“That damn midwife keeps ringing the house. You need to call her back.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that.”
Bodie picked at fluff on his uniform shirt and shrugged. “She turned up and Amy told her you didn’t live there anymore. She asked you to call her.”
“No! Why would you do that to me?” Hana raged and Bodie jumped back in surprise.
“What did we do?”
“You just got rid of my midwife for me. Now I’ll have to start again and find another one!” Hana ran her hands over her face in irritation and tried to bring her redheaded temper under control. She took deep breaths and tried to count to ten.
“Oh, she said there was nothing wrong. You’re fine, the baby’s fine, she just needed to speak to you. She told Amy that it’s nothing to worry about.”
Logan took that moment to walk into the family dining room, his perceptiveness picking up the tension in the room within a heartbeat. He strode over to Hana and took her in his arms. “What’s wrong sweetheart?” He glared at Bodie sideways.
“Nothing!” Hana pushed his arms away in frustration, suspecting that the two men tied to her by blood and marriage were working up to a fight. “I’m going up to see Alfie,” she snapped and left the room quickly. Half way down the corridor, her heels clicking on the quarry tiled floor, Hana remembered why she went into the dining room in the first place. “Damn,” she swore. In search of the drink she had promised herself, Hana walked back the way she came, passing the door to the dining room and the males she suspected were already arguing. She entered the kitchen via the main door and snuck past the wide archway, catching sight of Logan’s rigid back as he faced her son. Bodie leaned against the windowsill, side on to him, ignoring whatever spewed from Logan’s mouth.
Hana sipped from the glass in her hands, trying not to slurp and draw attention to her presence. She stood in a relaxed pose, one leg bent at the knee as she contemplated the difficulties in her life. Bodie’s sneering laugh brought her back to a miserable reality. “Are you even sure that baby’s yours?” he asked. Hana froze in shock. “She’s a bit adamant about her dates. Amy says that’s what the midwife is panicking over. Maybe Mum’s got something to hide.”
“I’m going to smack you out in a minute!” Logan’s voice cracked with a menace that made Hana’s blood chill.
“Go for it, I’ll arrest you. I can’t wait, Du Rose. One day you’ll slip up big time.”
“All this because you don’t wanna pay back the money I lent you?” Logan sounded incredulous. “I lent it in good faith and you promised.”
“I don’t have it.” Bodie’s voice took on a whinging quality and Hana squirmed. That was guaranteed to wind Logan up more.
“Your mother told me she released a trust fund for you and your sister. I know where Izzie’s went; it’s currently floating that damn church they work for. But you? What did you do with it? One minute you’ve got enough to play the ‘big I am’ and buy expensive gates for Culver’s Cottage and the next, you’re broke. What did you do?”
Hana waited with interest, knowing from experience that Logan’s teeth were gritted.
“I can’t tell you,” Bodie griped, his tone insipid, making Hana feel ashamed of him.
“Gambling? Another woman? A tribe of illegitimate kids? What?” Logan’s voice softened. “You don’t deserve it but do you need my help?”
Hana wanted to rush in and hug her husband until his bones cracked, at the same time telling him not to bother helping the stupid boy. Bodie hesitated and there was silence. Hana put the glass down gently, the condensation on it making it likely she would drop it fairly soon anyway.
“I made a dumb investment and lost the lot. Amy thought I still had it, so I’ve had to follow through and buy Mum’s old house. We had Hope and Amy’s still on extended maternity leave. We’re living hand to mouth and the strain of it is killing me. She wants stuff and I’m terrified she’ll find out. She thinks I’m just a miser and don’t want to spend my money on her. We argue about it all the time.”
“What was the investment?”
“I thought it was a dead cert. I was wrong.”
“Stock market?
“Yeah.”
“I wish you’d come to me. It’s how I made most of my start-up cash.”
“I know that now,” Bodie sighed, a trace of frustration speckling his tone.
“Forget the grand for the auction,” Logan said. “It’s forgotten.” Then he laughed, “It’s probably not good for the leading cop on a murder case to owe the prime suspect money. So let’s forget it ever happened.”
Hana heard her husband’s cowboy boots move towards the door and his hand contact with the handle, his wedding ring clanking against the metal with a faint ‘ting.’
“Logan!” Bodie’s voice sounded frantic and Hana listened to the strain in it with a mother’s ears. “You’re not the prime suspect.”
Logan’s boots grated on the wooden floor, sounding gritty as he turned. Hana thought about Tama’s statement to Odering. He knew nothing and was out drinking in the township with most of the other stockmen, including an underage Ryan between the estimated times of the murder. They had alibied each other, down to a man. Hana waited with bated breath for Bodie’s exciting revelation. She hadn’t expected that!
“It’s Mum, Logan. Mum is the prime suspect.”