Butcherbird

by Cassie Hart

  ‘I was trying to find you.’ She frowned, shivering in relief that the watch was gone from her sight. ‘Didn’t you hear me calling?’

  He looked across the swamp, and then back at her, though his gaze was vague. ‘Guess not. Are you ready to head back to the house?’

  Jena’s shoulders slumped. She looked between the two dead birds and Cade, who hadn’t seemed to notice them. The other magpies had gone quiet, though she could still see them perched in trees around the swamp. Somehow, they’d gotten what they wanted. Whatever that was.

  Maybe it was time to get out of here. This little outing hadn’t been at all what she’d expected, despite the fact that the pieces should have fitted together to make it fun. They’d had a nice picnic. She’d played like a child. They’d found a treasure … though it hadn’t made her feel good, and Cade seemed distant, like his brain was somewhere else.

  And then there were the birds. The dead birds.

  ‘Yeah, okay,’ she said, turning to face the hill they’d come down. She could see a path along the edge of the swamp. If they went left, they could follow it around to their picnic spot, visible as an indentation in the grass. She held her hand out for Cade, but he didn’t take it. Instead he was looking at the watch again, absorbed in it.

  ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘It might rain later; seems like the clouds aren’t going anywhere.’

  ‘Sure, yeah.’ He still didn’t take her hand, though, barely looking at her, only enough to make sure he was going in the right direction.

  She had a feeling that something had changed. Something to do with that watch. And she was pretty sure that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  WILL

  The drive home had been long and quiet. Rose was either exhausted, or feigning fatigue in order not to talk to him.

  And that was okay. He didn’t mind. She’d given him snippets of things to think over the night before, and he’d spent more time thinking about his own past than he’d have liked, staring at the slivers of light creeping through the cheap motel curtains that didn’t quite close. They reminded him of the slats in the pantry door at home; he’d hidden inside it, trying to avoid his mother’s wrath.

  When they finally pulled into the driveway, he sighed in relief. Now that they were here, he could set his own demons aside and focus on someone else’s, which was so much easier. Even if it meant birds behaving strangely and trying to draw secrets from an old woman.

  ‘We’re home, Rose,’ he said. They went over the rise and then he saw Cade’s car and his shoulders sank. ‘Looks like Cade’s back.’ He tried to keep the disappointment from his voice.

  It wasn’t that he wanted Jena for himself, more that he disliked Cade. He was in the way, and he was an asshole to boot, and it bugged him that Jena couldn’t see that for herself. Or that in those brief moments when she seemed to know it, she somehow pushed that knowing down, covered it with bows and glitter to pretty it up and make it more appealing to herself.

  Somewhere inside, she had to know. Surely.

  Rose let out a little groan as he pulled to a stop beside Cade’s car, and Will didn’t know whether it was because she hurt or because of Cade. Maybe both.

  ‘Just wait, I’ll come around and help you,’ he said, unclicking his seat belt and leaving the keys in the car.

  ‘I’m not that much of an invalid,’ she spat out, turning rheumy eyes on him as she undid her belt. But she stayed in her seat and waited all the same.

  He pulled open the door and ducked his head inside so that he could help her shift in her seat, then moved back, drawing her to her feet. She grimaced but didn’t say anything, didn’t make a sound, just gripped his arm tightly as he helped her walk up the steps and inside.

  They paused at her door and she held the walking frame, shaking his hands off her. ‘I can do this on my own. Get the bags in, will you?’ She patted him on the cheek and then turned away. Will watched as she shuffled over to the bed, knowing he should really be helping her. A fall right now would do a lot of damage, and he couldn’t afford to have more accidents like that on his record.

  Once she’d made it there and sat down on the edge he finally left, turning away before she caught him watching. He headed back to the car and grabbed their overnight bags, and the keys from the ignition, not bothering to lock it up.

  Cade’s car might be here, but it didn’t seem like he or Jena were.

  Will was both relieved and disappointed. No, disappointment wasn’t quite the right word. He wanted to give her an update as soon as he could so she wouldn’t go to Rose, and if she wasn’t here – if Cade was here too – then it made that all so much harder.

  He stashed Rose’s bag just inside her door, then looked up at her.

  ‘I’m fine, Will. Go do … something. Anything so that you’re not standing there jittering in my doorway.’

  ‘I’m not jittery,’ he said, though he noticed that wasn’t right. He was jiggling his leg up and down, tapping the toes of his shoe on the floor without even realising it. ‘I just need to burn off some energy after being in the car for so long. Might go for a walk. Call me if you need me, I’ll take the monitor.’

  He spun from the door and headed upstairs, pushing the door open without a thought.

  Back when he’d first arrived – once he’d realised this was Joel’s room – it had felt really odd. It wasn’t the first time he’d slept in a dead person’s room, but it was the first time he’d been able to see the place they died, horrifically, right out the window. There was something a little weird about that. Unnerving. He hadn’t really been able to settle in as a result, make the place his own. Instead he’d kept his things mostly in the suitcase, only hanging a couple of items in the wardrobe and leaving a few books on the bedside table for when he was having trouble sleeping at night.

  Will tossed the bag on the ground beside the bed, kicked his shoes off and lay down. His hands went behind his head, sliding together under the pillow, unconsciously reaching for the small metal key he’d hidden there.

  Only it wasn’t there.

  He turned the pillow so that the opening was down, shook it, but nothing dropped out, then he shoved a hand inside, feeling around, trying to find anything that wasn’t fabric.

  ‘Shit,’ he said, tossing the pillow aside. He was on his hands and knees now, peering into the gap between the wall and the bed, then he stood up, pulled the whole thing out, pushed the bedside table away and got down on the ground, scouring every inch. Once, twice, three times.

  Nothing.

  ‘Fuck!’

  He dragged a hand through his hair, fingers pressing deep against the spots that seemed to flare with pain. The key was gone, and keys didn’t go walking on their own. Jena must have found it, must have come snooping through his room because she didn’t trust him, and now that she had the key ….

  He shot to his feet, not even bothering to put his shoes on before he dashed down the stairs and out the door, the gravel of the driveway digging through his socks and into his feet. But he didn’t stop, he couldn’t. He had to know if she’d found the laptop.

  He slammed open the door of the barn and ran across the floor, taking the steps two at a time until he reached the mezzanine.

  And then he stopped.

  The drawer was open.

  Even from here he could see that the laptop was gone. And then something else caught his eye and he could see that the filing cabinet drawer was slightly ajar too.

  All the energy drained from Will and he sank to the floor.

  He was fucked, totally fucked.

  Unless he could find his stuff. Get it back before she got home.

  Will stood up, though his legs wobbled as he descended the steps. He gripped the railing for strength, his mind ticking things over as he went. He could do this; he could find the laptop and the files and whatever else she’d taken. He could get this all under control.

  Rose didn’t have to know. She never had to know,
and if he could come up with some story when Jena started flinging wild accusations at him over dinner ….

  He pushed open the barn door, raising an arm to block out the sudden bright light. The sun seemed to have burned away the late afternoon clouds and the mountain stood before him, a cloak of snow around his shoulders. He was magnificent. And Will couldn’t help but feel like, somehow, Taranaki was scowling at him.

  He turned away, taking a breath and steeling himself for the next part of his mission, when Jena and Cade walked around the corner of the barn, arm in arm. He couldn’t help but jump.

  ‘You seem a bit flustered there, Will,’ Jena said. Her eyes narrowed on him, but the corner of her lips pulled up in a smirk. ‘Looking for something?’

  She knows. She knows she knows she knows.

  ‘Ah. No. Just ….’ He shook his head, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. ‘Hey, Cade, nice to see you back.’ He just about choked on the words, but he needed to change the topic. Onto something safe. Safer.

  ‘Well, you know, couldn’t abandon my girl.’ Cade wrapped an arm around Jena and pulled her closer, pressing a kiss against her hair. But he kept his eyes on Will the whole time. Like he was staking a claim. Declaring ownership.

  It made Will shudder.

  ‘I better get back inside, check on Rose,’ he said, then he turned towards the house and picked his way across the gravel, noticing the impact of the stones more sharply this time.

  Noticing how it felt like Cade’s eyes, at least, were digging a hole in his back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  JENA

  Cade went into the kitchen for more food when they got inside, and Jena ran up the stairs to her bedroom.

  When she was safely inside, she laughed, pressing a hand against her mouth to muffle the noise. She finally felt more in control now because Will knew that she’d found him out. She’d seen it in the lines of horror that seemed to ripple onto his face, in the slight wrinkles that furrowed his brow.

  Jena heard footsteps on the landing; she knew it was Will because the floor didn’t creak much. He paused outside her door and she went silent, leaning on it.

  But he didn’t turn the handle; instead his steps retreated, back to the room across the landing.

  Jena exhaled and grinned again, feeling like she’d won, even though she didn’t know what the prize was exactly. She pushed off the door and drew the laptop and file out from under the bed where she’d stashed them, and then she moved to the wardrobe, opened the door, and felt along the panel on the right. A little push and the board popped free.

  She’d made this space back when she was nine. Not because she had anything nefarious to hide, but because Joel was such a sneak and had always been coming into her room and going through her stuff. A girl needed her privacy.

  Jena reached inside, her fingers touching something metallic. She smiled, but her nose prickled and she sniffed back the tears that had filled her eyes. She pulled it out and shoved it straight into her pocket, not wanting to spend more time on it. She needed Will’s stuff to be safe from everyone, and she’d always have the spinning top.

  Always.

  She grabbed a shirt off a coat-hanger and wrapped it around the bundle of secrets, slipping it into the hole in the wall and hurriedly pushing the panel back into place.

  Safe. She shut the wardrobe door behind her and moved across to the bed, pulling out something a little nicer to wear for dinner at the Mertenses’ tonight. The less time they spent in this house the better, as far as she was concerned. Let Will stew over her next move. Let him be the one spending hours afraid in this house.

  And what would she do?

  She didn’t quite know yet. There were so many options. Part of her just wanted to out him to Rose, to watch her grandmother berate him, throw him off the property, threaten to call the police. Maybe? Jena could only hope.

  And yet …. She glanced at the wardrobe. She was curious as to what he had on his laptop. And curiosity had always been her biggest weakness, or strength, depending on who you asked.

  Cade pushed into the room, shutting the door behind him.

  ‘Time for a quickie?’ he asked, cocking an eyebrow. ‘We didn’t really get a chance on our little outing.’ He slid the bottom of his tee up his belly as though he were about to do a strip tease and Jena couldn’t help but laugh, which only made Cade scowl. ‘What?’

  ‘I’m sorry, it’s just been a weird day,’ Jena said. ‘Very hot, by the way, but not right now. We’ve gotta get ready to go. Dinner with the neighbours, remember?’

  Cade stepped closer, tugging down his fly, his pants, exposing his hard cock, which sprang free from his boxers to greet Jena.

  ‘Down, boy,’ she said, pushing it away with a single finger so as to get her point across. ‘We’ve got dinner,’ she said again, firmer this time.

  ‘It’ll be quick.’

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘And that’s meant to make me change my mind?’ She got up and brushed past him, grabbing her fresh clothes off the bed and heading for the door. Cade let out a little growl and lunged for her arm, but just missed it.

  ‘I’ve got needs, Jena.’ His voice was low, demanding, and the words made her shudder. ‘I know you’ve got them too.’

  She could feel him slipping away from her, could hear it in his voice. It was almost enough to make her turn around, to go to her knees in front of him, to give him what he wanted. Because if she didn’t, he might leave again, and he’d only just got back.

  Jena turned, and she did approach him, but she didn’t drop to the floor. She pressed her lips against his, felt his need shudder through her. She slipped her hand over his skin to cup his ass.

  ‘Right now, we need to get ready to go to the neighbours …’ she whispered against his lips, flicking her tongue across the bottom one. ‘But after that.’

  ‘Promise?’ He pulled her tight, pressing his cock against her thigh.

  ‘I promise,’ she said, almost convincing herself that it was what she wanted, too.

  ***

  She changed in the bathroom, not wanting to give him any ideas, and then they walked hand in hand through the bush and across the paddocks to the Mertenses’ property. It was almost a kilometre, but it had never bothered them as kids; they’d used the walk to play games and talk.

  Jena was surprised to find that the old path was still there. It didn’t look well-trodden, but someone had kept it clear, holding back the trees and creeping vines from devouring the track.

  The sun had begun its descent and the mountain was clear of clouds, and even through the bush she could see it, peeking over the tops of the trees that lined the path. A shudder ran up her back, and she could remember the times they’d played here – not just her and Joel, but the Mertens boys as well – the Dark Man game.

  One of them would be the Dark Man, and the others would have to hide so that the Dark Man couldn’t find them. And when he did, he turned them into walking husks and they’d have to stumble around the bush, eyes partway closed, hands out in front of them to stop them from crashing into trees.

  Jena almost told Cade about it, but after the way he’d been acting before, she didn’t think it was a good idea. She didn’t want to play any more games with him today; not tonight, either.

  They broke free of the bush, and it was only a couple of hundred metres to the house from here. The lights were all on, beckoning her in. There was a warmth to the place, even with its modern makeover, that she hadn’t felt on returning to the farm. It wasn’t shrouded in bad memories, she guessed.

  ‘I’m getting hungry. Any idea what they’re cooking?’

  ‘Farm staples. Casserole, mashed spud and veg. It’ll be good. Mrs Mertens, I mean Flo, was always a good cook.’ And an even better baker. Jena’s mouth watered when she remembered the apple pie …. It was too much to hope that might be on the menu tonight.

  She opened the gate, making sure to close it behind them, and then led Cade up the path to the front
door, where they kicked off their boots and knocked.

  Jena felt awkward, standing there with a bottle of red wine she’d pilfered from Rose’s pantry. She’d never done this before, never had the kind of adult dinners she recalled her parents having. But it wasn’t too late to start. This could be the beginning of a new phase of her life.

  Flo opened the door, her smile widening when she laid eyes on Jena. ‘Oh, dear girl, look at how you’ve grown!’ Flo had grown as well, her belly rounder, her hair longer and grey. She wore thick glasses, which Jena didn’t remember her wearing in the past. The older woman gestured with her hands, beckoning Jena into a folding embrace.

  Jena awkwardly patted Flo on the back, uncomfortable with this closeness, and then pulled away and grabbed Cade’s hand. ‘This is my boyfriend, Cade; sorry about the short notice. I didn’t know he was coming back today.’ Jena offered a grin, though it felt unnatural.

  ‘It’s fine, dear. Come in, come in.’ Flo moved into the house, creating space for Jena and Cade to enter.

  Jena gripped Cade’s hand tighter as she walked down the hallway. Everything was different here, updated, fresh and new.

  ‘Jena?’

  She spun to see a man step through the door after them. She didn’t recognise him. It had been so long and he’d been a kid of eight or so when she’d left. Now he was fully grown, stretched out so that the chub of his childhood had turned into a lankiness Jena wouldn’t have expected. He had a mop of blond hair, messy from the beanie he’d just pulled off.

  ‘My god, it’s been a long time.’ He stepped towards her, a grin playing on his lips, a sheen of sorrow in his eyes.

  ‘Jeremy,’ she said, the name feeling awkward on her mouth. Her stomach ached, a cold hollow, and a flicker of light behind him made her imagine that she could see Joel, still a young boy, trapped forever, never able to grow into a man like his friend.

  Jeremy moved towards her, raised an arm as if to hug her. She flinched, and he settled for cupping her shoulder.

  ‘It’s really good to see you,’ he said, nodding at her. ‘Unexpected, but good.’ He let her go and then held out a hand to Cade. ‘Nice to meet you.’