by JD Nixon
The Sarge moved quickly to kick away the bat and held Rick with his face to the wall, his baton across the back of his neck. “What were you doing here?”
“Nothing,” croaked Rick. “We just wanted to visit our good friend, Officer Tess.”
“If you come anywhere near her again, or if any of her property is damaged again, this is going to end much more sadly.” He crunched Rick’s neck with the baton. “There will be body bags involved. Get my point?”
“Sure I do, copper,” he said sullenly. “You’re the man with the gun, after all.”
“And don’t you forget that, Bycraft,” he said, pushing him towards the door. “Get lost.”
Rick reached down towards the baseball bat, but the Sarge stepped on his wrist with his boot, crunching it to the floor. Rick cried out in pain.
“That’s mine now. You bring me a present, I don’t give it back. Now, you heard me.” He bellowed in his incredibly loud voice, making us all jump. “Fuck off!”
Rick scrambled out the door, quickly followed by Mark. We had nothing to hold them on because they hadn’t done anything and apparently, exceptional stupidity was not yet a crime in this state. I could hear them bickering the second they were on the verandah, probably about the paternity of Dorrie’s latest brat, and I felt some comfort in that. Divide and conquer was some famous general’s slogan. In the case of the Bycrafts, anything that ripped their tribal loyalty apart was good news for the police. I’d done my bit for society today.
“Thanks for that, Sarge. I was afraid I was going to have to shoot them both.”
He eyed me carefully, not doubting for a second that I would have, if that’s what it took to stay safe. “What were they planning?”
“I’m not sure if they were going to target the station windows or me. They would have made a right mess of me with two baseball bats.” I leaned down to pick them up off the floor, hiding them behind the counter and pulling my sling back on. My heartbeat slowly returned to normal. “But how did you know I needed help?”
“I’d shown Melissa around the town and decided to take her to the beach. We drove past the station as we did and I noticed Rick Bycraft’s car in the carpark. And seeing that we can barely even get him here to report in on Mondays like he’s supposed to, I knew it wasn’t a friendly visit.”
I smiled at him. “You can recognise Bycraft cars by sight now? Aw, Sarge, I’m so proud of you.”
“No need to be a smartarse, Fuller,” he said, unimpressed with my levity. “Will you be okay here without me? I don’t want to leave you alone again.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” I assured breezily. “You don’t want to keep Melissa waiting.”
“I would like to finish showing her around town. I’m hoping to find something that impresses her about the place.”
“Nothing so far?”
His mouth twisted in a resigned half-smile. “Nothing so far.” He regarded me seriously. “Lock the doors, Tess. Any customers can knock first. Okay?” I nodded obediently. “Well, if you’re sure you’ll be all right . . .” I nodded again and nudged him towards the door, wanting to get back to my search for Kylie. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
“No, you won’t. I almost forgot that I’m having dinner at Abe’s place tonight. He invited me around.”
He stopped at the door. “Oh, did he now?”
“Yep, he did.”
“How convenient.”
“Isn’t it just?” My eyes were a study in innocence. “You and Melissa can spend the evening alone now.”
“I was really hoping that you and Melissa could get to know each other better over dinner. It would make me so happy if you two became friends.”
I couldn’t stop myself needling him. “Just like you and Jake?”
We eyed each other steadily. “That’s different. I could never be friends with him.” I opened my mouth to argue about that, but he’d already turned on his heel. “I’ll see you later tonight then.”
Not if I can help it, I thought and headed back to my desk. It took me a while to settle back down to work, particularly with the two wrong numbers I had to field in the meantime. Feeling peckish, I gave into temptation and nibbled on a rocky-road flavoured Tim Tam while I ran my eyes over the four Kylie-possibles.
Number One was a fifteen-year-old runaway from one of the more disadvantaged suburbs in the city. There was not a lot of information about her on the printout. I tried to log into the database again to check out her photo, but it was still loading with frustrating slowness.
Kylie 2 was a sixteen-year-old who’d absconded from her foster family a year ago. She seemed the right height and size, but was described as having black hair not blonde, though that was nothing that a bottle of bleach couldn’t fix.
Kylie 3 was fourteen and had disappeared one day travelling to the local shopping centre to meet a friend. Although she also matched Kylie’s description, this one seemed wrong. She came from a loving family, was an A-grade student and a district-level netballer. She had texted her friend not long before she was due at the shopping centre to confirm their meeting point and her phone hadn’t been used again since. Her devastated family had made several weepy media appearances begging for their daughter’s safe return. This one smelt like foul play to me, not a runaway. I sadly crossed her off the list.
The fourth girl was my favourite pick of the bunch. She had been only thirteen when she’d disappeared from what was clearly an abusive home environment. Her mother hadn’t even reported that she was missing for over a month after she was last seen. The police report I dredged up hinted that Kylie and her mother had fought frequently. Her mother admitted that they’d had a violent physical altercation the night Kylie was last seen. She’d struck her daughter across the face several times with her hand and kicked her as well as she laid on the floor crying. The mother’s excuse was that her young daughter had come home drunk at two in the morning, refusing to say where she’d been and what she’d been doing. Everything I read about the girl depressed me. Despite what had happened to me in my life, I’d always known the fierce love and support of adult family members and friends as I’d grown up. I felt desperately sorry for kids who didn’t have good adult role models. And that even meant the Bycrafts.
When I looked up I was surprised to see that it had grown dark outside. That was enough work for today, I decided. I’d try to ring Kylie 4’s mother tomorrow morning. Maybe she could email me the most recent photo she had of her daughter. I shut my computer down and locked the station up, sprinting up to the Sarge’s place through the endless rain.
I poked my head around the lounge room doorway. The Sarge and Melissa were sitting close together on the lounge, chatting, enjoying a pre-dinner wine and listening to some music. It was all very charmingly domestic. A tantalising smell wafted from the kitchen. I lifted my head up and sniffed appreciatively.
“Oh yum! Can I change my mind about dinner?” I joked.
“Too late,” said the Sarge, smiling. “You snooze, you lose, Fuller. This is strictly a dinner for two now.”
“Never mind,” I grinned back. “I’ll have a meal prepared by a professional chef tonight, not some tasteless slop from an amateur.”
“Jealous much?” he teased.
“Hardly!” And on that note I left them to jump in the shower, dressing afterwards in jeans, high-heeled boots, a long-sleeved shirt and a hoodie. I didn’t need to dress up for Abe and the girls – they loved me the way I was. I did spray myself with some of my favourite, expensive and carefully rationed perfume though, dabbed on some mascara, blusher and lip gloss and brushed my hair out from its normal bun until it was soft and shiny around my shoulders.
I poked my head around the doorway again. “I’m off. See you later. Enjoy your dinner.”
Amused, the Sarge asked, “How are you getting there, Tessie?”
That stopped me in my tracks. “Bugger! I don’t know.” I gave him a cheeky look. “Can I drive your car?”
&n
bsp; “Not a chance.” He sighed dramatically and started to rise. “I’ll give you a lift.”
“No!” Melissa and I said at the same time.
“You’ll burn your dinner,” I reminded him with admirable practicality. “I’ll call Abe. He won’t mind.” And of course he didn’t, and picked me up a bare ten minutes later.
The girls, Romi and Toni, were thrilled to see me and after Melissa’s cold unwelcoming demeanour, their warm love for me lifted my spirits. In my opinion, there’s nothing in the world that beats spending time with people who loved you and accepted you unreservedly.
After a wonderful dinner and a few fun rounds of a karaoke game on their console, Romi and I shared a whispered conversation about Melissa. She’d had a major crush on the Sarge since his arrival in town and the sudden appearance of his fiancee was a final cruel blow to her secret dreams. It was a sad teenager indeed who trooped off to bed when Abe indicated it was time.
When the girls were in bed, Abe and I sat on his lounge, drinking another glass of wine and chatting. It had been a while since I’d spent quality time with him and it was good to catch up. From what he told me, his relationship with Jenny was growing strong and it sounded as if they were both becoming pretty serious. I was glad about that. He was a wonderful man who deserved happiness again after the sad murder of his wife, Marcelle, a topic that we never discussed.
I enjoyed myself that evening, but I’ll admit that I stayed there far longer than I should have. I wanted the Sarge and Melissa to be safely tucked up in bed when I returned home. And I especially didn’t want my presence in the house to curtail them intimately reacquainting themselves with each other. God knows the Sarge had waited long enough already. It would be beyond cruel for him to have to wait any further.
It was only when I noticed Abe discreetly yawning into his hand that I checked the time. Geez! It was almost midnight. I jumped up, apologising profusely. He brushed that away, insisting that he would love nothing more than to spend all night talking to me, but there was work tomorrow for both of us . . .
He drove me home and I pecked him on the cheek. “Thanks, Abe,” I yawned.
He waited until I dashed up the stairs and used the spare key the Sarge had given me to let myself into the darkened house. I turned to wave to him as he drove away and shut the door behind me. A light at the far end of the hall burned for me and I quickly changed into my pyjamas, brushed my teeth, turned off the light and threw myself onto my bed gratefully. I fell asleep immediately.
What felt like only minutes later though, the insistent ringing of my phone woke me up again.
Chapter 22
I answered groggily, waking up straight away when I heard what the panicked caller was telling me. I wasted no time, but dressed again in the clothes I’d just thrown off, pulling on my work boots, and strapping my utility belt to my hips.
Reluctantly, I walked to the Sarge’s bedroom door and knocked on it. “Sarge?” I called.
Nothing.
I knocked again, more loudly. “Sarge?” I called again, turning up the volume. I could hear frantic movement from within the bedroom. I think he was dressing.
He flung open the door, wearing only long pyjama pants. “What’s the matter, Tessie? Are you all right?”
“I’m good,” I reassured. “I’ve just had a call. There’s been an accident on the highway near the turnoff to Big Town. Two semi-trailers.”
“Okay,” he said quietly, then shut the door to dress properly. I could hear voices from inside, hers louder and not happy, his calmer and more soothing. He came out after a few minutes, dressed in jeans, hoodie and boots as well. Behind him, I glimpsed a petulant-faced Melissa sitting up in bed, the sheets and blankets clutched modestly around her bare chest, long hair flowing down her naked back. She was very pretty and I could see why the Sarge was reluctant to leave her alone in bed this cold wet night. But work was work, and as a cop you often didn’t have much choice about it.
It was a truly horrific evening, full of rain, blood, fire, one dead truckie, one critically injured, an overturned half-burnt truck full of badly hurt cattle, the other truck full of grain, which had to be cleared off the highway. We had every available police and emergency unit from Big Town helping us, and we also had to call in some vets to euthanase the poor cattle. It was breaking into gloomy dawn before we were able to drive back to his house, exhausted. He headed straight for the shower, but I was too tired, merely towelling myself off, changing into my warm pyjamas and falling asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
So much for my plan to be up and gone before them in the morning, because I slept in later than everyone. I took a shower before I fronted, dressed for work, hoping they’d both had their breakfasts and were busy doing something else – anything would do, I wasn’t fussy. But of course with my luck, they were just finishing eating when I entered the kitchen. Melissa looked fresh and pretty, while I felt like I’d personally been caught between the two trucks.
“Looks like you need coffee, Tessie,” sympathised the Sarge. He was looking fairly haggard himself.
“I need a coffee IV,” I replied, helping myself to his things. I popped some bread in the toaster and leaned against the fridge, eyes closed. It’s amazing what you can do with your eyes closed though, because I managed to fix my toast, pour coffee and milk and carry it all safely to the table with only the barest slither of light pouring through my eyelids.
“Very impressive,” observed the Sarge, smiling.
I didn’t respond, merely munched on my toast like a zombie, staring down at the glass-topped table.
“I have a favour to ask you, Tess,” Melissa said sweetly, twirling her hair in her fingers and blasting me with her lovely big brown eyes.
Uh-oh, I thought. The hackles on the back of my neck rose. I slid my eyes to her to let her know that I’d heard, but didn’t speak. I was loath to promise anything until I had the full details at my disposal. Also, I couldn’t help but notice that the Sarge looked at her in surprise.
“I really want to spend the weekend somewhere nice with Finn,” she continued. “You know, some quality time together. We need to discuss our wedding plans. He’s very impatient to be married.” She giggled prettily. It left me cold. “But he tells me that he’s rostered on duty this weekend. He’s been so good to you, letting you stay here while your house is being renovated. I’m hoping that you’ll swap rosters with him. You’ll do that for us, won’t you?” She placed her well-manicured hand on my arm, the diamond in her engagement ring disproportionately large on her small finger. “Please?”
I pulled my arm back hastily, probably offending her as I did, but I just couldn’t stand the touch of strangers. “I’m sorry, Melissa. Normally I’d say yes, but not this weekend.” I didn’t feel the need to explain my plans for Jake’s birthday to her, so I didn’t elaborate further. I returned my tired eyes to the table top and continued to silently munch on my toast.
Her sugar burnt to bitter black in a flash. “Well, I just thought you might want to help us out, Tess,” she replied sulkily. “I would have thought that it’s the least you could do for Finn in the circumstances. He seems to have done so much for you, including helping you out last night.”
Helping me out? What the hell? That was his job!
“Melissa, I already told you that I was on-call this weekend and it couldn’t be swapped,” started the Sarge with visible irritation.
“Finn! You’re the one who keeps insisting that we discuss the wedding. I want you to take me somewhere special. I’ve been backpacking for ages and I deserve to be spoiled. You should be dying to spoil me and not forcing me to stay in this dump,” she snapped back at him.
“This ‘dump’ is going to be your new home.”
“No, it’s not. I told you I’m not living here. You’re going to move back to the city and we’re –”
“Can we not do this now in front of Tess, please?” he hissed.
“Why not? If she’s going to keep hangin
g around all the time ruining all my plans, then she can put up with it.”
God, had there ever been a more awkward moment? My toast now tasted like cardboard to me. I didn’t bother struggling to choke down the last few bites or the cold coffee, dumping them in the bin and sink respectively, hastily washing my plates and mug. I badly wanted to say a few choice words to Melissa, but Nana Fuller wouldn’t have approved of me doing that while I was a guest in the Sarge’s home.
Instead, I stalked to the bathroom to gather my few things, went to the spare bedroom, made my bed neatly and threw all my belongings into my backpack. I hauled it down to the police station over my good shoulder, without even saying goodbye to either of them. I realised that was a particularly ungrateful gesture that would also have Nana Fuller spinning in her grave, but in my defence, I planned on later thanking the Sarge personally for his kind hospitality.
At the station, I sat at my desk staring out at the rain, my backpack propped up against the wall. I thought glumly to myself that I was now officially homeless, because there was no way on this planet I was returning to the Sarge’s house after that episode. I hoped to God that the glazier was able to fix my house windows today, because otherwise . . . I glanced down at the station floorboards speculatively. Hmm, I could kip here tonight if all else failed. At least it was warm and mostly dry. Which reminded me to empty the bucket in the corner.
I logged onto my computer and tried to access the missing person database again, yawning so hugely that I almost dislocated my jaw. It was going to be a long day and I’d only had a few hours sleep. By some unusual stroke of luck, for once I was able to access the database immediately. After picking myself up off the floor in shock, I wasted no time in retrieving the file on Kylie 4.
My mobile rang and I answered, waiting for the file to load. After teasing me by allowing me access to the database so quickly, the computer had now decided to revert to form and slow down on me again. It was Harry’s cousin’s boyfriend, Freddie, on the other end. He was very sorry, but the current job he was working on was taking longer than he’d expected because of the rain and he wouldn’t get to my place until after lunch. There was little chance that he was going to be able to finish my windows by nightfall. I thanked him politely for letting me know and hung up, sighing heavily. It appeared I’d be sleeping in the station tonight. I wondered what Young Kenny had planned for the evening? We homeless folk should probably stick together.
