Like Twigs in a Storm

by Ross Richdale

  "You're right," Steve said. "He told me yesterday morning he wants to make the position permanent."

  "But how can we, Steve?"

  "Well, I hope you don't mind but I approached the bank last week."

  Lavina stopped and turned to face him. "Why?"

  "Nothing sinister, my dear," Steve laughed. "I was just sounding them out, that is all. The manager in charge of rural loans is most impressed with the way things have been going since Grant's death. I think he'd been talking to Jack Trent, the government farm advisor. He's agreed to refinance the farm mortgage and has put the foreclosure on indefinite hold."

  Lavina's eyes sparkled. She grinned and wrapped herself, soaking wet oilskins and all, around her partner and gazed into his eyes. Steve bent down and kissed her wet lips.

  "You mean..."

  "There will be no forced sale of the farm. Of course it can still be put on the market but on your terms."

  "Our terms, Steve."

  "So we'd better make our arrangement permanent," Steve added softly and kissed Lavina again. Rain ran down his neck but he didn't mind.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Does Mrs. Lavina Garnet sound good to you?"

  The woman's eyes widened. "Is this a proposal?"

  "My divorce comes through soon." He shrugged, "Yes, I guess it is."

  "Oh Steve!" Lavina cried and hugged him so tightly the two oilskins appeared as one.

  "Is that a yes?"

  "It is!" She laughed. "Oh Steve, of course it is."

  "Then you'd better put this on," Steve said, handing her a small red velvet box.

  Lavina stepped back and opened it. Inside was a beautiful three-diamond engagement ring. "Steve," she glanced up and the water in her eyes wasn't just from the rain. "This must have cost a fortune."

  Smiling, Steve took the ring from the box and reached for Lavina's hand. The ring slipped on perfectly.

  "I got the size from your old rings," Steve confessed.

  "You sly old bugger." Lavina half laughed and half cried as she held her hand up. "It's beautiful, Steve. Come on, I have to show Cathy." She took his hand and raced to the house.

  "Mum!" Cathy hugged and kissed her mother, then did the same to Steve before gazing into his eyes. "You took your bloody time about it, Steve," she said.

  *

  As usual, the parking area at Cathy's school was full as parents waited to pick up their daughters. When Lavina finally found a spot and parked, a teacher immediately stepped towards her car and poked her head in the driver's window.

  "Mrs. Ryland, Cathy's mother?"

  Lavina nodded.

  "I'm Roanne McKendrick, the physical education teacher. Could you come across to the administration block, please?"

  Lavina frowned. The woman appeared serious and almost distressed. "Is Cathy hurt?"

  “I'm sure she is fine, " Ms. McKendrick said. "The girls were teasing her and she took it to heart."

  After being shown into a small office, Lavina took a seat. "Could you explain, please?"

  "You know we started swimming in our indoor pool today."

  "Yes. Cathy was looking forward to it."

  "Well," McKendrick continued, "The girls saw her injured foot for the first time and a couple started to tease her about it."

  "How?"

  "They saw she only had three toes and called her chicken foot. Donna and Ellie stood up for her but by the time I walked into the changing room there was almost a full scale fight between six of the girls." She shook her head and added, "Cathy was in tears. She redressed and refused to go swimming. I found out the reason for the fight from the girls later."

  "Where is she? I'll talk to her," Lavina said.

  "That's the trouble, Mrs. Ryland. Cathy walked out and she didn't go back to her homeroom for the last period. One of the girls reported seeing her walk off the grounds. Three teachers are driving around the streets looking for her as we speak. We believe she may have taken a city bus at the corner. I'm sorry, Mrs. Ryland."

  "I appreciate everything you've done, Ms. McKendrick. Knowing Cathy, she's probably gone home. I'll call her on my mobile?"

  " If it's any help, I've given detention to the girls who teased Cathy."

  Lavina shook her head. "Girls can be so spiteful at this age."

  She called home, but there was no answer. She left a message on the machine telling Cathy to stay there and wondered what to do next.

  *

  "Forget about Kirstine," Donna said to the sobbing Cathy an hour earlier. "She's just a big fat slob."

  Ms. McKendrick had let Donna and Ellie stay with Cathy in the changing room, cancelled the swimming lesson and had the other twenty-three girls sit on the benches beside the pool while she sorted out what happened.

  "Yeah," said Ellie. “She's a fat pig."

  Cathy nodded as she finished redressing and sat to put her socks on. "I hate it," she cried. "They didn't have to cut my toes off. I can't even bloody walk properly now." Tears rolled down her cheeks and plunked onto the floor. "I thought it would make no difference to my swimming but I'm never going in again."

  She slipped her shoes on and jammed her new togs and towel into the school bag. Without another word to her friends, she stood and walked out of the pool enclosure through the playground and the gate. Cursing her limp, she walked for several blocks without really caring where she was going.

  An hour slipped by before she realized it was after three thirty. Her leg ached and she suddenly felt alone. Mum would be at school now. What would she think? Cathy glanced around. The street consisted of depressed commercial buildings near the centre of town. She stopped and tried to figure out where she was.

  "Hi girlie," a harsh voice called. "You lost or something?"

  Cathy swung around and saw a youth grinning at her. He wore tatty jeans and a backward facing baseball cap. Hideous tattoos covered his arms.

  "Want some fun?"

  Cathy paled, turned and ran as fast as her wounded leg could carry her along the footpath.

  "Uppity little bitch," the voice called after her.

  Tears came again as Cathy turned a corner. This street looked even more run down. She turned back, saw that the youth had gone but there were three more hanging around a hundred meters away. She swallowed and cut across the road, amid blaring horns and a screech of car brakes.

  "Idiot!" someone called.

  She reached the other side as a car pulled to the curb. A window slid down. "Would you like a ride, Miss?" a man in a crisp suit asked in a polite voice and held the curb door open.

  "No thank you," Cathy replied and stepped back.

  The man scowled and opened his own door. Cathy stared and once again turned and tried to run. But her sore leg buckled, she staggered and fell. The man was almost up to her. He wore a grin but his eyes looked hard.

  "Bugger off!" she screamed and lurching to her feet. She backed away but the man continued to step towards her. The only time his eyes left her face was when they stared down at her breasts.

  "That's not very nice language," the man grunted. A tongue ran over dry lips that broke into a repulsive smile.

  Cathy swung her head. The youths were across the road but her side was empty. Only concrete buildings towered up around, all with closed doors. She swung back and broke into a limping run but could still hear footsteps behind.

  In a panic, she forgot her aching leg, dropped her bag and tore along the street. Her heart thumped in a heaving chest but she kept going until she was certain she'd left the creep behind.

  Suddenly the car pulled into the curb in front of her. The bastard had driven up behind her. Cathy did the only thing possible. She cut back across the road and stood panting as the man glowered at her and began to follow.

  "Oh shit!" Cathy sobbed. Her folded arms held her vibrating rib cage as she bent forward and gasped for breath. Even the rapids in the river weren't as terrifying as this.

  Cathy stared around. Beyond the immediate buildings were th
e taller downtown blocks. She couldn't be too far from Steve's office. But what direction should she go?

  The man had reached the curb only meters away. But fate was on Cathy's side at that moment in the form of a city bus that turned into the road. Crying with relief, the youngster waved and screamed as she limped towards it. The massive vehicle pulled to the curb, double doors swung open and she plunged inside.

  "A dollar, ten," the driver said.

  Cathy nodded, deposited the coins in the glass container and sat in the nearest empty seat. She just sat gasping and wiped tears from her face. Her bag had gone, she was sure her foot was bleeding but she was safe.

  A few moments later the bus arrived at a familiar street. Cathy alighted at the next stop and limped towards the shopping mall.

  She went into the foyer, up the lift, along the corridor and into an office.

  "Cathy!" cried Steve's assistant, Suzanne. "Everyone's looking for you." She studied her tear-smudged face. "What happened?"

  "Is Steve in?" sobbed the girl.

  "Yes, sure. Go on through."

  Steve turned from the telephone.

  "Steve!" Cathy ran into his arms. The tears flowed as she buried her head in his chest.

  "Hello my love," Steve said to Lavina on the telephone as he patted Cathy's hair and held her close. "You'll never guess who just dropped in."

  *

  Doctor Clive Lewis at the Nova Road Medical Centre bandaged Cathy's foot and smiled. "There we are Cathy," he proclaimed. "Your foot shouldn't be too bad now. It will be sore for a few days but there are no permanent injuries." He glanced up at Lavina. "Can we have a word for a moment?"

  "I'll go and wait with Steve," Cathy said.

  "I've given her a mild tranquilliser. She should be fine," the doctor said when Cathy left the room. "There's something else about her foot I'd like to discuss. I thought it was better to do so without her present so her hopes wouldn't be raised too much."

  "Yes?" Lavina said.

  Doctor Lewis opened a thick medical book at a pre-marked spot and turned it around so Lavina could see. Two coloured photos showed a foot with three amputated toes on one side of the page and a complete foot on the other.

  "It's the same foot," the doctor explained. "The patient in this article had three artificial toes added. They're more than just a cosmetic change but are fully functional synthetic toes cemented into the bones somewhat similar to an artificial tooth implant. "

  Lavina studied the article and skimmed the highly technical paragraphs. "How does it work, Doctor?"

  "All the normal toe joints are duplicated but this model also has a minute microprocessor that is fed information by a series of electronic pressure pads beneath the toes." He turned the page where an enlarged drawing showed the workings. "This toe nail provides access to a battery, similar to a watch battery. The microprocessor is underneath." He pointed to the diagram. "Minute circuits in these pressure pads record and send back information so the toes move just as real ones would."

  "It sounds fascinating."

  "Once installed, the patient's walking habits are saved in the processor's memory so future movements become automatic, once again like in real toes. The patient in this article barely has a limp and that is with three artificial toes. He can run and even stand on tiptoe without losing balance."

  "They look so real." Lavina turned back to the first page.

  "That's synthetic skin that covers the titanium joints beneath. The difficult part, Lavina, is the cost. Accident compensation will only partially finance it."

  "How much?"

  "In the vicinity of thirty thousand dollars, I am afraid. That's taking into account the twenty five percent accident compensation subsidy."

  "How long would it take for them to be made and fitted?"

  "We do all the measuring here but the toes are manufactured in Singapore. I'd say about six to nine months before Cathy could have an operation to install the device. Afterwards it takes several weeks to fine tune it and so forth. There's been a ninety percent success rate."

  "And the other ten?" Lavina asked.

  "Mainly problems with the body rejecting the artificial implant and some with patients rejecting the toes for psychological reasons. Usually these are people with other medical problems."

  Lavina nodded and thumbed through the article again. "Can I show Cathy and Steve?"

  "Yes. Go through to the nurses' station. There's an office there where you can discuss it in private."

  "If you want to go to the next stage, I can refer you to Doctor Horstmann. He'll go though everything with you and, if you're interested, perform the operation." He smiled. "He's one of the foremost authorities in the world on artificial limbs."

  "Thank you Doctor Lewis." She slipped the book under her arm and walked to where Cathy and Steve were waiting.

  *

  CHAPTER 14

  "The final report on the Cessna ZK HTG crash is in," Sergeant Pat Stein placed a heavy document on his desk and looked across at Constable Jane Frankton. "It confirms our suspicions."

  "Sabotage?"

  Stein nodded.

  Jane frowned, brushed her hair back, crossed her legs and produced her own document. "There have been some interesting behavioural patterns, different from what one would expect."

  Stein raised his eyebrows. "Go on."

  "It appears the mistress and the wife are the best of friends. Also, Ryland's body hardly had time to get cold before Janice Ludlow started another affair. And ten days after the funeral she had an abortion. Very hush-hush, it was."

  "Ryland the father?"

  She glanced up. "That's what timing suggests. Her new boyfriend, Barrie Dey is the newly appointed manager of Lavina's Ryland's farm."

  "Cosy arrangement," Stein muttered. "Do you know if she knew him before Ryland's death?"

  "I'm not sure but they're both students. There's very little on her life at university. She boarded with a couple of other women who said she's a loner. Won't go to the pub at the end of the week and so forth."

  "Anything new on Ryland himself?"

  "He played around while his wife ran the farm. He was prone to jealous rages and could be violent. Drank too much and went from one affair to another... usually with young women who worked in the district. In most cases they dumped him rather than vice versa. He had small time criminal connections, you know druggies and gamblers ... " She stopped and read her own notes for a minute. "Here's an interesting bit, Pat. The bank was about to foreclose and sell the farm under him."

  "We knew that."

  Frankton smiled. "But now the bank's agreed to refinance the mortgage."

  "So both suspects have gained by Ryland's demise?"

  The constable nodded. "Lavina Ryland couldn't have done it. We've confirmed everything about her story. They were victims and damn lucky to have survived. Ryland drugged them and dumped them on De Wolfe's Plateau. She couldn't have sabotaged the Cessna that weekend."

  "So it was Ludlow? She's done okay out of it. Pregnancy terminated and a new boyfriend."

  "Or there was a conspiracy," the constable suggested. "Perhaps Ryland's wife and mistress planned it together. Both have new partners, the farm is refinanced and the boyfriend is employed as manager. I also found out the farm was in Lavina Ryland's name but Ryland had controlling interest."

  "So he was running her farm into the ground?"

  "Plenty of motivation there," Jane added.

  "The boss upstairs wants action so we'd better get to it. We'll bring them in for questioning but need hard evidence before we can make any arrests."

  *

  Lavina lips were pencil thin and her hazel eyes like ice when she replied to the two detectives standing in the kitchen of 23 Ashley Grove. The last twenty minutes had been harrowing and intimidating.

  "No, Detective Sergeant Stein, I shall not accompany you to the police station to answer questions about my late husband's death. I resent any insinuation that I had anything to do with the Ce
ssna crash. You come here and practically accuse me of planning to murder my husband, sergeant and neglect the fact my daughter has two amputated toes because of that man. She has a pronounced limp that will probably be permanent. So I did all that to create an alibi?" Her eyes bore into the man. "You think I would put my daughter's life at risk to save my own skin?" She turned and walked to the window as her emotions seized control and tears flowed down her cheeks.

  "We're only following up a series of leads, Mrs. Ryland," Constable Frankton said. "You've been accused of nothing."

  "My lawyer is Simon Aikin. Anything else you wish to say to me will be in his presence. I have to leave to pick up my daughter from school so please go."

  "We regret the intrusion, Mrs. Ryland, "Pat Stein stepped towards the door. "Perhaps you could get Mr. Aikin to contact us."

  "You don't regret it one bit, sergeant. You have a job to do and don't care who you tread on to do it. Good afternoon to you both."

  She walked to the door and held it open.

  *

  "Guilty as hell," Jane Frankton muttered as she drove the mufti police car down the road. "She got a flashy house out of it too, I see."

  "I don't think so." Deep in thought, Pat Stein scratched the side of his nose. "Those aren't the actions of a guilty woman. If she'd meticulously planned her husband's murder, she wouldn't blow it with anything like today's performance. Also, that bit about her daughter was true. I did a bit of checking on the family. She carried her husband for years and it was only her daughter that kept her going. If she had planned to do him in, she could have easily made sure Cathy was back at boarding school or staying with a friend."

  "So you're eliminating her from our suspects list?"

  "Yes. If the roles were reversed I would have been as annoyed as she was with our heavy handiness."

  "Then why did you do it Pat?"

  "To find out the sort of person she was. Scratch the surface, the old cliché goes. We did that but there was no killer underneath." He grinned. "If she'd been so inclined, she'd have done the bastard in years ago."