Deleilah

by Bowes, K T

  Another cop arrived in an unmarked car and walked around the builders’ van, waiting while an enraged Leilah pointed out her father’s belongings. Tools and ironmongery were slung into the flat bed, along with lead flashing from the old barn roof and items of farm equipment.

  “Hector left a lot of stuff,” Tane remarked, running his hands through black hair running to grey in the sideburns.

  Leilah took it as criticism and glared at him. “He didn’t have much choice, did he?” she snapped. “I’m sure if he’d known the heart attack was coming, he’d have tidied up.”

  “Stop it, Lei!” Tane said, authority in his voice. “I meant, I’m surprised the previous owners kept it all.”

  “Sorry.” Leilah looked at the amassed junk which the cops lifted out onto the driveway after photographing it in situ. She shook her head and swallowed. “Just clear it to the side and leave it.” With heavy steps, Leilah turned and walked towards the house, meeting the dark-eyed young man being led away in handcuffs.

  “Hey, Tane.” Leilah turned and faced the imposing policeman as he stood watching, legs slightly splayed and arms folded across his chest. “This kid tried to help me. He got the burner back off the truck and defended me. Please don’t lock him up.”

  Tane eyed Leilah with a fixed stare, his eyes narrowed and suspicious. “You sure?”

  “Yeah, he was good. Please let him go.”

  Tane turned to the teenager. “You gonna give a statement about what happened?” The boy nodded. “Yeah, but are you gonna tell the truth?”

  The teen looked wide-eyed towards the burly builder as the young cop helped the hairy male into the back of a police car. “I’ll tell the truth.” He nodded at Tane and lowered his voice to a whisper. “But they’ll probably kill me. They threatened Claus and he walked off the job.” His eyes darted nervously towards the other two men being inserted into vehicles, hands rigid behind their backs.

  “Ok.” Tane raised an eyebrow and spoke to the cop. “Keep his cuffs on and take him to the station. Caution him for attempted theft and then let him go. But only if he backs up what this lady says. If he messes around once you’re there, call me.” His eyes held a warning and the kid nodded and allowed himself to be put into another vehicle which lumbered up the drive.

  “He left his sleeping bag and gear here,” Leilah said, her tone thoughtful. “What will you do with him?”

  “Not your problem.” Tane joined her and they watched the police vehicles roll down the long driveway, kicking up a dust storm behind them. He waved towards the pile of scrap metal at the side of the driveway. “Want me to put all this back?”

  “Just the burner.” Leilah closed her eyes to the memory of her father’s work-worn hands stocking the flames, tossing logs into its burning maw and closing the door with a grunt. “I shouldn’t have come back here,” she whispered.

  “Hey, I’m glad you did.” Tane’s arm around her shoulder felt familiar and drove Leilah deeper into her misery. He brushed away the hot tears which fell onto her cheeks and swaddled her close like he always did. “Miriama will wonder where the snot came from when she washes my shirt,” he said. Leilah heard the smile in his voice.

  “Do you make all the girls cry?” she retorted and he laughed.

  “It happens.” His voice became serious. “Leilah, what happened with us all?”

  “Nothing!” She sensed her heart speed up in anticipation and swallowed. “I’m leaving?”

  “No, Lei. You’re not leaving. I won’t let ya.” His smile was kind as he dabbed at her tears with the back of his hand, the soft hair tickling her skin.

  “I can do what I want!” Leilah’s blue eyes glinted like hard diamonds and she set her jaw. “I don’t have to stay here. I escaped this place once and I can do it again.”

  “We were mates, Lei. Twenty years is a long time not to hear from your best mate.” Tane’s sad expression touched a raw nerve and Leilah pulled away.

  “I couldn’t.”

  “What, no phone call, no letter, email, nothing? Apart from what you wrote to Mari. Why didn’t you tell me all that stuff?”

  “None of you get it!” Leilah postured, wringing her hands in frantic, jabbing movements as though no amount of water would ever get them clean. “I wasn’t allowed. It was a condition.”

  “What condition, Lei? What do you mean?”

  “Nothing! I’m tired and overwrought. It means nothing. Will you help me move the burner back inside or do I have to lift it by myself?”

  Tane helped carry the burner into the house, offering to walk backwards up the steps. Leilah knew he watched her, the unnerving perception of her teenage friend fully honed as the investigative tool of an adult policeman. They settled it back in position under the chimney and Tane shook his head. “I saw the pipe outside. It’ll need to be reflued. Why don’t you get it swept first and then do it after?”

  “Good idea.” Leilah nodded. “Just don’t know who to trust anymore.”

  “I’ll ask Uncle,” Tane said, brushing his filthy hands against his trousers.

  “Don’t bother,” Leilah scoffed. “I already did. He doesn’t want to know. He called me a holiday-home-Aucklander-bitch.”

  “He will when I ask.” Tane’s voice echoed in the empty room. “What exactly happened with Vaughan’s stepbrother this afternoon? Got a frantic call from Ted but don’t think he had his teeth in so I couldn’t understand him. He said the guy throttled you in the street. I need you to make a statement. Added to holding you against your will; I’ve got enough to charge him. There’s witnesses now.”

  Leilah shook her head and her hand strayed sub-consciously to her neck. “Has he left town?”

  Tane nodded. “Yeah, far as I know. By the time I got there he’d crawled off but I’ll get him picked. I’ve spoken to the Palmerston North watch house and nobody else has been prepared to give a statement until now. You have to do it, Lei.”

  “No.” Leilah bit her lip. “Vaughan went mental on him and Harvey will probably file assault charges out of spite. Just let it go and hopefully he won’t come back again.”

  “No.” Tane gave her a hard look. “You’re doing this.”

  “I don’t need the publicity!” Leilah cried. “I’m trying to start again. They won’t leave me alone if this makes the news.”

  Tane pressed a button on his police radio to dull the chattering voices of his colleagues and Leilah watched his artist’s hands straighten his stab vest. He narrowed his eyes at her and she knew the subject wasn’t over. She sighed. “I’m pleased you’re happy in your work. It’s good to do something worthwhile. What do you know about Vaughan and Harvey? I didn’t even know they were step-brothers until recently. Mari said he got his wife from Harvey but I don’t really understand.”

  “Harvey’s dad married Vaughan’s mother and beat her to a pulp. When she couldn’t cope she sent her son into care and Social Welfare placed him with Horse. She shot herself in the face with a rigged shotgun after her husband broke a bone in her back and wouldn’t let her call for help.”

  Leilah whistled through her teeth and shook her head to make the violence of the story go away. “Did Vaughan tell you that? He never spoke about his life before he came here.”

  “Na.” Tane shook his head. “Course he didn’t. That dude says nothing about himself. Folk around here always believed her husband killed her but the police report says not. I stumbled across the information when his step-dad died ten years ago in suspicious circumstances and the Palmy cops turned up here.”

  “They thought Vaughan killed him?” Leilah’s eyes widened.

  “For a while but he had an alibi.” Tane’s lips quirked upwards. “He was at home in bed with his wife.”

  Leilah breathed out her relief and remembered the possession on the woman’s face in the photo. “What was she like, his wife?”

  “Quiet. Nobody ever saw her.” Tane watched the colour rise in Leilah’s cheeks with narrowed eyes. She resisted the urge to look down at the
borrowed boots. A dead woman’s shoes. “Yeah, that was a bad business. She took an overdose, but it didn’t work straight away. He got home to find her in agony but by the time the ambulance got her to the Waikato hospital the damage was done. She died two days later of organ failure and it wasn’t pretty.”

  Leilah swallowed, shifting her feet against the dusty floorboards. “I heard she lost a baby? Poor Vaughan.”

  Tane’s eyes narrowed. “Answer me one question, Lei, please?”

  “Maybe.” She shrugged and closed the glass door on the burner with a click and secured the latch.

  “Why did you tell no one what happened that day on the riverbank?” He raised his hand to prevent the interruption he saw in her face. “I felt sure you’d tell someone, but you didn’t. Why?”

  Leilah’s top lip curled back in a sneer. “How could I?”

  Tane shifted from one foot to another. “I expected you to, Lei. I waited for the bomb to go off but it didn’t.”

  Leilah shook herself to remove the memories and left the room. Tane remained, scratching the growing stubble on his chin, his face creased in a frown. She returned with an old broom and brushed the dust and debris into a pile, ignoring Tane’s presence.

  “You shouldn’t have stayed away because of me, Leilah. We all loved you.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  The broom ran over Tane’s boots and he swiped at the handle, stopping it in its tracks and forcing Leilah to jerk to a halt. “What’s your problem, wahine?”

  Leilah’s chin jutted upwards in defiance, an old hurt radiating in her eyes. “Ted told me,” she hissed. “I went into the cafe twenty years ago after driving all the way back here and bumped into Ted. He said, ‘Oh, so you’re back, are ya? Pity that boyfriend of yourn’s strayed already, innit?’ I wanted to confess everything. I couldn’t cope with the truth and needed help, but that old man just looked me in the eye and destroyed my life in one sentence!” Leilah ground her teeth, her voice coming out like nails on a blackboard. “I’d been gone a month, Tane! A month. I obviously meant nothing; all the secrecy and promises. I came here to tell Dad everything and saw I’d just been taken in like a stupid little girl. Ted’s a lot of things but he doesn’t lie.”

  “Only because he’s not clever enough!” Tane snapped. “So you married Michael and really did lose everything. On the strength of an old man’s word. Geez, Leilah!” Tane ran a shaking hand through his hair, looking at the broom in surprise as the handle banged his forehead.

  “Yes!” Leilah dragged the broom handle from his strong fingers, sighing in exasperation as the head flew off and the bristles left dust on the plaster board next to the fireplace. “If you mention any of it again we’re done!” she threatened, her face serious. “I mean it, Tane. If my life can’t go forwards here, I’ll leave.” Leilah gripped her chest as though a physical ache threatened to crush her chest and pity travelled across the policeman’s face.

  “Ok.” He hugged her to him and kissed the top of her head. “I promise.” He stroked her back and made soothing noises, infusing peace into Leilah’s tortured soul. “I love you, Deleilah Dereham. Please don’t leave again without telling me. I’ll make it up to you. I don’t know how but I will.”

  Chapter 39

  Tai

  The rapping on the cracked glass of the front door pulled Leilah from her reverie and forced her to return to the real world. She sat up on the wooden boards and faced the teenage builder who bit his lip as he looked at her through the window.

  “What do you want?” She used the delay to wipe her tear-streaked face on her sleeve and run a hand through her dark curls.

  “My sleeping bag.” His voice sounded muffled and Leilah’s boots scraped on the boards as she stood.

  “Tane took them all to the police station,” she said, her expression suspicious.

  “Not mine, miss.” He winced. “He took all the other blokes’ stuff. I kept mine hidden otherwise the guys did nasty things to my gear.”

  “Where is it?” Leilah cast around the lounge with its swept floor and the wood burner shoved haphazardly under the chimney. “I cleaned the whole house and didn’t see it.”

  “Can I show you?” The young man stepped back from the door as a contradiction, nervousness showing in his face and the way his hands flapped by his sides. “It’s ok. I get why you’re scared, miss,” he said, his tone sad. “I won’t do nothin’ to ya, promise.”

  Against her better judgement, Leilah unlocked the door and opened it outwards. “What’s your name?”

  “Tai, miss.”

  “Leilah.” She held out a dusty hand and his face changed with the beginnings of a smile. Dark-haired and swarthy, he had brawny arms from hard labour and his eyes were almost black. His palm felt calloused and rough in Leilah’s. “How old are you?”

  “Nineteen, miss.”

  “How did you end up with those other losers?”

  Tai shoved his hands in his pockets and splayed his legs. “I finished at college and applied for an apprenticeship, miss. Claus took me on and it was good. I learned heaps from him but then his boss-man sold out to someone else a few weeks ago. The new boss laid off all the other builders apart from Claus and me and made us work with them clowns. Claus walked off the job after a fight yesterday. Tanner, the big guy, he hit Claus and broke his nose.”

  “Where’s the building supplies I paid for?” Leilah’s tone sounded flat, imagining it was all in the truck the cops impounded. “I gave Claus money up front but I guess it went on beer.”

  “No, miss.” Tai looked hopeful. “It should be in the barn behind the house. Me and Claus unloaded it the day before yesterday. The other bros were meant to prep the walls but when we got back here last night, they were just pissed. That’s when Tanner punched Claus.”

  “Where did Claus go?” Leilah rubbed a hand across her tired eyes.

  “Town, miss. He booked a room for him and me to share. I thought he’d come back for me last night but he didn’t. I never helped those other dudes strip the place, miss. I swear I didn’t.” His expression turned to desperation. “I don’t think Claus is comin’ back for me.”

  Leilah sighed. “Where’s your sleeping gear? Show me.”

  Tai stepped into the lounge and skirted Leilah as though she might attack him without notice. He strode through to the master bedroom and without hesitation opened the sliding wardrobe door. “I don’t think they’d have found it,” he said, the cupboard muffling the sound. Leilah heard the sound of another door sliding open. “It’s a secret cubby hole.” Tai’s voice drifted out. “There’s a safe in here, but I didn’t tell them.”

  “Thanks.” Leilah poked her head through the wardrobe door and peered into the darkness. Tai’s hand rested on the doorframe above her and she smelled the overpowering sweat from his armpit.

  The gunmetal grey safe took up half the space, projecting forward from the wall and almost touching the line of skirting board which masked its secret presence. Coving continued above it as though no gap existed and Leilah shook her head in surprise. The safe was waist high and Tai’s sleeping bag and a rucksack rested on top. “How did you find this?” Leilah asked, shuddering at the spiders’ webs in the corners of the secret room.

  “I was looking for somewhere to hide my gear and came in here. I tripped and put my hand on the wall and it shook. It didn’t take much to poke around and I found a little space where a key should go. It looked like a hole in the plaster board, but when I slipped a thin screwdriver into it, something clicked and the door rolled back.” He turned towards Leilah and waved her back with his hand. “Look.” He ran the door towards her and it closed flush with the wall. Once again it was just an ordinary walk-in-wardrobe.

  “Where does the door go when it’s open?” Leilah peered harder but couldn’t work it out.

  “Here.” Tai pushed it backwards and the door slid on runners buried into the ceiling and floor and the door disappeared into the wall to reveal the space again. “Clever, hey? It
’s part of the integral structure of the house, see.” He pointed up towards the ceiling and the decorative coving which made the wardrobe appear complete when the door screened the secret room from view. “You can tell it wasn’t added afterwards.”

  “So, this was here when I lived with my father?” Leilah marvelled. She prodded Tai’s bicep. “Run the sliding door again a few times for me please?” She closed her eyes and waited, savouring the sound the door made as it slid; a slow, steady rumble which shook the floorboards around her feet. Leilah heaved out a sigh. “I remember that noise. Hector must have come in here when he thought I was asleep because I associate it with night time.” She shrugged. “There won’t be anything of his in the safe. The last owners will have cleared it. I wonder why they didn’t mention it in the sale documents.”

  “Open it.” Tai sounded excited and Leilah shook her head.

  “Can’t. I don’t have the combination; it’s old, look. I’ll ring the agent tomorrow and ask her if the previous owner’s sons left something for me. There must be a door key too; I can’t imagine you’re supposed to shove a screwdriver in the hole every time.”

  “Yeah, it’s a pain. That’s why I just pulled it closed and didn’t lock it.” Tai gathered his sleeping bag and rucksack to his chest and looked expectantly at Leilah, waiting for her to move out of his way.

  “Where are you going?” she asked, the prospect of her own loneliness washing over her like an unwelcome douse of cold water.

  “Dunno.” The young man looked at peace. “Hitch back to Hamilton, maybe. I might see if Claus is still in town first. He’s an amazing carpenter so if he gets another job, I’d love to go with him.”

  “Do you have money?” Leilah asked, foraging around in her jeans pocket.

  “I’m fine, honestly, miss.” Tai raised a hand in protest and hefted his rucksack onto his shoulder. “I don’t need nothin’.”

  Leilah nodded. “Ok, but I’ll give you a ride to town and see if I can help you find Claus.”