Burning Lies

by Helene Young

  Kaitlyn had to use all her strength to stay gentle and calm. Julia’s pulse fluttered under her fingers. She needed to get her inside. ‘Do you think you can stand?’

  ‘Mum, Mum, the fire’s at the shed!’ Dan yelled, backing up towards her, the gun wavering in his hands.

  ‘Oh, fuck.’ Her family was more important than keeping Speedy safe to face the law. ‘Mum, I have to get you inside. I’m sorry, this is going to hurt.’

  ‘Just do it, do what you have to,’ Julia said with a shaky nod. ‘Martin phoned before the lines went down. We were right about Speedy. Martin found the connection.’

  Kait didn’t have time to even consider it. Their lives were at risk. ‘Tell me as soon as this is over. Dan, quick, give me the gun. You need to turn the sprinklers on full and get the mops and buckets ready. Can you do that, baby?’

  He nodded as he ran to her side, but his glance strayed to Nero just before he handed the gun to her.

  Kaitlyn touched his hair. ‘I’ll bring him in too. He’ll be okay. Go now.’

  She turned back to her mother as Daniel’s footsteps clattered down the corridor. ‘Ready?’

  Once Julia was standing, Kaitlyn kept an arm around her and helped her through to the lounge, reluctantly leaving her with a cold pack pressed to her head. If she didn’t make sure her fire protection was working, they’d all be dead.

  And Nero. She needed to bring his body inside so they could bury him later, together. So much sorrow. Too much sorrow. Again.

  The waterfall over the door drowned her as she stepped through it, and for a split second she turned her face to cool water.

  ‘Nero?’ The dog was on his feet. His sides were convulsing as he threw up, but even as she ran to him, Nero shook himself, all four legs leaving the ground for an instant, before his tail began to wag. ‘Nero, good boy. Come here. Good boy.’ He staggered a bit then trotted over to her and leant into her knee.

  She scratched his ears and frowned as she realised Speedy had managed to make some movement towards the gate. Right now he was the least of her worries. She had faith her knots would hold and if he burnt to death then he deserved it. Once she had her system all checked and operational she’d drag him into the garage. Until then, he could try rolling as much as he wanted.

  Behind her, she heard the rattle of a mop bucket, but before she could shut the front door and keep her family safe she saw a flash of white hurtling through the trees. A police car.

  ‘Thank you. Thank you!’ she cried, as it turned into her driveway at full speed. It swerved violently to miss Speedy before slamming to a stop in front of her, its driver’s door flying open. A familiar face appeared over the top of the car.

  ‘Kaitlyn, thank God you’re all right.’

  For an instant she wavered, then she dragged the gun from her pocket with shaking hands.

  ‘Stop right there, or I’ll shoot.’

  ‘Kaitlyn, it’s me. It’s Ryan. It’s okay now. I’ve called it through. They’ll send back-up as soon as they can.’ He held his hands up, the gun loose in his fingers as he walked around the bonnet.

  Kaitlyn tried to steady her hands. The jerk even managed to look concerned. ‘No, it’s not okay. I saw you. I saw you driving that ute, lighting the fire with him.’ She waved the gun at Speedy, who’d made it to a sitting position. ‘I was in the Dash doing surveillance.’

  He looked shocked, bewildered. ‘No, Kaitlyn, you don’t understand.’

  ‘Ryan, buddy. What took you so long?’ Speedy was wheezing from the smoke, but his words still carried to Kaitlyn. ‘Thank Christ you’re here.’

  Ryan ignored him and kept walking, tucking the gun in his waistband and holding his hands up again. ‘Kait, don’t do this. It’s not what it looks like.’ His voice was low, reasoning, steady.

  ‘Stop!’

  ‘Don’t trust her, mate, the bitch’s already shot me,’ Speedy called. ‘Just shoot her and be done with it. We need to get outta here. They know all about us. We’ve got to run.’

  ‘Kait, he’s lying.’ Ryan didn’t even glance at Speedy, but he was closing fast on her now.

  ‘Stop!’ She aimed high at his shoulder and squeezed the trigger.

  Chapter 48

  THE instant he saw her finger tighten on the trigger Ryan dived for the ground, rolling himself into a ball. The shot missed him, but he heard the window of the patrol car shatter. Speedy’s manic laughter was just the catalyst he needed. He kept the momentum going, not knowing if Kaitlyn was going to take another shot at him.

  He tackled her around the knees and saw her gun go flying the instant before he got her in a bear hug. Lifting her off the ground, he barrelled them both through the front door. She clawed and swiped at him like a terrified cat.

  ‘Enough, Kaitlyn. You have to trust me.’

  ‘Trust you?’ she shrieked, finally getting free. ‘You stay away from my family!’

  ‘Mum?’ Daniel had emerged from the living room, looking uncertain. ‘Ryan!’ His face lit up, but Kaitlyn swept him up before he could run past her. Nero bounded into the mix, almost tripping her up. She panted with exhaustion, clasping her son to her. Ryan clicked his fingers and the dog rushed to his side, licking his hand. Kait swung her son behind her.

  ‘Mum? It’s Ryan.’

  ‘No, Daniel. His name’s not Ryan. He’s not who he says he is.’

  ‘No, he’s a policeman. Nana said Martin phoned before. He said he’s a policeman.’

  ‘Martin said that?’

  Ryan had no idea who the hell Martin was, but he could see Kaitlyn wavering. He cut in before she could protest again. ‘Kait, we don’t have time. You have to trust me. Right now you need to fire up every one of your defences and I need to lock Speedy somewhere secure where he won’t burn to death. We need to move. Please?’

  ‘I saw you from the aircraft as the fire started.’ She wasn’t going to let this go.

  ‘I was tracking Speedy. I called it in. It’s true, Kaitlyn, I was there, but I wasn’t the one who lit the fire. I would never hurt you. You have to trust me.’

  ‘I can’t.’ Kaitlyn chewed the inside of her cheek, looking hunted.

  ‘You have to. You have no other choice.’ He held his gun out to her. He had nothing else he could offer. Make or break. He could only keep his gaze steady, willing her to believe him.

  Another series of cracks and explosions made them both start.

  ‘Get him, then,’ Kaitlyn said with a sharp nod. ‘Lock him in the laundry.’ She spun on her heel. ‘Daniel. Get the mops on the veranda. Now.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Ryan said, before he sprinted out the door. He grabbed Kaitlyn’s discarded gun and kept going. Speedy had rolled under the patrol car and looked to be fiddling with something, despite his bound hands.

  ‘No you don’t, you shit. You’re coming with me.’ Ryan got hold of his calves and hauled him out. The red marks on Speedy’s wrists were a giveaway. ‘Thought you’d burn through them on the exhaust, did you? Bad luck, buddy. It didn’t work.’ The lead was partly damaged. He’d need to replace it with handcuffs just to make sure.

  He rummaged around in the police car and located the spare pair. ‘Come on then, time to show you some hospitality.’ Sliding the cuffs into his pocket, he bent down and grabbed Speedy by the legs and proceeded to drag him backwards across the grass. Speedy kept up a steady stream of curses, despite the difficulties he was having keeping his face clear of the ground. It was only when Speedy cried out with what sounded like genuine pain that Ryan noticed the bloodstain on his leg. It looked like a bullet hole in his overalls.

  ‘She really did shoot you?’

  Speedy managed a half-hearted spit sideways. ‘Bitch.’

  ‘Yeah, so you’ve said a couple of times. I get the picture. Doesn’t look like you’re bleeding to death.’

  They made it to the front door, where Ryan relented and undid the loop around Speedy’s ankles. ‘On your feet and don’t try anything. I won’t hesitate to shoot you, either.�
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  ‘Fuckin’ cops.’ Speedy sneered at him. ‘You know what happens to undercover pieces of shit eventually?’ Ryan didn’t answer, just prodded him in the back with his gun to move him down the corridor. ‘Someone gets the family. Best way to get to scum like you: kill the little lady and the kids. Smash their heads open, but only after they’ve spread their legs.’

  Ryan’s temper was straining against his control, but he knew he couldn’t afford to snap now. If he did, he’d kill Speedy. Then he’d be back to square one, knowing he was just like the criminals he helped to put away.

  Speedy continued to taunt him as Ryan hauled him into the laundry. He looked around, searching for something to secure him to.

  ‘Open the cupboard under the sink. All the pipes in this house are metal. Cuff him to those.’ Kaitlyn appeared behind him. ‘When you’re done, put these on and go for a shower. They need to be wet. The fire’s got the rose gum.’

  Ryan glanced at the black woollen clothes before he forced Speedy onto the floor, clipping one cuff on his left wrist. He was wasting time with this lowlife when they were all in grave danger. Speedy’s lack of resistance was making him nervous. Did he have something else up his sleeve?

  ‘Is she any good in the sack? Bit tall for me and way too shrewish.’ Speedy licked his lips, leering up at him, and Ryan’s fingers itched to backhand him. Instead, he pinched a pressure point on the man’s neck, then got the other cuff around Speedy’s right wrist. The patting down he gave him was none too gentle, but he didn’t need to find out later Speedy had a gun hidden on him.

  He wasted a moment leaning in to hiss in Speedy’s face. ‘I bet you scream like a girl when the lads get you in the shower block. The guards will tell them you’re an arsonist who burns innocent women and children. Enjoy that, buddy.’

  Gathering up the woollen clothes, he strode out. A minute later he dripped a trail of water through the house, securing the balaclava over his head. The shutters made the rooms feel smaller. The glow from green emergency lights at floor level was the only reason he could find his way around. He could just make out Julia, curled up on the couch, eyes closed, covered in a throw rug.

  Nero sat by the door that led outside from the kitchen. It was the only one without a closed shutter. Ryan guessed that was the way out and he pushed it open. The heat almost flattened him.

  He threw his arms up in front of his face. The air was thick with smoke, falling ash and burning embers. The gum was well alight, sparks shooting from older limbs as they ignited. Pulling the balaclava down harder over his face, he headed for the other two black-clad figures by the shed. Talking was impossible over the roar of the inferno. The entire rim of the escarpment was a writhing mass of reds and yellows, flames shooting 20, 30 metres into the sky. Each new explosion showered more debris on the buildings.

  Kaitlyn pointed at an oversized mop standing in a bucket. He lifted it out, running it through the rollers lightly. A curtain of water enveloped the shed as well, but any burning embers that fell to earth near it were quickly blotted out with the mops.

  Ryan got close enough to Kaitlyn to yell in her ear. ‘You go and look after the house, take Daniel. I’ll stay here.’ The further he could get her from the active fire front, the happier he’d be. So far her protection system seemed to be working, but he didn’t know how long the water supply would hold out.

  She shook her head. Her eyes were shielded by welding goggles but he could sense her suspicion still.

  ‘Go. I’ve got this,’ he said. He put a hand on her arm and squeezed, willing her to believe him. Another crash and rumble from down the slope sent a shower of sparks high above them and onto the house. He saw her wince. Nothing he could have envisaged would have been this fierce, this all-consuming. It was going to take more than good preparation if they were to survive. ‘Please.’

  This time she wavered. Then she whirled away and grabbed Daniel, bending down to yell instructions. The lad nodded and hefted his bucket and mop. He had to crab-walk across to the house, the wind tearing at him.

  ‘If it gets a hold on the shed, then leave it.’ Kaitlyn shouted, her voice barely audible.

  Ryan nodded and turned away, resisting the temptation to watch her run across her decimated yard to the house. Injured animals and birds sought refuge in the misting water. So much suffering and devastation. It reminded him of something from Jerry’s diaries. The old man had written about the innocent victims of the Second World War being hurt by the actions of vain men, caught in a nightmare not of their making, without an escape or even a sense of hope. As yet another scorched and dying metallic starling fell at his feet, he saw parallels.

  By now, the grass had virtually all been seared away; the earth was bare and blackened. Garden beds were denuded of plants. The long, slender limbs of the rose gum were naked and charred, the curling bark glowing amber as it dropped to the ground. Ryan darted in, wielding the mop, to extinguish each piece.

  Without protection for his eyes, he could only squint against the fierce burn of the smoke. Tears left tracks down his cheeks. At least the woollen balaclava filtered the air enough that he could breathe. He felt a blast of hot air on the back of his head and peered in that direction.

  So far, the eucalypts further around the escarpment had escaped the fire. If the predicted wind shift arrived, though, it would envelop them in the next wave, re-energising the fire, and that would leave Kaitlyn’s house in the dead man’s zone. Was this the first sign that the change in weather was on its way?

  If it was, then all they could do was hide inside and wait it out, putting all their faith in Kaitlyn’s defences. Jerry’s house would definitely be cactus.

  He lunged forward again to stamp out new burning patches near the rose gum. The water still ran over the shed and, while the building’s cladding sported blistered paint, nothing had warped or separated.

  His bucket was almost empty and he wet the mop one last time before heading to the tap. The metal was almost too hot to touch. How much longer before the washers gave out?

  How much longer could they hold out? He still had no idea how big Kait’s water tanks were. Surely to God the fire had devoured everything in its path by now?

  Kaitlyn and Dan were still dabbing at the steady bombardment of burning debris that littered the ground around the house. Ryan frowned. It looked like there was smoke seeping from her roof. He blinked and squinted. There was. Shit.

  Grabbing his bucket, he started to run. ‘Kait, Kaitlyn!’ he yelled, his voice hoarse from the smoke. ‘Kait!’

  She finally turned, but he couldn’t see her expression. The mop was raised in guarded position, as if she expected him to attack her.

  ‘There’s smoke from your roof,’ he croaked when he got to her.

  ‘Where?’ she demanded.

  ‘Here.’ He grabbed her arm and dragged her far enough back so she could see.

  ‘Oh no. It’s the laundry!’ She dropped her bucket and fled towards the door, Ryan right on her heels.

  Smoke poured out of the house as she pushed into the kitchen.

  ‘The arsehole.’ She started coughing as she waved her hands in front of her face. ‘I’ll kill him.’

  ‘You can’t. I did that already,’ Julia tottered towards the couch, clutching the gun. Despite the blood on her face and her trembling hands, she looked defiant and unbowed. ‘I did it. I’m sorry. I smelt burning plastic and I went to investigate. The laundry’s ruined, but I used the extinguisher and then I shot him.’

  ‘Don’t touch the gun,’ Ryan warned Kait as she rushed to her mother. ‘We don’t need your prints on it.’ She ignored him, murmuring soothing words to Julia. He looked around for something to wrap it in. Plastic wrapper off a magazine. Best he could do. He was reacting instinctively. A man shot while cuffed to a sink was going to be difficult to justify no matter the provocation. They needed to preserve the evidence or Julia would have a murder charge to answer.

  Julia was still talking, her voice ragged with emot
ion even though Kait was trying to calm her. ‘He kept laughing at me, laughing like a mad man. All I could see in my mind was my beautiful Stephen, and Chris, and everything we lost.’ She had tears rolling down her cheeks, but her words had steadied. She looked at her daughter, the love so clear in her eyes. ‘I tried, Kait. I told him to shut up, be quiet, but he wouldn’t stop. I had to end it. I’m sorry. There was no other way. I never thought I could kill but he didn’t deserve to live. Not after all that he’s done. Forgive me, my darling. I’m as bad as …’

  She slumped against Kaitlyn, the gun clattering to the ground. Ryan grabbed it with a plastic-covered hand and wrapped it up. How much more could go wrong? Kaitlyn already had Julia into recovery position on the couch. As he crouched down beside them, he couldn’t miss the heavy bloodstain on the light fabric.

  ‘Julia,’ Kaitlyn pleaded with her mother. ‘Mum, hang in there. We’ve almost won.’

  Ryan went to find Speedy. Julia was right. She’d shot him, straight in the face. He was most definitely dead. It didn’t give Ryan any satisfaction. The law was not going to judge Julia lightly. What a fucking mess. The empty fire-extinguisher was lying on its side. At least it had done its job. All he could do was close the door and hope enough evidence survived for forensics to make sense of it.

  He strode back to the lounge. Kait looked up at him and he nodded his confirmation. ‘She did, she really did.’

  ‘Oh, Mum.’ There was so much sorrow in Kait’s voice; all he wanted to do was gather her tightly against him and rock her until the horror stopped. But he knew, even if she let him, it would be no use. This horror had a long way to run.

  ‘There’s a wind shift coming, Kait. What do you want to do?’ Ryan had to ask. Maybe she had a plan.

  She shook her head at him, the sheen of tears making her eyes bright. ‘There’s nothing more I can do. Get Daniel inside. If we lose the shed, so be it. Then I can divert all the water to the house. I can’t leave Mum like this.’