Hope Echoes

by Shannon Curtis

  Her gaze snapped back to meet his, then flickered back to the tunnel, before finally coming to rest back on him. She nodded, and this time the tears fell. ‘She was my best friend.’

  ‘Tell me,’ he said, his tone gentle.

  She wiped her nose with her sleeve, but she couldn’t seem to stop the tears. She brushed at her cheeks a few times. ‘She liked to party. A lot. And there’s not a lot of opportunity for that at a Catholic boarding school in North Sydney, so she used to … use.’

  He brushed at a tear on her cheek, patiently waiting for her to continue. She sucked in a shuddering breath. ‘God, I haven’t talked about it since it happened.’ He nodded, then waited.

  ‘I found her in the shower block,’ Jacinta whispered. Her breath caught in her chest, and Mac instinctively stroked her hair back from her face, trying to soothe the torment he could see twisting her features. ‘She snuck out after I fell asleep, and when I found her, she was already gone.’ Her eyes squeezed shut. ‘She’d been there for hours, by herself, so co-old.’ Her breath hitched again, and this time he pulled her to him, holding her as she sniffed into his shirt.

  He held her like that for a while, keeping her against his chest, smoothing his hand down her back.

  ‘You never mentioned it,’ he said quietly. ‘I had no idea.’

  She shook her head into his chest, then drew back a little. ‘I didn’t want to talk about it. Every time I do, I think of how I found her, how she looked… I’d rather remember her alive than dead.’ She sniffed, and lifted her chin, her gaze direct as she looked up at him.

  ‘I hate what drugs do, Mac. I hated how they changed my friend when she was on them, I hate that drugs stole her from me, from her parents, and robbed her of her future. I hate that it’s done the same with Brayden. You have no idea how angry I am that someone has done this on my property,’ she said in a low, hoarse voice that more than adequately communicated her rage. ‘I don’t do drugs, and I don’t want them anywhere near me, near my home, near my family or friends.’

  He met her gaze. She was practically vibrating with fury in his arms. Despite finding a second lab on her property, of having to stop her from destroying evidence, of the coldly logical brain that said there was an argument for her being involved, he had to listen to what his instincts were currently screaming at him.

  ‘I believe you,’ he told her softly.

  She stared at him for a moment, then nodded once. ‘About bloody time.’

  Chapter Ten

  Jacinta watched from behind the police tape boundary as what looked like the full force of the NSW police force descended upon Brandy. Scott and her father were being interviewed separately, and she’d just completed her third interview. Her clothes had been tested for chemical residue, but she was clear, as she’d only been in the tunnel, and hadn’t entered the area where the ‘cooking’ took place. She shook her head. She was learning way too much about meth manufacturing. Still, being given the all-clear wouldn’t prevent her from burning these clothes when she got home, just to be on the safe side.

  She watched as a tall, broad-shouldered figure emerged from the tunnel, clothed head-to-toe in a white hazmat suit. Even though a mask obscured his face, she instantly recognised Mac’s physique, the way he walked, the way his shoulders and hips moved as he stepped into the temporary outdoor shower setup, and was momentarily obscured from view. It was several long minutes before he emerged from the blue tent, dressed in navy cargo pants and a dark blue t-shirt with the NSW Police insignia on the left breast and ‘POLICE’ emblazoned on the back. The clothing gave him a dark, authoritative air as he stopped to talk with several officers before making his way over to a middle-aged woman whose default expression seemed to be resting bitch face. He spoke with her, and although it didn’t look exactly like an argument, it definitely looked like an intense discussion.

  They both turned to look at her, and Jacinta tried to look as innocent as possible, under the circumstances. It was hard to get past the anger. She’d just been told that the area was toxic. As the cooking occurred underground, it looked like Brandy would have to be destroyed. The local council would be advised, which meant Bulls’ Run would be put on a contaminated properties list until testing showed the property was clean. They’d have to call in the EPA to test the livestock in the nearby paddocks, but Mac had assured her that they seemed far enough away that it would be unlikely they’d come into contact with any fumes or chemicals. Still, it meant they’d have to spend a bit of money on the property clean-up. Once the police had cleared out all the chemicals, she’d have to call in a clean-up crew to decontaminate where possible, and then a demolition crew to pretty much bury Brandy.

  On top of that, she knew that while Mac might believe she had nothing to do with this narcotic nightmare, they still had to convince the rest of the investigation team, the superintendent, the public prosecutor and anyone else who was considering laying charges against her and her family for having an illegal meth lab on their property.

  She glanced over at her father. His face was grim as he listened to the officers, and every now and then he raised his hand to his forehead, as though he was fighting off a headache.

  She turned to where her station manager was talking with some officers. Scott didn’t look that much better. He looked like he was going to puke. She bit her lip. The sun was setting, they’d been out here the whole day, and it didn’t look like the cops were going to leave any time soon. She folded her arms as she leaned back against her car, her hands clenching and unclenching around her shirt sleeves.

  What was she supposed to do now? What could she do? She couldn’t go into the tunnel—not that she really wanted to. One part of her wanted to see it for her own eyes. Another part of her wanted to run in the opposite direction, and she still battled that tiny little seed that wanted to blow the damn meth lab sky high.

  She’d overheard some of the officers talking. Apparently this site made Dick look tiny in comparison. Something about a record haul. Her hands tightened again on her sleeves. They were going to sift through the Buchanan financial records, and there was already a team searching the main house, from what she’d been told. Two teams had also been dispatched to the other tunnel entrances, but they’d received word those tunnels were clear.

  Thank God for small mercies. This was it. Brandy and Dick. She shook her head, her shoulders slumped under the disbelief. Who would do this to them? She had to find them. No, she had to look after the farm. It was going to cost a small fortune to decontaminate the sites, so they could stand a chance of using the land in the future. Was now an appropriate time to go back and feed the dogs? Drugs. Damn. Brayden had died because of this.

  She raised a hand and rubbed her forehead as an ache started to build. Following a train of thought to a logical conclusion was impossible when those thoughts were bumbling around inside the tumble dryer that her mind had become.

  ‘Come on, I’ll take you home.’

  She looked up, not realising Mac had approached her. ‘Oh? I can go?’ The t-shirt he wore complemented his tan and revealed the bulge of his biceps, the corded strength of his forearms. His dark hair still looked a little wet, and shone in the lights that were being set up and switched on around the site. His dark hair, tanned skin and dark shirt all served to make his eyes, in contrast, look bright. Arresting.

  ‘Under escort,’ he clarified. ‘Your father and Scott will follow once we’re done with them here.’

  He seemed so … businesslike. So … detached. She started to walk around to the driver’s door, but Mac stepped in front of her. ‘I’ll drive.’ His broad shoulders blocked her view of the site, and she could almost pretend the local police units weren’t out in force. That it was just them two, and he wanted to drive her home.

  With pretty red and blue lights flashing like an intimate party for two.

  Gawd. Maybe she’d unwittingly caught a sniff of those chemicals inside. She sighed, but didn’t argue as she backed up to the passenger doo
r and slowly climbed in.

  Mac reversed out of the crime scene, and had to flick on the headlights as the gloom crept in, chasing away the pretty sunset.

  ‘What happens now?’ she asked as he drove carefully along the track. She eyed his hands on the wheel. He had big hands. His grasp on the wheel was light, though. Controlled. She blinked, forcing herself to look away from those big, strong, gentle hands.

  ‘There will be an investigation,’ he informed her.

  She nodded. ‘Good.’

  ‘We’ll have to investigate everyone at Bulls’ Run, to discount you from the suspect pool,’ he told her in a low voice.

  She shrugged. ‘Fine. Bring it on. We’ve done nothing here, and we’ve got nothing to hide.’

  ‘Well, now would be a good time to let me know … anything,’ he suggested.

  Jac looked at him. ‘There’s nothing to know, Mac.’ She indicated herself. ‘What you see here is what you get.’

  His green gazed flicked over her, pausing on her curves. She wasn’t going to blush, she wasn’t going to—damn it. Warmth bloomed in her cheeks, and she became supremely conscious of her body, of how she sat. She straightened a little, and his gaze fell on her breasts briefly, before he looked back out the windscreen.

  ‘I’m just saying, if there was something—’

  ‘I thought you said you believed me,’ she said, frowning.

  He nodded. ‘And I do.’ Then he shook his head. ‘God knows how I explain that to my boss, because there’s no evidence to back up that conclusion…’

  She gaped at him. ‘Are you kidding me? Apart from the location of this lab, there is nothing to link me to the operation, so there’s no evidence to back up the other conclusion.’

  ‘Which is why you’re all going to spend tonight in your beds, and not in the lock-up.’

  ‘How long do I have to put up with these accusations?’ It was tiring. Annoying. Disheartening.

  Mac sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Jac. I do believe you don’t have anything to do with the operation, but somebody does, and we have to find that somebody.’

  She leaned her head against the window, and a sneaky exhaustion stole over her. She just wanted this all to be over with. No more accusations. No more strangers on her property. No more friends dying. ‘Well, hopefully with all the stuff you’ve found today, you’ll find that somebody—and make them pay.’

  ‘Well, hold that thought. I want you to remember it when we do find out who is responsible—and we will.’ The determination in his voice was laced with something else; a tension, or was it a warning?

  ‘What do you mean—roo!’ she called out, bracing her hand against the car’s dash as a large red kangaroo bounded out of the shadow of a mulga tree, jumping alongside the car as it tried to cut across the track.

  Mac braked hard, yanking hard on the wheel, and the ute swerved to the right, narrowly missing the kangaroo that seemed oblivious to their presence. Jacinta’s eyes narrowed, peering through the dimming light. Come sunset, the roos were bouncing all over the plains.

  ‘Bloody roos,’ she muttered, then turned to look at Mac. He was scanning the area to the sides of the vehicle, keeping his eye out for more. His square jaw was set, and the muscles on his forearms, the bulge of his biceps, flexed as his grip tightened on the steering wheel. She tried to regain the threads of their conversation. ‘What do you mean, hold that thought?’

  Mac looked at her, then twisted in his seat to face her properly, his broad shoulders blocking the view through the driver’s side window, darkening the cab a little. ‘I mean, Jac, that Brandy is not easy to find.’

  ‘So? Isn’t that the point of hiding a lab—you put it in a place not so easy to find?’

  Mac’s lips pursed—he had very mobile lips, she’d noticed—and he hesitated, as though trying to find the right words. She sighed.

  ‘Spit it out, Mac,’ she told him. ‘I can handle it.’ They knew each other too well to tiptoe around difficult conversations, and she was beginning to find his special brand of non-existent tact annoyingly refreshing. They’d had enough discussions over the past couple of days that she felt she could handle pretty much anything that came out of his mouth.

  His mouth. Her gaze dropped to focus on his mouth.

  His lips quirked. ‘Okay, fine.’ He met her gaze directly. ‘I was a regular visitor to Bulls’ Run, and even I had trouble remembering where Brandy was. You had to give me directions. Only someone who knows the property really well would be able to pull off setting up a drug lab inside her.’

  ‘No, Mac,’ she protested, shaking her head. ‘I thought you said you believed me.’

  ‘I do,’ he agreed. ‘But you’re not the only one at Bulls’ Run.’

  ‘No,’ she cried out, thumping the palm of her hand on the dash. She was dropping the ‘refreshing’ part of her earlier description, and leaving his assertions at just plain annoying.

  He arched an eyebrow. ‘I thought you said you could handle it.’

  ‘You’re saying that my dad, or Scott, or hell, Marion, is involved.’ Flipping heck. She could feel the mini mental explosions going off in her head at the thought.

  ‘I’m saying there’s a distinct possibility, and you need to prepare yourself.’

  She held up a finger, frustration gripping her tightly. ‘No, you need to find out what is really going on before you start accusing my family of this.’

  ‘Whoever is involved has more than a passing knowledge of your property,’ he told her.

  ‘Well, then you’d have to include every shearer who’s worked for us, all the contractors who come out—heck, you’d probably need to throw Jamie into the mix, too.’ She raised her eyebrows meaningfully. ‘Oh, and you can explain that to my brother—but you have to let me be there so I can watch him deck you.’

  ‘Jac, think about it—’

  ‘You’re saying that either my father, or the guy who has worked by my side for the last four years and is one of my close friends, or that sweet little lady who makes my dad smile for the first time in ages, is behind this whole operation.’ Was she the only one here who thought this sounded cluster-fudge crazy?

  Mac wore a resigned expression, and shrugged, his shoulders rolling with an almost graceful movement. ‘Yeah, I guess that’s exactly what I’m saying.’

  ‘Oh, you’re driving me nuts,’ she exclaimed, clenching her hands tight. ‘How is it that you immediately assume the worst of everyone?’

  ‘I don’t assume the worst,’ Mac argued, then he shifted. ‘I just suspect.’

  ‘You thought I was involved, and now you believe I’m not. Why can’t you extend that same faith to Dad? And Scott and Marion?’

  He stilled for a moment, then leaned forward, his green eyes dark and serious. ‘Because I know you, Jac,’ he told her simply.

  Her eyes narrowed. ‘But you knew me before, when you assumed, sorry, suspected the worst of me.’

  ‘Well, I’ve had the chance to get to know you better, now,’ he clarified. His gaze drifted down over her, halting briefly at her breasts before touring over the rest of her. The temperature in the car seemed to rise incrementally with each sweep of his eyes over her body. ‘And I want to know more,’ he said quietly.

  ‘More? Like what?’ She braced her hand against the dash, feeling like she was standing on shifting sand. The way he was looking at her … well, it was confusing as all heck.

  His lips curved. ‘Like what you do to relax,’ he suggested, shifting closer. ‘Like what kind of music do you listen to, like what books you read now…’ She watched his arm as it slid along the backrest of her seat, his massive body moving closer. ‘Like what your favourite food is.’ Each time he uttered a sentence, his voice got quieter. Deeper. ‘Like how you want to be kissed…’

  He dipped his head, and instinctively she lifted her chin. Their faces were so close, she could feel the soft gust of his breath against her cheek, her lips. Her pulse rate quickened, and she could sense the warmth emanating from his b
ody. The things he was saying, the way he was saying them—it was a seduction of its own, the idea that he was interested in her. Like, interested, interested.

  ‘That doesn’t sound—’ she swallowed, ‘brotherly.’ Her gaze kept flicking between his eyes and his mouth, and she could almost feel the heat from his sexy smile as his lips curved wider.

  ‘Not at all,’ he agreed, then lowered his head to close the distance between them.

  Her eyes fluttered closed as his mouth pressed against hers. His arms slid around her, pulling her torso against his. God, he felt wonderful, so big and firm… Her hands slid up his arms, caressing those biceps before trailing up over his broad shoulders.

  She moaned as his lips parted hers, and the taste of him, the smell of him, filled her senses. His hands slid over her, caressing her, making her writhe against him. Her heart thundered in her chest, and she could feel the strong throb of his heart beating in his chest.

  The sensations he awoke in her were so new, so unfamiliar, and yet so instinctive, so natural. He was all-enveloping, all-consuming, and she could feel herself slowly slipping under his sensuous spell, surrendering to his touch…

  Losing herself to Mac’s touch.

  Mac.

  His hand trailed down her back, and he leaned in closer to cup her butt.

  A horn sounded, and they both jerked apart, startled. Jac’s heart stuttered in her chest. Mac was panting, and he raised his elbow.

  ‘I bumped the steering wheel,’ he told her, his breath escaping in a breezy chuckle.

  Jacinta glanced between his elbow and the steering wheel, then grabbed the door lever. Mac frowned.

  ‘Jac, wait—’

  She shook her head as she climbed out of the car. ‘No, we can’t—we can’t do this. I’m going to walk.’

  She’d kissed Mac. What the hell was she thinking? What the hell was he thinking? That shifting sand turned into quicksand, sucking her down.

  ‘Jac—’

  ‘No. I need to think,’ she called as she kept walking, arms waving as she spoke. Her thoughts were a chaotic mess inside her head, and all she knew was that Mac was the prime source of that chaos. ‘I need space, I need air—and I need everyone to stop kissing me!’ She strode up the rise, leaving the car well behind her.