As he turned into his friends’ driveway, Matt wondered how they were coping since the theft. Now Sam had been robbed, he finally understood just a fraction of what Matt had been been through. Of course, it hadn’t affected their business, but the violation was still the same.
As he added up all the people in the mid-north district who had been affected by rural crime over the past few years, he felt anger towards the police for being blind to what was happening in their own backyard. There were so many thefts.
The outside light was on and as Matt pulled up he saw the door fly open and Kate step onto the verandah to greet him. He smiled, feeling like he was coming home.
‘Hi, Kate!’
‘Matt, it’s so good to see you.’ She held open her arms and he hugged her before handing over a bottle of wine. ‘Huh! My favourite. Flattery and gifts will get you everywhere!’
‘What? You want flattery too? I’m not very good at that. You might have to ask your husband.’
‘He’s in the shower. Come in! It’s so bloody cold out here. There’ll probably be another frost in the morning. Oh sit down, you mad dog,’ Kate said to her little Jack Russell, who was dancing on his hind legs in an effort to get noticed.
‘Hey, Zoom, are you happy to see me?’ Matt bent down to pick up the dog and fondled his ears as they walked towards the house. Kate held the door open and rushed him inside so as to keep the warmth in. Matt laughed as the dog tried to lick him. ‘Mate, your breath hasn’t got any better since I saw you last! You should do something about it, Kate.’
‘Like what? Buy him a toothbrush? Do you really think he’s going to sit still for that long?’
‘Good point. So, what’s going on here?’ Matt asked as he leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Kate bustle around the kitchen. He kept Zoom in his arms, patting his head, relishing the softness of his ears.
‘The usual: lamb marking, seeding . . .’ She was interrupted by the appearance of her husband.
‘Hey there, big fella. Good to see you out here again.’
‘G’day, Sam. How are you?’
The two men shook hands and Sam clapped Matt on the back. ‘Got a drink?’
‘Better not, mate. I’m driving.’
‘Why don’t you stay here tonight, Matt?’ Kate asked.‘You’re more than welcome.’
Before Matt could respond Zoom began to bark, struggling to be put down. When Matt gently lowered him to the floor, the dog raced to the door yapping loudly.
Sam moved swiftly to look out of the window, muttering, ‘Bastards.’ Kate, Matt noticed, had stiffened and paled slightly. It was a look he’d seen on Anna’s face many times during the first few months after the robbery, but he’d been so caught up in his own loss he’d never troubled to identify what it was. Now he realised with a jolt what that look meant: fear. Fear! Anna had been frightened and he’d done nothing about it.
‘Anything there?’ Kate asked, her calm tone belying the expression on her face.
‘Can’t see anything,’ Sam said. ‘Want to go for a look, Matt?’
‘I’m right with you.’
Sam pulled on his jacket and grabbed a torch by the door. ‘Will you be okay here, Kate?’ he asked, and Matt noted the concern in his voice and kicked himself again. He should have treated Anna that way, but he’d been caught up in too much self-pity.
‘I’ll be fine. I’ve got a hockey stick somewhere if anyone decides to come into the house,’ she joked.
The two men walked as quickly as they could through the night, their boots crunching loudly on the gravel. Matt puffed a little as they strode quickly towards the darkened outline of the shed.
The farm dogs barked at the torch light and Sam switched it off as they drew closer to the outbuildings.
Matt put a hand on Sam’s arm and motioned for him to stop and listen, but there was nothing but silence.‘I reckon it’s just a false alarm, mate,’ he said, half relieved.
Sam moved towards the shed.‘Think you’re right, but Zoom doesn’t usually carry on unless there’s a visitor. I’ll just have a quick look inside.’
He flashed the torch over the tin walls, the light throwing up sinister-looking shadows. Matt scanned the space, his eyes seeking out hiding places and dark corners.
Suddenly a shriek echoed through the darkness and Matt sensed movement in the air above him. He threw up his hands to protect his head, trying not to call out in fear.
‘Shit,’ he gasped as he jumped forward, his heart thumping.‘What the . . . Bloody bats!’
Sam gave a weak laugh. ‘Forgot to warn you about them.’
Matt heard his friend blow out a breath and turned to look at him. ‘There’s no one here. Let’s go back to the house.’
Matt pushed his plate away and patted his stomach.
‘That was beautiful, thanks, Kate. It’s the first decent meal I’ve had since . . . well, for a while.’
Kate smiled as she collected the plates. ‘Coffee? Tea?’
‘I’d love a tea, please. So, Sam, what’s happening about finding your motorbike? What have the police said about it - anything?’
Sam pushed his chair back and stretched out his legs. ‘Not a great deal. I’ve been in and got my insurance claim number and leaned on them fairly hard about investigating the theft, but they’re just not interested. To be fair, they’re busy doing so many other things that a robbery they think they’re unlikely to solve isn’t something they want to take on.’ I did mention your case, but got fobbed off again. Too long ago to have any hope of solving it, I’m afraid. I did say it was about twelve months ago, but it didn’t make any difference. Sam stopped and glanced at Kate enquiringly.
Matt looked between the two. ‘What?’ he asked as Kate nodded. ‘What’s going on?’
Sam took a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. ‘You know Kate’s cousin is a cop, right? Well Kate gave him a call and he suggested we compile a list of people who’ve been ripped off around here lately. He reckoned that one of the reasons the police haven’t got on to these other cases - and yours - is because they’re just seeing them as one-offs. If the thefts are all being reported to different police stations, they won’t be connecting the dots. But maybe we can. This is what Kate and I have come up with. We thought you might know of others.’
Matt held out his hand for the list and scanned it, nodding as he read the familiar names. ‘You’re missing a few. Hang on, I’ve got some more info in the car.’
He went out to his ute and fetched his black notebook from the glove box, feeling a wave of excitement. Maybe Sam and Kate would help him in his search to find the thief.
As he hurried through the door, notebook in hand, he saw an odd look cross Kate’s face.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, as he sat back down.
‘Nothing, Matt. Nothing. I just saw you again.’
Matt frowned, but decided not to pursue the comment. Instead, he opened the book and passed it over to Sam, who started to read with Kate looking over his shoulder.
Loneliness swept through him as he watched them. Sam and Kate shared a special bond, just as he and Anna once had. It wasn’t likely they could recapture it, he thought sadly. Too much damage had been done to their relationship.
‘This is great, Matt,’ Sam said. ‘It really gives you a sense of the radius in which the thieves have been operating - as far north as Jamestown, across to Burra, over to Snowtown and Crystal Brook.’
Matt nodded.‘I keep coming back to the fact that it must be someone living around here or Clare. The places being hit are all within a couple of hundred kilometres of here - it’s almost like this area is the epicentre.’
Kate got up to put another log on the fire. The flames roared and sparks shot up the chimney as she poked at the log, trying to get it to catch.
‘Okay,’ Sam said, ‘so we’ve had three burglaries this year. Let’s look at them first; they’ll be freshest in everyone’s minds.’ He glanced down at Matt’s scribbled notes. ‘Jam
es Truton had some chemical stolen about four weeks ago. He lives over at Snowtown. Do you know him?’
‘Nope. I know where his farm is though.’
‘Then there’s Gavin Knots, who lives between here and Jamestown. He had a generator taken as well as some other tools, and Lachlan Mundy had a farm ute taken.’
‘There’s also Mark Chambers who had bales of wool taken from his shed. So that makes four. Do you know what’s similar about all those farms?’ asked Matt.
Sam shrugged. ‘No. Is there anything?’
‘They’re all on no-through roads.’
‘Really?’ Sam frowned. ‘So you’re thinking that because there isn’t much passing traffic, those properties are easier targets?’
Matt nodded. ‘I can’t be sure, of course, but it’s the only link I’ve been able to see.’
‘Pretty interesting.’ Sam mused on this for a while then said, ‘I’ve got a suggestion. Ready to hear it?’
‘Mate, I’ve been waiting for ages for someone to take this seriously.’
‘Let’s make some phone calls to these blokes who have been hit and see if they’ve got any more information. If we can get some solid evidence linking all of the thefts, then we’ll go to Kate’s cousin Dave with it. I reckon he’d be able to help us work out what to do with it. He’s a bloody nice bloke.’
Matt smiled. ‘Thank you, Sam,’ he said quietly.
The next morning Matt left Sam and Kate’s house before the sun had crept over the hills.
Once again, the morning was frosty and it took him a couple of goes to get his car started. Chugging slowly out of the drive, lights on high beam, he checked the time. He still had hours before he was due at work. Maybe he could just get one quick hug from Ella before driving back to Adelaide for his run.
Anna answered the door when he knocked, a cup of coffee in her hand.
‘I wanted to say hi to Ella before I went out on the road again,’ he said gruffly by way of greeting.
‘She’s not up yet, but you can see her if you like.’ Anna opened the door wider and stood back to let him in.
Standing at the door of Ella’s room, he watched his daughter sleeping. Silently he apologised for all the things he knew he could have done better since she was born. He approached the bed, bending over to kiss her cheek and ran his hand gently over her hair.
‘I love you, baby girl,’ he whispered and left the room, his house and his old life.
Over the road, Maggie had just flipped the sign on the door to indicate her shop was open.
‘Hello, Maggie, you’re up early this morning.’
‘Ah, Matt, you’re a sight for sore eyes, you are. And how are you?’
‘I’m well. I’ve been in to say good morning to Ella and I’m on my way back to the depot to head off on another run later this afternoon.’
‘Well, if you’ve got a long drive, then you’ll be wantin’ a coffee. Come in. And I’ll fry up some bacon for a sandwich while I’m at it. Would you mind starting the potbelly for me?’
‘You must be sent from heaven, Maggie. A bacon sandwich is just what I was hoping for!’
Matt crumpled some newspaper and snapped the kindling then put it all into the fire box and struck a match.
The smell of sizzling bacon filled the air and his stomach rumbled. Getting up from his crouched position, he stuck his head into the kitchen to ask if there was some more wood. Maggie directed him to an old tin tank in the backyard.
He pushed open the back door and was greeted by the smell of wood smoke. He breathed in deeply. There wasn’t a better smell in the world than a wood fire burning on a cold morning. Matt found the logs and headed back across the yard. As he eased the door open with his foot, he heard Maggie talking to someone and he stopped.
He recognised the voice, but at first he couldn’t think where from. Then his eyes widened with astonishment as he realised it was the voice from the phone message. At least he thought it was.
Quickly, he put down his load and dug the phone out of his jeans pocket. He had to be sure. He dialled the message bank and listened to the message again. With the voice from the shop in one ear and the message playing in the other, it was like hearing the same man in stereo.
Matt backed out of the room, his heart thumping, then he thought about Maggie’s safety, and went to go back inside. Hell he wasn’t sure what to do.
He listened at the door for a moment, content the conversation was normal chit-chat. Matt wondered if there might be a car in the street that he recognised and slunk around the outside of the shop. The street was empty, save for a polished white ute idling at the kerb. He saw a movement in the tray and realised there was an animal there, huddled into the corner. Poor thing, it would be freezing. Then a head was lifted into his line of vision and Matt felt himself start to shake.
It was Jasper.
Chapter 34
Anna let the curtain fall back against the window, her hand to her mouth. She wasn’t sure she understood what she had just seen.
Slowly, she inched the curtain out again and looked across the road. Matt had disappeared. Her eyes swung to the tray of the ute, searching for movement, but there was none.
Had she really just seen Matt steal Jasper?
She shut her eyes and leaned back against the wall, a smile playing around her lips. The idea that he had nabbed Jasper made her very happy indeed.
‘Mummy?’ Ella was awake.
‘In the kitchen, darling,’ she called, and smiled as Ella rounded the corner, her cheeks crimson from sleep, her eyes bright. She had her favourite teddy bear tucked under her arm. Anna bent down to give her a kiss and a cuddle.
‘Did you sleep well?’ she asked.
‘Yes, but, Mummy, I dreamed I heard Daddy talking to me.’
‘You did hear him, darling. He came in to say good morning and then he left. He’s got a big run to do in the truck today.’
‘I wanted to see him.’ Ella’s voice trembled and her eyes filled with tears.
‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, he’s already gone.’ Briskly, she grabbed Ella under the arms and swung her onto the bench. ‘You need to have a good breakfast this morning. Are you ready to go and help Kate and Sam with the sheep today?’
Immediately, Ella brightened. ‘Yes! The sheep. We’re going to the farm.’
‘That’s right! We’re going to help Kate with the sheep while Sam starts to put the crop in. So,’ Anna said over her shoulder as she turned and began to get out the breakfast things, ‘I think you’ll need a huge breakfast.’ She swept her arms out in a large arc. ‘And then you’ll need to get dressed in something very warm.’ Anna pretended to put her arms into a jumper. ‘Then you’ll need your rubber boots!’ While acting out putting the boots on she pretended to overbalance and fell onto the floor. She was rewarded by Ella’s giggles.
As she drove towards Kate and Sam’s farm a sense of happiness settled on Anna. Today was her first real day back at work. The babysitting was great, but she longed to be outside. It was so hard to believe she was working when surrounded by the dishes, washing and other monotonous tasks.
When Kate had approached her about helping out on their farm during seeding time, her first instinct had been to say no; she no longer felt confident that she had the necessary skills. But the more she thought about it, the more she realised she was itching to get back outside. And Kate really did need her help. She had a special mob of ewes from which she had bred prime lambs for the Producers’ Markets. Sam would usually have helped mark the lambs but he was busy seeding.
Seeding! The anniversary of the theft was approaching fast. Anna shook her head. So much had changed in twelve months. But Kate; her support had been unwavering.
Helping Kate would be a fantastic way to thank her friend for all she’d done recently. ‘There are only about one hundred and thirty ewes in the mob,’ Kate had said. ‘We should be able to manage them, shouldn’t we? Then we can get the lambs ready for the abattoirs.’
It woul
d also help her dwindling finances. The babysitting and small amounts from Centrelink and Matt weren’t really covering everything.
Maggie had been very generous, giving her groceries in exchange for Anna looking after the shop for an hour or two so Maggie could catch up on her bookkeeping, but it never seemed to be enough. Once again she was back to trying to keep the wolf from the door.
‘There’s Kate,’ said Ella as Anna parked the car under a large pepper tree.
‘Yep, there she is. And look, Ella, she’s wearing her rubber boots. I wonder if she’s going to feed the chooks.’
‘Chooks? Can I get the eggs?’
‘You’ll have to ask Kate.’
Kate opened Ella’s door and gave her a big smile. ‘Did I hear something about eggs?’ she asked.
‘Can I get the eggs?’ Ella asked again, putting her arms up for a hug as Kate undid her seatbelt.
‘Course you can, love. In fact, I have just the job for you: you can get all the eggs and put them in the cartons. Will you do that for me?’
‘Yes!’
Kate looked at Anna. ‘Fantastic. But first Mum and I need to draft the sheep and it’s too early for the chooks to have finished laying, so that can be our lunchtime job. Ready, Mum?’
‘Let’s get going,’ Anna said and they walked towards the yards.
‘The mob I want to take to the abattoirs are just out there.’ Anna followed Kate’s pointing finger across the trickling creek to the rolling hills behind the house. There she could see a mob of about two hundred prime cross-bred lambs grazing.
‘Wow,’ she said. ‘They look great.’ She watched as a lamb walked up and sniffed its mate, then gently bunted its head into the other’s side. The second lamb took off at top speed and raced across the paddock to an outcrop of rocks and leapt to the top. The other lamb chased it and soon the whole mob were jumping and pig-rooting off the rocks. Anna looked around happily, but the sight made her ache for the farm.
‘C’mon, Mummy.’ Ella tugged at Anna’s hand.
‘Well I hope I can remember how to yell and shout at the sheep, Ella,’ she said and climbed over the rails. ‘You need to stay here, okay? That way the sheep can’t hurt you while they’re running.’ She lifted the little girl into an empty pen and shot a smile at Kate. It also meant that she wouldn’t get in the way.
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