Lake Hill

by Margareta Osborn

  ‘The glass door to the balcony was busted. A limb came off that gum tree in the house yard. Looks like it shattered the glass.’

  ‘Why didn’t the alarm go off?’

  Charlie was silent for a beat. ‘Now, boss, that is my fault. That night the dogs and sheep went missin’, I forgot to set it. Had a shower and rolled straight into bed. Bloody sorry about that.’

  Rick knew he could hardly blame Charlie. He hadn’t checked either. ‘That’s alright. It was a long, cold bugger of a night.’

  He tapped a pen on his studio desk, thinking. His mother’s valuable jewellery was locked up in a bank vault. The necklaces Charlie was referring to only contained semi-precious stones. Their value lay in who’d owned them before his mother had collected them – a whole bunch of movie stars from another era. Rick didn’t even know who; his mother’s obsession had never interested him. Still, it was of great concern they’d disappeared.

  ‘Did you check the cameras?’ he asked.

  ‘Nah. Thought I’d ring you first. See if you moved ’em.’

  Charlie hated anything to do with technology, security cameras included. Rick sighed and looked at the sculpture he was desperately trying to finish. It would have to wait. Again.

  ‘I’ll be right over,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll be waitin’, boss.’

  And he was, leaning on the front gate when Rick drove up. He led the way into the farm office, where Rick, with his right-hand man peering over his shoulder, fired up the computer. But when he accessed the camera files, there was nothing except a black screen.

  ‘Shit,’ said Charlie. ‘Whoever done it knew the cameras were there. Looks like they covered ’em!’

  ‘Hmmm,’ muttered Rick. ‘Can you go check around the rest of the place, see if you notice anything else gone?’

  ‘Already did a quick scout, but I’ll look harder this time.’ Charlie slapped his hat on his head and strode purposely outside.

  Rick stared into space for a bit, then gazed at the computer with its Google icon at the bottom of the screen. Prompting him.

  Should he or shouldn’t he?

  Surely it was just a coincidence that the necklaces had disappeared not long after his new housekeeper came on board?

  Still, it wouldn’t hurt to check her out …

  Over at Lake Hill, Julia was looking for the cafe’s recent takings. She was sure she’d put them in the locked drawer of her dressing table in her bedroom the night of the dog and sheep disaster. She’d had a lot on her mind though. Maybe she’d put them someplace else instead, meaning to come back to them. She’d ordered a safe on her last trip to Narree, but because she wanted something small and discreet, the office supplies store had had to order it in.

  ‘Chloe,’ she called down the stairs.

  No reply.

  Then Julia remembered her muttering that she was going for a walk because she needed to ring a mate. She wondered if Chloe had a boyfriend. That made her sit back on her heels. She visualised some grungy, weedy young man with multicoloured hair and piercings sprouting from his face. Someone as completely opposite to Rick Halloran, with his clean-cut features, farmer’s tan and muscled body as you could possibly get.

  She shuddered, and went downstairs to switch on the coffee machine. She would ask Ernie and Chloe about the money when they arrived for work.

  ‘I appear to have misplaced some of the cafe takings,’ Julia said after calling them both into the dining room. ‘Do either of you remember seeing me putting a calico bag somewhere the other night?’

  Both faces looked bewildered.

  ‘I remember you talking about getting the money out the till,’ Ernie said, ‘but I don’t remember when you did that, or where you took it.’

  ‘Chloe?’ asked Julia. What on earth had she done with the bag? There had been quite a sum of money inside.

  ‘Dunno,’ Chloe said sullenly. ‘Didn’t see nothing.’

  ‘Anything,’ corrected Julia automatically, her mind trying to trace her movements that night. ‘Do you remember what I did after I closed up the cafe that day?’

  ‘You didn’t close up. I did,’ her daughter responded. ‘You were over at the dog school with Montana and Charlie.’ Chloe’s tone said it all: Where I wanted to be.

  Julia ignored her. She walked around in little circles trying to recall the events of the afternoon. She couldn’t. Too much had happened since.

  Boots echoed on the verandah and Harry appeared, in uniform. Julia had been so intent on their conversation, she hadn’t heard his car pull up.

  ‘You after coffee?’ she asked, automatically reaching for the travelling mug Harry had in his hand.

  ‘Yes. And some official business.’

  ‘We’ll get back to the kitchen then,’ said Ernie. ‘Come along, young Chloe.’

  ‘Not so fast, Ernie.’ The policeman’s voice was stern. He pulled out a notebook and pen. ‘Montana tells me someone’s been playing funny buggers, setting loose all the dogs the night of her school and also the sheep. One dog’s still missing.’ He put on a pair of glasses and checked his book. ‘A red kelpie pup called Summer.’

  Julia knew Montana hadn’t stopped looking for the dog. She was devastated by the loss.

  ‘I’ve just had a call from Rick Halloran,’ Harry continued, ‘and he and Charlie Howell have noticed stuff missing from the Grange. Disappeared the same night evidently.’

  Julia sucked in a breath. ‘But surely the security system over there would’ve picked something up?’

  ‘Let’s just say that whoever did it knew the cameras were there.’ He gave Julia a stern look.

  She threw up her hands. ‘Don’t look at me! I was with the others looking for the missing animals.’

  ‘Were all of you?’ Harry asked.

  Ernie shook his head. ‘I wasn’t. I was at home – the caravan park manager can vouch for that. We had a bit of trouble that night with a couple of drug-affected people – some workers brought in by the construction crew to help build the new cabins. It’s this ice drug that’s taken hold of rural areas like ours.’ He shook his head. ‘Some coppers from Narree dealt with it.’

  Harry nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve got a few things to speak to those fellows about. I wasn’t on duty that night.’

  Julia handed Harry his now-filled mug and he thanked her absently as he read through his notes.

  He looked up. ‘Have you had anything go missing, Julia? Seen anyone suspicious hanging around lately?’

  ‘I’ve seen a few dudes,’ said Chloe before Julia could answer. All eyes turned to her and she backtracked a little. ‘Kinda. While the others were out getting the sheep in the boat the other day.’

  Harry shot a quizzical glance at Julia. ‘Sheep? Boat?’

  She shook her head. It wasn’t important right now.

  ‘And I saw a ute in the driveway at the Grange,’ Chloe added.

  ‘And what were you doing there, young lady?’

  Julia rushed to explain. ‘She works there, Harry.’ Then she realised she’d probably made things worse.

  Chloe looked at her with an expression of pure hatred, so powerful that Julia physically took a step back.

  ‘I do work there,’ Chloe said. ‘But I wasn’t working that day. I was walking along the track around the lake, trying to find some fucking mobile service.’

  Julia didn’t reprimand her. She was still gasping from the look of sheer malevolence her daughter had given her.

  Harry was writing. ‘So what colour was the ute?’

  ‘Black, blue … not sure really.’

  ‘Make?’

  ‘Holden? Ford, maybe?’

  ‘Get a numberplate?’

  ‘Nah.’

  ‘See anyone around?’

  ‘Nah.’

  ‘How long was it there for?’

  ‘Dunno.’

  The policeman peered at her over his glasses, frowning.

  Julia could have told him it was no use. When Chloe went into monosyllabic mo
de, there was no way of getting her out of it.

  ‘Anything else you noticed which may be of assistance in this matter?’ Harry asked.

  ‘Nah.’

  He snapped his notebook shut and pulled off his glasses. ‘Right. Well, that was helpful.’

  Julia wanted to slap her daughter.

  She turned to Harry. ‘I’m not entirely sure it’s missing yet – I may have misplaced it – but I can’t find the bag with the latest takings from the cafe.’

  He pursed his lips. ‘So, you’ve got money missing?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Taken from a safe?’

  ‘Um … no.’

  Harry sighed, opened his notebook again and donned his glasses. ‘When did you notice it was gone?’

  ‘Just now.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’

  The policeman gave her a gimlet stare. ‘You’re going to have to do better with my questions than your friend here, Julia, if you want to get that money back.’

  ‘That’s the point. I don’t know if it’s missing yet.’

  Harry slapped his notebook shut again and picked up his coffee. ‘Well, call me when you decide. I’m heading to the Grange.’

  He nodded to them all and strode out the door. As his big boots resounded across the verandah, Julia went back upstairs to search her room. The money had to be there somewhere. Along with her diamond solitaire pendant. She still hadn’t found that either.

  She came down ten minutes later really worried, especially now, after hearing about the robbery at the Grange. There was no sign of either item anywhere. Both the cafe takings and her diamond had simply disappeared. She went into the kitchen to do another search for the money, although she doubted she would have hidden it anywhere there, and found Montana sitting at the table, talking to Ernie.

  Montana looked over at Julia. ‘I was just telling Ernie how I’m going to find my father.’

  Julia’s eyes widened. The old man was at the sink with his back to them. He seemed to be making a cup of coffee. No doubt he could do with Hamish’s rum flask right now.

  ‘Right,’ she said, trying to think of an excuse to leave again. But then Rick arrived.

  ‘Julia!’ he yelled. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘In the kitchen.’

  Why did he sound so agitated? Then she remembered – the items stolen from the Grange. She wondered what had been taken.

  He belted in the door. ‘I’ve forgotten. What’s Chloe’s surn–’ He pulled up short, seeing Montana and Ernie there. ‘Oh. I thought you were alone.’

  ‘I was just telling Ernie about my search for Robert Porter,’ Montana said, as if challenging her brother to stop her.

  Julia’s eyes turned to Ernie. He was staring vacantly out the window at the grey and white clouds drifting by, the blooming garden, the trees with their vivid green leaves. His voice when it came was distant, as if he was talking to himself.

  ‘Actually, Montana, I am your father.’

  Montana laughed.

  ‘You find that funny?’ he said, finally turning to face her.

  ‘Well, yes. You are joking, aren’t you?’

  His face said it all.

  ‘Holy shit, you’re not.’ Montana had gone white.

  ‘No, I’m finally speaking the truth.’ Ernie raised his eyes heavenward and Julia wondered if he was silently asking Betty’s forgiveness.

  ‘What?’ spluttered Montana. ‘All this time and I never knew?’

  Ernie felt for a chair and collapsed into it. He gazed around at the three sets of eyes trained on him. He sighed and stared down at his aged hands.

  ‘Your mother and I had a brief affair, something I’m deeply ashamed of. Your father never knew – at least I hope he didn’t – but Betty did. I felt so guilty I told her.’ He paused, swallowed.

  Julia’s heart went out to him.

  ‘Betty looked after you when it became clear your mother wouldn’t. She was a good woman, my wife.’

  ‘But … but … you haven’t got red hair,’ said Montana, frowning.

  Ernie gave a tiny smile. ‘I did have red hair. Carrot orange actually. Your darker auburn is so much nicer. It’s like my mother’s.’

  Montana gaped at him.

  ‘So that’s why you were always looking out for us?’ Rick said. ‘I thought it was because you’d lost your son.’

  Ernie tugged at his cap, as if reassuring himself it was still there. ‘Both reasons. You were a young lad of fifteen when Montana was born. Far too young to have to take on the responsibility of bringing up a child. Then, when you went away to Canada, we stepped up even more.’

  The room was quiet while they all digested Ernie’s words. The refrigerator hummed in the background and Julia could hear a motor somewhere out on the lake.

  Montana gave a half-sob. ‘So my real father was right before me and I never knew.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Ernie said.

  She seemed to be wrestling with something. It burst out: ‘So why the hell didn’t you tell me? I’ve spent my whole fucking life feeling like somehow I didn’t belong, and after Cormac confirmed it … Geez! And there you were, the whole time, right in front of me.’

  ‘Montana,’ warned Rick. ‘This is Ernie you’re talking to.’

  ‘Don’t you fucking Montana me. At least you always fitted in. I didn’t!’

  Ernie took off his cap, fingered it in distress. ‘I couldn’t tell you, Montana. I made a pact with Betty that we’d keep Elsbeth’s secret. In return, Elsbeth let us stay close to you and be involved in your upbringing, which was what Betty wanted more than anything in the world. I had to give her that after what I’d done. I just had to. You need to understand – I was so ashamed. And, well …’ He hesitated, as if he didn’t know whether to go on. ‘Well, I think Elsbeth was making me pay … for going back to Betty. I was supposed to pine after her, you see.’

  ‘And you made me pay as well!’

  Ernie flinched. ‘No! We wanted to make sure you were cared for properly. If Elsbeth had taken you away, goodness knows what would have happened to you.’

  Montana was crying silently now. And Julia could see that Ernie felt his own life – his secrets, his worries, his fears, his one huge mistake – was unravelling before their eyes. As she reached forward and patted Montana’s hand, she wondered if this was how her own life was going to play out too.

  At that moment, Chloe walked into the room. ‘Hey, guys, look who I found!’ she said, and a red kelpie bounded in after her.

  The dog bounced excitedly from one person to another, before shoving her snout up through Montana’s crossed arms.

  ‘Summer!’ cried Montana. ‘Oh my God, Chloe, you found her!’

  The younger girl grinned proudly. ‘She was around the other side of the lake in the scrub. I’ve been searching for days.’

  Her daughter really did look so pretty when she smiled like that. And so happy at pleasing them all. Especially Montana. Her aunt.

  If Ernie could be brave about his past, so could she.

  Her eyes sought and found the man who had always been the light of her life. He was frowning at their daughter. Uncertainty gripped Julia, but she took a deep breath and hardened her resolve. She couldn’t live this lie any longer. It was time to reveal the truth.

  Tomorrow she would tell Rick about Chloe. And then she would tell Chloe about Rick.

  And watch as her whole world imploded.

  Chapter 29

  After Ernie and the Hallorans had left and the day’s business was over, Julia moved around her cafe softly touching the things she loved so much. The cedar chairs, the vintage wooden tables, the antique sideboard she’d brought from the house in Armadale. She lingered over the bluebird pictures, her fingertips tracing the outline of their wings in flight.

  She halted in front of the huge windows that displayed Lake Grace in all its inky black night-time beauty. She knew with certainty that this dream, this fairytale life with Rick s
he had created in her mind, would soon be over.

  Her mind, heart and body felt as hollow as a straw. There would be no happily ever after in her life.

  The next morning, after a broken night’s sleep and a series of dreams about doors opening and closing, Julia tapped softly on Chloe’s door.

  Nothing.

  She tapped again, louder this time.

  Still no answer.

  Julia nervously pushed the door open. She hadn’t been in the room since Chloe moved in. ‘My room, my space,’ she’d said the first time Julia tried to enter, and had placed a hand on her chest to stop her. Julia had been shocked, but she wanted to forge a relationship with her daughter so she’d respected her wishes.

  The bed, which sat flush against the wall, was made. There wasn’t a dent in the pillow or a wrinkle on the duvet. None of Chloe’s things were on the shelf she’d put up. The room was completely bare except for the furniture and the clock and radio Julia had lent her.

  Anxiety crawled up Julia’s spine.

  She ran out to the back door. The girl’s sneakers were gone.

  Panic welling, Julia made her way through the cafe’s rooms, searching for any sign of her daughter. She ended up in the kitchen, and saw a decorative plate sitting on the bench. On it was a piece of jewellery.

  A gold bracelet engraved with a bluebird.

  She grabbed the slip of paper beside the bracelet, barely able to read it for the tears. Her daughter’s untidy writing was scratched across the page:

  I thought I’ d leave you this.

  I’m sorry.

  Oh. My. God. She was gone.

  Julia sank to the floor, frozen with remorse. Her daughter had found her and she, Julia, had driven her away.

  She desperately tried to remember anything Chloe had said or done yesterday that might have alerted Julia to the fact that she was planning to run. She’d been so happy after returning the dog to Montana. The good mood had lasted all afternoon with Ernie in the kitchen. She had withdrawn into herself last night, but that wasn’t unusual.

  She needed to ring Harry. The policeman would know what to do, what to think.

  She grabbed the phone on the kitchen wall and, fingers shaking, dialled directory assistance.