Promise of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘She needs them, she’s been pretty stiff and sore the last few days.’

  ‘Because we ran out. There was a delay on stock and Ebs couldn’t get it in. Was everything okay last night? Cam said he saw Ben driving from your direction when he came home.’

  ‘Yeah, he’s just coming up with excuses to check up on me. I won’t go into protective custody or move in with you and he doesn’t like me being at the cottage by myself.’

  ‘I know how you feel about that, but if someone else is murdered, you’re out of options. You need to do what Ben thinks is best. I didn’t like having bodyguards either, but I’d be dead otherwise. Rob would have snuck straight into the house that day; I wouldn’t have even known he was coming.’

  ‘I won’t be stupid about it, I promise.’

  ‘Good. And here’s Ebs.’

  ‘Morning,’ Ebony said, climbing out of her car.

  ‘Violet’s going to be very happy to see you.’

  ‘Poor girl. I’ll make her feel better.’ She dug in the back of her car, then pulled out a box. ‘Here it is. Want me to give Violet some now?’

  ‘She’d appreciate it.’

  ‘How’ve you been?’ Ebony asked Mia. ‘I haven’t seen you for a week.’

  ‘All good. You?’

  ‘Same old. Oh, and Lee and I went and saw that new movie you mentioned,’ she told Ally. ‘It was great.’

  ‘I’d love to see it but it’ll probably have to wait until it’s on telly.’

  ‘Why don’t you go?’ Mia asked. ‘It’s Cam’s birthday on Sunday, isn’t it? Go to dinner, see the movie. You guys haven’t had a night out for ages and Chloe and I will be fine.’

  Ally brightened. ‘Thanks. Maybe we will.’

  They walked over to the old horse. ‘Hi, Violet.’ Ebony slipped through the rails and gave her a pat and an injection. ‘Just continue with the oral stuff now,’ she told Ally. ‘It’s in the car.’

  ‘Will do.’

  ‘How’s your big boy going?’ Ebony asked Mia.

  ‘He’s awesome. I haven’t had a lot of rides on him yet but he’s doing well.’

  ‘And everything else?’

  ‘Ben’s been checking up on her,’ Ally told Ebony. ‘A lot.’

  ‘Probably because he doesn’t care,’ Ebony muttered as she searched in her box for what she needed.

  ‘She thinks she’s safe because she’s holding a sharp implement,’ Mia told Ally.

  ‘He took her wine tasting last weekend,’ Ally whispered conspiratorially to Ebony.

  ‘Ally, shut up. You know what she’s like. She’ll start planning a wedding.’

  ‘Really?’ Ebony looked up. ‘Staying at his house, dinner, going out …’

  ‘Not killing each other …’ Ally continued.

  Mia let out an exasperated laugh. ‘Okay, that’s enough. Seriously? One, you know he wasn’t home that night I stayed there; two, I can only imagine the dinner you’re talking about was pizza night—doesn’t count; and three, the wine tasting was—well, I don’t know what that was but it wasn’t a date. More like a … diversion from the killing him part you mentioned. Like the bloody chocolate he brought over. I made one smartarse comment—’

  ‘Only one?’ Ebony enquired.

  Mia pulled a face. ‘So he drops a whole block of it on the table.’

  ‘Oh, isn’t that sweet?’ Ebony asked Ally. ‘He gave her chocolates.’

  ‘Not chocolates. One big slab of the stuff. To soften me up because he wanted to know about Shane. So I told him. Job done, he left.’

  ‘What job would that have been?’

  ‘Ha. Don’t go turning this into one of your happily ever afters, Ebs, or I’ll do things with that syringe no one’s even thought of yet.’

  ‘Ooh, ouch,’ Ebony exclaimed with a huge grin. ‘You’re touchy.’

  ‘You should go eat some of that chocolate,’ Ally declared.

  ‘That could work—if I had PMS. Which I don’t.’

  ‘No,’ Ebony agreed, ‘you’ve just got a gorgeous hero on your hands.’ She got back into her car. ‘I have to go or I’ll be late for consults. Say hi to Ben for me.’

  ‘She’s hysterical,’ Mia muttered. But she waved her friend off.

  ‘How did the conversation about Shane go?’ Ally asked.

  ‘Fine. I just told him what he seemed to already know. Ben thinks Shane’s the reason he and I haven’t been getting along.’

  ‘Isn’t he?’

  ‘I don’t know, Ally. Shane made me cautious, of course he did. Maybe, to start with, that situation coloured how I see Ben.’

  ‘And now?’

  She hesitated. ‘Now I want to trust him. I hope I can. Because if I can’t, I’ve just told him something very dangerous. And I need to tell you, too. Have you got time to come to the cottage?’

  Ally studied Mia and nodded. ‘I’ll just get on the two-way and let Cam know to hold Chloe a bit longer.’

  ‘Actually, I should probably tell you both at once. Let’s go back to your place.’

  * * *

  ‘So we’re set to go ahead Friday afternoon,’ Ben told his team. ‘We’ll have plain-clothed officers in the restaurant, on the street, across the road and, of course, at Indy’s rental. Indy will turn up at one o’clock, hang around the outside of the restaurant for exactly twenty minutes. Then she’ll retrace her steps back to her house, walk in the front door, and into the back room where more officers will be waiting. Because we’re in Hunters Ridge and everyone knows him, I don’t think he’ll track her on foot. Those of you on the street will be watching for a car—most likely a brown Holden Commodore. When he’s spotted we want to block him in, with units stationing themselves at these points and everyone else closing in a net. We can’t afford to let him slip through.’

  As the preparations continued, Ben’s phone rang. He picked it up, expecting it to be Indy calling for an update. ‘Bowden.’

  ‘Ben, it’s Ebs. Indy didn’t turn up for work this morning.’

  He checked the time. It was nearly ten. ‘Okay. I’ll call her.’

  ‘I tried. She’s not answering.’

  ‘I’ll send someone over to check on her.’

  He hung up, unable to entirely ignore the nervous dread that was building inside him as he brought up the surveillance footage of Indy’s place from the night before on his laptop. He watched Indy enter the house in her veterinary clothes. She tossed her keys on the bench, looked at the camera, smiled and winked. All was good. And then it wasn’t. Rob stepped in behind her and Indy’s body jolted, convulsed. She dropped to the floor. Rob, taser in hand, smiled up at the camera much as Indy had done. Then he waved. Laughed. Drew a line across his neck. And dragged Indy out.

  Ben jumped up and called Russ as he charged out the door.

  It only took minutes to reach Indy’s house. Heart in his mouth, Ben carefully opened the front door. Silence. He wanted to rush to the bedroom, but he made himself move carefully, check every corner, every room. He reached Indy’s bedroom door and found it closed.

  Nausea, desperation and fear took hold of him in equal parts as he turned the handle. Holding his breath, he gave the door a gentle shove. It swung open. He saw the corner of the bed, the edge of the doona, the left-side pillow … nothing. She wasn’t there.

  His legs almost collapsed with the overwhelming relief. Rob hadn’t killed her. At least, not here, not like all the others. There was a chance she was still alive.

  Within minutes the team was assembled, poring over the house for evidence. Those who didn’t need to be there he ordered back to the station and showed them the footage of Indy’s abduction.

  ‘I don’t understand why he took her early,’ one officer said. ‘He hasn’t done that before.’

  ‘We made it too easy,’ Ben admitted. ‘A vet receptionist at Hunters Ridge. He didn’t need to wait for a date to follow her home, he just watched the surgery.’

  ‘It’s also possible he knew she was a cop,’ Russ said. ‘And
knew we’d be setting up—took advantage of the early attempt.’

  ‘And threw it in our faces. He could have been watching her all week.’

  ‘What now?’ Stuart asked. ‘Do you think he’s already killed her?’

  ‘Damn it, Perkins!’ Ben snapped, then took a deep breath and shook his head. ‘We would have found her already.’

  ‘Mia didn’t get a phone call?’ Russ checked with Ben.

  ‘No. I saw Mia later than that last night.’ He flicked off the recording. ‘Let’s get to work. I don’t know why she’s still alive, but we might not have much time to find her.’ He got everyone moving, wanted to go out there and search, knew he needed to coordinate. So he tried to convince himself they could find Indy before it was too late.

  * * *

  Mia burst into the station expecting it to be chaos. It was almost empty. ‘Where’s Ben?’ she asked a lone officer behind a desk.

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘Detective Bowden. Where is he?’

  ‘The detective is very busy, I’m afraid he’s not available.’

  ‘Mia.’ Ben appeared as exhausted and dishevelled as she’d ever seen him.

  ‘Ebs said no one could find her. What else?’

  ‘Rob took her last night. He was waiting for her when she got back from the surgery.’

  He took her? Did that mean … The wave of panic took the breath from her lungs. She started to shake. ‘Oh God. No. Did he—did you—she’s not …? I didn’t get a phone call. There wasn’t a call, Ben, she can’t be—’

  ‘Hey.’ He took her face in his hands, his gaze steady. ‘There was no phone call. She wasn’t found in the house. In this situation, that’s good. It means there’s a chance. We think he figured out who she was and might be planning to use her in some other way. Whatever that is, it gives us time.’

  ‘Okay.’ She calmed herself down and stepped back. Indy probably wasn’t dead. There was a chance. ‘How are you going to find her?’

  ‘We’ve got officers searching the radius of the area he could have reached given the timeframe. There are people on the ground, in the air, checking traffic cams, CCTV, you name it. I’m going to be in and out, coordinating and searching until we find her.’

  ‘What about the locals? They helped with the missing girls, they know the area …’

  Ben was shaking his head. ‘There’s a hotline set up for anyone who sees anything suspicious. We’re about to get those details and information on the car’s make and model on the radio station. We can’t have civilians searching for Rob.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘It’s too dangerous. Indy wouldn’t want that. There’s more police on the way.’

  She didn’t realise she was trembling until he squeezed her arms. She needed to pull herself together. He didn’t need this. He needed help. ‘What can I do?’

  ‘Linda could probably use a hand. We’re going to have officers coming and going all day. She’s trying to make up enough food to keep everyone going.’

  ‘Okay. All right, I’ll be there. Ally will probably come too. She’s on her way in. Let us know if anything … I mean if …’

  ‘Of course.’ He scribbled a number on a piece of paper and handed it to her. ‘This is Indy’s. If you do get a call from this number, I don’t want you to answer it. Don’t pick up. Understand?’

  Tears welled in her eyes and she quickly looked away from him. But he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in, breathing deeply as though steadying himself as much as her. It was comfort, security. When she took a deep breath of her own and nodded, he must have felt it, because he drew back a step to look her in the eye.

  ‘We’re going to find her.’

  ‘You will. I know you will.’

  ‘I shouldn’t have let her do it. I knew it was too risky. I knew better.’

  She placed a hand on his arm. ‘She wanted to try. She wanted to do this.’

  ‘I told her why it was a bad idea. But I let her convince me. Because I want to get Rob. I want to get Rob so badly, I let myself be talked into it. Now she’s …’ He closed his eyes on a curse.

  She wasn’t sure what to do or say that would make any difference. He blamed himself, because he expected better of himself. Everyone looked to Ben in these situations, everyone relied on his judgement. Until this moment she hadn’t realised what a burden that must be at times. How high the expectations were that he placed on himself. There was no one for him to go to, to ‘fix it’. He was it.

  ‘The only person to blame here is Rob. It’s always Rob.’

  As she drove home after a day of helping Linda feed the troops, her eyes scanned the side of the road. She knew she wouldn’t find Indy, but she searched anyway, in case a brown Commodore just happened past. She was so scared for Indy and so very, very angry. She hated Rob, and the depth of that hate should have scared her, but it was too consuming. This man who had taken so many lives, destroyed so many others. For money. For fun. For his own sick enjoyment. And he never got caught.

  She didn’t want him caught. She’d been so scared she’d have to shoot him to defend herself, to defend her family, but right then she wanted to pull that trigger. She wanted him dead. And if that made her a monster too, if that’s what he’d turned her into, so be it.

  CHAPTER

  17

  Day two was chaos. Knowing she wouldn’t be helping anyone by squeezing herself into the kitchen at the inn, she kept the thermoses going at the station, kept the tea and coffee stashes full and did a few milk runs. She still felt useless. Indy was out there with Rob and she was here, laying out tea packets by flavour.

  But she stayed, and she was there when the news the search was being scaled back came over the radio. Some officers were needed at their own posts immediately, others would remain until tomorrow, or the next day. They were shifting the focus areas again, but with fewer resources. It wasn’t quite giving up, but to Mia it sounded a lot like it.

  ‘How could they just give up on her this quickly?’ she asked Ben when she saw him. ‘How can they just walk away?’

  ‘They’re not. These men and women have eliminated a massive area from the search. There’s no point keeping them here to search it again and again. We’ll move on, and the second we get something we’ll refocus our efforts.’ Then he was gone again, swallowed into the wave of organised chaos.

  Day three was worse. The general mood of disappointed resignation at the station as she’d walked in had hit her like a wall. Ben wasn’t there and not many officers were around. So she set everything up and walked out. She couldn’t stay in that funereal atmosphere. She needed something to do to take her mind off it.

  She went home and ran, pushing herself hard, lifted her weights, doing an extra set of reps. Picking up on her mood, Jasper lay in the corner and didn’t interrupt.

  When she was done, still restless, she took out some photo work. But she couldn’t settle at the computer.

  As she pushed the laptop away in frustration, she knocked some paperwork off the desk. She picked it up and spotted the list Cassie had given her. There were four places left—none of them looked like they could be accessed today. Damn, that would have been a good diversion. She called Cassie to double-check, but got no answer. Maybe she’d drive out to a couple anyway, take a look.

  What about Rob? She growled in frustration. Damn it—what about him? Half the New South Wales police force were—or had been—searching for him. He was out there, somewhere, with Indy. But nowhere anyone was likely to run into them. Unless Indy was already …

  She shook her head and pushed the image aside. Those sorts of thoughts were exactly why she needed to get out of here and do something. So she’d go, take a look at these places. There was nothing to say she had to so much as get out of the car if she didn’t like the look of them.

  She snatched up her gun, checked it. And list in hand, she headed for the car.

  She’d start with the old pub. Cassie had marked it down as any day next week,
so she put the address in her GPS. She knew the building—knew it had been renovated and turned into a bed and breakfast. Why couldn’t she go out there today?

  She had her answer when she got there. The roof was being redone and the grounds were a mess. Sitting in her car on the roadside, she looked for something else to do. The old church ruins caught her eye. Cassie had put a TBA against it. Why did that have to wait? If it was locked up, if she had to meet with someone to gain access, she’d turn around—or leave the car and walk in. It was better than going home. Better than waiting.

  The location was far enough out of town that she wondered if she’d missed the turnoff, and realised she had when she reached the road further on. She did a U-turn and slowed down.

  This time she found it, a derelict, overgrown trail with a poorly marked sign. No mailbox, nothing to suggest the track was routinely used for a nearby home. She probably wasn’t going to disturb anyone. The long driveway reminded her of her own: thick bush on all sides, just not as tidily kept.

  After a minute of painfully slow winding along the corrugated track, the old church came into view. A long, white, wooden building with narrow windows. Ruin was a bit of a stretch; the structure still stood, though it was in a terrible state. And the whole place was eerily quiet, dark, because of the trees fighting to reclaim the space. The preservation society clearly weren’t doing their job on this one. It would make for some good shots, though. She could be quite creative.

  She took a few shots from the front, then moved around the side. What looked like a generator was tucked under the building’s supports. Why would there be a generator? Perhaps they were trying to restore the place. She lifted the camera, zoomed in. And realised why it looked so unnaturally dark inside: the windows were covered by black plastic. Puzzled, she moved closer to investigate.

  Her first thought was that someone might be using the place as a drug lab. Black plastic on windows, generator for power, isolated old building. She looked around nervously, began to move back to the car. But then she realised the generator wasn’t on. So even if someone had used it for that, they weren’t anymore.