Shadows of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘I was about to call when I spotted you coming. We’ve got an emergency.’

  Ebony handed Joxer to Carla and raced inside.

  The Maltese terrier was salivating badly and breathing noisily. ‘What happened?’

  ‘He went all wobbly, wouldn’t eat. Then he just collapsed.’

  ‘Look for a tick,’ Ebony ordered Louise, as she lifted the dog’s lips to check its gums. They were cold and pale.

  ‘Surely it’s not a tick,’ Louise argued. ‘What about the possibility of a heart con–’

  ‘Let me worry about that,’ Ebony snapped as she ran her fingers through his coat. Carla reappeared and Ebony glanced up. ‘Set up an IV, have the anti-serum on standby.’

  Louise frowned. ‘But everyone has access to tick prevention these days. It’s so simple. Why would dogs still get ticks? What if it’s –’

  ‘Got one.’ Ebony removed a large blue tick from inside the dog’s cheek. ‘Louise, keep checking in case there are any others.’ She did a quick examination of his condition and turned to the dog’s owners. ‘Kylie, Luke,’ she began as sympathetically as she could. ‘I’m going to be honest: this doesn’t look good. Once it reaches this point it can be very difficult to bring them back. We can try, if you like. But you need to realise it’s expensive and I can’t give you very good odds.’

  ‘Is there actually any question?’ Louise snapped.

  Ebony’s patience ran out. Her head shot up. ‘Go.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I said go. Get out. Now. Deal with the other clients as they come in and keep your opinions to yourself.’

  ‘Please try to save him. It doesn’t matter what it costs,’ Kylie said with a tearful glare at Louise. Louise turned and stormed out.

  ‘I am so sorry about that,’ Ebony said as she worked with Carla. She seemed to be apologising to clients a lot for Louise’s behaviour. Enough was enough.

  ‘We had the spot-on prevention on him. But he swims every day in the dam. It just occurred to Luke it might not work with all that swimming. And he was due for another dose. A bit overdue, I think. We shouldn’t have left him. We went away for the weekend. The neighbours were feeding him for us but he’s a bit shy of other people – doesn’t really come out to eat until they leave, so they didn’t realise.’ She stroked the dog’s face, tears dripping down her cheeks. From what Ebony could see, Luke wasn’t far off losing it either.

  ‘Please don’t blame yourselves. We’ll do what we can. Luke, why don’t you go into the lunchroom and make Kylie a cup of tea?’

  He nodded, drew his partner away.

  Ebony worked on the dog all morning, did everything she could, but his heart couldn’t cope and despite desperate efforts, she couldn’t save him.

  ‘It was just too late,’ Carla reminded her. ‘There wasn’t anything you could do.’

  ‘I know, but damn it. I don’t have to like it.’ She gently stroked the lifeless dog’s face. ‘Sorry, mate.’

  She leant her arms on the table and took a big defeated breath. ‘I’ll go and tell them. They’ll want to come in and say goodbye. Could you clean him up for them?’

  ‘Sure.’

  Kylie was inconsolable. Ebony wrapped the dog up for them to take home and bury under his favourite tree. Carla assured them the bill would wait and helped them out the door.

  As soon as they drove out of sight, Ebony’s temper snapped. She looked in the other consult room, but Louise wasn’t there, so she stormed into the lunchroom and found her.

  ‘What the hell was that?’

  ‘What was what?’

  ‘Don’t be dense, Louise. I have two clearly upset owners in my surgery desperate to save their dog’s life and you start lecturing them about tick prevention?’

  Louise’s expression closed up. ‘Well, obviously they needed to be told.’

  ‘They did what they could.’

  ‘And the dog died because they didn’t do it properly. The poor thing.’

  Ebony hadn’t wanted to slap someone so much in as long as she could remember. ‘You need to go away – a long way away – until I calm down. This behaviour will be reflected on that reference you wanted.’

  ‘Under what heading? Teaching responsible pet ownership?’

  ‘For God’s sake, Louise! There is a time and a place! How can you have so much empathy for animals and be so absolutely devoid of any for human beings?’

  Louise got to her feet, her voice rising to match Ebony’s. ‘Animals don’t have a say. They don’t get to decide. It’s up to their owners to take proper care of them. I guess they’ve learnt their lesson now.’

  ‘Did you really just say that?’

  ‘Don’t you get the least bit mad? Doesn’t it annoy you at all when animals suffer because of negligence?’

  ‘If you’re in the middle of a veterinary emergency and you’re worrying about what an owner has or hasn’t been doing, you’re not giving the animal one hundred per cent of your attention. In my opinion, Louise, that constitutes negligence.’

  ‘Whatever.’ She strode past Ebony, kept going through the front doors and down the road.

  ‘And off she goes. Are you going to let her come back?’ Carla asked.

  ‘I don’t know. I just can’t get through to her.’

  ‘That poor couple.’

  Ebony rubbed her fingers over her forehead. ‘I know.’

  ‘Did we have another emergency last night?’

  ‘No, why?’

  ‘You look tired and you said you didn’t get your run in.’

  ‘Yeah, right. There was a prowler around.’

  Carla’s eyes widened. ‘A prowler? Did you see who?’

  ‘No.’ Ebony told her the story. ‘Cam and Lee are going to run through the security footage shortly.’

  ‘A prowler in Hunters Ridge. Who’d have thought? Must be one of those new residents. No locals would act like that.’

  ‘You wouldn’t think so.’

  ‘Sometimes I wonder if this town will ever be the same again.’

  ‘Ebs.’ Cam came in and gave her a hug. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Yeah – how did you – oh, last night, of course. I’m fine.’

  ‘Was there something else?’

  ‘Just a sad morning, never mind.’

  ‘Lee and I thought we’d head up to your apartment and take a look at the footage on your computer so we’re not in the way down here. That okay?’

  ‘Yeah, thanks.’

  The doors opened and two children raced in, fighting over a lead belonging to a spotty piglet.

  ‘This will be Wilbur coming in for his vaccination.’

  ‘I’ll get set up,’ Carla said. Ebony forced a smile onto her face and got on with her next patient.

  ‘Cocky son of a bitch just walked straight across the road and stared up at the camera,’ Cam told her when she went to check on the men at her first opportunity. ‘But he didn’t follow you around the back – watch: he walks away.’

  It came up on screen. The man appeared, looked up, stared. Walked back towards the road. Ebony shuddered as the memory replayed in her head.

  ‘Ben asked us to send him a copy of this.’ Lee put a supportive hand on her shoulder. ‘He’s taking it seriously, Ebs. Organising a patrol car to hang around town for the next couple of nights to keep an eye on the street.’

  With a casual dip of her shoulder, she stepped away from the contact. ‘That’s good of him.’

  Lee’s eyes narrowed at the move. ‘He’s going to give you a contact for the patrol car. If you see him again and they’re not there, you need to call them.’

  ‘Will do.’

  ‘Where is she?’ Ally came through the door and charged across the room to give Ebony a hug. ‘Cam told me what happened. How are you? Do you have time for a cuppa?’

  Ebony checked her watch. ‘About seven and a half minutes, if I’m lucky.’

  Ally immediately moved around the bench and into the kitchen to fill the kettle. ‘You b
oys staying?’

  ‘No, we have stuff to do.’ Cam kissed his wife. ‘Lovely to see you. Ready, Lee?’

  Lee nodded. ‘Bye, Ally.’ His eyes moved to Ebony. ‘Talk to you later.’

  She sent him the briefest of smiles before taking the coffee down from the cupboard.

  ‘So tell me everything,’ Ally demanded.

  ‘Anyway,’ Ebony said when she’d finished relating the night’s events, ‘it wasn’t that he was on the street wearing a stupid mask, it was his whole demeanour. The way he deliberately lifted his head and stared at me. The fact he’s been there repeatedly, and I hadn’t known he was wearing it.’

  ‘I don’t think you overreacted at all. I would have lost it for sure. And as for Fiona, you should tell Lee. She has no right to carry on like that.’

  ‘No, I don’t think I should.’ A message came through on her phone and she checked it.

  ‘Share.’ Ally demanded.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘I know that “uh oh” look. What’s the text say?’

  ‘It’s from Nick.’ Ally’s face was blank. ‘The guy who bailed Martin up for me at the café.’

  ‘Oh, that guy. He sounded rather heroic.’

  ‘Yeah. It was a nice gesture.’

  ‘And the text?’

  ‘Turns out he’s a vet working at the new wildlife park. He wanted my number for a meet up and chat, and I couldn’t come up with a reason why not, so I gave it to him.’

  Ally’s brows went up and a smile slid across her face. ‘When?’

  ‘He’s suggesting tomorrow.’

  ‘So tell him you’ll be there. Is he cute?’

  ‘Yeah, I guess. He’s nice and he’s cute. But –’

  ‘So you should go. Have a coffee with a new friend. It’ll do you good.’

  Maybe it would. Hadn’t she decided she needed to take her mind off Lee? ‘You’re right. Probably. Is Mia still coming up on Friday?’

  ‘You’re looking for man advice from Mia?’

  ‘No, sorry – subject change. She mentioned something about gardening at the cottage with her. There were some nice pots of annuals at the nursery and I thought if she was still coming I’d pick some up.’

  ‘She’ll be here, so yes, gardening for sure. Unless you end up being busy with a tall, heroic stranger.’

  Ebony grinned. ‘Unless that.’

  CHAPTER

  12

  He was waiting for her on the street: tall and blond and handsome and obviously pleased to see her. She wished she could work up more enthusiasm. Maybe she just needed to inject some effort into it. She ordered a caramel latte and began chatting, gradually relaxed. ‘So you’re working at the wildlife park – that’s cool.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s okay. It’s only part time, which isn’t so great, but I like working with the animals.’

  ‘What do you do?’

  ‘General healthcare of the animals with some study thrown in. My interest is in wild animal psychology. I did my thesis on social structure in wild elephant herds.’

  ‘That’s where you’re from, right? South Africa?’ She’d guessed from the accent.

  ‘Yes, though I’ve applied for a permanent visa. My dad recently remarried and moved to Sydney so I came here to visit and loved it. I don’t like the cities so much, though – I’m a bit of a country boy at heart. I’m still trying to find where I fit, I guess you could say.’

  ‘How did you end up out here?’

  ‘I came out to camp with my dad’s stepsons. They like the Goulburn River. It’s beautiful out here – and not too far from the family. I met the owners of the wildlife park, got to talking and was offered some work.’

  ‘It must be a lot different to working in South Africa. What’s it like over there?’

  Nick was easy to talk to and it was interesting to hear about his work in Africa, so Ebony stayed longer than she’d planned, until a check of her watch told her she had to be back at the surgery.

  ‘I’m going to have to go – my lunch break is well and truly over.’ ‘That’s okay. We’ll just have to do it again soon.’

  Maybe. Nick might not give her the kick to her equilibrium Lee did, but he was nice to talk to, and it was a balm to her burned feelings to have a good-looking guy interested in spending time with her. So she’d give it some thought.

  She rushed back to the surgery. ‘Sorry, Carla, I know I’m late.’

  ‘No problem, one desexing won’t take long. It’s all set up. And, ah … there’s someone here to see you.’ Carla indicated to the lunchroom.

  Louise got to her feet when Ebony walked in, and smiled bravely. ‘Hi, Ebony. Ah … Can I talk to you?’

  ‘All right. I have five minutes.’ She remained standing, propping herself against the bench, and waited silently, arms folded.

  Louise played with her fingers, went to sit, changed her mind. ‘I want to apologise. I realise I need to be more tactful. I let my emotions get in the way. I knew I’d be dealing with things like that but I hate that side of it. When you grow up wanting to be a vet you think of puppies and kittens, and you play with stuffed toys and bandaids and bandages. Sure, you grow up and go to uni and you know all that’s unrealistic, but I didn’t know there’d be so many of the bad things. I didn’t count on so many preventable problems.’

  ‘Louise, clients don’t have years of training dedicated to understanding every issue that can arise and how to recognise it. If they did, you wouldn’t have a job. You have to remember anyone who brings an animal to see a vet is trying to do the right thing. They’re seeking professional advice for their pet and they’re willing to pay for it. You shouldn’t make people feel bad for asking for help.’

  ‘I know that. I do. And I am sorry. Really.’

  ‘I believe that you are,’ Ebony said slowly, ‘but I’m just not sure this is the right job for you.’

  With a miserable nod, Louise walked to the door, turned back. ‘I had a puppy once. I’d never been allowed to have one growing up and so when I turned seventeen and moved out of home, I went straight to a pet shop and bought one. He was a black and white border collie. I named him Shadow. I took him everywhere.

  When he was almost a year old I took him to the beach like I always did when my friends and I were down there. There was another dog, a mean old mongrel that I was worried would attack Shadow. I put Shadow in the car until the guy left with the dog, sat down, had a drink with my friends, and another, and another. I forgot. I forgot he was in that hot car for over an hour. When I remembered he was in there I went to get him, but he was already dead. Heat exhaustion. He’d died so horribly, while I’d been drinking on the beach. I can’t forgive myself for that. Not even now. Probably won’t ever. ‘When I see people making mistakes, I get so angry, I want to shake them and yell at them and stop them being as stupid as I was. But it’s not because I don’t have empathy for them, it’s because I do, and I don’t want to feel what they’re going through. Because I still do, with every preventable death that walks through the door.’

  The pain and the guilt so evident in Louise’s voice left Ebony in no doubt she was sincere. ‘I’m sorry, Louise. That would have been horrible. But you’re going to have to come to terms with it if you’re going to help other people.’

  ‘I know. But if you kick me out, I’ll never get another position. Please let me come back? I’ll do better.’

  Ebony sighed, weighing it up. ‘Last chance, Louise. I mean it.’

  She nodded. ‘Thanks. I’ll go get changed.’

  As she dashed out the door, Carla appeared in it. ‘I couldn’t help but overhear. I hope she pulls it together this time.’

  ‘So do I.’

  The Mediterranean theme she had in the backyard suited the increasingly balmy weather. The spring flowers were coming out in a riot of colour, her olive trees seemed to have grown another foot, and the wisteria on the back fence was divine. She only had a small space to garden in, but she was making the most of it. She studied the colour of the
leaves on her date palm. They were looking a bit tragic – maybe she should fertilise.

  She sang along to a playlist on her iPhone while she watered the potted plants on her back veranda in a vain attempt to lift her mood – with everything going on at the moment she was feeling too damn vulnerable, and being tired just brought it all to the forefront of her mind. Martin was targeting her, Rob was very likely coming back for her, Louise was a constant strain, work was endless and Fiona hated her. There was one more, she reminded herself. She was jealous as hell, and unreasonably angry with Lee. It wasn’t fair to blame Lee for Fiona’s actions, wasn’t logical to hold it against him. And why shouldn’t he kiss his own girlfriend in his own house?

  Screw them. All of them. She’d take this afternoon – just this afternoon – to herself. She’d wallow in as much self-pity as she wanted and tomorrow she’d pick herself up and get back on with it. Get back on with pretending Martin and Rob didn’t scare her to death, with whipping Louise into shape, with ignoring Fiona and with pretending she wasn’t in love with Lee.

  She turned the hose onto a pot of purple and gold violas just as Lee came around the corner. He was freshly showered, hair damp, dressed in a nice pair of pants and collared shirt. Her heart gave a little lurch. He had no business rocking up looking like that when she was untidy and dirty from the garden. She hadn’t seen him for the last couple of days. It felt like weeks.

  ‘Hi, you want to head down to the inn? Linda’s doing a birthday thing for George.’

  Which reminded her Clint’s birthday was around the corner. And she hadn’t caught up with Lee’s sister Linda and her husband George for a good couple of weeks. But she was in no mood to sit and chat and have a couple of casual drinks and if Lee didn’t leave very, very soon, she’d likely break down in front of him. The tears were too close.

  She shook her head. ‘Not today. Thanks anyway.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I don’t feel like it,’ she said, ‘but thanks.’ She went back to her watering, but instead of leaving, Lee turned the hose off – so she’d pay more attention, she supposed.