by Jennie Jones
‘I’ll get you to back the truck up to this caged exercise area,’ Solomon said, ‘then lower the tailgate and reverse so it goes under the cage gate. As you back the truck up, I’ll open the cage gate bit by bit. Once it’s done there won’t be enough room either side of the truck for him to get out.’
‘We’ll get an audience,’ Jax said. The cage gate on the exercise area was large, and was attached to the lockup area at the back of the station. This was the prisoners’ exercise area, and although it wasn’t seen from the front of the station on High Street, the back alley where the officers parked their vehicles was open to public access. Not that anyone ever came around the back, and if they did the CCTV cameras would pick them up.
‘Jack will have that covered,’ Solomon said.
‘Do you know him?’ she asked, unable to halt the query now he’d brought Jack’s name up again. The two men had met briefly when Jack had been here a few months back.
‘I know him well enough,’ Solomon answered.
Enough to determine that he was a good cop? A decent man? She wanted to ask if he liked him but didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that she was interested in him.
She turned her face away from Solomon. Even though he was studying the bull, he had a way of knowing things about people and she wasn’t sure she wanted him knowing her dilemmas about the new OIC of Mt Maria’s police force.
Jack had been pretty decent yesterday, and it was obvious he’d tried to keep his visit official. Maybe this was the way they’d be while he was here, edging around each other, trying to work each other out.
When she’d told him all the things that had happened on her property and he’d got all male about it, let alone cop, he hadn’t been standing over her, or even close, but she still felt the power of him. Neither had he been looking at her in a flirtatious manner, yet his attraction to her had been obvious.
But he kept looking at Frances, which had put her on edge.
‘Met Frances just now,’ Solomon said. ‘Caught her talking to Billy.’
Jax ignored the fact that he’d interrupted her thoughts about Frances by starting a conversation about her, as though he’d read her mind. ‘She was actually talking?’
‘Billy was telling her all about himself, and she had the gumption to answer him back. You’ve got a nice kid there, Jax.’
‘You see that?’ she asked, genuinely surprised, because of the way Frances had behaved with everybody she’d been introduced to so far.
‘Don’t you?’ Solomon asked.
‘God, yes!’ She laughed in bewilderment. ‘She’s beautiful.’
‘But.’
‘Yes, but …’ Jax sighed. She didn’t have to say they weren’t getting along. Solomon had already made that assumption.
‘I was thinking of inviting her over to the stables.’
‘I doubt she’d go.’
‘She will. Even though she’s just arrived, she needs time away from you.’
That hurt. A lot.
‘In the best sense,’ he said. ‘You’re the overwhelming issue in her new life and new surroundings. She’ll be more comfortable in the company of others.’
Jax nodded, understanding, but it still hurt. ‘Rachel was the same as you—just headed in. I think Frances will like Rachel eventually. Just like I think she’ll like you.’ It was only her real mother she was leaving out in the cold.
‘That’s because we don’t expect any backlash from her. She’s not used to dishing out the wisecracks, anyway. She can’t actually handle them.’
‘She didn’t give you the cold shoulder and smart chat? Not even a little bit?’
‘She thought about it, but changed her mind. It’s different for you,’ he continued when Jax opened her mouth to say something. ‘You’re the new parental guidance in her life. She’s going to push you away before anyone else, and for longer than you think.’
Jax swallowed, in order to get rid of the lump in her throat.
‘Just keep doing what you’re doing,’ Solomon said. ‘Because what you’re doing is going to be her mainstay. There’ll come a time when she’ll accept it, and not only that, she’ll remember how solid and responsible and caring you were during this time. That’s what’ll keep you both together, and keep you both loving.’
She had to swallow again before speaking. ‘I thought I loved her more than anything for these thirteen years. I can’t believe how that love has filled out since she came here.’ Just four days. ‘Sometimes I trip over it, there’s so much of it.’
‘Don’t be frightened of her, or whatever you’ve both been through in the past,’ Solomon said, a more inquisitive look in his eye now, although he didn’t question her about how Frances came to be, and she was grateful. She’d spoken about her feelings without thinking, but he was so calm and intuitive. She probably had no reason to tell him anything. For all she knew, he’d already guessed the lot.
‘She’s equally frightened,’ he continued. ‘But you’re in charge.’
She reached out, took hold of his hand that was resting on the grille and squeezed. ‘Thank you. I’ve got a feeling you’re going to be sorting out both me and Frances.’
‘Jack would have sorted it out if you’d let him.’
‘Jack?’
Solomon’s face creased in a smile. ‘Yeah. Jack. He still will. You don’t expect the man who is probably in love with you not to step up, do you?’
‘Probably what?’
Solomon bent at the shoulders and kissed her cheek. ‘You heard me.’
A frisson went through her at the touch, and suddenly Solomon Jones’s masculine aroma wafted over her and maybe through her. What the hell was this? She’d known him and been friends and they’d often worked together with the animals, but she’d never got a glimpse of this side of him. Or of herself!
Without thinking, she looked at the barred window on Jack’s office. But nothing moved. No shadows crossed the closed blind. No-one was looking out. Why she should be concerned about Jack seeing Solomon kiss her on the cheek she didn’t know, but she was.
‘I’d best go find Frances,’ she said, moving away from Solomon and smiling through her confusion. ‘See you on Friday then.’ For the big bull move.
Nine
Jack was sitting at his desk and had no need to get closer to the barred window in his office that looked out on the exercise pen. The sun was on his side. Nobody could see in, but he could see out. More than just silhouettes too; the blind was nothing more than shade cloth.
He blinked, his thoughts stilled. He could do that—put his reactive thoughts on hold. It came from practice and experience—but it was harder to still his imagination after what he’d just seen.
It was a kiss on the cheek from one friend to another, he told himself. Except there was more to it. He even thought that perhaps Solomon knew he was watching them and had done it on purpose.
Solomon’s words ‘she was hurt, Jack’ still rang in his head, as they had most of the restless night. Part of the reason he’d asked about her daughter yesterday—and got her offside—was because he needed to ensure it wasn’t the child’s father who was causing trouble on her property. She’d refused to answer when he’d asked where Frances’s father was; instead, closing the conversation and shutting him out, which effectively told him much more than she thought. She was scared, but he didn’t think it was of Frances’s father, more like something within her, something she was struggling with.
The phone rang in the front office and Jimmy’s voice, robust through the partition wall, brought him round.
‘Mt Maria Police Department, how can we help you?’
There was a pause while whoever had rung was speaking.
‘Not possible,’ Jimmy said. ‘You need to call the new CEO at the town hall. She sorts out rubbish issues, not the police. If you forgot to put your bin out on the designated collection day I’m afraid we can’t assist by taking it for you. We can only send a vehicle if you’re about to get shot.’
Jack found a grim smile as he heard the phone crash down on its receiver. He rolled back his chair to stand. He was slowly getting used to Jimmy’s gruffness. He had no choice. As it happened, Jimmy was good at handling those who wasted police time, although his backchat needed constant monitoring.
He went to the office door and opened it. ‘Take it easy on the public, Jimmy,’ he called.
‘My first duty is the care of you lot, Sarge,’ came the response. ‘Unless you want to personally dispose of rubbish. Things are a bit slow around town.’
Slow? It wasn’t even 10 am on his fourth full day yet he felt like he’d left real policing behind. He was up to his eyes in paperwork but he’d already had to deal with a fallen tree, a snake in someone’s garden shed and a call from someone who’d let their kid’s pram roll down a hill and the wheels had buckled. That last one had given him a fright, but thankfully the pram had been empty.
He swung back to the office and stopped still as Jax came from the lockup area and headed down the hallway.
He waited for her to get closer to him, expecting her to stop.
She nodded as she reached him, not meeting his eye and not pausing.
‘Jax!’ he said, but not loudly.
She halted and turned.
‘Can I talk to you for a moment?’ he asked, indicating he’d like her to step into his office.
She hesitated.
‘Sarge,’ Jimmy called. ‘Luke’s on line one.’
‘Tell him to go away.’ He looked at Jax again. ‘I just want to ask a few questions about the Baxter boys.’ He could have added ‘nothing more’ but he didn’t. He had a dozen questions for her, all personal, and if he got a chance he was going to take it. How else was he going to find out what had happened to her? How a daughter had appeared out of the blue yonder. Who had hurt her—and when—and whether or not she and Solomon had a thing happening.
She moved into his office and he pushed the door open, leaving it that way so she didn’t feel trapped.
He pulled out a chair for her but she shook her head, obviously preferring to stand. Maybe in case she had to make a quick getaway.
Her fragrance wafted in front of him as he passed her. It was soft and sexy as hell, just like Jax—even dressed in jeans and T-shirts, she couldn’t hide the curves. Not that she tried to hide them; she just didn’t realise how well she wore them. That made him wonder about the men out here. How many of them had tried it on with her? Even casually dressed, she had that aura of sensual appeal, although it wasn’t the sexy look that had got to him when he’d first seen her. It was just her, the woman, all of her. Persona and appeal—the lot.
‘Everything all right with the bull?’ he asked.
She didn’t exactly blush but her face took on a look of surprise for a moment. ‘Fine. Solomon thinks we can back the horse truck up to the gated side, open the gate bit by bit as the truck’s tailgate moves into place, and just wait for him to get on the truck in his own time.’
‘I know. He told me.’
‘What was that with Luke?’ she asked.
Jack smiled. ‘I’ve already taken three calls from him yesterday and today. The sooner he and Rachel get out of town, the easier my life is going to be.’
A shadow of a smile crossed her features. ‘Is he being OIC-ish with you?’
Jack nodded. ‘Frightened I’m going to mess up something in his town.’ His smile widened as he looked at his desk. ‘Haven’t got a chance of that happening with this lot waiting for my attention.’
She glanced at the folders and notepads strewn across his desk. ‘It is odd that you’ve taken this job.’
Here we go. He was going to have to lie. ‘I wanted out of the detective ranks for a while, that’s all. I wanted to give myself a breather.’ And I want you. He’d wanted her from the moment he’d clapped eyes on her. But he hadn’t known to what extent until he’d returned here briefly three months ago. That’s when the intense feelings he’d experienced when he first saw her had taken over and plagued him. What he wanted to know now was whether it was the real deal—the full-time, long-term deal, or just a moment in life.
‘I originally requested leave.’
‘Why?’ she asked.
He hated doing this. ‘Told them I might start getting emotional on the job. They wanted to kick me out the door as fast as they opened it.’
Her features fell, as though sudden worry had been thrust in her face.
‘But my DI sussed me out,’ he carried on quickly. ‘Said I just needed a change of scene for a while.’
‘God, Jack. I’m sorry.’
Don’t be. It’s not the truth. He brushed off her concern with a grin. ‘Don’t worry about it. I was just bored. My DI recognised it and suggested this—’ He tipped his chin, indicating the office. ‘Felt like a good move, so here I am. I like this town,’ he added. ‘It’s got a lot of charm. A lot of appeal.’
He was in love with her. Of that he was almost certain. Especially after the rush of jealousy that had shot through him a few minutes ago when Solomon had kissed her cheek. He hadn’t expected to have an opponent—not out here. It had made him think more deeply about what was going on inside him.
Love affairs weren’t always meant to go the distance. You could fall in love with a person and then out of love—not that he had personal experience of this but he’d seen it happen. If he was in the long-term, forever kind of love, it was going to change his life. That was the issue bothering him. How would it work? How much change was involved? Once he had those facts, he figured he’d have a way forward.
He also realised that he’d come here to Mt Maria without giving any thought to how far he was heading into the unknown. It pissed him off that he’d missed the clues and the signs. Too eager to see her. Too eager to get her in his arms.
‘I wanted to ask you about the Baxter family,’ he said, resting against the front edge of his desk and crossing his arms over his chest. ‘I’d like to know a bit more about them but don’t want to start asking questions on the street because there’s nothing to go on yet.’ He’d decided not to visit either boys. Not until he knew a little more. Although he was on the lookout for any damage to either of their vehicles, but both Baxters drove old utes, not large, powerful four-wheel drives.
‘Of course.’ She relaxed a little now he’d started in on the official side of things. ‘The parents run a farm about fifty kilometres north. Sheep mainly, some goats. Old Hugh Baxter, Mr Baxter’s father, is a …’ She paused. ‘Well, he’s a drunk. I’m afraid there’s no way to say it kindly.’
‘I’ve read about him. He hasn’t been bothering the town for a few weeks though.’ Old Hugh Baxter liked swinging an axe after he’d downed a bottle or two of Jack Daniels and he liked to show off his skills the length of High Street. Luke had confiscated the axe head months ago, and Hugh had taken to swinging the handle.
‘He’s getting worse, health-wise,’ Jax said.
‘So he’s been no use on the family farm for some time.’
‘Neither have the older boys. They live on an acre of Baxter land about a kilometre from the family house. They’ve each got a small house.’
‘I know they cause trouble, but so far it’s been between themselves.’ They hadn’t been nabbed for burglary, destruction to property or car theft unless it was from each other or on each other’s property—and then whichever brother had brought the charge against the other would drop it a couple of days later. ‘So where does the bad gene come from?’ he asked.
‘Hugh, probably. But now it’s them who spur him on to do stupid things, like lighting a camp fire in the bush in the middle of summer. They used to drive him into town so he could do the axe routine.’
‘Stupid boys.’
‘Young men now. They’re twenty-three and twenty-five.’
‘Do you think it likely the Baxter boys set fire to Mrs Arnold’s shed?’
She took a breath, thinking about it. ‘Up until I fired them, I’d have sai
d no. I’d have said they’d be too scared to actually hurt anyone or do damage.’
‘We haven’t been able to find any evidence of who it might have been,’ he told her. ‘Whoever did it, they knew what they were doing.’ They’d found no prints, not even a footprint. It had been a swift and professional execution, the shed and its equipment burned to the ground.
‘Well, the Baxters are all talk,’ Jax said. ‘Or they act up out of town, either at their own places or in the bush—destroying vegetation, opening farm gates on purpose so stock gets out, hunting without a licence, getting drunk. Stuff like that.’
If they were responsible for Mrs Arnold’s shed, what had changed them? Or had it been someone else … ‘And what about Roper’s nephew? The Agatha Girls told me he was trouble but I’ve heard nothing else about him. How did the Baxters hook up with him?’
‘No idea. Never met him, although Rosie has. She didn’t like him.’
‘Does he work?’
‘He works at Lizard Claws.’
A bullet of caution hit Jack between the eyes. Joseph Bivic worked there too. ‘How old is he?’
‘I don’t know. I presume the same age as the Baxters. They’ve never had many friends before but they sometimes get together at the pub with men their age.’
‘What does Roper’s nephew do at the mine?’
‘Jack—I don’t know. He’s only been out here about a month, I think.’
Bivic had been at Lizard Claws for five weeks and three days. ‘Do you know what vehicle he drives?’
‘No,’ she said, looking at him with a keener interest. ‘Do you think it was the nephew who destroyed my fence?’
‘I’ve no idea.’ But he’d be looking into it. ‘Do you know where he was before he worked at the mine?’
‘No.’
He looked down as he thought through the puzzle; the case, the connection. His thoughts kept going back to the mowed down fence and the size of the vehicle that had been used to ram it. If Roper’s nephew was around the same age as the Baxters and driving a pricey vehicle, where had the money come from? Fly-in fly-out mine-site workers were no longer rewarded with a hefty wage packet, and Roper wasn’t anything above your average older farmer still trying to make a living.