George came into the waiting room and took off his gloves and mask. ‘I thought you didn’t do surgery on a Saturday,’ said Zoe.
‘Tell that to the little French Bulldog that just had a caesarean.’ A plump middle-aged woman followed him out, glowing with pride and cradling two tiny, wriggling black puppies.
‘How sweet,’ said Zoe. ‘I can see how busy you are, George, but could you spare me a few minutes? It’s important.’
‘I’m all yours’ – he checked his watch – ‘until half past eleven. Come into the office.’ He closed the door after them. ‘What’s up?’
‘I’ve got some questions about the dolphins at the centre.’
George washed his hands in a corner sink. ‘Fire away.’
‘Who deemed them unfit for release? Was that you?’
‘Me? No. I’ve told Bridget more than once that half those animals could be released. She doesn’t listen. They’re crowd-pullers, aren’t they? I think she relies on them to pay the bills.’
‘Did Parks and Wildlife examine them?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘You mean nobody has looked into the possibility of their release?’
‘Not as far as I know.’
‘Do you remember Kane?’ He nodded. ‘Bridget told me a stingray barb permanently damaged his jaw, so he couldn’t catch his own fish. That can’t be right, because I saw him at Bora Reef yesterday, looking terrific. His dorsal fin was almost standing upright.’
George shrugged. ‘I don’t know what more to tell you, Zoe. Kane was fighting fit and I told Bridget that. His fin was fine when he came in, by the way. It drooped after a few months’ captivity. It happens a lot.’
‘Was Kane ever declared a public nuisance?’ George raised his eyebrows. ‘No,’ said Zoe. ‘Of course not.’ How stupid was she? ‘What about a dolphin named Hope. What happened to her?’
‘Hope went to Oceanworld,’ he said. ‘In return, they funded Bridget’s sea turtle rescue program for twelve months.’
Zoe left the surgery with a much lighter heart. Some of the dolphins had a chance for freedom after all. Echo certainly, and Mirrhi. A chance for Mirrhi’s baby to be spared the life sentence that birth in captivity would bring. She imagined the dolphins fishing out on Turtle Reef, basking in the sun, echo-sounding the depths with their mysterious sixth sense. Zoe gave a little skip as she neared her car. Here was the chance to be involved in a genuine rehabilitation and soft release study. First the dolphins would need a dose of the new morbillivirus vaccine. Young dolphins like Echo and Mirrhi were most at risk from the virus ravaging the bay. But all of these things were doable. There was just one minor problem – she didn’t work at the Reef Centre any more. She had absolutely no say in what happened there.
Back at the shack Zoe sat out on the deck, watching the waves build at sea, waiting for Quinn. The storm was lurking offshore, playing cat-and-mouse with the coast. In the foreground, Archie’s old fishing boat, Rambler, tacked across the dark water, taking wind and waves at an angle. First broad on the bow and then broad on the quarter. Zoe’s scalp prickled. Thank Christ she wasn’t out there. It would be a while before she’d feel like braving the bay again.
It was mid-afternoon before Quinn’s knock came at the door. He pushed it open. A quiver of anticipation ran down her spine and through her legs. She longed to hold him again. They sank down on the couch without saying hello, wrapped in each other’s arms. They kissed – long, and hard, and with satisfying attention to detail. She hadn’t felt this way with a man before – this odd combination of excitement and safety.
‘So what happened with Rob and the Dieldrin?’ she asked at last.
‘You’re not going to like it.’ Quinn briefly touched her cheek. ‘It’s like I thought. He and his cronies have been salvaging drums from an illegal dump site.’
‘Where’s the dump site?’
He put an inch of space between them on the couch, and rearranged his long legs. ‘In that patch of rainforest along the river.’
‘What – on Swallowdale land?’
‘I’m afraid so.’ Quinn swallowed hard. ‘Seems my father didn’t want to pay for proper disposal. Said it was a waste of money. He bulldozed a track into the bush and used it as a tip. I’ve had a look. Neighbours from miles around must have used the place. There’re still a heap of drums left.’
‘Oh my god. What did you do?’
‘I fired Rob, for starters. Wasn’t planning to. Promised him a job for life and, after all, it was Dad who did the wrong thing in the first place, not him. But the old bloke argued the point with me. Said I was making a mountain out of a molehill, and that I wasn’t a patch on my father.’ He stood up and paced the room. ‘I talked about this Reef Wise stuff, how farms were moving to new ways, safer ways. Ways to protect the reef. Rob wouldn’t hear of it. He’ll never change. So I sacked him.’
She jumped up and hugged him. ‘You did the right thing.’
Quinn kissed Zoe again, sitting her down on the couch, seeming to draw strength from her body. ‘There was a time when I was as set in my ways as old Rob,’ he said. ‘You’ve changed me, Zoe. It’s like I can see clearly for the very first time.’
His words stirred in her a deeper passion than she’d known, a passion beyond lust, even beyond love. A fire-in-the-belly hunger to explore the future with this man. Both of them innocents in some ways, innocents who’d opened their eyes. ‘What’s next?’ she asked. ‘Leo?’
He nodded. ‘Come on.’
Leo cleared his throat and looked lost. ‘Can this be true?’ Zoe handed him the letter from Professor Perry. It detailed the full extent of Bridget’s fraudulent academic record. Leo re-read the letter, his face ashen. ‘No mistake, then?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ said Zoe.
‘There’s more.’ Quinn squeezed her hand. ‘When Bridget realised Zoe was onto her, she took her diving at Bora Reef and abandoned her for over five hours. Zoe could have died. We think Bridget only came back when she thought she’d been found out.’ Leo buried his head in his palms. Quinn went to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘We didn’t want to go to the police until you knew.’
Zoe took Quinn in: the set of his jaw, the pain in his eyes. She’d mentioned the police before, in anger, but Quinn hadn’t. What if Bridget was charged? That would be hard for him. Zoe examined her heart and made up her mind. It would be hard for her, too. ‘There’s more than one side to this,’ she said. ‘Bridget needs psychiatric help, not jail. She’s done a lot of good. Saving dozens of turtles, educating people about the reef, staying up half the night to feed orphan pelican chicks. Paying expenses out of her own pocket. That cormorant she released last week didn’t care whether she had a qualification or not. Bridget isn’t a bad person, she painted herself into a corner with all the lies. Desperate people do desperate things.’
Leo rubbed his face. ‘I still don’t understand why.’
‘You’ll have to ask her that,’ said Zoe.
Leo nodded, took his phone from his pocket and made a call. ‘She’s not answering.’
‘I saw Bridget from the window this morning,’ said Zoe. ‘Down at the lagoon.’ She turned to Quinn. ‘She was arguing with Josh. I spoke to him afterwards. Apparently Bridget’s selling Mirrhi to help pay the bills.’
‘Mirrhi?’ said Quinn. ‘Josh is head over heels in love with that dolphin. Mirrhi and Aisha – they’re all that boy talks about. It would kill him to lose either one of them.’ Zoe smiled, thrilled and proud to hear those words. The look of love was in her eyes.
Leo didn’t miss a thing and gazed at Quinn with undisguised envy. ‘So that’s how it is? Would have been nice to know.’
‘We only just found out ourselves.’ Quinn’s expression was so earnest, so sincere. It melted Zoe’s heart. She finally had herself a genuine keeper. ‘You’ve my word, Leo. I never betrayed your daughter’s trust, not once in all these years.’
Leo made an expansive gesture with both arms. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Quinn, I believe it. You always were so damn honourable. Used to drive me mad sometimes.’ He winked at Zoe. ‘I suppose the best man wins, eh?’ For once Zoe kept her mouth tactfully shut. ‘What I don’t understand, though, is why Bridget didn’t come to me for money? She knows I’m not short of a quid.’
Zoe shrugged. ‘Like I said, you’ll have to ask her that yourself.’ She glanced at Quinn. He picked up his hat and gave her a nod. ‘We’ll go now, so you can talk to your daughter.’ He shook Leo’s hand. ‘Let me know how it goes.’
They made the brief walk to the shack in silence. ‘I’d better get back to Josh,’ said Quinn at the door. ‘And get a few things sorted before this storm hits tomorrow.’
‘Will you ring me, let me know how he is?’ asked Zoe, already anticipating their goodbye kiss. ‘Josh was pretty upset this morning. Tell him we won’t let anything happen to Mirrhi.’
‘Will do. . .’ and here it came, a kiss so long, so thorough, that on release she took a faltering backwards step. Quinn smiled. ‘Don’t know how long it’s been since I had that kind of effect on a woman.’ He turned to go, then changed his mind and came back and kissed her again. His phone beeped with a text message. ‘Guess what? I’m rostered on Turtle Watch tonight. Care to come?’
‘That would be perfect.’
‘I’ll pick you up at nine,’ said Quinn. ‘Get some rest first.’ Zoe watched him walk down the path to the carpark, climb in his red jeep and drive away. She sagged against the doorframe, overcome with an odd combination of elation and weariness. It was a long time before she went inside and climbed into bed, dizzy with possibilities, until precious, dreamless sleep finally claimed her.