Promise of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘Did you?’

  ‘Nothing yet.’

  ‘Well, good luck. I’m just about to head off.’

  ‘Call by the morgue, tell Adriana I sent you and that you need a mask sprayed with some of the essential oil mix she uses during autopsies. Maybe then you’ll get through the day.’

  ‘I called a professional cleaning company. They’re coming at eleven.’

  ‘That’s what Bear was talking about? Good plan. All right, I’m going to find some breakfast. Talk to you soon.’

  She hung up, and realised she was still smiling. There was nothing wrong with enjoying a conversation with the man, was there? It was just an unusual situation. She felt closer to him because she was sipping coffee on his veranda after spending the night in his apartment and starting the day by talking to him. There was bound to be an odd sensation or two. It didn’t mean anything had changed. But, for better or worse, she felt like maybe it had.

  CHAPTER

  12

  ‘I want to bring everyone’s attention to this,’ Ben told his team as he put a map on screen back in Sydney. ‘We have number five in Parramatta, four in Katoomba, now three in Lithgow.’ He used a laser pointer to show the direction. ‘This is all one long straight line north-west.’

  ‘He’s heading back to Hunters Ridge,’ Indy said.

  ‘What about the numbers?’ someone asked. ‘Are we assuming the countdown combined with the calls to Mia Morgan mean she’s last on the list?’

  ‘We can’t assume anything, but it looks like a strong possibility.’

  ‘Which means he’s going to kill two more victims between Lithgow and Hunters Ridge,’ Stuart said.

  ‘What are you doing to try to prevent that?’

  Ben turned his attention to Inspector Frank Garvin, the duty manager, who’d been sitting silently observing from the back of the room. ‘We’re going to be working with local authorities in all towns between Lithgow and Hunters Ridge, starting now. We need to be out there as soon as possible. The Hunters Ridge police know what’s going on. If we won’t fit at the station, we’ll take over the hall.’

  ‘Ben, I want to talk to you about something else,’ Indy said as they filed out.

  Ben nodded and gestured towards his office.

  ‘I contacted the parents of those runaway girls. It was the same story with both sets of parents. They dealt directly with Littleton from this end but both received phone calls from Detective Jones. They were told Jones was leading the investigation from the Queensland end and to contact him with any enquiries, however there was nothing they could do as both girls were legally adults and didn’t want to be contacted. Jones also told them that he would pressure the girls to talk to their parents and for the parents to sit tight. The parents waited but never heard anything back.

  ‘Problem is, there is no Detective Liam Jones. We have the date of one of the calls—the mother remembers because it was her daughter’s birthday, so I’ve got the phone records.’ She handed over a sheet of paper. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Let’s see.’ He checked the highlighted number, frowned. ‘That can’t be right.’

  ‘It’s the only phone call they received in the right timeframe. That call had to come from Liam Jones.’

  ‘It’s a mobile number.’

  ‘And the call wasn’t made from Queensland. It was made from Sydney. In the same suburb as our station.’

  Ben blew out a breath. It did make sense. It made perfect sense that this Liam Jones was never in Queensland but working down here, with Rob, with the hunters, all along. ‘I need to know every single officer employed at the station at the time of that phone call. I doubt anyone from Queensland was ever involved. The whole investigation was bogus.’

  ‘I’ve already requested the information, plus I put that request in for DNA analysis of the girls in relation to the remains found in the pit, but we don’t have any results back yet.’

  ‘They’ll find matches,’ Ben said. ‘Those girls never made it to Queensland. And we’ve got a local cop down here working under an alias.’

  ‘Littleton could have just got one of his goons to pretend to be a cop.’

  Ben shook his head. ‘You need to know what you’re doing to pull this off. These were parents who wanted their daughters back. This guy had to be convincing enough to shut them down. He had to have an inside knowledge of procedure and be in a position to make all this disappear without rousing suspicion.’

  ‘And how does this fit in with Chapel?’

  ‘Chapel’s been extraordinarily difficult to capture for a long time. If he’s doing this dirty cop’s work for him, that could explain why. Thanks, Indy. I’m going to head out to Mia’s.’

  ‘One more thing.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘I think you should reconsider my idea of putting up a profile. Before he gets any closer.’

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t think it’s safe for you to go in. Littleton’s expecting us to know he’s coming and if he does have a cop feeding him information, he’ll know you’re doing it.’

  ‘Then he won’t take the bait. Ben, I already have a cover established in Hunters Ridge,’ she reminded him. ‘I never told anyone I was a detective. Only Carla knows and she hasn’t said a word. After the explosion I was busy searching and helping. But there was so much chaos—everyone was searching and helping. I think it’s okay. If anyone asks any uncomfortable questions, we’ll deal with it.’

  ‘And the hair?’

  ‘Plenty of people change their hairstyles. I might even go with hair extensions and dye my hair instead of buying a wig.’

  ‘So why did you suddenly turn back up in town?’

  ‘I got frightened off, but I missed my job. Came back.’

  ‘To Ebony’s? That could work,’ he said. ‘We can talk to her about it. Make a decision after that. Okay?’

  ‘Okay. See you tomorrow.’

  By the time he wrapped everything up at the station it was late. He detoured past Mia’s place and saw her lights on so he pulled over, assuming she was still up. But it was Dex who answered the door.

  He let Ben in, looking sheepish. ‘Hi, Detective Bowden. I’ve got as many names from the party as I can find.’ He went to a side cabinet, picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Ben. ‘There’s twenty-seven names on there. That’s not nearly everyone. Some just gate-crashed off the street I think.’

  ‘Thanks. What about in the lead up to the party? I know you were away for a month, but do you remember anyone prior to that coming over, maybe going into Mia’s room when she wasn’t home?’

  ‘Miguel comes round a bit—very cool friend of Mia’s. And Dad—that’s Bear. I have a couple of regular mates, they’re on the top of the list but I swear we don’t go near Mia’s room. We just don’t. I feel so bad about it.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll check these out. Where’s Mia?’

  ‘She’s at Dad’s bar.’

  ‘Where’s that?’

  ‘Just down the road. Big place on the corner.’

  Because he really wanted to talk to Mia before he left, Ben decided to wander down and check the place out. He found it easily, recognising Bear pulling beers at the other end of the bar. He found a free stool, sat and took a good look around. It was hard to see too much other than people. The place was busy.

  Then he spotted Mia towards the middle of the room. She was dancing and laughing with some guy. Jealousy he knew he had no right to shot through him, then, as the pair turned, he saw it was that friend of hers from the other day—Miguel.

  ‘Hi, detective.’

  He took his eyes off Mia and saw Bear behind him. ‘Hi, Bear. And it’s Ben.’

  ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘Not getting anywhere fast enough.’

  ‘Let me get you a drink.’

  ‘Just a beer, thanks. I came in to have a word to Mia.’

  ‘She’ll come back—eventually. Seems a bit more like herself tonight.’

  ‘L
ooks that way,’ Ben said.

  ‘I was worried about her the other night, after that call. It made her sick.’

  ‘That sort of thing isn’t easy to listen to.’

  ‘No, it’s not. Any luck finding her gun?’

  ‘Not yet. Dex gave me a list of possibilities. The problem is she’s not sure how long it’s been missing. I’m hoping it was a random party crasher who couldn’t open the safe. That maybe whoever it was has dumped it somewhere. Hopefully it’s not someone out to cause trouble … a jealous ex or something.’ He knew the idea was unlikely, not really warranted. But he couldn’t get past it. She must have had men in her home.

  ‘Only jealous ex I know about went and killed himself. That’s how I really got to know her. You heard the story?’

  Ben nodded. He’d read the report. ‘The cop, yeah.’

  ‘Did you know it happened in this bar?’

  ‘No, I didn’t realise. You were the one who stepped in?’

  ‘Couldn’t not. Piece of shit deserved what he got.’

  ‘How so?’

  ‘He was fanatically jealous of Mia. Sure, she was a bit wild when she first started coming in, but nice with it. Just an all-round gorgeous young lady who knew how to have fun. She was popular, had lots of friends and she could dance like—well, that.’ He gestured to Mia and Miguel. ‘She started to lose that spark the more she was with him, though. Mia came in that particular night for a friend’s birthday party. She’d had a hard time with Shane so they got her a bit drunk, got her up on the bar. She was just dancing, but he comes in after her all worked up, full of accusations, raving like an idiot. It got out of control and that was that. He tried to pull her off the bar and I thumped him. The whole place erupted. More cops arrived, Mia gave him a mouthful and he took off, and hit the power pole just down the road. That was the end of him.’

  ‘Sounds like it was pretty bad.’

  ‘Shook her right up, you know? She grew up a lot, but lost some of that spark. She kept coming in, had a different guy on her shoulder every five minutes for a while there, but that soon stopped. We got to be friends.’ He nodded towards Mia. ‘You’ve just been spotted.’

  A new guy every five minutes? That was more the impression he’d had in his head. But Bear made it sound like a knee-jerk reaction to a bad experience than a lifestyle choice.

  Had she never really gotten over her ex’s death?

  Mia’s eyes met Ben’s over Miguel’s shoulder. ‘Hey, Miguel, cops are after me again.’

  ‘What?’ Miguel turned and made a sound of appreciation. ‘Well, darling, all I can say is hurry up and find a reason to be manhandled.’

  A laugh gurgled up from her throat. ‘Trust you. I’ll see you later.’

  She headed in Ben’s direction, looking him over. Jeans, black tee, a day’s stubble and a warm gaze that roamed over her like a physical touch. Her whole body went into overdrive as she wove her way around the other patrons towards him. Damn it. She knew she’d be flushed, but hoped the lights would mask it. She needed to say something. Anything.

  ‘Would you like me to spin around, strike a pose …?’

  He gave her that dangerous smile of his. ‘Surely you’d be more offended if I didn’t notice? Let’s go.’

  ‘Never noticed before,’ she said suspiciously, with a wave for Bear.

  ‘Who says?’

  She sent him a startled look. What was he playing at? She was left with little choice but to follow him as he headed out onto the street. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I wanted to talk to you about what’s going on before I leave.’

  ‘You’re going somewhere?’

  ‘Yep. I’ll walk with you. I’m parked at your place.’

  ‘So what’s going on?’

  ‘Can I just say how nice it is that you don’t scowl every time you see me coming anymore?’

  ‘Oh, I do, I’m just better at hiding it.’

  ‘Because we’re friends?’

  ‘There you go. You really are smart.’

  He looked back at her with warmth and humour in his eyes. ‘Am I really that hard to spend time with?’

  ‘Well, let’s look at that, shall we? The time we spend together is generally because you want to interrogate me, yell at me or tell me what to do.’

  ‘Or clean up your house?’

  ‘There’s always an exception. And thanks again. But.’

  ‘It’s a problem. Maybe I need to work on that. What are your movements for the next few days?’

  She stopped walking.

  He laughed at her blank look. ‘Wish you could see your face. Relax, we’re back to business. I’m going out to Hunters Ridge in the morning and setting up the taskforce in town. I need to know where you’ll be.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Victim number three worked at the truck stop at Lithgow. I believe he’s on his way to Hunters Ridge.’

  ‘You can’t know that.’ Damn it, if every cop on the case went out there it could jeopardise everything. Rob might think she called them in.

  ‘No, but I can be—and am—pretty confident. And he’s only got a couple of numbers left before his countdown is done. Of course we’re going to try to stop him before he gets any further, but realistically it makes sense to be there.’

  ‘Why not Mudgee, then? If you’re right, he’ll almost definitely stop there, won’t he? It’s the biggest town before Hunters Ridge.’

  He held her up with a hand on her arm. ‘What’s with the arguing? It’s like you don’t want help.’

  He had no idea how untrue that was. But Rob’s threat made that too dangerous. ‘I don’t know that you can.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘If Rob wants me, he’ll get me. End of story.’

  His brow lifted. ‘You might want to fly a white flag outside your house and leave the front door open then.’

  ‘The sarcasm is noted. Friend.’

  Her hard stare didn’t deter his smirk. ‘I’m going to say this, even though I know how it’s going to go. You should stay here in the city for the time being. I can put you in protective custody, or … Or not,’ he conceded, seeing the look on her face. ‘For the time being.’

  They arrived at his car and he unlocked it. ‘But that may have to change, like it or not. See you tomorrow.’

  ‘You will?’

  ‘If I’m going to be in Hunters Ridge, I’m not missing pizza night.’

  Before she could think of a thing to say, he was in his car. She stared at the street until long after he’d disappeared down the road.

  ‘Mia?’ Dex called from the front door. ‘Did Detective Bowden get hold of you?’

  ‘Yes, Dex.’ He did seem to be getting hold of her. He was in her thoughts, had her questioning her feelings, her set-in-concrete conclusions about him. And pizza night? The guy was invading every area of her life. No wonder she couldn’t get her emotions straight.

  She left early the next morning and was driving up to Ally’s to collect Jasper just before twelve.

  Ebony’s car was there and she heard their voices in the backyard, so she walked around to investigate. Jasper spotted her first, going ballistic at the gate.

  ‘And we thought we’d worn him out,’ Ally complained.

  ‘Hi, Ally, hi, Ebs,’ she said, opening the gate to the very excited dogs. ‘When I saw you here at this time of day, Ebs, I was hoping nothing was wrong.’

  ‘Easy day, morning call-out just down the road. Ally’s invited me for lunch,’ Ebony explained. ‘But Jasper was missing you so we’ve been playing ball.’

  Mia ducked down to talk to Chloe, strapped in her pram at the back door. ‘Thanks for that. He should be used to staying here by now.’

  ‘He is. Still misses you though,’ Ally said. ‘Would you like me to feed you, too?’

  ‘Sounds good. Yes, please.’

  ‘How did the party disaster turn out?’ Ally asked, steering the pram through the back door.

  ‘Disaster’s a mil
d term for what went on in that house. I would have killed Dex, but I needed him to clean. The smell still hasn’t quite gone.’ While Ally heated up lunch, Mia took them through it step by hideous step.

  ‘That’s gross,’ Ebony complained, wiping over the dining table. ‘How did you sleep on that mattress?’

  ‘I didn’t. I stayed at Ben’s.’

  ‘What?’ Ally asked. Both women stopped what they were doing and stared.

  ‘The first night—before the cleaners went in. He wasn’t there at the time,’ Mia said, pulling a face at them.

  ‘But … how … what …’ Ally shook her head in a show of clearing it. ‘How did that happen?’

  ‘In his bed?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘No!’ Mia scowled. ‘I just caught a few hours on the lounge. My house stank and Ben was in Lithgow and I’d just had another horrible phone call.’

  ‘Oh, yuck,’ Ally said.

  ‘Right. You’re making a big deal out of nothing.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Ally said, ‘but just the fact you two are getting on well enough that he would offer is kind of a major shock.’

  ‘It’s more than that,’ Ebony said, ‘either you two have finally figured out how hot you are for each other or your life was in danger. I mean critically. Which was it?’

  Mia stood up. ‘I’m sorry I said anything.’

  ‘Okay, whoa,’ Ally said, studying her sister. ‘Something’s going on. Lock the door, Ebs, she’s not walking out.’

  Mia rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t be silly, Ally.’

  ‘I’m not. You’re going to tell me what’s going on.’ Ally put her hands on her hips. ‘Sit.’

  ‘Fine. Like I said, I had another phone call, so Ben came back and he was going to take me somewhere else for the night, but he had to rush off and we were there … because he needed to pick up some things. So he just asked if I wouldn’t mind using his place as a motel room for the night.’

  ‘And you stayed?’ Ebony asked.

  ‘It was late. I was there.’

  ‘Yeah, but that wouldn’t have stopped you leaving if you’d felt uncomfortable,’ Ally pointed out. ‘And Ben wouldn’t have left you there—no matter what rush he was in, if he really thought you wouldn’t stay. Something’s changed.’