Sapphire Falls

by Fleur McDonald

  ‘Let me stay here tonight,’ Fiona said firmly. ‘I need to do a couple of things in the office. I’ll have Meita with me and I’ll keep all the lights on.’

  Carly huffed an angry breath. ‘I don’t like it.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ she admitted. ‘But this is my home. Let me get things organised.’

  ‘What if I stay with you?’

  ‘Actually I have a problem with you both staying.’

  The women rounded at the voice. Carly’s face split into a smile when she saw Scott.

  ‘How did you get away from the surgery so early?’ she asked, going over to kiss him.

  ‘There was nothing life-threatening and I thought this was more important. How are you, Fiona?’

  ‘Fairly rattled. Emotional.’

  ‘To be expected.’ He glanced around and Fiona was aware that her home had begun to look very shabby. The kitchen floor hadn’t been swept since Jo had done it a few nights ago and there were dirty dishes on the sink. The walls needed a paint—or at least some new wallpaper. The current design was more suited to the seventies than the two thousands.

  ‘Sorry about the mess,’ she muttered.

  ‘Look, why don’t you both come back to my place? The granny flat is free …’ he began, but Fiona interrupted him.

  ‘Not tonight. If something weird happens I’ll come in, but I have a few things I need to do.’

  ‘You won’t change her mind, Scott.’ Carly sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. ‘God only knows I’ve tried.’

  Scott’s lips became a thin line.

  ‘I’ll keep my mobile phone with me all the time and you can ring whenever you want to. If I don’t answer, then I give you permission to storm the house,’ Fiona tried to joke, even though she didn’t feel like it. In fact, she was scared witless.

  Finally, as the sun slipped below the hills and the chill in the air required a jumper and beanie, Carly and Scott followed each other out of the driveway and headed back to Booleroo.

  Fiona stood on the verandah and watched them go, feeling numb. The sadness and fear had left her for the moment, and she knew she had to make the most of that time, while she could still think clearly.

  Whistling to Meita, she made sure she had her phone and did a quick walk down to the shed, then on to the front gate. She closed it and used a padlock she’d taken out of the top drawer in the office to chain and lock it shut.

  Wandering back along the creek with Meita running ahead, she stopped and listened to the water running. All too quickly, she moved on. There was something about being pregnant and needing a toilet fairly often. But the walk had done what she’d needed it to do. Clear her head, put a bit of colour in her cheeks and sharpen her mind.

  That night Fiona kept all the lights on but the TV and radio off so she could hear if anyone pulled up. Not that she was expecting anyone now.

  One by one, she took the notebooks that Charlie used to write in from the shelves and started to read.

  There had been a whisper of a memory when Dave had been questioning her earlier, but she couldn’t quite grasp it. She was hoping there was a notation that would make her remember. One of the notebooks fell open at the middle page.

  Wild dog has attacked four of our sheep. Fiona’s breath caught as she ran her fingers over the familiar writing. The yearning for Charlie intensified.

  ‘Okay, Charlie,’ she whispered. ‘You’ve got to help me here. What am I looking for? You know what I think? Someone is trying to get me off our property. I’m not sure why. Do you know?’

  Turning to the first notebook he’d started, the year they’d got married, she made her way through countless entries of lamb-marking results, crop yields, animal husbandry and rainfall records.

  She smiled when she read some of the notes. You should have seen Fee today. Drafting lambs like a pro. Never done it before. So proud of her.

  I seeded one hundred hectares of wheat today in paddock five, and she sat beside me the whole day, asking questions. She even drove it for a couple of runs.

  Some others stood out.

  Wish it would rain. Worried about the way the season has turned.

  Looking at the date, Fiona realised it was just before their first wedding anniversary. Thinking back, she knew she hadn’t picked up on the fact that he was worried. He’d smiled and laughed and kidded along with her, when in fact he wasn’t as carefree as he’d wanted her to believe.

  Prices for wool have fallen. Got no idea how I’m going to make the payment on the boom spray.

  Her stomach dropped. This wasn’t what she’d expected. They’d talked about everything … Hadn’t they? That was what Charlie had always said: No secrets.

  The next page was worse.

  I had a letter from Dad’s lawyer today. Seems they’re happy to drop the court case just so long as I pay them $200k. Not sure where I’ll get that money from. Looks like another visit to the bank.

  Sucking in a breath, she stared at the notation. What court case? It must have something to do with his grandfather giving him the farm. Did Charlie’s dad sue him? Quickly she scrambled through the other pages, scanning every one. Halfway in she stopped.

  Part of me is so glad Grandad gave me this farm. When I see the changes Fiona and I have made and the successes we’ve had, I know it was the right thing for him to do. Dad couldn’t have grown the business the way I have. But when I see how angry and bitter Dad is, I wonder … he wasn’t a farmer’s boot, I know, and for Grandad honesty was paramount. He told me once that the only thing a man ever had was his word.

  I know why Grandad handed it over to me without any discussion. I overheard an argument between them both, one night. Grandad was accusing Dad of stealing. Said he couldn’t trust him anymore and he wanted him to leave. I never knew what he stole, but it sounded like it—whatever ‘it’ was—had been going on for a long time. It can’t have been money because Grandad would’ve seen that through the bank account. I’m sure it must’ve been stock or wool, but I remember Grandad saying ‘with the amount you stole, it was sheer luck you didn’t send the farm under’. I can’t imagine anyone stealing from family.

  Crap, so that was it. Charlie’s dad had stolen from his own dad. How horrific.

  But how could Charlie not tell her?

  Remember? No secrets.

  Meita barked suddenly and butterflies shot through her stomach. She sat still for a moment, wondering what to do. Then she went to look through the window to see if there were any lights coming up the driveway. It was dark, save for the soft white glow thrown by the moon.

  ‘What’s up, girl?’ she asked as the dog sat next to her.

  Her phone rang and Fiona jumped.

  ‘Bloody hell, my heart isn’t going to be able to take this for much longer,’ she muttered. Looking at the screen, she quickly answered.

  ‘Kim! How are you?’

  ‘Fine, sweetie, fine. And you?’

  ‘Had my ups and downs.’

  ‘I plan on putting a stop to that,’ Kim said, her happiness radiating down the line.

  ‘How do you plan to do that?’

  ‘I’ve got to drop off a food order for a dad and his kids tomorrow morning and it’s on my way to you, so I thought I’d call in. What do you say?’

  Fiona breathed in deeply through her nose and shut her eyes. ‘I say I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.’

  ‘Great! See you ten-ish.’

  ‘See you then.’ Fiona put the phone on the desk but picked it straight back up again.

  She sent a text to Carly: All quiet on Charona. It dinged a couple of moments later.

  Expecting it to be her mother, she didn’t pick it up straightaway, but went back to reading the diaries. She was still reeling from Charlie’s revelations, but she didn’t have time to think about them at the moment. She was looking for something—she wasn’t sure what it was, but she would know it when she saw it. She hoped.

  Lent Damien the trailer for two weeks.
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  Myles Martin borrowed the generator.

  There was that memory again. It kept flickering but she couldn’t reach out and grab it. She was sure she’d heard him talking about lending a scope or bullets, or something similar, to someone. But only in passing. Maybe she’d heard a phone call or he’d mentioned it over tea. She was sure she didn’t know who it was.

  She riffled through the filing cabinet, looking for Charlie’s gun licence. It would have all the guns listed on it. Apprehension seeped through her as she took the piece of paper to the spare room, tapped the code into the keypad and opened the door of the gun cabinet.

  Inspecting each gun, she found the serial number and checked it off against the items on the permit. The police had taken into evidence the guns that had been used that night.

  Fiona sucked in a breath. According to this, there was a .22 missing. She counted the guns on the licence, then what was inside the cabinet.

  She wasn’t mistaken. One of the .22s wasn’t there.

  Who had he lent it to? And why?

  Narrowing her eyes, she thought hard before going back to the diaries.

  Later that evening, after failing to find anything significant in the first book, her eyes began to droop and Hamish was restless. Calling Meita, she decided to go for a drive.

  The air was so cold that her breath created white puffs of small clouds. The ute took a couple of goes to get started, but she put the heaters on full blast, shifted it into gear and drove towards the back of the farm.

  Stopping on the edge of the creek, she got out to open a gate, taking in deep lungfuls of air. She let her head tip back and looked at the stars. Above her the leaves shifted and a mopoke called.

  The empty feeling was still there—she supposed that wasn’t going to leave her soon, but it was also being replaced by anger.

  Her sheep had been poisoned. Rob had said that. His exact words were, ‘poison of some sort’. She knew there were no poisonous bushes or shrubs of any kind on Charona, so did that mean someone had put something on her farm that had killed her sheep?

  That was precisely what it meant.

  What sort of person would do that?

  And why were they targeting her? Had Charlie done something she didn’t know about, like taking out a personal loan to pay his parents $200k compensation?

  Looking back, she suddenly wondered if the sheep going over the fence into the neighbour’s property was an accident.

  Her phone beeped. She dug it out of her pocket, blinking at the bright light of the screen against inky black. Two messages. Carly and Leigh.

  Glad to hear all is quiet. Let me know how you are in a few hours. That was Carly answering her previous message.

  She tapped on Leigh’s message to open it. How are you going?

  Fiona tapped the phone against her hand, pondering how to reply. She wasn’t sure she could put every emotion she was feeling into words.

  Okay, she tapped out.

  Are you home?

  No.

  Let me know if you need anything. I’m sorry this has happened to you.

  There was nothing to say to that, so she put the phone away. She was sorry it had happened, too.

  Getting back into the car, she blew on her hands and rubbed her nose—it felt icy!

  She decided to drive along the boundary, just to see if there was anything sinister going on. Half an hour later all she’d seen were three rabbits, a fox and her woolly ewes.

  There hadn’t even been any cars on the main road. The countryside was silent and still, and there was no sign of the predators who seemed to be stalking her.

  Chapter 30

  ‘I’m sorry, Fiona,’ Rob said on the phone the following morning, his gravelly voice reverberating around her head.

  That was all she needed to hear. She knew.

  Reaching out to hold on to a chair, Fiona took in a wobbly breath. She knew her hands were shaking and she cursed silently. She had known what the outcome would be, so why was she acting like this?

  ‘Because it makes it real,’ her brain screamed at her. ‘If he says it, it’s real.’ Out loud, she asked, ‘What did you find?’

  ‘They’ve got selenium poisoning. Somehow they’ve been overdosed on the trace element.’

  The silence screamed down the phone.

  ‘I’ll be reporting this to the police, and I want to come and have a look around. I’m guessing it’s been mixed in with their water.’

  ‘Right.’ Fiona was at a loss for words.

  ‘I’ll be out in the next hour or so—will you be at home?’

  ‘There’s nowhere else to be at the moment.’

  When Kim arrived at Charona, all she heard from inside the house was sobbing.

  Running inside, she found Fiona in the office, curled up in a ball, and Meita standing over her, whining.

  ‘God, Fee, what’s wrong?’ She fell to her knees and put her arms around the younger woman. ‘What’s happened? Fee?’ Kim knew she sounded panicked, but she couldn’t help it. The poor young woman was a mess.

  Fiona tried to say something, but Kim couldn’t understand her. She followed her arm signals and looked over at the mantelpiece.

  ‘They’ve taken him,’ she stuttered.

  ‘Taken who?’ Even as Kim said the words, understanding began to dawn on her. Oh God, she hoped she was wrong. ‘Have they taken Charlie? His ashes?’

  Fiona nodded as she dragged herself up from the floor and clung to Kim’s arm.

  ‘Dear God.’ Dread and alarm coursed through her. She tried to find her phone. ‘Come on, my love, you need to get up. We need to get you into town, to your doctor.’ She didn’t mention calling Dave to come and fingerprint the whole house.

  Just as she was struggling to lift the sobbing woman, a voice called out.

  ‘Hello? Hello, you there, Fee?’

  ‘In the office. Can you give me a hand?’ Kim called back, relieved to hear heavy footsteps. She gently pushed Meita out of the way. ‘Get out, dog!’

  ‘Shit, what’s happened?’ A man dressed in blue overalls walked in and sank down beside them.

  ‘We need to call an ambulance and the police,’ Kim commanded. ‘Now.’

  The man ripped a mobile phone out of his top pocket. ‘Ambulance required to Charona.’ He recited the numbers that were displayed at the farm gate, which would help the ambos recognise where to go. ‘Tell them it’s Fiona Forrest’s farm. Yes, I’ll stay on the line.’ He pulled the phone away from his ear. ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘Some bastard has stolen Charlie’s ashes.’

  ‘What the …’ He turned his attention back to the phone. ‘We have a traumatised woman. We also need the police. Yes, yeah, there’re two other people here, she’s not on her own.’ He blew out a breath in annoyance. ‘Lady, I know you’re in a call centre somewhere, but you tell the locals it’s Fiona Forrest’s farm and they’ll know exactly where it is. Thank you.’

  ‘Who would do this, Kim?’ Fiona looked up at her imploringly.

  ‘Sweetheart, whoever has done this deserves to be hung, drawn and quartered. Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure Dave gets on the case. Now, come on, up onto the couch.’ She threw a quick glance at the man who was standing beside them, looking like he wasn’t sure what to do. ‘I’m Kim.’

  ‘Rob. The vet.’

  ‘Can you help me get her onto the couch?’

  A few minutes later, Kim was on the couch next to Fiona, holding her hand with one of her own and stroking her hair with the other. Meita nestled into Fiona’s side.

  ‘Could you get me my mobile phone please, Rob?’ she asked in a low voice. ‘It’s in my handbag, on the front seat of the car. And we need to find a blanket.’ Turning back to Fiona she said, ‘Sweetie, I’m going into the kitchen for a minute. To get you a glass of water, okay?’

  Fiona clutched at her hand and stared at her as if she were a stranger. Kim gently extracted her hand and rushed to the kitchen, searching for a glass. When she returned to t
he office, she helped Fiona sit up then held the glass to her lips.

  Rob appeared at her side, and handed her the phone.

  ‘Sit with her,’ Kim instructed, then went into the kitchen.

  ‘Honey,’ Dave greeted her phone call.

  ‘Dave, you have to get here to Charona. Some arsehole has taken Charlie’s ashes.’ She explained what she’d found.

  ‘And the vet is still there?’ Dave asked in an urgent tone.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Put him on.’

  Kim walked back to the living room and handed Rob the phone. ‘My partner’s Detective Dave Burrows,’ she explained. ‘He wants to speak to you.’

  Rob walked out to the kitchen to take the call. ‘Rob Cameron.’

  ‘What happened to the sheep?’ Dave asked. ‘Poison?’

  ‘Yes. Selenium poisoning.’

  ‘How was it administered?’

  ‘I can’t tell you for sure. I only got here just after Kim and we’ve found Fiona in a bad way.’

  ‘How could have they ingested it?’

  ‘My guess is through water, but …’

  ‘But what? What, man?’ The urgency in Dave’s voice conveyed the importance of the question.

  ‘If it’s through the water, I’m going to have trouble with the samples. The trough refills every time the water drops below a certain level.’

  ‘Damn! Right, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Check the troughs, if you can get away.’

  ‘Sure.’

  When Rob returned to the lounge room, he handed the phone back to Kim before heading down the passage in search of a blanket.

  Kim talked constantly and soothingly to Fiona, stroking her hair. It was the only way she knew to make her feel safe.

  ‘It’s too hard, Kim. Too hard.’

  ‘What is, sweetie?’

  ‘To stay here. The farm. What’s the point? Dead husband, dead sheep. Too many bad memories. Ian Tonkin can have the bloody thing. It’s cursed, I’m sure. Or I am.’

  ‘Now you listen to me. You are not cursed. Stop talking like that, right now. This isn’t the time for it. Let’s just get you to hospital and make sure that beautiful little bub of yours is okay and that you are, too. You’ve gotta think about that cherub. Charlie wouldn’t want you to be thinking like that either.’