Devil's Lair

by Sarah Barrie

  When would she learn? Had she really thought Ned would just give up? ‘No. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Ava’s things. About you bringing them over to the cottage for Paisley.’

  ‘Already told Paisley it wasn’t me,’ he said, scraping the last of the soup from his bowl. ‘Not about to come in uninvited, leaving stuff around.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be upset,’ she lied. ‘I’d just feel better knowing who it was.’

  His eyes met hers and she thought maybe she saw something calculating behind the innocence.

  ‘You sure you didn’t find them yourself?’

  ‘Why would I find them myself, then accuse you of doing it?’

  ‘Just saying, you don’t need a reason to get me over here, that’s all. You don’t need to make stuff up to get my attention.’

  Oh my God. ‘Do you really believe that?’ she snapped. ‘Is it really possible you don’t understand that hearing you say those things makes me feel ill?’

  Ned got up slowly and, bowl in hand, approached her, his gaze unreadably blank.

  She stepped back.

  He continued to the sink, let go of the bowl. It crashed, making her jump.

  ‘Appreciate the soup,’ he said.

  ‘Tess and Indy are on their way over,’ she said, heart in her throat. ‘You should go.’

  ‘I’m going,’ he said and walked to the front door. ‘But don’t forget I’m at the house for the time being. Not far at all.’

  Something about his stare made her genuinely frightened.

  The sweep of headlights signalled an arriving car and his face brightened into a smile as his tone lightened. ‘He’s not right for you—Connor. Here’s your friends. Goodnight, Callie.’

  She waited for Tess and Indy to get out of the car. Smiled as best she could. ‘Hi. Thanks for coming.’

  ‘Hi,’ Tess said.

  Indy was busy watching Ned’s retreat with interest. When her eyes swung back to Callie’s they were friendly, assessing. But there was something about the look. And her stance had authority written all over it.

  ‘What was Ned doing here?’

  ‘He’s spending a lot of time here keeping an eye on Cliff and tidying up. And my power went out. Ned came over and turned it back on, asked for some soup.’ She led them inside. ‘I’ve been cooking for Cliff and Ned’s gotten a bit used to getting some too.’ Not sure what to do with herself, she got a glass of water, noticed her hand wasn’t steady as she sipped it.

  Indy’s expression was thoughtful. ‘So you called Ned then, after you’d spoken to us?’

  ‘Ah … no. Why?’

  ‘Then how did he know your power was off?’

  She had no answer. ‘I don’t know … I guess he saw all the lights off perhaps. I saw someone outside my window, which must have been him. Gave me a heart attack. He was probably looking in to see why all the lights were off.’

  ‘He shouldn’t be creeping around outside in the dark. Is that what’s upset you?’

  ‘Huh? Oh.’ She supposed she wasn’t hiding it very well. ‘He was a bit intense. Then he wasn’t. I can’t explain it. He’s—’

  ‘Scaring you,’ Indy decided. ‘Want to file a complaint against him?’

  ‘File a complaint against Paisley’s brother? For what? He hasn’t done anything. Exactly.’

  ‘Isn’t that a bit harsh?’ Tess asked.

  ‘At least keep a journal,’ Indy said. ‘Put everything in you can think of up to this point in time specifically outlining anything he’s said or done that’s bothered you and anything you’ve said or done about it. Keep it up to date. Then if it does come to you feeling like you need to take it further, we have it all down.’

  ‘You’re the first person who’s taken this seriously,’ Callie told Indy. ‘No offence, Tess, but everyone else says, “Oh, it’s just Ned, don’t worry.”’

  ‘I’m a cop,’ Indy said. ‘I’ve seen the results of not worrying about it a few too many times.’

  ‘And I’m not offended,’ Tess said. ‘He was really possessive the other day at lunch. Connor wasn’t happy about it either. Told him well and truly to back off.’

  He had? ‘I guess I’ll do the journal then. Just in case,’ Callie said.

  Indy looked around. ‘This is a nice little cottage.’

  ‘Yeah. I’m enjoying it. Mostly. It just seems to be that so many people are finding out I’m down here. And now that woman’s probably dead and I’m sure it had nothing to do with me but what are the chances, right?’

  ‘Marcie Williams.’ Indy pinned Callie with what she could only think of as a very cop-like stare. ‘You’re sure it was her?’

  ‘Yes. Positive. And she was so nervous and on edge the entire time she was talking to me. She kept looking around like she was expecting to be caught out. And the way she spoke …’

  ‘Can you tell me exactly?’

  ‘Of course. She said, “They’re watching you”, and “You need to leave. Get away. Fast.” I thought—think—she meant the media, because who else would care that I was here? It’s got me spooked that she’s missing. Maybe dead.’

  ‘Marcie had a few issues. I’d be surprised if Paisley didn’t know her. She was part of a group her mother ran for families coping with mental illness.’

  ‘Paisley mentioned that group,’ Callie said. ‘Apparently the kids entertained themselves on the grounds while the adults held their meetings.’

  Indy flicked a glance at Tess. ‘Orson’s family also attended.’ Then to Callie: ‘I wonder if Paisley would mind giving me a list of all the group members?’

  ‘I’m sure she wouldn’t. Paisley’s dead sister’s things have been turning up in here without explanation and all Paisley could think of is that someone from back then might be bringing them over.’

  Indy’s brow lifted. ‘Someone’s been in here?’

  ‘Yeah. Marcie hasn’t turned up?’

  ‘No, no yet.’

  ‘It must be hard on the family,’ Tess said.

  Indy shook her head again. ‘The only relative ever recorded was a daughter who died giving birth.’

  Tess winced. ‘How sad!’

  ‘Yeah, it is.’ Indy went outside and looked around. ‘Even worse—with Marcie’s issues, the courts wouldn’t let her raise the baby. The child went to the mother of the man who’d allegedly raped her daughter.’

  ‘That’s horrible!’ Callie muttered.

  ‘Yes. He’d only just gotten out of prison on drugs charges a few days prior. Two officers attempted to bring him in for questioning over the incident and he attacked them. Got another nine years for assaulting police. His mother, on the other hand, was some sort of pillar of the community. Go figure.’ Indy looked around, frowning in thought. ‘We should put a couple of security cameras up on the corners of the cottage. If anything else out of the ordinary happens, we can see what’s going on. Wouldn’t hurt to make the outside lights sensor lights, either. How are the locks on the doors and windows?’

  ‘We changed the deadlock yesterday.’ And suddenly, with Indy’s input, all the little things that had been worrying Callie seemed far more serious. ‘How concerned should I be, exactly?’

  Indy’s expression softened. ‘Sorry, Callie, I didn’t mean to scare you. This is for peace of mind. You’ll feel safer if you put these precautions in place.’

  Callie let herself relax. ‘Okay. And you’re right, I will.’

  CHAPTER

  22

  Connor usually enjoyed the stroll from the guesthouse to the stables, especially on a morning still tinged with sunrise. But this morning he was preoccupied. He found Logan saddling his stallion.

  ‘Morning,’ Logan said.

  ‘Hey. I thought I might borrow a horse, head out to where we last saw Orson.’

  Logan dropped the saddle flap back in place and reached for the bridle. ‘Mate, he’s long gone. And the cops have been all over it.’

  He knew that, but, ‘It doesn’t seem right to do nothing.’

/>   ‘You want some company then? I’ve got to give Rex some exercise.’

  ‘Yeah, sounds good.’ Connor turned and looked down the breezeway at the sound of a car. ‘What’s Indy doing here?’

  Logan looked around him and waved at his wife. ‘Come to see Ned I reckon. He’s working this morning. She’ll want to catch him before he goes back to Waldron Park.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘She and Tess went out to Callie’s last night. Someone’s been poking around or something.’

  Indy strolled down the breezeway and gave Rex’s golden coat a pat. ‘Morning.’

  ‘Morning,’ Connor said. ‘Was there a problem last night? Is Callie okay?’ Why hadn’t she called him?

  ‘She’s fine.’ Then to Logan she said, ‘Is Ned around?’

  ‘In the yards. Hold on.’ He went out, whistled and gestured for Ned to join them.

  Connor’s temper flashed. ‘Ned was creeping around?’

  ‘I’ll handle it,’ Indy said under her breath as Ned ambled in and looked at them all suspiciously.

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Morning, Ned,’ Indy said. ‘I heard you went over to Callie’s last night and turned on the electricity to the cottage.’

  He shrugged. ‘Didn’t want her sitting around in the dark.’

  ‘Right. What was with the creeping around, looking in the windows?’

  ‘I wasn’t creeping around,’ he said with a scowl. ‘I walked onto the patio, knocked on the door.’

  ‘That’s not how Callie recalled it. You peeked in her bedroom window, didn’t you?’

  ‘Was wondering why she was sitting around in the dark. Someone’s gotta look after her,’ he said to Connor.

  Connor’s fists clenched at his sides as he took a quick step forward. ‘I’ll give you—’

  Indy’s hand against his arm pulled him up. ‘We’re upping the security on the cottage,’ she told Ned.

  ‘In what way?’ Ned asked. ‘Not sure Dad would appreciate—’

  ‘Property improvements?’ Indy said. ‘I’m sure he won’t mind. We all want Callie to be safe and enjoy her privacy. Don’t we?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Good. Because next time we talk about this, it’ll be at the station. Clear?’ Her tone and accompanying glare didn’t suggest she was making empty threats.

  ‘That it?’ Ned growled.

  ‘Just one more thing. You wouldn’t happen to know a Marcie Williams, would you?’

  ‘Huh? Um. No.’

  When she stood there silently doing what Connor had come to think of as the Indy stare, Ned shuffled uncomfortably.

  ‘Well, could have, as a kid. Friend of Mum’s. I think.’

  ‘Any idea why she’d warn Callie to leave town?’

  Ned’s head snapped up. ‘She shouldn’t be doing that!’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Just shouldn’t. Got no right. Always was screwy. One of Mum’s nuts. Are we done? I need to keep working.’

  ‘Sure. That’s all for now. Thanks, Ned.’

  Ned scowled again, but nodded and stalked out.

  Connor rubbed his hands over his face. ‘Ned’s never hurt a flea. He’s always been the least scary person I’ve ever met. But I don’t know what to make of him at the moment. I could have knocked him flat just then. Is this crush of his dangerous?’

  ‘I consider any unstable personality with a habit of developing inappropriate infatuations as a potential time bomb. That said, threat or no threat, some security will make Callie feel better. If my husband of five years who I trusted just about more than anyone on the planet suddenly morphed into a cheating, murdering liar who tackled me over morning coffee with the intent to violently kill me, I’d be jumping at every shadow, every noise, every possible threat too.’

  ‘Speaking of Callie, did she happen to mention if she’s planning on coming in this morning?’ he asked.

  ‘Not immediately. Tess and I are taking her security shopping.’

  ‘Great. Indy, thanks,’ he said.

  ‘You’ll get your turn. You boys can do some installation.’

  ‘We can?’ Logan asked, then grinned at the looks they sent him. ‘Sure we can. But first we’re going for a ride.’

  ‘Okay—make sure you take the dogs with you,’ she said. ‘They need a good run.’

  ‘Will do,’ Logan promised. ‘Go grab a horse,’ he said to Connor. ‘We’ll get moving.’

  They rode quickly as far as the boundary, traced the fence line, though Connor knew any chance of finding a clue to where Orson had gone was all but hopeless. Then they got up onto the national park trails, followed them as far as horseback allowed.

  ‘We knew it was a long shot,’ Logan said when the horses dropped their heads to amble and the dogs, tongues out, began to fall back. ‘The chances of him setting up camp out here were always slim. We should head back.’

  ‘At least I got a pretty ride out of it,’ Connor said. ‘And your dogs got their exercise.’

  ‘True.’ Logan whistled. The dogs loped back to the horses. ‘So what was that about someone trying to scare Callie off?’

  ‘A woman—I’m gathering they’ve figured out it was that Marcie Indy asked Ned about—turned up while she was working, told her she should leave.’

  ‘So she’s taking off?’

  ‘I hope not,’ Connor said. ‘But I don’t want to call her and hassle her.’

  ‘Ah … now I see.’

  ‘What do you see?’

  ‘If you love them, let them go?’ Logan teased.

  ‘Shut up,’ Connor said and moved his horse around a fallen tree to cut through the scrub.

  They picked their way through the easiest of the terrain, re-joined the trail in places where the scrub was too thick to ride through comfortably. The dogs were getting further and further behind so Logan stopped, whistled them up again. When they didn’t show he had another go, and heard a bark somewhere off to their left.

  ‘What’ve they got bailed up, I wonder?’ Logan said.

  ‘Let’s go find out.’ Connor turned his horse in the general direction of the sound and Logan came up beside him. ‘There they are,’ Connor said, spotting a dog sniffing around.

  ‘Oh, shit! Damn it. Bloody hell. Get back!’ Logan whistled again, gave a sharp, curt command for the dogs to return. They reluctantly left their find, moved around behind the horse.

  Connor stared, unable to move as what he was seeing sank in. Orson was lying on a patch of roughly cleared ground, hands and feet staked inside a red circle. He was pretty sure the spray-painted lines partially obscured by his body formed a pentagram. Deep wounds had been carved into his body and his neck was almost severed by the slash under the jaw. A waxy substance had been poured over his head, hands and feet, and something oily had pooled in the crevices of the wounds. Flies and insects covered the body, and the smell threatened to turn his stomach.

  A crow cawed from a low branch of a gum beside the body and Connor moved forward to scare it off. The insects were bad enough.

  ‘Don’t go any closer!’ Logan warned. ‘That’s a crime scene. Indy’ll skin you.’

  ‘What kind of a sick son of a bitch does something like this?’

  ‘I’m guessing the same sort that’d do it to a horse,’ Logan replied in disgust. His phone was to his ear. ‘I can’t get a signal. We’re going to have to go back a bit further before I can call.’

  Connor eyed the bird again. ‘How far? We can’t just leave him.’

  ‘It’s still a few k’s back but it won’t take long. We’ll mark the spot.’

  ‘How did he get all the way out here?’

  ‘We’ll know more once the scene has been analysed. Let’s go.’

  Could they really just leave Orson? Connor didn’t feel right about it. ‘I think I should wait here.’

  ‘Not a chance in hell,’ Logan growled. ‘Mate, whoever did this could still be around. Orson wasn’t a small human. He was young and fit and strong, and still some
one managed this. Recently—there’s no way a police search team missed this last week. We stick together. Let’s go.’

  * * *

  Because Indy had been called back to work in the middle of their security shopping, Tess suggested they head out to Calico Mountain for lunch, maybe do a bit of gardening together. It was a show of support, a chance to ease back in with company, and help if anything went wrong. Callie appreciated it. And seeing Connor would be better than calling him. So she agreed.

  They’d just gotten to the point of placing plants in the third new garden bed when they noticed a trio of women standing on the sidelines, watching with interest. Callie exchanged wary glances with Tess but kept working, and after a couple more minutes, obviously over it, Tess straightened and approached them.

  ‘Can I help you?’

  ‘Hello,’ the taller of them said, her eyes moving from Tess to study Callie.

  Oh shit, here we go again. She almost ran. Wanted to drop her things and get out of there. But she needed to know what they were going to say. She needed to start standing up for herself, facing it.

  ‘Yes?’ Callie asked instead, moving over next to Tess.

  ‘Did you do all these garden beds?’

  ‘Yes, she did,’ Tess answered for her.

  ‘They look absolutely stunning. You should be proud of yourself.’

  Relief was her overriding emotion, and Callie smiled. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You’re like that woman,’ another one said and Callie’s heart pounded again.

  Callie pulled the cap a little lower over her face. ‘Which woman?’

  ‘The one on Better Homes and Gardens, who can do all those male jobs with the tools and things. Tara someone. You were managing all that plastic tubing by yourself.’

  ‘Oh, well, it’s not that difficult.’

  ‘Do you have a card?’ the first woman asked. ‘Because we only live up at Devonport and I’d love something like that first garden over there in our backyard. We have a couple of acres …’

  When they left, Callie let herself smile. She’d taken the woman’s number and promised to call her as soon as she’d finished out here. It lifted her mood dramatically.

  ‘And there you go,’ Tess said, grinning back. ‘Not all strangers are bad news.’