‘Find anything you like?’ He spoke from right behind her. She almost shrieked, the bottle nearly slipping from her suddenly weak fingers. He peered at the label. ‘This is a good one from the Hunter Valley. Be a shame to waste it.’
The warmth from his body reached out across the small space between them. Her memory recognised the faintest scent of his skin and her lids fluttered closed for an instant with the rush of desire.
‘Are you going to faint on me?’ His voice, tight with concern, was by her ear and she felt the brush of his breath as he leant towards her, his hand warm on her arm.
She shook her head and straightened up. ‘Sorry. Just hungry. I skipped lunch.’ She freed her arm and set off in mild panic to the kitchen, heart pounding. ‘So how did your boss take your sudden reappearance?’ She wished her voice didn’t sound quite so shaky.
‘Fine, thanks. Had most of his whinges off his chest in the first five minutes, then got down to business.’ He leant against the kitchen bench, the bottle hanging loosely from his fingers. ‘You sure you’re all right?’
‘Yep.’ She cleared her throat. ‘So the plates are?’
‘Why don’t we trade?’ He handed over the bottle of wine. ‘Here. The glasses are in that cupboard and I’ll look after the rest. Relax, Ellie. I know this situation is a little unusual for both of us, but you have my word as an aging boy scout that your honour is safe with me. You are a guest in my house.’ His face was suddenly serious in the downlights from the kitchen ceiling, the set of his jaw solid. ‘You’re safe here.’
‘Sorry.’ Her colour had risen and she could feel a wave of embarrassment wash over her. She was a fool to think he couldn’t read her thoughts. ‘I lost track of time and the yard looked so inviting. Don’t take it the wrong way.’
‘I won’t. Too much has happened in the last forty-eight hours and you need to feel safe. I even brought home a chick flick. Matthew McConaughey, starring with Reese Witherspoon.’
She was touched by his thoughtfulness. ‘What, no George Clooney?’
‘Didn’t realise you were into older men.’
‘I . . .’ Ellie stopped, knowing he was teasing her now.
‘Don’t worry, I won’t be offended, but the movie’s there if you want it.’
‘Thanks.’ She paused. ‘I’ll take the bottle outside, then, shall I?’ She left without waiting for an answer.
They ate in companionable silence, sharing the curries and rice he’d bought at the local Thai restaurant.
‘Good food. Almost as good as the real deal in Thailand. Mmm. That’s one thing Half Moon Bay lacks, decent Asian cooking.’
‘The family running my local have only been here two years. Came straight from Thailand. They barely spoke English when I first met them, but they’re improving. I was still working on the renovations of this place when they opened and I think I single-handedly paid their rent for the first month.’
‘You renovated this?’ Ellie looked surprised.
‘You doubt my skills?’
‘No, no. Not at all. I just didn’t figure you as a hands-on kind of guy.’
‘Really?’ He tried to sound hurt and it worked.
‘Okay, I’m sorry. That was rude.’
He had to laugh, raising his glass to her. ‘It’s okay, I’m joking. My dad was an engineer who believed that you learnt the business from the ground up, and he meant the ground up. I dug ditches, poured cement and worked on building sites from the day I turned fifteen and all the way through university. If I was going to inherit the business as the only son, then I was going to have earned it along the way.’ His words had a bitterness he couldn’t quite mask. ‘Starting from the ground up meant I learnt a lot of things I wouldn’t have if he’d been an easier taskmaster.’
‘Your dad passed away a couple of years ago, right?’
Her question hit a raw spot. ‘Passed away sounds so gentle. The reality was he fought cancer for ten months, never conceding the game was up.’ He looked down at his hands. ‘Defeat was never in his vocabulary. Just like “sorry” wasn’t either.’
‘He was a fair man, though?’ Ellie’s expression stayed neutral, but he knew she saw the anger in him. His usual control had deserted him.
‘Fair? Probably by his definition, yes. According to his family and friends? I would say more tunnel-visioned. Self-made men so often are.’ He glanced up and caught the frown on her face. ‘Doesn’t it sit comfortably that I may have respected my father, but not loved him?’
‘We can’t possibly live up to the expectations of those around us and nor should we try. Provided we can live up to our own expectations, then we’ve done the best we can.’ In the pale light, Ellie’s expression was half hidden. ‘I only really had one parent to love. Mum died when I was still so young. That made Dad and Nina so special. The three of us were inseparable.’
‘And now you’re the only one left fighting for the Bay.’
‘Dad will be back soon. When he hears what’s going on, I’d put money on him driving non-stop across Australia to get there.’ She sipped her wine and the slight shine from the liquid left her lips glistening and inviting. Nick looked away, the shaft of pure longing piercing his brain.
‘Doesn’t he have a mobile?’
‘Yeah, sure, but he’s old school; it’s for emergencies only. Even if it was turned on, it’d be buried under his gear and he’d never get to it in time. He picks up emails every week or two, so he should be in touch soon. I scanned your business card, the one you gave me when you called round looking for him, and emailed it to him. Will Tom remember you?’
Nick was silent for a moment. How could Tom forget him, the man with the ultimate responsibility for his older daughter’s death? Tom had understood the silent anguish in the younger man. He had recognised that as a commanding officer the loss of any member of his patrol was like losing family. To lose a civilian in his care, no matter the circumstances, was inexcusable.
‘Yeah, he’ll remember me.’ And Nick would never forget the composure and grace of a father who sat through weeks of Military Board of Inquiry evidence and could still shake the hand of the man who’d failed at the task of keeping his daughter safe. Tom was a man he would be proud to call father.
‘Was there bad blood between you two?’
Nicholas snorted. ‘Your father is a gentleman. I doubt he’d know the meaning of the term. I have enormous respect for him.’
‘Does he have dirt on you, then?’ Ellie was teasing now and it forced him to lighten up, banish his darkness, as she continued. ‘The three ex-wives and fourteen children I haven’t found out about yet? Or perhaps the armoured-vehicle heist you got away with that paid for all this.’ She gestured around the courtyard.
‘Hmm, I think he knows about the vehicle heist. The ex-wives and children? Do you reckon I’d be able to afford this if I was supporting a family the size of a football team?’
‘Okay, but where did you meet?’
‘In Sydney and you can ask him for the details when you see him.’ He pushed his chair back from the table. ‘So that movie looked good. Coming?’ He hadn’t worked out how he was going to explain what happened to Nina in Afghanistan. As a soldier he’d never entered battle without a plan of attack and he wasn’t about to start now.
43
Ellie found the note propped up on the kitchen bench against a carton of eggs when she wandered in the next morning, refreshed from a good night’s sleep: Help yourself. I’ll be home late afternoon. Ring if you need me. Nick. It seemed ICAC worked even on the weekends. His writing was strong and straight.
She opened the fridge door. Hmm, nice choice of yoghurt, she thought. She’d never met a man with a fridge actually containing edible food before. Except for her father.
She took her bowl of fruit and yoghurt out to the courtyard and tickled Shadow’s tummy with her foot as she ate.
It had taken some time to fall asleep last night. Nick’s reaction to her questions about his connection with her dad intri
gued her. Tom had served in the military in Vietnam, been conscripted like so many other young Australian men. Whatever he’d witnessed he’d left behind in the war-ravaged country. He’d never spoken of it to his girls. Maybe to his wife before she died, but not to his daughters. Perhaps that’s why he accepted their careers so easily. He believed that the rest of the world needed to see the truth about war. Vietnam had made him a passionate pacifist. Hard to imagine him and Nicholas forging a friendship.
There’d been an awkward moment at the end of the movie when neither one of them looked like they wanted the evening to end. Nick had finally stood up, nodded a little formally and wished her good night. Yawning, she’d headed to her own room.
Today she needed to track down Alex. Was it possible he’d had prior information about the kidnapping of Sarah and Mikey and hadn’t passed it on? Did he know O’Sullivan’s boys were planning to threaten her? She shook her head in denial at the possibility. If he did, then what? Report him to the police? Never speak to him again? The thought was almost too much to bear.
The reality was that he had warned her, albeit obliquely, and in her arrogance she’d ignored that warning. Once she’d been attacked, she’d figured the threat had passed.
Her phone vibrated with an incoming message. She didn’t recognise the number but the message was signed from Alex: Sorry. I lost my phone. We need to talk. Ring me on this number.
Finally! Ellie hummed as she pressed Call and waited for him to pick up. He didn’t answer. Strange. She tried again. Same result.
Beep, beep. A new message: Meet me on the 11 a.m. Manly Ferry.
She checked the time. Yep. She could make it to the post office and then walk to Circular Quay for eleven a.m.
An hour later, she stood in Pitt Street, the stream of pedestrians dividing around her as she clutched Nina’s Toshiba in her arms. The wind whipped her hair around her face and the strands caught on her damp cheeks, her eyes still full of tears. What was she going to find when she powered it up? She still didn’t understand how Nina’s computer had made it from Half Moon Bay to a post office box in Sydney without her or her father’s knowledge. The only answer could be Alex.
By the time the cab finally dropped her off in front of the ferry terminal, Ellie was composed again. Riding the ferries from Circular Quay had always been a delight. The grandeur of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the ethereal beauty of the Opera House floating on the edge of the Harbour never failed to inspire her. Circular Quay felt like a pulsing heart, the streams of people hurrying to catch trains, buses and ferries the blood in its veins.
She paid her money for a return ticket to Manly and headed to the gate, looking around for Alex. A movement caught her eye and she forced herself not to turn too suddenly. It was the older intruder from Half Moon Bay, Critter, loitering in a shop doorway with a cap pulled low over his ears and a dark-blue jacket.
They’re supposed to be in detention! Ellie thought, her body tensing. She snuck another look, trying to see his face more clearly. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, she reasoned, trying to ignore her pounding heart.
It took considerable effort to wander down the boarding walkway. As she joined the queue she had a closer look at the man. It was Critter. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Clearly a set-up, but by who? Was Alex actually texting her, or was Critter sending them? Or were they working together? She chewed the inside of her lip. Should she ring Nick? She was at the front of the queue now and, still apprehensive, boarded the ferry.
As she headed towards the bow of the boat she saw him again, this time with a mobile phone pressed to his ear, as he too came aboard. She couldn’t see Alex anywhere. Time for some decisive action. Ellie stayed on the side of the vessel nearest the boarding gangplank and when the horn sounded its three short blasts as it prepared to reverse, she brushed past the deckhand and vaulted over the railing.
‘Hey, miss! You can’t do that.’
She waved at the young worker. ‘Sorry.’
She resisted the temptation to look back until she was clear of the turnstiles. Critter’s broad back was visible on the lower deck, heading in the opposite direction.
Was there anyone else here following her? she wondered, scanning the surrounding faces.
Her phone beeped. Where are you?
On the ferry. Where are you? she typed back.
Lower deck at the stern.
So am I! How weird. She couldn’t see anyone taking special notice of her. OMG!!! I’m going the wrong way. I’m on the zoo ferry . . . Duh . . .
Take that, she thought, as she sent the text.
Seconds later came the reply. Ellie!!! Meet me at 3 at the Opera Bar. I have to see you.
She tapped the phone against her cheek. It seemed more likely that Critter was the one sending the texts. Ok, xxx, she sent back. Probably not that hard to get her number, she guessed. The alternative, which she had to acknowledge was still a possibility, was that Alex had set her up and was now staying out of sight while the others did the dirty work.
Damn it.
Had she been betrayed by an old friend? Maybe he was being threatened himself? Perhaps Critter’s boss was running his own agenda and Alex too was a victim.
Her mobile phone rang this time. ‘Hi, Nick.’ She couldn’t stop the surge of relief.
‘You’re either not home or you’re not answering my phone?’ He sounded wary.
‘No, I’m out and about in Sydney. I’m trying to catch up with Alex but he’s proving very elusive. Can I run something by you?’
‘Sure.’ He was guarded.
‘It’s just a theory. Let me give you the run-down and see what you make of it.’
When she got to the end of her hypothesis she had to hold the phone away from her ear at the volume of Nick’s response.
‘Holy shit! Where the hell are you now?’
‘Calm down. I jumped off just before the ferry left, but Alex, or someone, has sent more texts. It’s all a little too convenient.’
‘Ellie, other investigations are still ongoing. Connections from this mess go all the way to the highest level of international criminal organisations. You need to be off the streets and safe. Get in a cab and go home now!’
‘No, I want answers too, Nick. This is my community and my family caught up in this.’
‘Ellie, I’ll come and drag you off the bloody streets if I have to.’
‘And how the hell do you think you’ll find me?’
He laughed this time. ‘You think I don’t have technology at my fingertips to track your phone? Look,’ he hesitated and she could imagine him running an agitated hand through his hair. ‘I’m sorry. I sound like I’m ordering you around. I just want you safe.’
‘So set him up with me as the bait, then.’
‘No-bloody-way.’
She smiled. Time to lob a hand grenade into the conversation. ‘Nick, what am I going to find when I open Nina’s computer?’
‘Nina’s computer? Where’d you get that?’
‘From a post office box. I’m going to find myself a power point, charge the battery enough to turn it on and when I do I’m guessing this whole mess will suddenly come into focus. I’ll have the wide-angle shot instead of a series of portraits and close-ups.’
‘Ellie, don’t do that.’ He sounded frantic. ‘Hand the computer over to the authorities. I can take it in for you. If you don’t trust me, then organise to hand it over to the Feds or Customs. You don’t need to be involved any more than you are.’
‘Too late, Nick. I deserve the truth and too many people are lying to me.’
She hung up and dropped the phone in her pocket. While she was talking she’d been walking and was now back in Pitt Street. She ducked inside a dark café bar with long narrow windows. She didn’t feel hungry at all, but she ordered a salad and coffee, then found a seat at the back with a power point close by.
It took five minutes for the computer’s battery to come to life enough to turn on. The first screen asked for a passwor
d and Ellie paused. Her phone vibrated again. Nick for the fifth time. He could wait. She was going to see if he really could track her phone.
Half an hour later she’d managed to unlock the computer but so far nothing had supplied any answers. This time when the phone rang again it was a private number. She answered it.
‘Ellie, it’s me. Where are you?’
‘Alex? Where are you?’ She sat up straight, looking left and right, wondering if he was close by.
‘I can’t tell you, but you need to be careful. Did you get the stuff?’
‘Stuff?’ She wasn’t giving anything away. Was it another ploy to entrap her?
‘Nina’s.’
‘Yep.’
‘You need to keep it safe. Take it to the police. Nina stirred up a hornet’s nest and you don’t need to do the same thing.’
‘No, Alex. I want the truth and I’m going to find it. We’re meeting at three at the Opera Bar, yes?’
‘Meeting at three? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did someone contact you? Ellie, listen to me. Shit . . .’ There was a noise Ellie couldn’t quite decipher. ‘I’ll ring you later.’ He sounded hoarse, as though he was running. The phone went dead.
Ellie was now certain Alex had nothing to do with the earlier texts. The fear in his voice was too real. She checked the time. Two-thirty. Time to see who the hell was really pulling the strings. After paying her bill she headed back down towards the Harbour. She stopped at a discount chain store and bought a dark-blue coat, scarf and a floppy hat. At the chemist next door she bought sunglasses Paris Hilton would have been proud to wear. In the toilets at Circular Quay she changed clothes, tied her hair up and shoved it under the hat. She wrapped the computer in her old coat and loaded it into the bottom of her backpack. With everything else transferred into the carry bag from the shop, she looked like a tourist out shopping in Sydney. She tugged the straps of the backpack, settling it on her shoulders.
At the Copenhagen ice-cream shop she bought a double waffle cone and then joined the crowd of sightseers heading towards the Opera House. Two young French women were trying to read a map. Ellie stopped to help with her basic French. They were looking for Mrs Macquarie’s Chair.
Half Moon Bay Page 28