Bendigo
Wednesday 12 October
Christ, if she wasn’t the best thing he’d ever seen.
He had to tell her, he had to say something before he left for home; before he lost his nerve. Fitz had insisted he did, but what in Christ’s name did he have to say about it, his best mate who’d strung them both along. Raff could well remember Evie talking to Fitz when they all thought he was on his deathbed, telling him she loved him.
He and Fitz had had words about it again last night when they’d camped a little way out of the city. They’d roamed Bendigo, keeping out of sight, but the scrub was best in which to lay low, or more to the point, settle an issue.
Fitz had bellowed, ‘I was bloody unconscious at the time, you fool, I never heard her say that.’ He barely took a breath. ‘And she does love me, just not like that.’ He stabbed Raff in the chest with a forefinger. ‘Only as friends. You’re using it as an excuse, damn you.’
‘You think what you want, O’Shea.’
‘I do. I will.’ Fitz backed off a little. He held up a hand. ‘Hey, I’m not fighting with you about Evie again. She’s my friend, so are you. God knows, I need all I have.’ He tossed the remains of his tea into the dirt. ‘You should’ve muscled your way in, taken a swing at me. Been a knight in shining armour.’
There’d been no point taking a swing at Fitz. ‘You don’t do that to friends,’ Raff said and poked at the little campfire. ‘Friends don’t do that to you.’
‘Well, not too late is it, for you and Evie? No real harm done, right?’
Jesus.
Silence let tempers cool. Fitz had gone to his saddlebags and reefed out a wad of paper. ‘Read the article I’ve written on the court drama. I’m not only sending this to the Bendigo paper, but Ballarat as well, spreading the net wide. Edwin Cooper and his family won’t want to bob up anywhere around the district.’
Raff took the papers, still irritable. ‘Good.’
Fitz chewed his lip a moment. ‘I hope it goes some way to atone for wasting Evie’s time, and what that might have caused.’ Fiddling with his shirt sleeve, he added, ‘And for you too, over Evie. I told her the same.’ He gave a laugh, part apology, part defence.
Raff grunted. ‘Big of you.’ Didn’t make him any less angry about it, but to what end? If he and Evie were meant to be together, they’d work it out themselves. Still, it didn’t stop his blood running when he thought of how Fitz had manipulated—
‘I was looking for a way to survive. I’m still looking.’
‘I know.’ Raff dropped his chin. There it was. Survival. So he let it go; he had to. Water under the bridge.
‘I thought Bendigo Barrett was going to strangle you at the back of the courtroom when Cooper was spruiking.’ Fitz gave a laugh. ‘Strong bugger.’
Raff had wanted to leap onto Cooper the moment he’d begun uttering his lies. Barrett had clamped Raff in his seat. ‘He stopped me looking a fool, more than once.’
‘He did.’
After another rum or two by the campfire, they’d bunkered down for the night.
This morning Fitz left on Patto at dawn with few words. ‘This is it. Goodbye, Raff.’
It shouldn’t have been awkward, but it was. Fitz hadn’t wanted to say goodbye to anyone, and nor did he say where he was headed. Just the way he wanted it.
Now Raff walked alongside Evie, tugging Bluey. ‘Fitz left early this morning. Couldn’t hang around, you understand.’
‘I do.’
‘After he left Cobram, he got down to see John’s wife, and then decided to come back, just to write up your, uh, court thing for the newspapers. He wanted to make sure you got the best.’
Evie gave him a glance. ‘Where’s he going? I couldn’t find either of you on Monday afterwards to ask.’
‘I don’t know. He’ll keep roving, I reckon.’
‘Oh.’
He glanced her way.
‘Something wrong, Raff?’ She sounded clipped. ‘He’ll be all right, you’ll see.’
‘I know he’ll be all right, the great git.’ They walked on in uneasy silence for a bit, Bluey clopping behind them. ‘I hope you’re all right after the courtroom business, and everything.’
‘I think so, all things considered.’ She had a set to her mouth, was maybe not happy about the court thing after all. ‘Shooting at people. Hitting someone.’
‘And those couple of swings you took with the poker looked pretty good.’
Evie stopped, and a whisk of cold air slid over him.
‘You saw that?’ Her face was stony.
Raff put his hat back on, flapped the collar of his shirt. Shit. Now the sun seemed to be warming him up all of a sudden. He nodded. ‘I saw someone creeping around your house. It was Barrett watching Cooper creeping around. I got to Barrett, who told me not to go any closer to your place.’
‘Why were you even there? I wasn’t told that,’ she said, sounding tetchy. Frowning, she started to walk again. She was watching her feet. ‘What time was this?’
He shrugged. ‘Uh, late.’
‘You were outside my place, late?’
‘I’d got in from the railway station, went to that boarding house.’
She had picked up the pace.
‘I took a nap, woke up and just thought I’d—’
‘What?’ she snapped. ‘Just thought you’d what? Come to my place, late?’
A little bewildered, he just shook his head. ‘To make sure you were all right.’ His throat tightened. What the hell is she mad at?
‘You know, after the McCosker thing. Your sister. All that.’
‘You were there, late, and that awful man was terrorising me, and … and you didn’t—’
‘Barrett’s orders. He didn’t want anyone seen at your place while he was trying to catch Cooper.’
‘You didn’t think to come and get me?’
‘I did. I did think of that.’
‘But you didn’t come and—’
‘Then you came out with the poker, and Barrett was chasing him.’
‘I was out of my mind scared, Raff.’ She walked faster.
Jesus, she’s mad at me. I should’ve ignored Barrett, should have blundered in. ‘Barrett said he had it in hand. He made it clear I wasn’t to be seen in your company, even in your vicinity. He said it would damage your reputation—’
‘My reputation was already damaged thanks to Edwin Cooper.’ She speared a glance at him, her eyes flashing with a glitter of tears.
‘Evie. Don’t let all that worry you. It doesn’t mean anything now.’
‘It means everything for some stupid, stupid reason.’ She was nearly skipping, she was walking so fast. ‘And means nothing at the same time.’
He didn’t understand that. He had to watch for carts and horse riders as they crossed a main road, but she just charged out anyway, head down. He kept up with her. ‘I don’t care about the court thing. Makes no difference to me you being accused of all that stuff. The magistrate threw it out. It doesn’t matter to me what went on before—’
‘Nothing went on before,’ she seethed.
Jesus. He kept saying the wrong thing. ‘I meant—’
She stopped and twisted towards him. ‘You think my reputation is … that I’m … sullied?’ she squeezed out. She hadn’t shouted, thank Christ, but she was mad enough, wild.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘That’s what Edwin Cooper intended in there. Didn’t you hear him? That accusation will stay with me forever. That’s what people will remember, will talk about, will think of me. I know that’s why Mr Barrett wasn’t going to let you come near me, it was to make sure that evil man didn’t have any more ammunition. But Edwin won’t be stopped, do you understand? He’s already threatened me again.’
‘What?’
She waved him off, clamped her mouth shut a moment. ‘Oh, it’s just fine that a man doesn’t need to be beyond reproach, or to be a virgin, does it, to keep his reputation intact.’ She spun. ‘Doesn’t matter ever. He’s never sullied. Are you unsullied, Raff? Are you a virgin?’
He held up his hands, temper rising. Chrissakes, ladies don’t talk about this stuff. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
Hands on hips. ‘Well, are you, Raff Dolan?’
‘Of course not,’ he blustered between his teeth. He had to keep his lid on. Early-morning pedestrians had noticed their raised voices. ‘What did you mean before, that he’s threatened you again?’
She ignored him. ‘And do you think anyone cares about your reputation? Do you think I care about that?’ She turned and marched on.
His reputation?
He’d only dug the hole deeper for himself and he couldn’t figure out how he’d started digging. Bewildered, he only knew he had to stop talking. He caught up to her. ‘I don’t want to talk about this now, Evie.’
‘Oh, of course you don’t. You’re not the one with a bad reputation. Edwin openly accuses me, not only of being with him, but being with Fitz. But Edwin wasn’t prosecuted for vicious libel, was he? Only false accusation about breach of contract.’ She stopped walking again, took a big breath then flicked a wrist towards the corner. ‘It’s this street. Not far. You don’t have to come any further.’
‘Wait, wait. If your reputation’s bad, I don’t care, I’m not worried about that,’ Raff ground out—but he should’ve shut up. He knew it immediately. For some reason, it had been the wrong bloody thing to say. Again.
‘That’s just it,’ she said, eyes flashing. ‘I never had the kind of reputation for anyone to worry about. And now, you don’t care that it’s bad.’
He stood there, flummoxed. Had Fitz said ‘tempest’?
‘I care. I … don’t care.’
‘For God’s sake, it’ll never leave me alone. Edwin is still a threat to me, Raff, and because he said—’ She stopped abruptly.
‘Yes?’ Raff’s chest thundered. ‘Because he said what?’
Evie just stood there, shaking with anger in front of him, her eyes wide on his.
‘Evie, tell me. Because he said what?’ He reached out for her.
Stepping back, she said, ‘Let Mr Barrett handle it. Goodbye, Raff.’ She marched away.
Barrett? Fury remained bottled up inside him. Raff wouldn’t follow her. She was too dangerous right now. But what in God’s name just happened? He had no bloody clue. He and Bluey stood there watching her stride up the pathway to Mrs Kingsley’s and head inside without a backward glance.
The horse tugged on the reins and Raff agreed. ‘Yeah, old mate, time to head home.’
He stood there a moment longer. Let Barrett handle what? She could only mean handling Cooper, and his threat.
‘But there’s something we need to do first, Bluey.’