by Loretta Hill
‘Came after you. I imagine he’s at my place by now.’
‘Really?’
‘Really.’ Claudia sighed. ‘Come on, let’s get you out of here. Live to fight another day, eh?’
‘But Elsa, and Shiraz and Merlot and …’ Bronwyn’s eyes were filling with tears again.
‘Yes, yes. We will find them. You have my promise on that.’ Claudia helped her up, glancing around surreptitiously to make sure no one was watching them too closely.
‘Sorry,’ Bronwyn winced. ‘I need to go to the toilet.’
‘Okay,’ Claudia agreed on a sigh. ‘We’ll do that first.’
They headed out to the ladies room and while Bronwyn went in to relieve herself, Claudia happened to be well positioned to see what was going on in the back car park. And what was going on was very interesting indeed!
A couple of men had the shed open and were packing a small trailer with the lights and the fencing.
The hairs on the back of Claudia’s neck rose to razor-sharp points.
Could it be … Was there a fight going down tonight? She got out her phone and snapped a quick photo of the men before Bronwyn came out of the bathroom.
When she did, she pulled her friend at a fast pace towards the front door. Bronwyn tripped unsteadily on her feet, knocking against Claudia’s shoulder as she pulled her across the street.
‘What are you doing?’ Bronwyn slurred. ‘I can’t walk that fast, and come to think of it, I don’t think I should be driving.’
‘Don’t worry, I will,’ said Claudia. ‘Where’s your car? I took the bus over.’
‘It’s just there.’
By lucky chance, it was conveniently placed just in front of the entrance to the side car park. From the front seat, they could see whoever was driving in or out of The Quiet Gentleman.
‘Great spot, Bron.’
‘I thought I did a terrible job of parking the car though,’ Bronwyn giggled. ‘And that was before I was drunk.’
‘Don’t sweat it. Nobody’s good at parallel parking,’ Claudia said distractedly as she focused her gaze on the car park.
Her palms were starting to perspire as she positioned herself in the driver’s seat, wondering whether what she was about to do was really such a good idea.
Stuff it! This is the only way to catch them.
Bronwyn had sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, but when Claudia didn’t start the engine, she opened them and looked over. ‘Is it just me, or are we not moving?’
‘We’re waiting.’ Claudia nervously licked her lips.
‘For what?’
‘For the trailer packed with equipment that’s going to the dog fight to drive out of that car park.’
Bronwyn sat up straight. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I’m going to show you how real reconnaissance is done, girl. Are you in?’
Bronwyn rubbed her temple. ‘I’m not sober enough for this.’
‘I could leave you behind.’
‘No way!’ Bronwyn pursed her lips. ‘But shouldn’t we tell someone?’
‘You’re right.’ Claudia whipped her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number of the only man she trusted.
‘Claudia, where are you?’
‘Seb, I think a dog fight is going down tonight. They are packing up a vehicle at the pub. I’m going to follow them.’
‘Claudia, under no circumstance are you to go on your own.’
‘I’m not on my own,’ she smiled. ‘Bronwyn is with me.’
Bronwyn turned and gave her a clumsy-looking thumbs up. Cringing slightly, she gave the thumbs up back and focused her gaze ahead again. She didn’t think it would be wise to mention that Bronwyn was drunk.
‘Bronwyn will need just as much protection as you,’ Seb began.
Probably more.
‘You –’
‘Don’t worry,’ she interrupted him, ‘I’m not going to need it. I’m not even going to get out of the car. Trust me. Once I’m close enough to see where it is, I’ll text you the address and you can get the police involved. I just thought I’d give you a heads-up so you’re prepared.’
‘Claudia –’
‘Keep your phone on, okay?’
‘Claudia –’
‘Can’t talk now. They’re pulling out.’
She clicked her phone off and turned on the engine just as the ute and attached trailer bumped gently out the driveway of The Quiet Gentleman.
Bronwyn clapped her hands. ‘I feel like I’m in NCIS. Let’s get these bastards!’
As Claudia turned the car out into the street, Bronwyn’s body swayed with it and she hit her head on the window. ‘Ow!’
Claudia eyed her with misgiving. ‘Er … maybe you should just try to sit back and relax. Sober up a bit.’
‘I’m fine. In fact, I’m really quite pumped about this. It’s a shame we don’t have any weapons.’
‘Bronwyn,’ Claudia said firmly, ‘we are not getting out of the car. This is purely recon.’
‘Of course,’ Bronwyn smiled, ‘although I do have some hairspray in my handbag. Do you think that works as well as pepper spray?’
‘Bronwyn.’
‘Okay. No getting out of the car.’
Just as she finished speaking, Claudia’s phone buzzed again. Bronwyn fished it out of the centre console. ‘It’s Sebastian Rowlands.’
Claudia shook her head. ‘Don’t answer it. He just wants to talk me out of this. Switch it off, will you.’
Bronwyn did so and put the phone back on the dash. ‘I just have one question.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Why did you call Sebastian Rowlands of all people? I thought you hated the guy.’
Uh-oh.
Claudia felt heat infuse her face. ‘Er … hate is a really strong word.’
‘I knew it!’ Bronwyn flicked a finger at her. ‘You have the hots for him, don’t you?’
‘I –’
‘Geez, Claudia. If you’re not even going to admit it to me, then it must be serious.’
‘It’s complicated.’ Claudia frowned, making a right turn as the trailer two cars ahead of her did so. ‘For a number of reasons,’ she winced, ‘particularly as I’ve started living with him as well.’
‘You’ve what?’
‘I didn’t want to say anything,’ she groaned, ‘but your apartment was broken into last week and Seb felt that if I stayed there I wouldn’t be safe. So I moved into his place.’
‘Really?’ Bronwyn’s eyes widened. ‘Who suggested that?’
‘My uncle.’ She lifted her hands briefly off the wheel to make quotation marks around ‘uncle’.
Bronwyn frowned. ‘Uncle Cyril didn’t think it was inappropriate?’
‘It’s only supposed to be temporary and Sebastian has a big house.’
‘So, how are you finding it?’ Bronwyn prompted again, when she said no more. ‘The co-habitation, that is?’
‘It’s hard.’
‘Because he’s your boss?’
‘And because I think I’m falling in love with him.’
‘Well,’ Bronwyn spread her hands reasonably, ‘if you’re worried about seeing someone you work with, just change jobs.’
Claudia grimaced.
‘You’re already in hot water at Hanks and Eddings with everyone thinking you’re Cyril’s niece. Why not make a fresh start somewhere else, where there won’t be any stigma attached to you? We both know you can make it anywhere, Claud.’
‘Thanks for the vote of confidence. When this Leon McCall debacle is over, I might just do that,’ Claudia agreed. ‘But it won’t solve my problem with Seb.’
‘Which is?’
‘He’s just not boyfriend material.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Because he told me.’
‘Oh.’ Bronwyn was finally stumped.
‘He might as well have said, “Quit while you’re ahead, sweetheart.”’
‘Then maybe you should. After all, there
are stacks of good-looking, successful men out there.’
Claudia nodded reluctantly. She was absolutely right, of course. No point in putting her life on hold for something that was never going to happen.
‘Good point.’
The dog fighters made a left turn, this time on to the main freeway. It looked like they were heading south. Claudia tried to stay at least two cars behind. She had absolutely no idea about tailing technique but she figured out of plain sight was probably a good move.
‘So,’ she said carefully, ‘I’ve been hearing some weird things from Jack.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like he said he’s in love with you, and you’re going to hurt him.’
Bronwyn’s gaze swung to her and she shoved Claudia’s shoulder, causing the wheel in her hands to jerk a little left. ‘Really, he said that?’
‘Hey! Careful!’ Claudia laughed, swerving back. ‘We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.’
‘Right,’ Bronwyn said dismissively. ‘But he said that?’
‘Yeah, he really did.’ Claudia threw an amused glance at Bronwyn. ‘I take it these feelings are returned.’
Her friend’s eyes were looking a little teary. ‘Yes, but I’ve just … I’ve just been so scared it’s not real. Do I believe him, Claudia? I mean, you know Jack.’
‘Don’t I ever!’ Claudia nodded. ‘Stand by your guns, Bron, and if it’s real, he’ll definitely come to you.’
Just as she finished speaking, the vehicle they were following turned off the freeway and the scenery around them became less suburban and more semi-rural.
‘Take note of the freeway exit,’ Claudia said to Bronwyn. ‘Cause we’ll need to give that to the police.’
‘Yep,’ her best friend nodded. Luckily, Bronwyn was starting to sober up a little now, or perhaps it was Claudia’s own tenseness affecting her.
Suddenly the ute ahead slowed right down and pulled off onto a dirt track marked with a rusty old sign, Hero’s Parade.
Claudia raised her eyebrows. ‘I hope that sign is talking about us.’
She pulled the car onto the shoulder of the road just before the turn-off. They watched the other car and trailer disappear through the trees. There was not a house or a residence in sight.
‘Should we follow now?’ Claudia asked her best friend.
Bronwyn leaned forward in her seat, peering through the trees, trying to catch even a glimpse of the vehicle they’d been following. ‘I don’t know. We don’t know how far that road goes in, and then what if they see us? I think it’s too risky.’
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Claudia nodded. ‘Besides, I think we’ve pretty much arrived. They’ve got to be having the fight in that bushland right? It’s the perfect place.’
Bronwyn mouth twisted. ‘Yeah, the perfect place.’ She took Claudia’s phone off the dash and passed it to her. ‘Call your boyfriend.’
‘He’s not my boyfriend.’ But Claudia took the phone off her anyway and switched it on to call Seb. However, when she found his number, the line would not connect. She pulled the phone from her ear and eyed the signal bars at the top of her screen.
‘Damn it! We’re in a blind spot,’ she cried. ‘There’s no signal out here.’
Bronwyn shook her head. ‘That can’t be right. We’re not that far out of the city. What about if you try it outside the car? I’ll try mine too.’
They exited the vehicle, waving their phones around trying to get a signal. So focused were they on what they were doing, they didn’t see another car approaching until it was too late.
A silver Mercedes Benz pulled up on the road beside them. The tinted window slid down like a Hollywood reveal.
Bronwyn’s arms dropped to her sides as she looked at the driver in shock. ‘Mum?’
Bianca Hanks removed her sunglasses and eyed her daughter with equal surprise. ‘To be quite honest, Bronwyn, I had no idea you could be this resourceful.’
Chapter 31
The shock of seeing Bronwyn’s mother on the side of the road was completely trumped when a second later they heard barking from within her vehicle.
Bronwyn gasped. ‘Elsa!’
The honey-brown bullmastiff was panting heavily against the back passenger window, creating a large moist fog on the glass.
How on earth did she get you to stay in your seat?
Bronwyn raced towards the door just as Bianca hit the central locking button on her dash. The door was secure by the time she got there and pulling angrily on the handle was useless. She slammed a fist on the window, as Elsa barked excitedly. She peered beyond the happy canine and saw a full cardboard box also on the back seat.
‘You took my puppies!’ she cried.
‘So you didn’t know,’ Bianca smiled. ‘And here I was crediting you with having put it all together. Oh well, I guess I’ll see you later then.’
On these words, she wound up her window and drove on, her wheels kicking dust in Bronwyn’s face.
‘What is going on here?’ Claudia cried as she stumbled up beside Bronwyn.
‘I don’t know,’ Bronwyn turned around. ‘But I’m sure as hell going to find out.’ She raced back to their car. ‘Who’s driving? Me or you?’
‘I better.’ Claudia nodded. They created their own cloud of dust as she spun the wheels down the dirt road after Bianca Hanks.
‘What is your mum doing with those dogs?’
Bronwyn clutched the dash in front of her as she perched as far forward on her seat as her seatbelt would let her. Her knuckles were going white as her eyes remained fixed on her mother’s car.
‘Revenge obviously, or some lesson she wants to teach me,’ she ground out. ‘I wouldn’t go back to law so she had to find some way to coerce me.’
‘By stealing your dogs in the dead of night?’ Claudia rolled her eyes. ‘Sounds a little extreme.’
‘My mother is not above extreme.’ Bronwyn sucked in a breath. ‘She was the one who got Jack to go to Bordeaux. He didn’t abandon you guys, you know. He thought he was being kicked out of the country.’
‘No.’ Claudia refused to believe it. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’
‘It’s a long story,’ Bronwyn sighed. ‘But, to cut it really short, Jack thought your dad kicked him out of the country. Only it was my mum who sent him a ticket and a job offer. She did it just to make sure I stayed in law and didn’t move to Yallingup, which was kind of my idea at the time.’
‘Okay,’ Claudia took a hand off the wheel briefly to shake a finger at her, ‘you are definitely leaving parts of that story out. Do you mean to tell me that you’ve been in love with my brother all this time and you’ve said nothing to me till now?’
Bronwyn winced.
‘We are going to have some serious words after this, let me tell you.’
‘Definitely later,’ Bronwyn agreed. ‘Right now, we really need to focus on what my mother plans to do next.’
Claudia’s nose wrinkled. ‘What I still don’t get is how she knew where to steal the dogs from. I mean, we were so careful about keeping your whereabouts a secret.’
‘It was me.’ Bronwyn looked sheepish.
‘What was you?’
‘I blabbed. I told her where I was when I rang up to yell at her for interfering in my life, and Jack’s too, for that matter.’
‘Looks like she’s still interfering,’ Claudia commented dryly as she swerved to miss a pothole. ‘You don’t think she’s in cahoots with Leon McCall, do you? I mean, your mother can be cruel, but she’s definitely not a criminal.’
Bronwyn shook her head firmly. ‘There’s no way she’d put her license to practice law in jeopardy. She loves what she does.’
Far more than me, anyway.
‘So if we’re not going to a dog fight,’ Claudia mused, ‘where are we going?’
Even as she posed the question, the road ended suddenly in a clearing – a massive oval in fact. Their mouths dropped opened as myriad colours and sounds and smells assaulted their senses �
�� tents, stalls, people, candy floss, rides, music and … lots and lots of animals. Dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, snakes, fish in bags. There was even a camel being led around with an Arabian carpet on its back.
Claudia’s foot fell off the clutch and the car jerked and stalled.
They were at a fair.
The Great South-West Pet Show, apparently. There were flags and banners flying everywhere in red, white and yellow.
Well I’ll be damned.
Clearly they’d just taken a shortcut through a national park to reach the showgrounds. Frank and his men were setting up the lights and fencing off to one side. There was an elevated stage there and heaps of people were laying out picnic rugs in front of it to watch. It looked like whatever was about to take place on the stage was the main event of the day. They needed the lights because it might continue after dark.
A car behind them tooted noisily.
‘Quick, drive over to the car park.’ Bronwyn pointed in the distance. ‘I can see it over there. My mum too.’
Claudia tried to follow her instructions, although the car park was a nightmare to navigate. Narrow lanes, horns tooting, cars parked both legally and illegally, kids running dangerously across the bitumen. Literally every man and his dog were there.
‘I don’t understand,’ Claudia cried as she circled the block yet again. ‘I was so sure, Frank, Peter and Leon were all connected. I never factored in your mum at all.’
‘Maybe she’s not involved with them. My mum could be acting completely under her own steam.’
‘So do you think Leon McCall is still after you then?’ Claudia asked.
‘He very well could be,’ Bronwyn cringed and then spotted a space. ‘There!’ she pointed urgently for Claudia’s benefit.
It wasn’t a car park. More like a vacant patch of grass and gravel close to the kerb. Everybody else was illegally parking though, so Bronwyn figured why the hell not.
‘I’ll pay the fine,’ she offered, just in case Claudia had a problem with it.
‘We’ll go halves.’ Claudia swung in to the spot.
They jumped out of the car, making it back on foot to where they’d seen Bianca parking earlier. Bronwyn had not expected to find her mother still there, however good old Elsa had had other ideas. The large bullmastiff had wound its leash around Bianca and pinned her up against the side of her car, front paws up on her chest.