Shadows of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  ‘I’ll put it away for you, then.’

  ‘Wait. Could you hit the far one or not?’

  Mia shrugged. ‘Don’t know.’

  ‘Yes, you could,’ Ally said. ‘Go on.’

  ‘No, thanks.’

  ‘Scared Ebony can outshoot you?’ Ally taunted.

  The sisters exchanged comical glares before, with a roll of her eyes, Mia picked up the gun, loaded it and set the pressure. She’d barely, to Ebony’s eyes, lined it up before the dart hit the furthest target dead centre.

  ‘Son of a beet-farming sheep flocker,’ Lee exclaimed, astounded.

  The women turned to see him standing behind them with Cam and Ben.

  ‘Oh see, Ally? Now you’ve got me in trouble. I suppose you heard them pull up?’ Mia said in disgust as she walked towards the targets to remove the darts.

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘They’ve been inside with me for ten minutes,’ Cam told them. ‘We were spying.’

  ‘That was me!’ Ebony told the men, pointing to the closer of the two and pulling it out.

  ‘Well done,’ Cam said.

  They walked to the next target. Ben studied it, studied Mia. ‘You hit this dead centre.’

  ‘Scared?’ Mia snatched her dart from the target. ‘You knew I had a gun licence.’

  ‘But not for that gun and not to shoot out here. How often are you practising?’

  ‘I have to attend club days or I lose my licence.’

  ‘For your type of gun, you do. Why are you holding on to it?’

  ‘Because I enjoy the sport.’ She stepped around him.

  ‘This has nothing to do with carrying it for protection?’

  ‘Of course not. That would be illegal. Besides, I have protection.’

  Jasper’s pen was on the back veranda. As they reached it, Mia pulled a chew stick out of a bag on top of it and popped it through the bars to him. With a puppy grumble, Jasper rolled over on his back with his legs in the air and chewed on it. The loose skin of his face weighed down by gravity made him look slightly crazy.

  ‘That’s a puppy,’ Ben told her.

  Mia dropped her head sideways and shook it, wide-eyed with mock amazement. ‘You really are a brilliant detective.’

  Lee and Cam were both snuffling in their attempts not to laugh. Ben sent them an unappreciative look. ‘That’s not protection.’

  ‘No, that’s Jasper. I was talking about all these other people, several dogs and a direct line to a detective.’

  ‘Yeah well, about that, sit down. I’ve got some news.’

  Ebony listened with the others. She wanted to be sad for Martin, but she couldn’t quite get there. She was horrified at the act itself, but for the man she could find little sympathy. And though she wished she could be relieved it was over, this masked stranger terrified her even more than Martin, because no one knew who he was, what he looked like or where he came from. He was a complete unknown. And all the more dangerous because of it.

  ‘And I don’t think it’s safe for you to be working,’ Ben finished.

  Ebony shook her head. ‘I have a business to run. Nick can’t get through everything on his own and it’s not fair to ask him to.’

  ‘Then close it for a couple of weeks.’

  ‘Do you know how hard I’ve worked to build this practice up and turn it into mine?’

  ‘Ebony, this guy could walk in off the street posing as a client.’

  ‘I know my clients, Ben. Anyone new turns up, Nick can deal with them.’

  ‘This guy could be a known client. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.’

  ‘I’ll have Carla in every consult.’

  ‘And how would you feel if he hurt her to get to you? He shot two cops to get to Martin.’

  ‘How do you think I’d feel? But he’d have to get through Nick, too, and a waiting room full of clients. Surely he’s not going to risk all that? Ben, if he takes my business out from under me, he’s already won.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous,’ Cam snapped at Ebony.

  Ben leant forwards in his chair. ‘I have a hand-picked taskforce dedicated to this. Just to this. Give us time to find him.’

  ‘Isn’t he just as likely to turn up here?’

  ‘There aren’t strangers walking in and out of this place all day.’

  ‘There aren’t at the surgery either. I told you – I know my clients.’ She walked out. She needed some air and some time to process.

  After a few minutes, Lee came out and stood beside her. ‘What’s going on in there, kiddo?’

  ‘Can you please stop with the kiddo?’ she asked. ‘I’m an adult. And I can’t just sit in this house and do nothing for who knows how long. I’m not closing the practice. I’m not giving up.’

  ‘Ebony, for –’ He swore, sighed. ‘You still think everyone’s waiting for you to give up and run home, don’t you? That’s bullshit. Look what you’ve achieved in five years. You raced out here, miles from everything you’ve ever known, to do an internship. Twelve months later you’re a partner, a year after that you own the business outright. Then you renovate the surgery, but that’s not enough, you have to keep going, keep proving yourself. So you buy the place next door and expand so you can take even more on. All the while you’re working long hours, six days a week, on call twenty-four hours a day. You’re nothing if not driven. No one thinks you’re a quitter. You don’t have anything to prove, you’ve already done that. This is just a temporary measure to keep you safe. The whole town adores you, Ebs, they’re not going to abandon your business because your doors are closed for a couple of weeks.’

  ‘I’m not closing. And the repairs on the front of the surgery are almost done. I’m going back to my flat, going back to work. God, I just need some normality!’

  He reached out and pulled her in for a hug, ignored her stiffness. ‘I know it’s not easy, but we have to get you out of this in one piece. Pretty soon this will all be a bad memory and you can … add on a petting zoo or start a damn franchise or something.’

  She let her head fall against his chest, unable to keep from grinning. ‘I hope so.’

  Mia walked out and spotted them, smiled. ‘Sorry.’

  Ebony drew away. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Ally wants to know if you’re coming in for dinner.’

  ‘Yeah, of course.’ Lee lifted Ebony’s hand to his lips, kissed it. ‘We’re on the same side, remember?’

  CHAPTER

  28

  Ebony sipped her coffee and sat at the lunchroom table with Carla. ‘So Ben ends the night by saying he has an idea and he’ll meet me first thing. Except he’s not here, so I guess if clients start coming in I’ll just work as normal until he gets around to telling me what’s going on.’

  ‘If I were you I think I’d stay home and hide under the bed.’

  ‘Yeah, well …’ She thought back to what had happened to Ally when she’d been hiding from Rob. ‘That doesn’t always turn out to be a great choice.’

  The door chimed. ‘Look – here’s the detective.’

  Through the doorway they saw Ben hovering by the reception counter. They got up and walked out to greet him.

  ‘Hi, Ben.’

  ‘Morning, Ebs. Hi, Carla.’

  ‘Do you want a coffee?’

  ‘No, thanks. I probably don’t have time.’ They watched another car pull in. ‘Look, about you wanting to work, I can accommodate that with a compromise.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Not what, who.’

  ‘Detective?’ The woman who walked briskly into the surgery was wearing black pants and a pretty blue shirt. She was tall and slim, athletically built. Her dark hair sat in a neat ponytail, her face was attractive, her expression cool and competent.

  ‘Detective Senior Constable Indiana O’Meara, this is Ebony Blakely. Ebs, this is your new secretary.’

  ‘Nice to meet you.’ Her handshake was firm, her smile polite.

  ‘You too. Secretary?’

  ‘She
’s here to keep you safe.’

  ‘And you’re Carla?’ Detective O’Meara asked.

  Carla looked surprised but nodded. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Would you mind getting me up to speed on how this place runs?’

  ‘Sure, follow me.’ They began a tour of the surgery.

  ‘You got me a bodyguard?’ Ebony said to Ben.

  ‘Not exactly. But she’ll do the job.’

  ‘She looks so young and nice. And she has a lovely voice. She’s American?’

  ‘Originally. Where is Nick?’

  ‘Not far away.’

  ‘Make sure he knows to keep this quiet.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘I have to go. Ebs, Indy might look young and nice, she’s highly trained, don’t worry. She can shoot like Mia and knock two guys flat with a single kick. Of course, you still need to be careful. And if Indy tells you to do something, do it.’

  ‘Indy?’

  He shrugged. ‘We’ve been friends for a long time. I picked her for this because I trust her.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome. There’s a compromise though – she can’t be here Saturdays and there’ll also be the occasional other day when I can’t spare her. And if she’s not here, neither are you. Deal?’

  Ebony nodded. ‘Deal.’

  ‘There you go. All set up.’ Nick stepped away from the new computer to let Ebony fiddle with it. The new program was working and the records were all where they needed to be.

  ‘This is fantastic – thank you!’

  ‘I’ll leave the old computer for a couple of days, just in case we’ve forgotten to remove anything you need.’

  ‘I think this requires a celebration,’ Carla suggested. ‘And we haven’t been over to the café all week.’

  Ebony looked at Indy. After the first two days, she’d been allowed to call her that. She was her protection, but she was fast becoming a friend. ‘Is that okay?’

  Indy considered that. ‘Depends. Is the food good?’

  ‘Excellent. You have to try Elaine’s cookies.’

  Indy grinned and picked up her bag. ‘Sounds like it’s worth the risk. Let’s go.’

  They ordered coffees and cookies and Ebony watched Indy assess a couple who came in to sit at a table close by.

  ‘Every time you look at someone like that, I start wondering whether I should get ready to run.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Indy mumbled into her coffee cup. ‘If you ever have to run, I won’t leave you wondering.’

  ‘It’s weird, all this attention centred around me.’

  ‘It’s about keeping you safe, of course, but it’s also about shutting down an illegal operation.’

  ‘Have you done much of this sort of thing?’ Nick asked.

  She sent him a brief smile. ‘Enough.’

  ‘Do you miss the city?’

  ‘Not particularly. You’re talking to a country girl, Nick.’

  ‘I would not have picked that.’

  ‘I’ve been in the city for nearly ten years, but it’s not where I come from.’

  ‘You’re from the US aren’t you?’ Ebony asked. ‘Sounds like you want to head back.’

  ‘Not to the States, but a regional position over here would probably suit me eventually.’

  Ebony took another sip of her coffee and was about to put the cup down when someone knocked her arm, hard. A small amount sloshed over the side and dripped onto her lap.

  Fiona was standing there, her smile a dead giveaway. ‘Sorry!’

  ‘I’ll just bet,’ Carla snarled.

  Indy was already on her feet and staring suspiciously at Fiona. ‘Been walking long?’

  Ebony mopped at the mess with serviettes. ‘No problem,’ she said through a smile made of clenched teeth. ‘Accidents happen.’

  ‘Don’t they?’ Fiona turned her attention to Nick. ‘Thanks so much for the other night, it was nice to finally pick up where we left off. I really did appreciate all that free vet work. Ciao.’

  ‘Excuse me?’ Ebony asked when Fiona sauntered off.

  Carla looked blank. Nick was glaring at Fiona’s back but turned to Ebony and held up his hands. ‘That’s not how it sounded.’

  ‘Did I somehow misinterpret?’

  ‘While you were in the city, the cat she’d brought in died. I’d told her to come and get it and it was fine, seemed recovered, then a couple of days later, she found it dead.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me any of this before.’

  ‘She called me, saying we’d released the cat too soon and it was negligence on our part that led to its death. She said it was still deathly ill when we made her take it home and all sorts of things. She threatened to sue the surgery.’

  ‘None of that’s true!’ Carla snapped.

  ‘She was nasty, Ebs, so I went around to see the cat and to calm her down, ask her to just drop it. Forget the bill in return for dropping any suit and leave you alone. You had so much on your plate, I didn’t want to add anything else.’

  ‘Did you see the cat? Examine it? Was it our fault?’

  ‘No, she’d already buried it.’

  Ebony’s eyes bulged. ‘So she says. Nick, anything could have happened to it. It might not even be dead. She’s spiteful enough to pull that. Do you know how much that antivenin costs?’

  He pulled a pained face. ‘Dock me for it. I thought I was doing the right thing. The cat was perfectly well when it was discharged, but it was an old cat and its heart wasn’t great to start with. I didn’t want you coming back to a lawsuit, no matter if it would have been thrown out or not.’

  ‘You should have told me,’ Carla said. ‘When you said it was sorted I assumed she’d paid. I was wondering why it hadn’t shown up in the payments – thought I’d missed it.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  The café was starting to fill up. ‘We should get back,’ Indy said.

  As they stood to leave, Nick put a hand on Ebony’s arm. ‘I’m sorry. I thought it was the right course of action.’

  ‘I get that, and I appreciate the sentiment behind it. But next time discuss it with me, okay?’ She was trying not to be mad about it, but couldn’t quite get herself there. Fiona was way too smug.

  * * *

  ‘You sure you want to go out, not up?’ Lee asked Cam. They were staring at his house, discussing plans, because while Ebony was at the house, they preferred to be too. Which made this the perfect time to start on Cam’s extensions.

  ‘Going up causes even more disruption to the house.’

  ‘Yeah but you’re cutting into your yard out that way, and think of the extra room – and the view – if you sit another level up there.’

  ‘More space, bigger project.’

  ‘Why don’t you ask Ally what she thinks?’

  ‘Because she’s already got a new bedroom, ensuite, walk-in wardrobe, second full bathroom, two more bedrooms and a new study up there, that’s why. Don’t get me started on her rearrangement of the ground level.’

  Lee’s grin was huge. ‘Mate, just start drawing up the plans.’

  ‘That’s what I said,’ Mia told him. She handed each man a beer. ‘I’m heading out to pick up pizza. Special requests from town?’

  ‘Be careful. In fact, I think I’ll come with you,’ Lee said.

  Mia shook her head. ‘You don’t need to worry. Rob’s not coming after me.’

  ‘He wasn’t after Louise either.’

  ‘Good point. You want to drive?’

  They collected pizza, talked about the proposed extensions to Cam and Ally’s place, moved on to a discussion about the cottage.

  ‘Actually, I was going to ask if you or Cam could help me move the stuff out of the second bedroom. There’s a lot of old furniture left over from before and I’d like to start turning it into an office.’

  ‘No probs, except the idea behind you coming out here wasn’t so you would spend your time at the cottage by yourself.’

  ‘Yeah but
… Ally asked if I’d stay with them for a while – not just on the weekends.’

  ‘She did?’

  ‘To have someone else around in case anything happens and I’m needed. And I can do that. I can make that work, but because I’ll be here, I’d like to keep fixing up the cottage.’

  ‘It’s certainly coming together well. You’re giving it a new lease of life.’

  ‘Ally and Ebs have been helping with the decorating. Ebs is especially good.’

  ‘Yeah, she is. And your boss … Adam. What does he think about all this? I thought you had six more months to go.’

  Mia pulled a face. ‘Not after that performance in the city. I told him I wasn’t coming back. He knows better than to push the issue.’

  ‘We’ll get out to the cottage on Sunday, move that stuff. That suit you?’

  ‘Thanks. There’s just a couple of big awkward things I need a second person on the end of. I can handle most of it.’

  ‘From what I’ve seen, you can handle most of anything. Even Charmaine at her worst.’

  She smiled at the memory. ‘Poor Charmaine. It’s too much for her. Ebony and her mother are chalk and cheese. She’s so much more like her father.’

  He turned up the driveway, nodded. ‘That tension between Cam and their father has got to be taking its toll on her. It can’t be easy splitting loyalties between people she loves.’

  She looked at him again. ‘Ebs knows her own mind. I don’t think you need to worry about her being able to deal with it.’

  ‘Why the tone?’

  When Mia didn’t immediately answer he shot her another, longer glance. This reluctance to answer was so unlike her he prodded further. ‘Well?’

  She placed a gentle hand on his arm. ‘It’s not rocket science figuring out how you feel about Ebs. It’s in the way you look at her, the way you talk to her, the way you treat her. So I’ve wondered, why don’t you make a move? Why don’t you take a chance? And then I see the issues between you and her father and have to think that’s at the root of it. That you don’t want to be responsible for a rift between Ebony and her father like you believe you are with Cam.’

  Worry churned in his stomach. Was it that obvious? ‘You’re wrong.’