Evidence of Love

by Elisabeth Rose

  Nick touched her cheek with light fingers. ‘It’s a satisfying feeling, isn’t it?’

  She nodded, throat tightening at the understanding and the amazing closeness to this man she never thought would be anything other than a threat to her and her carefully reconstructed life. How wrong could she have been? But he couldn’t help her now. Ivan was her only hope.

  Nick wielded the fork with expert hands while Lara and Petey collected the weeds into a bucket and dumped them in a pile in the corner of the yard.

  ‘Got your compost going yet?’ he asked.

  ‘No. John wasn’t well and now he’s away. He goes to visit relatives in Tasmania each year for a few months, he said. Stays until after New Year.’

  ‘We can organise it. You can either buy a composting barrel or just make a heap in the corner there.’

  ‘What do you think I should do?’

  The pros and cons of compost methods took care of the following half hour by which time Petey had lost interest and started kicking a ball and running about after it.

  By four the beds were clear of weeds and the gardeners were finished.

  ‘Time for drinks,’ Lara announced. ‘Come inside for a wash, Petey. You too Nick.’ She grinned and he stole a quick kiss.

  ‘I want Nick to wash me,’ said Petey.

  ‘Okay.’

  While they splashed water and laughed in the laundry, she took a tray with iced lemon squash for her and Petey and cold beer for Nick out to the table under the shade tree.

  Nick sat down with a pleased sigh and lifted his beer. ‘Cheers.’

  ‘Cheers,’ echoed Petey and Lara.

  ‘I have tomorrow off. Like to do something?’ he said.

  ‘I would but we can’t, we’ve been invited to a barbecue. I’m sorry.’ Lara pulled a sad face.

  ‘I’ve got a uncle and a aunt,’ Petey said.

  ‘Have you?’ Nick raised an eyebrow at Lara.

  ‘Uncle Ivan.’ His little face crinkled in a frown. ‘And Aunt…what’s her name, Mummy?’

  ‘Aunt Susanna.’ She forced her voice into casual mode. No big deal. Visiting relatives. So what? Everyone did it.

  ‘Is that where you’re going tomorrow?’

  Lara nodded.

  ‘I thought you…’ Fortunately he stopped at her hiss of warning accompanied by the meaningful glance at Petey. All eyes and all ears. Small children repeated everything at random; he should know that, he had nieces and nephews.

  ‘Do they have a boy for me to play with?’ Petey finished his drink and slid off his chair.

  ‘No. No children. Why don’t you play with your ball again?’

  ‘I want you to play too.’

  ‘I need a rest, darling.’

  ‘I want Nick to play.’

  ‘Let me talk to Mum for a minute and then I will. I haven’t finished my drink yet.’

  ‘Can I watch my DVD?’

  Lara stood up. ‘All right.’

  She left him watching his favourite Wiggles DVD and put together a plate with crackers, dip and nuts to take outside.

  Nick stretched his arms over his head while he waited. What a perfect way to spend an afternoon. The woman he loved with her child, sunshine, fresh air, peace, no work bar the lightweight physical gardening they’d just done.

  The back door banged and Lara reappeared with more drinks and some snacks. She walked towards him, sunlight glinting off her hair, longer now than when he’d first met her and with a hint of curl in the rich dark brown. It suited her, softened her. She held herself straight and when she walked her hips had a natural sexy sway that ignited a fire deep inside him. And she wanted him, this beautiful woman.

  But why was she visiting her brother of all people? Wasn’t she scared of the man? In hiding from him? If not, what was all that about at the hospital when he’d rescued her from her brother’s best mate Branko?

  She handed him a fresh beer and set the snacks on the table.

  ‘Thanks.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ she said and slipped him a cautious little smile. It was looks such as those that grabbed at his heart and squeezed. She was still afraid of his reactions having lived in fear for so long, never knowing if a chance remark or action would result in a fist to the face.

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her onto his lap. She giggled and let him hold her and nuzzle her neck. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him before easing herself from his embrace and resuming her own chair.

  ‘I don’t trust these chairs to hold two of us,’ she said by way of explanation, or excuse.

  Nick took a cracker and stuck it into the green dip — avocado perhaps?

  He must have looked wary because she caught his eye. ‘It’s quite safe. No chilli.’

  ‘Haha.’ He downed half in one bite. ‘Why are you visiting your brother? I thought he terrified you.’

  She couldn’t hold his gaze, her focus slid away to her drink and then across the garden to the house. The Wiggles were just audible, singing something enthusiastically with Petey joining in.

  ‘He wants us to know each other better.’

  ‘Why now all of a sudden?’

  Her head snapped around to face him, frowning. Defensive. ‘He’s my brother, isn’t that reason enough? Family?’

  ‘Where was he when your husband was beating you up?’

  Lara dragged in air and exhaled slowly. The same questions must have tormented her. She wasn’t stupid. Her systems had been on high alert since she fled Melbourne and her family was the reason.

  ‘He apologised for that.’

  She had to be kidding. He put his beer down and leaned forward. ‘And you forgave him?’

  ‘I think he might have changed, or be trying to. His wife’s very nice. And I owe it to him — and Petey to give him a chance.’ She didn’t sound confident or convinced.

  ‘You don’t owe him anything, and Petey? Why take Petey anywhere near the man?’

  ‘You heard what he said, Ivan is his uncle. He and Susanna are the only halfway decent relatives he has apart from me. What right do I have to keep him away from them?’

  ‘Ivan Djokovic is halfway decent? Listen to yourself Lara!’ Nick sat back, shocked that she would entertain such thoughts. The man was almost as big a monster as his ex-boss Petrovic. How could she imagine he’d changed his ways? After what he’d learned from his chat with Steve from the Drug Squad it was a wonder Ivan wasn’t locked up for life. ‘Ask him if he had anything to do with the disappearance of your friend Cam Rogers.’

  Her expression hardened instantly. ‘What do you know about it? Have you been poking about in my past?’

  ‘Not your past, no, but it does overlap with a couple of well-known criminals. People, I should remind you, you professed to hate. You told me not long ago you wanted nothing to do with your family and now you’re socialising with your brother.’

  ‘It’s not illegal, is it?’

  With a sinking heart he recognised the tone and the look from countless interviews with countless suspects, usually guilty.

  Nick shook his head. ‘Sweetheart, I don’t want to fight with you about this.’

  ‘I knew I shouldn’t have told you,’ she muttered. ‘Cops just can’t put their jobs aside for more than two minutes.’

  That was uncalled for and most unfair. He pushed the chair back and stood up. ‘I’d better get going.’

  ‘Because of this…this disagreement?’ She remained seated, looking up at him with cool eyes.

  ‘No. Because I have a couple of things to do at home.’ Not strictly true. Now that an outing with Lara was off the agenda he had all of empty tomorrow to vacuum and change the sheets on his bed, but her muttered remark hurt. She didn’t trust him and if she didn’t trust him they had no future no matter how strongly they were attracted to each other. In her eyes he was still a cop first and a man who loved her second. She’d probably deny it but it was true, painfully so.

  Just as he’d thought, blood was thicker than what
ever it was he and Lara had together.

  Lara watched Nick change from the affable, relaxed man she’d begun to know and love into the steely-eyed, distant, analytical and always suspicious policeman she’d first met. Didn’t have to go very deep to penetrate the veneer. Just as she’d known since childhood — once a cop always a cop. Nick would never be able to separate her from her past and her family. She’d always have that cloud surrounding her, that taint of crime no matter how innocent she was. He couldn’t help it.

  She stood up abruptly and walked with him to the gate. He gripped her shoulders and dropped a kiss on her mouth.

  ‘Take care, Lara.’

  It sounded like farewell.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.

  He kissed her again, gently and longer. The type of kiss people exchanged before a long separation. Lingering and sorrowful, trying to imprint the kiss for future reference when the loved one was far away.

  ‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ she said. ‘Tell you what happens.’ A desperate attempt to stop this slow drifting apart.

  ‘You don’t have to do that.’

  ‘I want to.’

  He held her gaze. ‘Will you tell your brother about us?’

  She hesitated.

  He didn’t wait for her reply. ‘Goodbye, Lara.’ He pulled the gate open and strode to his car.

  They were continents heading in opposite directions, colliding briefly, scraping painfully together then going on their way in a barely perceptible but relentless progress. At the moment they were still touching, locked together by a force beyond their control, a mutual and consuming attraction but cracks were appearing, pieces were breaking under the strain. How much longer before they both succumbed to the reality of this situation? Nick was already realising the depths of their differences and he didn’t know the half of it.

  Lara stared after him with his query pounding in her ears. Would she tell Ivan and Susanna her new boyfriend was a cop? Susanna wouldn’t care. Ivan would, especially after last time. But Ivan might already know. And there was that other most telling of Nick’s questions. Had her brother had anything to do with Cam’s disappearance?

  She had no evidence Cam was dead but if Tony knew one of his circle was undercover that would be more than enough for him to make the man disappear. Was Ivan part of Tony’s hit squad at that time? Was he ever? Somehow she doubted it. Ivan was as ruthless as the worst of them but murdering a policeman was extreme. Would Tony have trusted him to do the job properly? Those moronic thugs Guido, Frankie and Lucas were the more likely candidates but Guido wouldn’t be answering any more questions and she certainly wouldn’t be visiting Frankie in prison. As for Lucas, he wasn’t going to answer any questions she put to him.

  Surely Nick would know if Cam, a policeman, had been killed, or he could find out. Why make an accusation like that? The answer bounced back uncensored straight from her upbringing. Because that’s what the police always did, they suspected the most likely person because it was easiest.

  But was that right? Nick hadn’t pounced on Keith Garrett for prowling about scaring Brooke. Why not? He reckoned there was no proof and it turned out he was right about that particular event. There was no proof Ivan had anything to do with Cam going missing either and there was no proof the man was dead or alive as far as she knew. Did Nick?

  Lara shook her head and groaned aloud in an effort to clear the frustrating mess in her head. It was all way too confusing. She was contradicting herself with every thought.

  She wandered across the grass and plonked onto the chair she’d been sitting on before. The neighbour’s cat strolled out from under a bush and twined around her ankles, its fur silky and warm against her bare legs. Petey hadn’t mentioned wanting a cat since that conversation weeks ago when he’d asked for a sister as first preference. A cat would be an easier acquisition than a boyfriend. All you had to do was feed it. They made no demands beyond kindness and a warm place to sleep. They didn’t come equipped with awkward questions and difficult moral expectations.

  Why did she fall for policemen? They were nothing but trouble. She should forget him. But even as she thought it she knew that wasn’t going to happen. Nick was under her skin, in her bones, burrowing into her soul and whether they were destined to be together or not he was the man for her and always would be. In which case her future was shaping up to be lonesome. If she had a future.

  Lucas’s voice echoed in her head. He thought she had money so he might be thinking in terms of blackmail. That wouldn’t work, she had nothing to hide now. Nick knew her past and who else would care? She was old news as far as the media went. A boring woman in the suburbs with a toddler to raise. No-one had even been interested when she found Brooke in the park.

  If Lucas thought there was more money around — millions more — he wouldn’t rest until he got his filthy hands on it. Forget blackmail, he’d do anything and without Tony around she was fair game.

  Petey’s safety was at stake and she couldn’t risk that. Could she send him away? Where? She only had Ellie and Brooke. All roads led to Ivan.

  ***

  Ivan and Susanna’s penthouse apartment had a magnificent view. Only a block back from the beach in a new high-rise development, the expanse of sand, sea and sky smacked visitors in the eye as soon as they walked through the door and into the ultra modern living room. A wide polished wood deck ran along the front of the apartment accessed through sliding floor to ceiling glass doors. Big soft white leather lounge chairs and matching sofa surrounded a sleek, low polished wood coffee table at one end of the room while a glass table and six chairs marked the formal dining area at the other. A casual outdoor table on the deck was set with glasses and crockery. A barbecue the size of a small car shimmered heat from its glistening surface.

  ‘Wow! This is fantastic.’ Lara raised her eyebrows at Ivan. He grinned. He knew exactly what she was thinking. How can you afford this and are you renting or did you buy?

  ‘We love it,’ gushed Susanna. ‘The mortgage is costing us two arms and a leg each and we’ll be in debt forever but what a way to live in poverty. The view makes it all worthwhile.’

  ‘Mmm. It’s wonderful.’ Buying. Ivan must have stumped up a pretty hefty deposit but she had no idea how much money he’d stashed away over the years. He’d always been good at amassing cash and he’d always had an eye for quality. A much more discerning eye than Tony when it came to design and style.

  ‘I sold up everything in Melbourne,’ he said by way of explanation even though she hadn’t asked. ‘Have a look around. Susanna’s dying to show you.’

  Lara obediently followed her sister-in-law on a grand tour. They had three large bedrooms each with its own ensuite, a study, kitchen, living-come-dining room and the vast deck for outdoor entertaining. Petey clung as close as possible, overawed by the two strangers who greeted him with such enthusiastic delight.

  ‘Petey is adorable,’ Susanna said as they rejoined Ivan on the deck. He handed her a glass of white wine. Lara accepted sparkling water. She couldn’t afford to have her wits fogged by alcohol. Not until she was sure where Ivan’s loyalties lay.

  ‘Sit down,’ he said.

  The deck was wedge shaped with a partially enclosed covered lounging area at the wide end. A long corner bench was built in against the wall with large, bright yellow, red and green cushions to sit on and lean against.

  Lara sat down and Petey scrambled up beside her. She dug in her bag and found one of his favourite toy cars and a picture book. Susanna kicked off her sandals and tucked her feet under her. Ivan brought a platter of miniature meatballs, Greek dolmades, raw vegetables and small dishes of dips and sauces. He set it on a wooden cube which served as a table and sat at right angles, smiling.

  ‘I whipped this up earlier.’

  ‘Did you actually make all this?’ Lara asked in surprise. ‘Not whipped the tops off containers from the deli?’

  ‘He did.’ Susanna beamed with pride. ‘Ivan loves cooking. He’s very g
ood at it.’

  ‘Do you? Are you?’ Another astounding revelation about her brother. Who knew? But then Hitler enjoyed painting so an interest in the arts didn’t negate other evils in a person’s life.

  ‘It’s a recent passion. Try the meatballs. It’s a Lebanese recipe.’

  Lara tried. Delicious. She gave one to Petey and he ate it solemnly. Susanna clapped her hands like a child and he smiled which made her even more excited.

  ‘What a darling he is. Have another one, sweetie.’ She offered him a second meatball but he hid his face behind Lara. Susanna popped it into her own mouth.

  ‘Calm down, sweetheart,’ said Ivan with another of those loving looks.

  ‘I’m sorry. I’m just so happy you two are finally together again and we’ve met dear little Petey. Families should get on. Don’t you think so, Lara?’

  Lara nodded. They should but they didn’t always. Not that she’d argue, she wasn’t here to prick Susanna’s happy bubble.

  ‘What are you doing with yourself, Lara?’ Ivan asked.

  ‘Raising Petey.’

  ‘Not working?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’d rather be home with him while he’s little.’

  ‘Oh me too,’ cried Susanna. ‘When we have children I’m quitting work to raise them. We should be able to manage.’ She glanced at Ivan who nodded.

  No doubt they would. Ivan had ways of raising money Susanna wouldn’t dream of. He probably had a whole income stream operating quietly in the background keeping this place afloat while Susanna imagined they were struggling newlyweds.

  Susanna popped up off the bench like a jack-in-the-box. ‘I’ll go and get the salads organised if you start cooking, darling. You stay and chat to your brother, Lara. I’m sure you have heaps to talks about.’ She pressed a kiss on Ivan’s cheek and went inside.

  ‘So —’ Lara studied Ivan. ‘What’s going on?’

  He waved an arm to encompass the view, the deck, the apartment. ‘This.’

  ‘Is it legal?’