Promise of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  Ben sat in Cam’s lounge room updating him on the case while Chloe lay on a fluffy bear-shaped mat on the floor between them, looking around as though fascinated by her surroundings. The occasional cute noise came from her. Despite the conversation they were having, he couldn’t help but smile at the faces she was pulling.

  ‘She’s grown. What is she … two months old?’

  ‘Three and a half,’ Cam told him.

  Ben shook his head. ‘Doesn’t seem like that long ago she was born. I haven’t seen her since I visited the hospital.’

  ‘You’ve been busy. On that, Mia told us you took some of your team to her place and visited her after the meeting. I hope no one believes she was actually hiring the man for the hits on those men.’

  ‘I might have a small issue with one of the detectives I’m working with but I’m handling it. The problem is she doesn’t say much, makes out it’s no big deal. It makes people suspicious.’

  ‘She copped an earful from Ebony and Ally about it. Ebony said she called you about Davis Walker turning up? He told Ebs Mia was running errands for Boland.’

  ‘He won’t print anything that stupid.’

  Cam smirked. ‘No, he won’t. Not after the email I sent him. I suppose you saw the last piece of rubbish he printed?’ Cam fished it from a magazine pile and waved it at Ben. ‘Lots of speculation as to Rob’s contact with Mia. He’s only just stayed outside the realms of liable.’

  Ben nodded at the picture of Mia and Ally at the dressage competition. He’d seen it. ‘He knows how far he can go.’

  ‘Ebony called Linda after the event to see if he was staying there. Next morning when he checked out, Linda told him not to bother making another reservation. He’s going to have to stay further afield if he wants to hassle the girls from here on in.’

  ‘It won’t stop him, but anything that makes it more difficult has to be a good thing.’ Ben checked the time. ‘I really need to talk to Mia about this latest phone message. She wasn’t home.’

  ‘Phone message?’

  ‘Speaking of not saying much …’ Ben muttered. ‘Do you know where she is?’

  ‘They’re playing with horses.’ Cam picked Chloe up and settled her in the crook of his arm. ‘And I should head off and swap shifts. I’m meeting Lee for a house inspection. You want to follow me down to the farm?’

  ‘Yeah, let’s go.’

  Ben pulled up next to Cam by the arena. Mia was on one of the biggest horses he’d ever seen, its size accentuated by the pretty pony ridden by a cute kid bobbing along behind her. Ally was seated in a chair at one end, talking, but too quietly to be heard. Then he noticed the headpiece over the cap. She smiled at him, waved and turned her attention back to whichever rider she was talking to.

  ‘Okay, good. Just ride a bit more strongly into those corners,’ he heard as he approached with Cam. ‘That’s better. Go onto a circle at B, watch your contact.’

  ‘What’s B?’ he asked Cam.

  ‘Letters referring to points around the arena. See, there’s some on the walls. The others you just have to pretend are there.’

  ‘Pretend?’ He saw the ones Cam was pointing at but they didn’t make much sense. ‘Why aren’t they in alphabetical order?’

  ‘No idea, horse people aren’t all that logical at times.’

  ‘I can hear you,’ Ally said.

  ‘But can you argue?’ Cam countered. He dropped Chloe gently into Ally’s lap. ‘I’m off. See you at dinner time.’ He kissed her, gave Ben a nod. ‘See ya.’

  Ben relaxed against the half wall surrounding the arena and watched Mia ride. Posture perfect, long legs wrapped around the horse’s sides, her body moving fluidly in the saddle in time with the rhythm of the horse’s big stride. She looked as good on a horse as she did doing everything else, so he didn’t mind watching, but couldn’t help wondering how long she was going to be at it. He couldn’t stay too long.

  Mia had seen the men appear and guessed Ben wanted to talk to her about the message. She’d saved it, as he’d asked, but she wasn’t keen on listening to it again. She walked Moby in a couple more circles and when she reached the gate she slid off, unclipping her helmet. Ben wandered across to open it while she loosened the girth.

  What should she say? She felt off balance after their last run-in. And her temper hadn’t completely dulled. Ben, on the other hand, seemed completely relaxed.

  ‘Did you find her?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said sadly. ‘Yeah, we did.’

  Moby demanded attention, rubbing his sweaty head against Ben’s shirt.

  ‘This is a nice horse.’

  ‘You know something about horses?’ she asked just to fill the silence.

  ‘Me?’ He shook his head. ‘I went on a trail ride once and I can tell one end of the horse from the other. That’s about as far as my knowledge stretches.’

  ‘Ben Bowden doesn’t know everything,’ she said with a small smile. ‘There’s an eye-opener.’

  ‘Don’t feel too safe,’ he threatened playfully. ‘What I don’t know, I’m pretty good at finding out.’

  She slipped the reins over Moby’s head and led him from the arena. ‘Who was she?’

  ‘A travel agent from Katoomba.’

  ‘And you came all the way out here to tell me that, or are you here to question me again?’

  ‘I came to Hunters Ridge to update the local police on the situation. I came to the farm to see how you were and listen to that message she left.’

  ‘Why do the local police need to know what’s going on in Katoomba?’

  ‘Because you’re involved in this, and you’re here,’ Ben said. ‘So let’s go listen to that message.’

  ‘You’re going to have to give me a few minutes.’ She tied Moby in the washbay and unsaddled him. She still wasn’t sure how to handle the inevitable questions about the comment the woman made before she was killed.

  ‘You did save it, didn’t you?’

  It briefly occurred to her to say no, but she couldn’t be that careless with people’s lives. And any clue he might pick up could be the one that led him to Rob. She nodded.

  ‘So what’s with the tone? You don’t want me listening to it?’

  Honestly, it would help if she could have a thought in her head for two seconds without him reading her mind. And he was watching her in a way that made her skin flush. ‘Can you not?’ she asked in exasperation.

  ‘Not what?’

  The saddle landed with a thump on the railing. ‘That whole thing where you jump to some conclusion or other, put it out there then try to read me to see what I’m thinking. I know when you’re doing it.’

  A hint of a smile touched the corners of his mouth. ‘But Mia, how far would I ever get with you, if I didn’t?’

  She didn’t appreciate that. ‘Did it ever occur to you that you might misread me?’

  ‘No.’ He leant against the washbay railing. ‘When you’re anxious, for whatever reason, you go quite still. You often run the fingernail of your third finger of your left hand against your thumbnail. You tend to clench your jaw—almost unnoticeably—but not quite. You also blink less often and your eye contact tends to either drop off entirely or zero in—like now—and not budge. There’s a look that comes over your face when you feel threatened that’s designed to shut people down and it’s very good at that. You’re wearing it right now. How am I doing?’

  ‘You should know.’ She turned her back to him and undid the bridle, slipped on the head collar, bumped Moby’s nose. ‘Sorry, mate,’ she muttered. It was unnerving, of course it was, to realise he knew her that well.

  ‘Just like I know you’ll remember everything I’ve told you, turn all that over in your head and work on doing the opposite.’

  He didn’t say anything else for several seconds, and when he did, he was right behind her. Gentle fingers on her arms startled her enough that she let him turn her around. ‘Of course I know you’re not involved with those murders. I never thought you were. And I�
��m sorry I yelled at you. I shouldn’t have said those things.’

  She felt the breath back up in her lungs as the warmth of his fingers burned into her skin. And the intensity of his gaze didn’t waver, not for a second. Moby bumped his head into her back, almost pushing her straight into him. When his fingers grasped a little tighter to support her, she quickly stepped back again, out of reach, while a flush worked its way up her neck to her face. Moby began pawing at the concrete and, flustered, she shook her head.

  ‘As you can probably tell, this is not a patient horse. I need to get him hosed off.’

  Ally appeared carrying Chloe and leading her school horse. Jasper, Millie and Luna had reappeared from wherever they’d been playing and trailed behind. Ally’s glance darted from Mia to Ben as she pulled up the pony in front of them.

  ‘Hi, Ben, how are you?’

  ‘Good, Ally. Nice to see you.’

  Mia ducked around him and took the pony, tying it next to Moby. Then, out of sorts and feeling awkward, she worked on unsaddling and hosing down both horses while Ben and Ally caught up.

  What was going on with her? It wasn’t as though the physical attraction was anything new. She knew her type; knew why she was drawn to Ben. She also knew her type sucked. Her type was what had gotten her into so much trouble with Shane. She’d had it under control. Mostly. But that, just before, had been a whole new level of reaction.

  He didn’t usually touch her, that’s probably all it was. Unless it was the way he’d looked at her? Spoken to her? Hell, the combination? He’d apologised. He never apologised. Of course it threw her. Was this some kind of new tactic to get her to talk? And it was right on top of the analysis from hell. She’d gone blank. It was embarrassing. She didn’t need this.

  She put the horses away and took her time walking back up the laneway. Even though he was still talking to Ally, Ben’s gaze was on her as she approached. She felt the weight of it, and looked away when her pulse gave a nervous little jump.

  ‘You ready?’

  ‘I suppose.’

  ‘Where’s your car?’

  ‘I walked over.’

  ‘Jump in, I’ll give you a lift back.’

  Nothing like a little stilted conversation. ‘Fine. See you, Ally. Bye, Chloe. Let’s go, Jasper!’

  ‘Are we going down that way?’ Ben asked when they were in the car.

  ‘Yeah. Towards that gate. Jasper will run alongside the car, just be careful he doesn’t get in front of it.’

  He drove carefully and when they reached the gate she jumped out to open it and let the car through. Then they were heading slowly across the paddock.

  ‘Do you often wander around out here alone?’

  ‘Yep.’ She didn’t mention she usually had her gun with her.

  ‘You should be careful. Rob might not be targeting you directly, but he’s involving you in these murders. You’re on his mind. He could turn up at any time.’ He put his foot on the brake when Jasper bounced in front of the car, accelerated slowly when the dog ran on ahead and jumped the cattle grid. The car rolled over it and then they were on the pretty trail to the cottage.

  ‘What would you suggest I do, lock myself in the house?’

  He flicked her a glance. ‘Just take some precautions.’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘Is that what the body building’s about?’ He pulled up outside the cottage and she quickly got out.

  ‘It doesn’t hurt.’ She lifted a brick under the stairs and collected the key.

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’

  ‘Now you know, I’ll have to kill you.’ She opened the door and Jasper raced in ahead.

  Ben followed. ‘This is not a joke, Mia.’

  His voice was so serious she turned around, saw his tone reflected in his face.

  ‘You don’t need to tell me that,’ she replied just a little defensively. ‘You want to hear this?’ She sat by the phone and played the message back.

  Ben listened to it several times and recorded it onto his phone. Then he sat, linked his fingers behind his neck and studied her. ‘How are you going to make it stop?’ he asked, referring to the message the victim had left.

  ‘I don’t know.’ He could study her all he liked. It was the truth. The only out she could see wasn’t an out at all.

  ‘She screamed pretty loud. I guess the first one did too. Was the message the same?’

  ‘No—’ She stopped, closed her eyes and swore. He’d deliberately tripped her up.

  He put his elbows on his knees and linked his fingers together as he leant forwards in the chair. ‘I know you heard it, I know you didn’t want to tell me. I don’t know why. But I need to know what she said.’

  She was too busy swearing at him in her head to tell him. ‘She didn’t—’

  ‘No, Mia. The truth.’

  She dropped back against the back of the chair, let out a defeated breath. ‘That I was running out of time.’

  ‘You’re running out of time. You can make it stop.’

  Yeah, and Rob is going to give the whole thing away himself if he plans on killing more women and continuing the conversation. So much for telling her to keep quiet. ‘I don’t know why he’s doing this.’

  ‘Tell me what he said to you in that cabin during the hunt. Everything you can think of. I might be able to figure it out.’

  She stiffened involuntarily and knew he’d seen it. ‘You got your statement.’

  He nodded in resignation. ‘Now she’s going to block me again,’ he said to himself. Then he caught her eye and she was damned if she could look away. ‘Mia, you know this is more than just another case to me, right?’

  She continued to stare, held captive by the intensity in his eyes. Her mouth went dry enough to have her swallowing air. ‘Do I?’

  ‘I care about what happens to you. This is not just about arresting Rob.’

  Echoes of her conversation with Ebs and Ally came back to her. Why would he say that? She was already battling the physical attraction; she didn’t need him insinuating he cared about her. Not now. She dropped her attention to the third button of his shirt, struggling to find something to say. Did she believe him? Sometimes she almost did, but then … She put a smile on her face that was probably a little less than convincing and got to her feet.

  ‘That’s nice to know. Thanks.’

  He also stood, put a hand on her arm. ‘I’d like us to be friends.’

  ‘We are.’

  ‘We are?’ The disbelief in his tone was tempered by the humour suddenly swirling in his eyes.

  ‘Sometimes.’ Her smile became more genuine. ‘Kind of.’

  ‘Can we work on that? It would be good to get you out of this in one piece.’

  She wanted to believe that, too. It only made her more cautious. When she had to look up to meet his gaze she realised how close they were standing. How had that happened? She took a long step back.

  ‘I think we just did work on it. Are we done?’

  ‘For now. Stay safe.’

  As she watched him drive away, part of her hoped he’d figure it out—then she’d have to trust him, there’d be no choice. But there was still only one way to end this safely for sure. And that plan didn’t involve Ben Bowden. Whatever these feelings were, they’d die down. They’d go away. She was just vulnerable. It was the situation, not the man, that had her unsteady. She gave herself a little shake and moved away from the door.

  What was she going to do this afternoon? She felt too restless to stay inside. Thinking about that, she walked into the office and scanned her works in progress. The idea of poring over photos didn’t appeal. Then her gaze fell on the long list of places Cassie had given her to photograph. Tackling that project would get her out of the house, give her something to do. And the sooner she got it started …

  She ran a finger down the list. The closest one without restrictions on it was on the outskirts of Hunters Ridge. ‘Hangmans Hideout. Sounds ominous,’ she told the dog. ‘You want to come,
Jasper?’

  Jasper bounded to the door, tail wagging, more than ready to be involved in whatever was going to happen.

  She found the place without too much trouble. It even had a small plaque telling visitors its history. The hideout was a small shelter built off the mouth of a cave by a locally famous bushranger who occasionally hung his victims by their own stirrup leathers. The end of the path where the plaque was located was obviously where you were supposed to view it from, but she wasn’t getting a great photo from there. She picked her way over a rusty old barbed-wire fence, negotiated carefully through a low but prickly patch of blackberries, then collected a plethora of sticky black seeds from an impossible-to-avoid bush before making it into a relatively clear area of long grass. Jasper followed, sniffing around while she worked out the best angle for the shots. She’d just set up when a voice called out from somewhere behind her.

  ‘Excuse me! That’s private property.’ Mia spotted two women on horseback.

  ‘I have permission to be out here.’

  ‘Oh, you’re Ally’s sister. Sorry.’ The women came as close as the fence would allow. ‘I’ve seen you around town, just didn’t recognise you from behind—lots of sightseers go in there, pick around or graffiti it. End up ruining the place.’

  ‘I’m Mia.’

  ‘I’m Megan, this is Sophie.’

  ‘This is part of your place?’

  ‘No, we’re just heading up the mountain.’

  ‘I didn’t realise there was a trail up there.’

  ‘There are trails everywhere. The rural fire service push them through every year to make sure they can access any fires that might crop up.’

  ‘Good to know.’

  ‘Do you ride?’

  ‘Not enough, but I have a horse now so I’d like to think I might.’

  ‘There’s a map of all the trails at the fire station. Once you know where they are you can ride for miles. There’s one that starts at the corner of the next road down that goes all the way out to that military range near Ally’s place. If you’re interested in trail riding you should join the local club. Come out with us all once a month. A couple of Ally’s students are involved.’