‘Trafficking,’ Will said after Jack cut the call to the mine manager. ‘Is that why Kalgirri detectives took over the investigation into where all those iPads and laptops came from? They’re looking into drug trafficking.’
Jack nodded. ‘Surely you expected that? Coffee?’ he asked, and stood.
‘I’d prefer to know what’s going on and why you’re really here,’ Will flung at him as Jack picked up the coffee percolator and poured two mugs.
If the situation hadn’t been so undetermined, he might have smiled at how quickly Will had picked up on the important aspects of a case he knew nothing about. He was going to bring Will in on the op’s activities, regardless of going directly against orders if he did so, but he had to do it in a roundabout way, and he needed a little more intel first. Christ, he needed to work it all out first—and Will could help him, without knowing he was doing so. This wasn’t just drug trafficking, but so far Jack hadn’t been able to join those dots.
Why did his gut tell him the animal issues and the graffiti were connected to the drug ring? Roper’s goats. Jax’s fence. Tonto too; how did the beast with the big balls come into this scenario?
‘That DUI we sent back to Boondurra,’ he said to Will. ‘I want you to look into the theft of the animals there.’
‘Two cats and a ram,’ Will reminded him. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘I don’t know yet.’
‘Animals,’ Will said and leaned forwards, arms on his desk.
‘Yeah, animals.’ Graffiti, gambling, drugs. Were they linked?
‘Am I in on this?’ Will asked. ‘Whatever it is.’
Jack inhaled but said nothing.
After a beat, Will flung himself back on his chair. ‘You’re undercover, aren’t you?’
‘No way. I’m here for a rest. But don’t say I told you so or I’ll never get that DI promotion.’
‘DI promotion my backside. What’s up with this Bivic guy and why weren’t we informed Roper’s nephew had a record?’
‘First I’ve heard of it.’
‘Are you going to pay the Baxter boys a visit now?’
‘Not yet. I’m thinking things through.’
Will pushed his untouched coffee mug to one side, gathered his cap and his keys and stood. ‘Why don’t you have a think about telling me what you’re up to while you’re at it.’ He left the office, throwing a quip over his shoulder, ‘I’ll find out anyway. You know I will.’
Which was exactly what Jack wanted him to do. Discover it all for himself, officially. All Jack was doing was throwing him clues.
He sipped his coffee and walked to the barred window, looking out at Tonto. He needed someone at his side, and he didn’t want it to be another detective. For one, it would be obvious and all the nasty felons would go to ground. Secondly, he didn’t want to keep Will out of the loop. He needed backup. He needed someone to know what he knew, because somehow Jax was unknowingly involved and that could put her in serious danger.
Frances was feeling quite relaxed, sitting with Billy beneath a big gum tree, which gave a lot of good shade. It was much hotter out here than in Geelong and, obviously, there was no sea breeze—not 900 kilometres from the beach.
It was a quiet place, Solomon’s stables, and she liked the dappled light from between the rustling gum tree leaves, and the neighing of the horses. It sounded like music. She wondered what the horses were saying to each other.
Billy might know.
He was sitting with his legs bent and his hands interlocked over his knees. Somehow, sitting down, he looked more like an adult than when he was standing. He didn’t look so skinny. She could see small muscles in his arms. He was really tall, almost as tall as Jack, so perhaps boys didn’t grow into their bodies until they were nearly twenty.
Frances wondered when she’d grow her boobs. She was half looking forward to it and half not. Most of her ex-friends already had them. Just one more weirdo-Frances thing she had to put up with. Knowing her luck, when she got them they’d be lopsided or one would be bigger than the other. Maybe Auntie Rosie would know how to fix that. Not that she wanted to ask, she was just thinking …
She plucked a blade of grass from the paddock and put it between her teeth.
‘You might not want to do that,’ Billy said, giving her a look. ‘Horses shit on this grass.’
Frances spat it out fast, her face flaring in embarrassment.
Billy said nothing and took his focus back to the stable block where he’d just stabled eleven horses.
Solomon had said hello when they’d arrived, and made her text the mother. Then he’d introduced Frances to some of the horses but she hadn’t touched them and he hadn’t told her to, or asked if she’d like to. That had made her feel less nervous.
She’d helped Billy shovel horse food into their feed bins. Billy had known exactly what each horse got to eat without even having to look at the notes on a chalkboard. Frances had been impressed.
‘How many hours do you work?’ she asked him now.
‘Get up at six. Have a few hours off at midday. Then I start work again at three or so, and finish … I dunno. About seven?’
‘That’s a long day.’ With very odd hours. ‘Do you have time to visit your friends?’
‘Haven’t got many friends now. They’ve gone to Kalgirri or to Perth or wherever. But I couldn’t go cos I had to help my parents on the farm.’
‘Were you forced to stay? Did your parents say “there’s no way you’re leaving, you have to stay here and work and that’s that”?’
Billy picked up a handful of dry gum leaves and crunched them between his fingers. ‘I didn’t actually want to leave.’
‘Were you scared?’
‘Don’t be stupid.’ He gave her a badass look but she thought perhaps he had been a bit frightened to leave home. It was a scary thing to do. She should know.
‘She said she was going to visit your mother and take her a cake,’ Frances said. ‘She wants to say sorry for sacking your brothers. She wants me to go.’
‘Why do you keep calling Jax she?’
Frances shrugged. ‘Don’t like her.’
‘Why not?’
Because she hates me. It felt like that was a lie, but she must hate her. How could she not? ‘I’ve been forced on her.’
‘Just piss off somewhere else.’
‘I’ve got nowhere to piss off to. I don’t have any money.’
‘I didn’t have any money either until I got myself a proper job.’
‘Rosie told me you’d been ordered to take the job with Solomon or you’d go to juvenile jail.’
‘And you believed that? You’re so dumb.’
‘I’m not dumb.’
They were silent for a minute while each pondered the dumbness in the other, until Frances didn’t like the quiet any longer. ‘So how long have you worked here?’
‘Few months. He wouldn’t let me near the horses to begin with, though. Had me doing all sorts of crap, like cleaning the bathrooms and doing the shopping.’
He was still doing the grocery shopping. ‘Do you like horses more than you like dogs?’
Billy shrugged. ‘I’ve got a way with animals. I heard Solomon tell my mum and dad.’
‘How often do you see your mum and dad?’
‘Not a lot.’
‘Why not?’
‘Don’t talk to ’em much, that’s why not.’
‘Don’t they miss you? They love you, don’t they?’
‘Yeah but that’s just nothin’.’
‘How can it be nothing?’ The hotness of the day crawled over her skin suddenly. ‘Nothing?’ she said again. ‘I have nothing. I wasn’t even wanted.’
‘Is anybody wanted?’ Billy asked in a mocking, sing-song tone.
Outrage came from nowhere, bubbling inside her. ‘Of course they are. When I have a baby, I’m not going to let it out of my sight until it’s at least sixteen.’
‘What is your problem, little girl?’
She let him have it. She couldn’t have held it back if she’d gagged herself. ‘I have a real mother who never wanted me, a step-mother who hates me and a dad who didn’t give two shits about me. He couldn’t have because otherwise he wouldn’t have been so mean to me.’ Her chest was so tight now, she could hardly speak. ‘He wouldn’t have ignored me. He wouldn’t have …’
‘Did he hit you?’
Frances opened her mouth but everything had failed. Her lips were numb and her throat constricted.
‘You should have hit him back,’ Billy said.
Frances shook her head. ‘It wasn’t that.’ He’d never hit her until that day he hadn’t seen her behind him. The day it all started to go wrong. But he’d been in such a furious rage. She’d never seen him like that, ever. He’d hurt her but surely he hadn’t meant to. He hadn’t known she was there. It hadn’t been his fault but she’d been more scared than ever before in her life. She’d never seen men go at each other like that. So speedily, so fast, so angrily. All that shouting and shoving and punching, and the blood on the other man’s face … It made her shake a bit even now, sitting in a quiet paddock with the horses and the gum trees.
She didn’t know what had been worse—the fight, or all that arguing in the house afterwards, with the police and the ambulance people there, and the neighbours out on the street watching it all. Watching them take Frances into the ambulance. She’d squeezed her eyes closed so tightly all her facial muscles hurt. So embarrassing.
‘My grandad used to hit me,’ Billy said. ‘I hit him back when I turned eight. He didn’t do it again. Not much.’
‘If I hadn’t been born he might not have done that thing with the girl,’ Frances said.
‘What thing with what girl? Do you mean your dad?’
She shook her head again, trying to clear the thoughts, but she couldn’t shut them out. If her dad had really liked her, he wouldn’t have been at work late so much, would he? If she’d been pretty, like Auntie Rosie and even like the real mother, he might have wanted to take her out to the movies, just him and her, and not be out all the time with other women. He’d said it was Linda’s fault he found friendships with other women, and Linda had said it was Frances’s fault and that she was tied to the house looking after his kid.
Or he might have been more interested in coming to school to watch her on sports day—she was good at sports. But he didn’t know that; how could he? He never saw, he only heard about it from Linda. Had he known that Linda had never liked her? That Linda took it all out on Frances, that poor Linda had been duped into taking the baby and that she’d regretted it every day of her life …
Her chest now hurt so bad it was like someone had punched her with a brick. Her eyes stung like she’d had sand thrown in them. And Billy wasn’t a badass. He was a stupid ass. Like a donkey.
‘You’ve got two real parents still living together,’ she told him. ‘You’re totally stupid, Billy. I’ve never met such a stupid person.’ She pushed from the ground to stand, nerve ends firing as she peered down at him. ‘Get a life,’ she pronounced, full of disdain, the way she’d heard it said on television shows by adults, then she turned and bumped straight into Solomon.
He steadied her before she tripped over his big booted feet, but she’d already lost her courage. It rushed out of her like water drained from a colander.
She stepped back, furious with herself, and turned from him, then didn’t know what to do. Move off as planned? Or stay and brave whatever he was going to say to her.
‘Billy,’ he said in his strange quiet tone.
Billy threw his hands up into the air. ‘I haven’t done nothing.’
‘Nothing is what you’re definitely doing. How about you go get the chaff.’
It wasn’t a question, it was an order, even though he’d said it softly. Maybe he was also a Billy-whisperer because the badass noob dragged himself up and wandered off pretty quickly—not a run because badass noobs didn’t run for anyone—and headed for the work ute. He’d told her he usually only drove his own car when he was on his own time, which he was happy about because petrol was so expensive and he’d complained about having to pick her up in his own car while Solomon used the work ute for taking hay out to the far paddocks.
She tried hard to stop her legs from shaking. She glanced around. Once Billy left she’d be alone with Solomon. ‘I was angry at him,’ she said, explaining her reason for raising her voice, in case he was going to tell her off. She didn’t fancy getting an adult-talk from this man. She couldn’t lie either. He’d know. He made her feel like he didn’t care that she was only thirteen but that he did care about how she showed herself to the world.
Not that Mt bullshit Maria was anything more than a grain of salt in the world … But he did make her feel grown up, and she wasn’t used to being a teenager let alone a fully-fledged adult. She had years and years to get used to growing up. She just hoped she could persuade the mother to send her to boarding school so she could practise growing up without being stared at all the time by everyone in Mt bullshit Maria.
‘I reckon he loves his parents,’ Solomon said, casting a glance at the ute Billy was now driving down the track towards the gate. ‘He just can’t find a way to let them know that yet.’
Frances didn’t know what to say. Was he being kind about Billy?
Solomon smiled. ‘You’ve got a lot going on, haven’t you? Want to take a break?’
‘I haven’t done anything. I don’t need a break.’
‘I think you do. Let’s go polish some bridles. We can be silent companionably, then when Billy gets back, he can drive you home.’
He headed off across the paddock but Frances stayed put. She couldn’t run off, she didn’t even remember the way back to the farmhouse. So what was she going to do? ‘I don’t actually have a home,’ she mumbled bitterly at Solomon’s back, as she eventually moved to follow him, but not so loud that he’d hear her.
Her stupid Auntie Rosie’s voice filled her head suddenly. ‘Come on, tortoise.’
Auntie Rosie wouldn’t care if nobody liked her. She’d laugh. How did people do that? How did they make sure they didn’t get hurt all the time?
She kept her eyes on the grass as she walked behind Solomon. She ought not to have shouted at Billy. He was sad in some ways, even if he didn’t know it. And he had mean brothers. He probably needed a friend. But why had she said all that about her dad? Solomon had heard it all. She could kick herself. She ought to throw herself under a horse or something and get it to kick her in the head so that she was in a coma forevermore and wouldn’t have to think about it all. You didn’t think when you were in a coma, did you? Knowing her luck, you did.
Jack kept his focus forwards as he walked through the gate and up the driveway track to Solomon’s stables. Billy had just slammed the boot of his car on the opposite side of the track and scarpered over to one of Solomon’s work utes.
Frances was there, and he remembered what Donna had told him about her visiting today.
‘Hello, Frances. How’s it going?’
‘Jack,’ he reminded her. ‘Sergeant Jack, if you like,’ he amended.
‘Hello, Jack.’
Well, colour him surprised.
‘I hope you’re not driving,’ he said with a teasing frown, indicating the work ute.
She blushed a little, obviously unsure if he meant it.
‘I’m joking,’ he clarified. He didn’t know what or who had hurt her but she appeared to be a little more at ease today. Maybe she’d found a friend in Billy.
He gave Billy a once-over. He’d grown in the last three months and was a tall, sinewy young man. He still looked like a fifteen-year-old but Jack could see young muscle there. He was currently scrawny, but Billy would fill out.
‘How’s the vehicle?’ Jack asked him, tipping his head towards Billy’s personal car.
‘Registered until April. Don’t take any notice of the duct tape on the petrol cap. It’s totally secure.’
Jack gave him a cop look and went to the vehicle to inspect it for himself. He paused by the rear and glanced at the boot. Did Billy have stolen goods in there?
‘The front left-hand tyre’s a bit worn,’ Billy said, leading Jack’s attention off the boot. ‘But not so much as you need to give me a warning.’
‘Why don’t you let me be the judge?’ Jack checked the petrol cap but it was only the metal flap opening that was duct-taped. The cap screwed on correctly and tightly. He checked each tyre. ‘Both front tyres will need to be replaced soon.’
‘But not yet.’
‘Soon,’ Jack reiterated.
‘There’s more duct tape on the boot,’ Frances said.
Jack didn’t startle easily but it surprised him that she’d joined them, let alone made a comment.
‘That’s nothing,’ Billy said. ‘It locks okay.’
Jack had no intention of looking in the boot just yet, or pumping the boy for information about his brothers who were now working as cleaners at Lizard Claws. He wanted more info from Solomon first. ‘What speed does it reach?’
‘Hundred and forty if—’ Billy stopped the explanation of his prowess and paled.
Jack looked at him from beneath a frown.
‘If I’m on my parents’ property,’ Billy finished.
‘Thought you never went there anymore,’ Frances said. ‘You only go into town, don’t you?’
Billy gave her a stay out of it glare.
‘Your vehicle looks to be in roadworthy condition,’ Jack told him. ‘But it’s going to take a bit of cash to keep it that way.’
‘He’s got a job,’ Frances told him. ‘He works for Solomon.’
Jack smiled at her and left his gaze on her a little longer. She was a lonely looking kid, but pretty beneath the cap of heavy hair, and if he wasn’t mistaken, there was a kind streak in her too. She’d get that from Jax. What had she taken from her father’s gene pool? He didn’t know but found himself inexplicably hoping it was nothing.
‘So you’re clean?’ he asked Billy.
Billy opened his mouth then looked at his hands.
‘He means drugs,’ Frances said.
Jack was taken aback. Frances could read between lines. Interesting, and maybe helpful, but he didn’t want her getting mixed up in anything Billy was up to.
‘I don’t do drugs,’ Billy said, affronted. ‘I never did them. Not even when I had the chance and I had plenty of chances …’ Once again, he stopped when he realised he’d said too much.
Frances stepped forwards.
‘Around my school,’ she said, stopping at Billy’s side as though attempting to protect him, or maybe just to get him to shut up, ‘there was a woman who sold drugs on the street and she had a bodyguard.’
Jack tilted his head, showing her his interest since she was being talkative.
‘The bodyguard had a gun!’
‘Wow,’ he said, giving her the type of shocked frown she’d want. ‘Got any names for me?’ But he couldn’t hold back his smile. It was easy to smile at her, now that she was talking and taking notice of what was going on around her instead of hanging her head and hoping nobody would see her. ‘Don’t worry, Frances. The cops around your old school will know all about the woman and the bodyguard and the gun.’
‘Really? Do you know about drugs here in Mt Maria?’
Billy perked up at that, although Jack knew the boy didn’t do drugs. Being badass was enough for Billy Baxter. He was pretty sure the older boys didn’t do drugs either. They couldn’t afford to, for a start.
‘Yeah,’ Jack said. ‘We know everything that goes on.’
‘Do you get murders?’ Frances asked.
‘Not here.’
‘Do you get a lot of car theft?’
‘Some.’
‘Are there pokie machines in the hotel?’
That one had him stumped. ‘No. Why?’
She shrugged. ‘Just wondered.’
‘You talk such crap,’ Billy said.
Jack glanced at him. ‘You’re talking about a friend of mine.’ He waited out the pause. Billy reddened.
‘He’s okay,’ Frances told Jack. ‘He doesn’t mean half of what he says.’
‘I hope not,’ Jack said, staring out Billy.
‘Have you taken a look at the youth centre yet?’ he asked Frances, moving from Billy’s vehicle back to the work ute.
He didn’t look over his shoulder but the silence behind him told him more than they knew. They’d be throwing looks at each other. Billy frowning in a ‘say nothing’ manner and Frances frowning in an ‘I didn’t say anything’ way.
He turned to check on the pair of them. They were up to something, but perhaps it was no more than getting to know each other. ‘By the way,’ he said to Frances, ‘I’m giving a talk at the youth centre next week. Would you give me a hand?’
Frances paused, caution entering her eyes. ‘How?’
‘I’ll be talking to young people your age. I’d like you to read what I have to say first and let me know if I’ve got it in your kind of language. I don’t want to sound like a dumb adult.’
She had to pinch her lips together to hold on to a smile.
He grinned. He liked this kid. Whatever sat heavily inside her, perhaps it could be mended before it got out of hand. Maybe her hurts hadn’t touched her too deeply yet. He got the impression they were painful and might take a lot to overcome, but they weren’t ingrained like Jack’s hurts as a child had been. He hadn’t got rid of all his hurts—more like aggressive embarrassment about his upbringing—until he went into the force. Jax could help fix Frances’s emotional wounds. Maybe Jack could too, if Jax ever let him get close enough to try.
‘Come on then,’ Billy said, getting into the work ute. ‘Jax will chew my ear off if I get you home late.’
‘Aren’t we going in your car?’ Frances asked.
‘The ute’s got a full tank,’ Billy said, starting the engine. ‘Might as well use it.’
Frances hesitated for a minute then moved towards the ute, shooting Jack a quick look.
‘See you later,’ Jack said. ‘Stick to the limit, Billy,’ he called. ‘And Frances—if he goes over, you tick him off. I’m leaving you in charge.’
She threw him a surprised grin.
‘Typical,’ Billy mumbled, but loud enough for Jack to hear. ‘Now I’ve got to do as she says, and she’s not even an adult.’
Frances suppressed her smile and got into the ute. Jack was pretty sure she’d squared her shoulders a little too.
Solomon came out of his house and walked down the pathway to meet Jack just beyond the far end of the stable block.
Jack was tempted to knock the slow smile off his face. ‘Have any trouble with the fence yesterday?’ he asked.
‘Great day. Sunshine, warmth, good food and very pleasant company.’
Bastard. ‘I saw you kiss her.’
Solomon thought about this for a second. ‘Don’t recall kissing her yesterday. But I kissed her cheek the other day. Were you watching?’
‘You know damn well I was.’ Jack shifted his stance. ‘So what’s going on? Are you making a play for her?’
‘No.’ Solomon pulled a pile of bridles off a rack and hefted them over his arm, his tone and demeanour serious now. ‘I’m showing her the way to you, you idiot.’
He moved off, passing Jack without a glance, and Jack found himself without words.
‘What the hell does that mean?’ he asked a couple of seconds later as he followed Solomon to the stable block.
‘She hasn’t had a lot of love or care from men, Jack.’
‘I know that.’ He didn’t know that, but he didn’t want Solomon knowing he didn’t know it. He only knew that she’d been brought up without a father or grandfather. She only had Rosie and no brothers. He had no idea how many men she might have gone out with. Their one and only date had been cut short by the arrival of a skinny blonde criminal with a homebuilt pistol in her shoulder bag.
‘So you’ve been keeping an eye on how many boyfriends she’s had?’ he asked, ducking his head beneath a low-formed doorway as he stepped inside a brick-walled tack room.
Solomon started hanging the bridles on their racks. ‘If you want to know the answer to that, you’ll have to ask her.’
‘Who hurt her?’ Jack asked.
Solomon turned to him. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out for yourself. But at the moment you’re all cop, which funnily enough is the reason you haven’t made the connection with Jax and Frances.’ He made for the doorway then halted. ‘You’ve got to be tender, Jack.’
Jack inhaled deeply. ‘I can’t believe I’m standing here taking lessons in romance from you.’
‘I can’t believe you haven’t sussed it out yet.’
‘I’ve only been here a week, and I’ve had a couple of surprises thrown at me.’ Frances for one, and Jax having trouble on her property.
‘She needs someone to be gentle with her,’ Solomon said. ‘She needs someone strong to be gentle with her because she’s strong and won’t listen unless it’s made obvious. She’s forgotten what it’s like to have a man around, helping her and showing her some care.’
‘Is that why you kissed her?’
‘Maybe I just primed her for you.’
Jack fisted his hand. The man was stirring him up on purpose but because it was about Jax, he pulled himself together. ‘How come you know so much about what she needs?’
‘Instinct. Same as you. She’s not used to men. Not in the way you’re thinking. Go with your gut.’
‘It’s something to do with Frances. Plus her father. Is he still around?’
‘I don’t know, Jack. Honestly, I just sense she was hurt.’ Solomon hung the last of the bridles then gave Jack his attention. ‘She doesn’t talk about it. About this hurt. Never has. I knew there’d be something in her past but not what. Until Frances arrived. And while we’re on the subject of you—whatever the real reason is for you being out here, don’t think for a moment Jax won’t guess that you’re lying.’
She already had, more or less. Solomon too, to some extent, or so it appeared. ‘I’m out here for a rest. Was getting emotional on the job.’
‘Yeah, right.’ Solomon made his way out of the tack room with an amused shake of his head.
Jack had told his superintendent no-one who knew him would believe this, and here he was, trying to make it work by lying about it. ‘Solomon.’
The man halted.
Jack walked to the doorway and lowered his voice. ‘I need to know about Billy and his brothers.’
‘Billy’s okay. He’s lazy, but getting better; he doesn’t mean harm.’
‘Jax said the same.’
‘So what’s he done to grab your interest?’
Jack pointed down the driveway. ‘I’d like to see what’s in the boot of his car.’
‘And you’d like me to open it for you instead of asking him up-front.’
Jack met Solomon’s inquisitive gaze and held it. For a couple of seconds it felt like they were sizing each other up.
Then Solomon headed for Billy’s car. ‘Key’s in the ignition,’ he said. ‘So let’s take a look at what he might be stashing in the boot.’
It turned out to be rope, and rolled-up canvas sheeting.
‘Does he go camping?’ Jack asked, with a frown.
‘No.’
‘This stuff is part of the goods we found in the boot of a car owned by two men who work at Lizard Claws. The two we curfewed. They had similar items in their possession.’ Apart from the electronic gear, which Jack and the op were sure was payment for drugs, why the rope and canvas? What were they using it for?
‘Last I heard, nobody had reported a theft that corresponds to any of that gear,’ Solomon said. ‘I thought you didn’t have any evidence on those two you’ve got curfewed.’
‘We’ll find the evidence.’ Jack made a note to check the system for any reported thefts or recent, known drug trafficking in the Northern Territory. The op was checking the small towns and communities in the vast Mt Maria shire, and a few in South Australia. With Mt Maria being reasonably close to the tri-border, at just over a thousand kilometres north-east, the gear could have come from anywhere. But Will was sure Tonto had come from the Northern Territory, although so far no-one had reported the bull stolen. Maybe all this gear came from the same place.
‘Are you going to take this lot?’ Solomon asked. ‘Haul Billy in?’
‘No.’
‘So you’ve got something going down.’
‘Might have.’ Pointless not admitting something; the big guy knew things. He’d inherited this trait from his uncle, Tani, an Aboriginal elder who knew a lot of things any other human being wouldn’t have a clue about. Tani knew where lost hikers might be found. He knew there was good or bad in the air, on its way or leaving. Jack hadn’t met him, but he’d like to.
He closed the boot, replaced the key in the ignition and turned to Solomon. ‘Are you armed?’
Solomon lifted his arms as though waiting to be patted down.
The casual insolence, plus the amused look in the man’s eye, grated on Jack’s nerves. ‘Don’t tempt me,’ he said drily, knowing that the big guy would understand that Jack could and would take him on if necessary. They were around the same build, probably had the same strength.
But that sort of macho behaviour wouldn’t get either of them anywhere.
‘Do me a favour and keep an eye on Billy,’ Jack said, changing the subject and eliminating the animosity that had built up between them. ‘Especially when Frances is here.’
‘I will,’ Solomon said, dropping his stance. ‘But Billy’s not bad. He won’t hurt her. Nor would he get involved in whatever his brothers are up to, unless it’s something he thinks is wrong. In which case, I think Billy would stand up to them. But I doubt he knows what they’re up to and I doubt they’d tell him. Anyway, just so you know, I’ve been keeping a night watch at Jax’s place since the fence was rammed.’
That got Jack fired up all over again.
‘Don’t get pissed,’ Solomon said. ‘I’m not your problem.’
‘I’m beginning to wonder.’ He toyed with the idea of telling Solomon there was no need for a night watch because the police would handle it. But they couldn’t. Unless Jack himself camped out overnight, and mostly he was in the cop shop until after midnight and Jax might be in some danger anytime after dark. ‘Who hurt her?’ he asked.
‘I told you, Jack, I don’t know. But I know you’ll find out, which is why I’m telling you to dig for the missing intel faster than you currently are. Because it all affects not only Jax, but Frances too.’ Solomon swung around and headed for the house and Jack made for the troop wagon.
You’ve got to be tender, Jack.
He was going to have to dig for said missing intel behind her back, which would really piss her off but he had to do it. If she and Frances needed protection, Jack needed police backup.
He also had to speak to Will. Billy was carrying odd bits of gear for his brothers, who were in cahoots with Bivic. Even Solomon was concerned enough about Jax and Frances to keep a night watch on their place. Jack couldn’t do all this alone anymore, things were moving too fast. Even if he couldn’t yet figure out the connection, there was something going down with the animal issues and it was somehow connected to Bivic.
He fired the engine on the wagon and headed for town and not for Jax’s place as first intended.
He got a parking spot outside the Brown Café. It was gone five o’clock and the café was shut.
He knocked on the glass-panelled door.
Rosie looked up from behind the counter then strutted her hot stuff across the empty dining area and opened the door.
‘Hey there, Jack.’
‘Hey yourself, Rosie.’
Jack stepped inside and glanced around, listening for others who might be out the back in the kitchen, but there wasn’t a sound. ‘Cleaning up all on your own?’
‘I let the other girls go once they’ve got the place prepped for the next day. What can I get you? Ovens are off but I can slap a toasted sandwich on the grill.’
‘Nothing. I wanted to ask you something.’ He figured it best to head straight in. ‘I need some intel on a guy who works at Lizard Claws.’
Rosie crossed her arms. ‘I make it my business to know everyone. Who is it?’
‘Roper’s nephew.’
‘Eeww.’ Her face said it all. ‘Vib or something.’
‘Biv. Short for Bivic.’
‘Didn’t like him. He’s got dirty fingernails.’
He also had a dirty record, but Jack didn’t want to scare Rosie. Neither did he want the townspeople knowing. It was best if they kept to their own affairs. Bivic wouldn’t touch them or bother them if they appeared to be going about their business as usual.
But he was now more worried about Jax than before.
‘He’s got friendly with the older Baxter boys. Why do you think he’d do that?’ he asked Rosie. What would Bivic, a thirty-four-year-old hardened criminal, want with two stupid young men from the back of beyond? Unless he was playing them or recruiting them. But surely he’d read them and known instantly that they’d be no use to him.
‘Those two will get friendly with anyone who looks a bit shifty,’ Rosie said. ‘Biv, or whatever his name is, is definitely shifty. Mean too; you can see it in his eyes.’
‘Well, stay away from him. I don’t want Davidson getting all macho when he’s off duty.’ He didn’t want anyone hurt.
‘Only saw him the once when he first got here. He was at the hardware store.’
‘What was he buying?’
Rosie shrugged. ‘Hardware stuff … I don’t know!’ she said when he gave her an exasperated look. ‘Rope? Oh, and he had a pile of star picket fence posts and a coil of white wire. Haven’t seen him since.’
He might have been buying all that for old Mr Roper. ‘You haven’t heard anything about the goats that were stolen from Roper’s place?’
‘Nothing. But it’s likely one of his neighbours. They’re always nicking each other’s stock.’
Jack wasn’t going to get any more out of her; she’d told him all she knew. He moved on. ‘Thanks, Rosie. So how are you getting on with your niece?’
‘Hah!’ Rosie went behind the counter and opened the cashier till. ‘Some niece. Miserable little mite.’ She paused, and met Jack’s eye with a serious expression. ‘Not that I blame her, of course, just saying.’
‘Certainly can’t blame the kid,’ Jack said with a smile of acknowledgement.
‘She hasn’t changed her name either.’
‘So, she’s still going by …’
‘Frances Fellows,’ Rosie supplied, with a kink of her mouth. ‘I know,’ she said, eyebrows raised. ‘You’d think she’d want nothing to do with either of the Fellows, especially after her dad knocked her unconscious.’
‘Yeah. That’s what I thought too.’ Jesus Christ. This was a punch in the gut. ‘What’s her dad’s name again?’
‘Michael,’ Rosie said, stringing it out in a disdainful manner. ‘Not that I ever knew him. I don’t remember him being around. I was younger than Frances is now.’
‘Frances isn’t getting along with Jax too well, is she?’
Rosie shrugged. ‘Jax is all mummy bear and the little tortoise is all teenage aggro.’
‘I think perhaps Frances is doing it tough. Try to be nice to her, Rosie.’
‘I’m doing my best. She’s not easy to get along with.’
‘Can you give a bit of your best for Jax too? For my sake.’
‘Your sake?’ Rosie’s expression indicated he now had her full interest. ‘Take her out or something, would you? She’s totally uptight.’
Jack stepped closer to the counter. ‘Is she seeing anyone? Or has she been with someone recently? Don’t want to step on some guy’s toes.’
‘She doesn’t date at all,’ Rosie said, pulling out notes from the till and counting them with a lick of her finger. ‘She hasn’t been out with anyone in years.’
Jack didn’t know why this news filled him with sadness. Why hadn’t she taken care of her own needs now and again? She worked too damned hard. She did a lot for others. She ought to have had some fun or romance. Everybody needed that. ‘She’s not as strong as you think, Rosie.’
‘Jax? She’s the strongest woman I know. Stubborn, too.’
‘Do something for me. Give her a break.’
Rosie placed the cash back into the till and looked up at Jack. ‘I love her. What do you think I am, some fluffy chick who doesn’t give two tosses about the sister who brought her up?’
Jack’s heart warmed.
‘I am gorgeous,’ Rosie said with a quick flirty smile, ‘but I’ve got a brain too. I just use it differently to those around me.’
‘I know that,’ Jack agreed. Rosie had changed since he’d last seen her. Maybe Davidson was more of a settling influence on her than he’d reckoned on.
‘Since I’ve agreed to do something for you,’ she said, ‘what do I get?’
‘What do you need?’
Rosie smiled her most tempting smile and even threw in a flutter of her long eyelashes, which had to be fake. ‘Can you change David’s shift next week? I’m going to book a manicure, a facial and a full body massage in Kalgirri on Wednesday, and I thought it’d be nice if we both stayed overnight and had some city fun. He’d only need two days off.’
Jack considered his best response. ‘I need him to run a few officers around. General policing. Guarding the community. Stuff like that.’
‘Spoilsport,’ she said, with a mocking frown.
Jack forced a smile, tipped his cap and left the café.
The smile fell from his face as soon as he hit the street. Michael Fellows. What had he done, and when? How and why had he knocked his child unconscious and had he done the same to Jax at some point?
He pulled his mobile out of his shirt pocket and rang her.
‘You okay, sweetheart?’ he said as soon as she answered and before she had time to speak.
There was a pause. ‘Jack, you’ve got to stop—’
‘Will you come out with me?’
A longer pause.
‘I want to take you out,’ he said, turning his back to the street and stepping into the alley between the café and the newsagent’s. ‘I want to walk up Sunset Mountain with you and hold your hand when we get to the steep bits.’
‘Jack …’
‘I want to drive out to Maria Downs with you,’ he said softly, ‘and pick you a big bunch of wildflowers.’
‘That’s illegal.’
‘I’ll risk it.’
He stepped further away from the rumble of traffic on High Street. The smell of fried food and coffee lingered in the evening air but all Jack inhaled was the sweet scent of Jax’s perfume. Just the way he remembered it. ‘I want to see you smile at me again. Our smile, Jax. You know the one I mean.’ Goosebumps rose on his skin. ‘That smile we share when we look at each other and the world around us disappears. Don’t tell me you don’t know which smile I mean. It’s still there.’
He heard her swallow, as though she had a lump of emotion in her throat.
‘Come out with me. Be with me.’ Let me in.
He waited for her response, his breath coming deeply.
‘Jack—’
‘I’m just telling you what I want.’
He hung up before she had a chance to give him a negative.
He headed for the cop shop. First, he was going to run a check on Fellows, then he was going to call a close friend who worked alongside child protection.