A Place With Heart

by Jennie Jones

  ‘Tell Jimmy to let the Walkertown cops know that Bivic is getting closer to them,’ he told Louie.

  They’d stop him, he’d be caught, and that would be that. ‘And tell them to be alert. This could get nasty.’

  ‘How nasty?’ Donna asked when she cut the call on the sat phone.

  ‘Not sure.’

  ‘That bad, huh?’

  ‘Just a feeling.’ So far, they’d kept everything quiet and on police radio or sat phone frequencies, but it was time to advise the public to stay alert too. ‘Is there a tourist frequency on the UHF radio?’

  ‘Channel 40.’

  ‘Let’s put out a general call. Nothing to make people panic. Tell them to be aware the police are on the GCR, in both directions.’

  ‘Won’t that alert Bivic?’

  ‘He already knows we’re onto him.’ There was nowhere he could go. They’d catch him, but what Jack didn’t want was a car chase. It wouldn’t be one instigated by the police, but God knows what Bivic would do.

  ‘It might not be enough,’ Donna said. ‘Some might pre-set the channel, others might scan trying to find it, but depending on the radio in the vehicle, you often have to set it manually. You also need the right antenna.’

  It was the many road trains Jack was concerned about. Even with a speed limit, those monster trucks would bomb it down the GCR whenever they could, attempting to meet or stay ahead of deadlines. The Great Central Road was a shock to some drivers as it was; some trucks were up to fifty-plus metres long, thundering along an unsealed road of packed red dirt. It became very frightening for unsuspecting tourists.

  Add whatever idiocy Bivic might bring to the party, and there was going to be trouble.

  ‘Send the notice out,’ he told Donna. Hopefully, the trucks would slow down. He couldn’t guarantee it but the UHF tourist channel was the only resource he had.

  While they drove on, and with nothing else to do until something happened, his thoughts turned to Jax, back at the station.

  He’d asked her three times to marry him. How many more proposals was he going to be making before she said yes? What was holding her back? Didn’t she believe him when he said he would be happy to stay here with her? Then he realised she didn’t even know yet that he was planning on leaving the force. That would likely worry her more.

  He understood that it would be difficult at first, for both of them, possibly more so for him, but he had a fairly decent brain. He’d find something to do. He was tired of detective work. Tired of endlessly questioning people. Although, what else did he know how to do?

  ‘Look at that,’ Donna said, pointing out a rusty, wheelless, abandoned four-wheel drive that looked like it had sat on the GCR for maybe a decade. ‘That’s what we call remote, rural littering.’ She laughed, then sighed. ‘It’s a bloody hard life out here, Jack. For those who don’t have much.’

  A sudden thought crossed his mind about what he could do for a job. It was only the seed of an idea, but it might work.

  Jax and Frances were sitting on the floor in the pen, the rooster still in Jack’s filing tray, and the lamb, sleepy now, with her head resting on Frances’s leg. The puppy was a bundle of warmth on Jax’s lap. She’d squirmed her way out of saying anything more about marriage by suggesting it was time for the pup and the lamb to be fed. The lamb was only about four weeks old, and had obviously been orphaned and hand-reared because it took the bottle easily, as though used to it.

  She would like very much to marry Jack. She’d like to be cared for and loved by him. She’d like to care for and love him right back. She wanted to share her life with him. She’d like to share Frances with him too, because he probably already loved the child.

  But she didn’t believe it would work. What on earth would he do out here?

  ‘Can we keep the lamb?’

  Jax tilted her head in thought. ‘Depends on whether or not we discover its owners. Same with the rooster.’

  ‘How can people want to hurt animals?’

  ‘I don’t know the answer to that.’ She contemplated Frances’s bowed head. ‘Do you think about God a lot?’ she asked, wanting to know more about what went on in her child’s mind.

  ‘No. But you hear everywhere that he’s there.’

  ‘Who said he was a he?’

  ‘You mean he’s a she?’ Frances asked, eyes wide and a little amused.

  Jax shrugged. ‘Could be. Haven’t heard any definite argument to the contrary.’

  Frances produced a light laugh. ‘You’re weird, Mum.’

  Jax’s heart jumped in her chest. Mum.

  ‘Auntie Rosie’s weird too,’ Frances said. ‘And so am I, which means we’re not alone, really, are we?’

  ‘No, darling. We’re not alone.’ Jax wondered if she should say what she was about to say, and decided that since they were discussing delicate issues, she might as well push it. Because—Mum! ‘We’re family.’

  Frances looked away, deep in thought, then, ‘Do you think Rosie actually likes me?’

  ‘I think she loves you. She’s only ever really weird with people she loves.’

  Frances let a smile loose. ‘I don’t know if there’s a god or not, but I think about it now and again.’

  ‘I don’t know either,’ Jax agreed, ‘and sometimes I don’t care, because I think we all just have to get on with it. We have to work through the horrible times and always have some faith that it’s going to get better. I prefer to keep my faith alive than give in to it.’

  ‘Isn’t this a picture?’

  ‘Solomon!’ Frances said, carefully putting the lamb down. ‘How’s Billy?’ she asked, standing and brushing straw off her clothing.

  ‘He’s fine. The nurses have cleaned him up, the doctor’s been on video hook-up, and he can stay at the hospital here. Bullet went right through and didn’t hit bone.’

  Jax shivered.

  She felt Solomon’s eyes on her as she rose from her crossed-leg seated position, put the puppy down, and stepped over the barricade of chairs.

  She looked into his face and suddenly wanted to cry. From emotion. From joy. From fear and worry.

  He smiled, and held his arms out to her.

  She went to him, needing his hug.

  ‘Jack’s going to be all right,’ he murmured, giving her a reassuring squeeze. ‘He knows what he’s doing.’

  There was no physical or emotional assault on her senses as Solomon hugged her. Just friendship and a hefty shoulder.

  She wondered again why this big, quiet man had kissed her cheek the other day. Now she thought about it, it was as though he was pushing her in some direction she hadn’t previously been aware of. Jack, maybe? Was he so intuitive he’d seen her hesitation about letting Jack get close?

  She hugged him hard, thankful for some male strength. It was nothing to do with needing a man, it was all to do with acknowledging that now and again, she wanted to lean on a man and take some strength from him. She’d do the same for Jack, if he ever needed whatever strengths Jax had. And she did have many strengths. Womanly strengths, and by God, they were plentiful and she wanted to use all of them.

  ‘Is Billy awake?’ Frances asked.

  ‘He’s awake, and he’s hungry,’ Solomon said. ‘Although he won’t be shovelling horse poo for a couple of months. I’m going to be back to working double shifts.’

  ‘I’d like to help,’ Frances said. ‘I can shovel stuff.’

  ‘That’s generous of you, Frances. Thank you.’

  ‘I feel responsible.’

  ‘You’re not.’

  ‘I am a little bit,’ she said with a chagrined expression. ‘I’d really like to help, while Billy can’t do anything.’

  ‘Then I’ll take you up on that offer,’ Solomon said. ‘But remember, you’ll have school.’ He turned to Jax with raised eyebrows.

  Jax agreed with a nod. ‘We can work it out.’

  ‘What you can do now,’ Solomon told Frances, ‘is help me round up your dogs.’ He turned to Jax.
‘I’ll take them back to the farmhouse. They’ll be in need of a run.’

  ‘And a pee and a poop,’ Frances said.

  Solomon laughed, a low, genuinely surprised sounding laugh, then he turned to Jax.

  She smiled and gave him a nod, telling him yes, he was right. Frances had changed, regardless of—or maybe because of—her adventure today.

  ‘Will you take the Kelpies too?’ Frances asked. ‘They’re in the charge room.’

  ‘They’ll have to stay here. Their owners are driving down to pick them up. I’ll walk them out the back though—so they can pee and poop.’

  ‘Can we keep the puppy here until its owners come for it?’

  ‘Yes,’ Jax told Frances. ‘So long as you hold it and hug it and love it.’ There was no way the puppy could be left on its own, and there was no way her daughter wouldn’t hold it and hug it and love it.

  Frances grinned. ‘What about the lamb?’

  ‘It stays too,’ Solomon said. ‘We have to leave all the other animals here for the moment. I’ll take your four dogs home, Jax, and I’ll feed all of your other dogs. Then I’ll need to check on my horses. But I’ll come back later and shift the rest of this petting zoo to the shelter behind the café.’

  And Jax would sit here, trying to be patient. But what would have happened by the time Solomon got back to the station?

  Twenty minutes later, Jax was alone, still sitting in the OIC office.

  Constable Eddie was in the communal office opposite, monitoring those in custody and generally being around in case he was needed. Edwards was out on High Street, showing a presence in town and keeping an eye out for anything or anyone unusual. Two off-shift officers had come in and kitted up. Just in case, she’d overheard them tell Jimmy.

  Frances was with the Agatha Girls, in the kitchen, tending the puppy and snacking on the brownies Rosie had brought over with the ice-cream sundaes. Frances was safe. Solomon had the dogs. And Jax was twiddling her thumbs.

  She stood, and pulled herself together. Maybe Jimmy would like some company, and that way, she’d be close to hand if anything happened. It would be called in.

  Jack checked his watch. The op detectives would only be halfway to Mt Maria by now. They’d undoubtedly heard the news, but there wasn’t much they could do from where they were. Plus, Jack was still officer in charge of the station.

  ‘What if Bivic turns back?’ Donna asked, breaking the monotony of the silence. ‘He’s got to know the cops are coming at him from both ends. He might turn, not stop at the roadhouse and cruise right by us.’

  ‘We’d see him,’ Jack reasoned, but he knew what Donna meant. There’d be no pursuit. They couldn’t chase him, not with so many civilian vehicles on the GCR; they’d have to let him go, and Jack didn’t have enough officers back at Mt Maria to send out without leaving his town unpoliced.

  ‘It’s at times like this I wish we had use of the Polair chopper,’ Donna said wryly.

  Jack huffed in agreement. There was no chance of that happening though. Out here, they had Police Air Wing aircraft for serious incidents or a rescue chopper for emergencies, but otherwise, they saw it through themselves.

  An idea struck him.

  He handed Donna his personal mobile. ‘Find the number for Zenith Security Management and call them on the sat phone.’

  ‘Detective Senior Sergeant Jack Maxwell,’ he said once he’d been put through to one of the Emergency Services Managers he knew from his time at Kalgirri, where he’d had a hand in generating a new service for unobtrusive surveillance. Stealing something relatively inexpensive from a general workplace might not be viewed as so important by someone working in the corporate world, but on a mine, the cheapest, smallest asset might be critical for operations, and might take some time to replace.

  ‘How are you, Jack?’ the manager asked.

  ‘In need of a spotter, mate. Where’s your chopper?’

  ‘On its way home.’

  Zenith had a base a hundred kilometres east of Lizard Claws and Bob Tail mines and often held meetings in Mt Maria, gathering all the mine site managers. They provided a thorough, complete range of mining site security services and were the main company in this district, supervising security at all eleven mines. Jack would be talking to them again, once all this was over. But for an entirely different reason.

  ‘Couldn’t divert it to do a fly-by over the Great Central Road, could you?’ he asked. ‘East of Empress Roadhouse.’

  ‘That’ll cost you,’ the manager said, with a laugh.

  ‘I’ll owe you one.’

  ‘You bet you will. What are we looking for?’

  ‘What’s happening?’ Jax asked Jimmy, pulling her chair closer to his and to the counter where he was working. She’d been listening to Jack and Louie talk to Jimmy over the sat phones, but something about this communication was more important than the previous, short updates.

  ‘He’s tasked a Zenith Security chopper to take a look-see over the GCR,’ Jimmy told her. ‘He must know someone from the company. Sometimes, if there’s a lost tourist, or a vehicle accident out bush or in the desert, and we can’t get there in under three or four hours, we call in the search and rescue people from the closest mine sites. They don’t always use their aircraft though; sometimes they head out in their four-wheel drives. Depends what type of problem it is.’

  ‘That’s real cooperation, isn’t it?’ Jax said reflectively. She’d read reports in the newspapers about such things when they happened, but hadn’t really thought about it too much because it usually ended happily. Tourists or hikers, even game shooters, got lost regularly. They were found, hospitalised if need be, and Mt Maria went back to doing what it did every day.

  ‘It’s cooperation, all right,’ Jimmy said. ‘It’s all we’ve got.’

  Twenty minutes later, the chopper had informed everyone they’d spotted Bivic’s vehicle. He was driving fast and still heading for Walkertown. The cops at the police facility there were waiting for him.

  Jax was tying her fingers into a knot, so she got up and put on a percolator of coffee. It took its time, the drip of the water and the hum of the hotplate the only sounds, apart from the everyday goings-on outside and the soft chatter from the kitchen.

  She poured coffee for herself and Jimmy and had to admit to feeling enthralled, listening to all this happen in the front office of the police station. It was like being involved in a TV show about detectives and bad guys. About car chases and shootouts. Except this was real.

  ‘Jack!’ Louie said over the radio.

  ‘Go ahead, Louie. Where are you?’

  ‘They’ve got coverage now,’ Jimmy told her as she plonked the mugs down on the counter and sat. ‘It’s radio comms for the moment.’

  ‘I’m about five clicks past the roadhouse,’ Louie said. ‘I can see your chopper in the distance. It was hovering for a while, but now it’s taken off. We should get an update from the pilot soon.’

  ‘He’ll be heading home,’ Jack said. ‘This was a favour; he can’t stay in the air too long. Jimmy, give us an update on traffic.’

  ‘You’ve got roadworks about seventy clicks east of the Empress Roadhouse, boss, and that’s slowing things up a little.’

  ‘That’s what we want—everyone to slow down. We’ll put out another notification on the tourist frequency advising a speed limit of sixty. Where are the other three from the mine?’

  ‘Still at the roadhouse,’ Louie said. ‘I checked with the owners just now. They’re in the café, eating burgers.’

  ‘We’ll pick them up after we’ve got Bivic,’ Jack said. ‘No lights. No sirens, people. Unless it’s necessary.’

  Jax threw herself back in her chair when nothing more was said and it all went unbearably quiet. ‘How often do these officers pull their guns?’ she asked.

  Jimmy patted her hand. ‘Don’t go worrying.’

  ‘How often, Jimmy?’

  ‘Oh, every now and again. Not often. Most of them prefer to talk someone
out of whatever foolishness they’ve got themselves into.’

  ‘But what if the fools don’t respond?’

  Jimmy glanced at her. ‘Then most will use the Taser, if necessary. The likes of Luke, and Jack, well, they’re up for a fight, if necessary. Old school,’ he said, with a grin. ‘I like a bit of old school.’

  Jax smiled back, but her heart had risen in her chest. ‘How often do you think Jack has pulled his gun?’

  ‘Well now,’ Jimmy said, returning his focus to the computer screen. ‘That’s likely a different kettle of fish.’

  Because he was a detective. Because he’d worked so often undercover.

  ‘Jack’s in charge,’ Jimmy said, ‘and all those officers out there know what they’re doing.’ He glanced at her. ‘They’ll take every precaution to ensure their safety. If something goes wrong, it won’t be because of police error. Those officers out there are good. Every one of them. They’re trained. DSS Maxwell will have their backs. Just like they’ll have his.’

  Jax pulled herself up on her chair, picked up her mug and attempted to rid herself of the bad vibe that had just settled on her skin with a shiver, but she didn’t have time to take a sip of her coffee before Louie called in again.

  ‘Empress owners just flagged me,’ Louie said. ‘We’ve got an incident. Bivic didn’t slow down at the roadworks. Overtook stationary vehicles at a Stop sign then had to swerve to miss the digger truck that was backing onto the road. He crashed through a plastic barrier and into a ditch, got out of the vehicle, ran back down the line of stationary cars and yanked out a male driver. He took off with the female passenger. She’s screaming, so Bivic reaches across her, opens her door and pushes her out.’

  Jax was reeling. How could any of this be happening? This was city stuff, not small-town.

  ‘How is she?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Shook up, bruised, but okay.’

  ‘So Bivic’s heading on?’

  ‘No,’ Louie advised. ‘He turned around. He’s heading straight for us.’

  ‘Get back to this side of the roadhouse,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll meet you there. I’m minutes away.’