by Sarah Barrie
‘You remember that?’
‘Yes. To this day, the question haunts me. I almost stopped getting my fingernails done.’ Ebony looked down at her perfect red nails and smirked. ‘Almost.’
‘Right. So if we can all get over our pathetic insecurities, the men are about to walk in. Let’s pretend we remember how awesome we are, okay?’
‘Who’s awesome?’ Cam came in the back door ahead of Lee, both of them dusty, dishevelled and worn out.
‘They’re talking about us behind our backs again,’ Lee said, stepping around Cam, who paused to land a loud kiss on Ally’s cheek.
‘I’m going to have a quick shower, then we’ll eat.’
‘I’ll use the other shower,’ Lee said. ‘Hey, Mia, you haven’t put all your girlie stuff in the spare bathroom yet have you?’
‘Not yet, sweetie. You need to borrow something?’
He chuckled and shook his head. ‘I’m too stuffed to duel words with you.’ And he disappeared down the hallway.
‘So what was the business meeting you were going to tell us about?’ Ebony asked as they sat around the table eating pizza.
‘Contracts. I haven’t even finished my graphic design course and I have jobs coming in.’
‘Jobs?’
‘Mmm hmm. I take photos, bring them home, play with them on Photoshop, create the images and designs the client is after, add a bit of info and turn them into advertisements.’
‘Wow, how are you fitting that in? I bet Adam isn’t happy.’
‘That’s your boss, right? The clingy one?’ Ebony decided it probably had been a major understatement. She knew how relentlessly Mia’s boss had been pursuing her and the tactics he’d used to try to get her into bed.
Mia smirked. ‘Clingy, right. I’ve dropped back to part time. He’s not happy, but I have clients he knows will walk if I leave. So he’s putting up with it.’
‘Who are you creating ads for?’
‘I did one for a jewellery store last week, which will lead to more, potentially – hence the dinner and torture dress – and my current one is for a sportswear company marketing tough clothes for tough teens. I have some ideas for images, but I’m going to need some help. I bought a GoPro.’
‘A what?’ Ebony asked.
‘It’s a high-definition action camera,’ Lee replied.
‘Yeah, one of them,’ Mia said. ‘It takes photos and videos, has built in wifi, is waterproof, and mounts onto just about anything. I want to get some perspective shots for this contract – using trail bikes and skateboards and stuff – and I have this idea in my head that should work well using Cam’s view as a backdrop. So … which one of you guys is best with a trail bike?’
‘Not me,’ Cam said quickly. ‘Lee’s pretty handy though.’
Lee put down his beer and shot Cam an unappreciative look as he picked up another slice of pizza. ‘Thanks, mate.’
‘Sorry, man. Survival of the fittest.’
‘So you can ride?’ Mia asked.
Lee took his time answering. ‘Depends. When you say backdrop, are you thinking I’m going to ride off Cam’s mountain? Because in that case, no, I don’t have the first clue. Besides, it’s a long time since I’ve been a teenager.’
‘No one will see your face for the big backdrop action shots, the GoPro will be attached to your helmet – or the bike. I can take others later and Photoshop everything together.’ She deliberately widened her enormous blue eyes at him. ‘Please?’
Ally chuckled. Lee rubbed a hand along the back of his neck and pretended to think about it. It was a pointless stalling activity, but it made him feel slightly less railroaded.
‘Of course,’ Mia continued sweetly, ‘I promise I’ll convince the company rep to give me a whole load of expensive bike gear for you to keep. And with the helmet and goggles and clever photo work, no one will know you’re not seventeen. You have such a strong face, so perfect for the camera …’
He noted the gleam of humour in her eyes, felt his own smile creep in. She was just teasing, but, man oh man, if she ever really meant it there wouldn’t be a man alive who wouldn’t be in trouble.
‘Trust me.’
He laughed, loud and full. ‘You almost had me until you tacked that on the end.’
‘Did I mention the really, really cool boots?’
‘We’ll bury you in them,’ Cam suggested helpfully. ‘Once she’s finished with you.’
Mia pulled a face at Cam before returning her attention to Lee. ‘Are you free next weekend? I promise not to kill you.’
‘Maybe,’ he said firmly.
‘I’ll throw in lunch.’
Lee’s look was horror mixed with nerves. ‘Are you cooking it?’
‘No,’ Mia said with a small grin. ‘Ally will.’
Ally’s brow shot up. ‘I will?’ Mia looked hopeful. ‘Sure, why not.’
Lee conceded defeat. A man had to know when he was beaten. ‘Right, well … I’ll throw the bike on the back of the ute and meet you up here mid-morning. That okay?’
‘Perfect. I can start on the cottage next weekend too. Make it habitable for the weekend after. I might want to spend a few days here.’
‘Wait, you’re thinking of staying down there already?’ Ebony asked. ‘What if Rob’s still around?’
‘Well, from what Martin indicated earlier, he’s coming for you next. So first sign you’ve gone missing, I’ll head for town.’
‘Funny,’ Ebony muttered.
‘What did Martin say?’ Cam demanded, before Lee could get the words out.
‘He was at the pizza shop,’ Ebony explained. ‘He was hassling me and we got into a … discussion about the pup that’s in my surgery.’
‘Ebs, you know better than to antagonise him,’ Cam said.
‘I didn’t … exactly. It’s just that he mentioned that someone was coming back to get me – he can only mean Rob, right? – and he did a thing with his finger across his throat.’ She demonstrated it. ‘Then he left. That’s it.’
‘And you believed him?’ Lee asked.
‘It really sounded like he meant it.’
‘He likes intimidating people. That’s what Martin does,’ Cam reassured her. ‘But we’re not going to take any chances. I’ll let Ben know and we’ll take some extra precautions.’
‘Extra?’ Ebony asked in disbelief.
‘It’s not particularly safe for any young woman to be living alone out here if there’s a chance Rob’s coming back,’ Lee said to Mia. ‘You really think staying at the cottage by yourself is a good idea?’
Mia shrugged. ‘It’s been over a year. How long do we keep worrying about the possibility he might still be around?’
‘How about until he’s caught?’
‘What if he’s never caught? Ben and a huge team of police have been working on this since forever and how far have they got?’
‘We don’t know where Ben is with the investigation,’ Cam reminded her, ‘but he won’t give up. He will find him.’
‘It really won’t freak you out?’ Ally asked. ‘Staying by yourself in that isolated little cottage where someone was murdered and his body hidden under the house for days?’
‘It’s not like Gus is still there.’
‘You can’t stay there yet anyway,’ Cam said. ‘The roof has to be fixed, locks need to be added to the doors and one of the windows needs replacing.’
‘I’m sure I can rustle up a couple of great builders to work on that for me. You free this weekend?’
‘Mia …’ Cam groaned, but Lee knew the tone. Somehow he was pretty sure Cam had just all but given up his weekend. And that meant he had too.
CHAPTER
6
‘Ebs!’
Lee knocked loudly on her door and checked his watch: 8.20 am. He knew he was pushing his luck hoping she’d be out of bed this early on a Sunday. It was her day off – unless there were hospitalised patients to take care of or an emergency call-out. And sure, a girl was entitled to a bit of down
time. But there was stuff that needed to happen.
‘Ebs!’
‘Hold on!’ He heard her footsteps rushing towards the front door then a slight pause before she opened it.
Every cell in his body jolted to attention. She’d fastened a short white satin robe over a matching nightie and her hair was loose around her shoulders, her eyes still sleepy. He swallowed hard and hoped she didn’t see his reaction for what it was: pure, unadulterated lust.
‘Morning. Why are you here?’
Lee quickly redirected his gaze to somewhere beyond her left shoulder. ‘We’re painting. Get your work clothes on, kiddo.’ Without waiting for her response, he turned and thumped back down the stairs.
He headed outside and took some long breaths of cool morning air. Ebony in a satin something or other first thing in the morning. Heaven help him.
He frowned at a cigarette butt carelessly tossed on the path. He’d seen a few scattered around. A couple of the contractors he’d had in smoked – he’d have a word. He unlocked the new building, took a quick look around, then moved into the equine examination room. The cabinet doors needed to go on, the X-ray machine had arrived and had to be installed. Boxes of equipment lined the newly painted walls, ready to be unpacked. The bulk of this area was complete. Only upstairs to finish.
He jogged up the steps to the flat, unlocked the door and looked around. The building site was exciting: new and fresh. The walls were up and most were ready to paint. Then it would really come to life. After that the floors would go down, the furniture would come in. It would start to look like a living space. And it would be a nice little space, not huge, but light and airy, just how Ebony wanted it.
By the time he’d finished laying out and setting up everything he was going to need, Ebony was on her way up the stairs. She glided into the room, complete – hallelujah – with a pot of coffee. Even on bare wood floors in an echoing worksite she barely made a sound.
‘I thought you might need some of this,’ she said and handed him a mug, before pouring herself one.
‘Thanks.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘How about you start cutting in out here while I get the rest of the cornice up in the bedroom?’
‘Okay.’ She took what she needed, shimmied up the ladder and got to work.
She was almost done by the time he came back out. She rolled her shoulder, did some more painting, rolled it again with a little grimace.
‘Ready for a break?’
‘Huh?’ Turning towards him, she knocked the small container of paint off the ladder. It spattered on him as it hit a rung and tipped over.
‘Hey!’ He righted it before the entire contents were lost then scowled down at his paint-covered clothes.
Ebony bit her lip on a giggle. ‘At least it’s the same colour as your shirt.’
‘It is not. My shirt’s white.’ He pulled the fabric out from his body, examined it critically. It was supposed to be white.
That infectious giggle of hers escaped. ‘Well, you can dispute that with Dulux because that,’ she said, waving her finger at his shirt, ‘is what they’re calling Beige Royal.’
His eyes narrowed on hers. ‘Think you’re funny, don’t you?’ He bent down and slowly ran his finger along the inside of the paint container.
The smile left her face as her eyes widened. ‘Don’t you dare!’ She attempted to jump from the ladder and he caught her around the waist. Lightweight, he thought, his arm firmly pinning her against him. His paint-covered finger moved towards her face. She squirmed, laughed, evaded all she could, but he dragged a line of paint straight down her forehead, then added another line to each cheek.
‘That’s mean!’ She pushed away from him and tried to rub the paint off with the corner of her shirt.
‘Be more careful – Pocahontas.’
‘Pocahontas, huh?’ He watched her gaze drop to the paint container. She moved like lightning. He couldn’t have said what face he pulled but it had her in stitches as she got her arm back ready to launch, just as Fiona appeared in the doorway.
Ebony quickly dropped her arm back by her side, ignoring the small amount of paint that sloshed out and spattered on her boot.
‘Hi.’
Fiona’s face pinched in disapproval. ‘I really would prefer it if that paint didn’t get on my expensive clothes.’
She did look very nice – and clean. Hair piled up, a shiny silk shirt, chic black skirt, pencil-thin heels, perfect make-up.
Chastised, and feeling childish and drab, Ebony put the tin down. ‘Of course. Sorry.’
‘Hey,’ Lee said in greeting. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I thought you might like a break from all the ah, … hard work.’
‘We’re kind of still in the middle of it.’
‘Yes, I can see that. But I packed a picnic.’
‘A picnic?’
‘Brunch really, before I go see my next couple of clients. I thought we’d eat in the park.’
‘Um …’ He looked at Ebony.
She somehow managed a smile. ‘You go ahead.’ A brunch picnic? In those heels? Fiona was always coming up with things for Lee to do when he was working with Ebony, but this one was the most original.
‘You’re welcome to join us,’ Lee offered.
Not if the scowl on Fiona’s face was anything to go by. ‘No, I should hang around. Louise is going to drop by in about half an hour to take some measurements – see if any of the furniture she bought for the rental will fit in here.’
‘Right, well, I’ll call back in after. I still have some stuff to get done.’
When they left, Ebony finished painting the section of wall she was working on, rinsed the brushes and headed back down to the surgery just as Louise was stepping out of her little white Honda Civic.
‘Hi, Ebs.’ She studied her, smiled. ‘You have a little something on your face.’ Louise indicated to where Lee had paid her back with the paint.
‘Oh, yeah – hell.’ She tried to rub it off and, from Louise’s expression, wasn’t very successful. ‘I’ll just go deal with this.’
‘Hold up, I have some make-up removers in the …’ Louise’s voice trailed off as a dirty black four-wheel drive slammed into the car park.
Martin. Shit. And Ebony had a good idea what this was going to be about.
‘Disappear,’ Ebony ordered Louise.
‘Should I call the police?’ she whispered.
Martin slammed the door shut, started up the kerb.
‘From Mudgee?’ She briefly debated it in her head. She wanted to think she could handle this, but with the look on Martin’s face, backup seemed like a very good idea. She passed Louise her phone. ‘Go inside – lock the doors and call Lee.’
As Louise rushed back inside, Martin reached Ebony. ‘Was that her?’ he snarled, stopping toe to toe with her.
‘Who?’
‘The other bitch who works here!’
‘Excuse me?’
He lowered his voice menacingly. ‘The one who dobbed me in.’
She fought back the gag his breath in her face induced. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Bullshit, Ebony. I’m pretty fucking sick of you interfering in my business. Grahame told me. He said the new bitch was going to report me over that pup. So I decided to drop in, have a little chat with her. See if we can’t understand each other a bit better.’
‘We’re closed. You’ll have to –’
He shoved her aside and stormed past. The doors didn’t slide open. He banged on them so hard with his fists Ebony flinched and was surprised they didn’t break.
‘You need to leave!’ she told him as strongly as her nerve would allow.
He turned back to her and the look in his eyes was violent. How stupid! She should have just run in with Louise. She measured up the distance to the new building, wondering if she’d make it.
‘So I said I’m sure you would make the time to have a look. It’ll only
take a couple of minutes.’ Fiona opened the picnic basket and took out another container of food, placed it on the small tartan rug. ‘They invited us over for drinks at three.’
Lee swallowed a tiny triangle of sandwich, nodded. ‘I’ll take a look when I can, but I’m not sure about this afternoon.’
‘Oh, you can make time,’ she said with certainty, her smile a mile wide. ‘It will be so nice to spend a civilised afternoon with you. And did you know they’d bought a boat? A catamaran. We’re more than welcome to go out on it with them next weekend. It’s a bit of a drive, I know, but a weekend on the coast would be nice, don’t you think?’
‘The next few weekends are pretty busy …’
‘Oh, and while you’re there this afternoon, I’ll show you this gorgeous little coffee table Renee bought in the city. I know you could make something just as good. It would be a great Christmas present for my mother.’
Lee held on to his patience. Just. Somehow in the last three weeks they’d gone from the odd, casual date when they were both free to Fiona organising every moment of his time. He didn’t mind making her a coffee table – particularly – but he was starting to resent doing all these ‘favours’ for her friends. And if they went out to see this particular friend this evening that would be less time he would have to get work done at Ebony’s, which would put him behind for the rest of the week. He thought about it, worked it out in his head. He supposed if he left by two …
‘So you’ll come?’
‘Yes, but three might be cutting it fine.’
She pouted. ‘Honestly? It’s just not right that Ebony has you working on her place on a Sunday.’
‘I would have done it yesterday but we were working on Mia’s place. Cam and I have stalled on our own projects a bit lately – we need to get back on track and Ebs needs everything functional as soon as possible. It suits us all to get it done. Besides, you’re working today.’
‘Just for a couple of hours. My clients only have the weekends to get their facials done. Can’t Cam do the cupboards?’
‘Cam’s enjoying his day off building stables for Ally.’
‘Well, I hope Ebony’s at least paying penalty rates. You’re entitled to it on Sundays, you know. Fruit?’
