by Di Morrissey
can throw out the dumbbells who come into my office!’
Ellie managed a smile. ‘You’re joking. About the gym. Aren’t you?’
‘You should join too. Bruno, the instructor, is quite a hunk.’
‘Poppy, you’re incorrigible. I love you so much.’
Patrick perched on the edge of his desk and took her hand. ‘Listen, my love. Maybe go to Melbourne, see the big boss, let him do some crawling. And say no. Or yes, if that’s what you decide. Because you are the one with the power here. If it’s no, you’ll be on a high and can walk into any big IT firm. They’ll fall over themselves to have you – your friend Mike told me that.’ Patrick cocked his head. ‘And what does Mike say about this offer?’
‘I haven’t told him yet. Last time we talked, he said that the woman who undermined me got the sack. Big news in the small IT world in Melbourne.’
‘What about your friend Julie? And your mum and dad?’ asked Patrick.
‘They’ll all say it’s my decision.’
‘Yes, we’re not much help, are we? The ball’s in your court, Poss. Don’t let this Roger rush you. Think about it some more, and see how you feel in a few days.’ Then he grinned.
Walking around his desk, he typed some words into his computer and pulled up Ellie’s early draft of the article about Ben, beckoning her to come and look at the screen. She saw that the document was covered in his trademark blue notes in the margins.
‘In the meantime,’ he said with a grin, ‘this should keep you occupied. It’s a fantastic effort so far. Go get ’em, Poss!’
*
After a quick check through the website comments –
nothing further from the troll, she noticed with relief – Ellie spent a few hours at her desk working on her story on Ben, which was going to run in Wednesday’s paper. It felt good to focus on what was on the screen in front of her. Patrick was right: she shouldn’t let Roger bully her into making a quick decision.
Maggie and Patrick had gone out and she could hear Jon talking in the front office. When he started laughing, her curiosity got the better of her and she went out to the reception desk to see what was happening.
Jon was talking to two good-looking men, probably in their early forties. He gave her a big smile.
‘Hey, Ellie, this is Grant and Howard. They’ve just moved here to start a business.’
‘Hello. Nice to meet you.’ Ellie shook hands with each of the men. ‘That’s great. What kind of business?’ Ellie was guessing they were foodies.
‘A garden cinema,’ said Grant.
‘The cinema is indoors. In our house,’ Howard explained. ‘Grant is a projectionist and a collector of movie memorabilia.’
‘They bought the old Robertson house at the edge of town. The heritage one with the ballroom,’ said Jon.
‘Sounds fabulous,’ said Ellie. ‘What sort of movies will you show? Will you get the new releases?’
‘We will, after they’ve done Melbourne. As well as some of the classics and foreign films. Grant has a lot of useful contacts in the business,’ said Howard.
‘They’ve transformed the ballroom into a theatre with movie memorabilia, seats, stage curtains, the whole thing. Sounds amazing. I’m going over now to take photos,’ said Jon.
‘We came in to ask about advertising. Didn’t expect a write-up,’ said Grant, smiling.
‘Well, it’s a brilliant story. When are you opening?’ asked Ellie.
‘In three weeks. We’ll serve twilight cocktails in the gardens before the movie and nibbles at intermission,’ said Howard. ‘We’ll do special events, too. Kids’ birthday party sessions, stuff like that.’
‘What a great idea,’ Ellie said. ‘The town will love it.’
‘I hope so,’ said Grant. ‘We’re living upstairs and eventually we’ll do something with the other rooms downstairs, like the drawing room and library. The place was pretty rundown when we bought it, and it’s taken the builders months to renovate; we’ve only just been able to move in. We got a small government grant to do it up, which helped.’
‘Grant and Howard have saved that place. It was going to be demolished but I remember now that there was an outcry about that. The paper covered it,’ Jon said to Ellie. ‘Can you look after things here while I’m out?’
‘Of course. Congratulations, that’s so enterprising of you both. The Chronicle will give you as much support as we can. Let me know when I can buy a ticket to the opening night,’ said Ellie.
‘Count me in too,’ said Jon. ‘I’ll get a group together.’
Ellie went back to her desk as Jon left, following Grant and Howard out to drive to the old mansion. When she sat down her phone pinged and she found a text message from Richard the vet.
Hi. Results from the meat sample are in and as we suspected a poisonous substance was detected. It’s a now discontinued product, a sheep-dip chemical used for the control of external parasites. Across the state there have been plenty of incidents of deliberate poisoning with this product, sadly, including against birds of prey like wedge-tailed eagles as well as wild dogs. Probably there are left-over stashes on many sheep properties. I’ll inform the police. Cheers, Richard.
‘Oh no!’ Even though she’d been fairly sure the meat had been poisoned, having it confirmed brought the reality of the situation home to Ellie. This really had been a deliberate act against them, and as the poison was a fairly common substance, it could happen again.
When she’d been trolled on the newspaper website, Ellie had had the niggling feeling that spiteful Sophia, after losing her job, might have been behind it. Ellie couldn’t be sure if this were the case, but in a way it had made her less anxious, knowing that Sophia was physically so far away in the city. The baiting, though, had most likely been done by someone local and someone aggressive. It made her shiver.
Her ringing phone broke into her thoughts.
‘Hey, you, wotcha doing?’
‘Hi, Mike. I’m at the paper polishing a story, how’re you?’
‘Cold. Wet. Tired. A bit over it all. Apart from that, I’m terrific.’
‘That doesn’t sound like you, what’s up?’ asked Ellie. In her experience, Mike never sounded downbeat. If he was, he hid it.
‘Oh, the usual; difficult client, someone made a miscalculation with the budget, my washing machine broke down and flooded the laundry. Anyway, I thought I could do with hearing a friendly voice. So, what’s happening? IT is a small world, Ell, and there are rumours doing the rounds about you.’
‘Like what?’ Ellie said.
‘About going back to work for Roger.’
‘Well, he did ring me, but that’s very different from agreeing to work for him again,’ Ellie said, laughing.
‘When did he call?’
‘When I was walking on the beach this morning, deciding what to do with the rest of my life.’
Mike paused for a moment, then said, ‘I hope you didn’t jump at the offer. If you want the job, make him beg you. Play hard to get.’
‘I told him I needed time to think about it.’ Then she burst out in a rush, ‘Mike, I don’t know what to do, and that makes me feel crazy. Why wouldn’t I jump at the chance to go back there and sell myself for a fat salary? A piece of the action? I feel so . . . torn,’ she finished lamely. ‘Besides, someone tried to kill Sam.’
‘What? Are you sure? What the hell happened?’
She quickly filled him in. ‘I’d just worry the whole time if I left Poppy and Sam at the moment.’
‘Are the police investigating it?’
‘Poppy and the vet reported it, but they said there’s not much they can do. Oh, Mike, I just don’t want to leave Poppy and Sam right now. It’s too hard a decision!’ she cried.
‘It’s not as simple as here or there, is it Ellie?’ And when she didn’t answer, he went on, ‘Storm H
arbour is a place of shelter for you, always has been. You adore your grandfather, who treasures this time with you. You have a gentle, fulfilling lifestyle in a stunning place. You cook, walk on the beach with Sam, you’re involved with, and passionate about, the community. You have friends, you’re contributing to the newspaper, which is the lifeblood of the town. So why don’t you start your own IT business and work from home out of Storm Harbour? You’d have clients falling over themselves to use your expertise. They don’t care where you are so long as you have reliable internet. Come to Melbourne as and when you need.’
‘Why don’t you work from home?’ countered Ellie.
‘Don’t think I haven’t considered it, but there are reasons. My apartment is smaller than yours. I need company, and I can’t have a dog. Imagine working out of that sun-filled study you have there,’ Mike said.
‘I’d be competing with my old boss and his well-established company,’ said Ellie slowly.
‘Look at all the start-ups that are being run fully online now. You can do anything online from home these days for fun or money. Teach yoga, join a choir, pickle yams or whatever . . . you know it, Ellie. What’s holding you back?’ said Mike, and she could hear the growing excitement in his voice. ‘You have the expertise and your overheads are minimal.’
‘Okay, okay.’ Ellie laughed. ‘I’ll give it some thought.’
‘Don’t fob me off. Promise you’ll call me back with six ideas.’
‘Okay. All right. I’ll think about it. Thanks, Mike,’ she said. ‘I suppose I could work on some concepts. Maybe I could develop some apps. I could build them myself, although my skills are a bit rusty. Might be better if I call on you and my other development friends to work with me to bring my vision to reality,’ Ellie said laughing, but starting to share Mike’s excitement.
‘Ellie, you have the perfect skill set to start up on your own. You’re a senior IT project manager, so consultancy work would be second nature to you.’
‘Was, Mike! I was a project manager,’ Ellie explained, then changed the subject, not wanting to think about her old job just as her mood was lifting. ‘Here’s some good news! Next time you come to Storm Harbour we can go to the movies. Two guys have transformed an
old mansion into a cinema that’s opening soon. The nearest one has always been a half-hour drive away before now.’
‘Really? A whole thirty minutes away. You forget the time you spend travelling just to get across town in Melbourne, Ellie.’
‘True. We’re spoiled, there’s no traffic here.’
‘I like the idea of the house cinema, and visiting Storm Harbour again,’ said Mike.
‘You’re welcome anytime,’ Ellie said. ‘All right, I’ll give Roger’s offer some thought and send you some IT business ideas just to prove I still can.’
‘Looking forward to it. Talk soon.’
Ellie put her phone down and stretched. She’d been sitting at her desk for too long.
The front office doorbell jangled, and she jumped up and walked into the reception to see Meredith standing there.
‘Hi, Meredith, how are you? Did you want to see Patrick? He’s out at the moment.’
‘Actually, I wanted to talk to you. I was wondering if you were free for a coffee. Somewhere quiet.’
Ellie noticed the stress and tiredness in the mayor’s face. ‘Everyone else is out so we can talk here. I’ll make some coffee,’ said Ellie as Meredith followed her into the main office.
‘So how’re things going with you?’ asked Meredith.
‘Okay, apart from someone trying to poison Sam. They threw a bait into our front garden!’
‘No! Is he all right?’
‘He didn’t get to it, fortunately. But only because I was with him. His roaming has now been curtailed and it’s rattled us a bit.’
‘It’s hard to imagine this isn’t connected to everything that’s going on at the moment,’ said Meredith darkly. ‘Like I told you on the phone when we last talked, Ellie, it’s getting out of hand.’ Meredith sat in the spare chair as Ellie made the coffee. ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,’ she quoted.
‘Life does seem to be moving into Wizard of Oz territory,’ agreed Ellie. ‘Spooky. I just never thought anything like this would happen in Storm Harbour.’
‘Me either. That’s why I wanted to talk to you privately.’
Ellie looked at the mayor, who was obviously concerned. ‘Are you still being harassed? Have you found out anything more about what might be going on in council?’ Ellie didn’t want to say anything about what she’d learned in her meeting with Russ. He had asked for anonymity, as any connection between them would put both him and the mayor in a compromised position. She just hoped Meredith wouldn’t raise it.
‘No,’ Meredith replied. ‘But it feels like the calm before the storm. I have no evidence that anything will happen, of course, apart from the nasty posts.’
Ellie passed her a mug and sat down. ‘How can I help you, Meredith?’
‘You know I told you about letters in my mailbox? Well, the notes have become even more aggressive. Threatening.’ Meredith took a sip of her coffee.
‘Oh no. Have you spoken to the police?’
‘I reported it, but without more evidence there’s not much they can do. I’ve taken their advice on security and being cautious, but we don’t know who’s behind it. Hearing what happened to Sam makes it even more frightening. There’s the chance the incidents are connected; perhaps it’s even the same person.’
From her handbag she produced a sheet of paper and handed it to Ellie, who quickly read the typed text.
We know everything about you and we plan to tell it all on social media unless you resign from council immediately.
Ellie gasped. ‘Are you okay living alone? You’re welcome to come and stay with us until this stops,’ she said.
‘That’s sweet of you. I’ll see how I go.’
‘Why would they want you to resign?’ asked Ellie.
‘I assume it’s because they’re worried I’m going to make waves or interfere with something they’re trying to do with the council.’
‘But it’s your job to oversee what goes on in council. How could they stop you?’ asked Ellie.
‘Perhaps they’re convinced that if my life story is made public, I’ll be forced to stand down. I’ve never done anything I’m ashamed of, but it mightn’t look good if they revealed what they call “my colourful history as a madam” in their own way. I mean, I can’t be sure who in the town would believe me over them.’
‘Whoever is doing this is getting out of control,’ Ellie said, concerned for her friend.
‘Well, you know my story, Ellie. I’ve been here twenty-something years, and no one has a clue about my past. They never cared; at least, that is what I assumed.’
Meredith sat back and sighed.
‘I can’t dispute the facts,’ she said. ‘I’m sure if it goes public I will be made to sound sleazy, dishonest even. After all, it was illegal to run a brothel back in those days. To be clear, I never lied or covered anything up when I took office as mayor: you have to declare any criminal convictions, and I didn’t have any. But it’s possible that damage to my reputation and to that of the position I hold would be untenable,’ she added. ‘I’d love to know who cares enough to go to so much effort to trace my background.’
‘My grandfather thinks that the person who tried to poison Sam will eventually reveal themselves. The same could be true for whoever is threatening you. Like you said, it might even be the same person,’ said Ellie.
‘I didn’t think anyone in council was that devious,’ said Meredith, shaking her head.
‘So how can we help?’ said Ellie.
‘Well, sometimes the best defence is a good offence, as they say. I want the Chronicle to tell my story. Get it over and done with.
Better it comes from me rather than from someone who wasn’t there, doesn’t know how it was, and may well wish me ill,’ Meredith said calmly.
Ellie stared at her. ‘You’re asking us to print your life story, truthfully, unabridged and straight from the heart?’ she said slowly.
Meredith nodded. ‘In for a penny, in for a pound. Better that my version, the truth, is out there before any other. And it takes away the ammunition for their threats.’
Ellie smiled broadly. ‘Genius. That’s so brave of you! But are you sure?’ she asked. ‘We’ll need Patrick in on this.’
Meredith gave a slight smile. ‘This’ll rock him. He thinks he knows me backwards.’
Ellie was moved once again that Meredith had shared her story to help her at a time of crisis. The trust and friendship the older woman had shown her touched her deeply.
‘Before we go any further, do you have any clues at all as to who might want to shut you up?’ Ellie asked.
Meredith shook her head. ‘I did do some checking. Remember the women who started a beauty salon near Backhill? One of them – Amelia – is still there, so I contacted her. Amelia said someone emailed the salon’s business address asking for details about me. She couldn’t tell from the address who the sender was, and they didn’t give a name in their message, so she ignored the email. Who knows who else this person has contacted, though, and what they’ve found out.’
‘Those days must seem almost like another lifetime, Meredith,’ said Ellie quietly. ‘Listen, just be absolutely sure you’re not being shanghaied or tricked into this. Deciding to go public with your story is pretty brave.’
Meredith flung up an arm dismissively. ‘Whatever. Water under the bridge. As I said, I’ve never done anything I’m ashamed of or regret. Why is it women are so often put in a position where surviving as best they can, for themselves, their family, or whatever reason, means they sometimes have to make a hard choice, or have no choice at all? It seems to me that women nearly always have to carry the load, especially when there are children involved and family to provide for. And that fight for survival, the battle to stay afloat, costs them dearly. That was the story of many of the women I tried to help. That’s the story I want to tell.’