Hana left Will to his diet of sandwich and sarcasm and headed for the stables. The clatter of unshod feet drew her to a loose box in the corner and Sacha’s dappled head poked over the top, at the sound of Hana’s soft tread. “Hey, gorgeous.” The woman responded to the soft wicker and kissed the downy spot just above the mare’s lips. “Nice whiskers,” Hana giggled and Sacha shook her head, causing the long, curly mane to swish from side to side. “Don’t worry, it’s an age thing. Logan would freak if he ever saw mine.”
The huge head pushed at Hana’s stomach and she stepped back defensively. Sacha’s blue eye narrowed in a wink and the brown one blinked slightly later as she scented the apple in the pocket of Hana’s hoodie. “I forgot about that.” Hana extracted it with difficulty, its shiny redness glinting in the sunshine. “I was going to give it to Will, but he’s being a pig. I gave him the sour green one. Sour like him.” Hana pushed her bottom lip out like a child and Sacha blew gently on the woman’s face. Hana released the apple, rewarded by a torrent of apple juice and slobber as the mare snipped the fruit into pieces and left them in her hand, eating them one by one with long, delicious crunches. When she was done, Hana wiped the mess on the mottled forehead. “Why are you in? I thought Logan was going into the back blocks today. I saw him just before he left and you’re not even tacked up.”
Sacha nuzzled Hana’s hand and then put her head back over the half-door. Hana peered in and saw a long cut trailing down the mare’s front leg. Blood and gore oozed from it.
“Hey, Miss.” Rawhiti appeared next to Hana and glanced over at the horse. Sacha bared her teeth.
“What’s happened?”
“She went for Jack earlier. Mr Logan’s worried. He thinks she might be having mental problems. She shied up at him when he tried to tack her.”
“She shied up at Logan?” Hana’s face paled.
“No, she was fine with him. It was Jack. She kicked out and caught him on the arm and then scraped her leg down the wall as she landed. Never heard a horse make that kind of noise either. I swear she was screeching. Mr Logan looked devastated. He borrowed Toby’s bay gelding. They needed to go.”
“Are you waiting for the vet?” Hana observed the dappled backside as it faced the door, loaded with veiled threat.
“Na, don’t need him. He hates her anyway. Mr Logan said to bathe it, but she won’t let anyone in with her. She’ll have to wait until the stockmen get back now.”
“Won’t it get infected?”
“That’s her lookout. She’s played up once too often I reckon. Think she’s about due for the bullet.”
Sacha’s sturdy kick to the wooden door shuddered it on its hinges and Rawhiti stepped back.
“How’s Jack?”
Rawhiti shrugged. “Says he’s fine.”
“I’ll go see him. He’s getting too old to be knocked around.” Hana leaned over the door and spoke to the mare’s bum, watching the flesh creep and the ears at the head end flick back and forth. “Sacha, I’m going to see Jack. Then I’ll come back and bathe that leg.”
The piercing noise split the air as the horse whirled round. Her eyes were staring and crazed and Sacha rose up on her back legs and smashed her front hooves into the wooden door. The wood split half way down and a hole appeared, revealing the other stamping feet. Rawhiti swore and ran backwards, almost pitching himself over an abandoned wheelbarrow. “Stop!” Hana shouted and the mare sank to her hooves, her mismatched eyes fixed on the woman. “That’s enough!” The shock in Hana’s voice wasn’t just from dealing with rowdy teenage boys over the last decade and a half; some of it was genuine. The mare put her head down and blood dripped from a cut on her poll from contact with the high ceiling.
“Just stay away from her,” Hana ordered Rawhiti and she set off for the stable office.
Jack sat behind his usual mountain of paperwork, examining a livid bruise on his forearm. He saw Hana knock and enter, even though he couldn’t hear the courteous sound in deference to his authority. “What’s going on?” Hana splayed her arms for the deaf man, hands palm upwards. He shrugged and pointed two fingers at his temple. Hana blanched as he mimed pulling the trigger. “No!” She shook her head frantically. “No.” She tapped her chest and pointed up the mountain. “I’ll take her home. Don’t shoot her!”
Jack sneered and pulled his sleeve down over his arm. He shook his head, mocking her. Anger flared in Hana’s heart, easily matching his. “What have I done to you?” She mouthed the words carefully. “Why are you being so rude?”
“Get out!” The words were grunts but the gesture and the menace were clear. Hana took a step back, horrified.
“Why?”
Jack cast around him for his pad. He located it under a sheaf of invoices but a working pen was harder to find. The scribble on the paper came as a bitter blow to Hana, who had tried so hard to befriend the oldest Du Rose employee and respect his position in the hierarchy. “Stop digging up the past. Do us all a favour and leave us alone.”
Hana’s hand shook as she read the words scratched into the page. She looked at the old man in confusion. “You know, don’t you? You know all about the Du Roses.” Confirmation shone from the wizened face and the pursing of his lips. His eyes were so hooded by elderly, sinking eyelids that their colour was no longer distinguishable. But there was hatred there, oozing out like black liquid. Hana took a step forward. “You know about Kane and...Caroline, don’t you?”
Jack squinted in concentration while he read Hana’s lips and then his face broke into an eerie grin. His mouth opened wide with hilarity and Hana spied a flash of pink, toothless gums as he let out a roar of laughter. He clutched his sides with mirth and enjoyed the illegal union of half-siblings, both of whom he clearly hated with passion. The old man had never been able to form words that were foreign to his deaf ears, but he could laugh with abandon.
Hana took a step towards the elderly man, searching his face for the respected employee that Logan revered. Jack’s guttural noises slowed and he followed her silhouette against the bright sunshine outside as Hana approached. “Jack,” Hana put her hands on his littered desk and leaned forward. “Jack, do you know how I can find JD?”
There was a momentary delay and then the old man detonated. The shout that issued from between his lips was feral and terrifying. Hana leapt back covering her belly with her hands and tripped over a stricken saddle lying on its pommel near the door. She managed to save herself on the doorframe, slicing her hand open on a spiteful splinter of wood and gasping in pain. Bulbous veins stood out on Jack’s neck and forehead as he howled unintelligible noises in her direction. He seized a dirty mug from the desk next to him, toppling a pile of papers that slithered onto the aged rug. Hana ducked as it smashed on the lintel above her head, showering her with stained ceramic chips that tumbled past her like heavy snowfall. Defeated, Hana ran.