Hot Lawyers: The Lee Christine Collection

by Lee Christine

  Nate blew out a breath. That was okay. She was obscured by darkness out there, and she obviously needed time alone.

  And he was probably the last person she wanted to see right now.

  Chapter 8

  6:30 p.m. Monday

  Allegra looked up to see Luke standing in the doorway of her corner office, short cropped fair hair shining under the fluorescents. She put her dictation handset on the desk and beckoned him inside, watching as he closed the door.

  ‘How did you go with the police?’

  ‘They’re moving quickly.’ He came around the desk to give her a hug then folded his tall frame into one of the ergonomic designed client chairs. ‘I have some news, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up.’

  Allegra sat up straighter, mouth turning dry like it did when she was about to address the Court. She knew from her husband’s measured tone, whatever he was about to reveal was significant, much as he might downplay it.

  ‘The police are checking camera images within a specified radius around the Valenti’s house. Some of the shots are hit and miss, because primarily they try and get the plate number. But in a lot of cases, the driver’s face is visible.’

  Allegra nodded, wondering what he was getting at.

  ‘I think I saw Nate in a lime green ute.’

  ‘Nate?’ Allegra blinked as her mind made the jump. ‘Nate, who used to work for you?’

  ‘Nate Hunter.’

  Allegra frowned. ‘How is that relevant?’

  Luke leaned forward in his seat. ‘Because he looked like a bikie, and I almost didn’t recognise him. No shirt, hair down to his shoulders, and a three day growth. And he had the whole bikie bling thing going on.’

  Allegra felt the blood leave her face. ‘Did you tell the police?’

  Luke’s eyes widened in alarm. ‘No. We can’t say anything.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Nate’s a member of the gang squad, Ally. I gave him a job when he got stood down for a bit.’

  ‘I didn’t know that.’

  ‘He was a top bloke, and a smart cop. I was sorry to see him go.’

  Needing something for her dry mouth, Allegra reached under her desk and opened the small bar fridge. She took out two Diet Cokes and passed one across the desk to Luke.

  ‘Thanks.’ There was a hiss of air as he twisted off the cap.

  Allegra twisted the top off her own bottle and poured the liquid into an empty glass on her desk. ‘What do we do?’

  ‘Nothing. There’s a chance he could be undercover with one of the gangs. Ally, you know I don’t believe in coincidences. Nate looked like a bikie, and he was in the area when Josie went missing. If I’m right, she may have a very small chance. I know he’d do everything he could to help her — if she’s alive.’

  Despite his warning not to, some of the tension left Allegra’s body and she couldn’t help the tiny spark of hope that flared up inside her. ‘Oh, Luke!’

  ‘No — please don’t get your hopes up. I could be wrong. I was in two minds whether or not to tell you.’

  Allegra smiled at her husband across the desk. ‘I’m glad you did, Commander.’

  He smiled back, grey eyes softening, the scar on his cheek moving a fraction. ‘I can’t get involved, you understand that don’t you? I’ll keep my eyes and ears open, that’s all. Any interference could put his life at risk.’

  ‘Of course.’ Allegra took a sip of her drink. ‘I remember him mucking around with Josie. She liked him. They got quite cosy at our engagement.’

  ‘I can’t give you a cast iron guarantee, but I’m fairly certain it was him.’

  He swallowed a mouthful of Diet Coke and grimaced at the taste. ‘How long until you get out of here, Counsellor? I’ll buy you a glass of wine on the way home.’

  Chapter 9

  7:00 p.m. Monday

  When Josie hadn’t come inside an hour later, Nate began to worry. He wanted to talk about the broadcast, and he needed to know she was alright.

  Twenty-one this week!

  Hell, what a birthday present.

  She hadn’t mentioned it.

  Maybe she wasn’t such a princess after all.

  He paced the hallway, mulling over the personal aspects of her life, like what was the deal with her “you can never be too rich or too thin” mother? He could never imagine his own mother referring to him, or any of his siblings, as a “must have accessory”. To be fair, it did sound like a bit of a throwaway line that had turned into a media beat up.

  And Josie taught pre-schoolers music?

  ‘Okay, princess, you’ve had your space,’ he muttered to himself, sauntering into the unoccupied guest room and sliding open the verandah door.

  Cool mountain air drifted in as Nate stepped onto the screened verandah. He stood for a few moments, letting his eyes adjust before making his way over to where Josie was curled up in the egg chair.

  Her voice came out of the dark. ‘Missing me already, Senior Detective?’

  Was he?

  For once, he didn’t retaliate.

  Her flippancy was a front, effective, but a front nonetheless. Strange how he could pick it in the dark, when not distracted by her face.

  He cleared his throat. ‘How long are you going to stay out here?’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Yeah. We need to talk.’

  Her answer was to shift over and make room for him — in the one person egg chair.

  A visual of getting up close and personal with Josie crashed into Nate’s brain, sending a jolt of awareness through his system.

  Okay, if that’s the way she wanted to play it.

  He leaned forward, grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet. ‘Get up.’

  She came upright, pushing him in the chest with her free hand. ‘What’s your problem, Nate?’

  ‘Be quiet,’ he bit out between his teeth. ‘We’re not talking out here.’

  He threaded his fingers through hers and led the way back along the verandah. ‘Christ, Josie, you’re freezing.’

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Your skin’s like ice.’ Nate shook his head, exasperated. When would they stop going hard at each other like this?

  Back in the guest room, he unzipped his surf hoodie and shrugged it off, holding it open so she could slip her arms inside. ‘Put this on.’

  ‘Okay, don’t fuss.’ She looked flustered by his concern, as if she wasn’t used to someone looking out for her.

  ‘You’re in shorts and a singlet.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she mumbled, wrapping the hoodie around her. ‘You’ll make a good father one day, detective.’

  For the second time in twenty-four hours, her words probed at the open wound in his chest, dredging up memories two-and-a-half years old. Holding the small boys’ shuddering frame, reassuring him he’d be back to visit one day. Unwrapping the chubby arms from around his neck and telling him to be good to his mother, then disappearing into the crowd headed for the departure gate, too choked up to look back.

  Nate rubbed his palm over his heart and watched Josie sit on the bed. Now wasn’t the time to bemoan life’s tough choices, it was time to help the woman right here. The one looking at him with a puzzled expression on her pretty face, like if she looked hard enough, she might just work him out.

  ‘I understand watching that broadcast was difficult,’ he began, ‘but it’s all good news for us.’

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘How do you figure that?’

  Ignoring her dry tone, he continued on. ‘The police haven’t revealed the link between your disappearance and Mulvaney’s death. Thinking about it, it’s a deliberate tactic. They want the bikies to think they’re in the clear, to prevent them going to ground. As for Kennett, he’ll assume I carried out his order, and you never made it to the police station.’

  Josie sat straighter. ‘What will he do?’

  ‘The Southern Cross will be in disarray. It’ll take time for them to regroup after Mulvaney’s death and elec
t a new leader. Kennett will capitalise on that. He’ll set the Altar Boys in motion, claim the turf while he can.’

  Josie’s eyes shone, and for once Nate dared to hope the assignment might end sooner rather than later. ‘Kennett owes me big time, and I’m already very close. Once I find out who’s collecting the money, I’ll get a name and that will lead to another name. The overseer will be camouflaged by companies and trusts, but the undercover stuff will be over. It’ll be forensic accounting from then on.’

  For the first time since he’d wrestled her into the ute, Josie’s face broke into a smile, a wide megawatt flash that illuminated her entire face.

  Nate’s heart tripped and he couldn’t look away. He’d seen her smile like that when she’d danced at the engagement party, and when he’d teased her at Grace and Poole while killing time waiting to see Allegra.

  And just this morning, she’d smiled like that at the baby in the supermarket.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, an idea forming in his mind. ‘There’s something I want to show you.’

  Ignoring her “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about” expression, he pointed to her bare feet. ‘You’ll need shoes.’

  While Josie put on her boots, he fetched the Maglite from the WRX then waited in the kitchen. When she appeared a few minutes later, he cocked his head in the direction of the door. ‘Ready?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘We’re going out?’

  He nodded. ‘Don’t look so excited, it’s not exactly clubbing.’

  ‘I hate clubbing.’

  Outside, Josie squinted in the darkness, barely able to make out the overgrown pathway curving through what looked like a cottage garden.

  The house was perched on the edge of the valley, and this afternoon she’d stood at the bedroom window watching the cable car lift tourists high above the heavily wooded valleys and gorges. At that time, the mountains had been bathed in the famous blue light after which they were named. Now, a smattering of stars and a shadowed slice of moon pierced the cloak of darkness wrapping around them.

  ‘See those two luminous stars?’

  Josie looked up and studied the sky. ‘Is that the Southern Cross — because that would be just a little bit creepy?’

  He gave a low chuckle. ‘No, the Southern Cross is the most famous constellation, but the Centaurus is the brightest in the Southern Hemisphere. Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. Much brighter up here than in the city.’

  ‘They’re beautiful.’ She glanced at the Alpha Centauri beside her, hyperaware of his hand on her arm. Crickets chirped, and a faint aroma of orange blossom and diosma perfumed the evening air. ‘Where are we going?’

  He pointed with the torch, though he hadn’t switched it on. ‘There’s an old air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden. It’s built into the hill, obscured by vines and shrubs. Undetectable, even in the daylight.’

  ‘Is solitary confinement really necessary?’ She had the urge to tease. He’d been nice about the food thing at lunch, and she was buoyed by the news the operation could move swiftly now.

  ‘Well, let’s consider your misdemeanours. Biting a policeman, kicking a policeman, swearing at a — ‘

  ‘Okay, okay. So it’s rations for me.’

  ‘And a week in the hole — minimum, if you’re lucky.’

  Something big shot out of the grass beside her and she clutched at Nate, the reaction instinctive, her body in motion before her mind could catch up.

  To her surprise, he wrapped a warm, muscular arm around her waist and drew her close against his side. ‘Strange, how I’ve suddenly become the lesser of two evils.’

  Heat flooded through Josie’s body, heart banging in a way she could get used to. ‘What was that?’

  ‘Probably just a bunny.’ His fingers squeezed her waist through the cotton material of her track top, sending a delightful buzz humming along her veins.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘No not really.’ He dipped his head, mouth close to her ear, breath warm in her hair. ‘There’s a goanna around here. He eats all the bunnies.’

  The night shrouded them in an intimate darkness, so even the shadowy outlines of trees and shrubs were no longer visible. ‘Yeah, yeah, keep going senior, and I might just believe you.’

  Oh gees, was that her voice, all breathy and excited? His body heat seared into her side, igniting a flame within, and suddenly it seemed perfectly natural to angle her body towards him and slide a reciprocal arm around his waist.

  He pulled her closer, the decisive move scrambling her senses like words in a decoding machine. He handled her body with a man’s confidence, a man experienced with female anatomy by the feel of it. Moulded to his side, her hipbone brushed his thigh as they walked, the top of her head barely reaching his chin.

  And then all too soon, it was over.

  He came to a halt and switched on the torch. ‘We’re here.’

  Josie blinked in the sudden light. She was staring at a wall of greenery.

  They separated, and she turned, couldn’t help gasping as she stared at the wrought iron feature through which they’d come. An arbour arched overhead, and when Nate pointed the torch skyward, she could see a thick coverage of wisteria that had blocked out the breeze, the clouds and even the moon.

  ‘No wonder everything went so quiet. It’s beautiful. Why couldn’t I see this from the house?’

  ‘It’s off to one side. During World War II, the owner hollowed out a part of the hill. He built the arbour to disguise the entrance. In recent times, it’s been useful as a bushfire shelter. I don’t lock it for that reason.’

  He turned back to the wall in front of them and began tearing away long pieces of vine. Then he thrust a hand through the foliage and groped around. ‘There’s a handle in here.’ He gave a grunt. There was a rusty squeak, and then a perfectly rectangular, vine covered door swung open.

  ‘Ever hear a strange crying from behind the door, detective?’

  He gave her a blank look. ‘I won’t even pretend to know what that means.’

  Josie smiled. ‘The Secret Garden. One of my favourite novels as a child. I used to pretend I was Mary. Looking back, I probably identified with her in some way.’

  ‘Fair enough.’ He shone the torch into the room. ‘I identify with vignerons. I turned it into a wine cellar.’

  Delighted, Josie ducked her head and followed him inside.

  The room was concrete, the walls hidden by hexagonal shaped terracotta wine racks, stacked together in a honeycomb format. The furnishings were sparse, one plastic armchair, a mat, and a small, metal stepladder, the roof so high that even a man of Nate’s height couldn’t reach the highest racks.

  He shone the torch around the man-made dug out. ‘I never saw the point of hooking up the electricity.’

  Josie shivered. ‘Maybe you should, it’s cold in here.’

  For the barest second his eyes swept over her. ‘Perfect temperature for a wine cellar. Don’t worry, we won’t be staying long.’

  He swiped a few cobwebs away, and they spent the next ten minutes rotating wine bottles by the light of the torch.

  ‘I’ll have to spend some time in here when all this is over,’ he said, sliding a bottle from one of the racks and reading the label. ‘Many of these are perfectly aged.’

  Josie studied his face in the low light, the arched brows, the deep set eyes, the sexy crevice in the middle of his geometrically perfect chin. Despite her declaration to the contrary, Nate Hunter was a definite nine on anyone’s scale.

  He turned and caught her watching him, held out the bottle of wine. ‘This one’s perfect for a twenty-first celebration.’

  Touched by his thoughtfulness, and a little embarrassed she’d been caught checking him out, she took the bottle and brushed the dust from the label. ‘Penfolds Grange 1994. It looks rare, expensive.’

  When she looked up, his eyes glittered in the dark. ‘It’s perfect.’

  A warmness spread across Josie’s cheeks, but she ignored it, de
termined not to read too much into Nate’s comments. She’d already made that mistake once before.

  ‘I wouldn’t have picked you as a wine buff, detective, more a boutique beer kind of guy.’

  ‘Well, I’m more forty-two than thirty-two, remember. Anyway, I wanted to show you a safe hideaway, should you need it.’

  Josie stilled, the little bubble of happiness bursting inside her as she recalled his words. It’s your safe house too. It’s crucial you learn the layout.

  She followed him out of the bunker. ‘I’m not safe in the house?’

  He pulled the door closed and cocked his head, indicating they begin making their way back. ‘You are while I’m here.’

  ‘And if you’re not?’ Josie searched his face, but his inscrutable expression told her nothing. ‘You think someone will come here?’

  ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting Barry Simpson to turn up. It’s an emergency option, that’s all.’

  When they reached the beginning of the arbour, he switched off the torch and tucked it under his arm, placing his hand in the small of her back as they negotiated the pathway to the kitchen.

  Ensuring the safety of his star witness, no doubt, Josie thought sourly. Keeping her in one piece — until it was time for her to testify.

  Lost in her thoughts, she almost stumbled when Nate came to a sudden halt and put a finger to his lips.

  ‘Someone went down the side of the house,’ he whispered, steering her off the path and close to a large rhododendron. ‘Stay here. Use the bottle as a weapon and scream if you need me.’

  He reached under the leg of his jeans and took his gun from the calf holster. ‘I’ll take a look.’

  Body going weak with fear, Josie stepped closer into the foliage, watching Nate’s tall outline merge with the darkness. A few moments later she saw him pass by the kitchen window, then disappear around the corner of the house.

  Standing amidst the oval shaped leaves, Josie tucked the bottle under her arm, high cirrus clouds shifting across the sky and bathing the garden in soft moonlight. From her position, she could just make out the back wall of the house and the enclosed verandah up top.