No Ocean Deep

by Cate Swannell

  Cadie leaned in, the smirk evident on her face even as she kept her voice low. “You’ve awakened my dark side.”

  “Yeah, well, just keep Arcadia the Conqueror in check for a bit, will ya, while I try and figure out what to do with this idiot.” She softened her words with a friendly tickle of Cadie’s ribs.

  She needn’t have worried. The blonde was more than willing to admit that Jo was the one with all the experience and know-how in this kind of situation, and she happily lay alongside her partner as they both gazed out into the clearing. Collingwood was circling the two sheep carcasses slowly, almost as if he didn’t believe the animals were dead.

  Pretty hard to miss a standing target like a poor, dumb sheep, Jo thought grimly. She felt a slow, burning anger in her guts at the actions of the man her father trusted to help him run the station. What the hell is going on here? She listened as Collingwood cocked the gun again, and she wondered if perhaps the man wasn’t half-aware of their presence.

  “Does he know we’re here?” Cadie whispered close to Jo’s ear.

  “Not us specifically, but he might think there’s something else worth shooting,” she replied. “Stay here,” she decided. “I’m going to circle around until I’m opposite this position.”

  “And then what?”

  Jo’s brow furrowed. “By the time I’m round there, I’ll have figured that out.”

  “Yeah, but-”

  “Just follow my lead, okay?” And with that Jo was gone, slinking away into the shadows before Cadie could raise any further objections.

  “Right. Just follow your lead. I can do that,” the blonde muttered. She bit her lip as she lost track of her elusive lover and glanced back through the small break in the foliage. Collingwood was crouched near one of the sheep now, his rifle resting across his thighs as he smoked a cigarette, its red tip glowing. Cadie waited, knowing that once Jo was in position, something was going to happen. God knows what, she pondered. But it isn’t going to be dull.

  Jo moved through the dry underbrush with a stealth that came to her automatically. While her body took care of business, avoiding sticks underfoot and tree branches overhead, her brain went into overdrive, finding a way to deal with Collingwood without getting herself, Cadie or any other animals shot in the process. She tried to picture a scenario in which the man wouldn’t react first and think second, but no matter which plan formulated the outcome was always a risky one. By the time Jo had reached the place she’d pinpointed earlier as being opposite Cadie’s position, she was quite frustrated by her lack of any idea. Collingwood seemed totally unconcerned, smoking in the moonlight like he had all night to accomplish his task.

  Whatever the hell that is, Jo thought. Okay, now what, Madison? Cadie’s sitting there waiting for some grand plan to unfold, and if you don’t come up with something shortly, she’s likely to go all gung-ho on you and take matters into her own hands. She couldn’t help grinning. There was something surprising, but downright sexy about the diminutive blonde’s newfound taste for excitement. Concentrate, would you? Jo berated herself. This isn’t a game. That idiot out there’s got a gun.

  Jo growled under her breath and shifted slightly as she tried to get a bead on the man sitting in a pool of moonlight in the middle of the clearing. As she moved, her foot kicked against a baseball-sized rock. Jo looked down at the stone and laughed softly. It can’t be that simple, can it?

  She dug her fingers under the rock and pulled it out of the dirt, hefting it in the palm of her hand. Well, if nothing else, it’ll certainly get his attention, she concluded. Slowly Jo stood up and moved to a patch of relatively clear ground, where she could move her arms freely. Collingwood had his back to her and had very kindly removed his Akubra, making the back of his skull a tempting target.

  Jo sized up the distance between them, allowing for some depth perception errors due to the moonlight, and then slowly drew her arm back. She unleashed the throw and held her breath as the rock whizzed through the still air, smacking into Collingwood’s skull with a sickening thud. He slid bonelessly to the ground without a sound and Jo stepped out into the clearing.

  “That’s it?” came a plaintive shout from the other side of the clearing. Cadie emerged into the moonlight, her hands on her hips. “That was the grand plan?”

  Jo stood over the unconscious man and shrugged nonchalantly. “I thought it had a certain simple elegance,” she said casually, grinning at the blonde.

  “Uh-huh,” Cadie said skeptically. “And I guess it had nothing to do with the fact that you couldn’t come up with anything better?”

  “I didn’t need anything better,” Jo argued. “Look.” She gestured at the unconscious man, whose cigarette still dangled from his lips. “Mission accomplished.”

  “Yeah,” Cadie admitted grudgingly, finding it hard to resist the confident grin on her partner’s face. “But I didn’t get to do anything,” she pouted.

  Jo chuckled. “Sure you did,” she said teasingly. “You were my inspiration, darling.” She beamed at her shorter lover.

  “Oh, you are so full of shit, Jo Madison,” Cadie replied, but she couldn’t stop smiling. She glanced down at Collingwood. “Sure he’s just unconscious?”

  Jo knelt down behind the man and felt for his neck pulse point. “Alive and well,” she concluded. “Relatively speaking.” Carefully she slid the rifle out of Collingwood’s grasp and stood again as she unloaded the weapon, tossing the bullets into the bush.

  “So what now?” Cadie asked. “How are we going to get him home?”

  Jo nudged Collingwood with the toe of her boot. “I am so tempted to just tie his feet together and drag him behind the horses.” She sighed. “But I guess we can’t do that.”

  Cadie smirked. “Tempting,” she agreed. She looked up at Jo. “Um, do we even have any rope?”

  Jo nodded. “We do, if we can find the horses,” she answered. “I’m beginning to wish we had hobbled them after all.” She raised her fingers to her mouth and blew, a sharp piercing whistle echoing around the clearing. “That always used to work for Tilly, but I don’t know if these two have been trained the same way.”

  She needn’t have worried. Half a minute later, both colts trotted into the clearing, trailing their reins and wuffling breathily.

  “Pretty cool,” Cadie murmured, capturing her horse’s reins while Jo pulled a coiled-up length of rope from where it hung around her saddle horn. She knelt down by Collingwood again and proceeded to tie his hands behind his back, leaving a long section of rope free.

  “Give me a hand?” she asked as she moved to shift the dead weight of the man’s body. Between the two of them they managed to sling Collingwood over the saddle of Jo’s horse, his head hanging down one side, and his feet down the other.

  “Not the most dignified position in the world,” Cadie said.

  “Who cares?” Jo muttered. “This guy’s an arsehole, Cadie.”

  “No argument from me, love.”

  Jo grabbed her colt’s reins and reached out with her other hand to take Cadie’s hand. “Come on, love, we’ve got a picnic to finish before he wakes up.”

  Cadie grinned up at her. “Now, that sounds like a plan.”

  It was close to midnight when they finally made it back into the homestead compound. Collingwood had come to about an hour after Jo felled him with the rock, and he had whinged and moaned as he hung over the back of the horse. Jo finally relented when she and Cadie were ready to head back, and she'd tied the rope off around her saddle horn and let the man walk in front of them as they sauntered home.

  Collingwood had remained stubbornly and sullenly silent throughout, and neither woman pushed it. As they came in range of the homestead, Cadie was surprised to see the lights on.

  “I thought they'd be in bed by now,” she said as both women slid down from their saddles.

  “Well, we're about three hours later than we said we'd be and they may well have heard the gunfire,” Jo reasoned, unsurprised to see her mother bustl
ing out of the kitchen door. Jo busied herself with the saddlebags, finding herself unaccountably grumpy and out of sorts. Maybe it’s this damn headache, she decided. Or maybe I’m just really pissed off with Collingwood. She glanced at the stone-faced man, who looked close to exhausted, and felt the low burn of anger deep in her chest. Ya think?

  Maggie peered through the gloom. “Where on earth have you two been? We heard shots.”

  Jo and Cadie exchanged a look, the taller woman's face saying ‘see, I told you so’.

  “We ran into a little trouble, Maggie,” Cadie explained.

  “I'm beginning to think you attract trouble almost as much as my daughter does,” Maggie said with a slight smile as she stood with her hands on her hips. “Well, you both look like you're in one piece and the horses are fine. So what kind of trouble was it?”

  Jo hauled on the rope and dragged Collingwood into the pool of yellow light spilling out from the kitchen. He stumbled and fell to his knees in front of the family matriarch, who scowled at him.

  “Why does this not surprise me?” Maggie muttered. She looked up at her daughter. “What happened?”

  Just then David Madison walked out of the house and Jo waited until her father had absorbed the scene.

  “Caught him shooting sheep away to the north of the billabong,” Jo replied succinctly. “They weren't hurt or dying, so we figure he’s just doing it for fun. Didn’t seem acceptable to me.” She shrugged.

  “You were right,” David growled. He reached down and pulled Collingwood's head back with a rough hand, ignoring the copious amounts of slowly drying blood in the man’s thin hair. Jo couldn’t remember seeing her father ever being so physical with another human being. She watched as David bent over, getting right up into Collingwood's face.

  “What's the story, Jack?” he said. “Wasn’t it enough that I trusted you with this place? Why are you killing my stock?”

  “I'm not saying a word,” Collingwood spat back. “So you can shove it, Madison. You and your bitch wife and bitch spawn.”

  Cadie leaned forward and put her mouth close to the man's ear. “What about me, Jack? Don't forget how much you and I enjoy each other's company.”

  “Fuck you, you Seppo bitch!” he shouted.

  Cadie straightened up and looked at Jo. “Doesn’t have a great vocabulary does he? Not much imagination.”

  David shoved Collingwood away in disgust. “If you haven’t already figured it out, Jack, you're fired. Not only that, but I'm calling the police out here, right now. So you can tell it to them.”

  “Fuck you.”

  David pulled his hand back to strike his former employee, but Maggie put a restraining hand on his arm.

  “Don’t, love,” she murmured. “It doesn’t do anyone any good, least of all you.”

  For long seconds her husband just looked at her, cool grey eyes sparking. But then he relaxed noticeably, and Maggie patted his arm. “I'll call the police,” she said as she turned and walked back into the house.

  Cadie woke to the sound of groaning from the warm lump curled up next to her.

  “Jo-Jo?” she mumbled blearily as she rolled over to seek out the source of the noise. “What’s up, sweetheart?”

  Jo moaned piteously again. “Did someone get the number of that buffalo herd?” she grumbled. “I feel like I was caught underfoot.”

  Cadie pulled back the covers which, she realized, were damp and cool. “Honey, you’re soaking,” she gasped. Quickly she placed the back of her hand against Jo’s forehead. “And you’re burning up.” She looked more closely at the pale, clammy face. “I knew you were feeling less than great when we got home last night. Why didn’t you say something?” Why didn’t I make her say something, damn it.

  Bloodshot blue eyes blinked at her. “It was the middle of the damn night.” Jo shrugged and coughed dryly. “Just started sweating like a horse and I couldn’t breathe properly.”

  “Tch, you should have woken me up, love,” Cadie chastised.

  “Why? So you could say exactly what you’re saying now, only three hours earlier?” Jo complained. “I decided to let at least one of us get some sleep.” She sniffed pathetically. “I feel like poo.”

  Cadie smiled down at her suffering lover. “Yeah, you pretty much look like it too,” she said. She leaned down and touched her lips to Jo’s forehead. “You’re running a fever.”

  Jo shivered and hunkered down further into the bedclothes. “No shit, Sherlock. What was your first clue?”

  “Oooo, and grumpy with it,” Cadie said tolerantly, forgiving Jo her bad temper. “If you’d said something last night perhaps we could have gotten some aspirin and vitamin C inside you. But no, you had to play the strong, silent type.” She smiled gently, knowing that getting annoyed with a sick woman was a waste of energy.

  Jo started to object but a series of wracking coughs reduced her to a shuddering mess.

  “Okay, stay there. I’m going for some maternal aid,” Cadie decided. “And some dry bedclothes.” Long fingers wrapped themselves around her forearm before she could roll out of bed, however.

  “Don’t leave me,” said a small, hoarse voice which melted Cadie’s heart.

  Awww. Big and tough on the outside, marshmallow on the inside. You’ve got to love that. “Ssshh sweetheart. You can’t lie in these sheets any longer. It’s just going to make you worse. I promise I won’t be gone long, honestly.”

  Jo looked up at her from under long, dark lashes. “And then will you get back into bed with me?”

  Cadie leaned down again for another reassuring kiss. “I promise.”

  “Okay then.”

  Jo released her and Cadie slipped out of the bed. She pulled on a pair of sweatpants before she ventured out into the house. It was about an hour after daybreak and she knew David would already be out in the paddock. Their phone call to the police the night before had resulted in Jack Collingwood being hauled away in a paddy wagon for a night in the Louth lock-up. The police were planning on questioning him later in the day, Cadie knew. She could hear Maggie moving around in the kitchen and it was there she headed.

  “Morning, Cadie. How are you?” Jo’s mother said cheerily.

  “Hi, Maggie. Um, I’m fine, but I think Jo’s in need of some TLC. She’s managed to brew the cold from hell overnight.”

  Maggie frowned. “Really? That’s not like her,” she replied quietly. “I can count the number of times she was sick as a kid on the fingers of one hand.”

  “Tell me about it,” Cadie answered. “She spends half her life soaked to the skin up in the islands and never even sniffles. I’ve had two colds since February.” She smiled up at her mother-in-law. “But right now, she's running a temperature and the bed sheets are soaked. I’d really like to get some fresh ones on so she can try and get some sleep.”

  Maggie nodded and smiled back at the blonde. “Tell you what, you’ll find fresh sheets in the linen closet outside the bathroom. While you’re getting her comfortable I’ll put some of my world famous chicken soup on to simmer.” Maggie turned away and then remembered something else. “Is she coughing?”

  Cadie nodded. “Just starting to,” she replied. “Pretty dry so far.”

  “Hmm, well, when she was a girl she used to love having Vicks Vaporub rubbed on her chest on the rare occasions when she felt like that. It cleared her sinuses and kept her warm and happy.” The older woman grinned at Cadie, a distinct twinkle brightening her eye. “I think you’d better take care of that, though.”

  Cadie’s eyebrows shot up almost into her bangs and she could feel the heat of the blush spreading over her neck and face. “Um, yes, you’re probably right,” she mumbled, unable, for the moment, to meet Maggie’s amused gaze.

  “Tch, I don’t know, you young people. You’re so easily embarrassed.” The older woman chuckled. “You’ll find a jar of Vicks in the bathroom cabinet, behind the mirror.”

  “Uh, okay.” Cadie rubbed her face as she walked down the narrow hallway, trying to d
ispel the blush. Funny how I keep telling Jo there’s nothing to be self-conscious around her parents, but Maggie can turn me inside out so easily. Soon she was heading back to the bedroom, Vicks and clean sheets in hand. Jo hadn’t moved and was sweating drowsily. Cadie deposited her load on the chair and sat down on the edge of the bed. She reached out a gentle hand and stroked a lock of lank hair from Jo’s forehead.

  “Sweetheart.” Blue eyes blinked open. “I’ve got clean sheets and Vicks Vaporub, and your mother has chicken soup brewing. I need you to get up for a bit so I can change the sheets.”

  “Okay.”

  Once she had Jo settled in the armchair, her shivering body wrapped in a light blanket, Cadie quickly set about changing the sheets. Jo watched with bleary eyes.

  “Guess I’m not going in to town with you and Dad, then,” she muttered. They had been planning to head for the Louth police station to get the latest news on Collingwood.

  “Nope,” Cadie said bluntly, as she tucked the bottom sheet in at the base of the bed. “You’re not going anywhere, my love. Not until your fever’s broken, at least.”

  Jo scowled. “I wanted to watch that arsehole get his just desserts.”

  “I know, love, but I’m sure his butt is gonna get kicked whether we’re there or not,” Cadie said, smiling at her passive partner as she changed the pillow cases.

  “I think you should still go,” Jo replied.

  Cadie thought about that. A few hours alone with a pissed David Madison. She smiled to herself. an do that. "Okay, sweetheart. I’ll try and remember all the details so you feel like you were there.”

  Jo managed a weak smile. “Thank you.”

  Cadie patted the mattress in satisfaction. “Okay, that’s done.” She walked over to the chest of drawers where she and Jo had stored their clothes and pulled out fresh t-shirt and cotton boxers. “Come on, let’s get you into something clean.”

  Jo stuck her bottom lip out in a child-like pout that almost made Cadie giggle, it was so cute.

  “Vicks first?”