‘Hey, we’re in the office,’ she called, just as Ben arrived at the doorway with Heath behind him.
‘Coldies!’ said Ben, a six-pack on his lap. Heath leant over and kissed Nina on the top of the head.
‘I thought you were in town today,’ she said.
‘Well, we –’ began Heath.
‘Me first!’ said Nina excited. ‘I have to tell you about our plan for new moolah. We’ve just discovered – well, Lachlan discovered – how we can reap in the bucks.’
‘Really?’ said Heath. ‘That’s two of us with good news, I just heard –’
‘It may not keep us in diamonds and champagne but it’s a start,’ said Lachlan, smiling. ‘Just some efficiencies.’
‘We reckon we should –’
‘Can I put those beers in the fridge for you?’ interrupted Lachlan.
‘It’s like a weight’s been taken off my shoulders,’ Nina said. ‘Sorry, Heath. What were you saying?’
‘That’s great. I –’ began Heath.
‘Now, one other thing I wanted to mention before you return to the easel, Nina,’ interrupted Lachlan again. ‘And, boys, she needs to get back to work so don’t distract her for too long. I’m thinking I’d be quite happy to do more if you like. I think I could actually save you a bit of money by buying more stuff in bulk and …’
Nina laughed. ‘Go for it, Lachlan – sounds great. You’re a font of wisdom today.’
‘All part of the service,’ he smiled, bundling up the papers and filing them in the cabinet. ‘We just need to keep an eye on the small details so we can keep business ticking over.’
Heath coughed. ‘We?’ he asked.
There was a silence.
Why were things so prickly between these two? Nina thought. Didn’t she have enough to contend with?
‘Lachlan was just helping me with –’ she began.
‘Far out, Neens,’ interrupted Ben. ‘Can’t you see Heathcliff here is bursting to tell you something. Any longer and he’ll spring a blood vessel or a button or something.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she smiled. ‘What is it?’
‘This,’ said Heath, holding out a letter. ‘Come out here and I’ll explain.’ He motioned towards the verandah.
‘Nah, just tell her, will you, Heath, bloody hell,’ said Ben.
Heath looked briefly at Lachlan, who was still busying himself at the desk, and continued. ‘It’s from the Office of Water,’ he said. ‘They finally listened to me.’
‘Wow!’
‘Yep, they want to know more about my water preservation work. They reckon I might be able to get involved in a region-wide change program.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ said Nina. She threw her arms around him. ‘You’ve worked for this.’
‘What’s this all about?’ asked Lachlan, puzzled.
Heath ignored him. ‘So at last the pen-pushers in Sydney have taken a close look at what I’ve been saying all along. They’ve been reviewing the water usage in this area for ages – it’s been staring them in the face. They know full well which farmers have been flouting the rules, screwing the system. Seems there could be some big changes around here.’
‘Including for Hilary?’ Lachlan again.
‘We’re all under the microscope. I’m going to have to tell her there’ll be no more using my water allocation. I’ve got to walk my talk.’
‘I’m lost now,’ admitted Lachlan.
‘Heath reckons our water table has been dropping and someone who shall remain nameless has been using more than she says,’ explained Ben. ‘And she’s not the only one,’ he added quickly.
‘Hilary thinks she can because I’m not using so much water now,’ said Heath. ‘The way she’s going she’ll end up with no water and no cotton. She’s just so gung ho, she’s blind to what she’s doing in the long term.’ He pulled Nina to him. ‘You realise I’m not going out of my way to make her life difficult, but this is bigger than all that.’
‘Of course,’ said Nina quickly. ‘Hilary’s ignored this for ages. Never took it or you seriously and if she’s caught out it’s her own fault frankly. Don’t feel bad on my account. Besides, even if she’s fined thousands she’ll survive.’
‘Bit like a cockroach,’ said Ben. ‘Now, Nina – I said that in a caring, sharing way.’ He smiled as she threw her pen at him.
Nina sighed. ‘If only she wasn’t so … pig-headed.’
‘Hilary’s been blatantly rorting the system for years now. I tell her as much every time I see her,’ added Heath.
‘I know. I wish she was different but …’ her voice drifted off.
‘So where does this leave her?’ asked Lachlan.
‘How?’ Heath asked him directly.
‘Well, how’s she going to irrigate her cotton without it? This is Nina’s mother you’re talking about.’
‘Thanks, Lachlan, but you can save the indignation on my part,’ said Nina. ‘She may have to rethink everything from the ground up.’
‘Geez, mate,’ Lachlan was het up now. ‘If you think you’re already in trouble with the locals, wait until you try to take away the cotton industry and see what they think.’
‘Yeah, I look forward to that. Fact is, the department seems to back me. They may want me to be a consultant.’
Lachlan laughed. ‘When governments want to stall on something, they announce another review. Don’t hold your breath, mate.’
‘Anyway, Nina,’ said Heath turning to her, his face flushed with excitement, ‘there’s a meeting in Sydney in a couple of weeks which I’ll have to go to obviously.’
‘Suit. Tie. Beers afterwards,’ interjected Ben.
‘Yes, I’d say many beers,’ smiled Heath. ‘You should be there too, mate. My ideas would’ve come to zero without your science to back them up.’
‘Nah.’ Ben was dismissive, but seemed pleased.
‘No, I mean it,’ insisted Heath. ‘Thanks, mate.’
‘Okay, I reckon this deserves a celebratory beer. Right now,’ was Ben’s response.
‘Totally,’ agreed Nina.
‘Now, I’d love to join in the celebrations, but I’ve got work to do,’ said Lachlan. ‘And Nina was just telling me how pleased she was to finally have some time to paint.’
‘Oh, sorry, Nina, seriously, you get back to it,’ said Heath.
‘I might actually,’ she replied, putting her arms around his neck again. ‘But we’ll celebrate later.’ She kissed him on the lips.
‘Get a room,’ said Ben. ‘But first, Heath, get a beer.’
The horizon moved steadily to the top of the windscreen and then headed down again. The plane’s roaring engines changed pitch as Heath banked the Cessna over The Springs.
‘The boundary with Kurrabar runs across that line of gums,’ he shouted to Lachlan in the passenger seat beside him. ‘The creek’s the boundary to the west, see?’ He pointed.
The cockpit of the Cessna was so tiny that the two men’s shoulders jostled together. Heath twitched his away irritably. Now that the Sydney meetings were on, his time was even scarcer. And the little bit of leisure he had, he wanted to spend kicking back with Nina, not being an aerial tour guide.
But Lachlan had kept nagging about how much he wanted to see the three properties and Nina had gone on about how he should make Lachlan feel appreciated. Eventually he had given in. A waste of bloody avgas. ‘We’re coming up to Kurrabar.’ The blue of the sky slid down the windscreen again as he lowered the left wing flap.
‘Right,’ said Lachlan, now tilted towards the side window, with the ground wheeling below him. ‘How far down is that?’
‘Oh, about a thousand feet. Only take you a few seconds to get there, if you jump.’ Heath laughed at Lachlan’s startled face. ‘It’s okay, mate, I’m not going to chuck you out.’ But the thought of doing so was strangely appealing. What was it about this man that raised his hackles so much? ‘Warm enough?’ he asked Lachlan, who nodded in his thick army surplus jumper. He still looked shit-sca
red, poor bastard.
Heath wondered if he was just jealous of the time this tosser was spending with Nina. Maybe. But if Lachlan used the word ‘we’ one more time when he talked about Nina’s business and the way it was run, Heath was going to have to say something.
‘So, this is Kurrabar,’ Heath gestured. The new contouring and plantings looked in great shape, he thought, as he pointed them out to Lachlan, explaining how much they improved the viability of the property. He glanced over but his passenger seemed lost in thought and obviously had not heard a word.
‘We’re coming up to the boundary with Paramour now,’ he shouted as loudly as he could.
Lachlan turned to him, suddenly alert.
‘The three used to be one big station back in the day,’ Heath explained. ‘A million acres.’
‘Nina tells me Hilary always wanted to reunite them,’ said Lachlan.
‘Yeah, well, Hilary wants a lot of things and most of them make no sense out here. She might have a heap of money from her husband’s machinery business, but she’s not entitled to more than her fair share of resources.’
‘Is that her house?’ asked Lachlan. He looked awestruck as the white edifice of Paramour floated by below them like a low cloud. Heath noted the emerald lawns with disapproval. They would not be there much longer if he could help it.
‘Now see down near the river, where the brown rectangles are,’ said Heath, turning to Lachlan, who nodded. ‘They’re Hilary’s cotton fields. She’s getting them ready for planting. Those dams there are hers too. She gets her water from the river and the aquifers, through the ditches there, the darker lines.
‘This was what Ben and I were talking about the other day,’ he explained. ‘I mean, look, the Darling’s the main waterway out here, all the creeks and rivers flow into it.’
‘Yeah, but it’s a good business,’ replied Lachlan. ‘I bet it employs a lot of people. And maybe it could do even better with some economies of scale.’
‘Really?’ said Heath, feeling a familiar tightening in his gut. ‘Like what you’re trying to do at The Springs, you mean?’
‘Well, we feel The Springs is not going to provide enough income – it’s just about breaking even now with the art retreat, but really, to make it fully viable we need to either get into cotton or irrigate the pasture more for agisting …’
Heath gave in to a sudden urge and the engine roared in response. He tilted the nose of the plane downwards. The tones of brown and tawny yellow swerved alarmingly in front of them.
‘What the fuck!’ exclaimed Lachlan in a high-pitched voice.
‘Thought you might want a closer look at this bit of real estate, mate. Get it into some kind of perspective,’ said Heath, deadpan.
‘Look, Heath, I’m just seeing this from an outsider’s point of view. I only want to help Nina.’
Heath took a deep breath to calm himself. Christ, he never flew like this. Flying brought up enough memories. The day when he’d been unable to bring his family back safely. The day his parents had died and Ben had been so badly hurt. His hand drifted reflexively to the burn scar on his neck – his own reminder of that awful time. The plane’s descent slowed as he followed the black ribbon of the road and then the course of the brown river back to the landing strip on Kurrabar. Neither man spoke as the plane landed, bumping along the grassy surface.
CHAPTER 15
Nina hopped on one foot, and then the other. This was as nerve-racking as waiting for Maggie Mainwaring to explain about her sketch. That was only, what, three months ago? Three months in which everything had changed. But this time, it was Izzy who Nina was bursting to talk to. Her friend had found the locket and sent Nina a photo but the detail had been difficult to see. Tulip had finally remembered where she hid it and now it had arrived at The Springs.
Nina watched as the guests and their luggage spilled from the bus. Lots of eyeliner, black skinny jeans and hipster beards among this lot, who were from the Sydney Academy of Fine Arts.
When at last they dispersed to their quarters, she pulled Izzy aside. ‘Well, come on …’ she urged.
Izzy reached into her bag, pulled out the oval locket and handed it to Nina.
‘It’s exactly like mine! Twins for sure.’ Breathless, Nina ran her fingers over the surface, knowing exactly how to open it. ‘Oh my god, Izzy. So this is it – the mystery Blackett locket. Home at last.’
Inside, the engravings were two concentric circles. Within the inner circle was the number 15. From the outside one a spear shape pointed downwards and to the left.
‘What do you think it means?’ asked Nina.
‘No idea,’ replied Izzy. ‘But I can’t wait to hand it over to its rightful owners when Heath and Ben bring over the spit roast.’
‘So, are you going to tell me the whole story?’ asked Nina carefully.
Izzy seemed to brace herself and turned to face her. ‘The truth is – Mum stole it.’
‘What?’
‘She went through a bad patch for a few years when I was young,’ continued Izzy. ‘Heroin. It was rough on all of us.’
‘Oh, Izzy! I remember you saying things had been bad. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay. She’s clean now and, weirdly enough, it was thanks to the locket.’
‘Tell me everything,’ said Nina gently, gesturing to the verandah step. ‘Here, sit.’
Izzy settled beside her. ‘This is so embarrassing. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you about it before, but I should have. Like I said, the locket belonged to Miss Morphett.’
‘Yes, the Blackett lady – Mac’s cousin … And?’
‘Remember I told you about how Tulip did the gardening for her?’
Nina nodded.
‘I’d go there with her sometimes, up until I was about 10. I loved the place. I loved Miss Morphett too. She was kinder to me than anyone else in those days. And then Mum … well, she stole the locket from that beautiful woman.’
Nina watched as Izzy brought her emotions under control.
‘Of course, Tulip was going to sell the locket for drugs,’ said Izzy. ‘When I accused her of stealing it, she couldn’t lie to me. It was pretty devastating for both of us. She started rehab straight after.’
Nina put her arm around Izzy. ‘Poor you,’ she said. ‘What a story.’
‘I tried to return it and so did Tulip. She was on a 12-step program where you have to go back and make restitution to the people you’ve hurt. But the old lady had died and the house was closed up. We couldn’t track down any Morphetts. Then when I met you and Heath last year and we worked out how they were related, I wanted to tell you about the locket straight away but I just couldn’t. What would you think of me, my family?’
‘Don’t you worry about that, Izz. It’s completely understandable and that’s how the boys will feel too.’
‘Thanks. And you know what – looking for this locket’s been the best thing ever for me and Tulip. We got to have some overdue deep and meaningfuls.’
Izzy took the locket and slipped it back into her bag. ‘This is almost as weird as the resurrection of Jim Larkin, aka Mr Wright.’
‘Mr Right.’ Nina laughed. ‘Never got that before. Hey, are you okay?’ she asked. Izzy looked suddenly flushed.
‘We have to get that letter from Hilary,’ Izzy ploughed on. ‘We have to find out how the two lockets are linked.’
‘I haven’t been able to prise it out of her,’ said Nina. ‘She’s playing the whole thing down. Says she’s not even sure where it might be.’
‘And we believe that … not.’
Bada bada ba-ba ba-ba badabup.
Izzy and Ben played air guitar amid the crowd with reckless abandon in time to The Rockitts’ cover of ‘My Sharona’. Ben saw with relief that Izzy was laughing helplessly as they thrashed their hair around, sending sprays of sweat flying. She had seemed pre-occupied lately, often drifting into silence mid-conversation as though she was dealing with some kind of trouble. It was good to see her let go lik
e this.
The Commercial was packed with Wandalla locals of all ages, including a few that looked like they lived pretty far off the grid. A toothless, shirtless man Ben vaguely recognised as one of the infamous Skinner boys was balanced on a table beside them and seemed to be pole dancing without a pole. He reached down and grabbed Izzy’s hand, trying to drag her up with him. She mouthed ‘help’, a look of alarm in her eyes.
‘Let go of my woman,’ Ben shouted above the music.
Izzy laughed. That was the way those blokes thought. My beer, my car, my woman. The man reluctantly let go.
‘Grab us a table in the beer garden, Izz.’
Izzy gave a thumbs-up and began wading through the bouncing audience, while Ben wheeled into the crowd at the bar. It was great to have someone like Izzy to hang with when she was in Wandalla. Around Nina and Heath, he often felt like a third wheel. They did their best to make him feel included, but they were a couple. And their togetherness was a constant reminder of how much he missed Olivia.
‘Jug and two glasses, thanks, Davo,’ he shouted to the barman. Her job at MoMA had morphed from temporary gofer to being indispensable. And although he was proud of everything she was doing, he would have to get used to the idea that she wasn’t coming back.
In their time-honoured tradition, Davo followed carrying the drinks as Ben wheeled out into the beer garden.
‘The jug’s for her – stick a straw in it,’ said Ben. ‘I’ll just have my usual dry sherry.’
‘Yeah, right, mate,’ replied the barman sarcastically, depositing the drinks on the table.
Izzy poured the icy beer and gulped it down.
‘I’ve been thinking about your locket, Izz,’ said Ben.
‘You mean your locket! Oh Ben, I’m still embarrassed about that …’
‘Come on, Izz. Heath and I won’t say it again – it’s yours. We want you to have it. Reckon my old great-aunt would agree. Anyway, it looks better on you.’
Izzy blushed as she smiled.
‘Been thinking about the markings,’ he continued.
‘Me too.’
‘I always suspected there was more to it than the Goat Rock thing. Heath thinks Barkin’ either had the DTs or was playing a big joke. But I reckon he wanted us to find that gold for weird reasons of his own.’
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