‘I’m going for a drive, Unkie.’ No point hanging around. Ray had hardly touched his meal, or the trifle, even with his favourite crushed walnuts on top. Pushed the food around the plate was all, and his gloom was infectious. Penny had no appetite either. Her head ached and her stomach churned. Whether it was Colleen’s gossip, or her pregnancy, or a virus, she didn’t know and she didn’t care. She took the Binburra Road, glad to be out of the house.
Fraser was waiting for her on the verandah, looking frailer than the last time she’d seen him. McGregor hovered protectively nearby. Fraser beckoned her inside, and Penny followed him to the lounge room, barely noticing the enormous white marble fireplace that she usually marvelled at. A giant’s fireplace. As far as she knew it had never held a fire. If ever she saw one in its monstrous grate she’d call the fire brigade. Something about Canterbury Downs suggested things could get out of control.
‘I need your help,’ said Penny. She glared at McGregor as he came in, and Fraser waved him out again. ‘What I’m about to tell you can’t leave this room,’ she said. ‘If it does, I swear I’ll never speak to you again.’
‘You have my word.’
Penny wet her lips. ‘I have the frozen body of a thylacine in my jeep. Matt accidentally hit and killed it on the road.’ She waited, expecting scepticism, shock, amazement. Instead, Fraser just looked stern.
‘Who else knows?’
‘Sarah Deville.’
‘Sarah? She’s the last person you should have told.’
‘We didn’t tell her,’ said Penny. ‘She sort of found out by herself.’
Fraser took Penny’s arm and hurried her to the front of the house. ‘I’m surprised you’ve kept this quiet.’
‘So am I. It’s Matt who’s holding out. If it was up to me we’d go public right away.’
‘No. No, that would not be wise. So, I have my son to thank. I’ve misjudged him. Now, let’s have a look at your find.’
Penny glanced around to confirm nobody was about. Then she opened the jeep door and pushed the bags of frozen fish aside from Theo’s body. Fraser heaved a happy sigh and traced a frosty stripe with his finger.
‘Remarkable,’ he said. ‘Is there much damage to the hide?’
‘No,’ said Penny, still astonished that Fraser was taking it all in his stride.
‘Well, don’t dawdle. Let’s get him inside. You take his shoulders.’ Fraser grimaced, visibly struggling with the tiger’s dead weight. They stowed Theo in the studio freezer, then went to the breakfast room where fresh coffee and cakes had materialised, although there was no sign of the butler.
‘Do you think McGregor saw us?’ asked Penny.
‘Undoubtedly, but you have nothing to fear. McGregor and I are the last people on earth who would betray your secret.’
‘Why? And why are you so … so unsurprised.’
‘That, Penelope, is because it has been our secret for far longer than it has been yours.’
Penny put down her cup and stared at him. Now she knew where Matt got it from. Holding tight to secrets ran in the family. ‘How on earth could you know anything about this?’
‘An explanation that is long overdue and, I’m afraid my dear, one that is for Matthew’s ears alone. But how to make him listen?’
Penny picked up her coffee cup and stared into the dregs, as if reading tea leaves. Fraser knew about the baby. He knew about Theo. It was time he knew of her suspicions about Sarah too. Her father-in-law was an unlikely confidant, but the truth was she badly needed someone to talk to. Perhaps she and Fraser could help each other.
‘It’s quite straightforward,’ he said when she finished her story. ‘Tell my son you’re pregnant. He’ll abandon the affair – if, indeed, that’s what it is – and I’ll arrange for Deville’s funding to dry up. She’ll be on a plane back to Los Angeles before you know it.’
Penny shook her head, a tight smile on her face. ‘Eliminate my opposition and use the baby to emotionally blackmail my husband. I guess I asked for that, coming to you for relationship advice.’
‘Don’t be foolish, Penelope. My advice is perfectly sound. You walk out on a whim and leave the field open for another woman. A highly intelligent and desirable woman, I might add. Then you complain about the inevitable.’
Penny’s face reddened. ‘So it’s inevitable that Matt has an affair the minute I turn my back? Is that what you think?’
‘It’s inevitable that he will feel deserted by his wife. Try to think like a man. I don’t doubt that Matthew loves you and, I suspect, neither do you. The question is, Penelope, do you want to repair the marriage? If the answer is yes, I’ve proposed a practical course forward.’
This was outrageous advice, shallow even for Fraser. Did she want Matt? Yes. A thousand times yes. Had she thrown away her marriage on a whim?
‘It’s not quite so simple,’ said Penny. ‘Sarah’s made a breakthrough with her research. A percentage of Tuggerah’s devils may be tumour-resistant. She mustn’t leave before she’s genotyped all the samples.’
Fraser beamed. ‘We understand each other then.’
Penny swallowed hard, afraid that they did. Her smug certainty about right and wrong was fast deserting her.
‘Sometimes,’ said Fraser, like he knew what she was thinking, ‘the right thing is just the wrong thing in disguise. Leave the details to me. Miss Deville will ship out whenever you say the word.’
‘You can do that?’ asked Penny.
‘You’d be staggered at the things I can do. Telling Matthew he is to be a father, however, is not one of them. Don’t wait, my dear. I learned too late that a life ruled by secrets is no life at all.’
Penny hugged his skinny frame, not wanting to let go, and for once he didn’t stiffen. It felt good having him as an ally, despite his dubious ethics. ‘Now,’ she said at last. ‘My turn to help. If you want to please Matt, start by saving Pallawarra. It will mean a lot to him. It will mean a lot to this entire community.’
Fraser looked blank.
‘You must know Pallawarra. The giant mountain ash above the old Charon River picnic ground? Local couples have carved their names on its trunk for more than a hundred years. Those two cops died trying to bring protesters down from it.’
Penny sensed Fraser’s thoughts spiral off from the here-and-now. His eyes were unfocused. ‘Yes, I do know your tree, but by another name – the fairy tree.’
‘That’s what Margaret Murphy calls it,’ said Penny.
Fraser shut his eyes, and rested his forehead on the heel of his hand. ‘My Charlotte’s name is on that tree,’ he said, ‘alongside my own, although I doubt I’d find it after all this time. Forty years.’
‘You can still read most of the carvings,’ said Penny. ‘Even the old ones.’
‘They’ll be so high up the trunk.’
‘Trees grow by forming new layers of wood at the top, not by pushing up from below. Your names will be exactly where you left them.’
‘Is that so? For somebody who’s made a fortune from forests, I don’t seem to know very much about trees. That should change, don’t you think?’ Penny smiled, feeling better, hungry even. She tackled a fat vanilla slice. ‘Do you know what my Charlotte used to say? That my wealth was like fairy gold. Fairy gold appears precious at first, but soon turns into coal or weeds or stale gingerbread. In the end, she said, it would be quite useless to me.’ He brushed a flake of pastry from Penny’s cheek. ‘We’ll save your tree.’
‘It’s already been measured,’ said Penny. ‘One metre too short to be spared under the big tree policy.’
Fraser laughed, a not very pleasant laugh, and selected a square of bitter chocolate. Penny was glad she was on his side.
‘I predict a more favourable outcome for the new assessment. Tuggerah’s much-loved icon will receive the permanent protection it deserves. And do you know what? It makes me happy to say it. Happy,’ he said with an emphatic nod. ‘I haven’t been happy for a very long time.’