The dog wriggled his pleasure. Jess fed him and took him for a swift run at the nearby beach before tying him up for the night.
In the morning she’d take him to the hospital and kennel him in the unused chook run. If she took him to a strange place tonight he might howl the hospital down while he became accustomed to new surroundings.
She radioed Sergeant Russell briefly to assure herself that Barry would be locked up until then.
‘He’ll be in for at least another couple of days,’ the policeman said with satisfaction. ‘Ethel lodged a formal charge before she left for Sydney and there’s not a lot of folk round here ready to provide Barry with bail.’
‘Ethel’s gone…?’
‘Doc Mountmarche arranged an air ambulance transfer this afternoon. I helped take her down to the airstrip.’ He hesitated. ‘You know who else did?’
‘Who?’
‘Ray Benn and a couple of the Benn kids. They came to see her to tell her how happy they were with the horse. Dunno who howled the most. Ethel or Ray.’
Jess heard the smile in the big policeman’s voice and a tiny light lit up inside her. There were still glimmers of happiness left to her.
Embers instead of flames.
‘What am I going to do, Kiro?’ she whispered but the big dog had no answers.
He reckoned he had problems of his own.
‘Yours will be over soon,’ Jess told him, giving the dog a fierce hug. ‘Someone still loves you. We’ll send you to Sydney to be with your mistress as soon as we possibly can.’
If only someone could magic Jessie away as well…
There was no one. Of course there was no one. No one for ever…
She left Kiro looking mournfully after her and drove back to the hospital.
The hospital held little appeal as a destination. At a guess, the place would be empty. If Ethel had gone and no more patients had been admitted then the hospital side would simply close down until needed. The staff could take three deep breaths and a holiday.
Niall Mountmarche wasn’t on holiday.
The island’s medical superintendent was waiting for her, sitting on a fallen log behind the hospital car park. Heaven knew how long he’d been there. He had the air of a man in no hurry at all.
As she pulled to a halt he rose and walked slowly towards her.
Niall stopped at the car-park barrier.
‘Jess…’ His voice was a caress.
Jess closed her car door with a bang and locked it with careful deliberation. ‘I don’t want to see you,’ she said, her back turned to him.
‘Why not?’
‘If you don’t know, you should.’ She took a deep breath and turned, bag in hand, to walk down the path into the building. Niall blocked her path.
‘Jess, Hugo told me…’
‘Told you what?’ Jess stopped dead, cold anger welling through. She felt so betrayed that it made her feel sick. ‘That I was upset? Did he tell you that he told me the truth? And I didn’t like it?’
‘Jess, let me explain.’
‘There’s nothing to explain. Let me past.’
He gripped her shoulders and stopped her pushing by. She was no match for his strength. One hard shove told her that. Finally she stopped pushing-instead, standing still and rigid-steeling herself not to respond to him.
‘I think there is.’
‘No.’ She fought back stupid, betraying tears of weakness. ‘Dr Mountmarche, does or does not the vineyard belong to Paige?’
‘Yes, it does. But…’
‘The whole island believes it’s yours. And you let them believe that.’
‘It was easier that way,’ Niall told her. ‘Jess, it’ll create problems for Paige…If her mother finds out…’
‘You mean it’ll create problems for you,’ Jess spat. ‘Maybe even a custody battle. Was I to be the insurance?’
His face stilled. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘It’ll be easier to keep Paige-keep the vineyard-if you have a nice docile little wife living on the island,’ Jess whispered. ‘Wouldn’t it?’
His face darkened with incredulity. ‘I didn’t think that.’ His grip tightened so much it hurt. ‘Not for a moment. Jess…’
‘You want to go back to England?’
‘I don’t know,’ he told her. ‘My medicine’s important to me and with two doctors already on the island I can’t see any permanent place for me here. I can write but I don’t want to lose my medicine completely. But Paige is important, Jess. Once she’s settled and happy, if I have to go then she’ll come with me. And I hope…Jess, I hope you, too…I won’t leave you.’
‘Pull the other leg,’ Jess said crudely. ‘It plays “Jingle Bells”. Let me past, Niall Mountmarche. I want nothing to do with you or your corrupt little schemes.’
‘You have to believe me, Jess.’
‘I don’t,’ Jess said bluntly.
She met his look and anger met anger.
The incredulous expression in Niall’s eyes was slowly hardening to a cold, hard contempt.
‘There has to be trust, Jess.’
‘Well, there isn’t. I’ve seen what men can do and I don’t want any part of it.’
‘You can’t compare me with that…with…’
‘I do,’ Jess spat. ‘John Talbot. Barry Simmons. Niall Mountmarche. Underneath, they’re a type. Well, I’m damned if I’ll spend the rest of my life with men like that. You…you talked Ethel Simmons out of being a victim. I have only myself to get me out of this mess. And I will. Now get out of my way, Niall Mountmarche, before I scream blue murder. Now!’
The hostility in her own eyes was reflected in his. There was tight-lipped fury.
‘If you think I’m capable of that, there’s no more to be said,’ he said harshly. He released her so fast that she almost staggered.
There was a long moment of silence. Jess met his look unflinchingly.
Then, finally…finally, Niall Mountmarche stood to one side of the path, giving her room to pass.
‘We had it all, Jess…’
Jess shook her head as she made her feet walk past him.
‘We had nothing.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT WAS a night of loneliness.
A night of pain.
A night so long that Jess never wanted to go through it again in her life.
Jess somehow managed to get through her normal tasks. She drove out to the Benns’ to help settle the little mare in her new home, hoping that it might help ease the hollow ache inside-but nothing would.
Nothing.
She lay in the dark in the empty hospital and she’d never felt so alone in her life.
When the telephone rang at three a.m. it was almost a relief.
She’d rather have a difficult calving in the middle of a paddock than this awful emptiness.
It wasn’t a sick cow.
It was Sergeant Russell, sounding anxious.
‘Jess, are you safely locked up there?’
Jess frowned. She leaned over and switched on her bed light.
‘What…? How do you mean?’
‘Barry Simmons is out.’
‘Barry…’ Jess frowned. ‘You mean he got bail?’
‘I don’t mean anything of the sort,’ the sergeant said wearily. ‘There was a car crash over the other side of the island. Drunk teenagers. No damage to themselves but a lot of property damage. I had to go. Barry must have heard me go and used the opportunity to fool Marie.’
Marie…The sergeant’s wife.
‘What happened?’
‘He started screaming blue murder five minutes after I left. Said his hand was killing him-said the bandages the doc put on his hand were cutting off circulation and his fingers were turning black. When Marie went down to the cells he made out he was having some sort of convulsion-grabbed his hand, choked and fell over like he was unconscious. So…’ He sighed. ‘So she broke every rule in the book and went in. And he hit her and took off.’
&n
bsp; ‘Is she all right?’ Jess asked anxiously.
‘Sore, sorry for herself and feeling stupid,’ the policeman told her. ‘But he locked her in the cell and she was there for an hour till I got home. So, now…Well, I guess he’ll probably head home. I’ll go there now.’
Jessie’s heart missed a beat. She should have taken the Rottweiler out of harm’s way. ‘Sergeant, Kiro…Ethel’s dog’s there. Barry threatened to kill it.’
‘Yeah. He’s angry enough to do anything,’ the sergeant said. ‘The only worry is, he’s furious at Ethel. He knows she’s laid charges and I didn’t tell him she’s left the island for Sydney.’
‘You didn’t tell him…?’
‘I haven’t been able to get within earshot of him for abuse since he found out Ethel was laying charges,’ the sergeant said. ‘I couldn’t have told him even if I’d wanted to. Which I didn’t,’ he said fairly. ‘After treating Ethel the way he has the least he knows about her whereabouts the better. But now…’ He sighed.
‘Jess, if he thinks she’s still at the hospital…he could come. Just make sure the place is locked. I’ll check the house and be right with you. Ten minutes. But lock the place, Jess.’
‘It already is locked.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘Y-yes.’
‘That’s something, then. But Jess, be careful.’
He hung up, a worried man.
So what was Jess supposed to do now?
Go calmly to bed?
Jess had been wide awake before. Now she was so alert that every noise was magnified a thousand times.
The place was locked. Only staff had keys.
It was a rambling building. If Barry broke a window on the far side-on the hospital side…
The policeman would be here within ten minutes and Barry Simmons would surely only break a window to gain access to the women’s ward. If he found his wife gone…
Jessie’s ears strained. There was something banging over in the other wing. A gentle thumping that was so soft that it had been in the background and she hadn’t heard it.
An intermittent thumping. Like a French window banging gently in the wind.
It shouldn’t be open. The nurses were under strict instructions to leave the place locked.
But Niall had been back this afternoon.
Niall, whom a woman would be mad to trust…
She would go mad by herself here with a window open so close. Jessie bit her lip in indecision.
This was stupid. Barry Simmons was no threat to her. Even if he broke in he didn’t want Jess. He was angry with his wife. There was no need to think that the man was intent on violence to anyone other than Ethel.
‘So lock the window,’ Jess told herself harshly. ‘Before you go nuts.’
She opened the door out into the corridor and stepped out into the darkened hospital.
It was definitely one of the French windows banging.
Out here she could hear it clearly. It was a wonder that she hadn’t heard it earlier in the night-but maybe the wind had only just risen.
She walked slowly down the corridor, nervous despite herself. The light switches were near the nurses’ station. Jess flicked them and the place lit up.
The light should have reassured her. Instead, it did no such thing.
It increased her sense of urgency.
There was a smell…
Petrol.
The hospital reeked of petrol.
Dear heaven…
Jess flung open the door into the women’s ward. This was where the sound had come from. The French windows were open wide and, as she watched, the breeze caught them and swung them gently closed with the thump she had heard.
If the place smelled of petrol…
The smell was unmistakable. She should get out. Jess walked quickly over to the windows and out onto the verandah.
There was nothing here.
So why the smell?
She frowned. She had to be right. The smell couldn’t be from a small container. It was stronger in different places-and there were dark, damp patches on the floor.
Even out here on the verandah there were damp splotches-and the lock on the French windows was splintered and broken.
Barry must have been here…
Maybe he still was. If he’d poured petrol around the place…There was only one reason why he’d do that.
To set fire to the building…
There was no fire yet. Maybe he’d put the petrol down and changed his mind. Discovered that his wife wasn’t here.
But if a spark ignited the petrol…the place would go up like a bomb.
Jessie’s heart froze in fear.
Her animals-Wilfred and tiny Wobble-were still inside.
Things-buildings and contents-could be replaced but not her wallaby and wombat. Jessie looked frantically back into the hospital, her mind racing.
From out here it looked safe-normal-but there was no ignoring that smell. She wasn’t going back through the corridors. If the petrol caught she’d be trapped.
She’d go around. Break a window from the outside and get back into her flat that way. Even if she was imagining the smell…
A light cut through the night, lighting the verandah where she stood. Jessie turned to face it. A car was screeching to a halt in the car park and a dark figure emerged.
It wasn’t the police sergeant. Jess could pick this profile anywhere.
Niall Mountmarche…
Niall could obviously see Jess on the verandah and Jess could discern relief in the way his shoulders sagged.
Sergeant Russell must have phoned him…
Why, for heaven’s sake? What use was Niall Mountmarche, except to upset her still further? Jess didn’t want Niall. She wanted only to concentrate on her animals.
What help was he?
Jess turned again toward the broken French doors. Not that way, she told herself fiercely, blocking out Niall’s presence. Don’t be stupid, Jess…You’ll have to go around the verandah…
She took one step forward toward the verandah steps-and the world exploded around her in a brilliant, molten rush of engulfing flames.
She woke to damp earth and dazzling light.
Someone was pushing her face into the grass. Jess had a mouthful of the stuff and it was threatening to choke her.
There was a weight on top of her, bearing her down.
Blind panic took over.
Frantically Jess fought against the weight and, instead of being pushed down, the weight rolled aside and she was being pulled into strong, fierce arms.
‘Lie still, you little termagant. Dear God, Jess…’
‘Let me go…Let me go…’
She could see Niall’s face above her now, glowing in reflected flame. There was soot on his jaw and his forehead-black grime, deeply embedded-and Niall’s eyes were dark slits.
‘Jess, you’re burned. Hurt. Lie still.’
‘I’m not burned…’ Jessie’s face was tingling. She put a hand to her forehead and felt singed hair. ‘I’m not…’
‘The explosion knocked you out on the verandah. I got you off just before the roof came down.’ Niall’s arms held her close and she could feel a shudder run the length of his body. ‘Dear God, if I hadn’t been here…’
‘B-Barry…’ Jessie’s voice was a choked whisper. ‘It must have been Barry…’
‘He’s torched the place.’ Niall was using his body to shield her from the worst heat. Now he shaded his face with one hand to try to see. They were lying full length on the lawn and the heat was sweeping over them in waves. ‘God knows where he is. Jess, there’s no one else inside, is there? Think.’
‘No…No one…’
Yes, there was…
‘Wilfred…’
Frantically Jess tried to haul herself away from Niall’s encircling arms to see. The fire was all through the front of the hospital-but Jessie’s flat was at the rear. Maybe…
‘Let me go,’ she screamed. ‘Niall, let m
e go.’
‘Wilfred?’ Niall’s voice was blank. He was still lying prone, his arms restraining her with absurd ease.
‘My animals. They’re in my flat. Let me go!’
‘If you think I’m letting you go near that…’
She lashed out then, shoving with fists and elbows and feet, clawing like a wild creature. The attack was fierce and unexpected and Niall’s hands released their grip for a fraction of a second.
It was all she needed. Jess was on her feet and running barefoot, her charred nightgown tattered around her. If she could get through the garden…
Jess was lithe and fit and running was something she could do well. It would take Niall Mountmarche a mammoth effort to catch her, especially as she knew her way round every inch of this garden.
She had to beat him. She couldn’t let him stop her.
The heat was almost overpowering. The wind was coming from the north, pushing her along with its blast and Jess knew that most of its strength was from the fire.
There was no saving the hospital now.
There were only her animals.
She couldn’t let them be incinerated. They trusted her absolutely. She was all they had.
They were all she had…
Heaven knew what Niall was doing. She couldn’t care. Jessie’s feet flew, careless of flying cinders or gravel on the paths. Here was the gate to the back yard-and here the path leading to her flat door. There was a glass pane in the door. If she smashed it…
The flames weren’t here yet. Soon…
The smoke must be unbearable inside…
Jess stooped to grab a rock by the path and raised her arm to smash but her arm was stopped in mid-air.
The stone was lifted effortlessly from her nerveless grasp.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
Niall’s voice was hoarse with smoke. She could hardly see him for billowing clouds of acrid fumes.
‘I’m going in.’
‘The hell you are!’
‘They’ll die,’ Jess sobbed.
‘Jess, they’re animals.’
‘Yes, they are,’ she screamed at him. ‘And they’re helpless. They’re locked in their pouches. They depend on me and I can’t let them die…’
‘You can’t go in. OK, it’s not burning yet but if he’s spread the petrol…Jess, it could go up any second.’
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