The remainder of Sunday night was uneventful, Monday morning even more so. The boredom gave rise to questions that she could not answer. ‘Who would break into her house? Why?’. She had nothing of any great value, but she guessed an intruder would not know that until they got inside. Suddenly a thought dawned on her, ‘What if this had not been the first time?’ Her mother’s diary had gone missing, and she was now sure it was nowhere in the house, but why would anyone want it.
Could it be someone she knew? She rattled off a list of names in her head. Matt, Tate, Tony, Nashy, Craig. But none of them made any sense. She had been sure Zak had been the dark figure she had seen, but now she knew that was impossible. He had been killed days before. ‘Killed’, that scared her. He must have made some enemies out there that night, but he always did. Arrogant and overconfident, full of his own shit and that always seemed to piss people off.
Rebecca jumped as her phone rang. It was a voice that she had not realised she had been longing to hear.
“Grandad. God it’s good to hear your cranky old voice.”
“Love you too my girl.”
“Sorry. I love you too.”
“So, how’s things up there.”
“Yeah. Interesting.” The last thing she wanted to do was have Grandad and Granma worrying, “but good interesting. How’s things down there?”
“Same old stuff. Just wanted to ring and check in with you before we head up on the weekend.”
“Yeah. Almost forgot about that.”
“Well, just want you to know that Gran and me have got a room at the pub, so you don’t need to worry about a bed for us, but Jake insists on staying at ‘his place’.”
“Ha, well I guess it’s as much his as it is mine. I think there might be an old fold out bed in the one of the sheds. Pop used to keep a few for unexpected visitors.”
“Good, because he’d whinge like an old woman if he had to sleep on the floor.”
“So, what time you think you’ll be here.”
“Probably just before lunch on Saturday. Your grandma is making something to eat for the lot of us, so don’t be doing any cooking. She misses cooking for you.”
“And I miss her cooking, especially the lasagne.”
“I’ll remind her…so you can probably expect to have your fridge filled by the time we leave.”
“Guess what…I got a dog. Uncle Paul gave me an ex-police dog. Her names Sarge and she’s gorgeous.”
“You sound like a giggling schoolgirl…so I’m guessing you like her.”
“Yep, I do.” Rebecca hesitated for a moment before asking something that she knew might bring up old wounds. “Grandad…do you remember anyone ever giving mum a hard time up here.”
“Damn girl, that’s a long time ago and you know I get all choked up when I talk about her.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just …”
“Tell you what, we’ll have a talk on the weekend. I don’t want to keep any secrets from you, so I’ll tell you what I know then, just don’t let your grandmother know.”
“Ok, you've got me worried now.”
“No need for that. Not much to tell.”
“Thanks Grandad.”
“Ok my girl. I’ll get going, but we’ll all see you soon. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
She hung up the phone and walked to the back door, opened it, and took a deep breath. She was curious as to what Grandad knew about someone harassing mum years ago. Maybe, she thought, it would be the missing piece that would make sense of what had concerned her mother all those years ago.
Sarge barged past her, barking at something in the back yard and running down by one of the back sheds. Rebecca followed out, calling after the dog and finding herself running as well. She stopped when she reached an old fencepost, which she remembered at one time had been part of a fence line that had been covered in passionfruit vine. Sarge was sitting just beyond it, challenging several Corellas that had perched in the dead branches of an old tree. The birds ignored Sarge and continued their squawking, but the dog did not give up until Rebecca’s hand rested on the dog’s head.
“Noisy little bastards aren’t they girl… but then so are you.”
Sarge looked up at her, almost apologetically and gave another round of barking. The Corellas took to the air as if tied together with an invisible net and flew further towards the scrubby Grey Gums at the base of the mountains. Pleased with herself Sarge sat down on her hind legs and looked up at Rebecca.
“Ok. I’ll give you that one.”
Rebecca turned and found herself looking at one of the sheds that she had not been into since coming to her new home. The walls were a patchwork of fibro sheeting and corrugated tin, but all of it was painted a pale blue. Two small windows sat in between some of the sheets of fibro and drawn on the glass were various styles of flowers. Some drawn better than others, and as Rebecca smiled, she remembered which ones were hers. Her Nan had drawn the intricate blossoms of roses, orchids, and other plants that Rebecca could not even guess at. The more childish ones were hers, but they were also the most colourful. She remembered this shed was Nan’s pottery shed, and with a sad smile she remembered Nan.
Nan had passed away when Rebecca had been only eight. A woman that loved creating things. Painting, making decorations for Christmas, Easter or any event, and the thing she loved most, pottery. In the shed would be her potters’ wheel and the old stone kiln that Pop had ordered from overseas. The day that it had been delivered was Nan’s birthday and Rebecca could still remember how much she had smiled and cried and thanked them all for the present. Two years later, to the day, Nan had gone in her sleep and Pop had locked up the shed, and as far as Rebecca had known, it had not been opened since.
She had always been fascinated with Nan’s pottery and now as she stood in front of the blue door, she began to remember the pride she had taken helping Nan mould clay into shape, set it in the kiln and hold the finished plate, cup, vase or whatever else they had made. Maybe, she thought, this could be her thing, her focus. Firstly however, she would have to find a key.
Beside her Sarge began to bark again as the Corellas returned. Whether it was the same flock or another, she could not tell.
“Ok girl, inside now. I’ve got to find a key…. oh shit, I’ve got to find a bed too.”
Once back inside she grabbed a jacket, the car keys and put more wood into the fire.
“You coming, girl?” she asked of Sarge.
Sarge climbed up onto the couch and curled up, answering Rebecca’s question.
“Ok then.”
The trip to the mill was short, and she could have walked it, but she wanted to get back home and find the key quickly, after solving her other problem.
Nashy sat in the office upstairs, steaming cup in one hand and the phone glued to his ear with the other. When he saw Rebecca, he nodded and finished up his call.
“Ok mate. Got to go. Business partner just turned up…. Yeah…Nah…For sure…See ya.”
The old corded phone clicked as Nashy put it back down onto the holder.
Rebecca smiled and pointed at the old phone.
“Are you scared that thing’s going to run away. You got it chained up to the holder.”
“What…What the hell you on about? Oh…Yeah, well it works fine. Don’t need one of them cordless things…and anyway, I’d just forget where I put the bloody thing. Already lost one.”
“Listen, I need a favour?”
“Oh…this’ll be good. What you need?”
“How quick can you make a bed? I don’t mean tucking in blankets and stuff. I mean the frame and all that.”
“What the…You broke your bed?”
“No…Jake’s coming up on the weekend and I’ve got no bed for him.”
“Oh, in that case, I’ll have something brought over…probably Thursday morning if I can get the boys sorted.”
“Sorted? Is something wrong?”
“Just that bloody Matt didn’t turn up this morning. Tate said he didn’t come back to the van after he had the feed at your place. What did you feed ‘em?”
“Funny. Should we be worried? Where would he go?”
“He goes home to Queensland every now and again, but he’s always back for Monday morning. He’s a big boy so I wouldn’t be too concerned. It just stuffs up my workday.”
“Weird. Have you got his phone number?”
“Not answering?”
“I hope he’s alright. Give me the number I’ll try again later.”
“Well since you’re his boss too I guess it’s okay.” Nashy scribbled a number onto a post-it and handed it to Rebecca.
“Ok. I’ll let you know if I get him….and thanks for the bed.” She headed down the stairs, stopped and turned to ask one more thing. “I might need a mattress too.”
Nashy swore as Rebecca continued down the stairs but just before she went out the door, she heard him yell. “Lucky I got a spare at home then.”
As Rebecca stepped back outside, a car pulled into the parking spot beside her Suzuki. It was Uncle Paul in the Police Landcruiser. She stood and waited at the mill door as he climbed out of the car.
“You look in a hurry. How’s Aunty Meg?”
“She’s fine. I've been trying to ring you, but it just rings out.”
“Oh Sorry. I had it on silent last night. Must have forgot.” Rebecca pulled out the phone and slide the switch back to normal. Half a dozen missed call notifications flashed up at her. “What’s wrong?”
“I just needed to know where you were. Can you hang here a minute? I need to go talk to Matt.”
“Sure. I can wait, but you won’t find Matt in there. Didn’t turn up for work this morning.”
“Shit. Do you know which van he was staying in?”
“No, but he shares with Tate. He’s in there.”
“Ok then I need to go talk to him.”
Rebecca stood in front of him as he tried to enter the door.
“First you need to tell me what the hell’s going on.”
Paul stared into her eyes for a moment before speaking. “You know much about Matt?”
“Not really. He’s from Queensland.”
“You know his last name?”
“No.”
“It’s Lonergan, and he used to live just north of Tamworth when he was a kid…” Paul paused, “but he wasn’t a Lonergan then. That’s his mum’s maiden name. They changed it when the family moved up to Queensland. Changed it because the family was getting too much heat from people. Before that his name was Matthew Shaw…Shaw. Rebecca…Matthew is the son of Ed Shaw… The man that ran your mum and dad off the road.”
Rebecca stopped breathing and felt her head begin to spin as thoughts raced through her mind, none of which she could make any sense of.
She felt dizziness taking her, and she reached out to support herself on the door frame at the same time as Pauls arms grabbed her, and then she collapsed.