by Sarah Barrie
Ebony snuck a sideways look at Nick and he caught it, winking back with a small grin.
Carla appeared. ‘I’ve set up for surgery. Are you going to be able to get it all done?’
Ebony looked at Nick. He shrugged. Challenge stirred in his eyes. ‘How fast can you neuter a cat?’ he asked.
‘Too easy.’
‘We have an entropion as well.’
‘The Rottweiler, right. I can handle it.’
‘I’ll take the two spays then.’ He looked at Carla. ‘Under control.’
Was it? Ebony really just wanted this day over and done with.
She drove Mia’s car out to Ally and Cam’s place at six thirty, found them with Mia and Lee on the veranda by the pool. Canapes and wine glasses were out.
‘Party?’ she asked.
‘Pre-emptive wake,’ Cam told her. ‘For you and Mia. Ben will be back soon. Ally’s even cooking you a last meal.’
Mia dipped into a bowl of hommus with a water cracker. ‘Having to spend another evening in Ben’s presence will be more than enough enticement to crawl into a box.’
Lee smirked at her. ‘Have the dogs been picked up?’ he asked Ebony.
‘Early. The van came at five thirty.’
‘Want a drink?’ Ally offered.
Ebony sat down next to Mia and took a breadstick. ‘Sounds like I might need one.’
‘We can take him,’ Mia reassured her. ‘The speed he gets things done, this’ll end up doubling as a Christmas party.’
‘Ally, talk to your sister,’ Cam said, ‘I don’t mind a bit of entertainment but I don’t need any bloodshed tonight.’
‘Have that discussion? In the next five minutes? I’d have more luck removing every sharp object in the house and delivering them on foot to Alaska,’ Ally said.
‘Too late anyway,’ Lee declared.
Cam got up as they heard Ben’s car on the driveway and a moment later Ben had joined them by the pool. He was still in his official suit, and just as intimidating, Ebony thought. If she hadn’t known him, at least a bit, she would have been very nervous.
‘Hi Ben.’ Ally got up to welcome him. ‘How did you go?’
‘There was evidence someone has been living in that house at the mine, but we don’t know who at this stage. Forensics have been out there and they’ll be back tomorrow.’
‘What’s happening with Martin?’ Ebony asked.
‘The RSPCA are building a case against him and when I spoke to the manager at the mine, he was pretty pissed off. I doubt Martin will have a job there anymore. I’ve just been out at his place crawling all over his arse about all that, plus the vandalism at the surgery and the threats he’s been making against you, Ebs. He’s denying everything, of course, but all in all, rest assured he’s doing anything but a happy dance. I want you to be careful.’
‘I will. Cam and Lee have the surgery secured like Fort Knox.’
‘Good to know. But that won’t help you if you’re sneaking around Martin’s place.’ He turned his attention to Mia. ‘I suppose all this was your idea?’
Mia sent Ebony a see-I-told-you look. ‘You suppose correctly, so leave Ebs out of this.’
‘Fine by me. What the hell were you thinking?’
‘I cable-tied a camera to his car. It took five seconds. I cut it off again. Maybe I underestimated –’
‘You could have both been killed! Yeah, you underestimated.’
‘Someone had to do something,’ Mia said loudly.
‘That’s my job, Mia. Not yours. This is a major police investigation. You have no business sticking your nose in it. What if he’d found you under his car?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘I don’t think it would have ruined our relationship.’
Ben sat down and closed his eyes. Ran both hands through his hair. ‘Don’t you learn? You’ve already been kidnapped and almost killed once. What do you think Martin would have done if he’d managed to corner you out at his place? Filed a complaint? If he hadn’t killed you on the spot, you could have ended up like those other women we’re still trying to find remains of.’
‘We’re both here, we’re fine. We pulled it off. Get over it.’
For a long moment the look on Ben’s face was dangerous. ‘He already has it in for you. If he gets the slightest whisper of your involvement in this, there’s no telling what he’ll do. This is not just some garden-variety psycho, Mia; Martin is part of a highstakes criminal organisation. We don’t know exactly how many people are involved, but we do know they’ll go to whatever lengths they need to to keep it under the radar. Burning your sister’s house down with you both in it should give you some idea of that!’
‘We found –’
‘A bunch of puppies? That’s not the priority. Did it occur to you that we might have already had something underway? That all this could have jeopardised it?’
‘Did you? Did it? Or are you just pissed because we found something you didn’t? Someone else has been there.’
‘We have no idea if that’s even connected to the case.’
‘Oh please, who do you think he’s been hiding, Mary Poppins?’
He dropped his hands heavily onto the table and leaned towards her. ‘What if something had happened to you?’
His tone had taken on an edge that shocked even Mia, but she recovered quickly. ‘Then your world would be a better place.’
His eyes hardened. ‘It would certainly be a hell of a lot less complicated.’
Mia pushed back from the table. ‘Are we done? Because I’m not allowed to tear you to shreds and the temptation is almost too much.’ She got to her feet and walked inside.
‘There was no bloodshed,’ Lee commented casually to Cam.
No, Ebony agreed silently, and Mia’s last comment hadn’t packed quite the punch it normally would. She was tired. That’s probably all it was. Ally was already on her feet and Ebony decided to follow her.
‘Tell her it’s truce time,’ Cam called out. ‘Don’t let her sulk, there’s too much good food out here.’
‘Mia, wait up,’ Ally called. Mia had already collected the keys Ebony had left on the table and was on the driveway.
‘How am I supposed to get out when he’s parked me in?’ she complained.
It crossed Ebony’s mind that Ben had probably done it on purpose to make sure he got a chance to talk to her. ‘Don’t go,’ she told her. ‘I think he was worried about you.’
‘He was worried about being shown up, that’s all.’
Ally put a hand on her arm. ‘Mia, he was worried. If I’ve forgiven him, can’t you?’
Ebony hadn’t known Ally when Ben had repeatedly cross-examined her over the fire that had killed her husband and her horses, but she knew from what had been said that he had been pretty brutal. It had taken Ally a lot of time to heal, and a lot of time to forgive. But Mia hadn’t forgiven him; she swore, after helping Ally through some horrific panic attacks because of it, she never would.
‘It’s not just about that. He … irritates me.’
‘Without him I’d probably be dead. So might you. And we need his help again. If Martin’s telling the truth, Ebs needs his help. So can you please, please, just try to get along?’
Mia considered her sister; considered Ebony. ‘Fine. I’ll go back over there and sit. That alone will more than fill my quota for today. If he starts anything else, all bets are off.’
CHAPTER
20
The noise was catastrophic – it sounded like Ebony’s world was crashing around her. She scrambled, frantic to find a light. Somewhere, a shrill alarm wailed. She flicked the switch – the power was out. A panicked check of her apartment in the dark showed everything was fine, normal.
‘Quiet, Jasper – quiet, puppy.’ She’d brought the lonely pup up to her apartment earlier to stop him crying. Now he was howling.
More sounds came from below; something … crunching? She couldn’t be sure over the ear-piercing shrieks of the alarm and the howling of the p
up. Was it the security alarm – or the fire alarm? Had something exploded? Her sleep-addled mind fought to put it together. Panic surged through her all over again. She rushed to the door, opened it a crack. The red glow in the stairwell layered panic on panic.
She flew down the stairs for the fire extinguisher, phone out and dialling, grabbing the wall with the other hand for balance as she swung round the corner.
A clawing agony took the air from her lungs as she was pinned to the wall by her throat and held there so her feet dangled above the floor.
All she could see was Martin’s face, his foul breath filling her nostrils. All she felt was a burning desperation to breathe.
‘Where are they?’
She gasped, gagged. The pain was excruciating.
‘I said, where. Are. They?’
She tried to shake her head, couldn’t.
‘I want those dogs back. I don’t get them back, I’ll snap your pretty little neck.’
The odour of stale sweat and alcohol overwhelmed her as dots began swimming in her vision. She clawed at his huge hand. His vice-like grip didn’t loosen, but her feet touched the floor as he dragged her down the corridor. He stopped at the recovery room, squinting against the darkness.
‘I don’t have them,’ she rasped.
He squeezed tighter and dragged her out again to the exam rooms, checking one after the other. She was going to die. As her consciousness receded, her fingers fell from his beefy arms and her legs stopped paddling.
He dropped her and she fell in a heap at his feet, dragging in one enormous breath, almost choking on it. Another, and another, through an impossibly painful throat. She watched Martin stomp away from her. The red glow was from twin taillights – he’d reversed his car straight through her front doors. He pulled over a stand of dog treats and it clattered to the floor, the contents scattering. He swept his arm along a set of shelves, sending merchandise shooting across the room. He reached behind the counter and the computer monitor crashed to the floor, paperwork flying everywhere. Her phone was ripped out and smashed against the window. Martin strode back to her, chest heaving, a crazy look on his face.
She curled into a ball, got her hands over her head. His voice in her ear had her making herself even smaller.
‘I want those dogs back. Where’d they end up?’
‘Mudgee.’ It was a croak – all she could manage.
‘What?’ Pain exploded in her head as he grabbed her hair and ripped her from the floor. ‘What?’
‘Mudgee. RSPCA.’
‘Fuck!’ He slammed her back down, stormed a few steps away, turned again. ‘I should kill you, you interfering bitch!’ His hands clawed at his scalp. ‘I can’t kill her, I can’t …’ he muttered, then his eyes turned back to her and the hatred in them was deadly. On the street, house lights were coming on, people were shouting.
‘It’s too soon to take you yet. But I’m gonna be at that hunt, Ebony. And I’m gonna cut your fuckin’ throat myself.’
He climbed into his car. The tyres crunched over broken glass and bumped out of reception. The red of the taillights faded as he roared down the street.
Ebony waited for the pain to die down and tried to think. Where were the voices coming from? The security company would be calling her any second to see if she was all right. She’d probably already missed them. If they couldn’t get her, they’d call the police. But they were more than half an hour out of town. Where was her phone? Where had she …
‘Ebs!’ Cam’s voice penetrated the darkness of her closed eyelids and the fuzziness of her brain.
‘Ebony!’ Ally’s voice this time.
She wanted to call out, but her voice wouldn’t work.
‘She’s over here!’ Ebony wasn’t sure she recognised the voice – one of the ones she’d heard as Martin drove off? A neighbour? As she came round, she noticed more voices, all running into each other. Glass was crunching, something was being scraped back, moved.
‘Ebony!’
Cam’s panicked voice in her ear made her open her eyes, but she struggled to focus. He stroked the hair back from her face.
‘I’m okay,’ she croaked.
‘Are you hurt? Can you sit up?’
‘I think so, just dizzy.’ She supported herself on an elbow. ‘I must have passed out.’
Lights and sirens penetrated the quiet darkness.
‘What happened?’ Ally asked, looking around in disbelief.
‘Martin. He came looking for his dogs.’
Cam’s face closed into an expression of pure hatred. ‘Okay, okay. Ally, stay with her.’ He headed over to talk to the police as they pulled up.
‘How did you know to come?’
‘Cam’s second contact on the security company’s list. They called the police – and called Cam. Police were already on their way, though. Neighbours called it in. What’s wrong with your voice?’
‘He grabbed my throat. God, Ally, I couldn’t breathe. I thought he was going to kill me.’
‘Shh, don’t talk, it sounds painful. You’re going to be fine.’
A policeman appeared in front of her. ‘Miss Blakely? An ambulance is on its way. Can you tell me in your own words what happened?’
Cameron Blakely the Second was a formidable figure even in the most casual of circumstances. The top criminal lawyer in the country had a sharp mind, a sharper tongue and ice blue eyes that could cut right through you. It was seven in the morning and he was wearing one of his expensively cut business suits, his immaculate silver hair perfectly in place, and he was firing questions at Ebony’s doctor, who after examining her so confidently and capably was, under her father’s interrogation, fast becoming a stuttering mess.
It would have annoyed her – did annoy her – but underneath that hard façade, Ebony could see just how upset her father was. She hated that she was the cause of it, understood his need to feel he could bring everything back under control, but the doctor needed saving.
‘Dad.’ It wasn’t loud. Her throat hurt, the bruising around her neck was painful and the lump on the side of her head was a looping grenade explosion. But her father left the doctor, who made a quick escape, and was at her side instantly. ‘I’m okay, Dad, please don’t harass the doctor.’
‘Do you know how many complications can arise from being strangled? I need to be sure the man knows what he’s doing.’
‘He’s been really good.’
‘Perhaps. Would you come back to the city and be examined by our doctor, anyway? You can stay with your mother and me at the estate until you recover. I’ll hire around-the-clock security, private investigators to work with Ben – we all know how tight funding is.’
She swallowed a sip of water with difficulty. ‘Dad, it could take years. I won’t have a business left.’
‘You won’t have one dead, either. Charmaine, talk some sense into the girl.’
Her mother hadn’t said much since walking in. She was sitting in the visitor’s chair in a flawless plum suit, wringing her hands and wiping the odd tear from her cheek with a sodden tissue. ‘Stop pressuring her, Cameron, can’t you hear how sore her throat is? And you know how stubborn she is about her independence.’
Cameron looked instantly contrite. ‘Yes, of course. But think about it, please. We just want you to be safe,’ he said in a much gentler tone.
Safe? She’d thought the security system had made her safe. But how do you beat a security system? Simple – just drive a car through it. ‘I know, Dad. Thanks. But hopefully Ben will have Martin under arrest by now.’
Her father shook his head. ‘I very much doubt that. I don’t like this, Ebony, I don’t like it at all. The man’s obviously had some sort of breakdown. He had to know he couldn’t possibly get away with this and resume any kind of normal life in Hunters Ridge. He’ll have taken off, be hiding. He’s not going to go home and wait to be arrested. Desperate, unstable men are dangerous and unpredictable. Ben won’t find him today and he won’t want you going home.’
<
br /> ‘He said it was too soon to take me. They must have already arranged everything. God, they’re going to –’
Lee came through the door, dishevelled and unshaven. ‘Ebs? I – oh, sorry.’
‘Lee – hi.’
‘Dalton. What do you want?’ Cameron said coldly.
‘Dad. Stop it,’ Ebony snapped. Coughed.
Lee’s cool gaze warmed as he turned it on her with concern. ‘Here, have some water.’
‘She doesn’t need you looking after her, we’re –’
‘I just came to catch you up,’ Lee told her pleasantly, ignoring her father.
‘How’s everything going?’
‘Under control. Ally packed you some things and she’s organising the day at the farm so she can get back out here, Cam’s just outside on the phone talking to Ben, who’s at the surgery. Carla has the surgery side of things under control – she’s rescheduling everything that can wait and she’s going to organise Nick and Louise to do house calls for those that can’t. Cam and I will start cleaning up once the cops have finished poking around so we can get the place secure.’
‘They’re not poking around, they’re incriminating the bastard that hurt Ebony. Surely you can appreciate that?’ Cameron said.
Lee ran his fingers through his untidy hair and, from what Ebony could see, was resisting the urge to snap back. ‘I’ll head back out there, do a run past the surgery and talk –’
‘Ebs!’
‘Mia? What are you doing here?’
‘Martin chokes you half to death, I’m turning up. Hi, Mr and Mrs B.’ She gave each of Ebony’s parents a kiss on the cheek, then she addressed Lee. ‘Hey handsome, you been here all night?’ She grinned and fussed with his hair.
‘Back and forth. I’ll see you later.’
‘Lee?’ Ebony called softly.
‘Yeah?’
‘Thank you.’
‘No worries.’
‘What’s going on between you two?’ her father demanded.
‘We’re friends, Dad. Good friends. I wish you wouldn’t be so nasty. You wrecked his life, not the other way around.’
‘Ebony!’ her mother gasped.
