One Hour to Midnight

by Shirley Wine

  He, more than anyone, knew and understood the social mores of their society. And that it was Matt Yorke who pointed out that glaring omission didn't sit well with him.

  He would rectify the omission, but would never do to buy Veronica jewellery immediately. Even he wasn't that crass.

  What the hell else had that obnoxious man said to put that stricken expression on her face? Veronica was the person least able to dissemble that he knew and Yorke had cut her to the heart.

  "And what was it you already knew?"

  She looked at him, eyes shielded by a sweep of dark lashes and gave an expressive shrug. "It's not important."

  He laid a hand over the two clenched in her lap. Despite the warm night her hands were icy cold. She shuddered at his touch then went unnaturally still.

  He cursed silently.

  Something in her absolute stillness warned him to be very, very careful. Veronica had shut him out. And for all that the wall was invisible, he sensed it was nigh on impenetrable.

  Chapter Nineteen.

  Restlessness was driving Veronica crazy.

  Two hours of lessons with Jordan every day wasn't enough to keep her unhappy thoughts at bay. Jordan was resting, Leon was working from home today and Cassie was busy supervising staff.

  Veronica tapped on Leon's study door and opened it. He looked up from his computer monitor, grey eyes cool and distant.

  Distinctly uncomfortable, she rushed into speech. "I've an appointment to get my hair done. Jordan's resting. Can you keep an ear out for him?"

  "Okay." He glanced down and saved his work and then stood and walked across to her. "Make sure you go with Kelley."

  "Why?" Although she liked Kelley, Veronica hated being shadowed by a security agent. "I want to drive myself."

  Leon sighed softly and lifted her chin with a firm hand and made her meet his eyes. "I'd prefer you didn't. At Flynn's insistence, we've stepped up security."

  Of all the things about her life at Claremont, being dogged by a security agent was what she hated most. Veronica wanted to defy Leon then shrugged it away.

  Flynn, the head of security, was the most pragmatic man she'd ever met and wasn't at all the type to bat at shadows. He must have a reason to beef up security.

  "Okay," she conceded with a disgruntled sigh. So much for putting down the hood and blowing the cobwebs from her brain! She alerted Kelley over the intercom and went to retrieve the bag she'd left in her car.

  Mind elsewhere, Veronica opened the driver's door.

  For endless moments she stood rooted to the spot, her shocked mind desperately spinning to assimilate what she saw.

  Blood was splattered over the entire car interior. Pinned to the steering wheel was a photo of a blood splattered corpse. An obscene message screamed at her.

  You escaped last time. Watch your back.

  Veronica slammed the car door and backed away from the awful sight, dimly aware that someone was screaming.

  Then Leon was there, crushing her against him. His harsh, guttural oath vibrated through her body. He yanked an electronic gizmo from his pocket and pressed a button as he carried her into his office. She collapsed in a chair, her legs incapable of support. Leon crouched in front of her and took her hands, firmly rubbing them to impart some warmth.

  Gradually shock gave way to coherent thought.

  "Wh-wh-who would do that?" she stuttered.

  "I don't know," Leon looked grimmer than she could ever remember seeing him. "But I will find out."

  Veronica began to shake. "Someone wants me dead?"

  "That's my take." Leon gripped her hands, trying to comfort her. "Don't be frightened. We'll keep you safe."

  Within moments, it seemed, the house was filled with people. A man in black camouflage scanned the room with an electronic device.

  "McKenna will bring the car to the front door. A security officer you will leave with him as a decoy," Leon instructed tersely. "He'll book her into a hotel in the central city under your name."

  Veronica, caught in the grip of an obscene nightmare, stared at Leon in horrified confusion. "Where do I go?"

  There was a knock on the door. A man came into the room and they conversed so quietly Veronica couldn't follow the conversation then he beckoned to someone in the corridor.

  She stared at the newcomer, aghast.

  The woman could have been her double. This had all the hallmarks of some pre-planned manoeuvre.

  "Veronica this is Amanda. Cassie's getting her one of your outfits."

  Appalled, Veronica stared. Cassie appeared with the garments and handed them over.

  Unnerved, Veronica realised this was her life, and she wanted no part of this drama. Leon approached, dark clothes tossed over his arms. "We want you to change into these, Veronica."

  "Why?" Was that shaky voice hers?

  "Veronica, I know this is a shock." He gripped her hands tightly. "You do realise Yannis was mixed up with some very ruthless people? Now your life has been threatened and we need to move swiftly to ensure your safety. We wouldn't ask this of you, unless we thought it necessary, okay?"

  "Where do you want me to go?" Her voice trembled on the words. She was terrified. "What happens now?"

  "After your look-a-like has gone, we're going to secrete you away from here."

  "Where to?"

  "A chalet in the mountains. It's secure and safe, fully wired and the grounds are alarmed. There's an around the clock security team going with you."

  Shoulders stiff she looked at him. "Tell me this is some kind of weird joke?"

  "That photo, threatening note and blood splattered interior is not a joke. It's a warning. Security is treating it as one."

  "What about Jordan?"

  "Security here will be beefed up. He'll be safe enough." He paused a moment. "Your reaction in walking out is predictable, and was probably the intention behind that threat."

  The quiet, prosaic words hurt. Veronica wondered what it would take to stir Leon to a show of real emotion. Did he even care?

  "How long am I to be incarcerated?" Indignation leached into her voice. "I'd much prefer to return home to New Zealand."

  "A week, Veronica." Leon's grim expression gave Veronica her answer. "Give me one week and if we haven't tracked down the perpetrator by then I'll arrange for you to return to Auckland."

  Chapter Twenty

  The rustic chalet in the Dandenongs wrapped Veronica in its spell. Her determination to hate it died when she saw it nestled among the towering gum trees. Within a day, the bush gripped her.

  She filled the bird feeders and spent hours watching parrots of every shape and colour, honey-eaters, finches and doves visit the feeding stations. At dawn and dusk, kangaroos and other wild animals drank from the dam at the bottom of the rough garden.

  And Veronica discovered why Leon and Jordan loved their time in the ranges.

  It was quiet and so peaceful.

  Of her bodyguard, the taciturn Flynn, Veronica saw nothing except for a quiet greeting morning and night. The house was fully provisioned down to bush clothes, the ubiquitous fawn shirts and shorts, the uniform of country Australians.

  And Veronica allowed herself to relax. The burdens and the pressures of Claremont fell away. Jordan was no longer so ill. There was no passion filled nights in Leon's arms. None of the trepidation and anxiety she'd harboured over their relationship.

  The solitude gave her time to think.

  Could she go on with this loveless marriage? Had she been insane to agree to it in the first place? Would her love alone be enough?

  Fate, and some-one intent on mischief, allowed her time to gather some much needed perspective.

  ~***~

  Leon drove towards the chalet his mind in turmoil.

  He glanced at Sonia, silent in the passenger seat, and knew she shared his disquiet.

  "I'm still struggling to believe Andreas could do such a thing."

  "That young man is in for the shock of his life. He won't like Crave
n. The regimen they run at that school makes St Augustins look like playschool."

  "There's nothing you can do?"

  Leon gave her an exasperated glance. "I'm not even about to try, Sonia. I've tried to warn you that Andreas was headed for trouble, but you refused to listen."

  One glance at his sister-in-law and he knew that although she was shaken by the events of this past week she was still trying to find excuses for her son's diabolical actions. Her sigh was heavy.

  "I know, now his fate rests on Ricki." Sonia gave a derisive snort. "How bloody ironic."

  "None of this is her doing, Sonia." Angry, Leon slapped a palm on the steering wheel. "My wife's name is Veronica, use it. She doesn't like being called Ricki, and I for one can't fault her for that stance. Can you blame her? And your son frightened the life out of her, so don't try and make light of it."

  "I'm not making light of his actions. But he is only a boy." Sonia pouted but had the sense not to challenge him over Veronica.

  "He's old enough to know in today's climate, acts of terrorism are not tolerated."

  "For god's sake Leon, it was only a harmless prank."

  He gave her a disbelieving glance. "You keep telling yourself that Sonia and when he ends up in jail, who will you blame then?"

  "You're impossible." She gave an angry huff. "I'm glad I'm flying to Argentina with José next week. I can't take much more of this."

  "It's the best outcome for all of you. I hate seeing you so bitter and twisted." Leon laid a hand over hers. "José's a good man, and after marriage to my brother you deserve some happiness. Yannis was despicable."

  Sonia's scornful laugh grated. "You, like your parents, only saw in Yannis what you wanted to see. He had a dark, evil side."

  Leon just shook his head. Yannis had treated Veronica badly.

  And, like Sonia, found it ironic that now his own happiness, his whole future hung in the balance, over his brother's actions.

  Veronica didn't know the worst about Yannis, the man she still harboured feelings for, a man who thought nothing of using a love-starved teenage girl as a cash cow. Leon found no comfort that he should have heeded Flynn's warning and levelled with Veronica before he asked her to marry him.

  Andreas's diabolical prank could be the detonator that would end his marriage.

  When Veronica knows the depth of Yannis treachery how can she possibly want to stay married to me?

  Leon couldn't find it in his heart to blame Veronica if she walked out him and on their marriage.

  ~***~

  "You have two visitors coming." Flynn materialised an hour before dusk on her sixth night at the chalet. "They'll be here in ten."

  "Thanks." Nervous, Veronica sat in one of the old rockers on the veranda and waited. Who was with Leon? When they arrived, a shocked breath escaped.

  Leon she expected. Sonia was a total surprise.

  "Veronica." Leon indicated Sonia sit in the other rocker while he perched on the rail facing both women.

  He held the thick folder so tightly his knuckles gleamed white.

  Veronica glanced from him to the folder and then looked away. Her heart thrummed in her ears, the heavy beat drowning out the country sounds.

  Leon's expression was as forbidding as she'd ever seen it. Her eyes strayed to the folder and her apprehension grew.

  What had he discovered?

  He handed her the folder.

  "What's this?" She indicated the folder.

  "Evidence of my brother's treachery."

  Veronica's hand shook as she laid the folder on the cane table, unable to bear touching it.

  "We've discovered who was behind the vandalism to your car."

  "Vandalism?" Veronica's voice was husky with nerves. This wasn't what she was expecting. "Who?"

  "Andreas." Leon's eyes were bleak, his expression grim.

  "I should have known!" A shiver shimmied down her spine as Leon fixed her with a cold, grey glare. She'd never seen him look so grim.

  "How could you have known?" he asked in a silky voice. "What makes you say that?"

  Wary of his forbidding expression, Veronica described the confrontation with Andreas at the street front cafe. She heard Sonia suck in a harsh breath and shake her head.

  With every word, Leon's frown grew blacker. "And you thought I didn't need to know this? Why didn't you tell me?"

  "I was going to tell you." She shrugged and spread her hands. "But thought he was just an angry boy and would get over it."

  "Had you told me, perhaps we could have averted the unnerving events of this past week."

  Veronica glanced from Leon to Sonia. Something in their grim expressions set her heart thudding at a frantic rate. "Why, what's happened?"

  "We've had the Federal police crawling all over Claremont, and through the offices of Karvasis Inc and all over Sonia's home."

  "The Federal police were involved." Veronica looked from Leon to Sonia her panicked heartbeats so loud she was sure they could hear them.

  Sonia gripped Veronica's hand tightly, her blue eyes sparkling with tears. "Andreas only meant to frighten you into leaving Claremont and Australia."

  "That may have been his intention, but it backfired big time," Leon said, his voice clipped and terse. "When security saw your car, they called the police. The local police thought they were dealing with another Melbourne underworld gangland killing spree and called in the Feds. They're real twitchy about Melbourne's underworld."

  That made sense.

  The last gangland war, a feud between two rival families for control, had made international headlines.

  "Andreas?" Veronica looked from one, aghast. "He's been charged? But he's only fourteen."

  "His stunt has some pretty serious consequences." Leon's smile turned feral. "Young Andreas has found himself in court on a raft of Federal charges."

  "I know he doesn't like me, but why would he do something so awful? And how did he get past security to vandalise my car?"

  Leon gave Sonia a fulminating look Veronica couldn't understand. Sonia flushed and looked away obviously uncomfortable.

  "Andreas takes after his father. He cozied up to one of the young maids and bribed her to do the deed for him. The maid no longer works at Claremont." Leon's voice made her shiver. Veronica hazarded a guess the woman would find it difficult obtaining employment anywhere. "As to why? Sonia can explain."

  "You probably didn't know it, but I was in the process of divorcing Yannis when he killed himself." Sonia kept her eyes trained on the hands clenched in her lap before giving Veronica another of those fleeting, embarrassed glances. "His gambling was out of control. I was tired of his affairs and he'd been fingered for embezzling huge sums of money from Karvasis Incorporated."

  Veronica swallowed. Bile rose in her throat threatening to choke her. How many times did she have to protest her innocence?

  "I didn't know about his gambling. Nor did I know he was married."

  "I never for a moment thought you did." Sonia gave her another of those under-her-lashes glances that left Veronica very uncomfortable. "And you're wondering what past history has to do with us now?"

  Veronica nodded wordlessly, dread creeping up her spine.

  "Before Yannis died, I hired a private detective. He was under surveillance, twenty-four seven. Once I began divorce proceedings, I was afraid he'd resort to violence and was afraid of the repercussions."

  Veronica stared at the other woman, heat searing her face and neck. "You knew?"

  "I knew." Sonia gave her a shame faced glance. "What I didn't know was that Andreas somehow unearthed that investigator's file, and hid it away."

  "And he blames me for his father's death?"

  "He does. And he decided to take matters into his own hands and frighten you into leaving and returning to New Zealand," Leon said tersely.

  Veronica swallowed hard. Andreas was only fourteen, a boy. "So what happens now?"

  "His fate rests in your hands, Veronica," Sonia said looking as if she was
on the verge of tears.

  "What do I have to say about it?" She looked from one to the other, perplexed.

  "Because Andreas has no previous criminal history, taking his age into account and that it's basically a family matter, we've been able to cut a deal with the Federal prosecutor." Leon's cold lethal voice gave her the chills.

  "What sort of deal?"

  "That depends on you."

  "Me?"

  "You are the person most affected. The Federal Prosecutor wants to see him charged. If he is, he'll most likely end up being sent to a youth detention centre."

  "And that is?"

  "A jail for juveniles."

  Veronica sucked in a horrified breath. Fourteen and in jail?

  "Sending him to St Augustins is out of the question," Leon said in that same cold voice. "He's done his chips there. That school has its reputation to maintain. Sonia and I have put forward the proposition that because of his age, Andreas be sent to Craven, a military style boarding school with a fearsome reputation. If you agree to him attending Craven, the Federal Prosecutor will drop the charges. At Craven, Andreas won't have time to worry about you, his father, or his perceived injustices."

  "Will you give your consent, Veronica?" Sonia looked at her, her blue eyes pleading. "He's only a boy."

  Veronica chewed on her fingernail. "He won't threaten me again?"

  Leon gave a grim smile. "I'd hate to be in his shoes if he tries it."

  Veronica swallowed hard as she recalled that horrid scene. "Will he spend holidays at Claremont?"

  "No," Sonia said in a halting voice. "Andreas will spend his holidays with José and me in Argentina."

  "And Katya?" Veronica was no longer prepared to meekly sit back and let things happen to her. She didn't want anything to do with Yannis's other children, nor did she want Jordan to be too closely associated with them.

  "Katya's going to Argentina with her mother for the rest of the school year. She'll fly back next year to attend Royden."

  "And if Andreas pulls any more stunts?"

  "He'll be hauled back into court pronto," Leon said grimly.