by Sarah Barrie
He took the slice of melon she offered. He was getting pretty sick of hearing her complain about Ebony, too. ‘It doesn’t work like that. Ebs is contributing as required.’
He figured she caught the impatience in his tone because she smiled warmly. ‘Just worrying about you, that’s all. We don’t get to spend much time together, Lee. I know we talked about keeping things simple. But, well, I think –’
His phone rang.
‘Don’t answer it,’ Fiona begged.
He checked the number – Ebony. He debated, smiled apologetically, then answered.
‘Ebs?’
Fiona’s face curled into a snarl, but he barely had time to process it.
‘Oh, Louise. Why are you – I’m coming.’ He was on his feet in a heartbeat. ‘Sorry, Fiona – emergency.’
He ran fast, covered the ground in large, loping strides. When he hit Ebony’s back gate, he pushed through it, went around the side of the surgery, and reached the front just in time to see Martin charging towards Ebony. He dived between them, shoving Martin hard enough that the mountain took a couple of steps back.
‘Hey – back off!’
‘Mind your own business!’ Martin spat, throwing a big arm in the direction of the doors. ‘She’s hiding that bitch in there and I want to see her.’
‘You’re trespassing. Leave.’
‘I said I want to see her!’
‘No one cares, Martin. Leave.’
A small group of people started to gather. Martin scanned the footpath before returning his gaze to Ebony. ‘I’m not finished with you. I’m gonna make the time you’ve got left a fucking nightmare.’
‘Stop threatening her with that bullshit!’ Lee’s gut churned with hatred. ‘You come near her again and the fucking nightmare will be all yours.’
Martin huffed out a laugh. ‘I’ll take the chance.’
‘You want to take it now?’ Smug bastard. If Martin would just take the first swing, Lee was more than ready to give some back.
Ebony placed a hand on his arm. ‘Lee, don’t.’
Martin smirked. ‘That’s right. Hide behind the skirt, Dalton. While you’ve still got it.’ He laughed, then all but strutted back to his car.
‘He said it again,’ Ebony murmured. ‘He made out Rob’s coming for me.’
‘He’s just trying to scare you.’ He pulled her to him and held her close, as much to calm himself as to comfort her.
Louise ran out of the surgery. ‘You all right, Ebs? Lucky you were close by, Lee.’
‘Lee?’ Fiona wobbled across the gravel car park in her heels, carting a hurriedly packed basket. Her eyes narrowed when she saw him holding Ebony. ‘What’s going on?’
Ebony stepped back. ‘Thanks for coming to the rescue. I hope I didn’t ruin your picnic.’
‘We were pretty much done.’ Then to Fiona, he said, ‘Sorry, Fiona, but I think I’ll hang around here for the afternoon in case Martin comes back. I’ll have to make drinks with your friends another day.’
‘But I told them you’d fix – all right.’
Lee bit back his annoyance – was she disappointed about not spending the afternoon with him, or cross he wasn’t going to fix whatever it was she’d volunteered him for this time? He took the basket to her car to load it in.
‘Sorry, Fiona,’ Ebony said.
‘Are you?’
Lee turned around, his face incredulous.
Fiona’s turned sympathetic and she patted Ebony on the arm. ‘Well, you don’t need to be. You’ve obviously had a terrible scare.’
Okay, his temper was up because of Martin. He’d misinterpreted Fiona’s words, that’s all.
Fiona came over and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Thanks for the picnic.’
‘Thank you for bringing it. I’ll give you a call – reschedule those drinks.’
CHAPTER
7
Ebony’s nose screwed up in disgust. It relaxed as she fell back into the dream, then screwed up again. With every waft of air through the window she was that bit more awake – and aware of the odour. Eventually her eyes opened and consciousness sank in. She sat up, gagged, struggled from underneath the covers and, holding her nose and her breath and squinting against the noxious stench, peeked out the window. She couldn’t see a thing. The bins had been emptied just before dawn – she remembered the trucks had been excessively noisy. Had something disgusting been left behind? The stink seemed too volatile, even for a bag of forgotten garbage.
She pulled on her robe and went downstairs to track the smell, even as she wanted to avoid it. It wasn’t as bad there, so it had to be coming from outside. She peeked into her holding room and the animals within were already stirring, wanting breakfast and attention. She spoke to them briefly, but knew she had to find the source of the stench.
She continued down the hall and into reception, where she stopped in her tracks.
‘Oh my god.’
SLUT
It was smeared in red across the glass doors at the front of the surgery. A pile of animal corpses lay twisted and disembowelled on the ground beneath it. Flies were already gathering on the foetid mess.
She fought back the shock, the upset, and tried to think. The obvious answer was Martin.
Forcing herself to move closer, she took a better look. Could anything still be alive in there? No, the corpses were all well into various stages of decomposition. Roadkill, she suspected, mostly roos. But he must have driven miles to find all this – even on a good night.
She blinked back tears – a just reaction, she told herself. She needed to get rid of the mess. In a couple of hours, Carla and Louise would need to get through. But she couldn’t even get out the doors. She’d have to go round the back.
She fetched garbage bags and gloves. There had to be a shovel next door in the construction zone. That might help.
She was struggling with her third wallaby carcass when Lee’s car swung in. The sight of a tiny joey still in the wallaby’s pouch brought tears to her eyes – whoever hit her hadn’t stopped to check. She dumped the bag with the others, adjusted her gloves, then grabbed another bag and shook it open.
‘What the hell? Ebs, stop!’
She shook her head, picked up part of a rabbit. She needed to get this done.
‘Hey.’ Lee reached for her but she quickly stepped away and shook her head.
‘Don’t do it,’ she warned, ‘you’ll smell revolting all day.’
‘Okay, but you have to stop. We need to report this. The police will want photographs, evidence.’
‘For what? They won’t be able to do anything. It’s just a mess.’ The most annoying part about the odd tear that managed to escape was that she couldn’t swipe at them.
‘Tell me what happened,’ he demanded gently.
‘I thought the garbage truck was loud this morning – but I’m guessing it was Martin. I woke up to the smell, found this.’
As she spoke he pulled out his phone and dialled a number. She waited while he talked to the police.
‘Let me deal with this,’ he offered when he hung up.
‘I need to finish. I can do this. It’s just a mess. I won’t let him get to me.’
‘I know you can. I know you can handle it. But it’s not just a mess, it’s vandalism. It’s intimidation, it’s –’ When she picked up another wallaby by the tail and its maggot-infested innards oozed, he gagged. ‘Disgusting. Jeez. The police will be here soon. Stop destroying the crime scene and go inside and shower.’
She hesitated. ‘I have clients who won’t be able to get in the door.’
‘This needs to be dealt with properly. You don’t want Martin thinking he can get away with this, do you?’
‘No.’
‘It’s only just gone seven. We have time. I’ll deal with it.’
Reluctantly, she did as he suggested. More reluctantly, as she stepped in the shower, she admitted it was a relief to hand the responsibility over. She let the tears roll down her face as she put her
head under the spray. An understandable reaction, she reminded herself. She could have handled it. Would have handled it. Like she’d handled everything else since Rob had held that knife at her throat.
It had been important when she came to town that she showed everyone she wasn’t the pampered princess so many people in Sydney had considered her to be. Everyone had assumed she would fail, give up, quit. That she would run home. But she’d stuck, even in the worst of circumstances. She was proud of that, proud of herself. She wasn’t about to let another dramatic display of Martin’s intimidation tactics threaten all her hard work.
When she was sure she was clean and had her emotions back under control, she made Lee a coffee and put her last macadamia cookie on a little plate for him. She figured it was the least she could do.
The police arrived just before nine, spent half an hour taking photos and looking for prints. Carla rescheduled appointments, and Lee fired up the bobcat he had parked on the construction site and did a good job of collecting the majority of the mess, before they worked side by side, armed with boots, gloves and masks, cleaning up the rest until there was little sign it had ever existed. The surgery was only two hours late in opening.
Ebony stared at the blimp that was Gertie Porter’s cocker spaniel in disbelief. The morning’s clean-up had not only shaken her, it had put her behind, and she’d hoped her only house call of the day would be easy – she just didn’t feel up to any more dramas today. The dog was a no brainer, but his owner was going to take some time, some work. Ebony wasn’t sure she had it in her. Franklin had been obese last time she’d seen him, but this was diabolical. No wonder Gertie had requested a house call, there was no way the old woman would have been able to lift him, and he wasn’t climbing into the car on his own.
‘He just won’t eat,’ Gertie was complaining. ‘Even when I give him his favourite eye fillet steak.’
Ebony nodded slowly as she examined him. ‘It could be any number of problems. But realistically –’
‘I think it’s a stomach tumour,’ Gertie said, wringing her hands.
‘It’s not a – it’s probably not anything that disastrous,’ Ebony reassured her, struggling to hold on to her patience. ‘Mrs Porter, it looks to me like Franklin is simply obese to the point where he just can’t carry his weight around, especially on his old joints.’
She sniffed. ‘A bit of extra weight won’t hurt him. I just want to spoil him. He’s been so good to me since my Frank died. I named him after my husband, you know.’
‘That’s nice, but you need to understand that other than his joint issues, overweight dogs are more prone to conditions like cardiovascular disease, liver disease and diabetes. They have a shorter life span and poorer quality of life. You need to get some weight off this dog.’
‘I’m hardly about to starve my poor boy.’
Ebony took a calming breath and willed herself not to snap. ‘I’m not suggesting starvation. But you will need to drastically reduce his intake. I can give you some special food.’
Gertie’s nose went up in the air. ‘Well, he won’t eat it. He doesn’t like dog food.’
‘Perhaps if he has a chance to get hungry he might. These biscuits I can give you are the best thing for him. He can still have small amounts of other food he likes.’
‘But I’m a pensioner. I can’t afford fancy biscuits!’
Gertie was getting upset, and Ebony recognised her own tone as too sharp, so she spoke as kindly as she could. ‘You’re feeding him eye fillet steak, Mrs Porter. I think you’ll find the cost comparatively reasonable.’
‘Are you sure it’s not a tumour?’
‘Let me do some tests. I’ll take him back to the surgery with me, bring him home to you tonight.’
Which was great in theory, but lifting him into the car was another matter. Franklin snapped when she got her arms around him, wriggled and squirmed, making it almost impossible to get him in the car. In the end she’d dropped him, sending him catapulting into the back, before nervously checking Gertie hadn’t witnessed the rough landing. ‘Sorry, Franklin,’ she whispered, securing him. ‘But this is for your own good.’
Franklin was hardly the first overweight dog she’d seen, but he was certainly the biggest. And the noisiest. He whined as she headed down the street. It turned into a howl by the time she was halfway down the next. She tried the radio. It made him worse. She caught the fuel tank warning light in the corner of her eye as she glanced down at the radio. Damn it! She needed to fill her tank. In a hurry.
She pulled into the petrol station, climbed out of the car, slammed the door.
‘Afternoon, Ebs.’
‘Hi, Clint.’ She gave the old man an affectionate kiss on his wrinkly cheek. Lee’s father was one of her favourite people – just seeing him made her feel slightly better. ‘You’re looking good.’
He gave his round belly a pat. ‘Fit as a fiddle. Haven’t seen you for a week.’
‘Sounds about right. I’m surprised the car didn’t limp in, gasping.’
Clint began filling the car for her and Frank howled again. ‘Got a patient with you, eh?’ He shaded his eyes and took a look in the back. ‘What is it, a walrus?’
‘A singing cocker spaniel.’
‘Either it’s got a really bad case of gas or it’s gone and swallowed a small planet.’
‘Two diagnoses worth considering.’
When the car was filled she followed Clint into the shop to pay. The counter was the only clear space, and behind it was a desk that overflowed with papers, coffee cups, pens and an old computer. Sitting on the edge was a small television. A fishing show was turned down.
‘You okay, love? Seem a bit out of sorts.’
‘Yeah, just a … shitty day.’ Ebony paid with her card. ‘Are you doing much fishing?’
‘Wasn’t so much fun without having Gus to come with me. But Lee’s come out with me a few times and I’ve got another mate who’s been coming out too lately. Retired and never done any fishing before, reckons he was never interested enough. One trip on the river and he’s hooked. Converted after nearly seventy years. Can you believe it?’ An ad came on the television and diverted Clint’s attention. It was selling some kind of lure and a plethora of bonus items. ‘You’d catch some fish with one of those I reckon.’
‘You should get one.’
‘Nah. They don’t have them in the shops. And I’m not giving out my credit card details to some faceless internet person. Never know where they’ll end up. Buy a fishing lure over here, next thing, some international scam artist is buying six-hundred-dollar shoes and paying off his kid’s education outta my hard-earned money. I’ll live without it.’
Ebony noted the wishful expression on his face. ‘You fish too well to need fancy gadgets anyway.’
‘You make time to come and see me. I’ve got a ripper lot of fish in the freezer.’
‘I’ll do that. I’d better get back.’ She leant over the counter and kissed his cheek again. ‘Bye.’
Lee finished his conversation and dropped the phone on the dash. ‘Ben agrees that Martin could really be telling the truth about Rob coming back for Ebony,’ he told Cam as they made their way home from their current worksite. ‘He reckons it fits his profile to be holding a grudge against Ebs because he didn’t finish her off. He’s going to come out here and question Martin over it.’
‘For once I hope that bastard is lying. I wouldn’t mind bailing him up myself, getting my own answers.’
‘This is where I’m not sure if I wish I was still a cop or whether I’ll get away with more not being one.’
‘I wonder if the police from Mudgee have been out to speak to Martin about this latest stunt yet?’
‘If they have, Ebs will probably know.’
‘We’re about to find out.’ Cam pulled into the surgery car park.
Inside, Ebony was chatting to a client. ‘Yes, Mrs Henderson, they’re all doing really well. Just tell their new owners to make sure they come back for t
heir second vaccinations.’
Lee saw moggy kittens sitting in a carry cage on the desk. He waited with Cam while Ebony politely shepherded Mrs Henderson out the door.
‘Hey,’ she said, ‘I didn’t expect you two this afternoon.’
‘We wanted to know how you got on. Have the police been back?’
‘They called.’
Carla appeared with Franklin in tow and Lee couldn’t help but laugh. ‘What is that?’
Ebony grinned. ‘That is Franklin Porter.’
Cam frowned. ‘He’s changed a bit. Used to wear his pants too high and manage the RSL, didn’t he?’
‘Right – this is his namesake. Louise was supposed to be taking him home. Carla – what happened to Louise?’
‘I’m not sure. Fatso here was just wandering around the lunchroom.’
‘I’ll hazard a guess she’s been eaten,’ Lee said.
‘I’m here.’ Louise came rushing in with a bag of dog food under one arm. ‘Sorry, he chewed through his lead while I was in the storeroom looking for the biscuits. I’ll take him now.’
Cam sat on one of the waiting room chairs and made himself comfortable. ‘So what did the cops say?’
Ebony dropped heavily into another seat. ‘Martin claims he was working all night. He knows nothing about it. He checked in for his security rounds at the mine at ten, and out again at six.’
‘He could have driven around all night picking up dead things – everyone would just assume he was patrolling.’
‘Apparently the ute looks clean – but even if they found anything it would be hard to prove much, since he’s had that many pigs and rabbits and things in it. It really doesn’t sound like the cops are going to invest any more time into it.’
She looked too small for all this, Lee thought. Too young and lovely and in need of care. He knew it wasn’t true. She managed a challenging business, the animals, the clients, the night call-outs, the staff, the living alone – she was nothing if not capable. She was even handling Martin. But it didn’t change the fact that Martin was a scary son of a bitch – even for a man like him, with years of policing in some of the toughest areas of Sydney, and a hell of a lot more experience with scum under his belt.