Berry and Nate were sitting together having a coffee when Senior Sergeant Mendez knocked at the front door.
‘Oh, hey,’ Nate said as he took a step back and swung the door wide open. ‘I didn’t expect to see you so soon.’
The sergeant nodded as he walked in. ‘I was going to come earlier but things got a little crazy. How are you, Miss McCalister?’
Berry smiled as she looked up from the couch. ‘I’m fine, thanks. And please call me Berry.’
‘Right, Berry it is,’ he said. ‘I just thought I’d let you know that we’ve been looking into the events of last night.’
‘And?’ Nate asked.
‘And … there have been a few developments. The main one being that Laurie Worth has taken off. According to his girlfriend, he packed a bag in the wee hours and told her he had an emergency meeting.’
‘He has a girlfriend?’ Nate said probably a little louder than he intended.
‘Apparently so,’ Mendez said with a smirk. ‘Anyway, of course nothing has been proved yet, but it’s interesting that he’s done a runner. I just wanted to suggest that maybe it would be better if Berry wasn’t alone at Stone Gully.’
‘You don’t think he’d try something else, do you?’ Nate said with a frown.
Rob shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But the thing is, Worth has a reputation around here, and we can think of any number of reasons he’d fly the coop, so to speak. I just think that it would be unwise to presume that everything’s okay now that he’s gone. He’s not the only bad element around.’
‘What do you mean, Rob?’ said Nate. ‘This is Harlington. We don’t have that kind of problem here.’
‘Really?’ the policeman answered. ‘I think that Berry might disagree with you. Now—’
‘Look,’ Berry interrupted, ‘I’m freaked out enough about this. Let’s not start talking about multiple suspects, okay? I’m fine, and I’ll just stay here with Nate for a while till things are sorted out.’
‘Of course’, said Mendez, ‘I didn’t mean to alarm you. It probably is that Worth character. But I would feel better if you had people around you, okay?’
‘Yeah, so would I,’ Nate said.
After Senior Sergeant Mendez left, Nate took Berry’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze.
‘Are you okay?’
She nodded. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I have to admit, instead of being frightened, the more I think about it, the angrier I get.’
His fingers laced between hers. ‘Anger’s good—it’s better than fear.’
‘You know, Nate, we’ve assumed all this has to do with Laurie Worth. And, yes, it doesn’t look good that he’s run off somewhere, but it might not be him.’
Nate thought about this for a second. ‘You’re right. But he does fit the bill. Besides, who runs away in the middle of the night? And what’s all that business about having an emergency meeting? The guy does real estate in a small country town—just how many midnight emergency meetings can there be?’
‘Yeah, it does sound dodgy,’ Berry agreed. ‘But even more surprising is the fact that he has a girlfriend. The guy makes my skin crawl. He’s phoney and I wouldn’t trust him if he was the last man in town. But we may have to acknowledge the possibility that he had nothing to do with it.’
Nate rolled his wide shoulders. ‘I guess that could be true—though unlikely.’
‘We’re just assuming that it has to do with Stone Gully Farm,’ Berry argued. ‘But what if it wasn’t about selling the house? It could be about some other random thing that’s not related to it at all. I’m not saying that’s the reason—all I’m saying is that it’s possible.’
‘In other words, we need to stop jumping to conclusions,’ Nate said.
‘Exactly. I’m sure we’ll find who is responsible.’
‘Well, it can’t come soon enough.’
The last thing Berry wanted to do was alarm her family, but she figured they had a right to know what was going on. As Nate rustled up something to eat, Berry slipped outside and rang them. The conversation with her uncle didn’t go very well, and the one with her sister even worse. As far as both of them were concerned she should hightail herself back to the city straightaway. She did point out that her car was banged up and then wished she hadn’t mentioned it as Jess and Uncle Dave both vowed to jump in the nearest vehicle and come to get her. Eventually, with a whole lot of reassurance and fast talking, she managed to get them to dial it down.
‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come up and get you?’ Uncle Dave asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.
‘No, I’m fine. The police have got everything under control and I’m happy to stay here with Nate. So, please don’t worry,’ Berry said.
‘Hmm, well, I’m not happy about this. I want you to promise to call me if anything happens—even if it seems small or silly,’ Uncle Dave said.
‘Okay, I will. You don’t have to worry—I can take care of myself. Besides, I’ve got Nate and Andrea keeping an eye on me.’
‘I still didn’t hear a promise,’ Uncle Dave said.
Berry laughed. ‘All right, all right—I promise. There, are you satisfied now?’
‘No, but I guess it will have to do. Keep me updated and, no, I don’t care if you call me at three a.m. Just be careful.’
‘I will. I’ll talk to you soon,’ Berry said.
‘You’d better,’ Uncle Dave warned before he added, ‘I love you.’
‘Love you too.’
Just as she was popping her phone back into her jeans pocket she saw Nate’s sisters hurrying towards her. Both were carrying bags and had grins on their faces.
‘Hey Berry!’ they called out in unison.
Berry held up her hand, waved and waited for them.
‘Dad said that you were staying here,’ Em said. ‘So Mum sent over some things.’
‘Yeah,’ Lia chimed in. ‘She says about the only thing Nate has in the house is usually cereal or cold pizza.’
‘Is that right?’ Berry laughed.
‘Yep. Anyway, Mum raided the fridge and pantry, so, here you go.’
‘Oh, that was really kind of her,’ Berry replied.
‘She also said, if there’s anything else you need just come on over,’ Em added as climbed the stairs with the bag of food. Lia and Berry followed but as they almost reached the small landing the front door opened.
‘Are my two pesky sisters annoying you?’ Nate said with a smile as he stood by the door.
‘Aw, shut up, Nate,’ Em said as she passed him.
‘No, not at all,’ Berry assured him.
Nate glanced at his watch. ‘Why aren’t the two of you in school?’
‘Curriculum day,’ the girls said once again in unison.
‘Dad said before he left that some idiot ran you off the road. You must have been really scared,’ Lia said as she glanced over at Berry.
‘Um, I guess I was but to be honest it happened so quickly. I think it didn’t really sink in until afterwards and I was waiting for Nate to come and rescue me.’
Em gave Nate a nudge. ‘Rescued, huh?’
He curled his lip and scowled but only got a grin back in reply. Berry thought it was kind of sweet that they had a teasing bond between them. From what she’d seen, Nate might call his sisters silly or annoying, but it was obvious that he doted on them.
‘So, are you going to be staying here from now on?’ Lia asked.
‘Maybe just for another night. It depends when I can get back into the house,’ Berry said.
‘Did something happen to it?’ Em asked.
Before she could answer Nate stepped in. ‘Some idiot scrawled graffiti over Berry’s front door—you know the one we just painted.’
‘Really? I wonder who would do that,’ Em said with surprise. ‘You don’t suppose it was just some sort of prank, do you?’
Berry shrugged. ‘It could be. The police are looking into it, so we’ll find out soon enough.’
‘That’s awful. You’ve worked really hard to get the house all fixed up,’ Lia added.
‘Yeah, I have to admit I’m quite cross about it,’ Berry said with half a smile. ‘Maybe when they catch the person I’ll be allowed to paint him.’
Both Lia and Em giggled.
‘I’d like to see that,’ Nate said.
‘So, what are you doing for the rest of the day?’ Em asked as she started unpacking the bag, taking out numerous plastic containers and stacking them in neat piles on the bench.
‘I don’t know, other than I promised to drop in at Andrea’s later this afternoon,’ Berry answered.
‘I’ll drive you over there, if you like. Oh, and we have to check in with the garage about your car,’ Nate said.
‘Thanks,’ Berry answered as their eyes met and lingered for a moment too long. This wasn’t lost on the girls, who both giggled.
Nate rolled his eyes and said, ‘So, have you met my silly sisters?’
Lia chose to ignore him. ‘I was just asking because maybe we could go for a ride?’
Nate glanced at Berry. ‘I don’t know. You did agree to me giving you riding lessons, and today is as good as any other to start. Would you like to?’
Berry looked at Lia and Em, who were staring at her with expectation in their eyes. It was too hard to say no.
‘You know what? You’re right … today is a perfect day to start, although I hope you have a really gentle horse for me.’
The girls looked at looked at each other. ‘Maggie! You can ride Maggie,’ they chimed.
‘Yeah, she’s a good choice,’ Nate said before turning and giving her a wink. ‘Don’t worry, she’s really sweet and I promise I won’t leave your side, okay?’
Although maybe not quite convinced, Berry nodded. ‘Okay.’
Later Lia led Berry by the hand to the riding yard where Nate was bringing out a dappled grey mare.
‘Maggie is Mum’s horse. She rescued her when she was a couple of years old. They’re devoted to each other and she’s the sweetest horse,’ Lia said.
‘And your mum doesn’t mind me borrowing her?’
Lia shook her head. ‘Not at all,’ she said as she opened the gate and walked into the training area. ‘Come on, it’ll be fun.’
Berry felt a little apprehensive but she took a deep breath and followed Lia over to Nate.
‘Hey,’ Nate said quietly as he glanced her way. ‘This is Maggie, give her a pat.’
‘She’s beautiful,’ Berry said as she slowly reached out her hand and stroked the side of Maggie’s neck.
‘She is,’ Nate answered, staring at Berry for a little too long. ‘We’ll get you up and I’ll take you around the arena a couple of times. Then, and only if you’re comfortable, we’ll go for a short ride up the track by the far paddock. Are you ready?’
‘I think so,’ Berry replied.
‘Good, let’s give it a go, then,’ Nate said as he handed her a riding helmet. ‘Here, you’d better put this on—you know, better safe than dead.’
Berry took the helmet and put it on, fastening the strap beneath her chin. ‘That’s not exactly comforting, you know.’
Nate chuckled. ‘You’ll be right. Maggie is the gentlest mare we have. Come over here to the left side and step up on the mounting block. Okay, good. Now hold onto the pommel of the saddle with your left hand along with the reins and place your left foot into the stirrup. Don’t worry, I’ve got Maggie and she’s not going anywhere. Right, now swing your right leg over the saddle and sit down.’
Berry followed his instructions and swung into the saddle. She gave him a smile, pleased that she hadn’t managed to fall off.
‘Excellent. Okay now we’re just going to go forwards,’ Nate said as he walked beside Maggie holding onto her bridle. ‘You’re good?’
‘Yep,’ Berry said.
They did a circuit of the arena, and just as they were beginning another, the girls led their horses down from the stable.
‘How’s it going?’ Lia called out as Nate and Berry neared.
Berry gave her a thumbs up. ‘Good.’
‘Nate, we’re going up the track and taking the trail past the dam. You don’t mind, do you?’
Nate brought Maggie to a halt. ‘Why would I mind?’
‘It’s just that we said we should all go together but …’ Em let her sentence trail off.
‘You shouldn’t worry about me. I don’t think I’m up to going for a long ride,’ Berry confessed. ‘What are your horses’ names? They’re very beautiful.’
The girls beamed.
‘This is Jinx,’ Lia said as she glanced at her brindle-marked chestnut mare. ‘She’s my best friend—other than Em, that is.’
‘And this is Stormy,’ Em added as she gestured to her dark grey mare. ‘She can be a bit of a handful but she’s lovely.’
‘Well, they’re both gorgeous,’ Berry said.
‘Go on, off you go and have a good time,’ Nate said and then added, ‘And don’t get into trouble.’
‘Geez, what sort of trouble can we get in going for a ride at home?’ Lia said with a good pinch of salt.
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know but the two of you always seem to find trouble, or it finds you—wouldn’t you say, Justin?’ he called out as Justin wandered out of the main stable.
Em whirled around. ‘Nate, shut up,’ she said in a harsh whisper, but Nate just grinned.
‘I thought you might have gone with Dad to pick up the horse?’
‘I offered but he said he’d be okay,’ Justin replied. ‘He said he was in a hurry.’
‘Hmm, I guess he just decided to go by himself,’ Nate said. It didn’t really surprise him, his dad tended to prefer his own company. ‘He’d probably be on his way back by now.’
‘Anyway, we’re taking off,’ Lia said. ‘We’ll see you later.’
Berry gave the girls a quick wave before they walked their horses away from the fence and towards a mounting box that stood by the hitching rail nearby.
Justin watched them go before turning back to Nate. ‘Did you want me to saddle Ronin for you?’ he asked.
‘Do you want to go for a longer ride?’ Nate asked as he looked up at Berry. ‘Or are you happy just staying here?’
‘Actually, I think I’d rather stay here. Maybe another day?’ Berry said.
‘Sure, whatever you want,’ Nate replied before he turned back to Justin. ‘Thanks, but I’ll take Ronin for a run in the morning.’
‘No worries,’ Justin said with a smile. ‘I’ll leave you to it then.’
‘He seems nice,’ Berry said as they watched him walk away.
‘Well, my sisters certainly think so,’ Nate said as he glanced up at Berry. ‘No, he’s good. I just think the girls have a thing for him.’
‘Is that such a bad thing? Most girls have crushes—I know I did.’
Nate had started walking Maggie again but her comment made him pause. ‘Oh, really? On who?’
‘That’s a secret,’ Berry said with a broadening smile. ‘And don’t look at me that way, because I’m not going to tell you.’
Nate was silent for a moment. ‘Well, what did you think of me back then?’
‘You? I … I was just a kid, and you would never have even looked at me.’
‘So … was I your crush?’
Berry turned red and looked away. ‘Nate, I said I wasn’t going to tell you.’
Nate grinned. ‘So I was!’
She looked at him with her eyebrows raised. ‘Are you gloating?’
‘Absolutely!’ Nate started walking the horse again. After a short silence he said ‘So, are you willing to give this a go on your own?’
‘Yes, yes I think I am,’ Berry said as Nate let go of Maggie’s bridle and Berry took control of the reins.