Indigo Storm

by Fleur McDonald

  She’d watched the firelight dance over his face and thought how beautiful he was. Chris had been trying to get her attention, she knew, but she hadn’t been interested. Not really. It had been flattering, of course, but, as she’d told everyone who asked, she wasn’t interested in men.

  But then Jacob had turned and caught her looking at him, and held her gaze for a long time, while the fire crackled around them. Eliza knew the heat she was feeling wasn’t just from the flames.

  ‘So, you ready yet?’ he’d asked very quietly.

  ‘Ready for what?’ she’d whispered back.

  ‘Me.’

  Her fear had given way to a feeling of peace. She had never felt this way before—a mixture of wildness and safeness. The girls going missing, and the joy of finding them, had made her think about what life was really about. If she held back now, the only person she would be hurting would be herself. She hadn’t left a bad marriage just to be scared and alone. Life was about grabbing every moment, every opportunity, and making the most of it.

  She knew she could do that with Jacob.

  Eliza just leaned over and put her lips on his, concentrating only on how he tasted.

  The storm hadn’t kept tourists away or wreaked havoc with the setting-up that had been done. The stall holders were getting organised, and the campers were sitting outside their vans, drinking coffee and talking. There was a buzz of expectation in the air. Some people were swapping recipes, while others were holding their cards close to their chest.

  When Eliza arrived at Reen’s, she was pulling meat out of the fridge. Eliza and Jacob had picked up the thirty legs of lamb that had been donated by a local butcher. Each cook-out team, of five people, would get one leg each and a kilo each of onions, carrots and potatoes, and flour. What they made with those ingredients was up to the cooks.

  ‘Here, weigh out the potatoes,’ Reen instructed Eliza.

  She did as she was told, and put each portion into the baskets lined up on the bench. When they were all loaded onto a ute, Eliza and Reen drove down to the creek, where people were lined up, ready to cook. The tents were enclosed, so the flies couldn’t get in, and there was a lot of laughter and chatter. For some, it wasn’t too early to open a beer.

  The ingredients were handed out, and Mark Patterson got to his feet to explain the rules. At the end, he added, ‘Bribery is encouraged,’ he paused. ‘For the RFDS.’

  The assembled crowd clapped and many of them then disappeared into their tents to start on their masterpieces. The ones who weren’t cooking were wandering up and down the main street, looking at the displays.

  Jacob stopped to drop a quick kiss on Eliza’s lips as he delivered more coals to the fire pits. The fire was contained inside an old rainwater tank that had been cut in half. Eliza wrapped her arms around herself, unable to keep a silly grin off her face.

  She was pushed sideways as Reen came up to her.

  ‘Got something to tell me?’ she asked with a cheeky smile.

  Eliza turned to her friend with a very wide grin. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘So?’ Reen opened her eyes wide and gave a ‘tell-me-more’ signal with her hands.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. Last night, it all just seemed to be right.’

  Reen put her hand on Eliza’s shoulder. ‘I’m really pleased. But I’ve got to admit, I thought it’d be Chris.’

  ‘Nah, there was never anything there,’ she answered. ‘Anyway, I’d better get back to my stall. I really want to sell some of my photos.’

  ‘Good luck!’

  Eliza wandered back to the main street and sat at her post.

  While there was a lull, she relaxed back in her chair and watched the passing parade. People watching was something she’d always liked doing. She watched a family walk down the street, the mum talking non-stop to one of the children, while the father handed out money to another child who wanted to enter the damper throwing. He put his hand on his wife’s arm and turned her to look at him. Eliza could make out that he was saying, ‘Settle down, they’re not going to get lost here.’

  She smiled to herself.

  It was such a fun atmosphere; there was so much laughing and cheering. Her gaze roamed over the people sitting in the beer garden.

  Then she froze. There was a man sitting in the corner. She couldn’t see him clearly but he looked familiar.

  ‘Hi, Eliza.’

  She dragged her eyes away, and saw Mary and John Caulder standing in front of her.

  ‘Hi, how are you both?’ she asked carefully.

  ‘Well, thank you. And you?’

  ‘Really great.’ She tried to keep eye contact with them, but couldn’t resist turning to look back towards the beer garden.

  He was gone.

  Terror coursed through her and it took everything she had for her to stay in her seat. She swung back to look at Mary.

  ‘Eliza,’ Mary hesitated, then continued: ‘We’re so happy that you’re here, and we hope that somehow you’ll get to a point where you’d like to know a little about your mum. She really was a beautiful person. We miss her very much.’

  ‘I’m just trying to get my head around everything, Mary,’ Eliza answered honestly. ‘I’m not avoiding you, or disregarding you, or anything like that. Even though I’d half-hoped I’d find something here, I knew it was a long shot. In the end, it was about being safe and away from Dominic.’ As she said his name, her heart started to pound. She looked around her again.

  ‘We understand, dear. Take as much time as you need. We’re not going anywhere!’

  Impulsively, Eliza reached over and gave the older woman a hug, then did the same to John. ‘Thank you,’ she said sincerely.

  Once they’d gone, Eliza swung around and studied each section of the main street, looking for the man she’d seen.

  ‘You’re being silly,’ she told herself. How could he possibly know she was here? Despite what Dave had told her, there was no real reason to think Dominic would know her whereabouts.

  ‘Hello, Ashleigh,’ a voice came from behind her.

  She felt something push into her back.

  ‘So, I’ve finally found you,’ Dominic said in a low, menacing voice.

  Eliza licked her lips, speechless. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t get any sound out.

  ‘What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?’

  She was still struck dumb with fear.

  ‘Or maybe you weren’t expecting me? We might go for a stroll over to my caravan and have a little catch-up. It’s been so long since we talked.’ He pushed something hard into her back again and motioned for her to walk in front of him.

  They threaded their way through the crowds, Eliza desperate to see someone she knew. But they were all busy, either down at the creek, or organising kids’ activities. Frantically, she looked around, making eye contact with whoever she could, trying to convey that she was in trouble. No one took any notice.

  Finally, they were standing in front of an old caravan. Eliza recognised it. It had been parked here for the last four days.

  He pulled the door open and roughly pushed her inside.

  ‘I am going to kill you, bitch,’ he snarled as she tripped up the step and landed inside.

  Jacob wiped his brow. It was his third trip carting coals. His arm was hot inside the long welding glove he was wearing, and the smells that were starting to come from the cooking fires were making his stomach rumble.

  ‘Hey, Reen, you seen Eliza?’ he called as she walked towards him.

  ‘Now, why would you be wanting to see her?’ she asked mischievously.

  ‘I thought we’d get some lunch together.’

  ‘Oh right, and leave the rest of the work to us? Slacker!’

  ‘Half an hour, that’s all I ask!’

  ‘Last I saw her, she was at her stall, talking to Mary and John.’

  He gave her a thumbs up and asked the team where they wanted their next lot of coals. He then walked towards the main street and saw a glimpse of Eliza
walking towards the golf club. Strange, he thought.

  Then he realised there was a man alongside her, holding her arm with one hand, the other pushed in her back.

  He started to run towards her, then stopped. The way that bloke had a hold of her, Jacob was sure he had a gun.

  ‘Shit,’ he swore out loud, and a couple of people with young children looked over at him and frowned as they walked by.

  ‘Where’s Dave?’ he said to no one in particular. He changed direction and ran towards the creek. He wanted to scream out for the policeman, but knew he couldn’t alert whoever had Eliza.

  Jacob guessed the man was Dominic, but Eliza had also told him about a corrupt policeman called Simon. Maybe it was him, doing Dominic’s dirty work.

  ‘Where’s Dave?’ he puffed when he saw Mark Patterson.

  ‘Haven’t seen him, mate.’ He gave Jacob a strange look. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘I need Dave, now,’ he bit out.

  ‘Dave?’ Reen interrupted. ‘He’s in his unit at the back of the shop. Doing up the report on the girls, I think.’

  Jacob turned to jog back, but Reen caught his arm.

  ‘What the hell’s going on?’

  ‘Eliza. I saw her with a man. He was taking her somewhere.’

  Dominic slapped Eliza across the face.

  ‘Did you really think you would get away with it?’ he asked. ‘I warned you not to try. I thought you would have realised that I’d track you to the end of the earth before I let you get away.’

  Eliza’s eyes watered from the sting of the slap and she twisted her hands against the rope that bound them.

  ‘I’m going to enjoy hurting you.’ He slapped her again, and smiled when she whimpered.

  Holding the gun at her head, he pulled back the slide to cock it.

  ‘Why did you throw everything I’d given you back in my face?’

  Eliza wouldn’t look at him. If he was going to kill her, then let him get on with it. She’d had a few months of freedom and she’d enjoyed them. If it all had to end now, at least she’d had that.

  He grabbed her hair and ripped it downwards. A scream escaped her.

  ‘Shut. The. Fuck. Up.’

  With an evil grin on his face, he watched as she swallowed hard and raised her eyes to meet him. There were tears of pain in them. She tried to get her breathing under control, but her chest was heaving so hard, it hurt.

  ‘That’s better. Wouldn’t want to let anyone know you’re here, would we? Especially since we have so much to catch up on.

  ‘Now, answer me. I gave you a family, a history, a name. Why would you throw it all back at me? You still don’t have anyone!’

  Eliza thought of Jacob and the look on his face when he had kissed her last night. She thought of Mary and John, and Heidi and Tilly.

  ‘Not talking?’ He backhanded her from the other direction and Eliza tasted blood in her mouth.

  ‘You bastard,’ she spat at him.

  He stopped still and raised the gun. She glared back at him.

  His eyes on her, he slowly squeezed the trigger.

  Chapter 42

  ‘It’s going to take too long for the STAR team to get here,’ Dave said to his boss. ‘I’m going to have to go in. Her life is at risk.’

  ‘You’re sure you can’t wait until your blokes get up there?’

  ‘I don’t reckon. He’s unstable, and if everything you’ve told me today is right, then we’ve got a very volatile situation. Dominic is unravelling quickly. There are so many people around here at the moment. I’m going to have to shift all of them out.’

  ‘That’s why I’d rather wait until we get the STAR team there. I can have them there within four hours.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ve got that long. I’ve got to go. I’ll keep in touch.’ He ended the call and swung around to address the dozen or so SES volunteers and locals who were gathered.

  ‘Right, we have to shift everyone to the creek,’ he instructed. ‘Mark, Chris and John, you’ll have to handle this carefully, so you don’t scare people. Just say there’s an unsafe situation and they need to shift away.’

  ‘Right, we’re on to it.’

  ‘Reen, get on the phone to the ambos and get them up here. I’ve rung my guys and hopefully they’ll be here very soon. The rest of you, if you can keep everyone busy down at the creek, that would be ideal. Make sure everyone’s as calm as you can keep them.’

  Dave looked across, saw Kim’s white face and glanced away. He couldn’t get distracted now—he was a one-man band.

  He went to the car and unlocked the safe where he kept his gun. He slipped on a bulletproof vest and started to walk towards the golf club.

  Dave crouched down and ran from caravan to caravan, stopping and listening at each. They were all silent.

  Then he spotted one he was sure was Dominic’s. Right down in the far corner, parked a little way from everyone else, was the older-style van.

  Making sure the path was clear, he ran towards it and ducked down as he arrived. Controlling his breathing, he listened.

  First, he heard a slap, and then another. There was a stifled cry from Eliza.

  ‘You don’t own me anymore, Dominic,’ he heard her say. ‘And I have got a family. I’ve got two people who practically brought my mother up and they love me like I’m their own. So I don’t need you anymore. I’ve got them and everyone in this town as my family.

  ‘I’ve never been happier, and felt more at home anywhere than I do here.

  ‘So, shoot me if you have to. You won’t get away with it. There’s plenty of people who know that you’re here.’

  ‘No, they don’t,’ Dominic answered and Dave saw the van move as he shifted position.

  ‘Actually, they do. Simon—your mate Simon—turned on you, Dominic.’

  There was a crash inside the van and it sounded like crockery was breaking. Dave crept towards the window, in case there was a crack in the curtain he could see through.

  ‘You going to use that gun or just pretend to?’ he heard Eliza ask.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing, Eliza?’ he said to himself. ‘You’re gonna inflame the situation.’

  ‘Don’t tempt me, you bitch.’ The caravan moved again. ‘How do you know Simon turned on me?’

  ‘Because he’s been contacting the policeman here. We knew you were in Port Augusta. I told you—there’s plenty of people who know you’re around.’

  Through the gap in the curtains, Dave could now see Dominic holding a gun and Eliza tied to a chair. Dominic’s back was to the window, and he was facing the door.

  Fuck, Dave thought. He knew as soon as he opened the door and went in, Dominic would start shooting.

  A distraction, that’s what I need. A distraction.

  Or a way to negotiate?

  He was still thinking when Eliza began to speak again.

  ‘You’re the one who’s alone, Dominic. Your mother? She’s dead. Your father? He’s dead too. Your sister? Well, she might be alive but when was the last time you spoke to her? You think she’d be happy with you dragging the Alberto name through the media the way you have since I left?

  ‘No, I didn’t think so.

  ‘It hurt when your father put her in charge of the family business, didn’t it? Is that why you hate women so much? And Gina has made such a success of it.’

  Dave shook his head at the way Eliza was taunting him now.

  There was an oomph sound and a groan.

  ‘Take that, you fucking bitch. You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  Dave could hear that Eliza was struggling to talk, as though she’d been winded. He assumed Dominic had punched her in the stomach.

  ‘Ah, but I do. You’re a sad and lonely individual who tried to keep people close by blackmailing them. Oh, don’t worry, I’ve only worked that out since I left. I’m the strong one now.’

  Dave looked back in through the curtains and saw Dominic towering over Eliza, a gun pointed at her head. He wat
ched in horror as he drew back the slide and cocked it, ready to fire.

  Then he saw Eliza draw back her legs and kick Dominic’s stomach as hard as she could.

  In a split second, the gun went off and Dave was at the caravan door.

  ‘Stop!’ he yelled. ‘Get down, get down, get down! Police!’

  He launched himself into the caravan. Unable to locate the gun, he dived on top of Dominic, knocking him onto the ground.

  Dominic kicked up and tried to throw Dave off, but he was too strong. After a short scuffle, Dave had Dominic on his back. Struggling for his handcuffs, Dave yanked one of Dominic’s arms behind him, then the other, and cuffed him.

  Over his shoulder, he yelled, ‘Are you all right?’

  Eliza didn’t answer.

  He turned around to see blood oozing from her torso.

  After shutting the ambulance door, Dave breathed a sigh of relief. Considering what could have happened today, it was a relief that Eliza had only been shot in the shoulder.

  Andy and Jack, the other officers from Barker, were controlling the onlookers, and forensics were inside the caravan. Dave swallowed hard. The next thing he had to do was going to be tough.

  First, he went to see Reen and Kim, who were standing on the steps of the store, arms around each other, watching the ambulance leave for Port Augusta.

  ‘Hey,’ he said as he approached the women.

  ‘Is she okay?’ Reen asked, in a high, panicked voice.

  ‘She’s in the best possible hands,’ Dave answered. He wasn’t a doctor, he couldn’t be sure what the prognosis would be, but he did know she would live.

  ‘Now, I need you to do something. Go and get Heidi and Tilly, and take them as far away from here as possible. Keep them busy and keep them laughing.’

  Reen froze for a moment but Kim pushed her forward.

  ‘Sure,’ she said.

  Letting out a huge sigh, he walked down to the pub and stood outside, waiting for the girls to be away from their father’s side, and safely with Kim and Reen. He knew they would be distracted for a while with ice-creams and lollies.

  Once Heidi and Tilly were inside the store, Dave shoved his hands in his pockets and slowly walked over to talk to Chris, who was standing with his brother and some other onlookers.