Elly stared at him in wonder. ‘Jeremiah Spencer offered me up to three million to have Danny’s baby and give it to him. I can’t believe he didn’t try to bribe you.’
Rick grinned. ‘An anonymous third party offered me a hundred thousand dollars to back off the case. I sent a recording of the phone call to the commission, again on the understanding that they wouldn’t move against the old man until Spencer junior was in custody. Then he threatened me—again through an anonymous source—but I was clean enough not to need to worry.’
‘Did he threaten your life?’ Elly murmured, head tilted. Rick’s shrug was answer enough. ‘You risked your life for me.’
‘You’re my sister,’ he answered. ‘Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same for me. I won’t believe you.’
Elly sighed and put her head on his shoulder.
‘You did this all on your own.’ Jonas was staring at him in awe. ‘Son, are you interested in becoming a detective? We could use two here—especially lately.’
‘Maybe.’ Rick laughed. ‘I did have a lot of help, though—remember the network, Sarge. I had access to workers on Longa Station, Gundawin, and here in town, through the mob. Everywhere Elly went, I visited on my days off, and the mob talked to me once I identified myself both as Elly’s brother, and an Aboriginal liaison officer.’
‘Ricky,’ she whispered. ‘You did all this, and I treated you like garbage.’
‘Our dad left us both with trust issues,’ he said softly, sounding peaceful. ‘I knew who you were, or I might have suspected you too. Just don’t do it again, little sis.’
She tried to laugh, but a sob came out. He hugged her. ‘I told you you’d love me one day, didn’t I? Okay, it took saving your life to do it, but I said I’d do anything to save you.’
Then she did laugh, hugging him back. ‘Yeah, yeah, big brother, I owe you. I get it.’
‘I get why you didn’t tell me about your relationship,’ Jonas said, ‘but why not call us in?’
‘Our only hope was surprise, once the city cops took over—and it was obvious they would, sooner or later, given Spencer senior’s influence, and his manipulation of the media. So I kept quiet on everything I knew. When Elly’s trail finally seemed to be leading here, I used my RDOs to get Lorena Spencer out of prison before Elly arrived. I’d bought a small place only a few weeks before that, so I put Lorena in it.’ He grinned. ‘It wasn’t quite coincidence that the house was on a battleaxe block behind Jen Collins’ house. During all those dodgy headaches I had, I watched every move she and the Mirakis made.’ He pushed some papers he’d brought from his desk over to the senior sergeant. ‘Check these out, Sarge. She isn’t who she claims to be.’
‘Good lord,’ Jonas gasped, shuffling the papers and scanning them. ‘Did Spencer send her here to stalk Jepson?’
‘Seems so. She came here within weeks of Adam’s arrival. Her job was to be in place when Elly arrived, and make trouble if she could. The fact that she genuinely fell for Adam helped.’
Jonas shook his head. ‘And the Mirakis?’
‘That was easy. I found them while I was reading up on the case, and followed their trail, and here they were. A little chat to some station hands, and then Sanderson at Longa Station, and he admitted Spencer had paid him to take them on. He didn’t know why. I told him to keep the Mirakis too busy to leave Longa, which was why they didn’t do more than set a few rumours going, and write that letter to Adam.’
Jonas patted Rick’s shoulder. ‘Your preparation and negotiation skills saved a lot of lives today, Mendham. I’m recommending you take your detective exams, and receive full hostage negotiation training.’
Rick’s smile was almost rueful. ‘Thanks, Sarge.’
‘I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, son.’
Rick swallowed before he nodded. The unusual lack of formality, calling him son, was deliberate—they both felt it. Belonging was as rare and important to Rick as it was to Elly. She squeezed his hand, and turned to hug him. He kissed her forehead.
When they’d signed their statements in front of the detectives from Sydney, Jonas said, ‘I’ve never seen a display like the one you put on today, both you and Mendham.’
‘You brought Spencer down in an extremely tense situation, and then saved the lives of those he attacked,’ Detective Sergeant Barlow said, admiration in his voice.
‘Where’s Danny now?’ Elly asked quietly.
‘Once Martin finished treating him, we sent him to Sydney in the police plane, to a secure psychiatric facility. His mother’s going with him. But Jeremiah Spencer’s already made a formal complaint about his grandson’s treatment, claiming Lorena isn’t Danny’s real mother.’
‘Of course he has.’ Rick sighed. ‘The man’s obsessed. Do a mouth swab on Danny and Lorena. That’ll shut him up. He doesn’t like or trust new science.’
‘I still want to cuff you over the head for keeping the secret of Lorena Spencer from us,’ Jonas growled, ‘but there’s no denying your knowledge of Spencer senior made the difference today.’
Rick shrugged. ‘She’s my sister.’
His boss nodded. ‘I’d have done the same for my sister.’ He turned to Elly. ‘I’ll be citing both of you, plus Jepson, for bravery awards. You saved dozens of lives today.’
Her laugh was filled with self-contempt. ‘Leave the commendations for Adam and Rick. I only rectified my mistake in coming here at all.’ She fingered something in the pocket of her shorts, opened her mouth and closed it. ‘It’s goodbye, Jonas. I’m leaving tonight.’
He sighed. ‘I’m sorry for that, Elly. Macks Lake could have done with a doctor of your calibre, and a woman with your heart and love for people.’ He hesitated. ‘Mendham and Jepson will miss you. We all will.’
She gulped down a burning ball of pain, but Rick squeezed her hand.
After a moment, Jonas went on. ‘I’ll need a contact number to let you know when and where the court hearing will be.’
She nodded. ‘I’d prefer to give any evidence by video or Skype. It’s best Danny never sees me in person again. I’m buying a new phone tomorrow—Monday, isn’t it?’ She chuckled, but there was no humour in it. ‘I came Tuesday. Six days ago, Macks Lake was a quiet little backwater. Now it’ll hit the headlines of every newspaper in the country.’ She gave Jonas a wry grin. ‘You can’t say I don’t make an impact. Anyway, I’ll text you the number.’
The senior sergeant held her hand. ‘God bless you, Elly. We’ll miss you.’
She shook her head. ‘Not for long. I’m not exactly unforgettable, except to crazed gunmen and other selected psychopaths.’ She glanced at Rick. ‘See me out?’
Rick took her hand, and they walked into the velvet softness of an outback night, dotted with clear, blazing stars. ‘There are potholes here. Until you know where they are, you could hurt yourself,’ he said as they crossed the carpark.
She hugged him. She couldn’t seem to stop. ‘You risked your career for me today.’
‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I had it all ready for when you—and Spencer—showed. It was just a matter of time. But the problem wasn’t yours alone. Jen Collins saw it the first day you came—we all saw the look on Adam’s face. I tried to stop them, but Baz and Simon made jokes about it. She almost sideswiped your car on her way out that day. We arrested her earlier today for stalking, two counts of malicious damage and two counts of attempted grievous bodily harm, and no doubt they’ll now add identity theft to the list. She won’t be getting bail this time.’
Elly blinked. ‘Jen Collins dropped the tree branch, painted the fake blood in my room and shot the station window? But you said she doesn’t even own a gun!’
‘BB guns are quite easy to get if you know where to look—but it wasn’t hers: she paid someone else to do it. Oh, and as a side point, Mrs Collins is not Mrs Collins.’ Rick laughed and scratched his head. ‘The real Mrs Collins died two years ago in Queensland. The death certificate was given under the name of her sister, Anne Rolling
s, and Anne Rollings became Jen Collins.’
Her mouth opened and closed again. ‘But why? What was the point?’
‘Slipping through the net. Jen Collins was a model citizen, but Anne Rollings has a record as long as your arm. Believe it or not, it was Adam being stalked here, not you. Anne Rollings has stalked more men than I’ve had years as a cop. She started at fourteen, and she’s had fifteen complaints since.’
‘Who did she pay to shoot out the station window?’
‘A kid in my police youth footy team. A witness I interviewed said they’d seen a kid in the team uniform in the area at the time of the shooting. When I talked to the team, he confessed everything. The city cops who’d been following me picked Jen Collins up this afternoon after we got Spencer. They’ve taken her to Sydney. She won’t get bail this time. We have the evidence of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm on top of the identity theft, skipping bail in Queensland, and multiple stalking charges; it should keep her away for at least five years. She’s a menace, especially to tall, dark men like Adam,’ he laughed.
She blinked again, and shook her head. ‘She climbed that tree near the river? But its lowest branch was ten feet up!’
‘I know, right? Another unbelievable fact—this case has been like a Ripley’s Believe it or Not! show—Anne Rollings was an almost-ran for the Sydney Olympics. She was a spectacular gymnast, but her constant tantrums and harassing the boys led the coach to drop her.’
She closed her mouth, shaking her head to clear it. It didn’t work. ‘How did you work out the identity switch?’
‘When I learned that Mrs Collins had a stalker sister, I asked for their medical and dental records. The real Mrs Collins didn’t have buck teeth, and her records showed mild lung damage and osteoporosis from the steroids she’d taken for asthma. Anne Rollings is as healthy as a horse.’
‘Thank you, Ricky,’ she whispered, hugging him. ‘I’m so sorry I suspected you.’
‘Given what you’ve been through, it was natural. I could have told you who I was from the start, but then I’d be taken off the case. I thought I could protect you better with anonymity, by staying in the shadows until the right moment came to tell you.’ He grinned ruefully. ‘I also would have preferred to have our reunion in private. That’s why I tried to jog your memory while we were alone.’
‘It wouldn’t have worked. I’d even forgotten your name until you said “Janie-jan”.’ She paused. ‘Will you help me now? Can you take me to the nearest bus or train station that gets me to Sydney?’
‘That’s Mildura.’ He paused, looked at her. ‘Is the Beemer out of action? I was looking forward to taking it for a spin.’
‘I’m leaving it here. A goodbye present for Claudius.’ Tears pricked her eyes. ‘He always loved fast cars.’
‘Janie, we just found each other again. Can you wait a few days? Stay with me,’ Rick urged. ‘Adam never needs to know. Schumacher won’t be able to cope once the other doctors leave—and you know they’ll have to. He can look after Adam, if that’s what’s bothering you. I’ll tell him I dropped you at Mildura when he wakes.’
‘You’d lie to him?’ She stared at him, touched. ‘He’s your best friend.’
‘And you’re my sister,’ he said quietly, squeezing her hand. ‘Please, just give us a few days before you go.’
Tears pricked her eyes. Slowly, she nodded. ‘A few days.’
‘If I can get more time off, I’ll take you to Sydney. I have to go up soon anyway, to pick up Zoe.’ He squeezed her hand again. ‘Do me a favour? Go see the family. You need them now. I met them when I dropped Zoe in Sydney. They love you, Janie-jan. They deserve to see you.’
He was right. For years they’d given loyalty and love, and she’d never let them into her heart. So scarred by her father’s desertion, her mother’s death and Adam’s marriage, she’d been blind to any suffering but her own. The Jepsons also deserved better than the ungrateful silence she’d given them the past twelve years. They’d done their best for her, tried so hard to help her … and they’d given her Adam.
‘I will. I’ll see them all. But do they know who you are? They’ll want to meet you, too.’
‘They didn’t care what my name was at the time—but I’ll fly up when I can.’ Rick hugged her tight. ‘Can’t let my sister go now I’ve finally found her again.’
‘You’ll always be with me.’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I’ll call or text you every day, and we can Skype.’ She held him close, feeling secure in the warmth of his returned hug. ‘I wish I’d known the first day,’ she whispered. ‘I wish I’d recognised you. But—’
‘But your heart was so full of Adam, there wasn’t room for me,’ he said simply.
‘No. No.’ She held him even harder. ‘You’re my brother. That’s a forever love. There will always be room for you. Always.’
After a while he murmured, ‘Let’s go home.’
‘Can we go to the hospital first?’ She had to see Adam one last time, to say the goodbye she’d never had the chance to give thirteen years before.
After checking all her other patients, and being assured the Mildura and Broken Hill doctors were here for the next twenty-four hours at least, Elly stood by the door of the room allocated to Adam. His face, grey with pale lips, had taken on the stern look she’d seen in the station that first day, when he’d given her a prim-and-proper Jepson look, judging her outfit. The ECG, still attached to his chest, printed out a reading. A massive bruise was collecting around the IV line. She’d change the IV to another vein—
She wrote it down in his patient notes. If she touched him, she’d never leave until he kicked her out.
She looked at him one last time. He stirred in his drug-induced sleep. His eyes opened a little, seeking something, as if he sensed her presence. His lips moved. Elly?
‘I’m here.’ Shaking with the need to touch him, her hands balled into fists by her sides. ‘It’s over. Danny’s in custody, on his way to Sydney; his mother went with him. I’m fine. You and Rick saved me. Just rest now, and concentrate on getting better. Everything’s going to be all right now. I promise.’
He was asleep again.
‘I’m so sorry.’ She turned to the door, swiping at a tear trickling down her cheek. ‘Goodbye, my darling friend. I hope you find what you need to make you happy.’
Rick waited outside the door. No words necessary. He held out his hand and she took it.
CHAPTER
21
Adam awoke to a world of white. Weak, disoriented and in definite pain, centred in his neck. His head throbbed; his eyes were dry and burning. He tried to form words, but they wouldn’t come.
‘G’day, mate. Welcome back to the land of the living.’
Rick’s quiet voice entered his consciousness, returning him to time and place. He was in Macks Lake Hospital with a shotgun wound from Danny Spencer.
Again he mouthed a word. Zoe?
Rick’s face came into focus. ‘Zoe’s having a ball on the cruise. We’ve told the family nothing, but we’ll arrange for your mother to keep Zoe once they’re back. I’ll go get her when you’re well enough to take her home. Your great-aunt’s been calling every few hours.’
Elly?
Rick’s mouth twitched. ‘Spencer nicked your jugular vein. You almost died. She worked on you with outdated equipment, no laser or blood, and she saved your life.’
He knew that. Even knocked out by bullet and anaesthetic he’d felt her presence, her healing touch; he’d heard her voice, begging him to live. Saying goodbye. Where is she?
Rick sighed. ‘I dropped her off at Mildura. She got a bus northeast this morning.’ He added softly, ‘She can’t forgive herself for what Spencer did to you. You’re gonna have a hell of a job convincing her to come back—but you’ll try if you know what’s good for you.’
Adam closed his eyes. She’d saved his life, this time literally, and she still couldn’t forgive herself for what Spencer did. Ah, his beautiful Elly. How she p
unished herself for burdens that didn’t belong on her shoulders.
‘My sister is the best thing to ever happen to you,’ Rick went on fiercely. ‘I wish to God I could find a woman who loves me the way she loves you. You’re a bloody fool if you let her go. And Zoe needs Elly, even if you don’t want a wife. And I want her here with me. But she won’t come back unless you make her. You’ll have to marry her to bring her back.’
Adam’s eyes snapped open. I did marry her.
Rick’s brows lifted. ‘Since she only came a week ago, and this isn’t Las Vegas, you can’t be talking legal ceremonies. Tribal thing, huh? I didn’t think you’d do something so uncivilised,’ he taunted with a good-natured grin. ‘The prim-and-proper Jepson clan’ll have a fit. Old Sobersides Adam Jepson, married by tribal ceremony to a blackfella.’
Even though it hurt like hell, Adam grinned back. Help me find her.
Rick turned away, and Adam knew he was hiding something. ‘Just get better, mate. We’ll talk later.’
He turned back as Adam grabbed his hand.
Who attacked us? The Mirakis?
Rick grinned. ‘They only wrote the nasty note, and spread the gossip around. Get ready for it, mate: it wasn’t Elly causing the obsession. It was you.’ Rick told him the story, laughing at his gaping horror. ‘Spencer senior sent the Mirakis here, and Jen Collins. Why and how he knew about you, but didn’t tell Danny, I can’t fathom yet. I think he’s been the abuser all along. He wanted the spotlight off Danny until he reached Elly. Probably wanted to give him enough time to rape her and make her pregnant—he’s that obsessed with getting a sane heir to the Spencer holdings. ICAC is digging into the Spencer finances now.’
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