by Jennie Jones
Maybe it was time he did, but Frances didn’t have a chance to say it. Billy reached out and grabbed Winston by the scruff of his neck—he had a lot of loose skin around his neck—and pulled him through the other dogs. Winston came easily enough, and within seconds his big head was poking through the gap between gate and fence.
Billy pushed the other dogs away with his leg.
‘Don’t hurt them!’ Frances cried.
‘Jeez, girlie, get a grip. I’m not kicking them. Do I look like I’m kicking them?’
No, he was just using his legs to force them to back away, but they might go crazy and turn into a pack any second; then they’d both be mauled to death.
Frances took another step back as little Bella jumped high in the air and tried to break out over the fence. She tried three times, gave up and bounded to the gate.
While Billy bent down, pulling Winston out with one hand and holding the gate with the other, Bella slipped through his legs and was free.
She jumped onto Winston’s back and off the other side and ran in circles, like she was chasing her tail.
Billy laughed. ‘Got to like a woman who knows how to break out of jail.’
‘What are we going to do now?’ Frances asked, eyeing Winston who was calmly sniffing the grassy clumps around the fence. Then he lifted his leg and peed enough for ten dogs.
‘Take ’em for a walk.’
‘We haven’t got any leashes.’
‘They won’t run off.’
‘How do you know that?’ Frances said angrily, getting more panicked when Bella started running circles around her.
‘Because we broke them out of jail. They’ll love us now.’
Stupid boy!
A woof startled her. So far none of the dogs had barked. Most of them had done what Billy wanted them to do—as though they knew him or something. Only Bella had broken free. Kirby, the giant Poodle crossed with something with tight curly hair, barked again. It didn’t sound vicious, it sounded annoyed.
‘Come on then,’ Billy called to her, and Kirby came running to the gate.
‘Are you letting her out too?’
‘Of course. They’re mates. Can’t you see that?’
Frances shook her head. ‘How can you see it?’
‘I don’t know. I just know.’ He leaned over the fence and hauled Kirby up, his hands under her belly. She was a tall dog, but thin in the body and all legs, and she must be strong because she scrabbled up the gate and, in a second, she was free.
Billy laughed.
Kirby greeted Winston with a sniff at his head, then turned her attention to Bella and they both ran around, darting towards and away from each other.
Winston was finding something very interesting to sniff at on Billy’s legs.
‘What’s he doing?’ Frances asked.
‘He can smell the horse shit. I shovel horse shit all day. I stink of it. I’m a dog magnet,’ he added, looking pleased with himself.
Billy wandered along the fence, and all three dogs followed.
Frances had no choice but to do the same. She darted another look over her shoulder at the house. It looked quiet. If the mother had seen this, she’d have been out in a shot, pink wellies flying over the front garden. She must still be packing up food from the spare pantry at the back of the house.
It was quite exciting, now that Billy had done all the hard stuff. The dogs weren’t even interested in her much.
Billy sat beneath an old gum tree and pulled an apple out of his jacket pocket along with a penknife.
Frances sat next to him, but not close. Winston sat between them, which made her breath quiver in her chest. The dog even smelled big.
Billy sliced the apple, offered Frances a piece from the blade of his knife, then sliced a quarter for himself. He divided the rest of the apple into three varied sizes and fed the pieces to the dogs.
‘Who were you moving gear for the other day?’ she asked, remembering how Officer Donna had said she was supposed to say No, firmly, if Billy asked her to do something she didn’t want to do.
‘My brothers.’
She hadn’t said No to Billy just now, and she was glad. It was okay to be daring when the other person was doing all the work, wasn’t it? She felt daring. She felt brave now it was done. She even put a hand out and patted Winston, monster dog, on the top of his head.
‘You ought to pat him under his chin, not on the top of his head,’ Billy said, nodding at Winston. ‘You’ll frighten some dogs if you pat them on the head. Some dogs are real mean. Like horses. Some horses are bad, just like dogs.’
What about people? ‘Are your brothers bad people?’
Billy chewed his apple for a while, frowning. ‘I suppose so,’ he said at last.
‘Do you want to be a bad person?’
‘I could be, if I wanted to. I guess I just don’t want to be. Yet,’ he added and threw her a badass look. ‘But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t be. It just means I might be.’
Stupid boy. But this time as she thought it, she smiled at him. She couldn’t help but like him although she’d never let any friends know that she was hanging around with an eighteen-year-old idiot like Billy.
She paused in her thoughts. She didn’t have any friends to tell …
‘My brothers think I’m a loser,’ Billy said.
That was sad.
‘So I try to prove otherwise, you know? Like now, with the dogs.’ He pointed at Winston. ‘They said I couldn’t get this one out of jail, and I’ve done it.’ He gave Frances a satisfied smile.
‘Did they bet you to get Winston out?’
‘Yeah. Kind of.’
‘Why?’
‘Don’t know. But I’ve done it.’
‘They won’t know you’ve done it,’ Frances reasoned. ‘They haven’t seen you do it. They’ll say you were lying.’ They might beat him up for it.
Billy’s satisfied look fell from his face.
‘How about I take a photo of you?’ Frances pushed herself up to stand and pulled her phone out of her shorts pocket. ‘Just sit there, like that. Put your hand on Winston’s neck. Like you’re holding on to him.’ She stepped back to get a better shot.
Billy took hold of the ruffle of fur and skin on Winston’s neck and smiled broadly at the camera.
Frances took the shot, then another. ‘Winston doesn’t look angry,’ she pointed out. ‘Shouldn’t he look angry or something?’
‘Yeah but I can’t do anything about that.’ He clamped his mouth and glared at Winston who sat, panting, looking like he was smiling. ‘He’s not an angry dog.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘I just know!’ Billy dropped his hold of Winston and stood. ‘Quit with the dumb questions, dumb little girl.’
Winston lifted himself from the grass and padded over to Frances. He sat at her feet, instantly settled, and lay his head between his monster-sized paws.
Then France’s phone rang.
‘Where are you both?’ the mother said.
Panic took over. She had to think fast. ‘Just with the dogs.’ It wasn’t a lie.
‘If you’re going to the stables, you’d better get going or it’ll be dinner time.’
‘We’re coming up to the house now,’ she said, almost tripping over her words. She ended the call and pocketed the phone. ‘You have to get them back,’ she said to Billy. ‘Now.’
‘What’s the rush?’
‘Now,’ Frances said again, narrowing her eyes. ‘Now, Billy. Do it!’
He shook his head and wandered off, clicking his fingers at the dogs, who bounded after him.
Frances was so breathless with worry that she had to put a hand on her heart, over her non-existent boobs.
She made her way to the house, casting looks over her shoulder. Billy was at the gate. Then he opened it a little bit and was doing the leg thing to hold the other dogs off. He bent down and said something to Winston who squeezed through the gate. Bella jumped onto Winston’s back and l
eapt off it, running through the legs of other big dogs as though showing off. Kirby didn’t go in so quickly. She looked to where Frances was, studied her for a while as Billy shooed her with his hands, then went through the gate.
By the time the mother came out onto the verandah, Frances had her heart rate just about normal and Billy was shuffling towards them from behind her.
Jax had her arms crossed over her chest as she peered between Billy and Frances to the end of the front garden, where Billy had parked his car. He’d loaded the esky with the frozen homemade meals.
Sometimes Jax wondered about Solomon’s tactics but she trusted him implicitly so had to reason that he was giving Billy this task because he felt the boy could handle it.
But Solomon wasn’t a mother. ‘No fancy driving,’ she said, aiming her index finger at him. ‘No wheelies. No showing off. You stick to the speed limit, Billy, or I will eat you alive.’
Billy sighed. ‘Jeez, you older adults are so uptight.’
Jax was caught off guard by the smothered giggle that came from Frances. She peered at her daughter. Was Billy going to be a bad influence? ‘You too,’ she told Frances. ‘Behave.’
‘I can’t drive,’ Frances said. ‘So how could I do wheelies?’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘No, I don’t.’ Her face fell into a put-upon frown.
Damn it. Frances had giggled and smiled, and Jax had bitten it off. ‘Have you got your phone?’ she asked, feeling herself flush and wondering if she could pick up at least half of the apples from the upset cart.
‘Yes,’ Frances said sullenly.
‘So please text me when you get to the stables.’ She said it the way a teacher would, trying her best not to behave like a frantic mother. ‘Call me if you get into any trouble,’ she said to both of them.
‘I don’t go looking for trouble,’ Billy said, his lanky frame hunched at the shoulders as he put his hands on his skinny hips. ‘Trouble finds me.’
It was Jax’s turn to let out a laugh, rueful though it was. ‘That’s what worries me, Billy. Just remember I’m uptight. I’m a mother. I can and will eat you alive.’ She was a mother for real now, not just the way it had been bringing up her younger sister. It was thrilling and worrying all at once.
They were all three silent for a moment, then Jax couldn’t hold back on the mother routine, which fired through her so suddenly she was unable to stop herself. She dragged Franca into her and hugged her hard. The child’s body tightened but she didn’t pull away. Maybe too scared to? Or too surprised? Jax reluctantly let her go and stopped herself from saying I love you. She was also forcing her eyes not to water. She’d just hugged her child! But she didn’t want to upset any more mother–daughter apples. Not when her only child was heading off in Badass Billy’s care.
As soon as they left, Jax texted Solomon.
They’ve just left. If he hurts her, I’ve told him I’ll kill him.
She waited for a response, one eye on the disappearing car in the distance and one on the phone.
Chill. I’ll text you when they get here.
She pocketed the phone, and took a long lingering look at the now empty horizon. This mothering worry was impossible to control. She’d been through it with Rosie, but with Franca it was deeper and much more meaningful. As though her own skin and life depended on her child being kept safe.
She had a brief thought about calling Jack and letting him know that Billy was loose on the road with Franca—Frances!—in his care, but that was being over-controlling.
‘Chill,’ she said aloud, and forced herself to remember that Solomon was a perceptive and intuitive man with a good heart and an excellent brain. She turned for the house, gnawing her teeth, as though sharpening them and getting ready to test that eat you alive theory.
‘It’s like I said, Jack, there’s nothing new this end. We can’t identify where those stolen goods came from. There’s no report of them matching our IDs and we’ve covered WA and South Australia.’
Jack was at his desk in the station, personal mobile in his hand. This was the first call he’d made to his opposite number on Operation Blue Tongue since his arrival in Mt Maria.
‘The two we’ve got curfewed are behaving, so far,’ he told his oppo. ‘In their room at the motel by eight every night. They’re drinking all day but we can’t do anything about that unless they get out of line. They’re rough men, so we’re keeping our eye on them.’
‘We’ve got the one guy inside at the airport here in Kalgirri,’ his oppo said. ‘We’ve arranged for him to work on the Lizard Claws and Bob Tail cargo. He’ll have a better chance of catching whatever it is we’re looking for. We’re screening luggage.’
If they found more than one iPad, iPhone or laptop in one suitcase or bag, they’d check it out because that could be an indication that goods were being traded for drugs. It was the odd items that had been found in the boot of the motel guys’ vehicle, alongside the electrical goods, that most interested Jack. The rope, the canvas sheeting. He wasn’t telling the op anything about the graffiti or the bull. Not until he’d figured out what was going on. But his gut was telling him there was a connection.
‘I’ll be talking to the mine site manager today. It’ll just be a friendly call. I’ll mention the two on curfew, since he’s had to stand them down while we identify where their boot load of electronics came from.’
‘Take it easy, Jack. We don’t want him getting suspicious and heading in with his own investigation.’
‘I’m aware of that. Which is probably why I’m undercover and officer in charge, and you’re stuck in Kalgirri, relying on me.’
His oppo laughed. ‘You’re the one stuck in the sticks, mate.’
Jack found a smile. ‘It’s all go out here. You wouldn’t believe the shit I’m dealing with.’ He didn’t mention the snake, the buckled pram wheel or the scones.
He ended the call and pocketed his mobile, then stood, arching his back and adjusting the belt on his waist. Sitting all day was beginning to irritate him. There wasn’t a gym in town but the office down the hall had various bits of gym equipment and a running machine. Wasn’t the same as pounding the streets but it was all he had.
‘Sarge,’ Jimmy called. ‘Luke’s on line one.’
Jack sat as he picked up the phone. ‘Next time you think to tell the Agatha Girls I can’t handle this role, yours will be the first murdered body discovered in Mt Maria.’
Luke laughed. ‘We’re off in half an hour.’
‘Have fun.’
‘Don’t cock anything up, Jack.’
‘Bugger off,’ Jack said. ‘And don’t do anything I wouldn’t,’ he added, with a grin.
‘That gives me plenty of scope.’
Jack put the phone on its receiver. His friend had pulled Mt Maria Police Department into line in the last three years. It hadn’t been much more than an old town and a hangout for petty criminals and drunks before the upgrade to the station and a tripling of officers. Luke deserved some recognition for that, not to mention some time off.
Half an hour later, Will was at his desk opposite Jack, dealing with his files, and Jack was filling in forms. Apart from the silliness he’d been dealing with, they usually had around ten or twelve cases on their desks at any one time. Small stuff, middle-grade stuff. It was all policing.
‘So, this is it,’ he said to Will, pushing back in his chair as though taking a breather. ‘The nerve centre.’
Will lifted his head from his paperwork like a man surfacing for air. ‘Fun, isn’t it?’
Jack sat forwards and rifled through the papers and books on his desk ‘Haven’t got the number of Lizard Claws to hand, have you?’
Will opened a drawer and took out a notebook.
‘Might as well have a word with the manager now,’ Jack said. He wanted to take his chance before Will was called out.
Will threw the book over to Jack. ‘Just a friendly, eh?’ he said, with a wry look on his face.
; Jack picked up the telephone, dialled the number then put the call on speaker so Will would hear the entire conversation.
After a couple of minutes’ introduction and general pleasantries, Jack headed in. ‘Mr Gregory, I’ll be popping out to the site. Can we make a date and time?’
‘Anything in particular bothering you, Senior Sergeant Maxwell? Is it those two on curfew?’
‘No trouble that end; all under control. Anything particular bothering you, Mr Gregory?’
‘Oh well, you know. Care and maintenance is a full-time job, but things can appear to get a bit quiet. Although I sometimes wish I had their job,’ he said on a laugh. ‘I’m stuck at my desk staring at a computer all day.’
‘I know what you mean,’ Jack said convivially. ‘Same with me. When things are quiet, I get worried.’
The manager laughed. ‘I don’t have any trouble here. Not drugs—not that I know of and we’re vigilant.’
‘I understand. But you’ve noticed something?’
The man paused, maybe surprised by the question or surprised that Jack could read between the lines. ‘Wouldn’t say noticed; it’s more like a feeling. I think a few of the guys have are having a bit of a bet on something.’
‘Gambling?’
‘Nothing big,’ the manager said in a tone that was calming and reassuring. ‘Nothing I’m concerned about. It’s just a bit of fun over a poker game, I expect. Most of these men have families back in Perth and that’s where their money goes.’
‘Do you know who’s in the gambling ring?’
‘I wouldn’t call it a ring,’ Mr Gregory said, sounding a little offended. ‘Although …’
‘Yes?’ Jack asked.
‘As you might be aware, we have an employee with a criminal record working for us. Joseph Bivic.’
Jack ignored the fast look Will sent his way. This is what he wanted Will to know, without actually telling him. ‘Oh?’ he responded. ‘And is everything all right in that quarter?’
‘Yes. He’s a loner, to some extent, which I think is best. He was, of course, interviewed thoroughly and even though he has a record, his references from the other mines he’s worked at were not in any way detrimental. Quite the opposite—he’s a hard worker and he knows his job. We really had no reason not to employ him. We do like to give people a chance.’