Ben peered around Alex. ‘Jeez, what happened to you?’ No sooner had the words passed his lips when the big man paled. ‘Oh no, please don’t tell me Frank did that.’
‘Leah? Is that true? Frank did this?’
Leah shivered. Alex’s expression was hard. She looked away and nodded.
‘Fuck,’ Alex said, and pounded one fisted hand into the palm of the other.
‘He was still in the bar when I left a few minutes ago,’ Ben said, and a meaningful look passed between the two men.
‘Let’s go. Leah, lock the door behind me and stay here until Ruby comes. She’ll take you back to your room. Then lock your door and stay there.’
‘The police —’
Alex cut her off. ‘The police are hours away. We’ll deal with this.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘Sort Frank out once and for all.’ Alex’s expression was grim.
‘Please don’t do anything stupid.’
‘We won’t,’ Ben said, ‘but Alex is right, Leah. The bastard needs to be sorted.’
The men left and like an automaton Leah tidied the first-aid room while she waited for Ruby. When she arrived, Leah turned off the light, locked up, and Ruby walked with her back to her room.
‘Don’t worry, Blondie. I might be a gossip, but I know when to keep my mouth shut,’ Ruby said as she backed down the step. ‘You and me, we both knew something like this would happen one day. I told Ben that Frank’s a psycho. But I never thought he’d pick on you. Not like this.’
Leah started to speak, then groaned when the split on her lip opened.
‘You want me to stay?’ The concern in Ruby’s eyes had tears welling in Leah’s.
‘Thanks, but no. I’m going to lock the door, have a shower and go to bed.’
‘You got painkillers? You want me to bring you brandy?’
‘I’ve got some painkillers, thanks.’
Ruby nodded and Leah closed the door, double-checking it was locked. Shivering, and not only because she was cold, she stripped off her clothes and stood under the shower, letting the hot water soothe her. Warm at last, she dried off, slipped on her t-shirt and wiped the steam off the bathroom mirror.
The swelling to her face was minimal, thanks to the icepack. But there was a bluish-purple discolouration along her cheekbone and her split lip was swollen.
Concealer would cover the bruise and the split lip would be easy enough to explain away. Sad, but true. She’d say she’d slipped, tripped, had run into a door . . . whatever, and no one would question it. She took the analgesics, turned off the light and climbed under the doona, trying to make sense of what had happened since she’d walked away from the wet mess over an hour ago.
A patient had hit her once before, lashing out in pain and confusion. But this had been different. Remembering the cruel way he’d squeezed her breast made her whimper. In the minimal light she’d been close enough to see the malevolent gleam in Frank’s eyes. For a split second, she’d been terrified. Hot tears squeezed from between tightly closed eyelids. She curled into the foetal position and pulled the covers up under her chin.
With the help of the painkillers Leah drifted into a light sleep, only to dream that a patient with a bandaged head was hitting her, over and over. Try as she might she couldn’t see who it was, or get away. She woke with sweat sticky and cold on her skin, blood rushing in her ears, and someone knocking on her door.
She rubbed her eyes and checked the time. Eleven fifty-three. Was that all?
‘Leah, it’s me, Alex. Open the door.’
She swung out of bed in the darkness and opened the door a crack. ‘I was asleep.’
‘Let me in. I want to see with my own eyes that you’re all right.’
She swung the door wider, and he brushed past her, bringing the cold night in with him. She cast a covert look up and down the dimly lit path before closing the door again.
Alex flicked on the fluoro above the desk, gently grasped her upper arms and turned her towards the light. ‘You have a bruise,’ he said, his voice rough. ‘I’m so sorry, Leah.’
She tilted her head back so she could see his face. He smoothed her hair, tucking a few strands behind her ear. She trembled. He frowned. ‘Your hands are cold,’ she said.
He pulled her to him and she felt the sigh that shuddered through him. She snuggled in closer, burrowing her arms under his jacket to slide them around his waist. A few minutes of this couldn’t hurt.
‘I should have dealt with Frank ages ago, after that time he was drunk and calling you and Ruby names.’
‘You mean the time he questioned my sexuality?’
‘Yeah, that time,’ he said and gently but firmly pulled away. ‘Get back into bed, before you catch a cold.’
Leah winced when she tried to smile; pulled a tissue out of the box beside the bed and dabbed at the cut on her lip. She climbed back under the doona, propping herself on the pillows.
‘Tell me what happened after you and Ben left.’
‘Frank was still in the bar and Syd said he’d been raving on about how he’d fallen over, or some such garbage. Syd had refused to serve him any more and Frank was carrying on about that. When Frank saw Ben and me, it was like he knew that we knew what he’d done. He shut his mouth and did exactly what we told him to do.’
‘I can’t believe he went back to the bar.’ Wide-eyed, Leah shook her head from side to side.
‘No, neither can I. Maybe he thought he was giving himself an alibi.’
‘His word against mine?’
‘Something like that. Anyway, he’s in his room now, sleeping it off.’
Leah studied Alex’s face but he was giving nothing away. ‘What happens now?’ she said. ‘Apart from the incident report?’
‘Let’s talk about it in the morning.’
Leah’s insides clenched. She’d expected him to say something like Frank would be leaving the site never to return. But he hadn’t, and the expression on his face had her closing her mouth on any further questions. They were both exhausted. Questions could wait until morning.
Alex scrubbed at his face with his hands.
‘You should go, you must be totally wrecked,’ she said.
‘Yep. I’ll go, unless you want me to stay for a while?’
She shook her head. Having Alex stay would be wonderful, but she didn’t need any more complications.
‘You’re okay then?’ he said and pushed himself upright. She nodded. ‘Sleep tight. It won’t seem so bad in the morning.’
‘You think?’
He sighed. ‘Leah, what can I say? We’ll talk about it more in the morning.’
‘All right.’
He switched off the light above the desk. Leah felt an inrush of cold air when the door opened. ‘Oh, yeah,’ he said, ‘I spoke to Dad earlier. Sasha’s good. You might be lucky to get your dog back.’
‘I never did thank you for organising that at such short notice, so consider yourself thanked.’ She gave a brittle laugh.
‘What?’ Alex said.
‘I was looking for you earlier, to say thank you. That’s why I was out and about. Syd sidetracked me for a game of chess when I went to see if you were in the bar. Frank must have seen me leave. I should have just stayed in my room.’
‘I’m sorry, Leah.’
‘Not your fault. Wrong place at the wrong time. Goodnight, Alex.’
‘Night. I’m next door if you need anything.’
The latch snapped shut. The room felt empty. Leah’s heart squeezed. She leapt out of bed and double-checked the door was locked.
Leah avoided the mess at breakfast. Besides not feeling hungry she didn’t want anyone staring at her bruised face and split lip, and speculating. With limited make-up supplies there was only so much she could do.
Unsurprisingly, she was first in the office and the cleaner, Stacey in this instance, was still emptying bins and vacuuming up from the day before. Leah met her coming out of the contractor’s o
ffice with a black plastic garbage bag in one hand and a duster slung over her shoulder.
‘Leah! Oh my god! What happened to you?’
Leah’s hand went to her lip. ‘I fe—’ she started, and then thought, Bugger it. Stacey knew the risks. She’d been the one to warn her. As if she’d needed warning.
‘Frank Ballard did it. Last night, when I was on my way back to my room.’
Stacey’s eyes widened. ‘Bloody hell. I bet the bastard was drunk. He is horrible when he’s drunk.’
Leah snorted. ‘He’s horrible when he’s sober.’
‘True, eh. But, wow. What will happen to him?’
‘I really don’t know. I’m not optimistic that it won’t all end in tears — mine. If I had my way, he’d never set foot on this site again. In no circumstances does any man have the right to hit a woman simply because he doesn’t get what he wants.’
Stacey stood slack-jawed for a moment, before slowly nodding. ‘Yeah, you’re dead right. Gary —’ she started, but didn’t finish because the back door opened and Alex walked in.
He stopped short. ‘Morning, Leah, Stacey,’ he said, glanced from one woman to the other, before making a beeline for the coffee.
‘I’d better get moving,’ Stacey mumbled and sidestepped Leah to empty the bin.
Leah dropped down at her desk and stared sightlessly at the maps on the wall in front of her. Unconsciously her fingers went to her lip. The vacuum cleaner started. Alex came in and closed the door.
‘You didn’t go to breakfast?’ he asked. She could feel him standing behind her.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I didn’t.’
‘I made you tea.’ He put a cup on the desk beside her. She took a tentative sip. The brew was exactly how she liked it.
‘Thanks,’ she said.
He put his hands on her shoulders and swivelled the chair around so she was facing him. ‘Let me look at you,’ he said, tipping her chin to the light. ‘It doesn’t look too bad this morning. Sore?’
‘A bit. Especially when I smile.’
‘So don’t smile,’ he said and ran his knuckles across her uninjured cheek. He picked up his coffee and walked around his desk, but didn’t sit down or remove his jacket.
A niggle of unease crept across the back of her neck.
‘I want you to write a statement detailing exactly what happened last night. It will go with the incident report I’ll prepare this morning. Then I want you to load up your suitcase and drive to Nickel Bluff and wait for your flight. Handover to Steve when he gets there.’
‘What? But I have a heap of work to do before I go. And there’s the pre-start meeting.’
‘I’ll do the meeting, and the other stuff will get taken care of. You need to go and take care of yourself.’
‘You want me to go home and forget all about this? Pretend it didn’t happen?’ Leah shot to her feet. ‘Alex, he assaulted me.’
‘I know that, Leah. But remember, last night you were considering whether you were going to tell me at all. You also acknowledged that it will be your word against his – there were no witnesses. Let me deal with this the only way there is.’
‘Oh, I get it. Good old Frank’s word against mine. And here’s me, a woman, thinking she could make it in a man’s world. Believe it or not, Alex, this is about men understanding what is and what isn’t tolerated. It is not about whether women should work in places like this.’ She took a quick breath but continued. ‘Companies can have all the policies they like, but unless they actually live and breathe them, they’re not worth the paper they’re written on. More women will be in these jobs in the future, not less. Men need to learn how to behave around them. You don’t get it, do you? Neither does that freaking Cameron Crawley.’ She stopped short and groaned. ‘I have my interview this afternoon.’
‘Leah, please, trust me on this.’
She glared at him, willing her tears to bide their time. ‘I’d better get on with my statement then, and pack my bags and go,’ she said, her voice an octave higher than normal. She knew she sounded pathetic but didn’t care.
‘Don’t leave anything out,’ Alex said and left.
Half an hour later, feeling drained, Leah was reading back over the completed statement when there was a tap on the office door.
‘Blondie, I was hoping I’d catch you before you left. How are you, girl?’ Ruby squeezed around the door and into the room. She peered at Leah. ‘Your face doesn’t look too bad. Thought you might have had a black eye. It’ll be healed in a few days.’
The cook placed a parcel on the corner of Leah’s desk. ‘I brought you some food. Syd said you didn’t come in for breakfast and you need to eat. A sandwich, chocolate cake, an apple.’
‘Thanks, Ruby. You’re my hero.’ Leah grimaced – she’d forgotten she wasn’t meant to smile. ‘What happened at pre start?’
Ruby took a deep breath and propped her hands on her rounded hips. ‘Now then, the boss said you had an urgent and important report to do before you went on rest leave and that’s why you weren’t there. No bugger batted an eyelid.’
‘Was Frank there?’
‘He was, but looking pretty seedy, and Ben and Syd weren’t letting him out of their sight. As soon as he’d briefed his blokes for the day, he went with Ben to the camp office.’
‘Bloody hell, Ruby . . . I feel like I’m being banished, like I’m the one who’s done something wrong.’ With unsteady hands Leah fumbled in her pockets for a tissue. ‘And this —’ she said, pressing the tissue to her eyes. ‘I seem to be on the verge of tears all the time!’
‘Jeez, Blondie, you’re probably still in shock. What happened to you last night would have put the wind up anyone, even me. Cut yourself some slack. And don’t forget, you would have been going home today anyway.’
Leah sniffed and blew her nose.
‘Do you want me to ask Ben to find someone to drive you to the Bluff, so you don’t have to be on your own?’
‘No, no, I’ll be okay. But it doesn’t seem fair . . . I’m going, but he’s still here.’
‘I get that, but Mr McKinley, I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. The blokes like you, Leah, we all do, but Frank has mates, believe it or not, and when they find out what’s happened, and trust me, they will . . . who knows what their reactions might be.’
Leah felt herself go hot and then cold. She gaped at Ruby. ‘What? You mean —’
Ruby’s mouth turned down and her head sank into her shoulders. ‘Who can tell? My guess is Mr McKinley wants you out of here as soon as possible so he knows you’re safe.’
Leah shrank back in the chair. ‘I didn’t think of that.’
Ruby gave her shoulder a reassuring pat. ‘Not to worry, Blondie. Things can work a bit different out here. You travel safe and I’ll see you in a week. It’ll all have blown over by then.’
‘Yeah,’ Leah said, and hoped she was right.
The safety advisor’s dual cab was the only vehicle in the car park when Leah dragged her suitcase from her room to load it onto the back seat. The camp was deserted, as usual for that time of day. It was cold, the sky overcast, and Leah felt spots of rain on her face as she climbed into the 4WD.
There was no sign of Ben or Syd. Alex had vanished. There’d been an email postponing her probation interview until nine the next morning. Plenty of time for the incident report about her assault to wing its way to Crawley’s desk. Perfect.
The drive and the wait in Nickel Bluff gave her ample time to reflect on the preceding twenty-four hours, and her conversation with Ruby. Leah had accused Alex of taking Frank’s side. That might be the case, but it hadn’t stopped him wanting her to be safe. The realisation had her swiping away tears more times than she cared to count.
Steve’s flight from Adelaide was twenty minutes late – something about fog at the other end. When it landed she was relieved to see it was the Metroliner. The bigger the aircraft, the faster and safer it was, as far as she was concerned.
When Steve
saw her he lifted an eyebrow and said, ‘Can’t hold your booze, then? Had trouble staying on your feet?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, something like that. You’ll hear all about it when you get back to camp.’
‘You’re okay, though?’
‘I will be.’
At about 7000 metres above sea level, with a sinking feeling, Leah remembered she hadn’t asked Alex for his father’s address and phone number so she could pick up Sasha. Standing in the taxi queue an hour later, she searched the directory on her phone, dismayed when there was no F. McKinley listed in Adelaide’s inner suburbs.
She shoved the phone into her pocket. Fergus knew where she lived, but did he have her phone number? Did he know she came home today? The only thing to do was hope there was a message at home, and if not she’d wait until six o’clock when Alex was sure to be back in the office to call him.
The taxi driver was grumpy, and the fare several dollars more than the last time. The recycling bin at the side of the house had been knocked over. It took her a few minutes to pick up the scattered cardboard and soggy newspapers and dump them back in the bin.
She’d almost finished when a sporty black Mercedes barrelled up the driveway. Leah watched as a petite woman with streaked reddish-brown hair and designer sunglasses emerged from behind the wheel. She glanced about, her fashionably faded jeans topped with a soft pink cotton hoodie. Leah brushed at her grubby hands, conscious of her own unfashionable jeans, work shirt and jacket.
The woman took out a smartphone and Leah frowned when she removed her sunglasses, held it up the phone and started snapping.
‘Can I help you?’ Leah called.
The woman jumped, spinning around. Leah walked towards her. ‘Who are you? Why are you taking photos of my house?’
‘Are you Leah Jackson?’ Her tone was curt, her gaze coolly assessing. She slid the phone into the pocket of her hoodie.
‘Who’s asking?’
‘I’m Claire McKinley, Alex’s wife.’
Leah felt as if she’d been poleaxed. ‘Ex-wife was the way I heard it,’ she said, her heart hammering.
Claire smiled. ‘We’re hoping to reconcile. Connor and Liam need both their parents more than ever now they’re teenagers, and Alex is up for promotion so when he relocates . . .’
No Job for a Girl Page 28
