by Annie Seaton
‘So shall we go back to the snakes now?’ He glanced at his watch before looking back at her with a grin. ‘I have a plane to catch.’
Emma grabbed the shotgun and swung it onto her shoulder, hoping, begging, and praying that it was loaded.
The metal pressed cold into her skin and she aimed it at Troy’s legs, her finger hovering on the trigger. ‘Give me my phone.’
‘No.’ He laughed and took a step towards her. Emma lifted the gun and aimed the barrel at his chest.
‘Are you prepared to risk it, Troy?’
Again the laugh, but this time he stayed where he was. ‘What would a doctor know about a shotgun?’
‘Oh you’d be surprised. This doctor grew up in the Northern Territory. My sisters and I learned to shoot before we started school.’ She clicked her finger against the trigger and he pressed himself against the bench. It was surreal; she should be at the clinic starting her appointments, and here she was acting like a character in a Clint Eastwood movie.
‘I’ll let you go.’ His tone was wheedling but she wasn’t having a bar of it.
‘Stay right where you are.’ She clenched her jaw as she spoke, trying to stop her fingers shaking as she took a step towards the telephone beside the fridge.
‘Fuck you,’ he snarled, taking a step towards her.
Emma took a firmer grip on the shotgun.
‘I’m not worried, Emma. You won’t shoot me.’
Emma stared him down and pulled the trigger.
Chapter 35
Monday morning
Wilma Randall’s house
Jeremy struggled to open his eyes. His head was throbbing and he could taste blood in his mouth. The floor was hard beneath his head and as he tried to turn, a sharp pain stabbed behind his eyes.
He’d come in the door and called out to Emma when he’d seen the car, but something had hit him on the head as soon as he’d come inside. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out to it, but gradually he became aware of voices around him.
‘. . . you won’t shoot me.’
There was a dull click and a flash of movement above him and then Emma screamed. His blood turned to ice.
‘You silly bitch,’ a man’s voice yelled. ‘Come here.’
Jeremy could see Emma struggling with someone but the room spun as he tried to focus. He managed to roll over. He grabbed the leg of the table with one hand and pulled himself up onto his knees, fighting the dizziness.
‘No. I won’t go in there.’ Emma’s voice was desperate. The fear in it gave Jeremy the extra strength he needed to pull himself up to his feet. The room tilted as he swayed and grabbed for the back of the chair. He closed one eye and looked across the wide kitchen but it was like looking through the surface of water. Blurred and distorted. He held the door as he stepped into the dark hallway.
A man dressed in khaki was holding Emma and pushing her down the hallway towards a closed door. Troy?
She struggled, twisting her head and throwing her arms and legs as she screamed.
‘No. No, you can’t do it!’
Do what? Jeremy opened both eyes and the pain exploded in his head. As he watched, Troy grabbed Emma’s braid and pulled her head back. Jeremy raised his finger to his lips as Emma’s eyes met his. But it was too late.
‘Jeremy!’ As she yelled his name, Troy opened the door behind her. Jeremy took a step forward but the floor swung crazily and nausea overtook him. He grabbed for the wall before he fell again.
As Troy turned to look for Jeremy, Emma spun back in one swift move. She moved so quickly Jeremy couldn’t keep her in his sight. Troy grunted and bent forward and Emma shoved him through the door. She grabbed the handle, pulling it shut behind her. Jeremy lurched along the hall to where she hung desperately onto the doorknob.
‘Can you help me hold it shut?’ Her eyes were wide and pleading. As he reached for the door, an unearthly scream came from the other side.
‘Get away, you fuckers. No.’ The last word was drawn out in another agonising scream. Emma closed her eyes as Jeremy took her in his arms.
*
A deadly silence came from the other side of the door and Emma slowly let go of the door knob. Jeremy steadied himself with one hand on her shoulder as they made their way down the hall into the kitchen.
She opened the back door, hanging onto him firmly with her other hand.
‘Where are you going?’ Jeremy’s voice was weak.
‘I have to get to the LandCruiser and radio for help.’ Once they were outside, she looked up at him. His colour was starting to come back and his eyes were open and alert. Her voice caught again. ‘Do you think he’s dead?’
Jeremy closed his eyes as he sat on the step and leaned against the door. ‘We’ll find out soon enough.’
‘Stay there.’ Emma ran across to the LandCruiser, keeping one eye on the house. She was still terrified that Troy would emerge.
She picked up the two-way radio and switched the dial to the emergency channel reserved for the hospital.
‘Judy, it’s me, Emma. I need help. Can you send the paramedics up to Wilma Randall’s on Cooper Creek Road?’ She tried to speak slowly. ‘There is a head trauma and a snakebite victim. A possible fatality.’ Her voice broke and she dragged in a breath to calm herself. Her lips were trembling and she stared across to Jeremy.
‘Tell me when you’ve done that.’ She leaned her head on the steering wheel as she waited. Finally Judy came back on. ‘Paramedics are on the way.’
She climbed out and sat beside Jeremy at the back door as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. He dozed off a couple of times, but stirred when she spoke.
‘Emma. I’m okay. Don’t worry. He whacked me with something and then I hit my head on the stove.’ He tried to reassure her but her smile was wan. ‘I’m sure it’s only a slight concussion.’
‘He hit you with a lump of wood.’ She held up her hand. ‘How many fingers can you see?’
‘Five . . . or four and a thumb.’ He pulled down her hand and clasped it to his chest.
It started to rain again and she walked Jeremy back into the kitchen and laid him on the kitchen floor. She pulled a couple of tea towels from a drawer and wedged them beneath his head. She then grabbed some blankets and towels and took them up the hallway.
‘What are you doing?’
‘The snakes might get under the door.’
Jeremy shuddered.
‘You’re not going to be sick are you?’ She looked around for a bucket or a bowl but he shook his head.
‘No, I’m okay. I was just thinking about Troy.’
‘Maybe I should go in there and check.’
‘What, and risk your life too? I don’t think so. He would have killed you if you’d not been so strong. It would be you, lying in there with the snakes.’
Chapter 36
Tuesday morning
Dalrymple Hospital
Emma’s assumption had been wrong. There had been no taipans in Wilma’s house. Despite her worst fears, Troy had survived the snakebites from the other species Wilma had collected. The venom of the orange-naped snake was weak, enough to make you very ill, but it wasn’t deadly. He was still unconscious. Emma had told Greg and Jenny about the situation and they locked the door of his hospital room from the outside.
Emma had called Jeff and asked his advice and together they had phoned the Cairns police. Emma had been hesitant; her trust was shot to pieces. She waited by Jeremy’s bedside until they arrived. Greg and Jenny had reassured her that Jeremy was fine. His concussion was mild and he would probably be discharged in the morning. Emma sat beside him as he was monitored in the emergency ward and watched his chest rise and fall as he slept. She was still awake when Chris came to the door and beckoned her out.
Two men in suits waited in the corridor. The detectives from Cairns were ready to talk to her. They had acted quickly on the information Jeff had conveyed for her, and there was already a police guard at Troy’s bedside.
Se
rgeant Smith had been detained and had broken down quickly and confessed everything including the fact that Jock Newby provided the drugs to sedate the animals. Newby was at the police station but had denied any involvement. They couldn’t locate Craig Anderson; he hadn’t been seen since Sunday night. Sergeant Smith had been arrested and they said it was likely he would be charged with attempted murder. They were also liaising with the fire service who had advised that the fire at Emma’s house was highly suspicious.
Emma held on to Jeremy as she walked him out of the hospital the next morning.
She stifled a yawn. She’d had a wakeful night: over and over again she’d woken up to the sound of the snake case glass breaking in her nightmares. She’d also been concerned about how Jeremy would react to being in the emergency ward, but he’d handled it surprisingly well.
Emma and Jeremy crossed the car park to his car. One of the paramedics had driven it back last night. Yesterday’s rain had cleared and washed the sky to a brilliant blue. The laden cane train chugged down the middle of the highway and the sweet smell of the cane drifted across. Crimson parrots swooped through the branches of the Poinciana tree and broke the quiet of the morning as they squawked their displeasure at their interrupted feeding. Orange blossoms drifted onto the lush green lawn and Emma took a deep breath of their delicious fragrance as she walked around to the passenger side. ‘Wait, I’ll open the door for you.’
‘I’m not an invalid,’ Jeremy said with a smile.
‘I’m used to calling the shots, remember It’s a bad habit of mine you’ll have to break.’ She grinned back at him. It seemed like days since she’d last smiled. ‘Wait till you meet Dru. I’m sure she’ll tell you my nickname when we were kids.’
‘You tell me.’ Jeremy settled into the front seat and pushed her hand away as she reached over to do up his seatbelt. ‘Emma!’
Her smile turned into a chuckle. Maybe it was because she knew everything was safe now; maybe it was the brilliant weather; maybe it was knowing that Wilma was well on the way to recovery down in the cardiac ward in Cairns. Maybe it was because the man she loved was sitting beside her and she was taking him home to the place she had agreed to move into. She leaned over and kissed Jeremy’s unshaven cheek.
Yes, she loved him. Almost losing him had been the catalyst she needed to admit the truth to herself. But she hadn’t told him yet.
‘Go on. You’re not getting out of it that easily.’
‘All right. She used to call me “Mrs Bossy Britches.”’
Jeremy’s laugh deepened her contentment.
‘Dru and I were a pair. Poor Ellie was the odd one out. I tried to boss everyone around. I guess I’m still the same.’ She started the car and headed towards the shops. First stop was to buy groceries.
‘We could leave the visit to Mum’s till the weekend.’ Emma had talked to Dru last night and was keen to see her, but she could wait. It sounded as though Dru was going to stay for a while.
A stern look was the only response Emma got. She pulled into an empty car park near the door at Woolworths, and was surprised when Jeremy opened his door and followed her.
He waved a finger at her. ‘Don’t glare at me. I’m fine. There’s a couple of things I want to pick up too. I’ll meet you at the car.’
By the time she returned to the car with the laden trolley, Jeremy was leaning on the side of the car, deep in conversation with George, telling him about the arrests.
‘Where did you spring from?’ she asked as she lifted a bag of groceries from the trolley.
‘Doctor Em.’ The old man nodded at her tersely. ‘I told you to stay out of it. Coulda got yourself killed.’
‘Don’t you start on me, George.’ She opened the back door of the four-wheel drive and Jeremy walked around to help her unload the trolley. She bit her tongue as she went to tell him she could do it.
‘I had a bad feeling about that Troy bloke all along.’ George’s wrinkled old face scrunched up in a frown. ‘I knew that young copper was bad, but I never picked the old sarge. He’s been here for years.’
‘And what about Jock Newby?’ Emma handed the last bag of groceries to Jeremy to lift in. ‘He’s denying it but Troy and the sergeant both said he was in it. I can’t believe it.’
‘Probably why he didn’t want you and Wilma in the rainforest. Wouldn’t be surprised though. Seems like half the town’s involved,’ George said.
‘I’m just glad it’s over.’
A smile crossed her face. ‘How would you like to come down to Port Douglas with us tomorrow? To visit Mum?’
A broad grin split his lips and his gap-toothed mouth hung open in surprise. ‘I’ll be in that.’
‘Can you meet us in town about eight?’
*
Jeremy managed to sneak his purchase into the house while Emma took a shower. He’d hidden them on the floor under the seat of the car. He smiled, listening to her singing in the shower; he’d teased her about that when they’d been at uni. She couldn’t hold a tune.
Afterwards, they sat outside on the porch of the old house. The neglected garden looked more welcoming in the soft afternoon light as the sun dipped behind the mountain peaks. Emma had prepared a salad while Jeremy opened another delivery. He’d managed to set up the portable barbeque without any help.
Emma sat back in the cane lounge that had been left by Albert and Lorna. Her feet were tucked beneath her and she was wearing one of the sarongs she’d bought at the shopping plaza before she’d gone into the grocery store. She’d looped the ends in some fancy arrangement and they flowed around her ankles as she’d walked out onto the porch.
He stood and stretched. His headache had receded to a small niggling ache and he was well on the road to recovery. The regional director had emailed him and set up a meeting for next week. He’d been pleased with Jeremy’s written report though, and had requested a list of the resources and the staff he required for the first clinic at Quarantine Bay.
He was going to be busy, but he was looking forward to it.
‘Stay there. I’ve got something for us.’ He turned to the door and Emma smiled at him as he headed inside.
‘Grab the steaks while you’re in there. They’ve marinated enough.’
He’d managed to hide the bottle of champagne in the back of the fridge behind a few bags of fruit. Now he pulled it out and reached up for the two glasses that he’d bought with it at the bottle shop.
He was just heading back out to Emma when he heard her mobile ringing. Dangling the glasses between his fingers and holding the bottle in the other hand, he walked out to the verandah.
‘I’m on my way, Chris. Be there in ten. Not sure about Jeremy. He’s not up to it.’
He frowned, not understanding what she meant.
Emma’s face was set as she put down the phone. ‘There’s been a multiple car pile-up just south of the ferry crossing. A police car went under a road train. Chris said they think it’s Craig’s car. Two confirmed fatalities, and another three critical. They’ve already called the chopper in from Cairns. I’m needed in emergency.’
‘No.’ Jeremy shook his head and his gaze was steady as his blue eyes held hers. ‘We’re needed in emergency.’
‘Oh, Jeremy, are you sure?’
His stomach was churning but his voice was firm. ‘I am.’
*
It was a night of horror. Craig had been pronounced dead on arrival, and the driver of the car behind the truck had died at the scene. Emma had watched Jeremy closely as they gowned up and joined Chris and Jenny in emergency.
Two of the tourists were quickly assessed as having severe penetrating injuries, and once stabilised were transported to Port Douglas hospital for specialist intervention.
Emma and Jeremy and the medical team in emergency worked until midnight to stabilise the other woman. Both her legs were broken but the decision had been made to operate here at Dalrymple to relieve the load on the hospital at Port Douglas.
‘Three units of whol
e blood, please. As quick as we can. She’s lost a lot of blood.’ Jeremy’s voice was calm. Emma took the cardiac leads and placed them on the woman’s chest as Judy passed over the IV tray.
‘IV set up tray is ready, Doctor Langford.’ Judy’s voice was calm. ‘If you need to intubate, I’ll get that ready first.’
Once the surgery began, Emma focused on her role but flicked an occasional glance to Jeremy as he worked. After a while, she relaxed—as much as she could in theatre—his eyes were clear and focused and his hands steady.
*
Craig had been the sole cause of the accident. The truck driver was only slightly injured but dazed and in shock. He described how the police car had waited at the side of the road and pulled out in front of his truck as he had accelerated down the hill. He’d hit the brakes and the truck had jack-knifed, the first trailer rolling over on its side, and the second slewing around and hitting the car coming in the other direction. He kept repeating. ‘I couldn’t stop in time. He drove straight at me.’
By the time they climbed the stairs to Jeremy’s house, Emma’s eyelids were drooping. He unlocked the door and took her into his arms. ‘You look exhausted. Why don’t you have a shower and go to bed? I’ll clean up out here.’
After he’d cleaned up the remains of their uncooked meal, Jeremy sat on the verandah looking out into the inky darkness for a long time. Despite the tragic events of the past few hours, and the loss of human life, the night had filled him with strength. As they’d fought to save lives in the emergency ward, his faith in himself as a medical professional had been reaffirmed. He was able to let his fear go. Now it was time to let the past go.
The champagne and the glasses sat forgotten on the table by the door. Finally he opened the door and went inside. He was too wired for bed, instead he stood for a while watching Emma sleep before he headed to the study. He opened his briefcase and his gaze settled on the small velvet box holding the ring that he’d bought for her all those years ago. He picked it up and flicked the case open. The deep green emerald ring nestled in the white satin and the diamonds glimmered in the light.