‘No, I’m not the one who needs your skills.’ She tilted her head towards her mother and watched as Sarah turned and did a classic double-take.
‘Oh, I see.’
‘Will you be able to do something?’
‘Um, I’m sure I will. It might take a little while, though.’
‘No problem. I’ll come back later, Mum.’
‘Yes, you do that, love. This nice young lady and I will have a good chat, so don’t you worry about me. I’m sure we’ll get on like pigs on fire.’
Nicola saw Sarah’s startled expression, and smiled to herself as she left the salon. Her mum would talk Sarah’s ear off. She couldn’t have come up with a more satisfying punishment if she’d planned it. The fact that she hadn’t made it all the better.
Chapter 11
Nicola’s eyebrows rose when Hayden pulled up outside the house in a top of the range Mercedes. She was unaware that Birchmoor’s project managers could afford such luxury. She wasn’t about to complain, though. And when he got out of the car she still saw no reason to complain. Having only seen him in his work gear, she was sufficiently impressed by the smart-casual pants and shirt – or, more accurately, the way he looked in them – to feel a flutter in her stomach at the sight of him standing there smiling at her.
‘It’s such a beautiful day, I thought it would be good to take a walk by the river before we go to the restaurant, since we have time to spare. If you agree?’ He opened the passenger door for her.
‘What a lovely idea.’ What a good thing she hadn’t chosen her highest heels. They were the most flattering footwear she owned, but walking any distance in them was impossible. She tried to manoeuvre into the car without showing too much thigh, but her tight-fitting dress rode up in spite of her efforts. Hayden acted as though he hadn’t noticed, which was gentlemanly of him. Blair Morrissey hadn’t attempted to hide the fact that he was ogling her legs when he’d let her out of the bathroom.
What was she doing even thinking about him when she was on a date with a man she actually liked?
Now in the driver’s seat, Hayden smiled across at her before he started the car and reversed out of the driveway.
‘Have you lived in Redgum Valley long?’ she asked.
‘Oh, more than long enough. Three and a half years or so. I don’t plan to stick around for much longer.’
‘Right.’ They had a dislike of the town in common then. ‘Where do you intend to go?’
‘I want to return to Sydney, where I grew up.’
‘Oh. You know I’m going back to Sydney at the end of my three months here, right?’
‘Are you? No, I didn’t realise that. Do you like music?’
‘Sure,’ she said, relaxing back into the seat.
He pushed a button and the car was filled with the voice of her favourite singer.
The River Way hadn’t existed when she’d last lived in the town. She’d spent plenty of time on the riverbank, but it hadn’t been like this. The concrete path was new, as were the exercise stations located adjacent to the walkway at regular intervals. She couldn’t believe that anyone in Redgum Valley actually used them. On the other side, the bank sloped down to the water.
‘This is the first time I’ve been down here since I came back.’
Hayden nodded. ‘I run along here most days after work.’
‘Do you?’
‘And I use these.’ He pointed at a colourful metal contraption. Nicola couldn’t work out what anyone would do with it. Or on it.
‘That’s … great.’
‘What do you do for exercise?’
‘Well, I used to go to the corporate gym three times a week. It was in the office building where I worked, so it was convenient.’
‘And now?’
‘I haven’t found a suitable alternative yet.’ Not that she’d been searching. She’d been too busy, what with work and her parents.
‘You could run with me if you want to.’
‘Maybe.’ She looked a mess when she worked out, she wasn’t sure she wanted to inflict that on him, but it was definitely an option.
As they rounded the bend she saw two teenage boys fishing. One appeared to have hooked something and was trying to reel it in.
She stopped. ‘Let’s watch. I’d like to see what he’s caught.’
‘Probably an old boot to match the one he caught last week.’ Hayden glanced at his watch. ‘Actually we don’t have time to waste here. We don’t want to miss our table, do we?’
‘No. Okay.’ She fell into step with Hayden as he turned back the way they’d come.
Hayden had booked a table at a new Thai restaurant – new to her at least. The food was good, and Hayden was attentive and thoughtful. Well, most of the time. She had a niggling feeling that he was happy to do anything she wanted, as long as it suited him. But she pushed the thought away, telling herself that her lousy history with men had tainted her perspective. She did enjoy his company and that was all that mattered – it wasn’t as if she was considering a future with him – so when he suggested a drink at The Pelican to finish off the evening, she was happy to agree.
The Pelican was crowded. People must have come from a long way around to see the band, and it wasn’t bad. Hayden had gone to the bathroom and Nicola was sitting alone on a padded leather bench seat when Blair Morrissey slid in alongside her. She raised an eyebrow at his arrival.
‘Is that a soft drink?’ he said, nodding at her tall glass of vodka, lemon and lime.
‘Most of it is,’ she said, edging along the seat away from him.
He grinned. ‘So, how’s the big date going?’
‘Is it any business of yours?’
‘He doesn’t seem like your type.’
‘What? How would you know?’
‘I’ve been watching him. Bit of a poser.’
‘He is not.’ Her voice rose with indignation.
‘Is that his Mercedes in the car park?’
‘Yes, it is. Jealous, are you?’
‘Of his car? Not a bit. I prefer an unpretentious Australian car.’
Before she could decide whether to infer that he was jealous of something else – of Hayden dating her – he was on his feet again. Just as Hayden reached the table, he said with a wink, ‘Breakfast was great this morning, by the way.’ Then he vanished into the crowd again.
Hayden’s eyes widened. ‘Friend of yours?’
Damn Blair.
‘He didn’t stay the night if that’s what you’re thinking.’
Hayden held up his palms. ‘None of my business.’
No, it wasn’t, and anyway, there were plenty of reasons why they might have met for breakfast, including the real one.
If Blair had been watching Hayden, he’d been watching her, she thought, craning her neck but unable to spot him. Now, why would he bother to do that? Unless he was jealous of Hayden? God no, she couldn’t get her head around that idea.
Chapter 12
Nicola rang Lainey’s doorbell on Sunday morning. This was the first weekend that Rosie had spent with her father and Lainey had to be hurting.
‘Hi!’ she said when the door opened. ‘Any chance of a cuppa?’
Lainey gave her a distracted nod. ‘I’m glad you’re here–you can help me with something. Come through to the bedroom.’
Nicola followed her. A suitcase was open on the bed, white frothy fabric billowing out of it. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I decided it was time for a clear-out.’
‘Is that your wedding dress?’
‘What else would it be?’
‘You want to chuck it out? Are you sure?’
‘I see it every time I go into the walk-in robe and it reminds me. And it’s not as if I need reminding. It’s like a slap in the face every time.’
‘You couldn’t cover it up?’
‘I just want it gone.’ Lainey turned away as her voice faltered.
‘Okay. Fair enough.’ Nicola dropped her handbag on the chair in the corner of the room.
‘What do you want my help with?’
‘I can’t get it into the suitcase. I need one pair of hands to hold it in, and another pair to close the lid.’
‘You don’t think squashing it like this will spoil it?’
‘Well, if it does, it’s just bad luck.’
‘But aren’t you going to sell it?’
‘No, I can’t be bothered with the fuss. I’d rather donate it to a charity shop.’
With a shrug, Nicola climbed onto the bed and knelt alongside the suitcase, doing her best to hold the mass of white fabric and lace in the case. But while Lainey tugged the zip around one end of the case, the dress spilled out of the other end.
‘Sheesh, there’s just too much of it,’ Nicola said, sitting back to get her breath. ‘I don’t suppose you have a bigger case?’
Lainey dragged the back of her hand across her forehead. ‘No, but I’m sure we can get it into this one.’
‘Okay. Let’s give it another go.’ She dived into the foamy whiteness again, while Lainey struggled with the zip.
Nicola pushed, Lainey pulled. Finally, it was done. Nicola flopped back onto the bed.
‘Phew. That’s better.’ Lainey rolled off the bed and lifted the suitcase onto the floor. ‘Now I can literally deal with my baggage,’ she said with a shaky laugh.
‘Well, if you don’t mind me saying so, I think it will take more than this.’
‘Oh, I know. I’m only joking. This is just the start. I know I have a very long way to go.’
Nicola gave her a thoughtful look. ‘So, you’re moving on? Does this mean that you don’t want Daniel back any more?’
‘Good grief, no it doesn’t. I’d take him back in a heartbeat. But the longer it goes on, the harder it is to believe that he’s going to come home.’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’ Nicola watched as Lainey gathered up her veil and other bits and pieces of wedding paraphernalia, and crammed them into a plastic bag.
Lainey returned from the walk-in robe with an armful of clothes. ‘I might as well bag up some of these old things too while I’m at it.’
‘Do you need some help to get these to the charity shop?’ Nicola gestured at the growing pile of bags.
‘Oh, I’ll put them in the shed for now, and take them bit by bit. I don’t want to donate the wedding dress here in Redgum Valley, though. I wouldn’t want to open the local paper and see a picture of a happy bride wearing my dress.’
‘No, I suppose not.’
‘I think I’ll call a halt now or I won’t have anything left.’ Lainey stopped sorting clothes and straightened. ‘How did your date with Hayden go?’
‘Really well.’
Lainey tied the top of a plastic garbage bag. ‘Do you think it could get serious?’
‘Hell no. I’m not looking for anything like that, not after what happened with Greg. I’m not ready to take such a risk again.’
Lainey looked thoughtful. ‘It’s a complicated business, isn’t it? I’ve never had to do it.’
‘What, dating?’
Lainey nodded. ‘If Daniel doesn’t come back to me, I’ll be on my own forever, because there’s no way I could face putting myself out there for rejection.’
Nicola sighed. ‘I know what you mean. Hey, we need a night out together soon, and the first one to mention a man will have to buy the drinks for the rest of the evening.’
Lainey smiled. ‘Maybe we could go dancing next Friday? I heard that there’ll be a seventies disco band on at The Pelican.’
‘Sounds good. What about Rosie? Will you let her spend the weekend with Daniel again?’
Lainey shook her head. ‘Not so soon. It’s been tough here without her. She’ll stay with my mum for the night and help her collect eggs on Saturday morning. She enjoys that, and that way we can still have the weekend together.’
‘You won’t stop her seeing her father, though?’
‘No.’ Lainey took a deep breath, then gathered a pile of clothes in her arms and shoved them into another plastic bag. ‘I just need time to get used to the idea of his weekends being a regular thing. It’s another step towards accepting that he’s gone for good.’
Nicola’s parents were both sitting on the sofa when she entered their house later that morning.
‘Why are you so glum? What’s happened?’
‘It’s him.’ Her mum tilted her head sideways. ‘He’s had a letter.’
‘Ri-ight. What did it say?’
‘A man from the government is coming out and your dad’s got to drive the car with him in it.’
‘Ah.’ Nicola sat in an armchair facing them. She wasn’t altogether surprised by this development, considering her one and only trip in the car with her dad. But although she could accept that it was necessary, she didn’t understand how this forced driving test had come about.
‘When is he coming?’
‘The letter said that I had to ring to make an appointment,’ her dad said.
‘Have you phoned yet?’
He shook his head. ‘I know what it’s like when you ring these government departments, you get put on hold for ages. I don’t have time for that.’
Why? Because he was too busy? Doing what?
‘Perhaps you could ring them for me, Nicola love?’
Because she had so much more time to spend on hold? She stifled a sigh. ‘All right. You’d better give me the reference number.’
They both looked at her. Blankly.
‘I’ll need a reference number so that they’ll know who I’m talking about.’
They looked at each other, then back at her.
‘I need the letter?’
‘Oh, the letter. Well, why didn’t you say so? Fancy using complicated words like that, to talk about such a simple thing. We haven’t got it.’
‘But you said—’
‘He threw it away.’ The head tilt again.
Nicola tried her nostril breathing technique, thinking that she didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this. ‘Can you remember anything about the letter? Who it was from? Which department?’
‘No,’ her dad said.
‘No,’ her mum said.
No, she hadn’t thought so. She pondered the problem. ‘Who could have reported you?’
‘Reported me? For what?’
‘For your driving.’
‘What’s wrong with it?’
Oh, good lord.
‘What about the doctor?’
‘I haven’t driven him anywhere.’
‘No, but he might have thought that you needed to take a test on account of your age.’
‘Your dad did go to see Dr Whitworth a few weeks ago,’ her mum said. ‘That’ll be it.’
‘Okay, I’ll make an appointment with him. It’s a place to start, anyway.’
Chapter 13
Nicola looked up the first of the suppliers in Birchmoor’s computer system. She made a note of the address on her pad. No phone number, though. She tapped her pen against her chin. Kate shouldn’t really have left that data field blank, but she’d noticed that when Hayden was around, women did tend to get distracted – herself included.
Closing down the supplier record, she opened her browser. She’d look up the company’s phone number on the internet. No problem.
But there was a problem, because the company wasn’t listed on the internet. Not in the White Pages, not anywhere. Funny way to do business, she thought. Wanting to remain small was one thing, but making it impossible for potential customers to get in touch was another entirely.
Travis entered the office. ‘I just saw Corinne in reception. She asked me to find out if you’ve got a feel for the month’s results yet.’
She raised her eyebrows. Corinne must be getting anxious about the company’s position. She typed in the third supplier name and her stomach plummeted when the same address appeared on the screen. She frowned up at Travis. ‘How reliable is Kate, in your opinion?’
‘Kate? Completely reliable. I’ve never known
her to make a mistake. Not a single one.’
‘I had a feeling you were going to say that.’ She pushed her keyboard away, put her elbows on the desk and rubbed her temples. ‘I think there might be an issue, but I’m not exactly sure what it is yet.’
‘So, do you want the bad news about Hayden’s project reports?’
Nicola gestured to him to sit down. ‘Tell me.’
‘Well, his costs have gone up again. Some of them seem to be covered by variations that he’s submitted to the customer, but a large percentage of them aren’t. Included in those extra costs are purchases from three suppliers – in fact, they make up the bulk of the increase.’
‘I bet I know which suppliers.’
He gave her a questioning look, but she waved him on.
‘I thought I’d go back and investigate a couple of his older projects, and the same is true for them, especially the Pearson project, the one that’s in dispute over increased costs.’
‘What about other projects that Hayden hasn’t worked on? Are they experiencing the same rate of increase?’
Travis pulled a face. ‘This is where it gets even worse. I’ve done some digging, and I can’t find a single project that has used any of those suppliers. This is just a hunch, but I think maybe he’s getting kickbacks from the owners of the companies to use their products.’
‘It’s possible.’ Nicola chewed her bottom lip, then pulled the keyboard towards her again. ‘Each entry in the computer system has an Australian Business Number. I’ll look them up in the ABN registry and see who the owners are.’
Moments later, she dragged her tongue across dry lips. ‘Travis, I think we’ve stumbled across something serious here.’
‘Yes?’
‘All three companies are registered to Hayden.’
‘Shit!’
‘I agree.’ She pulled a face. ‘I don’t think we can look any further into this without alerting other employees to the problem, and maybe spooking him, so I’m going to turn this pile of steaming manure over to Corinne. Have you got the figures for the total spent with these fake suppliers?’
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