Shadows of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  Nick’s interest was reflected in his expression. ‘Ally – right. I’ve heard about you. How’s it going?’

  ‘Hi. The going is pretty interesting this morning, actually.’ She sent Ebony a look. ‘Isn’t it, Ebs?’

  Ebony shrugged. ‘You’re not supposed to be here today,’ she told Nick, only just figuring that out.

  ‘I know – but I just came in to write up last night’s call-out – and fix the computer. Any idea when you’ll get the new one?’

  ‘None.’

  ‘Why don’t we discuss what you need to spend this arvo and I’ll pick you one up on Sunday while I’m out of town? I know what you need.’

  ‘Really? Sometimes I wonder how I survived without you.’ She yawned. ‘Carla, please tell me it’s an easy morning?’

  Carla laughed. ‘I’ll tell you whatever you like, but the reality might not live up to it.’

  ‘How about I add to your wonder and make you coffee?’ Nick offered. ‘You look like you need it. Ally?’

  ‘Why not? Just tea, thanks.’

  Before Ebony could object – and she didn’t want to anyway – he headed into the lunch room.

  Ally looked at Ebony with an expression of disbelief and a bewildered shake of her head. ‘That is walking around your surgery flirting with you every day and you’re not interested?’

  ‘Not every day. And I’d like to be, but no.’

  ‘She’s mad,’ Carla confided, ‘bent in the head.’

  Ignoring them, Ebony went into the lunchroom and fell into a chair.

  Ally followed and pulled one out opposite her, then studied her friend critically. ‘You’re never going to make it through today.’

  ‘I’ll work Louise extra hard,’ Ebony mumbled, eyes closed and head resting in her hands.

  ‘Long night?’ Nick asked, placing a coffee in front of Ebony before repeating the process with Ally’s tea.

  The smell of coffee nearly made her cry with gratitude. ‘Long story.’ But she told it while she sipped her coffee and tried to be awake.

  ‘That’s … clever. So what happened before? I keep overhearing bits and pieces but I don’t have enough to put it together.’

  ‘It was over a year ago now. The town’s policeman belonged to a group of hunters called Masters. He’d lure young women into his car and abduct them, then provide them to the Masters as prey for hunting.’

  Nick looked disgusted and fascinated at the same time.

  ‘Seriously?’ ‘Rob wanted the land Ally had just inherited – they were running those hunts in the old military grounds at her boundary fence and he needed the property as a buffer. He killed Ally’s husband – who happened to also be his nephew – and tried to kill Ally so they wouldn’t inherit when his sister died.’

  ‘But you obviously got away,’ he said to Ally.

  ‘Yeah. He actually tried to kill me a few times. On the last attempt, Ebs happened to come looking for me and he grabbed her. That mark,’ Ally pointed to Ebony’s scar, ‘is from his knife. Ben, a detective on the case, shot him but he got away and disappeared.’

  ‘And you think Martin has something to do with Rob?’

  ‘Yeah. The thing is,’ Ally explained, ‘Ben managed to hack into a forum run by these hunters. They all went by codenames but he’s sure Martin was one of them. He just can’t prove it yet. Until he does –’

  ‘Martin’s out on the street.’

  ‘Right. And Ben’s hoping he’ll stuff up and lead him to the other hunters. So he’s keeping an eye on his movements.’

  ‘And so are you. That seems incredibly brave. What do you think he would have done if he’d found you?’

  ‘Let’s just be grateful that will remain a mystery,’ Ebony said.

  ‘Do you think this Ben’s close to catching him?’ Nick asked.

  ‘I don’t know. He said he has leads, but he can’t tell us much.’

  ‘No wonder you were keen to ditch your late-night call-outs.’

  The doorbell chimed and Ebony frowned. ‘Who is that? We’re not open yet.’

  She heard Carla’s cheerful voice greet another familiar voice. ‘Oh, of course.’ Reluctantly she pushed herself away from her coffee. ‘Back in a minute. I forgot about this.’ She put on a smile and headed into reception.

  ‘Hi, Melanie. How are you?’

  The policewoman hobbled to the counter followed by another woman Ebony recognised as Lisa, a nurse who lived in town.

  ‘Hi, Ebony. Doing better thanks, though it’ll be a while before I’m working again. You know Lisa?’

  ‘Yes, hi.’

  Nick joined them in reception.

  ‘Nick, have you met Melanie – Joxer’s owner?’

  ‘Ah – no. Nice to meet you.’

  ‘You too,’ Melanie said. ‘I was just getting to know everyone around here when I went and busted myself up.’

  ‘What exactly happened?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘I came round the corner, wasn’t expecting to see cattle on the road.’

  ‘Cattle? There weren’t any there when I was out there.’

  ‘Other cops said the same thing. Must have scattered, I reckon. There was a gate open not far from where they wandered out.’

  ‘I’m glad you’re okay. Joxer will be very happy to see you.’

  ‘Thanks for taking care of him. Was he badly hurt?’

  ‘No, just a gash and some swelling but … it could have been a lot worse. He managed to get a foot on the ground – if he hadn’t, he would have choked.’

  ‘I’ll get a crate for the next ute. Won’t take that risk again. He’s my mate.’

  ‘I’ll go get him,’ Carla offered.

  ‘Not sure I’ll be able to hold onto him yet, wanted to come and get him though – that’s why Lisa’s here. She’s driving us home.’

  Carla had trouble holding a very excited Joxer when he spotted Melanie. She did her best to give him a pat, but she was obviously in pain.

  ‘Let’s get him in the car,’ Ebony suggested.

  Ally was still seated with her tea and Nick was chatting to her when Ebony all but crawled back to the table for another sip of coffee.

  ‘Go get some sleep,’ Nick said. ‘I’ll do this morning.’

  ‘But don’t you have to be somewhere else?’

  ‘I’ll sort it. Don’t worry about it.’

  Ally’s phone rang and she answered it. It was obvious she was speaking to Cam. When she hung up, she smiled sympathetically. ‘You may need to catch a quick sleep in the car on the way back to our place – Ben’s arriving in half an hour.’

  ‘That’s not possible.’

  ‘Apparently he flew as far as Mudgee airport and is driving the rest of the way. He wants to talk to you and Mia as soon as possible.’

  Louise walked in and looked around. ‘What’d I miss?’

  ‘Nick will fill you in.’ Ebony turned to Nick. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Ebs, that guy is too good to be true,’ Ally said as soon as they were outside.

  ‘Yeah, I know. I almost feel bad. If I could just switch off how I feel about Lee …’

  ‘It’d want to be truly, madly, deeply because that in there – whew.’

  ‘He hit on Mia.’

  ‘Honey, everyone hits on Mia.’

  ‘You’re right.’ She climbed into the car, dropped her head back and closed her eyes. ‘I think I’ll have that sleep.’ She was two parts out before Ally was out of the car park.

  CHAPTER

  19

  ‘Ben’s just arrived.’

  ‘Here we go again.’ Mia rose from the seat in Ally’s lounge room, obviously preferring to stand for battle.

  There were voices at the door, then Ben walked in, dressed officially in a suit. Another suited man strode in behind him. ‘Everyone, this is Detective Jason Gibson. He’s going to be sitting in today.’

  Ebony sat on the lounge, not sure what to expect from Ben, and the presence of the other detective only made her more anxious. ‘Right, you w
ant to tell me what happened?’

  Calm and professional, Ebony thought. Ben questioned them so officially in tone and procedure that it was bizarre. Mia and Ally had experienced this side of Ben many times in the past, but this was a surreal experience for Ebony. The only other time she’d seen him in a suit was the day Rob had held a knife to her throat. And she hadn’t been on the receiving end of questions that day.

  When he was satisfied he had the information, Ben watched the video, then questioned them some more. ‘I’ll take this with me,’ he said of the footage. ‘See what we can use. Thanks for your time, Ebony, Mia.’

  Cam got up and walked them to the door.

  ‘That was too easy,’ Mia said, voicing Ebony’s thoughts.

  ‘I thought we were going to cop it,’ she agreed. ‘Ben was certainly looking at us like we were.’

  ‘You mean me. He was looking at you like you were some poor innocent maiden I’d lured onto the dark side.’

  ‘Don’t be breathing too many happy sighs of relief yet,’ Lee said, heading back from seeing Ben and the other detective off. ‘He’s coming back later. Mia, you have to stay put.’

  ‘I knew it.’

  ‘So what was with the other detective?’

  ‘This is official. Ben needs to do his job by the book.’

  ‘Can he use the footage?’

  ‘It’s not a crime to photograph or video someone in a public place as long as there’s nothing sexual involved and no voice recording. But attaching a camera to someone’s personal property and filming on private land is a bit trickier – I’m not sure. The image Mia took in the supermarket might be enough on its own to suggest he has dogs, but we haven’t seen any – not even on the video. I reckon Ben will contact the mine pretty quickly and ask permission to gain access with a group of officers to take a look. There’s a chance if the mine cooperates he won’t need to worry about too much red tape, and if they think something illegal might be going on under their noses, they probably will.’

  ‘How are you feeling?’ Ally asked Ebony.

  Ebony thought about it, decided she was okay. ‘Actually that twenty minutes on the way out here did wonders.’

  ‘You want to head back to work?’

  ‘Yep. Nick said he’d take care of it, but I should be there in case he does need to leave. Louise is hopeless on her own.’

  ‘Anyway, as good as it sounds, I don’t think it’s worth taking on anything else until all this is sorted. We’re already behind on the Singleton project. What do you think?’ Cam asked.

  Lee was tapping his fingers on Cam’s desk, staring out the window. ‘What?’

  ‘The property available at Muswellbrook. Do we want it?’

  ‘We’re already behind on the Singleton one.’

  ‘No kidding,’ Cam said wryly. ‘What’s on your mind?’

  ‘Ben should be there by now. If he finds Rob, this could all be over, today. I hate not being able to go with him to find out.’

  ‘You missing being a cop?’ Cam asked.

  ‘Only for this. If Martin was telling the truth about Rob coming after Ebs, it would make sense he’s so close.’

  ‘We all want it to be Rob, but if it’s not and they don’t get him, we’ll continue to take precautions, just like we did last time.’

  ‘Yeah and he still nearly killed the girls.’

  ‘There’s no element of surprise on his side this time. We know exactly who the bastard is now, and how he works.’

  Lee’s phone alerted him a message had come through and he pounced on it. His face fell but he relayed the message to Cam. ‘There’s no one there, damn it. But they found the dogs. They’re going over the house, looking for clues as to who the other person was.’

  ‘It’s not a total loss then. You wanted to head to town anyway, why don’t you let Ebs know? She’ll be relieved about the puppies.’

  He nodded slowly. ‘Yeah. I’ll do that.’

  The idea Rob might have been in that house and had somehow managed to slip through their fingers was devastating. Lee tried not to think too much about it as he made his way to the surgery. There was still a chance they’d find him. Lee knew the procedures, knew what Ben would be doing and knew he’d be doing it properly.

  ‘Morning, Carla,’ he said as he walked in. ‘Ebs around?’

  ‘Recovery room, I think.’

  He found her sitting on the floor, cuddling the puppy. ‘Hey, you all right?’

  ‘Yep. Just taking a five-minute break. Remember Jasper? I think he’s grown already.’

  ‘He sure has. Longer legs and a fuller tummy.’ He sat down beside her and patted the pup.

  ‘Did Mia tell you she’s going to take him?’

  ‘No. Wow, mate,’ he addressed the puppy, ‘from Martin to Mia, you’re one lucky little guy.’

  Ebony’s eyebrows lifted playfully. ‘Are you thinking you’d like to go live with Mia?’

  Lee pretended to consider that, then laughed. ‘No. I love her to bits but she’d drive me insane within a week. It’s a brave man who takes her on.’

  ‘I think she’d see that as a compliment.’

  ‘In a very big way, it is. Ebs, Ben’s team found the puppies.’

  She sat up straighter, eyes alert. ‘Really? What about Martin or Rob?’

  ‘No one on site but they’re turning the place upside down for evidence of who has been there.’

  Louise brushed past him as she came in. ‘Ebs, can I talk to you? Hi, Lee.’

  ‘Louise.’ Lee got to his feet. ‘I’ll leave you to it, but I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Ebony put Jasper back in his pen. ‘Louise – what’s the problem?’

  ‘Well, there’s this thing …’

  Ebony listened with half an ear and went out to see if Nick had finished up with his consult. If not, she’d give him a hand, then see if he wanted to head off.

  ‘So is that okay?’

  ‘I can understand why a week away with your friends sounds lovely but you’ve used up all your sick days already.’

  Louise’s face fell. ‘Can’t you just give me a break? It’s only a few days.’

  ‘It’s a week, Louise.’

  ‘But you’ve got Nick,’ she said as Ebony found him.

  ‘Yes, I do. But that’s not the point. Nick. I forgot to say I had a call from Gina Briggs. She’s so pleased with the stitches you gave her mare. Said to tell you it looks good – there’s not too much swelling.’

  He smiled. ‘Good to know, thanks.’

  ‘I haven’t been to the Gold Coast for years,’ Louise continued. ‘How often does your best friend have a hen’s week?’

  ‘I’ve never even heard of it. A long weekend, I could accommodate. Go for the weekend and the Monday.’

  ‘But the party’s on Friday!’

  ‘Then fly up Thursday night, be back for Monday. And after that be prepared to work regardless of illness, injury or natural disaster, because you don’t have any more room for negotiation.’

  Ebony could see Louise wanted to argue, and was thankful when she walked away. She closed her eyes for a moment, released a frustrated breath. ‘She’ll be a good vet one day – if she tempers her attitude and is around long enough to get any work done.’

  ‘Ebs?’ Carla stuck her head up from behind the desk. ‘Cops just called. We’ve got Martin’s dogs incoming.’

  ‘What? Why are they bringing them here?’

  ‘Because you were the consulting practice on the case, and the animals need medical help. The RSPCA van can’t get out here to pick them up until after six.’

  Shit, I hope Martin doesn’t find out. ‘Right. I’ll have to set up some pens. Make sure they know one of them is out at Martin’s, tied in the shed. And tell them to be careful.’

  ‘Will do. There are five dogs, three puppies – not in great condition, apparently.’

  ‘No surprises there. Louise!’ Ebony called down the corridor, ‘I’ll need a hand.’
/>   They worked quickly, but had still only just got the pens in order when the police vehicles turned up.

  ‘Ready?’ Nick asked.

  ‘Let’s get them in.’ Ebony watched a policeman wrestle an enormous black and white dog out of a van. The dog snarled; more scared than nasty, Ebony decided, but still large and dangerous.

  She headed for the policeman. The dog lunged and snapped. Nick stepped in front of her and gave it a curt reprimand. The dog cowered.

  Another dog was brought in, and another. When another car pulled up, she handed a friendlier dog to Carla and took yet another. When the pups arrived, her heart broke for them. Fleas covered their little faces like fish scales. They could barely raise the enthusiasm to cringe when handled.

  Ebony worked beside Nick to bathe and treat them. ‘I don’t think these pups would have lasted much longer,’ she said.

  ‘This one’s on the verge of needing a transfusion.’

  Louise came in. ‘Ew, gross, look at the fleas!’

  ‘Here.’ Ebony passed her the final puppy. ‘Start on this one.’

  ‘But I just have to – sure,’ she amended when both Ebony and Nick glared at her.

  ‘These are the pups you were worried enough about to report, surely you can spare a moment to help them.’ Ebony was relieved all the dogs would be treated properly – that they had a chance.

  ‘Yes and I’m glad they’re here and okay. And of course I don’t mind helping either, I just have to get back to Shelley about the trip right away.’

  Ebony wiped a little puppy’s face, checked one goopy eye. ‘I thought that was sorted.’

  ‘I was hoping you might have changed your mind.’

  ‘Nope. Stop holding that pup like it’s carrying Ebola and wash those fleas off it, Louise.’ Ebony scratched at her chest. Dying fleas were crawling all over her.

  ‘But I hate flying. Please don’t make me fly up there alone. I don’t have the first clue what to do. Shelley’s booking the tickets now and –’

  ‘Do you ever stop whinging?’ Nick’s curt voice surprised both women into silence. Ebony had never heard him speak that way. ‘Have a bit of self-respect and grow up. You’re a vet. There’s an animal in front of you that needs attention. Be a vet.’

  Louise stared wide-eyed for several seconds, then dropped her gaze and worked on the pup in silence.