by Sarah Barrie
‘Okay,’ she replied, releasing her breath. Breathe, focus, relax. ‘Can I use this knife?’ She pointed to one of a set in a rack.
‘Of course.’ He took some plates from a drawer and spread them out as she cut some slices.
‘I know what will go well with this. Do you like dessert wines?’
‘The best sort.’
‘Then you’ll love this.’ He took some small glasses down from the cupboard. ‘Are you enjoying yourself?’
‘Sure, why?’
‘You’ve been pretty quiet most of the night.’
‘I was enjoying listening to you three talking, and learning a bit more about the town.’
‘Despite the worry with the missing girls, it’s generally a nice place to live. Plenty of good people.’
And despite that worry, the temptation to think about staying, to use some of the money from the sale of her house to build another one, sensible or not, was beginning to really appeal. But she’d made the offer to Cam and, suddenly, she really needed to know the answer.
‘So are you going to buy Mavis’s place or not?’
He leant back against the drawers and folded his arms. ‘Stop trying to palm it off. You like it here, remember?’
‘I do, but I don’t think I can afford to stay. And the house is just not salvageable.’
‘I’d offer to be involved in a rebuild for you, but following your scathing disbelief of my building skills …’ His eyes glittered and she pulled a face.
‘It wasn’t meant to sound scathing. This one just looks like it could only have been built by a – I don’t know – master builder? And I told you it was hard to see you as anything other than a lawyer when you first introduced yourself. I guess I don’t know you very well.’
He stepped towards the bench and, eyes on hers, slowly reached past her to take a bottle of wine from a rack, his arm lightly brushing against her. ‘Do you want to?’
Penned in, the nerves bounced in her stomach. She dropped her gaze to the shirt that so perfectly highlighted the breadth and lean strength of his shoulders and tried to figure out whether he was flirting with her. The thought that he might be sent a pleasant shiver through her system, along with a small amount of panic. ‘I, um …’ Have absolutely no idea how to answer that.
‘Nervous?’
Her gaze flew back up to his. ‘No.’
He gently pried her fingers from the hem of her shirt and smiled warmly. ‘Liar.’
She took a shaky breath. ‘It’s just … habit. We should take these plates out to the others.’ He hadn’t let go of her fingers and his thumbs grazed over them, his gaze probing. She felt the reaction right down to her toes.
She was holding her breath, waiting for his next move, but he simply released her hands and stepped back to pick up some plates. ‘Okay.’ When she didn’t move he lifted his brow. ‘Shall we?’
With a nod that was on the jerky side, she went ahead of him. What was that? What had just happened? Nothing, she reminded herself, nothing happened. Maybe there might have been a small chance that something might have happened, but then he’d what? Changed his mind? It probably hadn’t helped that she’d stood there, frozen and mute.
Or maybe she was misreading the situation entirely – an illusion born of desperation? She groaned inwardly, would have laughed at herself, but she was a little too unsettled by her reaction to him for that.
As they ate, as the general flow of conversation resumed around her, she joined in, her equilibrium slowly returning. They were entertaining company and the buzz she felt in Cam’s presence added to her enjoyment of the evening.
Later, as they headed out to their cars, Ally found herself wishing the night wasn’t over.
‘I’m glad you came,’ Cam told her, opening her door.
‘Thanks for the invitation.’
‘Are you sure you don’t want your leftover dessert?’
‘She left some?’ Lee asked from his car.
‘Butt out, pieman.’
Ally laughed. ‘Eat it. I’ll get the dish later. Mia will be back tomorrow, so we’ll make something else.’
‘I want to meet her,’ Lee interrupted again. ‘I had an image of some big Amazon type in my head from the tale of the Martin incident, then the Wilson boys got in my ear about an Angelina Jolie in a satin nightie.’
Ally thought about that. ‘Acts like the Amazon, looks like the actress.’
‘What time’s she arriving?’
Cam stepped away from Ally to smack him over the head. ‘Settle, tiger. You’re talking about her sister.’
‘Oh, that’s okay, I don’t have any rules about friends not dating family. Do you, Cam?’
‘Huh? Guess not.’
Ebony slammed her car door hard and wound the window down. ‘Goodnight, Ally.’
She grinned and waved, and watched Ebony pull out.
‘You’ll meet her,’ Cam told Lee, ‘because we’re going down there to put some baits in the roof.’
‘Oh, thanks,’ Ally said. ‘That will make her happy.’
‘That’s the plan,’ Cam replied. ‘I owe her for an orange juice.’
CHAPTER
12
Mia climbed out of her car the next morning with enough hazardous supplies to initiate a small holocaust. ‘I brought flea bombs, multiple insect sprays, plug-in rodent deterrents and several cans of deodorisers.’ She shoved a shopping bag at Ally, collected more. ‘And a few other necessities.’
‘Just a few?’ Ally commented, taking another bag for her. ‘Well, you’ll be happy to know –’
‘Ally? Need you.’ Cam’s call came from the spare room.
Mia put a hand on Ally’s arm to delay her. She had an interested expression on her face. ‘Why does he need you in – is that the bedroom?’
Ally looked heavenwards. ‘Only you, Mia. As I was about to tell you, Cam – and Lee – are getting rid of your friends in the roof.’ She shifted the bags into one hand and began towing Mia’s suitcase up the front steps with the other. ‘Come on, Lee wants to meet you.’
‘I like him already.’
As the women walked in, the men walked down the stairs.
‘Doesn’t matter, we sorted it,’ Cam said, then beamed a smile at Mia. ‘Hi.’
‘Hi, gorgeous. And?’
‘Mia, this is Lee. Lee, my sister, Mia.’
‘Great to meet you, Mia,’ Lee said. ‘Ally mentioned you were beautiful. But wow.’ He winked as he walked past her with his tools and set them down.
‘It’s a curse,’ Mia replied dramatically. ‘It’s all men notice.’
‘I don’t know about that. I think your character’s copped a fair bit of attention too, since you dumped orange juice on Martin Sullivan’s shorts.’
Mia scowled. ‘He’s lucky I left everything in working order.’
‘You’re too good to be true. Do you cook like Ally?’
Mia’s face twisted into a grimace. ‘I cook, sure, but I don’t eat it. It’s funny, but no one else does either.’
He considered that, shrugged carelessly. ‘I can live on takeaway. Marry me.’
Mia took his cheeks in her hands and kissed him full on the mouth. ‘Baby, you’re too sweet for me, I’d eat you for breakfast.’
Lee grinned like a lunatic.
Cam stared and shook his head before addressing Mia. ‘Minus the really terrible flirting, I want to thank you for rescuing Ebony last weekend.’
Amused, Mia raised an eyebrow. ‘She didn’t need rescuing, just backup. How is she?’
‘Alive. And despite what you say, from what I’ve heard it’s probably at least in part thanks to you.’
‘Your sister has more balls than the big dude, and from what I’ve heard, a damn good reason to have a go.’
‘Martin’s not exactly the greatest gift to humanity. He’s big and dumb and mean, and he doesn’t give a rat’s arse about wildlife.’ His face and tone becoming more serious, he added, ‘And he won’t appreciate being shown u
p by a woman. Stay out of his way for a while, okay?’
Mia dismissed the comment with a pfft and a careless shrug. ‘If he’s smart, he’ll stay out of mine.’
‘He’s not, so be careful.’ He turned to Ally. ‘We have to get going, we’ve got a bit planned for today.’
‘Do all the men around here look like that?’ Mia wondered aloud after Cam and Lee left.
‘I haven’t really paid attention.’
‘Liar.’
‘I certainly don’t go around laying one on them all.’
‘Old woman. He asked for it. And he didn’t exactly mind.’
‘What man ever does?’
‘You’ll notice I kept my hands off the other one. So … tell me what’s going on with Mr Gorgeous.’
‘Nothing.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because I haven’t known him very long, and for approximately half of that small amount of time, we’ve been yelling at each other.’
At Mia’s unimpressed look, Ally threw up her hands. ‘What is the point of looking at a way-out-of-my-league guy like that? There’s no real chance.’
‘I hate hearing you talk like that.’
Ally ignored her. ‘What’s news with you?’
‘Actually I’ve enrolled in that graphic arts course online. I can do it at my own pace and work at the same time.’
‘That’s great! Had enough of Adam?’
‘Totally. I was very happily being chatted up by a rather special client on Wednesday, and he suddenly went quite cold on me in the second half of the shoot. When it was over he apologised for coming on to me when I was already taken.’
‘But you’re not – oh. Adam?’
‘Yep.’
‘That’s going a bit far, Mia.’
‘I know. Adam’s excuse was he thought the guy was annoying me so he stepped in to play hero. I call bullshit on that, because he offered to take me out to dinner to make it up to me. And I’m so not into him – the whole sulky puppy dog thing’s just not me. The sooner I can afford to get out of there, the better.’ Mia yawned and stretched. ‘That drive is so long.’
‘Why don’t you have a rest? I’m going to just stuff around with some cleaning and washing.’
‘I’m fine. I’ll help. There’s more cleaning stuff in the back of the car with the vacuum you wanted. I also brought some sheets and towels, your favourite coffee mugs and that expensive coffee you like.’
‘Excellent. Then before we begin, let’s have some.’
The floors were beginning to shine. Her cleaner – far superior to Mavis’s old Electrolux, had done a good job and a quick mop had done the rest. Ally decided that if the floors were polished they would probably come up quite well. Then she shook her head – that wouldn’t be happening. Because then the walls would need doing, the bathrooms would need renovating, the mouldy corners in the upstairs ceiling would need scrubbing, and the house would probably fall apart with all the attention. She’d just have to be satisfied with clean. She went in search of Mia and found her scrubbing the sink.
‘There you are. Feeling better about the floors? I’m surprised you put up with the stain in this sink, Miss Ultra-clean.’ Mia pulled out a bottle of bleach. ‘I’ll leave this to soak –’
Ally’s stomach dropped. ‘You’re using bleach again?’
‘About to. It needs it.’
‘Mavis said not to. I said – didn’t I say?’
Mia dropped the scourer and sent her a look. ‘What do you think it’s going to do? Ruin something?’
‘No, but she has rules and last time –’ She stopped, because even to her own ears it sounded ridiculous.
‘Last time the cat got in and killed some rats.’ Mia sighed but she dropped the bleach back in the container and rinsed the sink. ‘Okay, sure, no bleach. Bicarb soda it is.’
And, damn it, there was that sisterly look of concern Ally knew too well. The next idea would be some fresh air …
‘Let’s go for a walk. You said there was a river around here somewhere, didn’t you?’
Ally smiled to herself. ‘There are supposed to be some pretty trails around, but I haven’t explored much. There’s old military grounds close by and apparently people sneak in and shoot there. There could be stray bullets.’
‘Ally.’
‘No really, I’ve been warned.’ When Mia’s gaze hit the ceiling Ally gave up and walked to the door. ‘But I guess we could find the river.’
‘Then let’s go.’
They wandered for a while, Luna trotting along at their heels, until they reached the edge of the quiet river. Trees overhung the banks, and jagged, rocky outcrops bordered its sides just to the north. In the opposite direction, a thin line of sand formed a little beach. Luna bounded in to chase a large blue dragonfly as it darted back and forth, hovering just above the surface.
‘We could swim here, it’s gorgeous.’ Mia waded in as far as her calves, bent down and traced the surface with her fingers.
‘Watch Luna doesn’t go out too far. I’d rather she swim in the dam where there’s no current.’
‘What’s that over there?’ Mia left the water and pushed some thick acacia branches aside. Behind them was a tall mesh fence running back into the bush as far as the eye could see.
‘I’m guessing that’s the old military grounds. We must have come out on the wrong end of the trail. Rob said to stay well clear.’
But Mia was already headed back onto the trail and was soon skirting the fence line. It didn’t take long to come to a warning sign. Beyond were a series of long timber buildings, a large, overgrown grassy clearing and what might have been an obstacle course. Some old sheds were close to collapsing and an abandoned flagpole stood sentinel.
‘Looks like a great old hideout.’
‘Ladies.’
Both sisters spun in surprise.
‘Rob, um – hi.’
‘Hi, Ally, and?’
‘This is my sister, Mia.’
‘Ah, the young lady who had the altercation with Martin Sullivan.’
‘That’s me.’
‘Nice to meet you.’ He bent down to stop a wet and sandy Luna from climbing up his trousers. ‘What are you both doing out here?’
‘We were just exploring a little.’
‘What about you?’ Mia challenged.
Rob’s eyes narrowed at her tone. ‘There’s a group of hunters coming in this afternoon. Ebony thinks Martin might be bringing them onto the wrong side of the river. Just keeping an eye out. You’d best be very careful – you don’t want to be confused for a target.’
‘Thanks for the warning. If we see anyone, we’ll let you know.’
‘I’m more concerned you won’t see them.’ He turned his attention to Ally. ‘How are you coping at Mavis’s? Everything under control out there?’
‘Yes, thanks. Any news on Tara?’
‘Her on-again, off-again boyfriend drove back through town yesterday. Reckons he hasn’t seen her. I’m still looking into it.’
There was an uncomfortable pause.
‘We should be getting back,’ Ally said.
‘Just be careful walking out here. You really shouldn’t go too far into this part of the forest.’
‘Thanks, Rob. See you later.’
As soon as they were out of earshot, Mia glanced over her shoulder and whispered, ‘Why did that sound more like a threat than a warning?’
‘I think he’s got his hands full with those girls going missing and the illegal hunting.’
‘I don’t like his eyes.’
Thrown, Ally paused, then had to catch up. ‘His eyes? What’s wrong with Rob’s eyes?’
She shrugged. ‘He looks at me like Adam does.’
‘Then don’t be so gorgeous. He was probably wondering why you were dressed like that for a walk in the bush.’
‘Dressed like what? These are my normal clothes.’
‘Exactly.’
After dinner they sat on the veranda while Luna ran
around with Bess on the grass.
‘So why doesn’t Mavis want bleach used in the house?’ Mia asked.
‘It’s one of her rules.’ Ally topped up her wine and looked at the sky. It was clear and littered with stars. Cicadas chirped rhythmically, a duck called as it took off from the dam. It was a perfect night. Almost too perfect to talk about Mavis. ‘She said it’s the devil’s implement.’
‘Good grief. What other crazy things has she been telling you?’
Ally filled her in. ‘And you’re probably right. It was just a coincidence that the big disturbance in the house was just after you used the bleach. But the mess was massive for one cat – and how is he getting the window open? Lee couldn’t explain it. Other weird stuff keeps happening too. Like when I took Tom in to be desexed. I took him off the property and the front door opened again, there were more noises in the house and the light in the shed came on. Twice. Cam turned the light off and it came back on. I thought it was a sensor light but I can’t make it do it again. And the cat’s biscuits got filled and I don’t remember doing it.’
‘The door will keep opening until it’s fixed, just like the window. And of course the cat could have made that mess. Maybe you thought you turned the light off, but you didn’t quite flick it all the way so it came back on. The electricity is probably as shoddy as everything else. I don’t know, Ally, but I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.’
‘Maybe.’
‘I know that tone – out with it.’
‘It’s just that I’ve thought I’ve seen David a couple of times.’
‘Maybe you’re hallucinating? It must be the stress of being out here. Maybe you should come home, see Dr Jackson again. You know the meds can make you confused.’
‘No, I have to –’
The screech was loud and bloodcurdling. Both women leapt to their feet.
‘What the hell was that?’
‘I don’t know, shh.’
They listened for several seconds.
‘I don’t think it was close. It’s just loud because of the quiet.’
‘It sounded almost human - you think it was human?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Do you think we should call Rob?’
‘I don’t have Rob’s number. I could call triple-0?’