Shadows Over Wongan Creek

by Juanita Kees

  Fen’s heart glowed a little. Liam had taken a big step towards facing his fears, even if he was too young to realise how much he’d achieved by walking out on his own. The clouds crept back in over the light of that glow when she remembered the message on her phone. She had to remember, had to deal with that closed door, so all the bad things happening would go away. So that the dark shadows of her past life wouldn’t encroach on brightening Liam and Kieran’s future. So that the threat that was Beyond Hell’s Reach could be extinguished like the fire they’d set in the vineyard and they’d never hurt anyone again.

  * * *

  Birthdays. He tried hard to make Liam’s memorable. His own? Forget it. Kieran settled into the chair behind his desk in the manager’s office attached to the cottage. Another year older and still the future flickered uncertainly like an old black and white movie fading in and out on the big wide movie screen of life.

  The Vincents hadn’t believed in celebrating birthdays. Or Christmas. No balloons or candles or presents. No Christmas carols or cookies and milk under the tree. So, for four years he’d celebrated Liam’s birthdays and Christmases without them because no kid deserved to miss out on the excitement of tearing the wrapping off a box and finding out what was inside. No kid should ever feel like he wasn’t loved or appreciated and not be given a special day to celebrate it.

  Would Fen remember? Every year after they’d arrived in Wongan Creek, they’d celebrated their birthdays together. Two kids who’d never had cause or opportunity to celebrate before. The presents had been small. Flowers from Harry’s rampant rose garden, a lizard carved from wood, Liv’s homemade scones and jam or chocolate cupcakes. Precious moments stolen together. Ones he hadn’t appreciated until they were gone.

  He opened the winery’s reporting system and scrolled through the list of folders until he found the current fermentation lab reports, trying not to worry too much about Liam being with Fen. Would she be able to handle a full-blown tantrum? He shook off the thought. She’d already talked him through two.

  A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. At last, Liam had taken a huge step on his own. He’d asked to go help feed the chooks, refused Kieran’s offer to go with him, but agreed that Kieran could watch over him until he reached Fen’s side. With increased security being installed today and the forensics crew still on site, the threat of Beyond Hell’s Reach or any of its members showing up to cause more trouble would be limited. Liam would be safe. For now.

  He clicked to open the report and scanned the figures, making notes, planning the bottling schedule and vat rotations. By morning tea time, his shoulders ached, his neck had a crick in it and he had a plan outlined ready to be uploaded into the software program.

  Liam’s muffled giggles reached his ears. What was the little tyke up to now? An exaggerated ‘shhh’ followed footsteps across the verandah. Kieran frowned, dropping the pen onto his notepad. He shut down the computer and tidied his desk. Better go and see what mischief Liam was up to.

  ‘Surprise!’

  The dual shout had him looking up. Liam and Fen stood in the doorway with big grins on their faces. Liam clutched an armful of treasure, and whatever Fen had under the red-and-white checkered cloth smelled a hell of a lot better than his Weetbix breakfast.

  ‘Happy Birthday, Daddy,’ Liam yelled. He thrust out his arms. ‘I made you presents. Fen and Nanna Liv helped me. Here, Daddy, take them.’

  Kieran swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and took the armful of rolled paper and small box from his son. ‘That’s awesome, mate. Thank you.’

  ‘Put them on the table so you can see Fen’s present first. Then you can open them while we … oops …’ He clamped his hands over his mouth. ‘I nearly gave away the surprise. Sorry, Fen.’

  ‘That’s okay, little buddy.’ She ruffled Liam’s hair. ‘I’m pretty sure your dad has sniffed out the surprise anyway.’ She turned to face him. ‘Liv sends you her best wishes. She says she’ll see you at lunch for your favourite—barbecue pork ribs. Don’t be late or the soufflé will spoil.’

  Kieran blinked against the burn in his eyes. ‘Cheese and chives?’

  Fen nodded. ‘And chorizo.’ She handed him the plate in her hands. ‘But for now … lemonade scones and homemade strawberry jam. Happy birthday, Kieran.’

  He took it, lifted the cloth and sniffed the hot, sweet aroma of freshly baked goods, his eyes closing at the memories that smell brought back. ‘You remembered.’

  ‘I’ve never forgotten.’

  He opened his eyes and captured her gaze, the emotion in it punching straight to his gut. Yes, Fen loved him, but not in the way she could. If they went down that path, the bond between them would change, morph into something different. Something tenuous and breakable he wasn’t prepared to risk. Fen was broken enough.

  Still, he couldn’t stop his hand from reaching for her face, had no control over the descent of his head to find her mouth, no will to resist the shot of pure desire that shot through him when his lips found hers in the sweetest, most innocent kiss he could deliver in front of a four-year-old.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said when he could find his voice again, his thumb tracing her cheekbone.

  ‘You’re welcome.’ Her hand covered his for an instant before she stepped back. ‘Why don’t we go into the kitchen and you can open your presents from Liam while I make coffee?’

  And because he couldn’t speak past the need to keep a hold on her, he nodded and clenched his fist around the feel of her skin on his palm. They collected everything and Kieran followed as Liam skipped inside in Fen’s wake. In the kitchen, he placed the gifts on the table.

  ‘This one first, Daddy.’ Liam pushed a rolled-up poster-sized paper towards him. ‘I drawed it myself.’

  ‘Drew,’ he corrected automatically as he slipped the rubber band off the roll and opened the drawing. Surprise filtered through him. Never had Liam done more than scribble on paper. Squiggly lines and odd shapes in blues, greens, greys and black. This time, Liam had drawn himself walking Lucky on the bright green lawn. A drawing far advanced for his age. He’d inherited Diane’s artistic talent. A talent, perhaps the only one, she’d given her son. ‘That’s beautiful, Liam. Well done. You have a special gift, you know.’

  ‘I do? What do you mean, Daddy?’

  Kieran looked at Fen who’d turned to carry the mugs to the table. She’d know of Diane’s talent. The artwork that had once graced the walls of the Wongan Creek’s town hall. The happier ones. Not the ones Diane had sketched at the darkest of dark times.

  Fen placed a mug of steaming coffee in front of him, before sitting opposite him at the table and wrapping her hands around her own mug, staring into the stirred swirl left by the spoon.

  He cleared his throat and looked back at the picture. ‘Your mum could draw too. She was quite famous here in Wongan Creek. Many people came to buy her sketches and paintings.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Liam. ‘But my mummy never showed me her drawings.’

  ‘No, but she shared her gift with you and that’s something pretty special.’

  And damn it, he’d do everything in his power to encourage his son to use that talent for something good and positive, something that would make him happy. But more than that, it made him happy that Diane had achieved in giving her son something she couldn’t give him while she was alive. Her love of art. That at last he had something positive about the mother of his child to share with her son. That the blue and green squiggly lines that had once represented Liam’s descent into the darkness of the river had turned to a sunny scene full of colour and happy thoughts. That at last, his child had begun to heal. And that, just maybe, he could start to find forgiveness in his heart for what Diane had done. For what he’d done.

  For the first time in a long time, it didn’t feel like Diane hovered over them to cast an unhappy stain on the future. Instead, the sun shone through the clouds, casting a cheerful, somewhat watery glow across the kitchen as some of the sadness in his heart s
hifted and dissolved.

  ‘Did you have a good birthday surprise, Daddy?’

  Kieran caught Fen’s gaze across the table. Warmth spread through him at the tentative smile she offered. This was where he wanted to be. Here in this kitchen with a happy boy and the girl who was slowly capturing his heart again, in a way that went deeper than the bond of friendship and trust. ‘The best ever.’

  Liam’s smile grew wider. ‘I’m happy, Daddy.’

  ‘Then I’m happy too.’

  Fen’s phone pinged and he looked across as she picked it up, a frown stealing the smile from her lips. ‘That’s weird.’

  ‘What’s up?’ A chill curdled the coffee warming his belly.

  ‘Robbie’s missing.’

  ‘Harry’s dog?’

  Fen ran her finger over the screen. ‘Yeah. Heather says when Harry got up this morning, Robbie wasn’t by his bed. He hasn’t been seen all morning.’

  The chill turned to unease. ‘Maybe he’s wandered off and can’t find his way back.’

  ‘That’s what Heather’s thinking. She’s asked us to keep an eye out for him. They’re out checking his usual spots.’ She dropped her phone on the table. ‘Robbie never goes anywhere without Harry. My gut says something’s not right.’

  Kieran agreed. ‘We’ll ask Liv to keep an eye on Liam and we can help them look.’

  ‘I can go if you want to stay here with him. It’s your birthday. You should be here celebrating it.’

  ‘There’ll be plenty of time for celebration later when we find Robbie.’ He stood and scooped Liam up for a hug. ‘Fen and I are going to help look for Harry’s dog. Will you stay here and take care of Liv for us?’

  Liam placed his warm hands against Kieran’s cheeks. ‘She said I could call her Nanna Liv. That’s okay isn’t it, Daddy? Granny Laine won’t be cross, will she?’

  ‘If Liv says it’s okay, then it’s fine.’ Warmth flooded him, chasing away some of the chill. With the people of Wongan Creek opening their hearts to him, Liam grew stronger and more confident every day. ‘We’ll be back soon, okay?’

  ‘Don’t worry, Daddy, I’ll take care of Nanna Liv.’

  Kieran hugged his son a little tighter until he wiggled to get down. He set Liam on his feet and turned to Fen. ‘Ready?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes. I’ll let Heather know we’re going to cover this side of the creek down to the boundary fence.’

  She sent off the message as they closed the cottage door and walked the path to the cellar building. Leaving Liam and Liv to bake blueberry scones for the forensics crew, they hiked down to the creek, calling for Robbie, their shouts echoing those from the Bailey property across the creek.

  Kieran fingered the packet of doggy treats in his pocket. Liv had pushed them towards him along with a couple of bottles of water. He might be hungry and dehydrated if he’s been lost for a while. Kieran hoped that he had simply wandered off and got lost, but the unease that nibbled at his gut wouldn’t go away. Too many strange things had happened in the vineyard lately. Rows of vines slashed, root balls damaged, the fire, a murder, and a block of cannabis crop down the far end of the vineyard, grown with the intent to supply, currently being seized by police.

  Someone out there wouldn’t be happy to lose that kind of money, and he’d bet that person was Luke Sampson. Was that why the club members had been on the property on the day of the fire? Had their intent been to harvest what they could before they destroyed the remaining crop? A convenient way to destroy evidence. Any traces left would be lost when the block was cleared and rejuvenated for a fresh planting of vines.

  Ahead of him, Fen searched rows of vines that wouldn’t provide much shelter with the leaves withering and falling. If she hadn’t been so vigilant cleaning up the dried debris, the fire could have done a lot more damage. His mind turned to the repairs that would be required to the irrigation system, mentally calculating the cost as he searched a row parallel to Fen’s.

  A whine reached his ears from the row nearest a hedge that formed the back border of the garden maze he and Liam had explored. ‘Got something,’ he called and made his way out the row towards the noise.

  Kieran stopped to assess the damage. Someone had taken an axe to the underside of the hedge, hacking away the tightly packed branches. The axe that lay abandoned inside the maze.

  ‘Be careful. We don’t know if the person who used that is still inside.’ He crawled through the gap with Fen close behind him. Straightening up, he checked left and right. Smears of blood stained the bleached river pebbles.

  At his back, Fen shivered. ‘Oh God, I hope Robbie’s not hurt.’

  He hoped so too, but the alternative would mean the blood belonged to someone or something else. ‘Stay close,’ he whispered.

  They turned a corner and there, stretched out up against the far wall of hedge, lay Robbie, his fur matted with blood. Fen made to rush to him, but Kieran held her back. He shook his head. Robbie looked up and cried, shivers shaking his sides.

  ‘I need to see him.’ Urgency raced through her words.

  ‘I want to make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises around the corner first,’ he whispered back. ‘Come with me. I’m not leaving you here alone.’

  She moved with him, each step painfully slow. They reached Robbie and, satisfied there was no danger behind them, he waved her to stay with the dog while he searched the long corridor of the maze ahead. He found where Robbie’s attacker had made his exit, pleased to note by the ripped remnants of a bloody black T-shirt, that Robbie had at least had the opportunity to fight back. He turned and walked back to Fen.

  ‘How is he?’ Kieran handed her a bottle of water from his jacket pocket.

  ‘Hurt, but he’ll be okay. Cuts on his front leg and side.’ She poured some water into her cupped palm to let Robbie drink. ‘Take my phone and call Heather. It’s in my back pocket. We’ll need a vet.’

  Kieran reached down and pulled her phone from the pocket of her jeans. He pressed on Heather’s number from the call register. ‘Hey, Heather, it’s Kieran. We’ve found Robbie.’

  At his feet, Fen spoke to Harry’s dog in soothing tones as she checked him gently for injuries. She rubbed the dog’s silky ears, then froze as she lifted Robbie’s head to check his chest. ‘Jesus.’ She sat back, her butt hitting the ground hard, grimy hands clamping over her mouth. ‘Tell them to call Riggs.’

  He relayed the instructions and hung up, his heart a solid block of ice against his rib cage. ‘What is it, Fen?’

  She looked up at him, her eyes haunted grey, bright with tears, her face pale. ‘That’s my knife in his shoulder. Kieran, I swear to God I’d never hurt Robbie.’

  He crouched low beside her, his blue jeans pulling tight across his thighs. ‘I know that, honey.’

  ‘That knife has been locked away in a drawer for a long time. How did it get here? Who would do this?’

  He drew her to her knees and tugged her closer, his arms closing around her as she lay her cheek against his shoulder. ‘I don’t know, baby, but we’ll find out. I found a T-shirt further into the maze. It’s ripped to pieces, so I hope Robbie got a good bite out of him. Maybe Riggs can identify something on it. Blood, DNA, a logo.’

  ‘Why is this happening to us? First Martha, now Robbie …’

  ‘Robbie’s going to be fine. Those are flesh wounds, right? Not life-threatening. Otherwise he wouldn’t have survived this long.’ He stroked the softness of her hair, reassuring himself as much as he was comforting Fen, glad he’d left Liam at home with Liv.

  ‘I don’t know about the shoulder wound. I don’t want to pull the knife out. We have to wait for the vet.’ Her words were muffled against his jacket.

  ‘You don’t want to touch it anyway. Hopefully there’ll be fingerprints on it Riggs can work with.’

  ‘But, poor Robbie, he must be in such pain.’

  ‘He’s tough, aren’t you, boy?’ Robbie whined a response. ‘See? Let’s do what we can to make him comfortable until the ot
hers get here. We’ll feed him treats and water, and tell him what a hero he is, okay?’

  She nodded and answered, a small smile in her response, ‘Okay. I think Harry would appreciate that. I hope Riggs can stop this, Kieran.’

  Her eyes held his, the sadness in them running deep. Damn it, for all their sakes, he hoped this nightmare would end soon.

  It felt like a lifetime before the rush of footsteps and calls entered the maze, a place where Liam had played, the place where the peaceful and calming atmosphere Muzz had created had been turned into a vicious scene of senseless cruelty that raised too many unanswerable questions. It had to stop. Before it touched the people he loved most. Before any more unnecessary violence and harm sent them all spiralling back down the void of darkness.

  In his arms, Fen watched the vet attend to Robbie after Riggs had given the go-ahead to remove the knife with care not to contaminate any fingerprints on it. He bagged it for evidence as the vet cleaned Robbie’s wound.

  Fen stepped away to face Riggs. ‘This mess ends here. I will remember.’

  Riggs sealed the plastic bag and logged it on a sheet on his clipboard. ‘Forcing repressed memories to return could be as harmful as they can be unsuccessful. Do the best you can, Fenella. That’s all you need to do. We can’t force your mind to remember. In some ways, I don’t want you to remember what you saw. But I agree this must stop, and anything you remember will help with that. In the meantime, I can work with what I have, the gang squad will keep Beyond Hell’s Reach out of town, and Liv and Liam will have all the protection I can muster while you deal with business at La Paloma Negra tomorrow.’

  Chapter 15

  The two-hour drive into Perth had been mostly in silence, her nerves on edge and her scars crawling under her wristbands. Kieran pulled into a parking spot and pressed the screen on his infotainment system to end his handsfree call.

  ‘So, Travis says Robbie’s going to be fine. He’s out of surgery, awake and not liking the cone around his neck. Harry’s with him. He’s not happy that Robbie has to stay in for observation for a few days.’