time I met you.’

  You. His answer, and the accompanying look he hit her with, sent her breath rushing from her lungs and had the bottom dropping straight out of her stomach. She thought she might need to sit down; almost forgot she was mad at him.

  Almost.

  ‘Well that certainly explains why you just dropped off the planet for three days.’