A Daughter’s Choice

by Lee Christine

  ‘But if it’s granted you’ll go?’

  ‘Don’t put words in my mouth.’

  ‘Will you?’

  ‘For God’s sake. It depends.’

  ‘Don’t bother dumbing your life down for me,’ he said harshly.

  ‘You jerk!’ Blind fury propelled Lynsey forward and she raised her hands and shoved him hard in the chest, though she didn’t even knock him off balance. ‘Don’t you dare play the victim with me. I’m the victim here. I’m the one who’s just about to lose what was my birthright.’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘What about the workers?’

  ‘I feel for them too.’

  ‘I’m not sure you do.’ The open temper that had flared in his eyes quickly changed to disappointment.

  Well bad luck. She was disappointed in him too. ‘How can you say I don’t feel for their plight? You were there this morning when I handed over evidence that could send my father to prison. Mum and I didn’t have to do that. We could have kept that stuff hidden, saved ourselves all the shame, all the embarrassment.’

  He didn’t answer. Just stood there, a defensive set to his shoulders.

  ‘The Masters … you. We need time to sort all that stuff out.’ Angry tears pricked at the backs of her eyes but she refused to give in to them. ‘For God’s sake, Julian—show some faith in me for once. What are you trying to do, push me away again?’

  ‘I’m not pushing. You’re walking … again.’

  ‘That’s not fair and you know it.’

  It didn’t have to be like this. They should have been able to work it out— they weren’t eighteen anymore. But he refused to listen. He heard only what he wanted to hear.

  ‘You know, you’re right.’ She backed away towards the door, her throat closing over with unshed tears. ‘This is me, walking, not fleeing to Brisbane heartbroken because my boyfriend just gave me an ultimatum. Choosing to walk … because I deserve better than someone who always thinks the worst of me.’ She raised her hand and pointed a shaky finger at him. ‘One day, I hope you regret what you just said.’

  ‘Lynsey …’

  She took another two steps back, then turned and fled inside.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Julian stood at the glass window looking out over the refinery perched on the edge of Botany Bay, trying to imagine what Captain Cook and the crew of the Endeavour would think if they saw the place now. Further over was the desalination plant, built to supply water when drought hit and the dams ran low. It had never been used, becoming a two-billion-dollar white elephant in the eyes of many who regarded recycled water as the more sensible, cheaper option.

  Where would Lynsey stand on that argument? As an agricultural scientist he’d bet she’d be all for recycled water.

  Lynsey.

  No matter where he looked or which way he turned she was always there, in his heart, in his head, a head that was thundering like a wildebeest migration thanks to the ‘mother of all headaches’ as Lynsey liked to put it.

  Lynsey again.

  ‘Here’s the water you asked for, Mr Stone.’

  He turned gingerly and took the glass the receptionist handed him. Gut roiling, he dug in his pocket and pressed two painkillers from the blister pack. ‘Analgesics’ as Lynsey called them.

  There she was again.

  Lynsey bloody Carter!

  He couldn’t drink her away no matter how hard the liquor.

  After on-selling his tanker yesterday, he’d found himself commiserating with the hotel barman until midnight when he should have been celebrating. Now, the prospect of a day of negotiations while coping with the car crash in his head had him severely regretting his actions.

  Not as much as he regretted fighting with Lynsey though. God, he was a dick. When was he ever going to learn?

  He pulled out his mobile phone, his thumb hesitating over the screen. He wanted to call but maybe a message would be better. A short apology? He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds and slipped the phone back into his pocket. What he had to say couldn’t be said in a message, or even in a phone call. Better to let everything settle down and talk to her face to face when he got back.

  The walls trembled as an A380 took off from Sydney Airport, the muted roar of the engines adding fuel to his headache as, outside, the shadow of its mighty wingspan moved across the refinery and headed out into the Pacific.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  By Tuesday afternoon cabin fever had well and truly hit the Carter family. Veronica’s house had been given a spring clean and Lynsey had ticked off a list of odd jobs her mother had been putting off for months.

  ‘You should go into the shop tomorrow, Mum. I’ve done what the doctor said and rested up for a couple of days. I’m fine.’ She was far from fine and her mother knew it. She also knew better than to press her daughter on the sensitive subject of Julian Stone.

  Julian Stone. The man made her blood boil. Every time they looked like they were moving forward that damn chip on his shoulder pulled them up like a set of road spikes. How many times did she need to reassure him? He was one of the smartest people she knew, smarter than her, despite his conviction to the contrary. He was business smart, good with his hands, practical. She was good at analysing things. Didn’t he know everyone was smart in different ways? Clearly not.

  Lynsey picked up the basket of folded laundry and traipsed up the stairs. She hadn’t heard a word from him, which meant he was still angry. Well, so be it. That made two of them.

  She set the basket down on the bed, heart leaping as her phone began vibrating on the desk. Hope building that it might be him, Lynsey snatched up the phone. He would have landed in Cobar by now.

  Lab moved across the top of the screen like a neon sign.

  Lynsey’s hopes faded. She was tempted to throw the device across the room. Instead, she took a few deep breaths and answered. ‘Hello.’

  ‘Hello, Lynsey. It’s Jeremy from work.’

  Lynsey frowned at his officious tone, then remembered that she’d promised to call him when she had more information about what was happening in Mindalby. ‘Hi, Jeremy,’ she said with a grimace. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Not too bad.’

  Lynsey sighed at his off-hand manner. How many more people was she going to piss off this week?

  ‘I’m calling to see if you’d sorted out your personal problems.’

  That was a unique way of putting it. ‘We’re getting there. The last few days have been horrendous—’

  ‘I was asked to give you a call. You’re needed back at the lab as soon as possible.’

  ‘Really?’ Lynsey frowned and went to stand by the window. ‘I have plenty of leave built up. What’s going on?’

  ‘Amy resigned.’

  ‘Oh no!’ She liked Amy.

  ‘She’s accepted a position at the CSIRO. With you away we’re two down on the team. I’m sorry if you aren’t ready to come back yet.’

  He didn’t sound very sorry.

  Lynsey watched in distraction as the creepy-crawly flapped its way around the pool like a giant stingray, sucking up every leaf and twig in its path. Why did she feel as though her life in Brisbane was about to suck up her fragile hopes of a future with Julian in just the same way?

  ‘Alright then. I’ll make plans to head back as soon as I can.’

  ‘When do you think that might be?’

  Irritated at his pushiness, Lynsey wondered what she was going to do once her mother re-opened the shop. Her part in helping out with her father’s documents was over now that they’d been handed to the administrators … and things had gotten so unpleasant with Julian. He still hadn’t called. Maybe that was the universe trying to tell her something.

  ‘Lynsey?’

  ‘I’ll see if I can arrange a flight for tomorrow.’

  ‘That would be great. I’ll see you when you get back.’

  Lynsey lowered the phone and stared at the screen. Julian Stone might be infuriating but at least she knew now that Jeremy We
ston wasn’t the man for her. Whenever she displeased him in any way, he became all aloof and gave her the cold shoulder, like a parent punishing a child by withholding their love. He hadn’t even asked how she was coping.

  Men!

  To hell with the lot of them.

  She stared down at the phone in her hand. Work was her constant, her anchor, and with the mill gone she needed her job more than ever now. She had no choice but to go back to Queensland.

  She scrolled through her contacts and pulled up the number for the police station and asked for Constable Boyd Dunbar. A short time later he came on the line.

  ‘Hello, Boyd,’ she said as his voice greeted her down the line. It still felt strange to be on first name terms with the local constabulary. ‘I’m calling about tonight. I was wondering if you were going to be outside Mum’s house again.’

  ‘My assignment hasn’t been changed.’

  ‘It’s just that I’d planned on going to the CWA hall a bit later.’ Lynsey checked her watch. Three-thirty. Warren Leadbeater had messaged earlier advising the legal Q and A was kicking off at four-thirty and would go for about an hour. ‘I need to be there around five-fifteen.’

  ‘Is your mother going?’

  ‘No. That’s why I’m calling really. I know you’re supposed to be watching both of us.’

  There was a moment’s silence. ‘I’ll have to run this by the sergeant, Lynsey.’

  ‘I’ll be taking Mum’s car. And there’ll be so many people at the hall I’ll be perfectly safe.’ She’d have to be darn unlucky if the person who rammed Julian’s four-wheel-drive approached her at a meeting where half the town were in attendance.

  ‘As I said, I’ll check with the sergeant and get back to you.’

  Lynsey thanked him and went downstairs to find her mother. Veronica was unpacking the dishwasher and the kettle was close to the boil on the stove. ‘Hey, Mum.’

  ‘I was just going to make a cup of tea. Would you like one?’

  ‘No, thanks.’ She took the kettle off the stove as it began to whistle. ‘Work just called. They need me back at the lab.’

  ‘Oh, Lynsey—already?’

  ‘I know, it sucks. I wish I didn’t have to go but I don’t have a choice.’

  ‘Don’t you worry.’ Her mother wrapped her in a warm hug and Lynsey held on, not wanting to leave her mother just yet, not wanting to leave Julian.

  ‘I’m disappointed,’ her mother said when Lynsey finally let go. ‘I love having you home. But a part of me is relieved. In Brisbane, you’ll be safe from whoever this person is who has photographs of you.’

  ‘What about you? I’m worried about you too.’

  ‘Me? What would they want with an old girl like me? I’ll be in the shop all day and I have—’

  ‘A wrench?’ Lynsey said with a smile, though what she was really wondering about was her mother’s friendship with Warren Leadbeater.

  ‘Very funny. A police car stationed out the front every night. I’ll be fine, though goodness knows what the neighbours must be thinking.’

  Lynsey’s phone buzzed. It was Boyd Dunbar calling back. ‘Sergeant Johnson wants me to accompany you to the hall, Lynsey, then once you’re inside I’ll return to the house. Ten minutes before you’re ready to come home you’re to phone the station and ask to be put through to me. I’ll be there to meet you when you come out and I’ll follow you home.’

  ‘Alright then. I’ll pass that onto Mum. Thank you.’

  ‘I didn’t know you still planned on going,’ her mother said when Lynsey told her about the meeting.

  ‘I know. But I have some useful information and I feel like I should be doing more to help the farmers. Did you hear what Willow said the other day at lunch? People are organising fundraisers left, right and centre. Even Julian was talking about organising a charity golf day for the workers. I want to do more than organise a few free coffees from Joe’s.’

  Her mother reached out and took hold of her upper arms. ‘You and I supplied information to the administrators that will help recoup precious funds for the mill’s accounts. Things like the Pro Hart painting and Yasmin’s jewellery can be sold. That money will help pay the workers’ entitlements. That’s no small thing, Lynsey.’

  ‘I know, but that could be a long time coming, Mum. I feel like I ought to try and do something for the town now, before I have to go.’

  Her mother lowered her hands with a sigh. ‘Alright. I can’t stop you. But be careful, and do exactly what Constable Dunbar and Sergeant Johnson tell you to do.’

  ‘I will, and keep the doors locked while Boyd follows me down there.’ Lynsey checked her watch again. ‘I’d better go upstairs and start getting ready.’

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Julian was sixty kilometres south of Mindalby when his phone rang. ‘Sergeant Derek Johnson here, Julian.’

  Julian sat straighter in the seat. ‘Yes, Sergeant.’

  ‘I’m calling about the accident you were involved in last Saturday morning. We just received the fingerprint results back from Bourke. We have a match.’

  Julian blew out a relieved breath. ‘That’s great. What’s his name?’

  ‘Allan Green, known as “Big Al”. Originally hails from western Sydney. Has a record as long as your arm.’

  Julian slowed the car as a hairy-nosed wombat ambled across the highway. ‘Does he live in Mindalby?’

  ‘We’re looking into that now. He’s done a stack of jail time over the years. Everything from armed robbery to indecent assault.’

  Julian’s blood ran cold. ‘Indecent assault?’

  ‘Yeah, he’s a bad egg, this bloke. The police up in Bourke think he could have something to do with a couple of missing backpackers.’

  ‘I heard about that. Boyd asked if my drivers could keep a look out for them.’

  ‘Yeah, they haven’t found them yet.’

  Julian frowned, trying to make the connection between Lynsey and this Al Green. ‘So, if he doesn’t live around here, he can’t work at the mill then?’

  ‘He could. We’re not sure. Like I said, he has a record. He could be working under an assumed name.’

  ‘Do you have a photograph?’

  ‘I’ve got a mugshot, taken at the time of his last arrest. I can shoot it through to your phone if you like.’

  ‘That’d be great. I’m about forty-five minutes out of town. Oh, Sergeant, have you shown Lynsey yet?’

  ‘Not yet. Let me know if he looks familiar.’

  Julian called Chappy while he waited for the photograph to come through. ‘Do you know a bloke at the mill called Allan Green?’

  ‘Allan Green. No, I can’t say that name rings a bell. Why?’

  ‘He’s the bloke that rammed us. I thought he might be a mill worker with a grudge against the Carters.’

  ‘Well, there are plenty of those around.’

  ‘This loser had photos of Lynsey in the glove box though. Got a long record too apparently.’

  ‘Jesus. That’s gotta have you worried.’

  There was a brief pause in the conversation before Chappy said, ‘Where are you now?’

  Julian glanced at his GPS. ‘About forty minutes away. I’ll bypass the depot if you don’t need me to call in for anything.’

  His phone buzzed. The photo was coming through.

  ‘I won’t be here anyway, mate,’ Chappy was saying. ‘I’m shooting across to the CWA hall. A couple of lawyers are giving free advice, answering questions, that sort of thing.’

  ‘Oh right. No worries. You go and do that. I’ll see you in the morning.’

  Julian took his foot off the gas and checked his mirrors. It was right on dusk, and while there wasn’t a car in sight it was the worst time of day for wildlife being on the road. He slowed even further before pulling onto the gravel shoulder, switching on his hazard lights in case a B-double roared up behind him.

  True to his word, Derek Johnson had sent through a photo message. Clenching his teeth, Julian tapped the p
hoto to enlarge the low-life’s mugshot.

  His heart missed a beat and he almost dropped the phone. Shock turned his vision hazy, fear snaking its way into every cell in his body.

  Sid Akers stared back at him.

  Despite being leaner and devoid of the bushman’s beard, there was no doubt the face in the photo was that of the tanker driver he’d sacked last week.

  Fuck!

  Had he been the target after all? Had Akers been after revenge for being fired? Julian fixed his eyes on a windmill in the distance in an effort to regain his equilibrium. While Akers’s motivation to come after him appeared logical on the surface, it still didn’t explain the photographs of Lynsey in the glovebox.

  Lynsey.

  What if Akers had something to do with those missing backpackers? The thought of him anywhere near Lynsey …

  Julian swallowed hard and called her mobile.

  Hello. You’ve called Lynsey Carter. Sorry but I’m unable …

  He killed the call with a trembling hand and rang the home number. Veronica picked up. ‘Lynsey isn’t here, Julian,’ she said.

  ‘Do you know where she’s gone?’ he asked, trying to disguise the panic in his voice. The last thing he wanted was to terrify his future mother-in-law.

  Future mother-in-law?

  What the fuck? He was losing it.

  ‘She’s gone to a meeting at the CWA hall. I tried to stop her but she’s adamant she wants to do more to help the town. You know how she works with cotton seeds in the lab?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Well, she’s going to give a talk about the latest in genetically modified cotton. And I’m worried, Julian. I don’t think the town will be in any mood to hear about that right now.’

  Julian clenched his jaw so hard pain shot through to his temples. Had Lynsey decided to do this because he’d accused her of not being concerned enough for the workers? ‘Who’s with her?’

  ‘Constable Dunbar followed her down there. He’s going to tail her home afterwards too. Have you tried her mobile?’