by Janine Grey
‘What are you talking about?’ Jerry said, an edge of panic audible in his voice. ‘You’ve seen the letter. You know he shot through.’
‘Enough, Jerry. We know.’
‘But Logan abandoned you. Everyone knows it.’
Fin said nothing, just watched as slowly, by increments, Jerry’s ruddy face crumpled at the realisation that no amount of bluster or denial could contain his secret any longer. He staggered to the bed and sagged onto it, his head in his hands.
Mairi seemed unmoved by his distress but when Fin looked at her, she met his eyes for the second time that day.
‘Ma,’ he said, softly squeezing her hand. ‘Eliza has something to tell you about Logan, something you’ll want to hear.’
Eliza pulled up a chair and sat next to Mairi, holding her other hand. ‘Logan didn’t leave you, Mairi. He loved you to his last breath and he was thinking of you when he died in the mine thirty-two years ago. I found Logan yesterday and he had your photo close to his heart. He’s been in the mine all this time but I think he was glad to be found so that you would know the truth.’
Slowly, Mairi’s eyes moved from Fin’s to Eliza’s. Then she spoke, one of the few times Fin had heard her voice in recent months. ‘Logan,’ she said.
*
‘I didn’t kill him,’ Jerry told them an hour later while Mairi rested. Eliza sat next to him on a bench in the pretty, manicured garden while Fin paced, hands shoved into his pockets. ‘You have to believe me. I think he was dead when I – when I got there. Mairi had been worried, you see, when he didn’t turn up to spend the weekend like he promised. She hadn’t heard from him so I said I’d go because she had the baby.’
Fin swivelled on his heel and shot Jerry an incredulous look. ‘You think he was dead?’
Jerry bowed his head. ‘When I went into the mine I could see there’d been a collapse. I didn’t want to bring the whole lot crashing down but I called out. For an hour I called Logan’s name. When he didn’t answer, I thought he must already be dead.’
‘You didn’t get help?’ Eliza interjected before she could stop herself, even though she already knew the answer.
Jerry was unable to meet their eyes. ‘I thought, what’s the point? He was already gone. I wrote the letter so she wouldn’t come looking for him.’
‘And to destroy him in her eyes,’ Fin said. For an instant he looked so savage, Eliza put out a hand to restrain him. But then he looked up at her and she saw that his loathing was as much for himself as for the man sitting in front of him, because for his entire life he’d believed the very worst of his father, who was the very best of men.
Jerry’s head dropped lower. ‘I thought she was the loveliest thing, from the very first time Logan introduced us. I thought it would be over between them in weeks. It usually was with Logan.’ He glanced up at Fin. ‘Your dad was a real ladies’ man. But, no, once he saw Mairi, there was no one else for him. I tried to forget about her. Took out some other girls. But . . . it was always Mairi.’
‘Because she was Logan’s,’ Fin said.
‘Well, why should he have everything? It wasn’t fair,’ Jerry whined, sounding more six than sixty. ‘And I did the right thing by Mairi, didn’t I? I stuck by her when Logan was gone.’
‘My dad was dead, Jerry. He didn’t go anywhere. He died where you left him.’
‘Oh God!’ Jerry broke down completely. His shoulders heaved with his sobs.
It was a difficult thing to watch a man of his age cry, but Eliza didn’t have any comfort to offer for a man who even now seemed to weep more for the fact he’d been found out than for what he’d done. She went to stand next to Fin, easing open his fist so she could take her hand in his.
She didn’t know what he planned to do, but it had to be his decision.
‘I’m sorry,’ Jerry moaned when he came up for air. ‘I thought she would turn to me, but she never did. It was always your dad, even when she must have known he was never coming back. But I was happy to be her friend. Mostly. And then you lost your job and reopened the mine, and I got scared of what you’d find. I had to stop you.’
‘It’s over,’ Fin said. ‘All the lies. I think you owe it to Mairi to tell her what you did and what you kept on doing, and then I think you should leave and never come back.’
‘You – you’re not going to call the police?’ Jerry looked at Fin with amazement.
‘I haven’t decided.’
‘But —’
‘Go and tell Ma the truth, Jerry,’ Fin said.
As though the weight of his deceptions sat on him like a physical burden, Jerry heaved himself to his feet. All his arrogance had leached from him with his tears. He looked sad and weak and pathetic, and the least likely person to perpetuate a thirty-year lie.
‘I don’t think I can face her.’
‘She deserves the truth from you!’
Jerry shrugged, defeated. ‘I can’t bear for her to hate me.’ With that, he shuffled away towards the car park. Eliza and Fin watched in silence as he got into his car and drove away.
‘You did the right thing,’ Eliza said at last. ‘Letting him go.’
‘Did I? It doesn’t feel like justice for Logan.’
‘Maybe the truth is enough – and having the respect of his wife and son.’
‘She never put him down,’ he told her. ‘Once, when I was a kid, I got stuck into him. I was saying all kinds of things. She just let me rant, and then she said that my father was a good man, that he would have had good reason to leave the way he did. I couldn’t believe it. A good man didn’t do what he did.’ He laughed, but there was no humour in it. ‘She was right all along.’
‘She knew him,’ Eliza pointed out. ‘You didn’t get the chance.’
‘I wish I’d taken the time to listen to what she had to say. When I got older, she didn’t talk much about him, probably because she didn’t want to fight with me about him.’
‘You can talk to her now,’ Eliza said. ‘It’s not too late.’
Fin gave her a wry look. ‘How did you get to be so wise?’
Eliza thought about that. About her parents, and the things she should have said to them when she’d had the chance. ‘Personal experience of leaving things too late. Do what I say, not what I do.’
She gave him a gentle shove and watched him as he walked back into the nursing home to be with his mother.
At that moment, she had the sensation that her mother was watching on with pride. It had been weeks since she’d last felt her presence. Eliza found a grassy spot and went to sit while she waited for Fin, and in the quiet she told her own mother all the things she’d never said.
*
If the tension on the drive down to Coffs Harbour had made it seem endless, the Land Rover might have sprouted wings on the return trip the following day. More than once Eliza checked behind to ensure that highway patrol wasn’t in pursuit.
‘I’m legal,’ Fin said without taking his eyes from the road.
‘Just.’
‘Do you always do the right thing?’
Eliza couldn’t detect any hint of an accusation in the question so she answered it as thoughtfully as he’d asked it.
‘I do what I think is right,’ she told him. ‘Occasionally, I see a big risk ahead and I plunge in anyway.’
‘The bigger the risk, the greater the potential pay-off.’
‘Yes.’
His phone chirped and, at his nod, she lifted it from its charger on the dash. ‘Hello.’ She listened to Senior Sergeant Rees for a minute, explained where they were and told him they’d stop by shortly.
‘We need to stop at Lightning Ridge,’ she said when she’d hung up. ‘The cops want to talk to us.’
He swung his face to her. ‘They know about Logan?’
‘No. No! They didn’t say that. I think they want to re-interview us, to see if we’ve remembered anything else. And there is something that slipped my mind, good news, I think.’
‘Yeah?’
‘You know the old man who used to mine up at Ruin Flat, whose house I’m staying in? You and Mick said he’d just disappeared without explanation.’
‘Old Pauly? His real name was Paul Daly.’
‘Yes. Well, Leonard Twomey told me yesterday that he was probably in Bali. He said Pauly had been paid off to leave and when he didn’t go, Twomey assaulted him. He denied doing anything worse.’
‘Jesus! The old guy had come into money but wouldn’t say how.’
Eliza frowned. ‘Why would someone be so keen for him to leave?’
Fin flexed his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘I’ve been thinking about that. You remember I got an offer to buy the mine?’
Eliza gave him a wry glance. ‘How could I forget?’
‘It was from a company called Ingeo.’
‘I didn’t think anyone was interested in opal mining these days.’
‘What if it wasn’t opals?’ he said suddenly.
‘But what else – wait!’ She snatched up her phone and called up a search for the name Ingeo. ‘Wow!’
‘What?’ he swerved a little.
‘Keep your eyes on the road,’ she told him absently, her eyes focused on her phone.
He laughed. ‘You should wear your spectacles when you boss me around. And nothing else.’
‘You’re a secret fetishist,’ she murmured, still scrolling. ‘I’ll tell you if you keep your attention on the road.’
‘Okay.’
‘“Mining giant snaps up Ingeo,”’ she quoted. ‘This is an article from six days ago. “Independent geological research innovator Ingeo has been acquired by MineCorp, Australia’s second-biggest miner, for an undisclosed figure thought to be upwards of thirty million dollars.”’ She paused. ‘MineCorp. Your former employer, right?’
‘Yes.’ Fin’s hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel but when he spoke, his voice was calm. ‘So Minecorp owns Ingeo. But they didn’t when Ingeo made me the offer. That was weeks ago.’
‘Mmm,’ Eliza said absentmindedly. She scrolled down page after page, checking each likely link. On page six, she stopped.
‘Well?’ Fin said impatiently.
‘Wait, this could be it.’
‘Tell me.’
‘Ingeo found gas,’ she said faintly. ‘At least there were whispers. Two years ago, they bought some land, carried out surveys and found what is believed to be vast reserves of natural gas north-west of Lightning Ridge. It says here that there was no official confirmation, but there was talk of it being worth more than ten billion dollars if it could be extracted. It doesn’t mention Ruin Flat but it could be the location.’
‘Gas?’ Fin echoed. ‘But it’s opal country. It always has been.’
She glanced up. ‘That’s most likely why Ingeo kept it quiet – and why they’ve passed the buck to MineCorp. It mentions here that the cost of overcoming community and environmental objections would be huge. Easier for Ingeo’s owners to sell and let someone with deeper pockets work out how to make it work. The owners and managers – and it says here the CEO is a guy called Charles Bannister – get a huge pay day.’
‘Six days ago,’ Fin said. ‘So, thinking aloud here . . . Ingeo hires Leonard Twomey because they have a deal on the table and to get it over the line they need everyone off the land. That’s the agreement with MineCorp. And then the big guys can go in and say that everyone’s gone. The opals are exhausted. The era of gas is about to begin, a new boom time.’
‘Possibly, but there’s been a lot of controversy around drilling for gas – it would be a tough sell, even with the prospect of new jobs and infrastructure.’
He grinned without taking his eyes from the road. ‘Tougher still if the legendary dark flame opal is discovered, and opal mining enjoys a sudden revival.’
Eliza felt her pulse tick up at the thought of the magnificent opal, tucked safely in a sock in Fin’s bag.
‘I bet Ingeo assured MineCorp they had met all the terms of the deal, that all opal mining was finished. But then you arrived and when you didn’t take the offer, they panicked. The deal was at stake. Len Twomey was under orders to make sure you were gone.’
‘Yeah. He said something about how he wouldn’t get his money. Presumably if he didn’t get the job done, he forfeited his fee. And when MineCorp finds out they were misled, the deal will be called off. Ingeo stands to lose millions.’ There was more than a little satisfaction in his voice. ‘And MineCorp potentially loses billions.’
‘It’s kind of ironic that their conspiracy inadvertently led to a discovery that will shut down their plans for the foreseeable future.’ Eliza chuckled. ‘Where are you going to get it valued?’
‘Sydney. I don’t want it to get out locally before I’m ready.’
‘Do you have an idea of how much it’s worth?’ she asked.
‘If it’s perfect, a lot. But once it’s polished up, flaws may emerge that would reduce its value.’
‘Guess?’
‘This size, if it’s perfect, up to a million, maybe. Imperfect, a lot less.’
Eliza barely suppressed the gasp that rose in her throat. She swallowed. ‘But either way, enough to take care of Mairi.’
‘I think so.’
Eliza could see from his profile and the set of his shoulders that he looked more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. ‘I’m glad.’
She was. Really. But it struck her that it changed everything. In an instant, Fin had become a wealthy man, while she was still a struggling small business owner. Once news got out, opportunities would open up. He’d be the geologist who’d backed his instincts and found the legendary gem that most thought was just myth. He’d be the man of the moment.
‘What is it?’ Fin slid her a brief glance.
‘Nothing important.’
‘You’ve got something on your mind.’
Not quite ready to share her thoughts, she said, ‘A lot has happened in the last few days,’ she told him. ‘My brain is racing.’
He grunted, but she knew he wasn’t entirely convinced. They knew each other well enough – had shared enough to pick up on tiny cues that spoke far more than words. Sooner or later, she would have to voice her thoughts and they would have to make a decision on where they went from here.
When they reached the turning point, would they go on together – or apart?
An invisible fist reached inside her rib cage and squeezed her heart. Would he want a life with her now his quest was over? When the excitement was replaced by routine? Did she want this man by her side for life? Did they love each other enough to manage the long haul?
Eliza must have made a sound because he looked at her with concern. ‘Are you all right?’
She let out a breath. ‘Yes, but let’s get this meeting with the police over. I want to be home.’
As she said the word, she acknowledged that it was home. Not just Helton and Treloars Cottage, but Fin. She’d found home where she least expected it, and she’d fight before she let it go.
CHAPTER 20
Forty minutes later, Fin swung the Land Rover into a parking spot in front of the Lightning Ridge Police Station.
They didn’t have to wait long before they were ushered into a room with Senior Sergeant Rees, who told them openly that Twomey had made certain admissions in return for favourable consideration. As a result, the police were looking into the activities of a senior executive at Ingeo.
When Eliza showed him the information she’d uncovered about Ingeo’s relationship with MineCorp, and Fin explained their theories about what had taken place, he listened carefully, taking notes throughout. She wondered if he was taking them seriously or if the whole thing sounded too far-fetched to be believable.
Rees asked them to make statements about their encounter with Twomey at the mine. Eliza recounted the events that led her to escape into the mine but, with her eyes firmly on the police officer, she made no mention of what she’d discovered down there. She hadn’t decided until the moment came whether
she would tell or not tell. But in the end she knew it was Fin’s story, and he had to be the one to decide whether or not to let Logan rest in peace.
Fin remained silent as she spoke, and when she’d finished, he went over his movements that day. She was touched when he spoke of the panic he’d felt when he couldn’t reach her and then discovered that she’d been seen driving towards Ruin Flat.
Rees thanked them and told them he’d have their statements typed up for them to sign in the next few days, before showing them out with a professional smile.
‘Nearly forgot,’ Rees said as Fin opened the door for Eliza. ‘Twomey had this on him. He’s kept quiet on why and how he came to have it, but I assume he lifted it from your mining camp.’ He handed a piece of paper to Fin. ‘I’ve taken a copy for our records.’
Eliza froze in shock as Fin took the document. She knew exactly what it was and where Twomey had found it.
‘Thanks,’ Fin said to Rees, letting the door shut behind them. His brows drew together as he read the contract drawn up shortly after his birth that outlined the agreement between Logan McLeod, Ernest Weaver and Hugh Mayberry.
For what seemed a lifetime, they stood there in the car park of the Lightning Ridge Police Station.
‘Did you know about this?’ he asked.
Eliza wanted to deny it, to pretend she’d had no idea of its existence. But she couldn’t. She’d always known that this would come back to haunt her and so it had.
‘I can explain,’ she said tightly. ‘Fin, I know I should have told you.’
‘Too bloody right you should have told me,’ he said quietly.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Get in.’ He indicated the car. ‘I’ll drop you off in Helton.’
Eliza’s heart sank at his words. She’d known she was courting trouble by keeping him in the dark and yet she’d put off the difficult conversation about the mine’s ownership, and had kept putting it off.
She wanted to rage at her own stupidity, and weep for all they were about to lose. Her hard-won pride in herself, his ability to trust, and – most of all – their future.
*
Fin’s head throbbed with tiredness as he drove the last few kilometres to Helton. How could she not have told him about this? How? She must have known how he’d feel to discover her claim on the mine. Of course she did! That’s why she’d stayed silent on the subject. For how long, God knows.