Shadows Over Wongan Creek

by Juanita Kees

  From his vantage point near the door, Kieran watched Liam scamper up the ladder to the slide. He’d forgotten the eccentricities of the people of this town, the community spirit of Wongan Creek unlike anything he’d come across since. The whole reason he’d come back, hoping to find the same level of acceptance again. To build a better life for his son who shouldn’t have to live with the nightmares that haunted his sleep.

  He couldn’t let anything interfere with his son’s happiness. He couldn’t let Fen’s smile make his heart trip and his pulse race. Not when his focus needed to be on fixing what was broken inside him.

  Fen’s phone rang. She reached into the front pocket of her apron to pull it out. Her mouth drew tight. ‘Excuse me while I take this.’ She turned away to answer the call. ‘What do you want?’

  Unease curdled the coffee warming his gut. Whoever it was on the other end of the line, there was no mistaking the anger in Fen’s tone. Or the dash of fear. While his fingers itched to access the winery’s accounts to assess the financial damage done and turn the business around, his mind dwelled on the emotional fallout for Fen. How much hurt had Sampson caused the girl haunted by the missing patches of her past and the unsolved mystery of her life before foster care?

  Kieran watched Fen move through the French doors out onto the verandah that ran the length of the cellar building. She stood with her spine ramrod straight and stiff, the phone to her ear as she looked out across the valley towards the creek. Black jeans hugged her curves and shaped her legs as she tapped her boot against the wooden deck.

  His heart hitched. She’d always done that when she was annoyed or impatient. Or afraid. The tapping would grow faster until she’d resolved the issue she confronted. He hated that she’d been placed in a difficult situation, but when she let her head drop against the palm of her hand and her shoulders hunched over, he realised Fen wasn’t just battling her unseen demon, she was cornered by it.

  Beside him, Liv stood, the chair scraping against the wooden floor, masking whatever Fen said next.

  ‘What’s going on, Liv?’ he asked, pushing back his own chair. ‘This isn’t as simple as your manager dipping his fingers in the cash register, is it?’

  ‘Unfortunately not, but I’m not sure how much I can tell you with the level of investigation going on.’

  ‘Then tell me what you’ve reported to the police.’

  Liv chewed on her lip before answering. ‘Luke was involved with an outlaw motorcycle club. We didn’t suspect a thing. He was clean-cut, a little on the nerdy side. Until he let his true colours show.’

  He hated the sadness in Liv’s eyes and the questions her words raised in his mind. The possible answers scared him even more. ‘The guy who showed up here yesterday, was he from the same club as Luke?’

  ‘Yes.’ Liv’s eyes flickered with the same fear he’d seen in Fen’s.

  ‘Beyond Hell’s Reach. Damn it, Liv, those guys are notorious for making trouble.’

  Framed by the opened doors, Fen gripped the phone hard enough for Kieran to see her knuckles whiten. Then she turned to Liv, her face pale, a message passing between them. ‘I need to take this somewhere private.’

  Liv stiffened, her indrawn breath harsh. ‘Oh dear.’

  Kieran watched as Fen hiked down the verandah, her boots heavy against the deck, her voice a low mix of anger and frustration as she snapped replies into the phone.

  ‘I don’t like this at all, Liv. You need to give me the truth about what’s happening here.’ Torn between keeping an eye on Liam and going after Fen, Kieran hesitated.

  ‘I’m afraid that if I do, someone will get hurt. There’s been enough harm. Fen doesn’t need any more.’

  ‘Then tell me the whole story so I know what we’re up against.’

  Liv’s gaze followed Fen’s progress through the vines. ‘I don’t even know the full story. Fen is trying to protect me from the worst of it. She won’t tell me everything.’

  Down the hill, Fen reached the first row of vines and kicked a clod of earth hard down the line with a boot that would make a footballer proud. She shoved her hand into the back pockets of her jeans and flicked her fringe out of her eyes with a toss of her head as she listened to her caller.

  ‘I’ll have a chat to her. If she won’t tell me what’s going on, I’ll have to ask Riggs.’

  Liv turned to him, a note of relief in her voice. ‘Does that mean you’ll stay?’

  Kieran sighed. ‘Outlaws don’t play games, Liv. They’re not big on letting things go. The two of you alone out here makes you vulnerable. Damn right I’m going to stay.’ His mind told him to walk away, that he had Liam to protect from any more violence, but his heart and conscience intervened. ‘That man here yesterday? I doubt that’s the last you’ll see of one of their patched members if they’re making good on a threat.’

  ‘Luke warned her to be quiet about it, but Fen didn’t want to let him get away with stealing all that money, so she reported it to the police. We didn’t take his threats seriously. We figured they were empty words, that he’d disappear into hiding and the law would do its job finding him. But that’s when the real trouble started. Cut brake lines on the tractor. Contamination in the wine vats. Tampering with the temperature control in the cellar. Strange phone calls in the middle of the night.’

  ‘I don’t like the sound of that. They won’t like the police being involved. Guys like them tend to deliver their own kind of justice.’ Justice that would result in them ramping up the danger with every threat. Fen’s safety mattered. He made a note to contact their security company and upgrade their systems as his first point of business on Monday morning. No matter how big the distance between them had grown, he owed it to Fen to keep her and Liv safe if there was trouble ahead.

  Chapter 5

  Fen collapsed onto the cool bed of rock that overlooked the creek. ‘Damn you, Luke. I’m not playing your games anymore. Leave us alone.’

  ‘Be careful of that attitude, Fenella. You know I won’t hesitate to teach you a lesson you’ll find hard to forget.’ His warning had her jaw aching as a reminder of the damage his fists could do.

  She drew in long breaths and let them out slowly to calm the rapid beat of her heart. Anger lit a fire in her blood. ‘What do you want from me? You’ve got the money. Isn’t that enough without you trying to ruin what’s left?’

  His laugh rang harshly in her ears. ‘Not when I have thousands of dollars still growing down in the back block.’

  ‘You’re too late. The cops have seized it. They’re coming for you, Luke. I won’t let you get away with this.’

  Fen pushed a hand into the pocket of her apron and hauled out the collection of pebbles she’d picked up along the way. She selected the largest, heaviest pebble, testing its weight between her palms. Curling her fingers around it, she felt the edge dig into her palm before pulling back her arm and letting fly. Arsehole. The pebble skipped downstream three times before sinking into the crystal-clear water to join the stone-littered creek bed.

  Luke hissed his anger into her ear. ‘I warned you not to go to the cops. You’re going to pay for that.’

  ‘Did you think sending in your mate would scare me off? It didn’t work, Luke. Riggs has a full description of him.’

  ‘Then you’re more naïve than I gave you credit for. Back off, Fenella. You don’t want anything nasty to happen to your mother now, do you?’

  She let the next pebble rip, making it tumble through the air as tightness threatened to close her chest and cut off her breathing. It made a dead drop in the water. She listened to the sound it made as it broke the surface, watched the splash it made at the drop point. Bastard.

  ‘If you harm Liv, I’ll kill you myself.’

  His harsh laugh in response held no humour and bore no resemblance to the one she’d once loved to listen to. ‘Brave, empty words from a girl who couldn’t even kill a cockroach. Dead girls can’t talk, Fenella. Do you have any idea what these guys do to snitches? They cut out t
heir tongues. While they’re still breathing.’

  A tear slipped down her cheek. She let it fall. An ache gripped her throat as her carefully built wall crumbled and fell. She’d been dumb enough to trust a handsome face and a bewitching smile that had hidden a black heart and a dishonest mind.

  ‘What do you want from me?’ The words edged past the ache in her throat.

  ‘Your word.’

  ‘On what?’ A shiver gripped her as dark, dirty shadows crept into her mind. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘Those nightmares of yours. You will remember them one day. And when you do, you’d better come to us first or you will regret it.’

  Confusion swirled through her mind. The dreams were from a time long before Luke, long before Wongan Creek. But he’d witnessed the fallout from them, sleeping beside her at night. Seen the damage they’d done. ‘What game are you playing?’

  ‘I don’t play games. Neither do the big fellas. You’re a high risk, Fenella. And we’re keen on eliminating risks.’

  ‘You bastard! You stole from us. You took our money and contaminated our crop with your filth, and you’re threatening me?’ She dragged in a breath, squashing down the fear that rose like bile in her throat. ‘Screw you.’

  ‘So stupidly sassy.’ He laughed, a sound that sent frissons of fear edging over her skin. ‘Keep your mouth shut about what you’ve seen and heard. We’ll be watching. Roach knows exactly what to do with girls like you. He’s been away for a while and he’s a hungry man. Watch your back, Fenella.’

  The line went quiet even as the noise in her mind increased. None of it made sense. She hadn’t witnessed any of Luke’s involvement with the club. Not until she’d seen his cuts and been silenced by his hands. And even then, she knew nothing. What did her dreams have to do with it?

  She hated going there. Delving into the darkness where fear held her captive and shadows morphed into monsters. Where hands grabbed at her, bruising her arms and legs, and strangers dragged her from her safe place under the table. Where she tried to see past the half-closed door of a bedroom she knew she should recognise, but her mind refused to. Red and blue flashing lights bouncing off the walls of an apartment she didn’t want to remember, and a woman whose name she wanted to forget. Antoinette is gone. You need to come with us now.

  None of that was tied up to Luke, except that he’d witnessed the after-effects of her dreams. Was all this just a game to him? Something he could use to scare her with? That the twisted dreams of a child with a crackhead prostitute for a mother was something he could use to blackmail her into silence?

  The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt and the scars under her wristbands burned. A reminder of the torment those dreams incurred. She’d think about it later, decipher the clues, piece the puzzle together.

  Over in Travis Bailey’s field, Harry and his dog wandered aimlessly amongst the sheep. The dog making a half-hearted attempt at herding. Sometimes Harry, sometimes the sheep. Fen watched them and let the anger slowly drain away. She needed a clear head to think about it. Remove the emotion and look at the facts. Think the way men like Luke would.

  Kieran would have to know what an idiot she’d been, the extent of her stupidity blinded by what she’d thought could be love. Just how far had that bastard, Luke, gone? What other surprises would the police uncover?

  Anger building again, Fen flung the last pebble, sending it whistling through the air, missing the water completely and landing at Harry’s feet on the opposite bank.

  Harry bent to pick it up, his movements slow. He turned the pebble over in his gnarled and twisted fingers. ‘Did you break my shed window?’

  ‘Not recently.’

  He frowned, tossed the pebble into the water and rubbed his hands together. ‘Coulda sworn it was you.’

  ‘That was a long time ago, Harry. I was thirteen.’

  ‘Not that long ago.’ Harry and his dog crossed the bridge.

  The grumpy old man had withered away, the disease that consumed his mind taking its toll on his body too. Poor Harry. They’d given him such a hard time during those difficult years of finding their place in a town where they didn’t belong. Perhaps his Alzheimer’s was a blessing at times, so he could forget some things. No matter how angry she and Kieran had made him as two equally angry teenagers, Harry had always found ways to discipline them without making it feel like capital punishment.

  Like the time he’d sent them into the paddock with plastic zip-lock bags to collect sheep poo as punishment for breaking his shed window. They’d argued the senselessness of the task. Poo was good fertiliser for the paddock. But, no, he’d needed it for his garden beds, he’d said.

  Fen shivered. Even now the thought made her cringe. The sheep had smelled like hay and grass and damp, smelly sweaters left in the washing machine for too long. Not unpleasant until you came across the occasional one who’d rolled in something awful. Those were the things she preferred to remember. Tears pricked behind her eyes and spilled over onto her cheeks again.

  The old man settled onto the big rock next to her and she shifted to make space for the dog to crawl into the space between them. Robbie settled his head on her lap and she rubbed his ears, letting the motion soothe her anger away. Below them, the creek bubbled over the pebbles, sunlight sparkling off the water.

  ‘So, you want to talk about it?’ Harry handed her his handkerchief, adjusted his hat over his eyes and let his legs swing over the edge of the rock.

  Fen sighed as she wiped away the remnants of her tears from her cheeks. Harry would have forgotten all about Luke already. ‘It’s a long story, Harry. I was lonely. Where else was I going to meet someone special?’

  Harry snorted. ‘You didn’t meet him on one of those bloody internet dating sites, did you? I coulda told you this bloody technology stuff is dangerous. Whatever happened to face-to-face dating? You know, ask a girl to the movies. Show her your moves in the back row. Much more fun than staring at a screen and picking out a photo like some bloody, cheap-arse porn site. You’re a pretty girl. Why would you need to go on one of those things anyway?’

  ‘No, not a dating site, Harry. He came into the cellar bar one day and then kept coming back, asking me out until I agreed. I stupidly said yes. It seemed like a good idea at the time.’

  ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if hindsight was foresight, pixie face? Then we’d all make the right decisions in life.’

  Fen grinned, her heart warming a little. Harry remembered. How can a girl with such an innocent pixie face be such a little a shit? Was all this mess with Luke Karma’s payback for the trouble she’d caused Liv and Muzz, and even Harry, when she’d first come to town?

  ‘Where were you when I needed your wisdom, Harry.’ She looked up at his weathered face.

  Harry patted Robbie’s flank and laughed as the dog rolled over and stretched out for a tummy rub. ‘Right here with my mate. Waiting.’ The look in his eyes grew distant. ‘Have you seen Eileen? She said she’d meet me here.’

  Fen frowned. ‘Eileen? I don’t know who that is, Harry, sorry.’

  ‘She’s gone, I think. Do you have her number?’

  Her heart ached for the man with the big heart and grumpy disposition. So sad to see his mind going when Harry had been a keen storyteller and hard worker. So much would be lost with his memory fading. ‘I’d better get back and help Liv set up the breakfast tables for the bingo club. Are you coming along to that, Harry?’

  Harry chuckled. ‘What and hang out with all the old ducks, watching them stuff their handbags and pockets with food wrapped in napkins? No chance. Although, Marge will be there. She and I had a thing once, you know. Before I met Eileen. Have you seen Marge?’ Easing his body around, he pushed off the rock. ‘Come on, Robbie. We have to find Marge.’

  Fen jumped down and stood in front of Harry. ‘Thank you.’ She put her arms around his thick waist and hugged him hard.

  He patted her back awkwardly. ‘Enough of that now, pixie face. You’ll make
an old fella cry.’

  She let him go and hugged Robbie too. ‘Would you like me to walk you home, Harry?’ If he got lost on the way back to Travis’ place, she’d never forgive herself.

  ‘No, I know the way. You go find that Murphy boy. It’s about bloody time you two got married.’

  A little of the sadness she’d started to shake off returned. ‘We’re not together. We never were. He married Diane, remember? From Lavender Ridge.’

  Harry walked away, calling for Robbie to follow. Halfway to the bridge, he turned around. ‘He needs a real woman.’

  ‘I’m done with men.’

  ‘You’re done with scoundrels. Real men know how to treat a woman right. Eileen and I are getting married tomorrow. Is it tomorrow?’

  Robbie nudged Harry’s legs and Fen watched the dog guide his master in the direction of home. She had to face up to the consequences of her choices. It would be dangerous to forget the threat Luke presented to Liv, to the winery, to her and now to Kieran and Liam too.

  * * *

  Kieran straightened the knife on the table, set a breakfast plate between the setting and tried not to watch Fen walk back up through the vines. He’d told her his whole story, yet she’d walked away from him with hers.

  Liam edged in between him and the table and placed a red napkin on the plate. ‘I’m helping, Daddy.’

  Kieran ruffled his curls. ‘You sure are, mate. Did you fold that?’

  Liam nodded. ‘Liv showed me how.’

  ‘Good job.’

  Fen brushed past him. He watched her as she went through the ritual of dropping wildflowers into vases and putting them in the centre of the tables, her coping mechanisms engaged. Fen hadn’t changed at all. She coped by doing, thinking through things and battling the inner demons as she went. And when she was done, maybe she’d talk to him like they had in the days when they’d only had each other.

  ‘Okay, love?’ he heard Liv murmur and noted Fen’s nod, her face still obscured by her fringe.

  No, she wasn’t okay. Not at all. He could see it in the stiffness of her shoulders and the occasional rub of her wrists.