Wisps of Cloud

by Ross Richdale

  Jason who was nearby, caught Karla's eyes and raised his eyebrows as if to say he'd help if it was necessary. She smiled and gave him a brief nod before shutting the door and escorting the visitors through to the staffroom.

  Fifteen minutes later after listening to Sergeant Lyon's explanation about Ted, she turned to him and held out her hand. "I owe you an apology, Ted; can I call you that?"

  "Please do, Karla," Ted replied. "But no apologies are needed. If you had guessed I was helping the police, others would have also worked it out, my cover would have been blown and we would not have been able to arrest the culprits."

  "You've arrested somebody?" Karla gasped. "Can I be told who it is?"

  "A statement is being issued to the news media as we speak," Margaret said. "We wanted to inform you first before this general release." She smiled. "Ted also wanted you to be told the truth about his involvement."

  Karla grinned at the elderly bearded guy. "Well, when we caught you supposedly trying to escape from the plantation and the look on your face I was convinced that you were the one who tossed the firebomb in the school."

  Ted shrugged. "It wasn't all an act. I was pretty worried at the time. If any of them had guessed who I really was they'd have shot me without hesitation."

  Karla nodded and turned back to the police constable. "So who was it?"

  "Corey Fitzgerald, your lawyer."

  "What?" Karla gasped.

  "We've knew he was involved in the marijuana plantations for months and after the school fire, we suspected he was responsible. However, he was clever and nothing could be proved. The stolen car had no leads at all and even the helicopter they used could only be traced to a firm in Auckland who hired it on a long term contract to what they thought were tourist operators. It turned out to be a fake company using an overseas address."

  "Oh my God, our lawyer. He would know everything about Top Plateau Station and what we were hoping to do," Karla whispered really to herself. "Will this affect any legal documents we've signed?"

  "Doubt it. He was a genuine lawyer who did a good job in that respect."

  "But got greedy," Ted added. "It happens at times. They see the millions the criminals make and decide to try it too."

  "And arrogant," Margaret added. "They think they know everything in the law books and how to get away with a crime. That's why we needed Ted. We knew Fitzgerald was the mastermind behind the growing and distributing most of the marijuana crop in the district but had no proof. It's been a long term investigation."

  Ted grinned. "We purposely turned a blind eye at the other small crop at the far end of Top Plateau Station."

  "Another one?"

  "Yeah. Big Red and the HiWay Weeds think we don't know about their source." He chuckled. "To catch the big fish we sometimes let the little ones go free. Don't tell him, though."

  "Me! Warn a friend the fuzz are onto him. Now do you really think I'd do that?"

  "Well you thought I was a low life," Ted said.

  Karla laughed. "Okay. Point taken. Why don't you both have a cup of coffee and a slice of my wedding cake?"

  Ted smiled. "That was one thing I regretted. I had to miss the biggest social occasion on Top Plateau. It's not every day that the local principal marries one of the largest landowners in the district."

  "So enjoy a slice of cake." Karla glanced at her watch. "It's almost home time. I'll just see the children off and get back. Introduce yourselves to Chrissy Ancell when she comes in."

  She walked back into the classroom to see the children had all packed up and were reading or using iPads in their desks.

  "So everything's okay, Karla?" Jason asked.

  "Why yes, Jason, it is. I can't say anything but why don't you watch the news on television tonight?"

  He grinned and held up his iPad. "Already got it here," he said with a smirk on his face. "I'm glad Old Ted didn't do it. It wasn't really like him, you know. Bloody awful teacher but a nice guy!"

  "Jason! Watch your language!"

  "Oops. Sorry Karla." Jason grinned and turned his iPad off.

  *

  By three-thirty everyone except the two teachers had gone. Chrissy sat by the table and stared outside as the rain poured down.

  "Imagine what it is like at Tui Park right now! There will still be a hundred kids looking for lost property and frustrated teachers on duty standing in the rain at the gates," she said.

  "Yeah, Val driving out early and Murray having a quiet whisky in his office," Karla replied

  "Another bad trait?" Chrissy asked.

  "Ryan told me. Kept a bottle in his bottom cupboard."

  Chrissy frowned, sipped her coffee and stared out the window again.

  "Did I say something?" Karla asked.

  "Just made me think. I used to be so innocent and life was easy, I attracted guys with the flutter of an eye and suddenly it was gone. Now, whenever a guy tries to chat to me, I freeze."

  "They aren't all like Murray."

  "Of course they aren't but one can't forget. I wake up sometimes in a hot sweat when I hear a bang. Last night I even peeped out my bedroom window. You know what scared me?"

  "The wind?"

  "That's about it. A branch was banging on the roof outside. That would never have worried me before but now… It's silly really, Sharon and Dillon's house is only twenty metres away and access to my place is up their drive. I love the little cottage and don't mind being alone. I guess this rough weather makes a difference." She grinned. "Would you like to see the stories my kids have written?"

  "Love to…"

  The conversation continued on about school items as yet another squally shower pelted the roof and windows of the tiny school.

  Karla thought back to the events of the day. To find out that Ted was not responsible for everything was a relief but this was countered by the knowledge that their lawyer was responsible. She didn't really know either man well but it was funny how her perception was formed by their appearance; the scruffy bearded Ted compared with the slick clean-shaven lawyer in a business suit. Also their was Murray who came across as a relaxed easy going ageing gentleman who was everyone's friend and the vindictive Val who seemed to have a continuous chip on her shoulders.

  Her mobile peeped. 'Hear the news?' Ryan's text read. 'Old Ted was working for the cops and our lawyer has been arrested.'

  "Why are you grinning?" Chrissy asked.

  "Text from Ryan. He's just caught up with the news."

  Chrissy laughed. "That's not like him. Back at Tui Park he was the first one to know anything."

  "Yeah. Mellowing with age," Karla replied. "Come on; let's go and see those stories you were about to show me."

  *

  CHAPTER 17

  It was three in the morning when everything is seen at its worse when Karla awoke. The room was moonlit and the curtains pulled back so she could see Ryan sitting on the bed with his head between his hands. She sat up and switched on the bedside light.

  "What is it, Dear?" she asked.

  Ryan turned, grinned and sort of staggered as he stood up. "Sorry," he muttered. "I hoped I wouldn't awaken you."

  "Well, I am awake. It's your leg again isn't it?"

  "Yeah. Thought I was coming right and tried to lift a box of tools off the tractor earlier and it sort of collapsed. Think I knocked it somehow."

  "And?"

  "Hurts a bit, that's all. I'll go and get some painkillers."

  "Let me see." Karla reached over and gently pulled his pyjama leg up.

  Ryan grimaced but said nothing. She though, gasped for his whole upper leg above the knee was puffed up and purple. It looked terrible!

  "Okay, Ryan," she said. "Pull some clothes on. I'm taking you into hospital."

  "But!"

  "Do it!" she retorted. "It is more serious than just a bruise."

  Within five minutes they were in the car heading out and half an hour later she pulled the car into the Accident and Emergency at Masterton Hospital. It was an oasis
of light but empty as she guided her staggering husband inside.

  The nurse who came up to them, took one look at Ryan's leg and pressed an alarm on a remote she carried before ushering him into a cubical to lay on a bed. Only then did she ask Karla for personal details. A doctor arrived and examined Ryan's leg before turning to her.

  "You were right to bring him in," he said. "He has Sepsis, that is blood poisoning. Your quick action may have avoided more serious consequences" He turned to the nurse. "We will admit Mr Purdon. Please advise the ward and get his personal records."

  He placed an oxygen mask on Ryan and inserted an intravenous needle before a porter arrived and wheeled Ryan along the corridor to a room. Karla followed but had to wait while he was being treated. A few moments later another doctor dressed in medical fatigues arrived and issued orders. Ryan was shifted again and disappeared through swinging doors of an operating theatre

  Karla sat in the corridor outside for over an hour before a nurse came out.

  "Your husband had to have an emergency operation, Mrs Spicer," she said. "The surgeon will be out to speak to you in a moment."

  The man Karla had originally seen rush in, arrived still dressed in his fatigues. He smiled faintly. "Ryan will be fine," he said. "We found a minute slither of metal embedded in his upper leg that caused the problem. It has been removed and after the blood transfusion and course of focused antibiotics he will make a full recovery. We will monitor his progress but I am certain there is no damage to his kidneys or other organs."

  "It was left there after the arrow was pulled out?" gasped Karla.

  "Unfortunately that is so. The slither was visible in the follow up x-rays after Ryan's original operation but to an inexperienced eye it could be easily missed, and was. If you wish to file a complaint I'll get you the necessary documents."

  "No," Karla whispered. "Just help him. That's all I request."

  "Thank you. He is still asleep but you are welcome to visit him in the recovery ward or perhaps return later in the morning."

  "I'll stay," Karla replied.

  She followed a nurse into another room where Ryan lay asleep with an oxygen mask over his face and a sachet of blood feeding another needle placed in his arm. He looked pale but already the ghastly black of his damaged arm leg that poked out of his cutaway shorts receded and the swelling had all but gone.

  "Oh Ryan," Karla felt tears swell in her eyes. "Why did you pretend everything was okay when it wasn't?" She grabbed his left hand and squeezed.

  He squeezed back, his eyes fluttered and opened. "Male chauvinism, Sweetheart," he muttered. "I didn't want to worry you."

  "Stupid man," Karla replied and kissed him on the lips. "We're a team."

  "Yes, a team." Ryan smiled and closed his eyes. His breathing though was regular and she allowed herself to relax for the first time since the emergency began.

  *

  Three days later Ryan was home with a set of crutches and not allowed to do any physical work. Karla completed school related work on the computer and glanced across at him sipping coffee from a mug.

  "Remember what we said in the hospital about being a team?" she asked

  "Yes."

  "So what's on your mind?"

  "The future of the farm and whether I want to be part of it." He sighed and sipped more coffee. "I guess it's back to my original reason for leaving all those years ago. There's more to consider now, though."

  "And what is that?"

  "You and the school. You love it here and are doing such a marvellous job. Why only yesterday, I was speaking to Jason's Mum. You couldn't find somebody less interested in education if you tried but she said…"

  "Okay," Karla interrupted. "I turned Jason around but it is only a school, Ryan. The country is full of schools. Don't use my position as an excuse to stay on the farm when deep down you are not really interested in farming. There are numerous options open for us."

  "Name some."

  "I will! You can replace Clive with another manager next year or accept Alan's proposal. I'm thinking of the original one where he wanted the whole station not just the original property. You can go back to varsity to complete your degree or we could keep this house and grounds while you complete your degree extramurally at Massey University. With modern technology you hardly need to attend physically anyway."

  "And you?"

  "I can stay here for a while but it was never a long term option anyway. Who wants to end up as a female Ted by staying too long?"

  "And have a family?"

  Karla stared at him. "If you want one," she whispered.

  "We are a team. It's what we both want to do together. Isn't this what our whole discussion is about?"

  Karla bit on her lip. " I want a family, too but in a year or two. Okay?"

  Ryan nodded and was quiet for a while as he finished his coffee. "So in the short term and taking into account your suggestions, I think I should resign as a worker on the station. Clive needs someone to do the hard physical work and I won't be able to do that for quite a while." He looked sheepish. "If you don't mind supporting me, I could enrol at Massey extramurally for the second semester and not wait until next year."

  "Of course I don't mind. You still have some conservative ideas you know, such as me being bare footed and pregnant in the kitchen while you support us all."

  "Surely, I'm not that bad."

  Karla smiled. "No you aren't. I'm just trying to illustrate a point."

  "So I'll resign as farm worker and enrol at the university? With Clive staying on for another year we have that extra time to sort out the farm."

  "We do."

  Karla felt relieved and unexpectedly optimistic about their lives. In some ways they had both been trying too hard to help each other when a solution that they both wanted was a more logical way to go.

  "Let's have a wine to celebrate," she whispered.

  "And afterwards?" Ryan raised his eyebrows

  "Why not?" she replied and tucked her arms through his. They kissed with a promise of more to come.

  *

  Two weeks later, Anne called and asked if Alan and her could visit the following weekend. Her tone suggested that it was more than a social visit and Ryan was somewhat sceptical about her reason.

  "Don't tell them that I'm considering leaving the farm," he said. "Nor that I'm still having trouble with my leg."

  "Your mother knows about your latest operation. She was as worried as I was, you know."

  Ryan shrugged. "Okay but you never told her that I might go back to university?"

  Karla shook her head. "It didn't come up."

  "Good. I don't want to play into Alan's hands, that's all."

  Two hours after the pair arrived on Friday evening, the evening meal was over and small talk exhausted. Anne brought up the topic in everyone's mind.

  "There's been a development with DaY Development," she said almost apologetically. "I'll let Alan explain."

  Ryan's step-father coughed and glanced up from where he'd been doodling on a piece of paper at the far end of the kitchen table they were all seated around. "The company is in a bit of financial trouble and we need to revise some of our development plans," he muttered.

  "A bit of trouble," Anne gasped. "On come on Alan, this is my family here not some local reporter interested in a story." She glanced up at Ryan and switched her eyes to Karla. "The bank has given DaY Development thirty days to come up with the money owed to them or they will foreclose on the loan. If that happens we will be bankrupt."

  "It's not quite that bad, Anne." Alan looked embarrassed.

  She swung back at him. "It is and you know it." Her voice dropped to a whisper.

  Karla caught Ryan's eyes.

  His mother looked determined with her jaw out and eyes serious as she spoke. "Instead of consolidating, Alan has attempted to expand the company out of trouble. DaY bought out a failing company but instead of using their contracts to help us, we were just pulled further into debt." She stopp
ed talking and gazed at them all with tears in her eyes. "I am no business woman but neither am I ignorant about the financial world; after all I carried Top Plateau Station through many lean years while my first husband almost managed to squander it all. Now it's happening again! "

  "So what are the conditions, Mum?" Ryan asked in a quiet voice.

  "You know about Panda Pacific and their offer, of course?"

  Ryan frowned. "Never heard of them. Should I have?"

  "They're that Chinese company that Trish wanted to sell Top Plateau Station to."

  "You mean that overseas syndicate she mentioned?" Karla asked.

  Anne nodded. "I guess she didn't want to mention that they were Chinese. That's where all the money is in our modern world." She turned to her husband. "Tell them, Alan."

  "Panda Pacific already owns several large farms and commercial property in New Zealand. They have offered an extremely generous takeover bid for DaY Development but there is a condition."

  "Top Plateau Station?" Ryan asked.

  "They want to purchase the whole station, not just the original property," Alan said. "Their plans include DaY's original one of developing lifestyle blocks here but they will convert the homestead into a upmarket retreat for overseas visitors. There are already a couple in this part of the country owned by American billionaires."

  "So the purchase of DaY Development is just a backdoor way to get this property?" Karla asked.

  "Partly," Alan admitted. "But they will continue to keep DaY as a going concern and registered company on the New Zealand stock exchange."

  "Will you retain any shares?" Ryan asked.

  "Twenty percent and a seat on the Board." Alan admitted. "Their offer has been made but the time frame is short."

  "How short?" Karla asked.

  "One month."

  Karla squeezed Ryan's arm beneath the table and gave him a tiny nod.

  Ryan nodded and turned to his stepfather. "I have moved our affairs to a new lawyer and a different firm. She is very professional and talented."

  Alan raised his eyebrows. "She?"

  "Why not?" Karla retorted.

  "No reason," Alan whispered and turned back to Ryan. "You were saying?"

  "Give me details of everything about your company and the takeover deal. Also we will need to know about the offer Panda Pacific made and your counter offer."