Mia woke abruptly, wide-eyed in the dark. It wasn’t the dream this time, something else had wrenched her from sleep. An explosion? She had a dim memory of a whump of sound. Light flickered at the edges of the curtains, reddish. Where was that from? She got up and pulled the fabric aside. A red glow rose in the sky across the street and to the left, back from the main street.
A shockwave rippled through her body. That was near Arlo’s office. Or Hannah’s café. She dressed quickly and ran downstairs. The hotel was quiet, no night staff were on duty although the manager had rooms on the ground floor. She checked the keys in her pocket before she opened the main door. The street was deserted. Had anyone else heard it? They must have. People lived nearby. She ran across the road. A car engine sounded and the police cruiser shot past. Shannon and Vicky lived around the corner behind the police station. It must have woken them. No need to ring the emergency number.
Hannah’s was closed and dark as were the neighbouring shops but the glow was brighter the closer she came to the corner, dreading what she’d see.
A small crowd of people had gathered, huddled, dark shapes illuminated by the fierce orange light emanating from the newspaper office and the flashing lights of the police car.
‘What happened?’ she asked a man and woman at random.
‘No idea. Something exploded. We live up the road and it woke us up,’ the man said.
The woman with him said, frantic, almost in tears, ‘Arlo lives there with his son. We think they’re still inside. Frank went down the drive and banged on the back door but couldn’t rouse anyone.’
‘We thought we’d have to break in,’ said Frank. ‘But Shannon turned up and said keep away there could be another explosion.’
Mia broke in quickly, raising her voice for the rest of the group. ‘They’re not there. They moved out today.’
‘Arlo’s not in there,’ Frank shouted, his voice carrying much farther.
Shannon came across. ‘Are you sure? His car’s in the drive.’
‘Yes,’ Mia said. ‘I don’t know about the car but I helped him move everything to my house today. Where’s the fire brigade?’
‘They have to come from Willoughby. We’ve only got the volunteer bushfire brigade. They’re not trained for house fires.’
‘Good grief! The office will be destroyed by then.’
‘Nothing I can do. The locals are on the way though. They can make sure it doesn’t spread. At the moment it’s still at the front.’
Arlo arrived panting, with Riley close behind. ‘My God! What the hell happened?’
‘I heard an explosion,’ Mia said. ‘It woke me, didn’t you hear it?’
‘No. Shannon phoned.’
‘Thank God you’re all right. We thought you were inside,’ said Frank’s wife. ‘Your car’s there.’
‘Flat battery.’ Arlo walked across to peer down the driveway to the carport. ‘It might survive.’
‘Don’t go any closer, Arlo. The fire is in the office, but I’m not taking any chances. Something else could blow,’ said Shannon. ‘It’ll be a while before the fire trucks get here.’
Arlo put his arm around Riley who was staring at the damaged building in shock. ‘Good thing we moved today, matey.’
‘The windows and door are blown right out,’ Riley said. ‘Everything in there will be gone, Dad. All your work and computers and stuff.’
‘That doesn’t matter. It can be replaced and we’re okay.’
‘But, Dad …’ He looked near to tears.
Mia said, ‘Riley, why don’t you go back home to bed. I’ll come with you, and your dad can stay here. It’s way too cold to stand around when you’ve been sick.’
‘Good idea. Thanks, Mia,’ Arlo said. ‘Go, Riley. Try not to worry about it.’
She smiled and touched his arm. ‘I’ll stay till you get back.’
Mia found cocoa in the newly stocked pantry cupboard at the house and made two mugs. Riley had his in bed while she sat on the chair from his desk.
‘Who would bomb the office?’
‘We don’t know it was a bomb. It could have been a gas leak or an electrical fault. They’ll have to investigate it.’
‘It’s not likely though, is it? Not after the other things.’
Mia sipped the cocoa to give her time to formulate a reply. Arlo made a point of treating Riley like an adult when it came to sharing information about the situation they were in, but how much had he really told him? Did he know about her father’s murder? If he did, this would come as a terrifying escalation of the recent events, putting Arlo right in the front line. It was a terrifying escalation but Riley shouldn’t know that.
He seemed to take her silence as agreement because he said glumly, ‘Dad’s going to send me home after this.’
‘It might be best,’ she said slowly. ‘I’d be worried sick if I were your mum and heard about it.’
‘But I like it here.’
‘It wouldn’t mean you couldn’t come back.’
He looked at her. ‘I know what Dad thinks about your dad and Glenda, not just what he wrote in the paper. He really thinks someone murdered them.’
‘You do?’
He nodded. ‘And now they’re after Dad, but I’m not frightened.’
‘You should be,’ Mia said sharply. ‘If we’re right, these people don’t care who else is in the way. You could both have been killed tonight.’ She took a sudden deep breath as the full import hit her. ‘It’s not a movie. It’s real.’
‘But now the police will be after them.’
‘Not if it’s made to look like an accident. They’re very clever.’
‘We’ve just had an accident. Nearly. Two will look suspicious, won’t it?’
‘I agree but if they try again and succeed in removing Arlo, who will try to prove they weren’t accidents? And if the office is destroyed there won’t be any proof of anything.’
‘Are you frightened?’
‘Now I am, yes. But I’m also worried about your safety.’
‘You’ll agree with Dad, won’t you, when he says I should go to Sydney?’
She nodded. ‘Sorry, but yes.’
Riley put the empty mug on the bedside table. ‘Thanks for the cocoa, Mia.’
‘You’re welcome. Try to sleep. See you tomorrow.’ She switched off the bed lamp.
‘Mia?’
She paused.
‘Do you like my dad?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good, because he really likes you and Mum and James reckon he needs a girlfriend.’
How simple it sounded. She smiled in the darkened room and pulled the door closed.
***
Arlo arrived home just after three. He opened the door carefully and found Mia asleep on the red couch with a blanket over her. He hung up his coat and peeked into Riley’s room. Fast asleep.
He went to the bathroom and washed his face and hands, the smell of smoke strong in his nostrils. He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower, the heat seeping into his body and relaxing the tightness of chilled muscles. What a nightmare. By the time the Willoughby fire trucks arrived the office section of the building was pretty much gutted. The local brigade had prevented damage to Hannah’s, the building on the other side and, along with most of the flat, the car and shed had survived intact. For all of their efforts he was more than grateful.
He’d also managed to capture some pretty good shots on his phone meaning next issue’s front page was well and truly taken care of. If anyone thought Round the Bend was out of action they had another think coming. Bastards. This would attract much wider attention from the media and surely that wasn’t what they wanted. It smacked of panic.
A forensic team was expected in the morning to establish the cause of the blast but the fire chief said he was pretty sure it was a deliberately rigged explosion in no way connected to the service utilities. Rupe and Shannon absorbed the news with impassive faces. Maybe now Rupe would take his suspicions seriously.
When he came out of the shower in track pants and sweatshirt, Mia was sitting up, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
‘Hi. What’s happened?’
Arlo slumped onto the couch next to her. ‘The fire’s out. The fire chief reckons it was deliberate.’
‘That’s terrifying, Arlo. You could have been killed.’
He shook his head. ‘The flat was barely affected. I’d closed the connecting door and it slowed the pace. It was the office that was destroyed. Luckily, I’d moved a lot of papers to the shed and brought some things here yesterday. I’ve got my laptop and the more recent files I’ve been using. Georgia will be the same.’
‘That’s something.’ She sighed but it was almost a yawn. ‘Riley is sure you’ll send him back to Sydney.’
‘I will. I have to.’
‘I agree, but he really wants to stay.’
‘I can’t let him.’ He rubbed both hands over his face, feeling the roughness of stubble. His eyes smarted from the smoke and tiredness.
‘I said it doesn’t mean he can’t come back later.’
‘He talks to you.’
‘Yes, we get on pretty well.’
He took her hand. ‘I’m glad.’
‘He’s a very smart boy.’ Mia stood up, gently disengaging his fingers from hers. ‘I’m going now.’
‘Stay.’ She wouldn’t, he knew.
‘Best not.’
He didn’t argue. ‘Let me walk with you.’
‘No, stay in the warmth. Go to bed. I’ll be fine.’
He went with her to the door, helped her on with her coat. ‘Thank you, Mia.’ He kissed her softly on the lips, tasting the sweetness of chocolate, before she slipped away into the night, leaving him with the tang of loss.
His phone began ringing early the next morning. No Saturday lie-in for him after a few hours in bed. As he’d predicted, the media were all over the story, and a couple of TV network vans were in transit from their Wagga stations to get images of the smouldering ruin.
He and Riley sat in the kitchen, unable to sleep any longer but yawning and exhausted, picking at cereal.
‘You’ll have to stay indoors and not answer your phone to a number or name you don’t know,’ Arlo said. ‘Don’t tell your mates anything beyond the obvious. I don’t want the media talking to you.’
Gritting his teeth, Arlo phoned Debra. She hadn’t heard anything which was good because after relaying the facts he could assure her Riley had been in no danger whatsoever and that he’d already decided to send him back to Sydney. Naturally, she was shocked and horrified.
‘Of course he should come home,’ she said.
‘He doesn’t want to go,’ Arlo said. ‘He wants to stay with his mate Sam.’
‘That’s ridiculous. He has to get right away from you.’
‘That’s harsh.’ His heart sank. She was back where they’d been years ago. He’d be lucky to have Riley back.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean … I know you’re doing your best and Riley’s happier than he’s been all year but blowing up your home? That’s horrific, Arlo. Why would anyone do that? Don’t they know your son lives with you?’
‘They may have done it because they knew we weren’t there, that we’d moved.’
He didn’t think that was true and neither did Rupe. His car was in the driveway. Everyone who’d come to help thought the same thing, that he and Riley were asleep inside. He had a flat battery to thank for the mistake or they may have bombed Mia’s house instead.
His comment didn’t mollify her much but she said in a gentler tone, ‘Put Riley on, please, Arlo. I’ll tell him it’s for his safety and no other reason. I’m glad you’re okay and I’m so sorry you’ve lost the office.’
‘Thanks, Deb.’
Arlo handed the phone to his glowering son.
***
After breakfast Arlo walked to the scene of the crime knowing he’d be accosted by reporters eager for his views on why he was a target. In the dismal morning light the sight was even more depressing. Blackened window frames dripped water, smoke trails streaked the previously white-painted outer walls and shattered glass covered the footpath. Police tape cordoned off the walkway from the edge of Hannah’s side wall to Arlo’s neighbour on the far side of his driveway.
Two media vans were parked in the gutter opposite but no-one was in sight. Probably looking for breakfast and coffee. A chilly wind made standing about unpleasant along with a hint of more rain. It hadn’t deterred a bunch of kids from having a good look. Jack was there with the dog. He waved.
‘Hi, Arlo.’
Arlo raised his hand but didn’t stop to talk.
A couple of locals stood chatting a few houses along, Doc Jensen one of them. He nodded in greeting. Arlo walked across. Doc’s surgery was diagonally opposite but Doc lived a few houses along. The woman with him was slightly deaf but otherwise unimpaired, Enid Thorne, whose family had lived in the area for four generations. In her mid-eighties Enid still wielded a racquet on the tennis courts in summer and rode her horse in the show.
‘How are you? How’s the boy?’ Doc gave Arlo a searching look.
‘We’re okay.’
‘Bit of a shock to us all.’
‘Even I heard that bang,’ said Enid. ‘I thought it was a cannon.’
‘A cannon?’ Arlo glanced at Doc with a half-smile.
‘This is no good, you know,’ she said. ‘I was just saying to Doc, this is our town and we’re law-abiding and friendly. Always have been. We don’t go round blowing up our neighbours’ houses. This is an outsider’s doing and I told that reporter lady exactly that.’
‘I think you’re right,’ said Arlo.
‘We didn’t tell her where you live now even though she asked. That’s none of her business. I told her you’ve a right to your opinion and just because you write something in the paper some people may not like that’s no reason to try to blow you up. People here know that, that’s why it’s not a local who did it. It makes me so angry I could spit chips.’
‘I agree with Enid,’ said Doc. ‘This is an attack on all of us. The paper is ours as much as yours and we’re all proud of it.’
‘That’s right,’ she said.
‘Thanks, Doc. Thanks, Enid.’ An unexpected surge of emotion clogged his throat.
Doc clapped him on the shoulder. ‘No worries. I’d better get to work.’
‘Me too. Have to feed the horse. I told those kids not to go blabbing either.’ Enid strode away.
Arlo turned to look at the ruined shopfront. The sign over the door had, surprisingly, survived. A touch of paint and a wipe down and it would be as before. The office itself was another matter. The building may not even be structurally sound. He’d have to set up shop at the house and he needed to call Georgia.
The group of kids broke up and wandered away. Jack came across and said, ‘Was it a terrorist bomb?’
‘No. We don’t know who did it but I can guarantee it wasn’t a terrorist and it won’t happen to anyone else in town, so don’t worry about that.’
A small group of strangers came round the corner with takeaway coffee. Media.
‘I’ll walk with you for a bit.’ Arlo crossed the road with Jack and sauntered along, hands in pockets keeping his face averted while Jack nattered on about how the dog had rolled in some horse poo and come inside and sat on his mum’s good shoes she’d left in the living room.
‘You should have heard Mum when she was chasing him outside,’ he said. ‘Trouble was he took one of the shoes with him and she had to chase him round the yard. He thought it was a game. Dad laughed so much we thought he was going to have a heart attack. He reckoned the dog was turning blue from her language.’
Back home, Arlo checked flights to Sydney from Wagga and then realised he had no car to transport Riley to the airport until his was cleared by the investigators. The battery would be easily replaced but he may not have the car back until Monday. He couldn’t borrow Mia’s. Maybe Georgia’s?
Somehow Georgia had missed last night’s excitement and was completely staggered by the news. ‘I’ll be over right away,’ she said. ‘But I’ll have Charlotte with me.’
‘That’s fine. See you soon.’
Arlo switched on the TV to the station belonging to one of the two vans. A weekend morning show was on with a feature on guide dogs. He muted the sound and flicked to the other one, the ABC. A business program—but as he watched a worm ran across the bottom of the screen. Blast destroys regional newspaper office.
He checked his online news feeds. A similar headline came through on several sites. All reported that editor Arlo McGuinness was unharmed but unavailable for comment. A couple had hastily prepared columns on his background and one referenced the tragic deaths of two Taylor’s Bend locals less than a year earlier. With a little more time and perhaps some strategic prompting those reporters might be interested in connecting the dots when looking for a motive for the blast. The perpetrators may have just shot themselves in the foot. Losing the office was a small price to pay if it meant spotlights would be focused on the murky corners of the Greenhill and Willoughby Council relationship, and a murderer brought to justice.
When Georgia arrived they’d concoct a press release hinting that the recent road maintenance story had stirred up more than local sentiment.
Someone knocked on the door. Riley got up from his spot on the couch but Arlo waved him back. He had a quick peek through the curtains and saw Betty with a large takeaway container in her hands. In typical fashion she didn’t linger but gave him the container and said, ‘This is for you and your boy after that terrible thing to happen. It makes us very angry.’
‘Thank you, that’s very kind, Betty.’
Arlo closed the door and took the gift to the kitchen.
‘What’s that?’ Riley peered over his shoulder.
‘Chinese food from Betty next door.’
‘Cool!’
‘Totally. And very kind.’
‘Yeah.’ He unclipped the lid and sniffed. ‘Chicken something. Yum.’
‘Get your fingers out of it. That’s our dinner. I’ll put it in the esky.’ Arlo put the lid back in place.
Georgia arrived next with laptop, bulging briefcase, a carry bag of toys and her tiny daughter.
‘Hi, Riley. You okay?’
‘Yeah, except they’re sending me back to Sydney.’
‘I don’t blame them,’ she said. ‘No way would I put Charlotte in the way of some maniac who blows things up.’
‘Can I borrow your car to take Riley to the airport? Mine is in lockdown until the investigators finish.’
‘Sure, just say when.’
‘Tomorrow afternoon?’
‘Fine.’
‘Thank you.’ He turned to Riley. ‘You’d better pack a bag. Bit more than overnight, matey.’
Riley groaned.
‘Charlotte will help, won’t you, sweetie pie?’ said Georgia.
‘Okay. Come on, Charlie, let’s find a suitcase.’
For the next couple of hours Arlo and Georgia discussed how to proceed, with occasional interruptions from Charlotte. The next issue would necessarily be smaller and some of their contributors would need to be contacted to resend their items but there was no thought of stopping publication.
‘I’m getting a lot of calls and texts from the media, but I’m not answering,’ Arlo said. ‘So far they haven’t figured out where we are but it won’t take long. In fact I’m surprised no-one’s turned up here.’
‘The locals won’t tell the press where you live. You’re part of this town and they’ll close ranks.’
‘We need to write a statement. I want to make sure reporters can connect last week’s articles to the blast.’
‘Won’t they already?’
‘Some might, others won’t bother. We’re not very important in the grand scheme of things. I’ve contacted some colleagues who I know will want to look into the Greenhill link to Peter Stine.’
‘Do you think they’ll try again?’
‘It’s possible which is why I’m sending Riley to his mother.’
‘What about me?’ For the first time it occurred to Arlo Georgia might be frightened, not for herself but for Charlotte.
‘You could stay with your mum and Rupe,’ he suggested. ‘But given your relationship to the local police it seems unlikely they’d want to draw that sort of attention. It’s me they want to shut up.’
‘I guess. Okay.’ She smiled. ‘Bet you never thought we’d be dealing with this sort of stuff.’
Arlo’s phone buzzed with a message. He checked the ID.
‘It’s Mia,’ he said.
That Joel guy is here