by Sarah Barrie
Hadn’t she thought the same thing on his balcony? ‘Maybe. But I’m not entirely happy about it. The best place for Ben to be is at arm’s length, and he won’t stay there.’
‘I think you’re freaking out because you’re finally realising there’s something between you,’ Ebony said.
‘I’m not the least bit freaked out. More … put out. Because I don’t want anything to be there. And that’s the end of it. By the way, there’s something more important we need to talk about.’
‘Don’t change the subject,’ Ebony said.
‘I’m not. It’s just that before Ben turns up to pizza night tonight—’
‘Why is Ben driving out here for pizza night?’ Ally asked.
‘Because he’ll be in town.’ She looked from Ally to Ebony. ‘The last woman Rob murdered was from Lithgow. That’s Parramatta, Katoomba, Lithgow …’
‘He thinks Rob’s coming back,’ Ally said.
‘And Ben and his team are moving in.’
‘Today?’ Ebony asked.
Mia nodded. ‘They may already be here.’
CHAPTER
13
‘I’ll show you where she lives—it’s just down the road a bit from Ally’s place. It’s a nice spot, but it’s lonely, isolated.’ Ben made the turn into Mia’s driveway and drove through the thick scrub. When the landscape opened up again, Indy gave a surprised gasp. ‘Oh, it’s gorgeous. I wouldn’t leave it either.’
‘Doesn’t look like she’s here.’ But they got out and stepped onto the veranda anyway. Ben knocked.
‘You couldn’t get more private than this,’ Indy commented, looking around. ‘With Rob coming back, I can see your concern.’
‘I’ll call her. See if she’s far away.’ He pulled out his phone, got nothing. ‘Damn, forgot. Just to add to the isolation, no phone reception.’
‘This is really not a good idea.’
‘Like I said, try telling Mia that. We may as well go and get settled in. We’ll see her tonight.’
‘So I get the little house and you’re at the inn.’
‘It needs to look like you’ve moved back to town so, yeah, lucky you. Linda can’t take everyone and there’s not much in the way of rentals out here so a lot of the team are based at Mudgee. It’s not perfect, but it’s as close as we’re going to get. I’ll drop you off then I’ll head into the station and see where they’re up to with setting up space for us.’
‘Want some company?’
‘No. If you’re undercover, you’re undercover. It’s reasonable that you’re seen with Ally, Mia and Ebony—they’d of course be friends with you, working at the surgery. And that means occasionally you’re going to be seen with me when I’m with the guys.’
‘So I don’t have to miss pizza night.’
‘It’s a small town, we’ll get away with it, but I’m just an acquaintance, and we’ll avoid seeing each other where possible. And we still need to make sure it’s okay with Ebs.’
‘We’ve got time. Rob’s not here yet.’
‘I’m not betting your life on that. And people talk. Small town, lots of eyes and gossip. If there’s any doubt about your identity from last time, I don’t want to fuel the fire.’
He dropped her at the little rental just off the main road and headed to the inn. Linda was out the front talking to Russ so he joined in for a while, then got his key.
A room with a double bed, a small kitchenette, a view over the street. It wasn’t much, but it was clean and tidy and he didn’t have to share with anyone. It’d do. Because of the time, he got himself ready to go to Cam and Ally’s. He was looking forward to seeing Mia again. He was getting a little too used to spending time with her—enjoying it.
He arrived just ahead of Indy, who had taken over the rental car Russ had driven down. By the looks of things, Ebony and Lee had already arrived, but there was no sign of Mia’s car.
He watched Indy park behind his car. As she got out, she looked into the darkness. The endless vista of mountains was visible against the moonlit sky.
‘This whole place is breathtaking. Mia’s, Ally’s. I think I want to move here too.’
‘Sure you do, country girl,’ Ben teased. ‘Let’s go in.’
There was a round of greetings. ‘No Mia yet?’ Ben asked. There was probably no reason to worry, but while Mia was out in the dark at Hunters Ridge alone when she should be with her friends and family, he was going to worry.
‘She’s getting the food,’ Ally told him. ‘Shouldn’t be long. Want a drink?’
‘Sure. Thanks.’
‘While we’re waiting, we should get some business out of the way,’ Indy said.
‘Such as?’ Ebony asked.
‘We need to reinstate Indy’s fake profile,’ Ben said. ‘Can we place her back in with you as receptionist again?’
Ebony’s hand went to her head as she grimaced. ‘Oh hell, Ben, we just got the new building finished. It’s not going to blow up, is it?’
‘I’m going with no. The thing is, as far as we know, Rob never laid eyes on Indy last time, and if he did, it would have looked like she was working for you. I don’t think he ever saw her in an official capacity as a cop. And the locals believed her to be a legit receptionist because she was working for you beforehand. She’s likely to be recognised in a town this size, so we can’t go for something new. It’s easier and safer to simply renew her existing identity here and explain a hairstyle change.’
Lee shrugged. ‘I think it makes a lot of sense. And to be honest, if Rob’s coming back I kind of like the idea of her being here. You can take her on call-outs,’ he said to Ebony.
Ebony nodded. ‘Right. Okay. Of course. When?’
‘As soon as possible.’
The door opened and Mia walked in carrying several pizzas and a bag of plastic containers. ‘I got pizzas and … everything else,’ she said by way of greeting, ‘I wasn’t sure what everyone liked.’
Ben locked eyes with her. She smiled briefly and looked away to put down the boxes. ‘Hi.’
‘Hi back.’
‘Good pizzas!’ Indy said, opening a box.
‘That’s why we get Mia to order,’ Cam said. ‘The young bloke working in there tries really hard to impress her.’
‘He’s very sweet,’ Mia confirmed.
‘Has he asked you to marry him yet?’ Ally said.
She frowned, but her eyes sparkled. ‘I don’t think marriage is first and foremost on his sixteen-year-old mind.’
‘He doesn’t give me extra toppings,’ Ebony complained.
‘Because you’re taken,’ Lee told her smoothly. ‘As is Ally. You might have to get your act together, Mia. You’re still free.’
‘Thank goodness,’ Mia replied. She opened the containers of salads and popped an olive into her mouth.
Ally passed some plates and forks around. Cam brought a bottle of merlot and another glass to the table.
‘You can’t want to stay single forever, can you?’ Indy asked.
Mia pulled a face. ‘I most certainly can.’
‘Of course she can,’ Ebony agreed. ‘If she wasn’t such a deep-down romantic she could very easily stay single.’ She dumped a slice of supreme pizza on Lee’s plate, grabbing another for herself.
‘Is that why you have the no-relationship rule?’ Lee asked. ‘You never told me.’
Mia tipped her head to the side as though thinking. ‘I don’t do well in relationships. I’m too strong-willed … too selfish. I enjoy doing my own thing too much.’
‘Yes, but look at you. If anyone’s going to get away with it …’ Lee replied.
She winked at him. ‘You just enjoy your fairy tale. I’m living mine.’
‘Let’s not bring up fairy tales,’ Ebony groaned. ‘I’ll get another lecture about women’s lib.’
‘Not one for happy endings?’ Indy asked Mia.
‘Yes, she is,’ Ben replied, finally joining the conversation. He caught Mia’s surprised expression. ‘You might not
like fairy tales, but take the music you constantly have playing, the movies you like. That’s not “I don’t believe in happy endings”—you want that.’
Mia rolled her eyes. ‘One drink, and if they’re not already misguided detectives, they’re psychotherapists,’ she muttered.
They ate dinner, then headed out to the deck. They’d just settled when Chloe wailed, echoing through the monitor.
‘I’ll go,’ Mia said.
‘Thanks,’ Ally said.
When Mia walked up the stairs to find her niece, Ally smiled and stretched her arms above her head. ‘I barely have to lift a finger when Mia’s around.’ Her gaze slid to Ben and he thought she might have been going to say something, but then Mia came back cuddling a teary baby and her attention was diverted. Mia had her lips pressed lightly to Chloe’s forehead, murmuring quietly. He wouldn’t have immediately thought of Mia as the maternal type, but the way she was with Chloe was so warm and natural, he couldn’t take his eyes off them.
‘You relax, Ally,’ Mia said when Ally made to get up. ‘She’s fine here with me for a while.’
‘She’s cute,’ Indy said, talking to Chloe. ‘I like coming out to Hunters Ridge. I get to play with babies and pets.’
‘When do you want to start?’ Ebony asked.
‘I’ve got a hair appointment in the morning at Mudgee. Then I can come in.’
‘If you have time,’ Ebony told her. ‘Saturdays are only half days; it’ll probably take that long to get your hair done. Then it’s eight sharp on Monday.’
‘Early mornings are going to be hard when I get all these incredible dates. I’ve still got that profile to make up.’
‘You’re working at Ebony’s?’ Mia asked. ‘Why? What profile? You’re going back undercover?’
‘Rob’s getting girls off a dating website. I doubt he’d pick a cop, so I get to play receptionist again.’
‘Obviously this has to be kept quiet,’ Ben told her. ‘You have to know because you know Indy, but as far as the rest of the world’s concerned, she’s come back to Hunters Ridge after being scared off by the incident last year.’
The colour drained from Mia’s face. ‘Indy, no. Ben, how could you agree to this? You know what he’s capable of!’
‘Hey, it’s all good,’ Indy joked. ‘Maybe I’ll get a real date out of it.’
‘What you’ll get is tortured and killed!’
‘Mia, calm down,’ Ben said quietly. ‘It’s going to be fine. We have to catch him. Indy knows what she’s doing.’
‘No. It’s a stupid idea. He never gets caught.’ When the baby fussed, Mia shifted her position. ‘Indy has no idea what she’s doing or she wouldn’t do it.’ She looked at them one by one. ‘Why are you all looking at me like that? What is wrong with you? You’re talking about sending Indy on a date with Rob. You’ve all gone mad!’
‘Okay,’ Ben said. ‘Okay, we’ll rethink it.’
Indy opened her mouth to say something but Ben silenced her with a look.
‘We’ll talk more about it tomorrow.’
Ally was watching Mia closely, then abruptly turned and went inside. ‘I’ll be back in a sec,’ she said. Ben waited a minute, then followed her.
Ally was in the kitchen, arranging chocolates on a pretty plate. Then she just stopped and stared out the window.
‘Everything okay?’
‘You’re the expert on behaviour—what do you think? That’s not my sister out there. I want to help, but she won’t talk to me. She just keeps telling me everything’s fine.’
‘She worries about you.’
‘She’s always very much been a “big sister”. Since the fire and the PTSD, even more so. I shouldn’t talk about her—about this. But I’m going to, because I’m worried about her. Something’s changed between you two and that’s good, because if she trusts you, maybe she’ll talk to you. If she doesn’t, it’s because you’re fighting a ghost.’
‘Are you talking about Shane?’ When she nodded, he continued, ‘I read the police report, of course. And Bear mentioned him. He said Mia was a different person before she went out with him.’
Ally smiled sadly. ‘Mia was always the life of the party. It’s what attracted Shane to her in the first place, then what he ended up hating the most. Mia’s still Mia, she’s just … toned down and become a hell of a lot more cautious. She was always the one who made people laugh, made them feel better. She’d go out of her way to avoid confrontation. I guess that’s what changed the most. She’d never tear strips off people the way she does now. She had to stand up to Shane—really stand up and fight him. She had to learn to do that to stop him ruling her life, to get away from him. She said once that if she’d done that from the beginning, things might not have ever gotten as bad as they did. That he might even still be alive.’
‘She surely can’t blame herself for his behaviour?’
‘No, of course not, but she very much blamed herself for hers. He was so manipulative. She’ll never let anyone have that level of control over her ever again.’
‘And she barely had time to deal with that before your stable fire.’
‘And then there was you.’
He ran a hand over his face. ‘And all she saw was another bastard cop, this time attacking her sister. I get it, Ally, and I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe. You know that.’
‘Because you’re a cop or because you care about her?’
Ally needed the truth so he gave it to her. ‘A bit of the first, a lot of the second.’
‘Make sure she knows the difference.’
‘I’m working on it.’
He went back outside, holding the door open for Ally, who came through with the plate of chocolates. Then he sat next to Mia and smiled at the baby, who was busily sucking on her fist.
‘I think she’s getting hungry.’
‘I think you’re right,’ Ally said. She took Chloe from Mia. ‘I’ll feed her and put her back to bed.’
‘I’ll make tea and coffee,’ Mia offered, and followed her sister inside.
‘Mia has a point,’ Cam told Ben. ‘She knows better than most what it’s like to be stuck with Rob.’
‘We’re running out of options,’ Indy said. ‘And hopefully he won’t get near me. We just need to draw him out.’
‘You might want to pass that onto Mia. She—’
Mia put mugs in front of Lee and Ebony. ‘Yours is coming, Cam. What do you want, Ben, Indy?’
‘I’ll help,’ Ben offered.
Mia walked back in and pulled more mugs from the cupboard. ‘I want you to tell me Rob won’t get anywhere near Indy.’
The anxiety in her eyes tugged at him. ‘The whole plan is a last resort. But she needs to go in now, because if he does make it this far, he can’t know she’s anything other than Ebony’s secretary and one of the gang here.’
‘But you can’t be sure he doesn’t already know who she is. Carter could easily have said something to Rob last time.’
‘It’s possible. But if he does know, he’s not going to walk in on a setup.’
‘But—’
He slid his hands up her arms, his thumbs massaging in small circles. The gesture was meant to soothe, but the softness of the skin over her toned arms and the vulnerable look in her eyes were making him feel things he shouldn’t. ‘All Rob’s going to see is a profile on a dating website. There’s no actual date, okay? We just want to see if we can draw him out.’
As he held her gaze he felt the slightest tremble under his touch. She was probably just upset. The kettle button snapped as it came to the boil and Mia jumped. He dropped his hands and she turned to prepare the drinks.
‘Can you take these out? The herbal one’s for Ally, the other one’s Cam’s. Will Indy have tea or coffee?’
‘I’ll ask.’ He took them. ‘Mia?’ He needed one more look, just one more to see what was going on behind her eyes. But they were guarded again. ‘I’ll have a coffee, thanks.’
‘What do you think?�
� Indy asked. Ben watched the Skype window as she flicked her new hair.
He’d spent the morning setting up at Hunters Ridge Police Station. It was a squeeze, no question, but he’d worked in organised chaos more than once. Indy had spent hers at the hairdresser’s and they’d done a great job.
‘I think if you can’t draw Littleton out, no one will.’
‘I need to get a photo, put up my profile. I’ll do that this afternoon—after I do some kind of exercise. All that pizza last night …’ She pulled a face. ‘I need a gym.’
‘There’s no gym in Hunters Ridge.’
‘I know. So how is Mia doing it? She eats pizza and looks like an iron woman.’
‘She has her own equipment.’
‘Then maybe I’ll have to start visiting Mia. What was your take on her last night? She kind of lost it for a minute there. Have you ever seen her carry on like that?’
‘No. She hasn’t been herself for a while. Ally’s worried about her.’
‘Is this what you two were discussing last night?’
‘Some of it, yeah.’
‘She’s already had two rounds with a sadistic serial killer. She knows he’s coming back. I guess basketcase would be understandable at this point and she’s not there.’
‘But for how much longer? We need to get this done. You get that profile up and we’ll set up a contingent for the rest of the weekend, keep the hotline going. That’s about all we can do until Monday. Indy, you’re going to be walking around looking exactly like what Rob is after. Even if we don’t get a hit on the site, be careful.’
‘You bet.’
He ended the call and walked into the main area of the station. Everything was under control here for the time being. Without much more thought, he found himself on the road to Mia’s cottage. She was streaking along her back fence line when he drove in. He immediately swung his gaze around to see what was chasing her, then felt silly when he saw she was just exercising. Jasper was happily bounding along beside her. He waved and caught her attention, and she cut back across the paddock.
‘Hi,’ she said, breathing heavily. ‘What’s up?’
