by Bowes, K T
“I said I’m sorry hundreds and thousands of times,” Wiri grumbled, his face creasing into a pout.
“I like hundreds and fousands,” Phoenix declared. “My ‘ave some of dem too?”
“No!” Hana heaved out a sigh. “Wiri, Caleb saw you go out the front door, so how did you end up hiding in the pantry?”
Wiri wrinkled his nose. “Easy. Go out the front and come in the back.”
“Right.” Hana rolled her eyes at Leslie. “I think Nonie would love to bathe you all so Daddy and I can make dinner.” She shot a look of pleading at her mother-in-law and for once, Leslie didn’t argue.
“I feel sick,” Phoenix announced. “I don’t want dinner.”
“I feel sad. I don’t want dinner.” Wiri slid off Hana’s knee and waited by Leslie as she hoisted the baby from the biscuit rubble. Phoenix followed, leaving a streaky brown chocolate mess on the table.
“What did the policeman ask you?” Hana asked and Logan raised an eyebrow.
“What do you think, Hana?”
Wiri sighed and his slender shoulders slumped. “He asked me if youse been bashin’ me or if I did hidin’ for a game.” The boy got eye contact with Hana and his chin wobbled. “I telled ‘im that my real ma and pa don’t want me no more because I’m a bad boy.” He reached out tentative fingers and latched onto Leslie’s skirt.
Hana opened her mouth to refute his version of the truth and Logan shook his head. Leslie left the room with the sad crowd trailing behind her. “You’re wasting your breath,” Logan said, his voice soft. “The kid won’t hear what you’re saying. It can’t compete with the crap in his head.”
Hana put her hands over her face and heaved out a sigh as the group made its way up the staircase. “What a night,” she groaned.
Caleb’s crutches scraped their way along the hallway, click, click, click. Logan snorted and shook his head, fringe bouncing against his dark eyelashes. “Did you think it was over?” he asked, amusement lighting his grey eyes. “Sorry to disappoint you, but the trouble’s only just started.”
Chapter 38
Dope
“Hey! Get in here!” Logan’s voice held command as he summoned Caleb. Hana sank deeper into Phoenix’s vacated chair to wait while the crutches clicked closer. She flicked at a stray crumb and pursed her lips as it pinged out of control and hit the draining board.
Caleb limped into the kitchen and headed for the furthest corner away from Logan. “It’s not my fault,” he started, not waiting for Logan to close the door behind him.
“Shut up.” Logan leaned against the counter and bent one leg, resting the sole of his cowboy boot on the cupboard door. Hana stiffened at the warning tension in her husband’s body. “You brought weed to my house.” Statement not question. Logan’s voice dripped menace and Hana gnawed on her lower lip, anger and fear mixing into a heady combination.
“Why?” she snapped, standing and gripping the edge of the table. “Didn’t we give you enough help or support?”
Caleb shook his head and his stance epitomised sulky teenager. “It’s not that. You wouldn’t tell me where my dad is. It’s why I’m here.” He worked his jaw and Hana shook her head, finding it impossible to feel compassion for him.
“So, you put my family in this position to force my hand?” Temper flared in her green eyes and she let go of the table, moving past its wooden corner to get closer to Caleb. Logan stopped her with a hand on her upper arm.
“Tell me the whole story,” he demanded and Caleb eyed the chair nearest the high chair. He clicked across to it and slumped down.
“You left me,” he said, his tone accusing. “You left and now you won’t tell me where my father is.”
“I offered you to come with us!” Hana shouted. “You said no!”
“Hana, Hana.” Logan slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. With a tender hand which belied the tension in his stance, he stroked her cheek and forced her to look up at him. “Let me do this, sweetheart. He’ll tell me what I want to know.”
“Or what?” Caleb snorted, hatred in his eyes. “Asher told me all about you, big man! What will you do?”
“Break your other leg.” Logan said it without inflection, his tone level and easy, but his grey eyes flashed danger and his smile offered no sense of play.
Caleb swallowed and his eyes bugged. “You wouldn’t.” He jerked his head towards Hana. “She won’t let you.”
Logan’s smile widened and Hana held her breath. “Asher doesn’t know jack about me, but if you wanna try me, keep going little boy. Talk about my wife in that tone again and I’ll break it just for fun.”
Caleb’s nerve disappeared with the dawning realisation that Logan meant what he said. Hana watched him eye the tall Māori, searching for weakness and finding none. A glance upwards showed her a man who never backed down from a fight and didn’t know how it felt to lose one. His vehemence terrified her and mana poured from him in waves of power. Her mind cast back to the photo of Logan on a madman’s wall, aged sixteen and clutching a soccer ball for a team photo. Perhaps he possessed it even then; a faulty off-switch which removed boundaries and levelled fear. His body against hers resembled a coiled spring, waiting for Caleb to provide an excuse to release the tension in the muscular shoulders and ramrod straight back. But the hand around Hana’s waist remained gentle, the fingers caressing the gap between her sweatshirt and jeans.
“Okay, okay.” Caleb caved in the face of a man with enough stubbornness to beat him hands down in the war of silence. “I’ll tell you everything.”
“Damn straight,” Logan replied, his voice sounding unconcerned but his body saying otherwise. “Because you know an awful lot about me for a kid who allegedly hung around a camp site for a couple of months.”
Caleb dodged the inference. “The old man in the hotel had this crop of weed,” he began, shifting around on the hard seat. “He asked Asher to help him get rid of it for a bit of extra cash. Asher started clearing it before you left but he told me about it and asked if I’d store some of it for him.” Caleb swallowed. “I didn’t realise it would be so much; bags of the stuff. Ash got rid of heaps to a guy in the township, but he kept some back just for us.” He paused and shot a look of resentment at Hana. “I wanted you to tell me about my dad but you don’t even talk about him.”
Hana’s head shot up with indignation in her eyes. “How was I supposed to know you’re his son? I’m not telepathic.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed. “So that’s why my dead beat nephew turned up at my house. Why did he send the stuff here with you?”
Caleb’s shoulders dropped. “He promised to find out where Flick went if I did this for him. Said he’s got friends with a house on the outskirts of Hamilton and they might have a room for me. We were gonna smoke it with them, to soften them up for me moving in. They knew Flick from before, or that’s what Asher said.”
Hana closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose. Caleb shifted from dangerous to gullible in the space of two sentences. Logan’s fingers moved over her skin in a slow, calming rhythm. “And?”
Indignation flooded Caleb’s face. “He’s a liar! I brought it here and hid it under the stairs. He said we’d go today and meet his mates. I upset that old lady to make her go out, but Asher didn’t turn up when he promised and the bag disappeared. Now he won’t tell me where my dad’s gone or take me to see the house!” Caleb’s voice raised to a shout and Hana jumped. “He lied to me!”
“There’s no house and no mates and he doesn’t know jack about your dad.” Logan’s voice maintained its even keel, creating a bubble of safety around Hana. She leaned against him, grateful for the warmth beneath his arm.
Caleb hobbled to his feet and leaned on the table. “There is. One of them knows my dad real well. I need the weed to get the information.” The teenager’s jaw worked from side to side as he ground his teeth, hurt blazing in his eyes. “And the room sounded perfect.”
“You idiot!” Logan’s nose wrinkle
d with disgust. “You’re not Flick’s son; he’s got more street smart in his left eyebrow than you’ll ever have. Is that the other part of your con?”
“No!” Caleb’s eyes filled with tears and unless his acting ability outweighed his skills in character judgement, he told the truth. “My mum told me Robert Dressler is my dad.” The first tear fell and he brushed it away with a rough hand. Hana felt the ice in her heart thawing but as she shifted on her feet, Logan’s hand around her waist tensed, locking her against him.
“We just had the cops here, idiot. Where’s the hash?”
“I don’t know!” Caleb’s voice rose to an irritating wail. “It’s gone! Asher went mad. He said these guys at the house paid good money. He punched me in the gut and stormed off.”
“They already paid?” Logan’s head shook from side to side. “I doubt that. What else did they want?”
“Nothing. Just the weed. Asher thinks I double crossed him and hid it at the hotel.” Caleb’s voice lowered and shame crept in. “He’s going back there to look.”
“Geez.” Logan released Hana and ran both hands over his face, stopping to rub at his eyes. Cold seeped back into her bones without the warmth of his arm and she realised how much she relied on his protection. A life without him became unthinkable.
“What will you do?” Hana heard the wavering of her own voice and hated the fear there.
“I need to think.” Logan pressed a kiss to her forehead and stepped away, already reaching in his trouser pocket for his phone. Turning at the door he jabbed a finger at Caleb. “You crossed the line, kid.” The door clicked shut behind him.
“Where did you hide the stuff?” Hana watched as Caleb sank back into his chair. She heard the children running around overhead as Leslie tried to round them up to put into pyjamas. Glancing at the ceiling she wanted to be up there with them, not left in a room with a snivelling traitor.
“Under the stairs.” Caleb gave a huge sniff and Hana reached across and threw him a roll of kitchen paper. He snagged a couple of sheets and blew out a disgusting stream of snot.
“Where? Show me.”
The hallway felt cold after the kitchen and Hana shivered as she walked towards the front door, Caleb tapping out his beat behind and reminding her of his crippled status. “Where?” she repeated and he pointed a crutch towards a panel beneath the newel post.
“Kick it at the bottom and it pops out.” Caleb jerked his head forward. “All these old villas have a space there. I thought everyone knew that.”
Hana pressed a tentative toe against the triangular panel and nothing happened. She stared at Caleb with accusation in her eyes. “No, kick it!” He mimicked the movement, almost overbalancing. Hana nudged the panel with more force and felt it move a fraction. A harder push popped it out at the top and she bent to wrest it free. Kneeling, she peered inside, seeing a cavernous space the full width of the staircase and the height of the bottom two steps. A sweet but musty scent filled her nostrils. Hana sighed and sat back on her haunches. “Did Leslie know what you brought? She must have seen you put it into her car.”
Caleb shook his head. “She came to me real angry and said she watched Asher unload some of the bags into my motel room the day before and guessed what they were. I think she asked her husband to sort me out, but he didn’t care. Asher had already sold all the bags except one and I’d hidden that. The old lady searched the whole room but couldn’t find it. She lost her temper and said I disgusted her and needed to leave. When she brought her car around I sneaked the bag into the boot while she spoke to the stable guy in the end room. She kept jabbing her finger at me so I knew she couldn’t keep a secret.”
“Why did Leslie bring you here? It’s the last place she’d take someone she wanted rid of; near her grandchildren.”
Caleb lowered his eyes in shame. “She wanted to drop me off once we got to the city.” He swallowed. “I told her to let me out at the nearest police station and I’d tell them about the hotel growing drugs and selling them to kids at the camp site. She went mental.” He cringed at the memory. “She nearly crashed the car.”
“So she brought you here?”
Caleb nodded. “But not willingly. I’m sorry, Hana. I just wanted my dad.”
Hana put her hands over her eyes. “I don’t know where he is, Caleb! I’ve told you that a million times.”
“But your husband does!”
Hana sighed and removed her hands, hopelessness flooding her senses. “And I told you to ask him. I can’t get involved.”
“He won’t tell me.” Caleb’s hands balled into fists on the table.
“He actually said that?” Hana cocked her head and the teenager’s cheeks flushed pink.
“No. He said he doesn’t know anymore. He paid for the flight, dropped him at the airport, gave him an address and hasn’t heard from him since.”
“Then that’s the truth!” Hana slapped her thighs in frustration as she brought her hands down to her sides. “Logan never lies!”
“I know he killed him.” Caleb’s eyes welled. “He’s a nasty bugger and if my dad crossed him, he’d think nothing of putting him in a hole and burying him.”
Hana swallowed, Caleb’s thoughts mirroring her own earlier fears. But she shook her head. “Bobby wrote me a letter and posted it from the airport. Logan wouldn’t bother taking him to a public place like the airport and then killing him; he’s not stupid.”
“No, he’s just lethal.” Caleb swallowed, perhaps considering how lethal Logan might be under any more pressure.
“You’d better hope not.” Hana bit back her sarcasm, resentment bubbling in her throat. “Because you brought drugs into a home with small children and now they’re missing. What if Wiri found them? Has that even crossed your selfish little mind? And if Asher bashes up the hotel, you’d best get praying because Logan will hurt you for sure.” She replaced the panel and stood. “At least I know why you were grovelling on the hall floor earlier. Is that when you discovered the bag gone?”
Caleb nodded and Hana shook her head. “Your father would be disgusted at you, Caleb. He did dumb things in his life; but drugs weren’t one of them.”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Caleb began and Hana raised her hand in a universal stop sign. She shook her head and moved towards the stairs.
“You say that a lot, Caleb. When someone says it’s not their fault as often as you do, it’s time for them to examine their own character. They might find they’re the common denominator!”
Chapter 39
Safe and Secure
“How do you feel now?” Hana cradled Wiri in his fluffy towel while Leslie chased a naked Phoenix around the bathroom and Mac sat on the floor giggling.
“Okay.” Wiri shifted on her knee and rested his head against her collarbone. Hana winced and shifted her bum on the toilet lid. “Sorry I hurt the thing in your chest. And sorry I called you Hana when I really wanted to call you Ma.”
Hana shook her head. “It’s okay to be confused, Wiri. I would be in your shoes.”
“I fink I lost my shoes at school.” He sighed and yawned.
“No, you didn’t. I carried them.” Hana stood and kept the child swaddled in her arms. “Can you cope with madam here, Leslie? I’ll go down and stoke the fire so they can get warm before bed. I think we’ll have to put hot water bottles in with them tonight.”
Leslie nodded and caught an escaping Phoenix before stuffing her wriggling legs into pyjama bottoms. “You go. I’ll bring this pair after you.”
Hana clattered down the stairs and turned towards the classroom they used as a lounge. Wiri’s pyjamas dangled from her hand as she laid him on the sofa. “Hana,” he said, sitting up and dragging the bottoms over his bare feet. “Why can’t I see my real ma? Where’d she go?”
“Hospital, sweetheart.” Hana grabbed the poker and prodded at a dying ember in the bottom of the fireplace. “Remember, Logan and I talked to you about it.”
“But why can’t I see her? Doesn’t she love
me anymore?”
“Wiri, she adores you!” Hana stopped mid-prod and faced the boy, feeling his agony radiate across the room. “This isn’t something she chose.” With a sigh, Hana threw a log into the flames and lifted it so the orange tendrils got a chance to reach for their next feast. They slid up the sides of the wood, crackling with excitement and joined by different jets of red and blue sparks. The flames licked at the log until the sides grew charred and cracked. Wiri’s small body slipped in next to Hana’s behind the fire guard, his slender frame close to her side.
“When can I see her?” he persisted, his grey eyes stormy with loss.
“I’ll ring the hospital soon,” Hana said, pursing her lips. “We’ll do whatever they say to allow Mummy to get better again. Okay?” Her arm felt heavy as it slipped around the skinny frame. “Wiri, you know the story of how my father sent me away when I was a teenager, don’t you?” The child nodded. “It hurt, sweetheart. It really hurt. I’ve wasted twenty-six years of my life thinking badly of him and then when I believed he died, I couldn’t even put it right. Do you think I’d be mean enough to keep you away from Anahera if she could see you?” Hana cuddled him into her ribs. “As soon as the hospital lets us in, I’ll take you there, I promise.”
Wiri nodded and graced her with a beautiful smile. “Thank you.” He skewed his lips sideways and frowned in concentration. “Until then, can I still call you Ma? And then when my real ma sees me, I’ll call you Aunty Hana?”
Hana smiled and kissed the top of his head. “I think that’s a great plan; you’re such a clever boy.”
Logan walked into the room with a downy Mac on his hip, the small boy’s red curls standing up on his head like candy floss. Phoenix trailed behind with a grumpy face and Leslie waddled through the door last. “I’ll make us some dinner,” the old woman said, puffing and shoving an arm under each of her copious breasts for support. “Them mokos fair worn me out today.”
