Emerald Springs

by Fleur McDonald

  ‘He’ll be back tomorrow if he can, was all he said.’

  Dave sat down at the desk and, using his two-finger typing method, wrote Steve an email, asking him to run checks on the numbers that had been found on Graham’s phone bill. Then Dave turned his attention to Will’s phone number. As he stared at it, excitement buzzed through his chest again. He quickly compared the number to the ones he’d just emailed through to Steve. One of them matched.

  Dave’s eye caught on the email from Coops about the regos and he clicked on it. There, right at the top of the alphabetical list of names, was Mike Andrews.

  Leaning back in his chair, Dave let his mind race as it all fell into place.

  The Andrews boys and Graham were friends. Graham had money troubles. Mike and Tony were security guards—they’d had access to the rodeo, to the money, to Amelia. They would have had the means to find a taser gun.

  Dave shot off his chair and ran out of the office, telling Joan to call Andy and Jack and ask them to get back as quickly as they could.

  Amelia was shaking from head to toe and had tears running down her cheeks. She was cold and terrified. After Anne had left, she’d thrown herself against the door and shaken the whole coolroom. There was no way out.

  ‘Oh no! No! No!’ she screamed again, but knew there was little chance of anyone hearing. Even if someone was outside, the thick metal walls of these things were stuffed tight with insulation. Not soundproof, but close enough.

  As Amelia banged her fists against the door, the carcasses rocked back and forth. One hit her on the head. She gave another little cry, then slid down the door and curled up in a ball. She was in shock, and couldn’t understand what was happening. She couldn’t make sense of what she’d just learned.

  Unable to sit still, she stood up, once again knocking into the lamb carcass, and paced to the end. The cold air blew through her hair and sent shivers across her body. The hairs on her arms were standing up and she was covered in goosebumps.

  Was Anne coming back to kill her, or would everything just slow down for her and she’d die slowly from hypothermia? How would they get away with it? They’d have to hide her body. Maybe they’d cut it into pieces, bag it up and store it in here.

  She shuddered, pushed the sickening thought out of her head and decided to concentrate on staying alive. Images of everything she loved flooded into her mind: her parents’ grief-stricken faces, Kim’s smile, her precious Paul, the beauty of Emerald Springs, her three best friends. The quote they’d helped Chrissie put up on her wall, two weeks and another lifetime ago, came into Amelia’s head: At any given moment, you have the power to say: this is not how the story is going to end. She was determined to do everything she bloody well could to survive.

  Amelia rubbed her arms up and down and wrapped them around herself. She jumped on the spot to keep the blood flowing. Then she tried star jumps. Finally, she sank to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, conserving body heat.

  Then she felt it. The hard lump against her thigh. Graham’s phone! She leapt up and pulled it from her pocket, knowing there wouldn’t be any signal, but it would give her light for a little while. The screen lit up as she pushed a button, and for a long moment she stared at the picture of Graham and Dani. Amelia traced the outline of her brother’s face before noticing the words in the bottom corner.

  Emergency Call Only.

  Amelia held her breath as she pressed the button. Then she cried out when she heard the words: ‘Police, Fire or Ambulance?’

  Dave pressed the phone closer to his ear and listened intently as his boss, Steve, explained the situation. He pushed his foot down on the accelerator and the car sped up. Steve paused for a second and Dave barked, ‘When did the call come in?’

  ‘About half an hour ago. It took the bloody call centre that long to work out where to direct it.’

  ‘I’m on it,’ Dave said. He was about to hang up but Steve kept talking.

  ‘I’m going to send up the STAR Group.’ The Special Tactics and Response Group. ‘I know they’ll take a while to get to you, but you must wait for them, Burrows. You have no choice. That criminal gang is unravelling. You won’t stand a chance against them with just you and the locals.’ Steve rushed on. ‘There’s four of them against three of you and I’m pretty sure they won’t go down without a fight.’

  ‘I hear you. But there’s no way I’m going to leave Amelia where she is.’

  ‘Don’t get involved, Burrows,’ Steve commanded again. ‘Where’s your sense of professionalism?’

  Dave hung up on his boss. That went out the window when I started loving Kim, he thought. He dialled Andy’s number and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel while he waited for him to pick up. ‘You following me?’

  ‘Can’t keep up with you.’

  ‘Got a kidnapping situation.’

  Andy was silent.

  ‘Amelia has been locked in a coolroom at the Andrews place. Now, do you or Jack know anything about that farm?’

  ‘Nothing. Haven’t ever been on it.’

  ‘Damn it, we know absolutely nothing about what’s going on out there, the layout—anything! We’re going to have to assess when we get there. You’ve brought your bulletproof vests with you?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Dave swore. He knew he was going in without enough information. Going in too soon. But he had to get to Amelia.

  Steve had said she’d spoken with the operator for about five minutes. In that time she’d told them where she was, who’d locked her in and why they were responsible for the robberies throughout the district. Then the phone had cut off. Dave hoped it was from a dead battery and nothing else.

  Anne drove the battered old ute out to where her boys were fencing. It had taken her several minutes of pacing around the house—and a nip or two of gin—to pull herself together. Now she knew exactly what she had to do.

  She was cursing herself for not being at the house when Amelia arrived. She’d only realised when the dogs started to bark that the stupid girl must be around. Then she’d hurried back from the chooks, but it was too late: Amelia had gone up into the shearing shed. Anne had followed her and seen her taking photos of the ear tags. Good thing they didn’t get mobile phone reception out here, or that bloody detective would be on his way.

  Anne let out a roar of frustration. Why hadn’t Will got rid of the tags like she’d ordered? And why hadn’t she checked on him? ‘Stupid bloody woman,’ she muttered to herself. ‘You should have known. That lazy mongrel kid.’

  Immediately Anne had known that she’d have to get her hands on that phone, but she still hadn’t been sure what to do with the girl. Leaving Amelia in the office, she’d had the opportunity to take the gun out of its secure cupboard. The way she stored the gun was perfectly legal, everything above board. That was how Anne liked to keep her whole house. She’d always seemed to be following the rules. Of course, Amelia had gone and seen the GPS guidance system hidden in the cupboard. Badly hidden—by the boys, of course. Now they were in big bloody trouble. Especially since the interfering little bitch would soon be missed. Her mum was with Dani and her family, not so far away.

  In a sliding stop, Anne jumped out of the ute and stood in front of her sons. Will had turned up at some point and was looking even more sullen than usual. They’d all looked around at the noise of the ute, and Mike threw down the pliers he was holding.

  ‘We’ve been caught,’ Anne said. ‘We need to shift the truck to its hiding spot and put everything we’ve still got in it.’

  ‘How—?’ Mike started to ask.

  ‘Don’t interrupt me,’ she spat. She watched as all three boys recoiled into themselves. Good. ‘It’s Amelia. She saw too much. I had to lock her in the coolroom.’ She pointed at Will. ‘Back from ninnying around at the doctor? You are a princess. Why didn’t you get rid of the sheep tags? You’re as useless as your father was.’ She pointed at Mike, then Tony. ‘And you—I can’t even begin on the two of you.’ After t
aking a couple of steadying breaths, she said, ‘All right, you three know what you’ve got to do. Get on with it. Oh and Will, when you’re done helping here, come straight to the shearing sheds to deal with those bloody ear tags.’

  Anne climbed back in her ute and drove towards the house, her chest heaving. She had to be tough with them sometimes, she reasoned. Put her foot down. Her boys needed her to control them. How would they cope in the real world without her? She’d done everything for them. Always told them what to do and when to do it. No, she needed to keep them with her so she could help them through life. And by doing what she had done, she’d made sure that they would never leave her side, or make the same mistakes she had.

  It chased her around, her past. No matter how hard she’d tried to put it behind her, she couldn’t. Her affair with Brian Barnes was the reason she’d become who she was today. She still sometimes dreamed of him rising above her, moving into her, sweat on his brow and love in his eyes. He’d liked to watch her while they made love and she’d liked to be watched. She’d lived for those stolen moments with him, and now she was trapped, consumed by thoughts of him for the rest of her life.

  He’d made promises and Anne had believed every one of them. She’d believed he loved her, deeply. Until she’d realised that she was just a cliché: the younger woman with an unsympathetic husband, looking for attention, for love, for affection.

  She’d been flattered by Brian’s advances. They’d been offered unexpectedly one evening when he’d come across to give Greg a hand in pulling a calf. Greg left to take care of the new mum and baby, telling Brian to call in at the house and have a wash and a drink. He’d be there soon.

  But Greg was gone too long, because by the time he arrived back, Brian had run his fingers down Anne’s face, told her she was beautiful and said he’d been admiring her from afar for many months. Tired from running after a small child—a thankless task—and receiving no attention from Greg, Anne had fallen into Brian’s arms.

  When they met again in secret, Brian promised to leave his wife and Anne promised to leave her husband. He promised to look after her, to sleep separately from his wife, and leave as soon as he could to be with Anne—and she promised him the same. Soon they would be together forever.

  Then Anne fell pregnant.

  Telling Brian was the easy part. They were sitting in the dappled sun, under a tree in an isolated parking bay where they often met. Brian was looking after his son Paul, who was not quite one.

  ‘We’re going to have a baby,’ Anne said without preamble. She watched as a mixture of excitement, joy and fear spread across Brian’s face. His dark blue eyes flicked from hers, to her stomach and then over to Paul, who was lying on his tummy on a rug.

  ‘Are we?’ Brian said softly.

  Nodding, Anne reached for his hand.

  Brian drew away. ‘That’s a piece of news,’ he said, frowning. ‘Unexpected.’

  Right from that moment, Anne knew there was something wrong. But she didn’t yet understand that every promise he’d ever made was never going to come true.

  ‘Are you sure it’s mine?’ he asked.

  Anne’s mouth dropped open. ‘What?’ she hissed. ‘You know Greg and I are sleeping in separate bedrooms. How can you ask that?’ Angry and bewildered, she stood up and walked away from him.

  Brian shrugged. ‘Well, I said that too, but look . . . it wasn’t entirely true.’

  Her eyes filled with tears. ‘So what, Brian? What about all the times you’ve told me you love me, that you want to be with me?’ Her throat closed over and she wasn’t able to speak for a moment. ‘You can’t be serious. Please tell me you’re not.’

  ‘No!’ Brian stood up and walked towards her.

  ‘Don’t touch me unless you’re going to stay and acknowledge our child.’ She held up her hands to ward him off, then tucked them around her stomach as if to protect the life growing within her. ‘Tell me you will,’ she pleaded.

  ‘I do enjoy your company, but I can’t give up everything I’ve got here. I’d lose the farm. My kids. Jan and I have a . . .’ he paused, searching for the right words, ‘comfortable relationship. An understanding. It suits me.’ He sighed and ran his fingers through his thick dark hair. ‘I’m not going to lose my farm and my family, Anne. I’m just not.’ He paused before saying, ‘Why weren’t you more careful?’

  ‘Me?’ Anne yelped. ‘Brian, you are half of this! You are half of this child.’

  ‘Now don’t be like that—’ Brian said, trying to soothe her.

  ‘Like what?’ Anne asked angrily. ‘Don’t be hurt, don’t be angry, confused? Just because you don’t want me to be?’

  ‘Anne, I do love you . . . but in a different way. And not enough to give everything up. I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. I’ll look after you, though. Get you money for the child.’

  ‘Don’t bother. I’ll manage just fine. I don’t need you.’ She turned and walked away in the direction of her house.

  That was their last meeting as lovers. Of course they ran into each other in public, where they acted polite and distant. Anne moved back into the marital bedroom and a bouncy, beautiful baby boy was born a little earlier than her dates suggested. There was one more son before Greg died in an accident, and Anne was left alone with three boys under the age of six.

  Mike and Tony grew into the spitting image of their father. Big, strong bodies paired with weak, feeble and pathetic personalities. They were easy to control.

  Will was different: kind and gentle, willing to love and wanting to be loved. Anne had tried to love him. After all, he’d been made in love, and just because that love had crumbled didn’t mean she shouldn’t still love what came from it. On her good days, that was exactly how she felt. On her bad days, she hated Will. He was the reason she couldn’t be with Brian anymore. It was Will’s fault.

  Whenever she felt like that, she’d remind herself of that little brat, Paul—less than two years older than Will, and so similar to him. But Paul was the acknowledged son, the one Brian had chosen to raise. She couldn’t stand the sight of him.

  After Greg’s death, Anne struggled financially. There had never been any money and it was hard, exhausting work to keep the farm afloat. Exhausting to pretend that they were doing well, that she was happy and managing. She wasn’t. But she made it through and no one would ever take that away from her.

  Five years after Greg’s death, she opened the door to find Brian standing there. His eyes were red and bloodshot, his skin pasty. He was no longer the handsome man she’d loved.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘More than you’ll ever know. You put on a brave face, but I know you must be struggling. I wish I could have made it easier for you. For Will.’ He held out his hand, which she ignored. Sighing, he dropped it down. ‘I’ll leave something in my will for you. I know it’ll be too late to help you, but there it is.’ He held her eyes for a moment longer, then backed away from the door and left.

  After that, from a distance, she watched Brian drink himself into an early grave. He’d always been a big drinker, but she guessed that his addiction had worsened after their split. He became bitter and mean, isolating his family. And she was happy about it. She enjoyed watching him self-destruct, knowing it was because he was unhappy. She would have made him happy—they would have been happy together—if only he’d been strong enough to let himself love her.

  As time went on, word came to Anne that Brian was sick and not expected to live. At his funeral she snuck in to sit at the back of the church, scornful of his children—especially of Paul. If only they knew, she thought. She left before the end of the service, realising there were too many ‘if onlys’ for her to stay.

  After hearing of Brian’s death she waited, but nothing came her way. Then she heard rumours that there’d been nothing left to give. He’d drunk it all away.

  Well, she decided, she wasn’t going to struggle anymore. She was strong and as wily as a fox. Resourceful. And so the idea for the robb
eries had been born. If not for Paul’s meddling fiancée, everything would have gone smoothly.

  Anne pulled up at the house, got out of her ute, ran into the office and started gathering up the evidence to hide or destroy. Soon Amelia would fall unconscious in the coolroom and it would be easy enough to put her back in her car without a struggle. The boys would send her off the road into a tree. Another tragic accident.

  Anne froze as she heard the cocking of a gun.

  ‘Stop! Police!’ said a male voice. ‘Put your hands where I can see them.’

  She turned slowly, her heart pounding. There stood that blasted detective.

  ‘Hands where I can see them, Anne,’ Dave repeated. ‘It’s over.’

  Chapter 37

  As Will walked from his ute towards the shearing shed, he cast a nervous glance around. He was pretty sure his brothers were still off hiding the truck. And he could hear his mother in the house, muttering loudly to herself and crashing around in the office. It had been a long time since he’d seen her as unhinged as she was now. It happened occasionally—when she went off her medication or was completely stressed. Usually she managed to live a completely normal life, but during the times that depression and irrationality hit, she was nothing short of mean.

  Rather than continuing to the shed, Will ducked into the garage. Cracking open the coolroom door, he whispered, ‘Amelia?’

  There was no answer.

  ‘Amelia? It’s me, Will. Come on, I’ll help you get out of here.’

  Still nothing. Then Will realised she was probably scared of him. He stepped inside and held his hands palm-up. ‘Listen, I know you think I’m one of the bad ones. I’m not. I’ve tried to stop them so many times. I tried to go and tell the police this morning, but there was no one at the station. Let me help you get out of here. But we’ve got to hurry. Before Mum and the others come back.’ He jiggled on his feet, turning to cast a furtive glance out the door. Come on, come on, come on.

  Driving back in the ute from where they’d hidden the truck, Mike and Tony had just rounded a bend and were passing through the shadows of a group of trees, when Mike slammed on the brake. ‘Holy shit, Tony! Look, they’ve got Mum!’ He stared in disbelief as Dave escorted Anne out of the house, her hands cuffed behind her back.