Beneath the Skin

by Melissa James

  ‘If you saw something, why didn’t you report it?’

  ‘Because you weren’t here,’ she said, eyes wide, as if he’d said something very stupid. Leaning over the counter, she gave him a clear view of her cleavage. ‘I think my memory needs encouragement. Perhaps over dinner tonight, I might even remember what the perpetrator looked like.’

  His eyes filled with sudden pity. ‘You’d blackmail me into a date? You can’t be so desperate for a man.’

  Mrs Collins held his gaze, hers still hungry.

  He sighed and shook his head. ‘If it’s a lover you’re after, Mrs Collins, look elsewhere. I’m just not interested in you.’

  Jen Collins’ jaw dropped. Her eyes narrowed as she snapped it back up. ‘Seven at the Drifters’ Inn if you want the information. If you don’t come, it stays with me.’ Her breast heaving, she turned to Elly, who’d just received a five-dollar note from a sheepish Jonas. ‘I’d leave Macks Lake if I were you, before real trouble comes. We don’t like your kind here.’ She turned on her heel and marched out, leaving a cloud of musk in the air.

  ‘Meee-ow,’ Baz said, in an obvious attempt to shatter the tense atmosphere. ‘And don’t it turn her blue eyes green?’

  ‘Because she can’t hit first base with Adam.’ Simon turned to Elly. ‘She probably thinks if she runs you out of town, Adam will get desperate enough to start up with her.’

  ‘Simon’s right,’ Jonas murmured. ‘She’s the kind of woman who wouldn’t hesitate to blackmail Jepson into a date … or more.’

  Nothing comforted Elly. Stricken, she turned to Adam. ‘I’m sorry, Claudius. Looks like your reputation’s gone.’

  He turned around, but his gaze didn’t land on hers. His face was shuttered, locking everyone out. ‘It’s not your fault.’

  Her heart contracted until she could barely breathe. She longed to say, It’s not your fault, either! But his guilt and regret had been painted in sombre colours by nine years of marriage to a Victorianminded wife. The boy she’d adored in childhood was still there, locked in battle with his prim and proper Jepson upbringing, and his guilt at the death of his son … and of Sharon.

  It always came back to Sharon.

  How she ached to be able to show Adam how unhappy he was in a world where no one took chances, hedged in by what the neighbours thought.

  But Danny could be here, watching her now …

  The stained-glass window behind the counter exploded.

  ‘Get down!’ Adam dived on her, protecting her with his body as jagged-edged rainbow hues fell over them.

  Then eerie silence.

  ‘Get out and check the street!’ Jonas barked at Baz and Simon. ‘Get car registrations and makes, and bring in witnesses!’

  The two constables shucked glass from their uniforms and scrambled outside. Jonas picked up the phone to inform the regional inspector of the attack.

  On the floor, Elly locked eyes with Adam, each as breathless as if they’d run a race. His body still covered hers, lying in the most intimate of lover’s positions.

  ‘Are you all right?’ They spoke at the same time, and laughed. Then she looked him over, saw the tear in his shirt. ‘You’re bleeding!’

  ‘It’s nothing.’ He dismissed her concern with a gentle smile. ‘I’ve had worse than this.’

  ‘Not here—not until I came. I told you I shouldn’t stay. I told you what he’d do. I haven’t even been in Macks Lake for twenty-four hours, and you’re hurt because of me!’ She struggled against him. ‘It could be Zoe next!’

  ‘I’m a cop, Elly. This is a police station. These things happen, even in sleepy backwaters like Macks Lake. There’s no evidence to link the shot to you.’

  ‘Except my slashed tyres, and Mrs Collins’ warning!’

  His arms tightened. ‘Don’t go, Elly. Please.’ His eyes filled with stark honesty. ‘I think you know I have deeper injuries than this little cut on my arm.’

  The unspoken words echoed inside her; she knew what he couldn’t say. He’d let no one but Zoe into his damaged heart since Sharon and Zack’s deaths—but Elly was already there. Like he’d done for her long ago by sharing her wild adventures and tending her bedraggled critters, he was giving her permission to probe his wound, and heal him if she could.

  ‘I—if I can help …’

  Her wounded spirit found an echo in the pain in his shadowed eyes. ‘You’ve already helped, more than you know.’

  ‘Then I’ll stay,’ she whispered.

  ‘Thank you, Elly-May.’ His gaze lowered to her mouth. With a little thrill, she felt his hardening body press against hers. He might feel guilty about wanting her, but it didn’t change the fact that he did. The need was growing in them both—a hunger that wouldn’t abate with denial.

  ‘Elly, if you’re all right, could you look at Adele’s injury? It might need stitches.’

  Jonas’s words recalled them to their surroundings. Adam rolled from her just as Rick strode into the station from the back door.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Rick asked, frowning as he took in the window, Adele’s wound and Adam on the floor with Elly.

  ‘Drive-by shooting took out the window,’ Jonas said in a terse tone. ‘Where were you?’

  Rick’s frown grew deeper, his eyes on Elly. ‘Are you all right?’

  Flushing deeper with discomfort, she nodded.

  ‘I was on early calls, remember?’ Rick said to his boss. ‘Brian Milson from Watkins’ Jewellers had a burg this morning. A smash and grab. Kids, by the looks of it—but it’s the third this year.’

  ‘A positive criminal outbreak,’ Adam quipped, holding his arm up in a vain attempt to stop blood dripping onto the floor. ‘Tell Mr Milson I’ll go later today. The drive-by outranks it.’

  ‘Get my bag, Claudius. I left it in your trunk.’ Elly held Adele’s wound as she checked the girl’s eyes for pupil response. ‘Adele needs stitches, and so do you, by the look of that cut.’

  Adam nodded, and strode out to his car.

  Rick kept staring at Elly, his brooding gaze unnerving her as she tried to work with her normal efficiency. Then he stepped closer, and she held her breath.

  ‘You might want to be careful … Elly,’ he said, low.

  Why did he keep hesitating before saying her name? What did he know?

  As she glanced up at him, he nodded. ‘Watch what you do, and who you do it in front of. Not everyone here is your friend.’

  Fighting the urge to shrink away, she snapped, ‘I believe that would be my business, senior constable, and none of yours.’

  As if expecting her response, he only shrugged, looking out the window to where Adam was striding back with her medical kit. He turned to Elly, speaking in a low, intense voice. ‘Don’t set yourself up for a fall. He has nothing to give you. There are others who will do anything to help you, if you’ll only look.’

  Adele was trying not to stare too obviously at them, but she’d heard every word.

  ‘Mendham, make yourself useful,’ Jonas snapped. ‘Find the cartridge from the shot and the glass around it, and bag it all for testing. You can clean the glass up, too.’

  Rick crossed the room, and wrenched a cupboard open.

  Adam came back in carrying Elly’s medical kit. ‘Has it got everything you need?’

  ‘Yep.’ She smiled briefly. ‘Got to have the rescue equipment handy.’

  She sterilised Adele’s gash and anaesthetised it. After probing the wound, she pulled out a sliver of glass with a small pair of tweezers. She stitched the wound and covered it with a clean bandage, then pulled an ampoule, syringe and needle from her bag.

  ‘No,’ Adele moaned, cringing. ‘I hate needles.’

  Elly grinned. ‘You don’t even drop to the floor for a drive-by shooting, but cry at a tetanus shot? For shame, constable.’

  Moments later Adele rubbed her arm, looking sorry for herself. Elly checked the girl’s eyes and blood pressure again, trying to ignore the intense interest in her face after hearing Rick
’s warnings.

  ‘She’ll need a day or two off. She has a slight concussion.’

  Jonas nodded. ‘Mendham can drive her home now.’

  ‘So could Adam. I can look after Elly—if that’s her name,’ Rick said fiercely.

  Everyone looked up, startled.

  His boss snapped, ‘I suppose Jepson could do that—after he’s stitched up, to stop the station vehicle’s upholstery getting covered in blood—but he won’t. Jepson’s more than earned the right to be tended when he’s injured. And as for Elly, I’m warning you to keep your place—and, obviously, your temper. Unless of course you’d enjoy a transfer to another, smaller, station.’

  After a long moment, Rick nodded, then sent a regretful glance at Elly.

  Sensing the burning resentment inside him, she flushed and turned away. Within moments, though, as if compelled, she turned back. Adam was staring at Rick, a question in his eyes. Rick met the look with an impassive stare before turning aside to clean the mess of glass.

  ‘Good thing we had a medical professional on hand,’ he muttered, loud enough for the entire station to hear it.

  ‘Mendham, get in here now,’ Jonas barked.

  Rick sighed and walked into the senior sergeant’s office, closing the door behind him.

  ‘Line up, Claudius,’ Elly ordered, hoping the shaking inside her didn’t come through in her voice. Jonas had warned her to keep her name and occupation quiet. Rick seemed to have no such compunction—and now, thanks to the drive-by, her ministrations and his resentful sarcasm and questioning of her name, the whole station knew half the puzzle. Her new name wouldn’t mean squat now. She could call herself a nurse if she liked, but a Koori woman medico stuck out like a sore thumb in outback Australia. The bush telegraph would relay the information through the region in hours, and across the outback within weeks.

  Wirrah and Lani Miraki. Jen Collins. Rick Mendham. Baz, Simon, Adele. Too many people knew too much about her, too soon. Her cover, tenuous from the start, was in danger of being blown in under a day. Danny was close to Macks Lake, if he wasn’t already here. She could feel his shadow over her—the threat of a final showdown. Kiss or kill …

  ‘Detective Jepson, my Genevieve’s gone missing again. Please, can you help me find her?’

  Adam turned to the public entrance, where a sweet little old lady stood. A grin crossed his face. ‘We’ll have to use the cuffs on Genevieve soon, Mrs Jenkins.’

  The faded eyes, misty with embarrassed tears, shone in gratitude at the gentle joke. ‘You’ll never need them with her, detective sergeant. Genevieve follows you home every time out of pure love for you.’

  Elly grinned, brows lifted in mocking inquiry. ‘Another female hopelessly drawn to the irresistible Jepson genetics, I gather?’

  ‘Ever since my first week here,’ he informed her solemnly, eyes twinkling. ‘The moment she sees me, her eyes light up, and she runs to me—’

  ‘An impressive tale of true love. When’s the wedding?’

  ‘—and lets out the biggest moo of joy you ever heard.’

  She laughed, taped the bandage down, and rose to her feet. ‘Life as a country cop, eh? Sounds like a tonic. Could I help?’ she asked Mrs Jenkins. ‘I haven’t rounded up cows for years—but as Adam will vouch, I’m an avid animal lover.’

  ‘Oh, my dear, thank you so much.’

  ‘We’ll come now,’ Adam told Mrs Jenkins. He understood Elly’s need to escape, to be out in the open air after the stress of the past twelve hours.

  Jonas opened his door, and both men emerged. Rick seemed to have been subdued. ‘Jepson, we’ve just had a bloody drive-by shooting, and you want to round up cows?’

  The tears in Mrs Jenkins’ eyes began to fall.

  ‘No need,’ Elly replied quickly. ‘I can get the cow for you, Mrs Jenkins. I don’t need help.’ But her shaking hands belied her words. Adam touched her arm, and she turned away, balling her hands into fists in front of her. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

  ‘I can go with Elly,’ Rick offered. ‘I wasn’t here to be a witness.’

  ‘I’m fine on my own. I don’t need a babysitter.’ And I don’t want you. Her message couldn’t be any clearer.

  ‘You need something—or someone,’ Rick said softly, and she jumped. She hadn’t realised he’d come so close to her. ‘Let me in. I’m here for you…Elly.’

  Her gaze flew to Adam, begging without meaning to.

  ‘Sarge,’ Adam said, his voice soft, ‘I can be back in half an hour.’

  After a moment, Jonas grumbled, ‘Oh, go on, Jepson. Elly, perhaps you can show him how to round up a cow before nightfall for once?’

  Grateful for the reprieve from the tension in the station, she packed up her medical kit, trying to smile. ‘Thank you, Joe,’ she said softly, and was rewarded by the older man’s smile. ‘I’ll do my best.’

  Jonas moved closer, waving Rick away. Then he spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear. ‘Remember, the drive-by upgrades our standing. They’ll fly the city detectives out by morning to investigate, and I’ll need your report before then. If your arm’s okay, that is.’ His eyes twinkled. ‘And say hi to Genevieve for me.’

  Adam saluted. ‘Yes, Sarge.’

  ‘Elly shouldn’t be in the open, Sarge,’ Rick said from the floor, where he’d returned to cleaning the mess. ‘Look at this.’

  He held up something she couldn’t identify, but everyone in the station turned quiet, looking at it.

  ‘Bloody clever,’ Jonas said, still quietly. ‘Good work, Mendham. Bag and tag it, and send it to the lab.’

  ‘And Elly?’ The worry was clearer now than anything else in Rick’s voice, but it only made Elly feel hemmed in.

  She squared her jaw. ‘I’m going.’

  Rick’s eyes turned hard and he thrust his own jaw out, but he didn’t speak.

  ‘Jepson, take protective measures,’ Jonas said, ‘and don’t leave her alone for a moment.’

  Adam crossed to the weapons cupboard, unlocked it, and armed himself. The cupboard relocked, he shepherded Elly and Mrs Jenkins out the door, snatching up the lead rope he kept for Genevieve on his way.

  As she left the station, Elly felt the burning of Rick’s gaze searing her skin.

  The Great Central Road, near Pitjantjatjara Lands, Central Australia

  North or south? Where would she go next?

  He’d reached the end of the desert highway between Laverton and Yulara—from nowhere to nowhere—a stretch of road covered in shifting sand and red earth under a blazing sky. He’d lived on Vegemite sandwiches—he wasn’t eating any meat cooked at the substandard roadhouses on this unsealed, dusty track—and slept curled in the back of the truck. Her smiling face burned in his brain day and night. Which way had she gone? He had to find her before the craving got too strong.

  It was too late for another stupid braggart at one roadhouse a few days ago. Lying about his Janie! She wouldn’t do it in a filthy truck with the likes of him …

  Would she?

  Don’t be stupid! She’s terrified of it. Wouldn’t even look at my body, would she?

  She’s a woman. All women need a man, Monster said. She’ll find another man soon if we don’t find her. And he’ll get what we want. She won’t wait for us.

  She’s not like that, he yelled. You’re so cruel, Monster.

  She’s alone and needs care. Monster’s voice was soft, beguiling. You know she does. She’s running to someone we don’t know. Someone she thinks will look after her.

  Maybe. She’s so innocent, he conceded, hating to agree with Monster on anything, but he was right. We have to find her. Prove to her it’s us she needs.

  But the Pitjantjatjara people were the same as the blacks in Western Australia. Janie who? No, no Koori doctors. No one been here in months, except for tourists from the trekking business they’d begun. Single girls on tours, sure, but they’d all been whitefellas or Asians. Try Alice Springs—only a hundred kilometres that way. Pointing northeast.
r />   They’re lying to us, Monster said. The danger signals were there, like a little red mist between them, a curtain separating them but growing thinner.

  Desperate to hold him in, Danny reached into his bag, scattering money around his feet. ‘I’ll pay five thousand dollars to anyone who has news of her.’

  The women, as one, walked away. The men didn’t even blink. When the wind picked up, the kids went running after the money, and held it up at a distance from him, laughing and dancing off with it.

  The red mist grew thinner, brighter. Monster brought out his knife, fingering it with slow deliberation.

  The men began sharpening throwing spears that had longer blades than his knife. Two men brought out shotguns and watched him, smiling. Every weapon aimed at him.

  Monster whispered, Hire an army of men. Bring them here. Kill the lot of them!

  And now? Danny asked him. What do we do now?

  You’re a Spencer, too important for the likes of these animals. Get Granddad to hire some mercenaries later. They don’t matter. We need to find Janie before she does the unforgivable—and she will.

  Stop it! She will not!

  The men with the rifles took a step forward.

  Monster made him back off, hatred and fear blending in a potent cocktail in his heart. Janie’s here, or she’s been here. She did this to us, Monster said. I told you she would.

  No, Danny yelled at him. You won’t take Janie from me! You won’t! You take everyone from me!

  I’m the only one here, looking out for you, not like Janie, or those faithless sluts you thought you loved before. I’m still here.

  You won’t take Janie from me, he shouted again. She’s my princess. She just doesn’t know it yet.

  He kept backing away, and turned and ran to the truck before he lost control.

  A small boy sat on the shady side of his truck, playing with sticks and rocks, singing a little ditty. About to kick the kid out of the way, Danny noticed a bandage on his leg: grubby and ragged with use, but professionally applied. There was a clinic at this place, but still …