Safe Harbour

by Helene Young

  ‘Sergeant Moreton?’

  ‘Yes, that’s me. Peter O’Day?’

  The young man coughed. ‘Ah, no. With the fog chaos this morning they co-opted me to come instead. Their flight still hadn’t landed in Brisbane so it made sense for me to collect the guy and fly him back to Brisbane where they’ll meet us.’

  ‘Really? I haven’t been told anything about this. You’re stationed in Brisbane? Got your badge?’

  ‘Sure.’ The younger man reached into his top pocket and produced his ID.

  ‘Mike Hannon. Constable. You’ve been in Witness Protection how long?’

  ‘I’m on secondment.’ He didn’t quite meet Noah’s eyes. ‘They held the flight to get me on. It was spur of the moment.’

  ‘Papers?’

  ‘They said they’d email them through.’

  ‘Really? You on a return flight to Sydney today?’

  ‘No, back to Brisbane. The New South Wales boys will meet me there.’

  Noah drummed his fingers on his thigh. ‘We’ll need to swing by the office and collect that paperwork. What time does your flight depart?’

  Hannon checked his watch. ‘In two hours.’

  ‘Better get moving, then.’ As Noah turned away he caught sight of an agitated Stirling pocketing his phone. ‘Excuse me a moment,’ Noah said, threading his way through the crowd in the terminal.

  ‘Mr Fletcher? Noah, Noah Moreton.’

  Stirling turned to face him and grasped Noah’s outstretched hand like a drowning man. His palm was slick and warm.

  ‘Noah. Where the hell’s Darcy?’ Stirling was wild-eyed.

  ‘Calm down. She’s tied up at the moment, but she asked me to let you know she’ll swing by the pub late this afternoon.’

  ‘No, you don’t understand.’ Stirling grabbed Noah’s arm now. ‘I need to see her now. She’s harbouring a dangerous criminal. His picture’s everywhere. Maybe he’s holding her hostage!’

  ‘I’ve just seen her and she’s safe, she’s fine, but she’s busy. What brings you back to the Cove?’

  ‘I need to talk to Darcy.’ Stirling’s arrogance hadn’t diminished with age.

  ‘Right. I’ll let her know. Nice to see you again.’ He turned to leave, only to find Stirling clutching his arm again.

  ‘She’s in danger! This man, Conor, Conor Stein, he’s part of an international crime ring. One of their bigwigs. I bet he told you he was in protection because he knew about performance-enhancing drugs. He’s lying. Lying to you, lying to Darcy, lying to himself. He’s the accountant who’s been laundering all their money. He knows everything and he’s spinning everyone a yarn, including the Witness Protection boys. Your mate over there.’ He tilted his head at Hannon. ‘South of the border or north?’

  ‘North.’

  ‘Then he’s on the payroll too. You’ve got to believe me. There’s too much at stake. If he hurts Darcy . . .’ Stirling looked at his hands, which were trembling. ‘I’ll never forgive myself if something else goes wrong for Darcy. She’s copped too much because of me already.’ Noah had never seen Stirling so disheveled. Stirling’s phone rang and he swung away to answer it.

  ‘No. I don’t know. She’s your daughter. Do something. Have you heard any more news?’ There was a pause and Noah tensed waiting for Stirling’s response. ‘You rang the fucking police? Are you crazy, fucking insane?’ His raised voice had drawn the attention of other passengers and Noah grabbed him by the elbow and jerked his head in the direction of the front doors. Stirling continued to berate the caller as Noah led him outside where Stirling turned bulging eyes on him and almost spat, ‘You called a fucking community copper! How the fuck do you think this is going to end?’

  Noah’s smile was grim. Water off a duck’s back.

  Stirling disconnected and turned on him. ‘What the hell have you done?’

  A few years ago Noah would have felt intimidated. Now he was just pissed off. ‘Called Brisbane head office, CIB, missing persons, the lot,’ he replied. ‘They’ll have already swung into action. Stirling, we’ll get your little girl back, but some cooperation from you would be good. Beverley did the right thing.’ He was almost toe-to-toe with Stirling now and backing down was not an option. The sour smell of sweat and stale coffee was unpleasant. Expensive aftershave didn’t quite cut it.

  ‘If anything happens to her, I’ll see you’re kicked out of the force for this.’

  ‘I understand you’re upset, but you’re a team player. You know we all need to pull together for this or we’ll be kicking a home goal.’

  ‘This is not some pathetic game, you fucking moron. This is my daughter’s life.’

  Noah’s patience snapped. ‘I’d say it is about a pathetic game and it started with what you administered to your players, Stirlo. Amelia’s just collateral damage. So is Darcy.’

  Noah turned and walk away.

  ‘She’s the reason all this is happening.’ Stirling hurried after him. ‘If she hadn’t pulled him out of the ocean, this would all be ancient history.’

  ‘Are we talking about her half-brother, Grant, or Conor Stein?’

  The stricken look on Stirling’s face was all the confirmation Noah needed. It took every shred of his self-control and then some not to punch his old coach in the face.

  ‘Brother? Grant? Darcy didn’t have a fucking brother. Of course it’s about Conor.’ Stirling’s right hand fluttered as he smoothed his hair back into place. ‘So where is he and where’s Darcy?’

  ‘She’ll be in touch. I’m sorry, but I have some official business to attend to. The taxi drivers all know the way to the Cove. You won’t recognise it now. It looks a treat.’ He kept walking and caught up with Constable Hannon, who had his phone to his ear. Noah had already made his decision. He gestured to the younger man to follow and then led the way to the patrol car. Hannon stopped with the car door open while he finished his conversation.

  Noah waited for him to buckle up. ‘So this is the way the afternoon will work, Hannon. We drive back to the station, and I’ll check the papers for extradition are in order. If they are, then I’ll collect Conor Stein, bring him back to the station, complete the necessary documents there, and then escort you onto the aircraft.’

  ‘So he’s not in custody?’

  ‘I never said that,’ Noah replied with a quick glance. ‘He’s just not in custody at the station. He’s safe and that’s the aim of witness protection, right?’

  ‘Of course.’ Hannon fell silent, looked out the window as he fidgeted with his phone. The chatter on the police radio was about an MVA and Noah stayed silent. It didn’t sound anything more than an inconvenience and the Bundy cops could deal with it.

  He was intrigued that Hannon was surreptitiously texting.

  When they finally pulled up out the front of Noah’s house it was clear Hannon hadn’t done much time in regional areas. He looked nonplussed at the humble building. Noah ushered him into the office and checked his emails. The paperwork was there, along with a note from Brisbane’s Witness Protection team verifying that Hannon was a member.

  ‘Great, so I’ll come with you.’

  ‘No, Constable, you’ll stay right here and I’ll bring Stein back. Be ready to go as soon as I get here. It’s going to be tight to make that flight.’

  Noah took the keys for the hire car parked up the street. At any time of day it was easy for the police to track their patrol vehicles. He wasn’t taking trouble with him to Daisy Hill Dairy. It took time and a hell of a lot of firepower to get a trace on a rental car.

  He was sure there was no one tailing him as he drove to the farm. The gate was still locked when he arrived and he closed it behind him again. The silence was almost eerie as he drove down to the old building. Nothing stirred. The hawk still hovered over the paddock, something new in its sights. He drove around the back of the building and stamped on the brakes, sliding to a stop as dust billowed from his tyres. Heat shimmered from the exhaust of a newly familiar helicopter.

  How
the hell did the helicopter know to come here? He hit reverse just as two men with guns appeared from the dairy. One bullet smashed into the rear window before he rounded the building. He didn’t stop until he reached the gate. Time for a back door entry. If he wasn’t too late.

  26

  Unsettled and confused by everything that had gone on this morning, and trying to piece her childhood together in a way that made sense, Darcy headed down towards the creek. Her running shoes crunched over the uneven stubbly grass and she picked her way around a couple of lantana thickets. She pulled off a handful of their distinctive bright flowers, loving the pungent smell, and let them flutter to the ground. A stand of ageing mango trees marked the access to the water. Very faintly she heard a whistle on the breeze. Up on the distant hill she could make out a darting shape, streaking across the slopes as the cows were herded back to pasture. Oh, for such a predictable and uncomplicated life.

  Once Noah had left she hadn’t been able to meet Conor’s dark eyes. Had he too been playing her for a sucker? He’d watched her walk away without comment.

  She picked her way down the overgrown track to the creek. The gentle slope and solid ground hadn’t changed in sixteen years. The water eddied and rippled over hidden stones, the bottom invisible. Friday night’s storm had filled the headwaters. Rosie’s words swirled around and around in her head.

  When Stirling started coaching, Grant quickly became a regular visitor at their house after school. It seemed to appeal to Beverley’s sense of charity to be able to provide for the son of a single father. Was there more to it than that?

  Without a phone she’d just have wait for Noah to come back for Conor.

  She twirled a long piece of grass and returned to the bigger dilemma. Conor. Noah. She’d always believed love would come as a bolt of lightening, a blast of urgent attraction that would singe her with its fierce burn. Was it possible to love someone she’d known most of her life? Noah was her first love from that moment outside the post office, but he’d always seemed oblivious to the child trailing along behind him, copying his walk, vying for his attention. She remembered with horror the day Gracie, aged twelve, had announced at the Moretons’ dinner table that Darcy was planning on marrying Noah. It had taken weeks to patch up the friendship with Gracie again and she’d seen the look of amusement in Noah’s grey eyes as he’d winked at her. Her embarrassment couldn’t have been more acute.

  She remembered all too clearly the night Grant died and the look of disgust in Noah’s eyes as they’d helped her ashore. And yet he’d been there for her in the immediate aftermath. She’d clung to him, needing his strength, knowing he shared her grief, her sorrow. Then he joined the police, leaving Rosie to hold her together while her parents’ marriage finally disintegrated.

  ‘Oh, no.’ The truth slammed into her. Stirling must have been wracked with grief for the loss of a son he could never acknowledge. Bad enough to lose a star player, but his son? No wonder he went crazy, hitting out with angry words. Was that why her mother made so many excuses for him?

  The discovery that alcohol could numb the pain was the beginning of Darcy’s rebellion, but she had managed to keep the veneer in place until the night of her high school formal. Beverley hadn’t wanted her to go, or more importantly didn’t want Noah to take her, so of course she’d done the opposite. She’d bought a dress too sophisticated for her immature seventeen years, piled her hair high, sprayed perfume on her body and painted her lips siren red.

  She closed her eyes, remembered the night. She’d walked down the corridor, hearing him knocking. Shoulders back, chin angled, flushed with nerves, she opened the door. Seventeen and still a virgin, but she saw the power she had when desire bloomed in Noah’s grey eyes.

  ‘Wow, Darcy, when did you grow up?’ A smile played across his lips. He’d come home from police training with a kink to his nose and a scar almost hidden in his eyebrow. They made him look more dangerous, less youthful, more desirable.

  ‘What do you think?’ she asked, with a provocative twirl, flaring her long skirt around her calves.

  ‘Not too shabby at all. The colour suits you. Lucky Grace tipped me off about that.’ He held out an orchid in a plastic box, tied up in a green ribbon. ‘Wear it on your wrist if you like.’

  ‘No.’ She smiled up at him as she took the box. Impossible not to feel the slight tremor in his hands. ‘I think it would be perfect on the dress.’

  ‘Right,’ he said as she unwrapped it. She and Gracie had searched high and low for their outfits and she’d been looking for something that showed off the creamy skin of her shoulders and down to her cleavage. Her padded bra was stuffed with tissues, but the effect was exactly what she was after.

  ‘Would you pin it on for me?’ she asked.

  ‘Sure.’ He looked anything but sure.

  ‘What do you think?’ She shifted the corsage from her shoulder to her chest before stopping on the dip between her breasts. ‘Perfect.’

  He swallowed. ‘Is your mum home?’

  Darcy rolled her eyes. ‘She’s not happy that you’re taking me to the formal so she’s gone out.’

  ‘Right.’ He looked rattled as she handed it back to him with the pin undone. ‘You know, I think it will look better just here.’ He plucked at the shoulder of her dress and fumbled to secure it in place with only a couple of brushes across her skin. She loved that the rowdy boy had become an outwardly assured man who trembled when he touched her. Her fledgling sexuality took flight. Tonight was to be her night, the night when Noah saw her as an adult, not a child. It was working.

  ‘Okay, we’d better get going, then.’ He’d steered her to the ute, opened the door, his fingers warm as he helped her in.

  When they pulled up at the hall most people were already there. Noah strode through the car park adjusting his bowtie and she tingled with awareness at his imposing presence, his suit stretched across his shoulders and tapered to his waist.

  ‘Shall we?’ he asked, taking her hand in his.

  She smiled and he leant across and whispered in her ear just before they walked into the hall, ‘You look very beautiful.’ She blushed and her heart skipped a beat. The end of the formal part of the evening couldn’t come quickly enough.

  The night had been a blur as they laughed and talked and danced. Her feet ached, but she wasn’t ready to leave the magic behind and the closer the end of the night came, the more her nerves fluttered. Would he kiss her? The approval, the desire was there in his eyes, but he hadn’t made one inappropriate move all night. She was torn, sure she wanted more from him than this chaste friendship, and yet . . .

  The lights were dimmer now as students started to straggle away. The DJ was playing a bracket of slow songs. Celine Dion’s powerful voice filled the hall and Noah stopped dancing for a moment as ‘Because You Loved Me’ boomed out.

  ‘One last dance,’ Darcy said. As the music swelled he pulled her closer, his hand resting lightly on her hips. She looped her arms around his neck and could feel the rigidity in his shoulders and neck muscles. She looked up into his grey eyes and knew she’d succeeded. He saw her as a woman, not the kid in dungarees trailing behind. Her body seemed to burn with an unfamiliar emotion she had no name for. The words of the song held so much more meaning tonight as she teetered on the brink of a defining moment she couldn’t quite grasp.

  She leant against his shoulder as his arms tightened around her and he rested his chin on her head. She knew they’d be a perfect fit together. For a few moments they were isolated in a busy room, just the two of them in a world where anything was possible.

  Then the lights came on and reluctantly she pulled away.

  ‘Come on,’ Noah said, grabbing her hand and heading for the door with the rest of the crowd. His ute was parked in a corner and many of the other vehicles had left. He’d unlocked her door and opened it wide, letting her hand drop. She’d waited, her face tipped up to him.

  ‘Little Darcy.’ He ran his thumb across her bottom lip and groa
ned. ‘Darcy.’ He reached for her then, drew her close enough that her skirt wrapped around his legs. He bent and captured her lips. The world tilted and she grabbed for his shirt, hauling him closer as a delicious buzz spread through her bones. This was so different to the take and give of the few kisses she’d shared before with Grant. She wanted Noah, had waited for this moment, but then Grant’s words came crashing down. ‘You’re a pricktease, leading us on!’ She panicked and pulled away. Was that pity in Noah’s eyes? Was he doing her a favour? Did he think the same as Grant?

  ‘Whoa, Darcy, it’s okay. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have . . .’ He ran a hand through his hair and she saw it all too clearly. He was doing her a favour and she didn’t need favours. What she needed right now was stability, for the ground to stop shifting beneath her feet, and now he’d changed that. She’d lashed out with her words and her fists. She couldn’t remember what she’d yelled at him, but she did remember his sigh that ripped her heart from her chest. She’d sat in stony silence on the drive home and slammed the car door as hard as she could when he arrived at her house.

  The next day Noah dropped by on his way back to Brisbane and the Police Academy. She refused to see him, her emotions spilling over into anger. Her fragile hold on reality cracked and she went off the rails. Not even Rosie could straighten her out. She despised herself and hated the world. She didn’t care if she lived or died. She experimented with everything, but only alcohol took her to the hazy place where nothing mattered any more. She was glad she didn’t remember all of it. The tattoo was a costly dare she wore now as a constant reminder.

  He’d found her a year later in a squat on the outskirts of Kings Cross. She thought he was a dream, the look of disappointment and disgust in his eyes all she deserved. And he didn’t have a monopoly on those emotions. She was too drunk to do more than stare as he checked her arms for track marks. He’d hauled her to her feet, slung her arm over his shoulder and carried her out into the light, taken her back to his sister’s student accommodation.