by Margaret Way
Nicole’s stomach started to churn. She had to make a move to cut Joel’s dependence on her. But how? “I think I’m going to be sick.” She opened the passenger door, lurched out onto the fiery sand covered with tufts of burnt Mitchell grass.
Within seconds Joel came around the hood to join her. He put an arm around her, his eyes holding a depth of concern that was almost fierce. “It’s the heat,” he said, staring at her pale face. “Why were we talking in the car? It’s too bloody hot. Sit down for a moment, Nikki. I don’t know what I was thinking, upsetting you so. I’ll get a drink of water from the canteen.”
“Thanks.” Nicole lowered herself dizzily to the ground. Spent bauhinia blossoms rained on her head, on her shoulders, fell to the scorched earth. She was reluctant to face it, but Joel’s attachment to her was starting to become more than a burden. It was becoming a threat.
Joel was back within seconds. “Drink up,” he said, his voice still filled with anxiety. “As soon as you feel better, I’ll take you home.”
“Good idea.” She stared past him at the crystal mirage. The mirage was a phenomenon of the desert, creating beautiful and terrible illusions. She had lived with it her whole life just as she had lived with her cousin, Joel. They were siblings—that was how she saw them. Now she had to face the hard fact that Joel had far more than brotherly feelings for her. Had she ever really known him, or had it all been illusion? Whatever the answer, she appeared to be central to Joel’s life.
Didn’t that put him in direct conflict with Drake?
NICOLE FOUND HERSELF driven to question Siggy privately, try to determine if Siggy had known about Joel’s visits to Dr. Rosendahl, with both deciding to keep it from her.
Siggy’s reaction was amazement, then outrage, as though the questions constituted extreme harassment.
Her third reaction was betrayal. “How dare he?”
“Calm down, Siggy. What do you mean, how dare he? Joel doesn’t need you to grant permission.”
“I’ll be damned!” Siggy struck the kitchen table where she’d been writing up menus for the dour Mrs. Barrett, who just happened to save her job by being a great cook. “Aren’t your kids supposed to tell you things? All right, he’s no kid, but surely to God he can come to me with his problems. I’m his mother, after all!”
“You can’t tell him I told you, Siggy.”
“The son of a bitch!” Siggy swore from habit, her tone flinty.
“That’s great, seeing as you’re his mother.” Nicole gave her a wry look.
“You’ve upset me, Nikki.” Siggy dropped her head into her hands.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you, but Joel upset me.”
Siggy glanced up, eyes firing. “Now, that I find very distressing. It has to be for the first time. I mean, he has you way up there on a pedestal.”
“Where I absolutely don’t want to be,” Nicole said in extreme exasperation. “I hope you’re not blaming me for it. The big trouble is, Joel’s had no one else to put there.”
“You really don’t think so?” Siggy drew herself up, looking affronted.
“Lord, Siggy, I remember a time when you called him dopey on a regular basis.”
“It was nothing personal.” Siggy had the grace to color. “He was always forgetting things.”
“I never heard you call your husband dopey. The occasional ‘darling.’ I used to wonder about that.”
“Leave Alan out of this,” Siggy warned.
“I wasn’t under the impression he was ever in it. I’m worried about Joel. And that’s the truth.”
“Sure,” Siggy agreed miserably, “I’ve been worrying about Joel for most of his life. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I never bore him. Don’t think it’s easy being married to Alan, either. I swear he’s never loved me.”
“Shoot him,” Nicole suggested lightly.
“It’s tempting.”
“Better yet, divorce him.”
Siggy shrugged. “Might as well. I’ve got nothing better to do. He fell in love with Corrinne the instant he laid eyes on her. It wasn’t a case of Corrinne stealing him away. Corrinne had men falling in love with her for most of her short life. She never even saw them. No one was important to her but David. She was David McClelland’s girl.”
“It’s just that she ran off with Heath.” Nicole gave her aunt a bewildered glance. “That’s one hell of a bad joke, Siggy. How is Heath? He told me he was okay.”
“He’ll go when he gets the call,” Siggy said with quiet fatalism. “He seems to be at peace. He’s very grateful to you for letting him stay here.”
“How would I clear it with my conscience if I didn’t?” Nicole said. “To get back to Joel. Have you any idea at all why he’d go to Dr. Rosendahl? He only told me he was having nightmares.”
“Nightmares,” Siggy said, “have been happening to me for most of my married life.” She started to laugh, then abruptly stopped. “Joel’s bedroom is too far away for me to hear him if he yelled. Actually, I find myself disputing that. Joel’s like his father. He sleeps like a log. He slept through all the furor that dreadful morning your mother didn’t come home. My understanding is Joel didn’t rate psychological testing very highly. Or the persons who conducted them. That included Rosendahl.”
Nicole rose to the doctor’s defense. “Jacob Rosendahl was a man of immense presence. Much wisdom and understanding. He was a complete person.”
“Listen, that’s okay. I agree with you, but Joel was absolutely livid whenever he was obliged to talk to him back then. Maybe I’ll confront Joel. I want to get this straight. See what we’re dealing with.”
Nicole shook her head vigorously. “Don’t do that, Siggy. You’ll be exposing me. In any case, Joel doesn’t have to explain himself. If you went to him, it would get his back up.”
Siggy gave a bark of a laugh. “Joel has a very nasty habit of always getting his back up. He has a chip on his shoulder as big as Ayer’s Rock. What’s your problem, anyway? You always were a little snoop.”
“Make that sleuth if you don’t mind. All the secrets in the family made my life hard. What I want to know is, what does it all mean?”
“Why ask me?” Siggy said forlornly. “The older I get the less I know. At a guess I’d say nothing.”
“You’re not so dumb, Siggy.” Nicole studied her aunt with affection.
“Thank you.” Siggy gave her a ghost of a smile. “Tell me again when these visits took place.”
Nicole leaned closer. “The last not long before Dr. Rosendahl was killed. The first possibly a year before that.”
“And we never knew?” Siggy looked deeply troubled.
“What did you think he was doing when he took himself off to Sydney or wherever he said he went?”
“Drawing on my knowledge of the world and my limited knowledge of men, I had the feeling it had to be sex. Women. Parties, dates, whatever. Think about it. It’s pretty tame out here. There are plenty of pretty girls in Sydney. He’s single, he’s good-looking, he’s got money. I figured he was having himself a good time.”
“It’s possible he was.” Nicole nodded. “But there must have been something very pressing on his mind to seek out Dr. Rosendahl.”
“Well, he did something right.” Siggy’s tone was laconic.
“So why deny it?”
“I would.” Siggy drained her coffee and grimaced, although it had been particularly good. “If I chose to see a shrink, I’d keep my big fat mouth shut. Just like if I chose to hire a private detective.”
“And have you?” Nicole asked, thinking this wasn’t just Siggy being Siggy but somehow connected.
Siggy laughed harshly. “That, my dear, is a long dirty story.”
“If you were checking up on your dear husband when he’s away on his jaunts, I could understand it.”
“I told you—my lips are sealed. You can’t possibly think Joel might have had something to do with Rosendahl’s death, do you?”
Nicole stared at her. “Now, there’s a b
izarre idea! Are you saying he was in Sydney at that time?”
“I only said it because he has an alibi.” Siggy slapped at a lone fly that had had the temerity to breach the gauzed door. “And it would save you time.”
“Has he really got an alibi?” Nicole looked at her aunt hard.
“Can you hear the two of us?” Siggy said evasively. “Can you hear what we’re saying? What’s happened to you, Nikki?”
“I haven’t lost my mind, if that’s what you think.”
“Well, that’s a lucky break.” Siggy touched two fingers to her aching eyes.
“Something very bad happened here on Eden all those years ago, Siggy. Two people died. My mother—your sister—and David McClelland. I don’t think they drove off the escarpment into Shadow Valley. I think they were forced off.”
“No.” Siggy made a low despairing sound.
“Yes, Siggy. The worst part of it is, it was someone we know.”
“Then it was Heath.” Siggy raised her head. “Who else? He was a violent man. Corrinne was unfaithful, making a fool of him. Heath is the only one who makes sense.”
“I wouldn’t say that. Wasn’t my mother planning on sending Joel away?”
Siggy leaped to her feet. “Be careful, girl,” she warned, head shaking slightly as in the early stages of Parkinson’s. “Joel and I may not be great pals, but he is my son. My son. Do you understand what that means? Of course you don’t!”
“Siggy, calm down. I’m sorry if I shocked you. Let’s leave Joel out of this. What about Alan? You said yourself he was in love with my mother.”
Siggy snorted. No angry display of emotion for her husband. “Alan can’t do anything more strenuous than crack his knuckles. Forget Alan. What about that kook, Callista? I’d jump out of my skin if she clamped her tiny hand on my shoulder. Or some other nutcase in the area? Someone who spent the last ten years in jail and felt like pushing the Land Cruiser off the cliff for spoiling his view. Nothing’s too dreadful for a psychopath. No, Nikki, we’ll never make sense of it. It was either a tragic accident or they decided to end their lives together. This family is cursed.”
“I don’t accept that.”
“I do,” Siggy muttered, looking utterly convinced.
“Then we better start fighting our way out of it. Justice has to be done.”
Siggy leaned her hands on the table. “Even in the event you find some member of your family is a murderer? Come off it, girl!”
“Are you saying you’d let them go free?”
Siggy stiffened. “My overriding concern is for family. You’re opening up not a whole can of worms, but venomous snakes. It’s safer to put it all behind us.”
Nicole, too, rose to her feet. “I don’t like your moral reasoning, Siggy. Murder is murder. You might be able to allow a murderer to go free, but I can’t. It’s a little problem I have.”
“Sorry, you’re stuck with it,” Siggy said brutally. “I can promise you your grandfather left no stone unturned. He had people all over checking.”
“Maybe they were looking in the wrong place.” Nicole gazed hard at her aunt. “You sound frightened, Siggy.”
“Does that surprise you?” Siggy’s tone was as sharp as a whiplash.
It didn’t faze Nicole. “Someone murdered my mother and David McClelland,” she responded in a low grave voice. “You’ve got to help me find out who.”
Siggy reached out to touch her niece’s shoulder. “As long as you don’t intend to start on me,” she said with black humor. “The authorities are the right people to catch criminals, Nikki.”
“I know.” Nicole nodded. “The only trouble is, the authorities believe the case is closed.”
“And it will stay closed until you have something new to offer. Which you don’t.” Her movements oddly stiff, Siggy walked to the door, bringing the conversation to a halt.
LATER IN THE DAY Nicole received a call from Shelley Logan telling her the maid of honor she had chosen for her wedding, Jody Mitchell—Nicole knew her slightly—had had a bad fall in a three-day cross-country event, breaking her leg and collarbone. Would Nicole, Shelley wondered, consider taking over the role?
Nicole, although sorry for Jody’s bad luck, was delighted to accept—but expressed concern about the bridesmaid’s dress. As far as she could recall, Jody was rather short, with an entirely different sort of figure from her own.
“The color will suit you beautifully,” Shelley said. “Lilac satin, but we’ll have to start from scratch with your gown. You’re taller and a lot more willowy than Jody who’s sturdily built. If you’ll e-mail me your precise measurements, I’ll give them to my dressmaker. The gown is strapless, the bodice tapering to a deep V. It has a fitted waist and long billowing skirt.”
“But your dressmaker won’t have much time.” It was less than a month to the wedding to be held on Mulgaree.
Shelley’s laugh was relieved. “Don’t worry, I’ve already checked with her. She said she could do it. She’s brilliant!”
They spent a few more minutes chatting, Nicole pausing on her way out of the homestead to tell Siggy and her grandmother the news.
“How lovely, darling!” Louise smiled at her. “You’ll look so beautiful!”
“Just remember not to look more beautiful than the bride,” Siggy warned in her customary wry tone.
NICOLE FOUND HEATH dozing in a comfortable chair in the garden overlooking the sequined stretch of the Minareechi and the focal point of the homestead’s gardens, the waterfall. Her grandfather’s design, it had been constructed at the narrow end of the stream using the most striking boulders he could find on station land. Most she knew had come from Shadow Valley. It had been a huge job, requiring an irrigation system, but the result was their own private oasis, one of calm, peace and tranquillity. Easy to see why this was one of Heath’s favorite spots. Balm for his tormented spirit.
Grasses and rushes, masses and masses of Japanese water iris and arum lilies grew on the verge and into the water itself. To soften the boulders, a mini-forest had been created, using plants that would survive the dry heat; the trees that made up the canopy shaded the whole. Black swans with their scarlet bills banded in white sailed in state across the water’s glassy dark green surface. They were joined by cobs and pens, a few of the pens with their white cygnets.
Siggy was right. As she approached soundlessly over the thick cushioning grass, she could see on Heath Cavanagh’s face a rare look of peace. Of final acceptance. If he had a terrible stain on his soul and was getting ready to face his maker, could he really look like that?
His eyes flew open as she hovered over him. “Reen!” he cried out, not in agitation, but with so much joy it suggested only passionate gratitude she had come.
Nicole felt tears well up in her eyes. Oh, yes, he had loved her mother.
“It’s me, Nicole,” she said gently, taking the garden chair beside him. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“Never!” he maintained, visibly summoning up alertness and carefully sitting upright. “For a moment, with the sun behind you shining on your hair, I thought you were your mother. I thought she’d come for me. She was and remains my heart’s yearning.”
“I know.” Nicole struggled to keep the emotion out of her voice. “You must have loved her very much.”
“Loved her. Hated her. In life and in death. But I never destroyed her. That would have been the most terrible desecration. Her enemy is still out there. She used to call me a brutal man. She struggled to escape me.”
“She must have loved you once,” Nicole, torn by pity, reminded him.
“No, child. I mesmerized her. Her feelings for David McClelland became too much for her. He was her knight in shining armor. Never me. My life has been empty with her gone. I haven’t cared if I lived or died. Even when I raved against her, I still loved her. But she betrayed me. I was her husband, the father of her child.”
“Would you very kindly consider this? Sleep on it if you wish.” She spoke g
ently, so very gently. “Would you help me by volunteering a DNA sample? Just a hair of your head.”
He laughed in genuine amusement, a rich deep sound that surprised her. “You could have pulled one just then, when I was sleeping. Or got one from my hairbrush. Lots of things you could have done.”
“I wouldn’t do anything like that without your permission.” She shook her head. “I’ve come too late to the realization you’re my father, but there’s a complication. I’ve fallen in love with Drake McClelland.”
“Of course you have!” Abruptly he lifted a fist to the sky. “That’s what this is all about. A McClelland getting square. Just as Corrinne belonged to David, you’re to belong to his nephew.”
“You don’t think he could love me?” she asked simply, confronted by the fact she was an heiress.
“Who wouldn’t love you?” he said. “Even when you were the naughtiest little girl in the world, you used to tug at my heartstrings. Maybe there’s a demon in him, child. Demons live in men.” He gave a gust of terrible laughter.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re too smart not to know, Nicole. McClelland gets you, he gets Eden.”
“That would happen whoever I marry. At least up to a point. What would you like to see happen?” She kept her eyes on him.
He rubbed at the faint stubble along his jawline. “I don’t want to see anyone harm my girl in any way,” he said tautly. “And yes, you can have your DNA sample. Clear up this point once and for all. No way are you McClelland’s child. No way are you Drake’s cousin. You should have accepted that right away.”
“Well, I have. This is for the record.” Nicole stood up, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Is there anything I can get you? Something to eat or drink? This is a beautiful spot. Mrs. Barrett can bring the food down here. I have to meet up with the vet. He’s flying in, in about ten minutes.”
Heath lifted his head, black eyes suddenly keen. “How’s Joel taking the fact you’re in love with Drake McClelland?”
She dropped her eyes. “I haven’t told him, but I wanted you to know. You’re my father.”
He smiled sadly. “Only from a short time back.”