Shadows of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘You think you could tear your eyes away from the flowers for two seconds?’

  Left with little choice, she did. Deep breath, deep breath. ‘What’s the big deal? Take Fiona. You have a girlfriend for that sort of thing.’

  The slight frown became a definite scowl. ‘I also have friends. Fiona’s not into family events and besides, Linda asked if you could make it.’

  Why couldn’t he just take no for an answer while she still had some pride left? ‘Just tell her thanks but I’m not feeling myself.’

  ‘You’re not acting yourself, that’s for sure.’

  ‘I’ll call in tomorrow. I’m sure they won’t mind. Can you turn the hose back on, please?’

  After a few seconds’ hesitation, he did as she asked. And walked away.

  Damn it. She closed her eyes on tears just starting to well. Why did he have to make such a big deal out of it? Couldn’t he just say, ‘Sure, maybe some other time?’ Or, ‘No worries, see you later’? No, he was always expecting her to fall in with his plans, thinking she’d drop everything.

  And that wasn’t fair. Or completely accurate. She knew it was her attitude that had caused that. He’d proven so many times how well he could read her and he could tell something was bothering her.

  She stopped drowning the pots and turned the hose off again, dropping the nozzle carelessly on the ground to swipe at her eyes. She was doing a really shitty job of distancing herself – was beginning to doubt she could do it at all. Not if they were going to remain friends at the end of it.

  Lee arrived at Ebony’s surgery at eight the next morning with a ute-load of security cameras and equipment. He’d wanted to catch Ebony before clients started appearing, talk to her about yesterday. But Carla came out, started unloading boxes just inside the door.

  ‘This place is going to be more secure than a maximum security prison,’ she told him. ‘How many boxes of those things have you got?’

  ‘Not enough. But Cam will be here any minute with more. We want security cameras and sensor lights right round both buildings. Ebs around?’

  ‘Upstairs. Are you looking for a coffee?’

  ‘Wouldn’t mind.’ He helped unload the rest of the boxes and followed Carla into the lunchroom. A dog was yapping from down the corridor, and the radio was chattering with the breakfast crew. The scent of coffee already brewing was on the air. When the phone rang and Carla excused herself to answer it, he helped himself to a cup.

  Ebony burst in. Stopped in her tracks. He didn’t miss the discomfort on her face. ‘Lee. Hi.’

  ‘Hi yourself. Were you charging in here for one of these?’

  She nodded, approached the bench he was leaning on to pull down a mug. ‘My machine upstairs wouldn’t turn on this morning.’ She made her coffee and moved away. ‘I didn’t realise you were coming in.’

  ‘Security cameras arrived. Cam and I thought we’d get started on putting them up.’

  Carla appeared. ‘Ebs, that was Mrs Harmer asking if you’d decided to run the puppy preschool classes you’d talked to her about. She really doesn’t want to have to drive all the way in to Mudgee for the ones running there.’

  He watched Ebony pull the corner of her lip into her mouth as she thought about it. ‘I should. There’s been a lot of interest. I just don’t know when.’ She raked her fingers through her hair, effectively messing up her neat ponytail. ‘I suppose I could fit a class in on Tuesday nights …’

  The last thing Ebony needed was something else on her plate, but Lee knew she’d do it. She just wouldn’t be able to say no. ‘Louise should do it.’

  Both women looked at him. Ebony frowned. ‘Louise? Why?’

  ‘Because she works here, she’s a vet and she needs to be more involved with clients as well as their pets.’

  ‘But she’s hopeless with clients.’

  ‘And like she told you the other day, she’s here to learn not just pick up the slack.’

  ‘Lee could have a point, you know,’ Carla agreed. ‘She’d be in her element telling people how to look after their dogs.’

  ‘I’m not sure she knows the first thing about training puppies. There’s a lot of basic obedience to cover as well as –’

  ‘Ask her,’ Lee suggested as Cam walked in. Damn, he wasn’t going to get a chance to talk to Ebs about yesterday after all.

  ‘Morning. Yes please.’ Cam looked hopefully at the coffee pot and Ebony grinned and made him a cup.

  ‘I hear you have my security cameras,’ Ebony said, handing it to him and kissing his cheek. ‘Thanks. I feel safer already.’

  ‘Welcome. Oh – Ally asked if you have a chance, can you head out there later? Doesn’t matter what time. Old Violet has a sore eye or something.’

  Ally looked at Carla for schedule information.

  ‘It’s going to have to be on your time, we’re fully booked for consults. No surgery today, though.’

  ‘I’ll race out at lunchtime then.’

  ‘Morning all.’ Louise dumped her lunch in the fridge. ‘You want me to walk Joxer?’

  ‘Already done,’ Ebony replied.

  ‘Right. I’ll go –’

  ‘Hold on.’ Ebony looked at Lee with a thoughtful expression before turning it on Louise. ‘I have a proposal I’d like to run past you. I’m going to start a few puppy preschool classes that will run over the warmer months. We’ve got so many pups coming in and someone asked about one the other day. If I do that, I think you should run them. That’ll give you a chance to work with people to educate them about how to look after their new family members.’

  Louise’s eyes widened. ‘Yes! I’d love that.’

  ‘The classes would run after hours once or twice a week, depending on demand.’

  ‘I’ll do it. When will we start? Do we have flyers? Can I use the client list to email out info?’

  ‘We’ll start when we have a full class booked, no, we don’t, and yes, you can.’

  ‘I should make up a flyer –’

  ‘Hold your horses. Computer’s rebooting. It just spat the dummy again,’ Carla said.

  ‘That’s okay, I’ll start working on the program.’

  Louise disappeared back into the other room.

  ‘That was nice of you,’ Cam commented.

  ‘It was Lee’s idea.’ Ebony shook her head. ‘I hope this is the right decision.’

  ‘Louise lecturing a captive audience on responsible pet ownership? She’ll be in her element.’

  ‘I just hope she doesn’t scare them off.’

  Ebony ran a line of ointment along the inside of Violet’s eyelid. ‘There you go, old girl, that’ll help.’ Screwing the lid back on, she handed the tube to Ally. ‘You’ll need to keep that up for a few days.’

  ‘Will do.’ Ally gave the horse a pat and removed her halter. ‘So how did coffee with Nick go?’

  ‘Okay. He’s nice.’

  ‘You keep using that word. Just … nice?’ Ally asked, opening the gate to let Ebony through.

  ‘Very nice?’

  ‘I want to meet him. Bring him next Friday night.’

  ‘Ah, hmm. If I talk to him again before that, maybe.’

  ‘Or not, if it’ll make you uncomfortable. It was just a suggestion. How’d you go with Louise?’

  ‘At Lee’s suggestion I offered to let her run those puppy preschool classes. I’ve never seen her so enthusiastic.’

  ‘I think she’ll be fine. How’s everything else going? No more masked men?’

  ‘Nope. Not that I’ve seen and believe me, I’ve been checking about a thousand times a night. And no more cigarette butts have been turning up around the place. Ben’s had patrols coming through – maybe that’s scared him off.’

  ‘And you really don’t think it was Martin?’

  ‘This guy wasn’t as big as Martin and the beard would be pretty hard to disguise – it wouldn’t have fit under the mask. Ben’s pretty sure from the tape it’s not him.’

  ‘Ebs, would you consider moving in w
ith Cam and me for a while?’

  ‘That’s not practical. I have to be at the surgery.’

  ‘You can’t live with that kind of stress. How can you sleep at night if you’re checking the windows all the time? You work your arse off, you need to be able to sleep.’

  Ebony put her things in the car and shut the door. ‘I’m fine, honestly.’

  A glossy chestnut horse in the next yard whinnied and leapt, spun, tossed her head. Ally laughed. ‘Settle, Red.’

  ‘She’s so gorgeous,’ Ebony said.

  ‘She’s Magna’s daughter – of course she’s gorgeous.’

  Ebony smiled to herself at the dopey look on Ally’s face. ‘You were going to break her in soon, weren’t you?’

  ‘She’ll be mature enough in a few more months.’ They watched her gallop around in a circle, whinny again. ‘Something’s got her stirred up. Oh, it’s the girls.’

  Two girls cantered into view, one doubling the other on a little brown horse. Ebony recognised Lucy on her pony, Coco. The girl on the back, around the same preteen age, slid quickly to the ground.

  ‘Ally, Simba ran into the old military range.’

  ‘He threw you?’ Ally asked the young girl. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine. A stupid goanna ran up a tree and Simba got a fright and bolted. The gates were open to the military range and he ran in there. We thought we’d better come get you. He crashed into the gate when he took off. He could be hurt. I don’t want to leave him out there too long. What if we can’t find him?’ Panic was creeping into the young girl’s tone and Ally put a hand on her shoulder.

  ‘He’ll be fine, we’ll get him. It’s all fenced in there so he shouldn’t be too hard to find.’

  ‘I’ll take the car to the entrance,’ Ebony said. ‘If he is hurt I’ll have my gear on standby.’

  ‘Lucy, lend me Coco,’ Ally said. ‘In case I have to go bush looking for him.’

  Lucy dismounted and Ally swung fluidly into the saddle.

  ‘I’ll meet you over there,’ she told Ebony, and moved the horse off in an easy canter.

  When Ebony arrived at the gate to the military grounds, Ally had dismounted and was waiting.

  ‘Looks like someone’s cut the lock,’ she said.

  Ebony looked around. ‘I hate this place.’

  ‘I’m not fond of it either, but from the marks in the dirt, Simba hasn’t come out, so looks like we’re going in.’

  They walked into an overgrown clearing surrounded by a series of long timber buildings. Beyond those, old sheds were collapsing. A flagpole stood sentinel.

  ‘I wonder if whoever cut the lock has come in here to shoot? I hope no one’s started hunting here again,’ Ebony said.

  ‘You mean animals or women?’

  Ebony shuddered. ‘I came in here so many times after injured wildlife Martin and his tour groups had shot. I never thought anything of it. Then you found Bella. He kept her in there, didn’t he?’ Ebony pointed to the largest building that they both knew had a storage basement where Rob had tortured the young woman.

  ‘Yeah. Let’s give that a wide berth.’

  ‘And those poor women they hunted in here. God. What was it Mavis said about that?’

  Ally stared into the distance. ‘“They are legion, and they swarm on the full moon. When the gates of hell are open, lock your doors. Don’t chase the screams. And stay away from the pit.”’

  Ebony laughed nervously. ‘You still remember that verbatim.’

  ‘It’s not the sort of thing you forget. I wish we could find the damn pit.’

  Ebony shuddered again. ‘I think I’d rather just find the horse.’

  ‘I’m good with that.’ Ally swung back on the pony. ‘I’ll just do a quick check round the perimeter of the cleared area. See if I can spot him.’

  ‘Hopefully he hasn’t gone too far into the scrub. Some of that terrain is dangerous.’

  ‘Good to know.’ She trotted off.

  Ebony didn’t really want to lose sight of Ally, though she was already a fair distance away. She looked around again. The place gave her the creeps. She should get the car. No reason she couldn’t drive it in here. Lock the doors.

  She took one more look at Ally trotting along the tree line in the distance and turned back for the car. With relief she climbed in and reached out to turn it on.

  The keys were gone.

  ‘What?’ She scanned the dash, the passenger seat, lifting herself up to check underneath her, in her pockets, on the floor, under the seat. She pushed her fingers into her hair. Had she taken them out? Dropped them somewhere? She climbed out of the car and looked around the front tyre, under the driver’s side door.

  Then she retraced her steps as far as she’d walked. Already freaked out by the aura of the place, her mind was racing with possibilities.

  The sound of a horse behind her was a relief. ‘Ally, I’ve lost my – oh, hello,’ she said to the riderless grey pony. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen a set of keys?’ She took his bridle, looked him over. ‘You don’t seem to be hurt.’ She led him towards the spot she’d last seen Ally, then went past the main building. Something wasn’t right. She stopped, looked again. The door was open. It hadn’t been open before, had it?

  Ebony backed away, every sense on alert, and searched for Ally. When her friend emerged from some trees a long way off, she waved. Ally waved back and began trotting towards them. Another noise, a jangling sound, had her head spinning back to the open door.

  Her keys sat in the doorway. She backed up again, startling the pony into backing up rapidly with her.

  ‘Ally!’

  Ally picked up her pace, and was beside her in seconds. ‘What is it?’

  ‘The keys disappeared from my car. They turned up there.’ She pointed and Ally followed her gaze to the open door. ‘Shit – Ebs, get on the pony.’

  ‘I can’t ride very well.’

  ‘Get on the pony.’

  The stirrups were way too short, but as so was the pony, Ebony got herself on. She picked up the reins and held them tight. The little grey shifted restlessly.

  ‘Go.’

  ‘You’re coming, right?’

  ‘Hell, yes. But backwards. You, go.’

  She pulled on one rein and the pony miraculously – to Ebony’s mind – turned around and began walking in roughly the right direction. She didn’t look back until she reached the main trail but when she did, she saw Ally reversing the pony all the way to the gates behind them. She wasn’t taking her eyes off the building.

  ‘Keep going,’ Ally said, finally turning the pony and coming up beside Ebony.

  ‘Who –’

  ‘This has always been a pretty popular spot with young people, and it’s had a bit of a resurgence since the stories of the missing girls. There’s probably some pimply teen wetting himself over his funny joke in there, but I don’t think we’ll risk it. We’ll leave the car, get the guys, come back for it. Cam’s up at the house drawing up some plans. Know where Lee is? I think we’ll get both of them to come with us.’

  ‘I have drugs in that car that I shouldn’t leave unattended.’

  ‘Then we’ll be quick. Think you can manage a trot?’

  ‘Ah – can we just walk fast?’

  Ally made her trot, and holding on for fear of grim death, Ebony was glad to make it back to the farm still sitting on the very kind and forgiving pony.

  ‘Cool down the horses,’ Ally told the girls when they found them. ‘Tell everyone not to go out on the trails before we get back, okay?’

  ‘Ally, do you really think that was a kid playing a joke?’ Ebony asked on the way up to Ally’s house.

  ‘Could have been. If it is, and he’s there when we go back down with Cam, I can guarantee he’ll never do it again.’

  ‘That’s reassuring. But what if it wasn’t?’

  ‘That’s not so reassuring.’

  CHAPTER

  13

  The stag ran around her i
n a large circle, one badly damaged antler dangling.

  ‘He did it during transport. Done a lot of damage.’

  ‘Yep. Unfortunately at this time of year antlers are growing quickly and that damaged part would have had an extensive blood supply pumping through it. We need to remove that section, cauterise it. We also have flies – if it gets infected, you’re in trouble.’

  ‘Righto.’

  She looked around, squinting against the midday sun. ‘Have you got a crush somewhere? A small yard?’

  ‘Got a big yard. You’re standing in it. The cattle crush won’t do you any good – his antlers wouldn’t fit through it.’

  ‘No, I mean a deer crush.’

  ‘Too expensive. Then you need all that hydraulic stuff to work it. Neil woulda just stuck a dart in him and knocked him out, like he did my big old Brahman bull.’

  ‘Yes, but Neil’s been retired for several years and his tranq gun is old and difficult to use.’

  ‘What’s the point of getting you out here if you can’t treat him?’

  Ebony assessed the stag again. There was no way she was getting close to him: he was large, powerful and distressed, ears flattened, tongue lolling. Liable to charge.

  ‘I’ll give it a go.’

  ‘Load it up. I’ll put it in his rump.’

  But fifteen minutes later it was apparent old Bill’s aim wasn’t as good as it might have been in years past. In the end, he handed the gun back in disgust. ‘Gonna have to run him on the truck and take him to Mudgee tomorrow. Waste of time this has been.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Bill, but if you’re going to do this commercially you really should consider some infrastructure.’

  ‘Right, well, I’ll thank you for the opinion, but I hope you don’t think you’re going to be charging me for it, young lady.’

  Angry, Ebony forced a polite smile. ‘Goodbye, Bill. I hope he recovers.’

  Bill took off his hat and wiped his arm across his forehead. ‘Aw, come on, Ebony, no offence. You do a really great job on the wife’s cat, but maybe we need someone around here that can handle livestock.’

  Ebony climbed into the car and banged her head back against the headrest. She didn’t like it, but he had a point. Between the wildlife call-outs and the deer farms cropping up, it really would be useful to have someone who was handy with the dart gun.