by Sandy Vaile
“That’s my last warning, girls. Can I go home and put my groceries away now?”
Paula was on her feet again. Her nostrils flared and her teeth grated audibly.
Guess not.
A solid blow landed on Mya’s upper arm, and she turned to see Spike holding a wrist-thick tree branch.
“No. One. Hits. Me.” Cockroach used to wield a similar weapon.
The anger Mya kept locked inside leaked from its vault. A deep breath wasn’t enough to stop the flow this time.
She rolled under Spike’s next swing and knocked the chubby legs out from under her. While the girl was on her back, Mya stomped on her arm. Her hand spasmed open and the branch rolled out. Mya was tempted to hook a nail under the ruby nose-stud and rip it out of that cute button nose, but her training kicked in. Reason returned.
Mya was stronger and more skillful than these girls. They didn’t deserve years of fury aimed at them.
The boy’s eyes met hers and he nodded a thank you, then turned and ran. Spike was still on the ground, looking considerably less sure of herself. Mya gathered her grocery bags and picked up the scattered fruit.
A snarl caught her attention, and she pivoted in time to see Paula’s foot aimed at her crotch, but Mya’s leg was already in motion. Paula looked up at the last second. Bad move. One of the old faithful combat boots connected with Paula’s face, sending a spray of spittle and blood in an arc through the air. Another stain on the leather.
She could stomp on the girl’s head for good measure, but Paula’s nose was already broken and Mya wasn’t a total bitch.
Both of Paula’s hands covered her nose and bright blood ran between the fingers, smudging her pink mouth. The long brown fringe stuck to one side of her face and tears streamed down the other side.
Mya drew her foot back and feinted a kick. Paula squealed. Okay, maybe she was a little bit of a bitch. She gave Blondie one last look, but the girl’s eyes were wide and her feet were moving backward. Wise.
The early summer heat had turned the grass crispy, and Mya’s boots kicked up little puffs of powdery dust as she walked from the park along Roger Street and onto Railway Terrace, her ears trained behind her. She didn’t hear anyone following.
“Howdy, neighbour.”
“Shit!” Mya nearly dropped her groceries when Luca appeared from behind a hibiscus bush, secateurs in one hand and a red flower in the other.
“Sorry.” A huge smile pulled his mouth up unevenly. “You want a hand with those?” He stepped forward, pointing toward the bags.
A quick appraisal sent her heart racing. He was decidedly tempting in faded jeans that showed off the arc of his thighs and hair combed into a ponytail. Being clean-shaven made him look younger—cuter.
“No, thanks, but they are heavy, so I won’t stop. Catch you later.”
His smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed in the general direction of her chest.
Geez, he could be a little discreet. Automatically, she looked down to make sure she hadn’t forgotten her bra or something and saw the blood spatter. Ah.
“You’re not working today?” Luca queried.
Her arms felt stretched like an ape’s, so she put the shopping bags on the footpath and inhaled the sweet hibiscus scent. “I work split shifts at the pub, if you must know.” Her hands were on hips to show annoyance. “Why the hell aren’t you at work?”
“I’m supposed to be on holidays.” He shrugged and his tight white T-shirt clung to tanned biceps.
She had trouble concentrating. “Supposed to be?”
“I worked this morning. Did you have an accident?” He waved a hand in her general direction and glanced at her bloodied hand.
“You could say that. Living in Croydon can be hazardous.” She glanced at her watch—only an hour to put the shopping away and clean up for her next shift at the pub. Time to end the inquisition, so she collected her bags again.
“Is that someone else’s blood?” Luca stepped forward.
She tensed as he breached her personal space. “You’re bloody nosy for someone who just moved in.”
Her lips tightened and they glared in a Mexican stand-off. His pale blue gaze searched hers and the thin white line of the scar above his lip twitched, but he didn’t make another move, so she turned her back on him and headed for her house.
Bullies and an overly observant neighbour were not what she needed in her life right now. It was complicated enough with the menacing letter and missing jewelry. Her attraction to Luca was stronger than just an appreciation of eye candy though, and that was adding another tier to the difficulty-gateau, but it wouldn’t deviate her from her goal.
Chapter 6
Luca swapped his T-shirt and shorts for a police-issue shirt and navy slacks, smoothed his hair into a ponytail, and grabbed the car keys. When he had one hand on the back door, his mobile phone rang.
Crap.
His mind was on the case right now, not a chit-chat, but if he didn’t pick up, he’d never hear the end of it. Instead he sighed and accepted the call.
“Hi, Mum.”
“Hello, darling. I just wanted to see if you’re still alive, because I haven’t heard from you in a while. How did the move go yesterday?”
“Without a hitch. You’ll have to come over and see the new place this weekend.”
“Oh, I’d love to, darling. Quinton tells me it’s a bit noisy, though. I don’t know why you bought something so close to the railway. There are plenty of suitable properties closer to us.”
“It’s only fifteen minutes, Mum, and you know why I had to get away.”
“Yes, darling, I know. Now, when you get time, could you drop by and take a look at Dad’s new TV? He can’t seem to program the digital channels.”
Luca smiled. His dad was a genius in a courtroom but completely clueless with electronic gadgetry. “Sure thing. I’m just on my way out the door.”
“Oh, I won’t keep you. Be safe. I love you, darling.”
“Love you too, Mum.”
He slipped the mobile back into his shirt pocket and headed to the garage. Today he intended to find out how Kevin Barnes and Melanie Lane came to work at Rich Haven, but in order to follow the lead, he’d had to get permission from Moss to interview the staff they’d replaced. That had been an uncomfortable conversation. Moss might have mentioned time wasting, and Luca might have pulled the little-old-ladies-in-danger card, but in the end they agreed that if he kept the hours he worked while he was supposed to be on holiday to a minimum, he could take time off at a later date.
What the hell else did Luca have to do with his time? He didn’t have a wife waiting at home for him anymore.
He turned the car radio to an easy listening station and ran the gauntlet of peak-hour traffic. His new neighbour, Mya, was worth keeping an eye on and not just because she looked a lot hotter with her motorbike helmet off. That was definitely blood on her T-shirt this afternoon, and she was evasive about how it got there, even hostile. He needed to make a few inquiries when he had time.
He turned off at Millswood and followed wide, tree-lined streets past houses with formal gardens. As he moved through the suburb, the houses shrunk and the gardens were unkempt. Amazing how quickly the financial demographic changed nearer the railway line.
Now that Daylight Savings time had kicked in, there were only short shadows at five thirty, when he parked behind a police Commodore out front of Agosto Cali’s house. Kate climbed out of the Commodore and waited for him on the footpath.
“Hi, Kate. Sorry for diverting you on your way home from work.”
“It’s fine.” She read from a background check he had asked her to do. “Agosto Cali was a cleaner at Rich Haven. He emigrated from Italy twenty years ago. No convictions, no red flags. I couldn’t find any information about why he left the job, but it seems strange, because he didn’t have another one to go to at the time.”
He pushed through a low chainmail gate and almost tripped on the cement path that had been lif
ted by a gum tree root. The front lawn was sparse; vegetables grew in the garden beds on Agosto’s half of the cream-brick maisonette.
A man wearing overalls opened the door and a powerful smell of frying onions and garlic made saliva pool in Luca’s mouth, reminding him it was dinnertime. Agosto was head and shoulders shorter than Luca.
“Si?”
“Good evening, I’m Detective Patterson. You spoke with Constable Derman here on the phone.” Luca held his right hand out and shook Agosto’s hand.
“Buon giorno. Come in.” Agosto bounced his head up and down and ushered them into a tiny lounge room with mustard-coloured carpet and a threadbare two-seater couch. “Can I get you a drink?”
Luca perched on one edge of the couch, so his height wouldn’t be intimidating. “No, thank you, Mr. Cali. We won’t take up too much of your time. We just want to ask you a few questions.”
Kate crossed her legs at the other end of the couch, winning smile in place.
Luca used the low, measured voice he reserved for citizens from whom he wanted to extract information. “I want to ask you about the circumstances under which you left Rich Haven Aged Care Facility.”
Agosto pursed his lips and roughed up the jet black hair over his ear. “I dona understand. That was eight months ago and I didna make any trouble.” He glanced at Luca’s gun.
Glad he left his police cap and jacket in the car, Luca leaned back to appear more relaxed, and smiled. He should’ve taken the drink. “You’re not in any kind of trouble, Mr. Cali. I’m just following a lead on a case. I wonder if you could tell me about your decision to leave Rich Haven.”
“Okay, but I feel a bit embarrassed. There wosa fat guy who come to my ’ouse and tell me I should quit, or bad things will happen, like maybe security guards will find something illegale in my locker. I think he is bluffing, but two days later my boss calls me to his office and say I leave the door to the high-dependency wing open. I know I don’t, but I quit right away, because I know what will come next.”
Luca cut in. “You think this man had something to do with you getting in trouble with your boss?”
“Si.”
“Why is that?”
“I very careful at work, especially to make sure security is good. Mostly so the residents can’t get out, but also so bad people can’t get in. I don’t leave the door open!”
“I’m sure you were vigilant, Mr. Cali, but how do you think this man got into the nursing home and set you up?”
“I dona know how he did it. Maybe he have accomplice, maybe he’s friends with the boss, so they make it up.”
Agosto’s face and ears flushed as he wriggled uneasily on his chair. Luca needed to placate him before he fixated on proving his innocence and clammed up.
“I understand how you came to that conclusion. Would you mind explaining what you thought would happen next, if you didn’t leave Rich Haven?”
“He say security would find something in my locker. He wouldn’t say that unless it was something bad, and I dona want to find out how bad. I dona like working there much anyway.” Agosto wrung his hands in his lap.
Luca suspected the man needed the job more than he was letting on. “Do you have work now, Mr Cali?”
“Si. I collect trolleys and pack shelves at the Foodland supermarket.”
“Okay. Can you give me a description of the man who threatened you?”
“He only come here once. He wosa same height as you, but really wide, with dark hair and expensive suit. Plenty of hair on the back of his hands, like me.” He laughed.
A fluffy white cat strolled into the room, sniffed Luca’s shoes, and wrapped its body around his leg. Cat hair on navy pants. Excellent.
“And how do you think he found out where you live?” Luca asked.
“I guess he knows someone at Rich Haven.”
“Or maybe he worked there.” Crap. Did I say that aloud?
Agosto gasped and withdrew into his seat. “I never think of that, but I never seen him before.”
“Thank you so much for talking to us, Mr. Cali.” Luca was half out of his seat when Kate interrupted.
“Actually, I have a question, if you don’t mind. Is there any reason you didn’t call the police after the man threatened you?”
Agosto shrugged. “It’s not a good idea for someone like me to make trouble.”
She tilted her head to the side. “How do you mean?”
“I dona speak good English and I just want to keep my job.”
“We understand that, Mr. Cali. You’ve been a huge help. Thank you for your time.” Luca got to his feet, effectively concluding the interview.
So, Agosto being forced out of his job seemed to support a connection to the arrival of new staff, Kevin Barnes and Melanie Lane. Whether it equated to jewelry thefts or was linked to Happy Vale Nursing Home remained to be seen.
He offered Agosto his hand again. “Here’s my card if you think of anything else.”
• • •
Out front of Linda Morgan’s modest house, in a typical middle-class Adelaidian suburb, Luca sat in the passenger seat of the police Commodore and read Kate’s notes. It was a comfy portable office, and it smelled better than his car, filled with Kate’s perfume.
“Well, they both gave a similar description of this wide, hairy man and they were both worried for their safety. I wonder how the two are connected.”
“Maybe they’re not.” Kate leaned across the console to look at the file, too.
Her shoulder touched Luca’s and they both flinched away.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
Luca ignored it, but the discomfort from the incident at the Christmas party a few years back remained. The booze had flowed freely and music vibrated up through their feet while sweaty bodies gyrated. One minute they were dancing together and the next Kate had kissed him. It wasn’t until he saw the horror register on her face that he realised he’d taken a step backward.
At that stage it hadn’t been long since Olivia had passed away, and a new relationship was the last thing on his mind. They’d talked about it later and agreed not to ruin their working relationship, but it had still been awkward for a while. What a relief when Danny had swept Kate off her feet.
Luca tapped a finger on the dash. “They were both threatened, but the threat to Linda was different.”
“Yes, but it had the same effect. Linda would do anything to protect her daughter.” Kate said. “So what’s next?”
“Well, we can’t directly link Melanie Lane and Kevin Barnes to forcing Agosto and Linda from their jobs, but the timing is right. At least them leaving Happy Vale Nursing Home and moving to Rich Haven explains why the trail of jewelry thefts dead-ended nine months ago. I’d bet money on the fact they’re resetting the scam. We should ask the Rich Haven director if there have been any jewelry thefts reported, but we’ll have to tread lightly. We can’t make unfounded accusations. Perhaps try to get some current information about Melanie Lane and Kevin Barnes, contact details, friends and family, anything you can find to build a picture. At the moment we have precious little to work with. It couldn’t hurt to find out if the death rate has changed, either.”
“Will do.”
Kate grabbed a packet of chewing gum from the console and offered him one. He shook his head, so she unwrapped one for herself.
“Are you going to be in the office tomorrow?”
“No. I’m spending time with Gabriel.”
“The brother who got engaged?”
“Yeah.” Luca stared through the windscreen at a pair of sparrows flying through a grevillea bush as though playing hide-and-seek.
“You don’t sound too happy. Don’t you like the girl?”
Whoa, how had she come to that conclusion? He didn’t realise he sounded so down. He needed to snap out of it before seeing Gabe tomorrow.
“No, I’m happy for them. She’s really nice. It just … reminds me of Olivia, that’s all.”
“Oh, of course.” Kate wr
ung her hands, looking uncomfortable.
He glanced at his watch. “It’s late. Do you want to grab a bite to eat somewhere?”
“No, I can’t. Danny’s expecting me home. He’s been kinda pissed at the amount of time I’ve been spending at work lately.”
“Oh, sure. Family comes first. You can reach me on my mobile if anything comes up tomorrow. See ya.” Luca levered himself from the passenger seat.
“Bye.” Kate locked the doors behind him and waved as she pulled away from the curb.
In his own car, Luca followed the railway line in the direction of Croydon, his stomach rumbling. He slipped a Seal CD into the stereo and chilled to the mellow tunes—background music always helped him mull ideas over during a case.
Late commuters alighted from oily trains, and a couple of kids, no older than six or seven, dragged a reluctant fox terrier along the footpath in the long evening shadows. He tutted. If he had kids he wouldn’t let them out of the yard. He’d seen too many bad things happen to good people, but it was a moot point, because fate had robbed him of the chance to have his own children by taking Olivia before her time, and he didn’t believe he’d be lucky enough to get a second chance.
The western skyline glowed orange and some of the streetlights blinked, so he turned on the car headlights. As he approached the railway crossing, bells clanged, the red disc lights flashed, and the boom gates lowered. He braked and a green neon sign caught his eye to the left: the Croydon Hotel. It was as good a place as any to stop for dinner, and he might be able to find out something about Mya while he was at it, so he swung the car into the potholed car park.
Yes, his neighbour sure was an enigma. She was almost as tall as him, with a slender body and nice rack. When he’d seen her earlier today, she appeared to have been shopping, which was a normal enough thing to do, but there was definitely blood spatter on her hands and chest. Bloody nose? Could be, but he doubted it. Whatever it was, he sure as hell wanted to know the truth.