Beneath the Skin

by Melissa James

  ‘Then talk to me about it before you tell me what to do. Don’t take over my life as if I’m not here. Don’t make plans for me without discussing it with me.’ She leaned over the desk. ‘I’m tired of running. I’m sick of asking “how high?” when Danny Spencer, a Jepson or anyone else tells me to jump. He doesn’t own me, and neither do you.’

  Adam stood up, taking hold of her arms. ‘Elly—’

  ‘And neither do you.’ She shook him off. ‘I’m not a victim, a target or a case to solve. Thanks to him I’ve lost my job, my home, my family and friends, even my name. I won’t let you take my choices away from me, too.’ Her eyes filled with unexpected tears, but she kept her chin high. ‘I thought you would understand that.’

  ‘You know I do. I don’t want this, either. Do you think we’d push you into this if we had a choice?’ He rubbed his jaw. ‘But we’re a country station with few resources and no allotted safe houses, and everyone knows each other’s business. The city cops coming in don’t know the area, or anything about Spencer apart from reports. If we do our best to ensure your safety, we’re free to concentrate on the case without worrying you’ll end up dead.’ He rubbed his forehead. Then he looked at her. ‘I thought you were starting to trust me.’

  The blood drained from her face. She turned away, staring out the window through the blinds, as if longing to be out there. ‘I want my photos back.’

  ‘Of course.’ He moved up behind her, but backed off when his words made her jump. ‘I’m sorry, Elly. I should have known it was a mistake. Forgive me?’

  She nodded. ‘It’s been a long time. Maybe we don’t know each other that well anymore.’

  ‘Don’t say that. I was stupid, selfish. I wanted to stop you leaving me.’

  Her answer felt like inevitability. ‘I have to go, sooner or later.’

  ‘Later,’ he whispered. ‘Much, much later, Elle. Please.’ Even softer, he said, ‘I talked to the family this morning while you were in the shower—both your family and mine—and talked them into disappearing for a bit.’

  She whirled around to face him. ‘No. No!’

  He made his smile gentle, understanding. ‘Not the way you think. Mum, Jared and I have bought sixteen cabins on a nine-day cruise to New Zealand, leaving tonight. Zoe will be in a cabin with Mum, and there’s a kids’ club on board. She’s so excited to be going on a boat with Nanna and her cousins, she’s not even thinking about being without me. She’s booked on an early afternoon flight to Sydney with Rick.’ When she looked up in alarm, he shook his head. ‘Rick is the only man I’d trust with my daughter. He offered to take her, and see the family safely off before flying back tomorrow. He’s the only one she’d go with besides me, and he knows I won’t leave you. So he asked Zoe if he could take her. While I packed for her, he bought her a bluebird ring. She’s wanted one for six months. She says it’s their engagement ring.’

  She stared at him, eyes lost, blank.

  ‘Hey. I spent thousands to see our families safe, in a way that makes everyone happy. My four-year-old thinks she’s engaged. So smile, woman.’

  After a moment, she did. ‘Yes. Um, that’s funny. Thank you.’

  ‘I’m sorry we can’t go with them on the cruise,’ he went on, ‘but …’

  ‘I wouldn’t go anyway.’ She wheeled away again. ‘I’m sorry I ever came here.’

  I’m not.

  She turned her head, looking at him as though she’d heard his thought.

  ‘I’m sorry if you don’t like the plan, Elly,’ Sarge broke in, ‘but Jepson’s right. We can’t afford to divide resources to keep an eye on you and your families. This way they’re safe, and you will be too.’ He tried to smile, but it wavered. ‘We have to put you where Spencer and his grandfather’s paid people won’t find you. This shack is the closest thing to a safe house we have. Only Jepson and I know of it. Alfie was my cousin. He left the shack to me.’

  ‘All right. I’ll do what you want.’ But she sounded exhausted. Lost.

  Adam gently pushed her back into the chair. Crouching before her, he took her face in his hands. ‘Trust me, Elle. I’ll make sure you get the life you want.’ His thumbs caressed the lower lip she hadn’t realised she was biting, pulling it out from her self-inflicted punishment. ‘You’re going to make that more sore. If I were sick, I’d let you treat me without argument. I’m the cop—let me take care of you, and our families, and take you where you’ll be safe. I swear this nightmare will end. If I have to kill Spencer myself to set you free from him, I’ll do it.’

  Tears glistened on her lashes. ‘All right.’

  ‘Thank you.’ He gathered her against him. ‘Thank you for trusting me. I’ll do everything I can to keep you free and safe.’

  A hushed sound, choked and hurting. She nodded against his chest. He lifted her chin, and kissed her cheek. ‘I swear I won’t let you down this time.’

  ‘Sorry, Sarge.’ Baz’s head popped around the door. ‘Forensics found no traces of the attack at the picnic area except the rope. It’s good Adam got the evidence he did—someone destroyed the rest before we got there. They burned the branch. The storm cleared all other signs out.’

  ‘Where was Mrs Collins?’

  ‘She says she was at home with a migraine. She saw the doctor for it last night. Dr Schumacher confirmed that.’ Baz hesitated. ‘She has no form, Sarge. Anyway, how would a woman do the weirdo’s trick with the tree?’

  ‘As easily as a man, South,’ Sarge replied dryly. ‘We’re not discounting anyone at this point. Check out a Lani and Wirrah Miraki.’ He asked Elly to spell the names. ‘Find out when they arrived in town, and if they have alibis for the times of all the attacks on Elly.’

  ‘Right-o, Sarge.’

  ‘Call Simon and Adele in. It’s time you all knew what’s going on.’

  Baz flicked a glance at Elly, nodded, and disappeared.

  Adam frowned, still holding her close. ‘I’d hoped we’d keep this under wraps until the reinforcements come and Elly’s out of here.’

  ‘That’s what will happen. You two will leave now. The only way into the shack is by a dirt track. Take the four-wheel drive and cross the river by boat. Herb left his aluminium dinghy tied up on the jetty. I saw it two weeks back. It looked pretty stout to me, if rather old. It’s time to let everyone know the whole situation. They want to help you any way they can, and until the city reinforcements arrive, they’re all we have. And if you go while I’m still talking to them, they can’t know where you’ve gone to tell anyone—or follow you.’

  Elly broke away from Adam’s hold. ‘I’ll go, but I’m so tired of being alone—’

  Sarge smiled at her. ‘The super would nail my hide to the wall if I let you go to the bathroom alone right now. I think we could talk Jepson here into bodyguard duty. In fact, I don’t think we could prise him away from you with a crowbar.’

  ‘Damn straight.’ Adam looked into her eyes. He’d lost the battle with his guilt. He was alive, and he couldn’t keep living as though he were apologising for that. Any woman but her … the trouble with his promise to Sharon was that he didn’t want any other woman—and he’d begun to suspect Sharon had known that when she’d asked it of him. ‘I’m coming with you, Elle, whether you want me or not.’

  But Elly smiled, and it was like the sun coming out on a cold, dark day. ‘Yes, Jonas,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll go with Adam.’

  Silver City Highway, near the Sturt Highway Turnoff, Far Southwest NSW

  So radio silence had finally happened. The police had shut down the media.

  They knew he was close, then.

  They’re too late, Monster murmured, and Danny felt the smile in his voice. Granddad’s done us proud this time.

  Danny smiled too. Yes, he has.

  Four packages delivered to him by different truckers over the past two days, off the highway, two handovers happening during a locust storm so thick police would have had trouble seeing anyone on the main highway, let alone on the little forest r
oad to the side. He had all he needed—all but one thing: a way in to Macks Lake. Police were manning every road in, and as he passed the river, he saw police boats stopping every watercraft, searching it.

  The 4G reception tanked out here, so he called Granddad’s newest burner. ‘I need a map of the Macks Lake region. I need a way in.’

  ‘You’ll have it in an hour. Just get the girl pregnant,’ Granddad snapped, and hung up. Old codger was getting really antsy if he had to keep repeating himself.

  Minutes later, a text came through with a detailed map of the region—and Danny smiled. Here it is, Monster.

  Oh, yeah, Monster said, admiring the beauty of it, the simple solution. We’re in.

  CHAPTER

  15

  From the moment he’d landed in Sydney with Zoe, Rick had felt the presence of his watchers.

  He’d met Adam’s mother, brother and other sundry relatives, then seen Zoe safely into the collective Jepson bosom. When Zoe introduced him as her fiancé, he’d barely been able to keep in the laughter—but the Jepsons weren’t as tight as he’d expected. They’d soon laughed, too, and were too busy asking after Adam to care about Rick’s role in Zoe’s life.

  ‘You’re his best friend, and Zoe loves you. Thank you for caring for my family,’ Susan Jepson had said, and invited him to a family dinner before they boarded the ship.

  After dinner, he’d met Elly’s father’s family. Through the network, he’d discovered Shirley Larkins’ mother’s family had moved from Narrabri to a remote community in far northwestern New South Wales, a place that demanded a permit to get in, but Elly didn’t know about that yet.

  That’ll be a nice surprise for her, he thought. Something that would help them bond when he got back. He’d go with her to meet them.

  Elly’s Sydney relatives were so frantic to hear about her they didn’t even ask who he was. Dot Larkins, Elly’s grandmother, cried in his arms for a few seconds before pushing him off, frowning at him and swearing she never cried, like it was his fault. If she could see the future—when he brought Elly back to them—she’d cry, all right. For now, he enjoyed being brought into her family for a few hours.

  One girl in particular—Elly’s cousin and close friend, Kara—kept looking at him, head tilted, eyes filled with interest. Something about her made his heart beat faster. She asked him a few questions that were too close to the bone for his comfort. What did she know, or suspect?

  Once he’d seen everyone off, and promised to be there for Zoe when she got back, he’d gone to the hotel he’d booked. Waking at 5am, he’d headed straight to Bankstown Airport, and caught the small police plane back to Macks Lake.

  Yeah, he felt the presence there, too. His followers had reached home ahead of him.

  He drove into a neat driveway about a kilometre from Adam’s house—the shared driveway of a battleaxe block with two houses on it, one neater and well kept, the other with dead patches of grass and drooping flowers, dirt on the windowsills and spiderwebs on the verandah, and a general air of neglect. The house hadn’t been used in a year, yet he felt the presence of watchers here, too—but they didn’t know what he knew. They hadn’t had the time to do their homework as thoroughly as he had.

  He was ready for this. Time to put the plan into action, and damn the consequences.

  He walked around to the back of the front house, calling, ‘Hey, Jen, how’s things?’

  ‘Wow. Sarge wasn’t exaggerating when he called this place rustic.’ Mouth turned down, Adam surveyed their temporary home. ‘The question is, will it stay up through the night?’

  In the half-light filtered by a dense crop of old-growth eucalypts and mist from the nearby river, a shack barely stood on the loamy grounds, half-sagging on the trees behind it. Made of spotted gum logs, the wood’s natural red had darkened with time and savage weather to dirt-encrusted auburn-black. The creamy white boles of the trees surrounding the house, with their peeling bark, gave rise to their nickname: ghost gums. In the dawn they looked downright scary. After the attack at the picnic site, the swaying branches, the scent of rotting wood and mould and the river’s rushing was a threat in itself.

  The whole place looked, sounded, even smelled of fear.

  The door squeaked like a warning as it swung on rusted hinges. Filthy windows carried shadows in the dirt patterns. A crude fireplace filled one corner and housed a blackened pot hanging from a rusted hook. There was a half-collapsed bed covered only by a ragged blanket scattered with animal droppings in another corner. No tables or chairs, no floor but the dirt and a large fluffy rug that might once have been white, also covered in filth, animal droppings and dead insects. No running water, no bathroom facilities.

  After a two-hour drive east to cross the Victorian border, an hour back west, sleeping the night in the car, and a forty-five-minute drive on a rutted road barely fit for mountain goats, Adam had already let her down. ‘It feels like Tolkien’s Old Forest, closing in on us,’ he muttered, feeling ashamed and embarrassed to bring her here. ‘I’m sorry, Elly. If we need to stay longer than a day or two, we can find better—’

  ‘Some of the places I’ve stayed in the past year or so were on par with this.’ She surveyed the shack with a little smile, wise and mysterious in the muted light of the cabin. ‘It’s lovely, in a rustic way. All it needs is a clean-up. It’s right against the river, too. We’ll have total peace, and somewhere to swim.’

  ‘Thanks for trying to make the best of things, but this place is a mess. There’s no heating, no light, no running water or bathroom facilities. It’s unfit for a woman to live in.’

  She picked up the rug and dragged it outside to beat the dirt out of it with an ancient broom she found in a corner. Between sneezes, she replied, ‘Hey, cut it out, Claudius. We’re lucky to have a river nearby for water and bathing, and for fish. When I was in the desert, I had to collect dew on leaves and in bark cups to drink.’ She batted off his hands as he tried to take over the task, smiling even though her eyes were streaming from the dust. ‘You forget, I’m an outback doctor. I’m used to heat and dust. I can cook on a fire, light a lantern, and use the bush for bathroom purposes. Don’t worry about me. Go and set up the protective perimeter with all that equipment Jonas gave you while I clean up here.’

  Although he’d known her since her wild, sleep-in-the-mud childhood, her cheerfulness left him in a state of wonder. He checked out their surroundings, imagining if it were his mother here, or his grandmother—or Sharon…

  A sudden image flashed in his brain: Sharon, grey faced, with cracked, purple lips and dried blood in her golden hair, dying in agony. They both knew she wouldn’t have been in the accident but for his negligence, yet she made no accusations, laid no blame. She’d even absolved him. She’d only asked two things of him. One was to bring up Zoe as she herself would have. Love our baby, Adam. She’ll need you, with her mummy gone.

  The other promise he refused to think about. He’d already lost the fight. He’d been forgetting his vow to Sharon from the moment Elly walked into the station.

  No, it was more than that. Rebelling against the life he’d known wasn’t right for him, but without Elly, he’d been a sleepwalker with a gun and badge. He’d done what he could, but it was never enough. With Elly, it was always enough. He was enough—and he didn’t want to walk in the shadows of what others wanted for him anymore.

  When he returned from securing the perimeter, the shack looked cleaner. The windows had been wiped enough to let light in, and to see out; the dirt floor looked packed down. Elly came around from the river, covered in dust—the colour of her tumbled curls muted and her denim shorts and singlet top turned a shade darker than her skin. She was barefoot, and humming to herself. The blanket was slung over her shoulder. After beating it with the same ancient broom, she hung it over a tree branch to air beside the rug. As he watched, she brought out the picnic basket and filled a pot with river water, poured liquid soap in, and began washing both rug and blanket. The wonder of her—he
was fifteen again, and learning how he wanted to live from a scrawny ten-year-old up a tree. Learning about true belonging through her love and acceptance, and through her bedraggled critters. When he’d nicknamed her Elly-May Clampett, she’d retaliated with Claudius, and in doing so, they’d created a world of their own.

  He’d been drowning ever since he’d left it, left her. Never again.

  Noticing him watching her, she smiled. ‘We can only use this water for cleaning. Don’t wash your hands in it until we’ve boiled it, and only drink the bottled water. There’ve been bouts of blue-green algae in the region. We don’t know what miraculous or misanthropic microbes this section of the river hoards. We don’t want to start our romantic wilderness trek with a bout of gastroenteritis.’ She chuckled. ‘It’s good we brought plenty of drinking water with us. But we can boil this if we decide to rig up the outdoor shower.’

  Something inside him burned with pride. That was his Elly. She didn’t complain though her life wasn’t her own, had never been completely her own. She laughed in the face of the kind of adversity that would send most women into fits of tears or silent defeat. He knew from experience how many people ended up giving in to their stalker’s demands—and wound up another statistic of violent abuse at the hands of a man (or woman) unable to handle real life with the object of their fantasy. He’d learned years ago that no human could ever live up to unbalanced dreams of perfect happiness.

  Elly compromised, but never backed down. She’d fought Spencer, Rick, Sarge, even him. She’d taken them all on and remained undefeated.

  Even this adventure didn’t bow her. When they’d found Alfie’s dinghy half-sunk just before sunrise that morning, she’d laughed and said, ‘Well, it’s better to know now, rather than when we’re midstream with our food supply!’ Sleeping in the front seat of the car, she assured him she’d slept in worse places: ‘Remember the muddy creek bed at Uncle Adam’s farm?’ When he’d battled the rutted track to the cabin, she’d hung on and sung, ‘We’re on the road to nowhere!’ When they had to hide the car, and carry or drag their supplies for the last few kilometres, returning twice for more, she’d hoisted them on her shoulders and gone ahead of him.