by Sarah Barrie
‘Don’t go down there! Cam! Please!’
‘Take it easy, I’ll be right back.’ He handed her his phone. ‘Call Lee, his number’s in there.’
‘What about Rob?’
‘Lee will call Rob and Ben.’
She found Lee’s number, gave him the message. Clinging to Cam’s phone, she sat, terrified, and waited.
Cam crept down the stairs. As ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ began, he paused on the bottom step. Damn it, Lee and Ben were much more suited to this cloak-and-dagger stuff. He slipped into the hall, looked frantically in both directions. The music was coming from the lounge. A loud noise behind him as he headed for it had him spinning around, almost putting a hole in the vicinity of the pup as she bounded back in. Completely oblivious, she continued past him into the lounge room. Taking advantage of any diversion she would create, he stepped in behind her.
He found the tape recorder in the corner of the room. Cautious not to touch the button, he switched it off at the power point. The house was silent. ‘Where are you, you bastard?’
‘Cam?’
‘Jeez Ally, I told you to stay upstairs.’
‘I thought I heard mumbling. Were you talking to Luna?’
‘Just, come in here, sit down and stay put.’
Ben and Lee turned up together. ‘Rob’s out on a domestic dispute,’ Lee explained as they walked through the door. ‘What the hell happened?’
‘I’ll fill you in as we search. The bastard is or was in here, somewhere.’
The three men searched every corner of the house.
‘He’s got to be long gone,’ Lee said.
Ben nodded. ‘I’ll take the cassette player, see if I can get any prints off it.’
‘Maybe we pissed Martin off enough to earn some paybacks.’
‘It can’t be Martin,’ Ally said, causing three heads to turn her way. ‘He wouldn’t have known about the music. Terry and Kyle said when they saw Billy, he was singing nursery rhymes. Mavis told me Billy likes the music, to play it for him. I can’t see Martin liking “Old MacDonald”. It started on the pig verse. That’s because I let Lee take Poppy away.’ She looked at them one by one. ‘Do you think we could get the pig back?’
‘Honey, there’s no such thing as Billy.’
‘He looked like David.’
‘Just a trick of the light. I’m going to see the guys out, how about you head back up?’
‘Okay. Goodnight, Ben, Lee. Thanks.’
Ally went back upstairs. She knew she sounded crazy, but for the first time in a long time, she didn’t think she was. There were missing pieces, but Mavis had to know the answers, she was sure of it.
As she went into the bathroom, a fist gripped the back of her head and propelled her forwards, slamming her face into the vanity. The bright, glancing pain, the ringing in her ears, only lasted a second before the blackness overtook her and she slumped bonelessly to the floor.
CHAPTER
24
The headache was a vicious jackhammering in her skull. Even the light from behind her closed lids was too bright to be comfortable. Her ears were ringing. She was pretty sure the whole world was tipping off its axis.
Her nose was itchy. She attempted to scratch it, and her hand was covered in a large, warm, callused one.
‘Hi … are you awake?’ Cam’s voice in her ear made her try to open her eyes. Nothing moved. Her face felt like mush.
‘My nose is itchy.’
The gentle scratch was relief enough to take the focus off the agony in her head for a few seconds.
‘Better?’
‘Yeah, thanks, now I just have the power drill through my skull to deal with.’ Her stomach rolled. She fought it down. She tried to think, but it was too hard. She sank back into sleep.
Next time she woke, her eyes opened just far enough for her to realise Cam was asleep in the chair beside her and she was in a hospital bed. ‘Cam?’
‘Ally.’ His eyes opened and he leant forwards to take her hand. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Comparatively, I think, yes. But only if we’re talking about how I felt last time I woke up.’
She moved a bit, tried to get comfortable. Her legs had gone numb. ‘God, my face hurts. How bad is it?’
‘You’re ugly. We’re over.’
She snorted out a laugh. ‘Ow. Don’t make me laugh.’
He gently touched her cheek. ‘Sorry. Do you remember what happened?’
She struggled to think back. What had happened? She’d gone upstairs … She sat up too fast, almost tipping out of bed as the memory returned.
‘Steady.’ He caught her and gently encouraged her back.
Ally held on to him, focused on his face. ‘Someone pushed me.’
‘Are you sure you didn’t slip?’
‘No, I didn’t slip! He grabbed me by the hair and shoved me.’
Cam ran his hand over his head. ‘Ben and Lee searched the house again, but they couldn’t find a sign of anyone. Damn it! How is he doing this? I’m going to kill this bastard.’
‘Cam, it’s not your fault. You searched the house. All of you.’
‘Are you up to talking to Ben?’
‘I guess so. Then can I go home?’
‘We’ll see. I’ll tell Ben he can come in, and I’ll go talk to the doctor.’
She closed her eyes, wasn’t sure how long for, but the scraping of a chair woke her up. Ben had pulled one over, was sitting next to the bed.
‘How are you feeling?’ he asked quietly.
‘Probably better than I look.’
‘Lucky. What do you remember?’
‘There’s not much to remember. I walked into the bathroom and he grabbed my hair, pushed my head into the vanity.’
‘Did you get a look at him?’
‘It was too fast. He must have been behind the door.’
‘There’s a mirror above the vanity. Try and think back, you might have gotten an impression of height or size or hair colour?’
‘I don’t – he was taller than me, solid, I think. But he was just … a black shadow.’
‘Did he say anything, did you smell anything?’
‘I’m sorry, Ben, it was just so fast.’
‘That’s fine, Ally, you’re doing great.’
‘I wish I’d looked, but there was only the light from the hallway, I hadn’t even flicked the bathroom one on yet.’
‘Take it easy, all right?’ His voice was calm and reassuring, gentle. She hadn’t known he had it in him. ‘This is not your fault, you’re not being interrogated.’
‘For once.’ It slipped out and she instantly regretted it. He was finally being nice and she threw that in his face. ‘Ben, I’m sorry.’
He pressed his lips together, nodded. ‘You need to know, Ally, I didn’t enjoy that. I’m sorry about what my questioning put you through.’
Ally stared. ‘Who are you and why are you impersonating Ben?’
A smile touched the corners of his mouth. ‘I’m the guy who’s going to get the bastard behind all this.’
Cam walked through the door. ‘Okay, I’ve spoken to Dr – Ben, hi. You done?’
‘Yep.’ Ben got to his feet. ‘I’m going to go back to the house, take another look upstairs. That okay, Ally?’
‘Of course. I leave a spare key under the mint pot for Mia, use that.’
‘Don’t do that, Ally, not anymore. If he’s watching you, he’ll know where to find it.’
‘I didn’t think of that.’
‘I’m just going to talk to Cam for a minute. I’ll see you later.’
Cam squeezed Ally’s hand and followed Ben out.
The pain in her head shifted between glancing, throbbing and razor sharp. At least that mixed things up a bit. She couldn’t see well enough to get more than an impression in the mirror, so she sat in Ebony’s apartment, sipping green tea because Ebony said it contained anti-inflammatory properties that were good for the swelling.
‘Feeling any better?’ Ebo
ny asked.
‘Yeah.’
‘Liar.’
‘Just getting out of hospital makes me feel better.’
‘Do you want to try and sleep? I’ll make the bed up fresh, or you can lie on the lounge and watch TV?’
‘I’m fine, Ebs, don’t fuss, please.’ Mia called out from the bottom of the stairs. ‘Oh boy. Here we go.’
‘Stay calm. I’ll warn her.’ Ally listened as Ebony jogged lightly down the stairs, heard their mumbled voices. Footsteps back on the stairs.
‘Ally.’ Mia’s voice. Mia’s tortured voice.
‘It’s not as bad as it looks,’ she quickly said in an attempt to console her sister.
‘I’m guessing that’s why you’re not dead. Did you have X-rays?’
‘Yes, of course. It’s just bad bruising. And the split doesn’t need stitching. The doctor said it will all go down in a few days.’
‘Cam told me what happened. I was ready to kill him. He promised to look after you.’
‘He was. I just went for a ride and –’
‘Which is when I transferred my fury from Cam to you. You know there’s a murderer out there and you take off by yourself into the bush?’
‘Yes and when I was at home with three guys downstairs he still got to me.’
‘You need more protection. I brought my gun. I’ll leave it with you.’
‘You have a gun?’ Ebony asked.
‘You know I could never fire it, Mia.’
‘More’s the pity.’
‘You have a gun?’ Ebony repeated.
‘Yeah, she’s pretty good with it too,’ Ally said. ‘But I’m not. Mia, they’ll catch him.’
‘Ally’s right,’ Ebony said. ‘They’re all down at the station with Martin now. They think he knows something.’
‘Stranger things may have happened. Probably not much stranger …’
‘Would you like something to eat or drink, Mia?’ Ebony asked.
‘No, thanks. Have you eaten?’ she asked Ally.
‘A little.’
‘Thanks for looking after her, Ebs. I have somewhere I need to be.’
‘But you just got here.’
Ally caught on. ‘No, Mia. The guys will handle it.’
‘I’m sure they will. I’ll be back shortly.’
Ben had been interviewing Martin Sullivan for over an hour when Cam spotted Mia walking through the door of the police station. He could hear snatches of the conversation, felt like knocking out a few of Martin’s teeth – the guy was an ignorant fuck.
Mia zeroed in on him on his eleventh lap of the reception room. ‘Cam – there you are. Have you got him? Where is he?’
Ben appeared in the doorway. ‘What are you doing here, Mia?’
She looked past him, spotted Martin through the door. ‘Oh hello, how nice to see you again.’
Martin snarled at her, and with a decent snarl of her own, Mia invited herself into the room.
‘Mia, you can’t –’ Ben reached out to snag her but she shrugged him off.
‘You shot at Ally? Put her head through a vanity?’
Martin simply shrugged and smiled smugly. ‘I don’t remember.’
Mia very slowly leant over him. ‘Someone shot you through the fuckwit forest and you didn’t miss a tree, did you?’
‘I thought that was supposed to be the stupid forest.’
‘You’ve heard the expression? Surprise, surprise. Add as many adjectives as you like, they’ll fit.’
Ben interrupted them. ‘You’re free to go, Martin – Mia, a word.’
‘In a minute.’ She followed Martin from the station and he turned, smirking.
‘You gonna follow me home, honey?’ He looked deliberately down her shirt. ‘Fine by me. Nice tits by the way.’
She stared for a minute. Shook her head. ‘This has been one hell of a fucked-up day. I find out some demented cockhead hillbilly has had not one, but two goes at my sister, I nearly get fired walking out on my job to get here, and now you decide to be a smartarse about it. Honestly, I don’t know if I need sleep, sex or to kick someone in the balls. You want to know what I think?’
‘That I’m making you horny?’
Cam watched as Mia let loose a tirade that left everyone in various states of shock.
‘You know, I thought she’d given me her best,’ Ben commented, standing beside Cam. ‘But, man, I never saw that coming.’
‘Why aren’t you stepping in?’
‘Why aren’t you?’ Ben shrugged. ‘They’re entitled to a conversation on a public street.’
Cam’s eyes narrowed. ‘Okay, what are you doing?’
‘Watching.’
Martin backed towards his car. ‘How many problems have you got, lady? You’re a psycho!’
Mia kept pace. ‘How many? Let’s see … you almost blew my sister’s head off before smashing her into a bathroom vanity, that’s two, now you’re wasting my time, there’s three, and the fourth problem is more yours than mine because right now –’ she took a couple of quick steps to the car, ‘– I feel like a psycho and psychos do very, very bad things to people.’
She slammed her hands down on the bonnet of the car when he reefed open his door. ‘Where were you, dipshit? You damn well do know and you’re going to tell me because that guy over there is one of the best damn lawyers in the country, he’s in love with my sister, and he’s best pals with two shit-hot detectives and a cop who wants your arse. You don’t cooperate, they’ll charge you with two murders and an attempted one on Ally.’
‘Fine!’ Martin threw his hands in the air, slammed the door shut again in anger. ‘I was screwin’ Casey Shaddock. Time you reckon I took pot shots at your sister, I left the guys for half an hour, tops, when Casey came out to prepare the lunch provisions. But we were stationed right over the other side, nowhere near the park. There’s no way any of those city boys could have gotten themselves all the way out there. And last night, I was at Fran’s. Town bike. Ask her.’
‘Casey Shaddock’s married,’ Cam said.
‘Why the fuck do you think I didn’t want to tell ya?’
‘I’ll be corroborating that,’ Ben said. ‘Want to be helpful and give me her number?’
Martin stared hard at Ben for several seconds. ‘I’ll deal with Rob,’ he finally said, opening the door again. ‘You can go fuck yourself.’
The three of them stood on the pavement and watched him drive off.
‘Well, isn’t Rob the lucky one?’ Ben muttered.
‘Yeah.’ Cam studied Mia’s wide, glassy eyes and the hot flush of colour still in her cheeks. She needed to calm down. He didn’t want her walking in on Ally in this state.
‘Hey.’ He slung an arm over her shoulder, giving her a squeeze and a cheeky grin. ‘I swear I just don’t know what to say. Even Ben was shocked. He thought he was special. How the hell do you come up with that stuff?’
After a moment she shrugged, sighed and some of the sparks ebbed.
‘Yes, but by storming into my office like that you risked ruining the whole case,’ Ben told her. ‘Don’t ever interrupt an interview like that again.’
Ben, shut up. But even as he prepared himself for round two, Mia surprised him by dropping her gaze and nodding slowly. ‘I know. It was stupid. Did he do it?’
‘No, we don’t think so,’ Cam said. ‘And we know he’s not responsible for the fire. But we need him to tell us who might be. You helped. A little unconventionally perhaps, but he talked.’
‘I’m so scared for her, Cam. I went to Ebony’s first, saw Ally. God, her face. It’s not fair – she’s just getting better!’
‘I know. But Ben’s working up a good profile, and hopefully whatever Martin comes up with about the forum will help. I’ll talk to Rob, get him straight on it before Martin changes his mind. Come on, let’s go get Ally.’
CHAPTER
25
By the end of the week, Ally decided she was well enough to go ahead with Rebecca’s lesson. Her face looked
worse, with the bruising spreading and darkening, but she felt a lot better. Terry and Kyle had turned up to do their jobs late so, according to Kyle, Terry could perve on Rebecca, who he had the hots for. Terry had punched Kyle in the stomach, which to Ally had looked quite hard, but the two had raced off happily enough to get underway, just before Rebecca and her entourage turned up.
Ally did her best to hide the bruising with a baseball cap and sunglasses, but there were still the expected sympathetic comments about her ‘fall’ into the vanity. There had to be thirty people this time, and Ally ended up booking eleven more weekly lessons following Rebecca’s ride.
‘You’re going to have quite the business going before you know it,’ Cam commented as they all drove away.
‘Twelve students isn’t exactly a business.’ Ally watched Carla’s car stop. Rebecca called out, handed something to Kyle, then with a wave, was off. Maybe the kid was in with a chance.
‘And you really need an arena, right?’
‘I don’t want to ask, because you’ve already done so much.’
‘So? Where should it go, here beside the round yard?’
‘I was kind of thinking more in this spot here. Then I can plant a row of trees.’
‘You want shade, we should talk about a roof.’
‘I can’t afford a roof!’
‘Not straight away perhaps, but –’
‘Ally?’ Terry jogged across carrying a magazine. ‘Rebecca was gonna ask you to sign this, and forgot, so I said I’d ask and drop it back to her.’
‘Yeah, so he’s got an excuse to go to her house.’ Kyle wiggled his eyebrows and copped an elbow.
‘She wants me to sign the magazine?’
‘I dunno, there’s some picture in it of you or something. She wants to put some pictures on Facebook, ’cause some people don’t believe she’s getting lessons off you, I think. Whatever.’
Ally bit down on the grin at his embarrassment. ‘Let me see.’
She found a picture of herself and David with a few of their horses. This was an old issue, she remembered the photo being taken at an event about four years ago. She took it into the kitchen, signed it, returned and handed it back. ‘There you go.’
‘Hey.’ Kyle leant in closer. ‘Hey … seriously?’ He looked at Ally carefully, dropped his gaze to the picture, then turned. ‘Terry! Take a look.’