Nothing to Fear

by Claire Boston

  “What about fertilisers and such?”

  “That’s kept in the gardening shed.” She pointed to it. Every pore of her skin was tingling, acutely aware of how close Ryan was to her. She checked the time and tried to sound casual. “Any chance I can grab a few things and start my rounds?”

  Ryan glanced at her. “Rounds?”

  “Cleaning. We’ve had three check-outs this morning and I’ve got people arriving at two.”

  “We’ll be as quick as possible,” he said. “Is there something else you can do?”

  “Always.” And wasn’t that the truth? It also meant she didn’t have to stay near Ryan. His presence was unsettling. She had a warm ache in her belly she didn’t like, didn’t trust. “When you’re done, go to the office. Lynette will be able to contact me.” She hurried away.

  Half an hour later, Hannah got a call. “Senior Constable Kilpatrick is in the office for you,” Lynette said.

  Hannah sighed. She didn’t want to see him again. Checking the cabin, she made a note to bring out some fresh milk when she returned and then locked it. She went into the office via the back door so she didn’t have to stand close to Ryan.

  He was telling Lynette about his son, Felix, and Adam was flicking through his notepad.

  “Find anything?” she asked.

  “Got a couple of fingerprints,” he said. “Can you tell me if anything’s missing?”

  She nodded and picked up her inventory. “I’ll just be a second. Lynette, do you want to get the officers a drink?” She didn’t wait for the reply as she hurried back outside.

  As usual, it was cleaner and a whole heap of toilet paper. Returning to the office, she gave Ryan the list. His fingers brushed hers and a zap went straight up her arm. She took a step back.

  “Thanks. I’ll add it to my report.” He paused. “Have you considered installing a camera?”

  “No. I didn’t want to alarm my guests, make them think the park wasn’t safe, or that I was watching them.” She wanted to back further away. It didn’t matter that she was behind the counter, which spanned the whole width of the office, and Lynette was with her. Ryan had a presence that was larger than himself. His uniform clung to him in all the right places, and that made her nervous. Attraction led to bad things.

  “You could always put it on the inside, pointing towards the door.”

  She nodded. “I’ll check out prices.”

  “Have you noticed any pattern or particular time of the month?”

  “What were the dates of the other break-ins?” she asked Lynette.

  Lynette flicked through a file from the desk. “They were all on a Sunday night,” she said. “But at different times of the month.”

  They were coming into the busiest time of the season and she couldn’t afford to waste a whole morning waiting for the police to do an investigation. “I’ll look into some sort of surveillance.”

  “I can recommend a couple of different brands,” Ryan said.

  “Thanks. I’ll ask Lincoln if he knows who can install one.” She smiled. “Do you need anything else from me?”

  He shook his head. “I’ll send you a copy of the report.”

  “Thanks.”

  He left, with Adam trailing after him, and Lynette twirled on her office chair to stare at Hannah. “Oh my God, he’s as sexy as ever. How can you not see that?”

  Her eyes pinned Hannah to the spot and Hannah’s face grew warm. She couldn’t tell Lynette the truth. She shrugged. “Everyone has different tastes.” She grabbed her clipboard. “I’d better get back to work, I’m running behind.” She made herself scarce.

  Ryan frowned as he drove away from the caravan park. It wasn’t his imagination. Hannah wasn’t comfortable around him. She was the complete opposite of Lynette, who had casually flirted and then promised to call Mrs Z to set up a playdate between Felix and her youngest boy.

  Hannah, on the other hand, didn’t want to be near him. She’d pushed him away when he’d helped her up and kept her distance, only saying the bare minimum to him. She was twitchy and tense, and he would have thought she was guilty of breaking into her own storeroom if she hadn’t been as twitchy the night before. It was odd, but not so strange that he wanted to figure it out.

  She was appealing to look at though. The baggy clothes she’d worn yesterday had been replaced by trim cargo shorts and a holiday park polo shirt that nicely showed off her curves. Yet, those green eyes of hers hid a lot of secrets.

  “What do you think about the break-in?” he asked Adam to get his mind back on the job.

  “Seems straightforward enough. We’ll have to take the prints to Albany to be run. There might be a match.”

  Ryan glanced at him. “We can’t run them at the station?”

  “Nah, we don’t have the equipment.”

  Ryan frowned. Karratha had been the regional centre for policing in the Pilbara and so they had most of the equipment they needed. He was going to have to get used to the differences of working in a small-town station.

  When they arrived back, Ryan wandered straight into Lincoln’s office.

  “How did it go?” Lincoln asked.

  “Got some prints, but they’re likely Hannah’s or Lynette’s.”

  “Sue’s heading over to Albany this afternoon, so get her to take them,” Lincoln said. “I don’t like Hannah being targeted like this.”

  There was something kind of possessive in the way he said it and Ryan studied him. “Is she someone special?”

  Lincoln’s jaw dropped and then he laughed. “Not in a romantic way. She’s one of the musketeers, the girls Jamie used to hang around at school. You must remember Kit from the dairy farm next door. On the weekends, you never found one without at least one other; Kit, Fleur, Hannah and Mai. Hannah’s lived at the holiday park with her maternal grandparents since she was a kid. She’s practically my sister.”

  He did have vague recollections of Lincoln’s brother, Jamie, hanging out with a bunch of girls. They were about eleven when he was there, so he hadn’t paid much attention. “What happened to her parents?”

  Lincoln hesitated. “It’s pretty grim. Her father killed her mother and went to jail. Hannah was about eight.”

  Ryan sucked in a breath. “Shit.” His parents might not have paid any attention to him, but they had never been violent, and they loved each other. An event like that would have ripped the very foundations out of Hannah’s world.

  “The rumour is Hannah was home at the time, but I’ve never asked her. She’s pretty well adjusted if that’s the case.”

  Ryan hesitated. Lincoln was close to Hannah, but Ryan needed to share his observation. “She seemed kind of skittish of me.”

  His friend frowned. “Really? Hannah’s one tough cookie. All those girls are.”

  “Every time I’ve seen her I startle her.” Was he reading too much into it?

  “Must be your shocking personality.” Lincoln grinned.

  Ryan rolled his eyes. “Thanks.” He reviewed his notes. “The chemicals that were stolen could be used to make meth. Do you think that’s what’s going on?”

  Lincoln pursed his lips. “That had occurred to me as well. I suggested to Hannah that we put up cameras, but she wasn’t keen.”

  “I suggested the same thing – thought we could set them up inside the room. She said she’d talk to you about it.”

  “That’s great. We might be able to catch them coming in. They won’t be expecting it. I’ll call her this afternoon.”

  “Mrs Jameson’s lost her poodle,” Adam called. “And Gladys has crashed into someone’s car again.”

  Lincoln sighed. “Take Ryan,” he called back. He glanced at Ryan. “Gladys is one of our resident retirees. She keeps forgetting she no longer has her licence, and won’t sell her car. Get all the details and then get Adam to give you a tour of the town to reacquaint yourself. I’m sure you’ll find the poodle. Shirley loses her at least once a month.” He paused and then grinned. “Adam believes the poor thing
escapes to get a break from Shirley’s fussing. Let me know what you think.”

  There was a mischievous expression on Lincoln’s face that intrigued Ryan. “All right.”

  It didn’t take long to deal with Gladys and the crash, and then Adam drove him through town.

  “So what does the poodle look like?” Ryan asked.

  “Pink and groomed to within an inch of its life,” Adam said.

  Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

  Adam nodded. “It’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen, but at least she’s hard to miss.”

  “Name?”

  “Fairy Floss.”

  Ryan chuckled. “This I’ve got to see.”

  “You can’t unsee it once you do,” Adam warned.

  They drove through the town, stopping at the park by the river and the football oval, before swinging past the district high school.

  “It’s lunchtime,” Adam said. “Flossy likes to get a share of food sometimes.”

  Sure enough, as they walked into the school there was a bunch of kids huddled around what could be called a dog. It was a miniature poodle and its fur had been shaved so its snout was bare, but its ears and the top of its head were groomed in a bright, lollypop pink. Its tail was a ball of fluff at the end and each foot had pink balls on it, but the rest of its legs and its back end were shaved.

  Adam walked into the group. “All right, Fairy Floss, you’ve been nabbed. Time for you to go back.”

  The kids protested as Adam clipped on a lead. The dog sat down, straining against it.

  “She doesn’t want to go,” one of the girls said.

  “Yeah, but she can’t stay here,” Adam answered. “Mrs Jameson is terribly upset.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a dog treat. Fairy Floss was instantly on her feet.

  “You’ve come prepared,” Ryan commented as they walked back to the car.

  “Yep. There’s a box of treats at the station, just for Flossy.”

  He was curious to meet Mrs Jameson. What kind of person dyed their dog pink?

  She lived across from Hannah’s caravan park in a lovely old wooden miller’s cottage. Ryan stood next to Adam as he knocked on the door.

  “You found her!” The delight was clear as a middle-aged woman opened the door. She was in her late forties or early fifties, with jet-black hair styled in an elaborate braid and wore a dress made of patchwork squares. She screamed hippy and wasn’t at all what Ryan had envisioned.

  “She was at the school getting treats,” Adam told her, unclipping the lead.

  Mrs Jameson ran her hand down Adam’s arm. “Oh, you naughty girl,” she purred. Then she noticed Ryan and looked him up and down with appreciation. “Who do we have here?”

  Ryan just managed not to smile. “Senior Constable Kilpatrick, ma’am.”

  “Oh, don’t call me ma’am,” she said. “You’ll make me feel ancient. Call me Shirley.” She still had her hand on Adam’s arm.

  Was he in the way? “We’d better be going.”

  Shirley pouted. “Are you sure you can’t stay for … coffee?”

  Ryan did smile then. “No thanks. It’s my first day on the job, and I want to make a good impression.”

  “Well don’t be a stranger.” She twitched her fingers in a wave as they went back to the car.

  “Is she always like that?” Ryan asked.

  “Always,” Adam muttered.

  “Was I disturbing you?”

  “God, no!” Adam stared at him with horror. “I’m glad you were there. That woman …”

  “Loses her dog on purpose.” He was kind of enjoying Adam’s discomfort.

  “Do you think?” Adam was quiet for a moment and then slouched. “You’re probably right. Why do I always get the call?”

  “Probably because you’re the youngest and Lincoln thinks it’s funny.”

  Adam grimaced. “Probably. I’ll have to pay him back somehow.”

  “I’ll tell you if I come up with anything.” Ryan remembered fondly the pranks they used to play on each other in high school. It was good to be back in Blackbridge.

  It was good to be home.

  Hannah headed back to the office when it was time for Lynette to pick up her kids from school. The work around the park was done and now she had to put together a marketing plan to attract customers during the winter months. This was the best part of her job. Event planning had been her dream ever since the circus had come to town when she was a kid. She remembered the excitement that had flowed through Blackbridge and how it was all anyone had talked about for weeks afterwards. She’d decided then and there that she wanted to arrange events that appealed to people and made them happy. It was why she was building her retreat.

  The phone rang, and annoyed at the interruption, she picked it up.

  “Why do I have to hear about Ryan Kilpatrick staying at your cabin from Lynette?” The droll comment could only come from one person.

  “Hi, Fleur.” Hannah smiled.

  “Seriously, though. Are you really OK with that?”

  She couldn’t ignore the concern in Fleur’s voice. Only Fleur knew the reason why Hannah didn’t like to be alone with men. No one else suspected a thing – Hannah had a lot of practice in hiding her fear. “I thought he was married when Lincoln mentioned he needed a place to stay. He said he had a kid.”

  “Hannah.” The exasperation in Fleur’s voice was clear.

  “I couldn’t exactly refuse when I found out the truth,” Hannah argued. “Lincoln was desperate and you know what he’s like.”

  “Yeah, like a dog with a bone.” Fleur sighed. “Do you want to come and stay with me while he’s there?”

  The offer was tempting. Too tempting. But who knew how long that would be? Her whole life would be in limbo – if she was too scared to stay at the retreat she wouldn’t be able to work on the cabins.

  She’d be delaying her dream again.

  She was tired of running away.

  Hannah sat up straight, the realisation sweeping through her like a summer breeze. She had been running, had been hiding. “I need to move on.”

  “There’s a good psychologist at the hospital,” Fleur said immediately.

  Hannah frowned. Fleur had been on at her for years to get help, but therapy was a sham. She’d been forced to visit a psychologist for a year after her mother had died and the guy had done nothing except ask her how she was feeling. Her stomach clenched. What the hell could she say to that? Her father, the man she’d loved with all her heart, who had called her his little princess, had killed her mother. Hannah had seen him standing over her mother holding a knife, while she’d bled out on the floor. How was she supposed to feel? “I don’t want people asking questions.”

  “You could go to Albany.”

  “It’s fine,” she reassured her friend. “It’s a stupid phobia. I can manage.”

  “Honey, it’s not a phobia. You were raped.”

  Hannah stiffened and her gut clenched. “Where are you?”

  “Relax. I’m in my car. No one can hear me.”

  She didn’t want to continue the conversation. Just the mention of the assault made her want to hide. She got up and walked over to Joe, rubbing his belly to soothe herself. The bell above the door rang. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got a guest.” She turned and her whole body froze.

  No.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  It wasn’t possible to conjure up a person by thinking about them. Her legs trembled.

  “Do you want to have dinner tonight?” Fleur asked.

  Hannah couldn’t answer. She couldn’t make any muscle in her body move as the man who’d walked in smiled at her. “Hannah, it’s been ages.”

  Her stomach lurched and she wanted to vomit.

  “Hannah?” Fleur’s voice in her ear reassured her.

  “Justin,” she managed to squeak.

  “What did you say?” Fleur asked.

  She forced herself to breathe, her eyes not leaving the man
who’d raped her five years ago. He frowned and sweat broke out on her skin. She had to speak, had to tell Fleur what was going on. Fleur could get help. “Justin Lodeham just walked in.” Her throat hurt saying it and she trembled once again.

  Fleur swore. “What the hell? I’ll be right there. Don’t hang up. Do you need me to call the police?”

  “No. Hurry.” Joe got to his feet, as if sensing something was wrong, and growled. Hannah didn’t quieten him.

  “Hannah, are you all right?” Justin asked. “You’re as pale as a ghost.”

  She couldn’t answer. Didn’t want to speak to the man, didn’t want to be in the same room as him, but her feet wouldn’t move.

  “Do you need a doctor?” he asked. He looked around as if to find a way to get behind the counter to her.

  Joe barked a warning.

  Hannah had to say something, if only to get him to leave. “We’re fully booked.” Her hands found the low cupboard behind her and she clutched on to it, needing something solid to touch. In the corner stood the cricket set they hired out to guests. She could use the bat if he tried anything.

  “My friend booked a cabin. Should be under the name Smith.” He smiled. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, but you’re from this area, aren’t you?”

  Where was Fleur? Surely she had to be here soon. What if she wasn’t? Joe stood between her and Justin. Hannah had to get rid of Justin. She nodded.

  “Weren’t you studying event coordination or something? What are you doing working in a caravan park?”

  She didn’t answer. To get to the computer and check the booking she had to step closer to him, but that wasn’t possible. She was frozen in place, staring at him, her breath fast. He couldn’t stay here. No way could she function if she knew he was anywhere in the park. She had to do something. He was waiting for an answer, but she couldn’t remember what he’d asked.

  “Hannah?”

  The back door slammed open and Fleur strode in, still wearing her hospital scrubs, her brown hair tied back in a ponytail and looking as mad as hell.

  Relief flooded Hannah and her legs went weak.

  Justin grinned. “Fleur! Nice to see you.”