Anna felt sick. He couldn’t show affection to his own child, but he could with a stranger.Well that just about summed everything up, she thought bitterly.
Finally, after many photos and congratulatory handshakes, Joel climbed into the driver’s seat of one of the trucks and leaned on the horn, while Janey climbed in the passenger’s side and wound down her window, flourishing her bouquet.
‘Who wants it?’ she yelled, then tossed it towards the crowd.
There was a smattering of laughter as a young man automatically reached out to pluck it from the air, then, realising what he had done, dropped it quickly.
‘You’ll be right, Dave,’ Janey called, grinning widely. ‘You’ll have to make an honest woman of Becs now!’
As the trucks left, heading towards the reception venue, Shane wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. ‘Reckon they may not make it to the reception on time.’
‘Why?’ Belinda asked, her brow furrowed.
‘They’re driving around with their own sleeper cab! Oh, the joys of early married life. They’ll be getting it on and cutting it up in the sleeper cab - no stresses or strains, no kids interrupting. Not like life AK! After kids, I mean.’
Belinda slapped his arm. ‘You are talking crap! It’s not like you miss out often.’ She smiled adoringly at Shane and Anna felt a surge of envy.
‘Well, that’s the serious stuff done and dusted! Would you like to come back to our place for a drink?’ Shane asked. ‘We’re only about ten minutes from the reception and the kids are being looked after by their grandparents.’
‘Yeah, we’d love a drink,’ Matt answered without consulting Anna.
‘Righto, follow us, then!’
Chapter 26
Matt tried to keep up with Shane but their old car didn’t take the corners as smoothly or accelerate away from the traffic lights as fast, and by the time they arrived at Shane’s the BMW was parked and Shane and Belinda were holding open the front door with welcoming smiles on their faces.
‘How much would it cost to live here?’ Anna asked as they slid to a stop. Along the way she’d seen huge houses behind fences made of stone, large expanses of lawn with long asphalt driveways. The streets were wide, tree-lined and quiet; the atmosphere spoke of wealth.
‘Hundreds of thousands, if not millions,’ Matt replied.
Anna was silent, then took a deep breath and opened her door. She stared for a moment at the white picket fence and the red letter box standing alongside it. The colouring of the letter box looked out of place against the faded colours of time.
Shane and Belinda’s sandstone house had obviously been built around the time of Adelaide’s settlement.The lawn, despite water restrictions, was a lush green, and the front yard was shaded by large trees. There seemed little sign of the four unruly boys Anna knew Shane talked about constantly.
Shane ushered them inside.‘Come on, we’ll go out to the back garden. There’s a bar on the terrace.’
Five minutes later they all held drinks and Shane was chatting animatedly about the drive he’d done north. Anna looked around, wondering how Belinda managed to keep the house and gardens so beautifully while raising four boys. Even the garden shed looked tidy, from where she stood. There were days in her house when Anna couldn’t see the lounge room floor for the clutter - and she only had Ella!
Belinda chatted continually and despite feeling sad, Anna relaxed and laughed at the stories of the four boys. ‘Now tell, Anna,’ Belinda said when it seemed she had exhausted her range of stories, ‘how is your babysitting business going? Last time I spoke to you, you were just starting out.’
‘I love it!’ Anna said simply. ‘I have about eight kids who I look after. Not at any one time – I think that would kill me! It’s all very casual, if a mum rings and I’m free, I’ll take the child, but if Matt’s home or I’m out, then I don’t.’
‘Well I think that’s amazing! I have enough to do with my four without adding any extras into the mix. Do you think you and Matt will have more children? You obviously enjoy being around them.’
Anna squirmed uncomfortably and glanced over to see if Matt had heard, but the two men were laughing uproariously at a joke she had missed. ‘We haven’t talked about it recently,’ she muttered, and looking for an escape she asked, ‘Do you think I could use your loo?’
Belinda gave her directions and Anna went down a passageway and opened an oak door. She realised she’d gone into the wrong room when she saw the fluffy white carpet, but peeked in anyway. It seemed to be Shane’s personal lounge, the walls covered in photos of trucks and speedway cars, the shelves holding Speedway trophies. There was a bar fridge in one corner and a pool table under lights in the middle of the room. The window looked out over the terrace and, even though the curtains were drawn and the window was shut, she could hear the muffled sounds of conversation. She started to back out, but noticed a photo with Matt in it and stepped forward to have a closer look.
Matt and Shane were leaning against a trailer, smiling openly at the camera. He looked so happy and relaxed - so different to how he was at home. Tears sprang to her eyes as she picked up the photo and traced the outline of his jaw. How come, she wondered, he could be like this with other people but not with his family? How had they come to this, two people who had been so in love?
The noise of Belinda’s high heels walking on the polished floorboards somewhere in the house made Anna start guiltily. She shouldn’t be snooping.
She took deep shuddering breaths to calm herself as she replaced the photo on the shelf, refusing to cry.
‘So how’s Ella doing?’ Anna froze as Shane’s voice became clear the closer he came to the window. She heard him pull open the fridge door, the clink of beer bottles.
‘She’s okay. Doesn’t want to have a lot to do with me these days though. I thought it was because I was away driving so much to begin with, but now I’m wondering if her mother has something to do with it. Ella won’t come to me or give me a hug. She’s really off with me.’
Anna’s eyes widened as a surge of anger chased away her sadness.
‘Come on, Matt, mate, be real! You’re only thinking that ’cos you’re angry with Anna, although I can’t see why. She’s lovely,’ Shane said. ‘Why would she turn Ella against you? I mean, I know you’re going through a rough spot, but Anna just doesn’t strike me as the sort of person to do that.’
‘Lovely?’ Matt’s voice was bitter. ‘She’s always on my case. She’s always criticising, never supporting me. When we lost the farm, she just moved on like it’d never existed.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘It really shits me. You know, she’d actually made me believe she shared my dreams when we got married. What a load of bullshit. And now, when I’m set on finding out who stole our fertiliser and ruined us, do you think she’s on my side? Ha! “Don’t do it, Matt, it’s over, let it go.” Well I’m not letting it go. I carry this with me all the time.’Anna couldn’t see what he was referring to, but she was sure it must be the little black notebook she had found in his pocket when she was doing the laundry. She’d been so shocked when she’d opened it and seen all the entries about the thefts, all his conspiracy theories and ideas; she’d pretended she’d never seen it.
‘This has got all the details of every theft I know about,’ Matt was saying. ‘One day the bastard who did this will slip up and when he or she does, I’ll be there with every skerrick of evidence to put them away.’
Anna couldn’t stand to hear any more. She backed out of the room and shut the door quietly. She found the bathroom, washed her face, reapplied her makeup and then went back out to the terrace, her face rearranged into a pleasant mask though inside she was churning.
The reception was held on an expanse of lawn at the Botanical Gardens in the centre of Adelaide.The evening had turned cool and while cutlery clinked against the plates and tea lanterns swayed overhead, the laughter was growing raucous as more drinks were consumed. It reached a crescendo as Joel stood in front of the crowd to make
his speech. Loud catcalls and whistles sounded from every corner.
Anna watched from the edge of the crowd, sitting quietly under one of the large Moreton Bay fig trees. She was so furious with Matt she could barely speak to him – not that they were talking anyway.
As she thought about his behaviour over the last few hours, her anger grew tenfold. Even though she’d been upset with him when they’d arrived at the reception, she had stuck close to his side. Not knowing many people made her uncomfortable and she certainly didn’t want to hang around Belinda, knowing Shane had more than likely shared Matt’s outburst with her on the way to the reception.
Matt had barely seemed to register her presence. He hadn’t introduced her to anyone, or even bothered to get her a drink. He slipped away to talk to people she had never met before and she’d found herself alone at important parts of the night, like when she had to find their table by herself. She didn’t know how long she’d sat there, alone, waiting for Matt to join her, but she had felt so abandoned and out of place she was close to despair.
When he had finally come to the table his rejection of her was humiliating. Being so pleased to see him, she’d tried to hold his hand, but he had shaken her off as if she was nothing more than a pest. The fury Anna had tried to dampen flared so strongly she’d needed to excuse herself and run for the safety of the toilets.
As soon as the main course was finished, she had left the table without speaking to him and had gone to sit at the edge of the party.
Now she observed Matt from afar. He was standing with Jimmy, a Coke in his hand, listening to the speeches as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He hadn’t even missed her.
In times gone by her Matt never would have ignored her or spoken about her as harshly as he had tonight. And try as she might, Anna could not find one little bit left of the Matt she had married. Her Matt was gone, she realised as she saw him grin at something Jimmy had whispered in his ear. It wasn’t her imagination; he was truly gone.
Briefly she wondered if she shouldn’t just take the car and leave him behind - but no, she wouldn’t do that; she wouldn’t be a doormat any longer. She had some things to say.
A burst of laughter at Joel’s speech caught her attention and she looked around the rest of the room. She saw Belinda glance her way, sympathy in her eyes, and that just made Anna more irate. It embarrassed her that Belinda knew of their troubles and understood why she was reduced to lingering at the edge of the crowd like an outsider. Then a feeling of unease crept over her. How many other people here had Matt sounded off to? The rage inside her was building and she was powerless to stop it. It would have to be faced. Tonight.
‘How dare you!’ Anna’s voice was low and cold, as they hit the outskirts of Adelaide and plunged into the dark countryside. ‘How dare you treat me the way you did tonight!’
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Matt glance over at her, his face impassive. She tightened her hands around the steering wheel as she stared out into the blackness, watching the white lines slip beneath the car.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Matt turned his expressionless face towards her.
‘Listen to me, Matt – there’s no point in trying anymore. You obviously don’t want to be around Ella and me, and I’m sick of tiptoeing around you. You ignore your own daughter and you treat me like I’m a stranger. Well I can’t do this - I won’t do this anymore. You’ve changed. It’s time we admitted it, don’t you think? Tonight really proved it. We’re finished.’ Her voice cracked on the last word.
Silence filled the car until Matt said, his voice flat, ‘What I’d like to know is what makes your point of view so damned right and mine not worth anything?’ He turned away and looked out at the darkened landscape. He didn’t utter another word for the rest of the drive home.
When they pulled up at their house Matt yanked on the door handle even before the car had come to a complete stop and leapt out.
She watched grim-faced as Matt emerged a few moments later with a bag slung over his shoulder. Without looking at her, he got into his ute, reversed out of the drive and drove away. Where he would stay tonight, Anna didn’t know.
What hurt her the most, she thought as the sobs started racking her body, was that he hadn’t argued or tried to change her mind. Obviously neither of them was prepared to fight to save their marriage.
It really was over.
Chapter 27
The moon gave little light as the man adjusted his headlight. The shadows the small torch threw sometimes made it harder to see than if he didn’t use it. He swore softly as he inserted the key into the padlock for the third time and twisted it from side to side. But he just couldn’t seem to make the key turn.
He swore again. The thick gloves he’d worn both to keep out the bitter chill and to hide his fingerprints were hampering his efforts as well.
He glanced around the satellite depot anxiously. Even though he knew everyone would be at the wedding - making this the perfect night to act - the constant hum of traffic in the background made him nervous. He was used to doing these sorts of jobs in silence.
Going to the back of his ute, he unzipped the tarp and rummaged around until he found his toolbox. He took out a large pair of bolt cutters and went back to the padlock. With one swift movement, the thick steel had been cut, the padlock hung uselessly from the shed’s latch and the man yanked open the door.
In the stillness of the shed, he heard the scratching of a branch against the tin roof, a piece of tin banging in the wind.
He breathed in deeply and smiled.They were the noises he was used to.
He wasn’t supposed to take anything from the shed except the keys for the truck he was ‘borrowing’, but still, he thought, it wouldn’t hurt to see if there was anything else worth pinching. It’s not like his accomplice could report him. Besides, he was owed it. Whether or not his partner agreed was beside the point.
His annoyance returned as he recalled the other man telling him there wasn’t any money left. ‘You took it all last time.’
‘But I need it,’ he’d insisted. ‘I’ve got to pay the debt.You of all people know what the consequences are if I don’t.’
‘Maybe you should have thought about that before you lost the last twenty-five grand I gave you. You’ll have to wait until we do another one. And I’m telling you, the next one has to be the last. I’m sick of it.’ His partner had slammed the phone down.
He remembered sitting at his office desk considering his next course of action. He just needed to find a heist that would cover his debt and leave him with a bit left over.
When his partner had finally admitted there was a large load of chemicals coming in he’d seen a way out of his predicament.
He looked at dates, weather forecasts, moon phases. This was different to the sort of heists he usually pulled, so nothing could be left to chance. Like he always said, ‘Perfect planning prevents pisspoor performance.’
Tonight he would live by that motto.
Walking through the shed, he ran his fingers over the crates, feeling smooth plastic. They were pallets of beer, waiting to go to a pub.
He took out his pocket knife and slit the thick plastic, hoisted two cartons onto his shoulder and carried them to the ute. He made five trips in all.
‘Payment,’ he muttered to himself. ‘If I can’t have the cash, I can take it in other ways.’
The keys for the truck were hanging on the board just inside the sliding iron door. He looked for the one with the green key tag, grabbed it and headed back to his ute. Then he drove ten minutes down the road to an all-night supermarket and parked under some lights.
His sneakers made no noise as he ran swiftly back to the depot and made his way to where the truck and flat-top trailer had been left for his use.
As he slid the key into the door, he noticed there was a car driving slowly along the road that ran alongside the yard.
He dropped to the ground and crawled under the trailer to lie next to the large wh
eels.
Headlights lit up the depot as the ute swung in the open gates.
For a heart-stopping moment he wondered whether he’d been doublecrossed, but just as quickly he dismissed the thought, knowing it just wasn’t possible - they both had too much at stake.
Then the ute backed out and drove away. He lay unmoving till he could no longer hear the engine, then, his heart beating fast, he made his way to the front of the truck, opened the door, and climbed into the cab.
He wound the window down a crack and waited a full ten minutes, just sitting, watching and waiting. The ute didn’t return, so he hit the key and held his breath as the engine spluttered to life, sounding twice as loud as normal to his ears.
He shoved the truck into gear, drove over to where a pallet of chemical was sitting, and backed into the loading ramp. Working as quickly as he could, he started the forklift and slid the forks under the pallet. Fifteen minutes later, the truck was loaded with ten pallets. He would sell it cheaper than any retailer could and make a killing.
Sticking his head outside again, just to make sure the ute hadn’t returned, the man listened hard and his gaze swept across the yard to see if anything had changed. It hadn’t. He jogged to the back of the shed, pushed opened a door and entered a tiny storage room. He was only able to see a couple of feet in front of him, with the tiny headlight that was strapped to his forehead, but he knew where he was going. With his hands brushing the wall, he counted in ten steps, then five to the right and three to the left. Bending down, his fingers found the heavy iron ring on the edge of the trapdoor and he pulled firmly at it.
Down on his knees now, his fingers felt under the edge of the gap made by the door, to find a light switch. With a flick of the button, the underground room was flooded with light and the man had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted to the brightness.
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