by Sarah Barrie
‘Right,’ Ally reluctantly agreed. ‘Let’s go see this thing. But I’m not putting him on my float if I think he’s going to kill you.’
‘You’ll love him. I guarantee it.’
‘We’ll see.’
An hour later Ally let Moby go in the yard and he stood, alert, head held high. Then he snorted loudly, strutted around in an elevated, exaggerated trot, making his way to the far end of the yard before spinning and galloping back to the women and snorting again.
‘He hasn’t been off Bill’s property or even out of his paddock in years. He’ll settle down,’ Mia said with a smile. ‘Won’t you, mate?’ He stepped closer, rubbed his forehead against her hand. ‘He’s going to make a gorgeous riding horse, isn’t he?’
‘He’s very structurally correct.’
‘And?’
‘And he has lovely expressive movement.’
‘And?’
‘And he seems to have a stable enough temperament.’
‘You’re just not going to give in, are you?’
‘And you may have made a good—albeit rash—decision. However, there are lots of well-conformed, temperamentally sound, expressive movers out there with a lot more life experience and education. I’m withholding my final verdict on whether he’s the right horse for you for the time being.’
‘You do like him,’ Mia grumbled good-naturedly.
‘I liked the other four horses you came off too, but I wouldn’t have brought them home. What’s he called?’
‘Moby.’
Ally eyed him again, nodded. ‘Doesn’t take a lot of imagination.’
‘All he does is eat, apparently. Not sure what his registered name is.’
Ally stroked him, smiled a little bit. ‘We’ll give him a couple of days to settle in, then I’ll get on and put him through his paces first,’ she said. ‘Just in case.’
‘You just want to ride him,’ Mia countered, knowing her sister.
‘And stop you potentially breaking your neck. Yes.’
As promised, two days later, Ally rode Moby around the arena in an unsteady but forward rhythm. His coat was shining and he was barrelling along with a big stride that was eye catching, even at this early stage. And as usual when Ally was sitting on a horse, every person on the place had come to watch.
‘Okay, Ally, he’s fine. Can I have a turn?’ Mia asked.
Ally grinned and did another circle. ‘He has an amazingly comfortable trot, he just needs to figure out his balance.’ She rode down the long side of the arena back to Mia and gave him plenty of time to halt.
‘There’s no point him going and getting too used to having you on his back.’ Mia could ride well enough, but she was not her sister. She and Moby would just have to fumble along together for a while until they both figured it out.
‘It’s good for him.’ Ally slipped to the ground and led the horse to the mounting block. ‘Okay, your turn. I’ll just run the stirrups down another hole.’ Ally did one side, Mia took care of the other. ‘He’s going to try to grab the bit and run on like a steam train. Just be aware of that, especially on the long sides of the arena.’
For the next twenty minutes, Mia did her best to follow instructions. A few people hung around to watch and listen, but she forgot to worry about it. It felt too good to be back on a horse, even if the muscles she wasn’t used to using weren’t so sure they agreed.
‘I thought I was fit, but everything’s starting to hurt.’
‘Different muscles,’ Ally reminded her. ‘And that will do him anyway. Walk him round a bit to cool off.’ Mia dropped her feet from the stirrups, rolled her ankles and stretched her calves. ‘Good boy, Moby.’ She stroked his neck and he lowered his head, stretching out.
A sound on the driveway made her look up. Cam’s car. As she dismounted he pulled up and retrieved Chloe from the back before coming over.
‘I was curious,’ he admitted. ‘Is he behaving?’
‘Even for me,’ Mia said with a grin.
‘Good. I’m also playing messenger boy. Cassie rang our house to talk to Ally because she couldn’t get you. Apparently you were supposed to drop in with some photos and to pick up a list?’
‘I should have dropped by on my way in,’ Mia admitted. ‘I just wanted to get home. I’ll go see her tomorrow.’
‘And Ebs rang wanting to know where you were, so she’s going to turn up at our place shortly. Apparently it’s urgent that she talks to you.’
‘Hmm.’ Mia gave Moby another pat. ‘I hope Joe hasn’t changed his mind.’
‘Why would he?’ Ally asked.
‘No reason I can think of.’
‘Let’s get him put away, and go see what Ebs wants.’
They were barely in Ally’s door when Ebony pulled up in the driveway. She came inside and headed straight for Mia. From the look on her face, Mia decided she was in trouble.
‘Well?’ she asked, as though Mia would know exactly what she was talking about.
‘Well?’
‘Do they know?’ She gestured to Cam and Ally.
‘Do we know what?’ Cam asked.
‘For heaven’s sake, Mia! What did you think you were doing? And why, why did I have to hear about it through that parasite, Davis Walker?’
Yep, she was in trouble. ‘What did you hear?’
‘He wanted to know if I was in on the meeting with the hitman. The hitman. Because you took yourself in for a meeting with Brent Boland and he had you running some kind of errand for him.’
‘Errand? Is that what he’s going with?’ Damn it—if that meeting ended up in the paper, Rob was going to find out about it.
‘What’s this all about?’ Ally asked.
‘Don’t stress,’ Mia replied calmly. ‘Everything’s under control.’
‘Let’s hear it,’ Cam said.
‘It’s nothing to worry about. Yes, Brent Boland wanted to see me. As you know, some of the hunters have yet to be tracked down and Brent knows where they are. He wanted me to get my hands on that information and give it to Ben so he can trade it for a lighter sentence. When I agreed, he had someone contact me. We arranged to meet at a crowded hotel in the city. I went out there but he seemed to think I’d brought cops with me and he bolted. That’s it.’
‘This would be the same Brent Boland who threw you in the boot of his car and held you captive for the hunters?’ Ally asked in disbelief.
‘He’s in prison, Ally. He couldn’t hurt me. I thought it was worth it.’
‘I agree,’ Cam said. ‘I imagine Ben did too?’
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Once he found out.’
‘But what about the other one? Ebs said hitman.’
‘Twice,’ Ebony confirmed. ‘Because I can’t believe it. So I called Ben when I got rid of Davis. And it turns out it’s true. And that just after you went to retrieve that list, two guys on it were murdered.’
‘Oh my god,’ Ally murmured.
Mia scowled, because now Ally was worried. ‘Ebs, did you really need to burst in here creating drama?’
‘But Mia—’
‘It’s sorted.’
‘I think you’re talking this down,’ Cam said, ‘but I get the general idea. Davis is insinuating you hired the hitman to take out the hunters.’
‘He can insinuate whatever he wants but, Cam, I’d really prefer none of this ended up in the news. And he’s got it in for me because I won’t give him a story.’
‘If he prints anything like that, he’ll be up to his eyeballs in it. I’ll draft him an email right now.’ Cam got up and left the room.
‘Are the police taking that accusation seriously?’ Ally asked. ‘You could get in all sorts of trouble.’
‘I’ve already spoken to Ben and the other one … Russell Manning. Like I said: it’s sorted.’
She saw Ally turn that around in her head. ‘Yeah, okay. If Ben’s on top of it, it should be fine.’
Mia couldn’t help the short, dry laugh. ‘Oh, Ben’s on top of it.’
> ‘I sense a problem,’ Ebony said.
‘No problem at all,’ Mia said, dropping onto the lounge. ‘Except a thought can’t cross my mind without him beating down my door. We actually had a shouting match because he thinks I should trust him, let it go, move on.’
‘Damn, I missed it,’ Ebony muttered with a grin.
Ally shook her head at Ebony but a smile touched her own lips. ‘He has a job to do Mia, and he cares about you.’
‘He cares about his case,’ Mia corrected.
‘Oh, she’s absolutely right,’ Ebony told Ally. ‘Which is why on the night of the hunt—and let me point out he was all but bleeding to death—he refused to get treatment or leave the scene until he’d yelled at enough people to find out she was safe and on her way to the hospital.’
He’d done that? Or was Ebony exaggerating?
‘Okay, I stand corrected. It’s all about the case,’ Ally replied, pulling a face.
Mia didn’t appreciate the looks she was receiving from the two of them. ‘It’s part of his job to know that. Just like sorting all this out is part of his job. And we all agree how good he is at it, right?’ she continued with only a subtle hint of sarcasm. ‘So can we just drop it?’
‘Ah, sure. Sorry, Mia,’ Ebony said. ‘I just don’t like the idea of you putting yourself at risk.’
‘Neither do I.’ Ally sat opposite and rested her arms on her knees. ‘And Mia, I know you’re used to protecting me from things but I don’t want you to.’
‘Okay, drama queens, that’s great, because,’ Mia said, getting back to her feet, ‘I want to practise my cooking. So who wants to take a real risk and come down for dinner tonight?’
CHAPTER
9
Maybe she wasn’t doing the right thing keeping Ally out of everything, Mia thought the following day as she wound her way out to Cassie’s with the framed prints she’d been after, but it was habit, and Ally didn’t need the stress. She hadn’t meant to hurt her sister’s feelings though. And when she thought about it, Ally probably had a right to know about the threats Rob had made. But she didn’t want to tell her. She just didn’t. If it came down to it, she’d make sure Ally and Cam knew, but she had no intentions of letting things get that far.
Cassie’s car was parked at the house, so Mia parked behind her, and carefully lifted three framed panorama photographs from the back seat.
As she reached the front door Cassie appeared, opening the door wide. ‘You brought them! Wonderful! Put them down in here.’
Mia set them on the large table in Cassie’s main room.
‘Oh! This is beautiful,’ Cassie said as she unwrapped the first.
‘I’m sorry it’s taken me a few days to get here,’ Mia said. ‘But I have quite a lot of photos to show you that I think you’ll like for your book.’
‘I’m sure you do,’ Cassie said, eyeing the print with appreciation. ‘Let’s see the others.’
Mia unwrapped them.
‘Well! You can’t sell that one! I simply have to have it!’
‘That’s fine, I can have another one made up.’
‘But I don’t want anyone else around here to have the same one.’
‘They won’t. You’re targeting tourists, remember?’
Cassie didn’t look convinced. ‘I suppose. Oh, and I’ve got that list of locations for you for the book.’
‘Thanks.’ Mia followed Cassie, her brow rising when she saw the number of places on the long sheet. ‘Right. This could take a while. I’ll sort out a plan of attack this evening. Oh, and I told Dale I’d send him a digital copy of the photos he liked of the regent honeyeater. Would you mind if I sent them from here before I leave?’
‘Not at all. You don’t have internet, do you? I might just have the answer for you. Follow me.’
They went into a little room past the café area, with a large window and a pretty view of the garden. ‘I’m not using this room for anything and I assume you’ll be in and out a bit helping with the book. This can be your office, if you like.’
‘Office?’ How much time did Cassie think she was going to be spending on this project?
‘I have internet you can use. And you’ll have all the old photos and information you need at your fingertips. It’ll help with designing layouts.’
‘Designing what layouts?’
‘You don’t mind just dropping everything where it needs to be on the templates, do you? The computer has the program on it that almost does it for you. It would certainly help to have your creative eye on it. Dale’s just set with the idea. We’ve been telling everyone in town how generous this is of you.’
Polite bulldozer, Mia thought again and clutched her hair. ‘I’ll do what I can, Cassie. As long as you realise that might not be much at times.’
‘And in return for the free internet and office space I’ll take that lovely picture out there. I’ll hang it right inside the entry where everyone will see it. Works right round, don’t you think?’
At least it would be a good advertisement for her work but that was an expensive print. ‘Just hold on a second, I—’ She jolted at three loud bangs from upstairs.
‘Excuse me a moment,’ Cassie said, hurrying out of the room.
Mia put a hand back to her head. This had to be stopped.
A car pulled up and from the window Mia saw a family of four get out. Two young boys came barrelling in.
‘Granma! Granma!’
The younger one saw Mia first, and stopped his rampage through the house to stare. ‘You’re not Granma.’
She smiled. ‘No, I’m Mia.’
‘You’re pretty.’
‘Thank you. You’re very handsome.’
He stuck out his chest and beamed. ‘I’m Jacob.’
‘Nice to meet you, Jacob.’ She shook his hand, glancing up to see a woman watching with interest. ‘Hi.’
‘Hello,’ she said, friendly enough. ‘I see you’ve met one son. I seem to have lost the other.’ She looked around, shrugged. ‘I’m Julie, Cassie’s daughter.’
‘Mia.’
‘I’ve heard about you. You’re a bit of a godsend with the book, apparently.’
‘I don’t know about that.’
‘I do. I should thank you. Mum’s been really stressed out lately. Then she was talking about the book last week and she sounded upbeat, excited. It was a nice change.’
‘Jules? Oh, hi.’
‘And this is my husband, Alex.’
‘I can’t find Granma!’ the second child reappeared to announce.
‘I’m coming!’ Cassie said from the top of the stairs. ‘How are my munchkins?’ At the bottom, she bent down and both boys rocketed into her arms. Cassie straightened and beamed at Mia. ‘I see you’ve met everyone?’
‘Yes. I should leave you to it. We can look at the digital photos another day.’
‘That would be lovely. Now make sure you come in and use that office whenever you like. Thank you again, Mia. This is going to work very well. Oh, and one more thing … that list I gave you. There are dates and times on some of those places. You can only go in to those ones when it says so on the sheet. Any problems, let me know and I can renegotiate. It’s just the private property thing, you know.’
Mia said goodbye and made her escape. Nice family. It left her feeling a lot less annoyed. But no less railroaded.
Much later, Mia finished watering the garden and threw the ball one more time for Jasper. It was a beautiful afternoon and she’d been finding excuses to make the most of it. She’d ridden Moby after returning from Cassie’s and he’d gone so well. After only a couple of rides he was already getting the hang of it all. She was really beginning to believe he’d been a good decision.
Leaving Jasper to chew his ball on the veranda, she went inside and turned on the television to catch the news, grabbing a water from the fridge and opening her laptop. The images that greeted her on screen reminded her a client had been going to call so she reached for the phone on the side tabl
e and started replaying her messages. Yes, they’d called and told her what she needed to know, as well as a couple of others she’d have to get back to. She sipped her water, flicking through some ideas she’d been playing with.
Ebony’s voice came on. Did she want to have dinner with Ebs and Lee tomorrow night? And Davis Walker—bastard—wanting to discuss Cam’s email. ‘I’ll bet you do,’ Mia muttered. Another message, nothing. She was about to turn it off when she heard the sharp intake of breath. A sob.
‘You can make this stop. Oh god, please make him stop. No—please!’
Horror had nausea swirling in her stomach, and she closed her eyes against the screaming, wishing she could have closed her ears. She slapped the button.
The house instantly seemed unnaturally quiet.
Tears gathered as her stomach continued to churn. Her hand shook a little as she took another drink of water. She would have to call Ben this time. He’d want to know. More than want to know. If she didn’t tell him he’d find out anyway—just like last time. And then he’d really want some answers. But damn it—she wasn’t supposed to talk to the cops.
It was Rob’s fault Ben was involved in this. She couldn’t keep him out of it. But she worried about his threat. She closed her eyes with a sigh. Maybe that’s what he wants. He’s forcing my hand. Still shaken, she looked Ben’s number up and called him.
‘Mia?’
She was so unreasonably relieved to hear that voice after listening to the message—in spite of how she felt about who it belonged to.
‘Mia?’ More urgent.
She needed to say something. ‘Sorry, I’m here. I got a phone call.’
‘What happened?’
‘A woman sounded upset, started screaming, the line went dead.’
‘What was the number?’
‘Hold on …’ She pressed the buttons with shaky fingers, went through caller ID, told him.
‘Are you all right?’
She took a deep breath. ‘Yes. Of course.’
‘Save the message. I’ll be in touch.’
She replaced the phone and wiped her fingers across her eyes. Then she called Jasper inside, scanned the darkening landscape and locked up early.
