Ember Flowers

by April Worth

  “Pretty..pretty good. It was a fun event.” She leant back with her hands on her hips, taking a deep breath. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd. Roy was looking sore and forlorn, but still gave her a thumbs up.

  “I understand you were a last minute substitution?”

  The blonde shot a mock look of annoyance down the barrel of the camera. “You owe me one guys..” Uncapping a sports drink and taking a hasty sip.

  The man beside her chuckled softly. ”Anything you’d like to say? People you’d like to thank?”

  For a second she looked serious. As the finish line got closer, she’d had time to think. Joanne took the microphone, biting her lip. “Yes..firstly thanks to all the sponsors, this was a great event for a great cause. And..on a personal note, my thanks go out to Jean..I miss you. I..love you. Thanks for being there for me.” She handed back the microphone as a blush tinted her cheeks. Suddenly she had somewhere to be. Nodding, waving, and disappearing from view toward her car. Abruptly the camera went back to panning over the crowd. A disembodied voice of the runner up winner could be heard beside the camera.

  “…What the hell was that about?”

  “Don’t ask me.”

  Chapter 42

  With her jacket tugged over her shoulders the policewoman’s sedan climbed the winding road into the ranges. Dry paddocks greeted her on either side, still crisp with the last remains of summer’s heat.

  A kangaroo hopped down into the brush as the vehicle turned a corner, the sunlight becoming warm and orange toward late afternoon. It was worth a shot. It had to be. Rumours, locker room gossip be damned. I know what I want. The Officer knew the trip by heart, her GPS packed away in the glove box. She wasn’t sure what to expect, how Jean would react to seeing her again. But she wanted to state her case. For one more chance.

  A final landmark came into view, over the crest the road flattened out, with Jean’s driveway secluded at the end. Immersed in her own thoughts, she nearly missed the lone silver SUV as it passed by her on the narrow bend.

  The disbelief and anger was stark on her face. A lean arm gripped the wheel into a harsh fishtailing turn. The back of the car swinging out over the lane as the wheels spun, rubber gripping coarse over stones. Teeth gritted between pretty lips.

  ***

  Empty canisters rattled in the backseat, papers fluttering and a roll of duct tape that fell and bounced with the swerving of the truck. The white sedan was closing fast. He could see the look on her face in the rear view.

  She had made it come to this. You weren’t meant to be here Joanne, but you’ll see things clearly now, an eye for an eye. The pistol shifted in his waistband, a pepper smell of gunshot recently fired.

  Owen swerved the heavy truck across the lanes, determined not to let her pass. She sat in his blind spot, the nose of her car inches from his bumper. The two Officers bore down the narrow strip of country road. Hot pursuit, frayed nerves. Finally, he was forced to slow, the road all unfamiliar tight turns. Her car screeched to a halt across his path. Jo was out of her seat in moments, and near threw him onto the bitumen as he got out with a stagger. Livid.

  Silent as he watched her mouth move, her accusations, her wide eyed anger at seeing him here. His lips twitched up in a smile. It stopped her tirade for a moment, if only to ask why.

  “What the hell is so funny? What are you doing out here Owen?” She froze at seeing the butt of the pistol nestled against his shirt.

  He merely shook his head, pondering violence as his voice lowered to a grim timbre. “Joanne, you’re always in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

  The voice thick in her throat. “What do you mean?”

  “Today, you shot your mouth off to the whole force, to anyone who’d listen. You know what that did to me? How it made me look? Well, you’re about to find out.” A smile again that chilled her blood.

  Her head cocked to the side, she looked around briefly at the empty road ahead, barely a sound besides the whistle through the trees. “What did you do? Owen..” Her eyes were trained on the pistol, a slim kernel of love for her prevailed as he met her anxious eyes. Taking the pistol slowly and throwing it aside into the cabin of his car.

  “You’ll see.”

  It was the smell. The smell struck her first, the primal warning uncoiling in her gut at the first scent of danger on the wind. Fire.

  She followed his gaze to the crest around the bend. The slow, sinewy trail of thick, black smoke rising between the trees.

  “You didn’t? You couldn’t?” Though she knew she still had to search his face. What she saw seemed void of human warmth.

  “You chose this Joanne. You gave me no choice.”

  Her head whipped back over her shoulder, the smoke was getting thicker, swirling and rising. Sick in the pit of her stomach. She gasped, then her training took over. She was shaking as she took a few stumbling steps back, reaching through the open car door and pulling out her emergency failsafe.

  The Glock was trained on the centre of his chest. “Kneel on the ground God dammit!”

  He snickered as she continued to bark instructions, yet complied, lacing his fingers behind his head as he saw her approach with the cuffs.

  “You don’t have time for this Joanne.”

  “What the hell do you mean?” One cuff snicked closed.

  “Because you know?..I think she was home?”

  Chapter 43

  The white sedan roared along the gravel driveway, throwing up chipped stones and grit in its wake. The blonde planted her foot harshly on the brake, swerving to a stop in front of the scorched lawn. The fire’s burnished orange danced eerily on the pale paintwork as the sun began to dip toward the horizon.

  She saw the old ute parked in its usual place, already ablaze, and lights on upstairs that flashed and flickered. Recent thick tyre tracks led away in the dirt. Jo gasped as she left her car, and was forced back by the ferocious heat.

  “Oh God, oh my God…Jean! Jean are you in there?!” Her hands cupped in front of her mouth as she shouted. Falling tinder and beams sagging under their own weight creaked and groaned.

  Joanne’s wide grey eyes scanned the scene. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket. Quickly dialling a number. Her heart squeezed in her chest when she heard the faint ringing from somewhere in the chaos, then dying to nothing.

  Her mind did quick desperate equations. Her car, her phone, the lights..Oh God, what if she’s in there somewhere? What has he done? Jean!

  Thinking quickly, she dashed over to the outside tap. Despite the warm autumn air, the icy water punctured jaggedly across her senses. Her teeth gritting, followed by a hard prickling of the skin all over as her clothes swelled and stuck. She held the hose upright over her head. Her thoughts cast back to the horrors she had seen fire exact in its malevolence. Accidents. Arson. Scorched hair, blood, skin flecking away like paper..Jean could be in there.

  Her hand squeezed the valve on the hose one last time as she blinked back tears. It’s just hair, your eyebrows will grow back..breathe..will it hurt?..breathe..she needs you.

  She braced herself as the water trickled down over her face, eyes shut tight..Break the window by the door, the hall is probably blocked with debris. She hadn’t heard the hoof beats, the mad canter up the rise. The falling wood and wail of the updraft deafening. Hadn’t seen the bleary eyed horror on Jean’s face as she watched the flames lick across the eaves. The embers floated in the air along with the haze of fresh malice.

  Her body uncoiled as she broke into a run toward the flames. The voice seemed to blossom through the ash, eventually sharpening to clarity.

  “Joanne?”

  “Joanne!!”

  Her body snapped to the sound as she reached the tattered porch, her heartbeat skipping. “Jean!” The hose dropped limply to the grass with a dull thud. As she ran toward her she saw Jean dig her heel into the mare’s side, spurring the frightened animal along the fence line toward the gate.

  Hurriedly the older woman dismounted,
tugging the steel gate open hard and ushering the horse into the paddock with a sharp slap on the rump. She was scared. Jo could see it in her eyes.

  “Jean!” Relief flooded through her as she crushed the shorter woman against her sodden chest. “Jean! Thank God you’re all right!”

  The brunette’s mouth hung open as she looked over the Officer’s shoulder toward the house, the upper floor had partly collapsed. Her bedroom resembled a jagged crown, glowing broken beams. Tears welled and streamed from her eyes.

  “Joanne? What’s happening? I saw smoke and I rushed home?..”

  There were tears in her eyes too. “Jean..we need to get you somewhere safe..we need..”

  “Just tell me what’s going on! Why are you here?”

  Joanne bit her lip. “Jean..I don’t know how to tell you? Owen..he-”

  The tanned woman went deathly quiet. After a few moments she nodded. Blind sighted, anger boiling. Joanne studied the storm of emotions.

  It sharpened the younger woman’s resolve. “Now I know you’re safe, get to a safe distance Jean, I’m going after him.” Her keys were clasped in her hand, the other angrily wiping her eyes.

  It snapped her out of her reverie. “Jo. Wait! No..I need your help! We’ve got to stop it from spreading. It’ll take the stable too..everything..I’ll get the hose, call the fire department!” She started to run, looking over her shoulder.

  The blonde seemed frozen by indecision.

  “Now Joanne, c’mon, we don’t have much time!”

  ***

  It hadn’t mattered. By the time the fireys arrived there had been little left to save. The older woman had somehow accepted it faster than she did. Pulling the blonde back when she knew it was hopeless. Sobbing in defeat. Joanne had tried to keep fighting. Guilt and adrenaline driving her on.

  Eventually, all they could do was get back and watch it burn. Fought until it was proven futile. The Officer had cradled Jean in her arms as they watched the old house break and buckle. The fire too intense, fuelled by spite and kerosene. Joanne was crying too, but she did her best to stay strong. Owen would be running, and she couldn’t stop him. This is all my fault. Everything. I’ve ruined her life.

  Swallowed like a bitter pill. Joanne whispered gentle reassurances against the soft brown hair. Partly for Jean, partly for herself. It didn’t matter that they were no longer together. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, let Jean go like this.

  Jean unwound herself from her arms, as Jo watched the fire fighters douse what was left of her dining room floor, stars glittering above. The older woman made her way through the debris, not waiting for permission. Stopping to mourn some tattered fragment. Soot stained hands. Photographs, clothes, memories. Gone.

  Unable to merely watch she joined her, crouching beside Jean, her arm delicately around her shoulder. “Jean?” Her voice tender and tentative.

  Dark eyed sorrow looked up at her. It wasn’t until after the chaos that they’d discovered the unmoving silhouette in the paddock. Calm round eyes that stared out into nothingness, an empty casing forgotten in the dirt by the drive. That wound had cut the deepest.

  “Jean. He tried to kill you. I want you to stay with me. I want to protect you. At least I can do that right.”

  Her heart sunk when the older woman just mutely nodded, with nothing left to lose.

  Chapter 44

  In the fog of signing paperwork, making statements and getting updates on their fugitive, she and Joanne had found themselves in an almost familiar setting. The hotel room lit with soft blushes of peach from the lamps, and the glow from the television on mute. Still breaking into the occasional stoically withheld sniffle, the tall Officer had appointed herself as Jean’s protective detail. She stood by the window, watching the traffic, a glazed look in her eyes and somber thoughts like dark unwanted dreams.

  It wouldn’t be safe to take Jean home with her. He was still out there. This was the next best thing. Joanne stretched her limbs, restless, still aching all over from her earlier efforts.

  The gardener sipped her coffee by the kitchenette, unable to focus, floating in and out of the fragile middle distance. She looked over at the tall blonde. They had been almost unable to talk besides a few stiff words. It made little sense to her, the concept of an enemy foreign and strange. No one had ever hated her before.

  As she watched, the Officer turned from the window and met her eyes briefly, then lowered them. Shuffling toward the sofa and slumping down drained. A hand under her head, as she struggled to stay awake.

  When Jean glanced over again her former lover was lightly dozing. Jo had taken things hard, and had been distant. Swinging back and forth between anger and remorse. Jean could understand. It had been a trying day, for both of them. She felt a pang of sympathy. No matter what happened, and had passed between them, she still felt that tingle of familiar warmth and connection when their eyes met.

  The television hummed quietly, curious, Jean walked over, turning it up slightly with the remote.

  A familiar face caught her eye and she stood still, watching the screen. A sports segment, local news, and Joanne’s slightly flushed complexion.

  Jean watched in silence, her fingernails absently tracing the remote. Seeing the blonde’s hand tremble as she held the microphone on screen. ”..On a personal note, my thanks go out to Jean..I miss you. I..love you. Thanks for being there for me..”

  Both brows rose simultaneously, and she was struck with a clarity that spoke clear and strong. Hazelnut eyes glanced over toward the sleeping figure on the sofa. Other news scrolled across the screen and switched to a commercial break.

  She shook her head. Joanne, Joanne. Her olive fingertips clicked off the television at the set and the screen slowly faded into black. The gardener crossed the room quietly.

  Jean knelt down beside the sleeping woman, the lamplight softening her anguished features. She brushed her fingertips over Jo’s cheek, smiling gently as she felt her stir. The blonde woman stretched slowly as tired eyes fluttered open.

  Her voice was raspy from sleep, grey orbs taking a moment to focus.

  “…Jean?..Everything ok? Do you need something?”

  The older woman reached to tuck a gold lock behind her ear, smiling as she watched the blonde adjust to their sudden closeness.

  “Yes. You.”

  The pale brows bunched as her mouth pursed in confusion. Jean’s head tilted as her fingertips strayed, unable to resist caressing Jo’s temple. They looked at each other for a moment, not needing to fill the silence.

  Gentle brown eyes held the tenderness she remembered. “Jo..you would have run into a burning building for me. I can’t ask for more than that.”

  The policewoman murmured as she woke fully. “You could’ve been in there. I couldn’t just..”

  Her words were cut short by a kiss. Jean’s lips pressed firmly against hers, warmth swelling in her chest. Tanned arms slid around Jo’s ribs, not wanting to relinquish her.

  As they broke apart dark eyes studied the angular face. A pause before Jean smiled, she couldn’t help it. “I love you Jo.”

  There was no doubt, no hitch or hesitation, despite the voice quiet in the night. “I thought I’d never hear you say that again. I love you too.”

  Jean kissed her again, sensing something had fallen into place. Despite seeing her possessions in tattered ruin, she suddenly felt as though all things happened for a reason. Her reason was lying beside her. There would be time to talk.

  “Jean, I’m so sorry. So sorry, for everything.” Bleary grey eyes had misted over.

  The older woman’s thumb brushed her knuckles. “Not your fault. None of this, is your fault.”

  The Officer shook her head and looked away until Jean tipped her chin, their eyes meeting. “I’d never regret loving you Jo. Don’t punish yourself.”

  It made the blonde’s breath hitch, but the words seemed to calm her. Jo’s hand rested on top of her arm, she looked cautiously optimistic, a smile forming from the sudden affectio
n. “What made you change your mind?”

  The gardener smiled gently as though letting her in on a secret. “It’s was just..a house, but with you there it felt like home - always did. We’ll rebuild, it’ll be yours and mine.”

  For a moment the blonde looked shocked. Perhaps it was a lot to process. “You want to live with me Jean? Even..after all this?”

  “I don’t want to go another day without you.”

  Chapter 45

  Chewed fingernails flipped the coffee stained newspaper pages idly, as the other hand returned the chaser to his lips. The airport lounge, dimmed evening lighting, and the low drone of talking passengers over the wall mounted television.

  He saw the footage again for the second time, though he couldn’t hear her over the ambient noise. That didn’t matter, the look in her grey eyes said it all. Pretty lips forming words that pierced his heart. He snarled, mood instantly darkening. Another nervous check of his Rolex. The false passport snug in his back pocket with the ticket. He hadn’t expected to see her there. It made things more complicated, left him with few options. Harder to deny his involvement, but couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger.

  As his eyes resumed their study of the day’s newspaper, a blue sleeve and hairy hand rested on the bar cloth within his peripheral vision. A motion made to order a drink, he gave the body little notice.

  “It makes sense that I’d find you here.”

  He knew that voice. Blue eyes quickly looked up, followed by a glance over his left shoulder at the door.

  “Owen, really? Do you think I’m here alone? C’mon now.” The fellow Officer sat down beside him, resting his broad elbows on the bar.