Mad, Bad and Dead, page 6
Why hadn’t he called me? It was times like this I ached for him, wondering why the hell I didn’t move back to Melbourne where we could have dinner or just hang out like a normal couple. He’d understand how I felt about seeing Kate dead.
A patter of little footsteps and Mia came trotting into the lounge room, dragging Bum by the ears. ‘Juddy, crying.’
I dragged myself upright. ‘You’re crying, Mia? What’s wrong?’
‘Somebody crying,’ she said. ‘Not me, see?’ She put her face close to mine and pointed at her eyes.
‘Right, well, it’s good you’re not crying. Did you have a bad dream?’
‘No!’ She glared at me. ‘Somebody crying out there.’ She pointed at her bedroom.
‘You mean outside your window?’
‘Yes!’
‘It’s probably the wind, or maybe it’s a possum.’
‘Possums cry?’ She scrunched up her nose. ‘Why?’
Actually, possums growled and had fights and made all kinds of weird noises. They would do well in horror movies. ‘I’ll come and chase it away, all right?’
She glanced at the door. ‘You going outside?’
‘Just for a moment, with a big broom.’
‘You sweep possums away?’
I laughed, and leant over to give her a cuddle. ‘Very gently, all right? You hop back into bed and I will fix the possum.’
‘OK.’
I got her back in bed, tucked her in with Bum, and promised to sweep really quickly. I slipped on my gumboots in case the grass was wet and grabbed the broom and the torch on the shelf by the back door, going out and shutting the door behind me. The torch beam was bright and illuminated the yard and trees with a large circle of light. I swung it around as I edged along the side of the house, across the grass and past Mia’s window. The fruit trees there showed no signs of possums, not even scats underneath, but I checked the apples twice since they were close to ripening. Nothing.
I aimed the torchlight around the rest of the area, checking the shed door was shut, nothing was in the compost pile and the back gate was also shut. Strange. I didn’t doubt Mia had heard something, but what it had been was a mystery. I shivered, and scuttled back inside as fast as I could, locking the door after me. That still didn’t satisfy me. I reassured her first, showing her the broom and saying I’d swept away the possums for her so she could go to sleep now, then I kept the heavy torch in my hand as I went through the rest of the house and checked every cupboard and wardrobe, and under my bed. Only then did I relax.
Sort of. I drank more wine, fidgeted, tried to put my feet up on the couch and do some deep breathing. What a waste of time that was. I should’ve brought home the accounts to go through again, so I could decide who we’d pay and who I could persuade to wait a bit longer.
When the phone rang, I almost gasped with relief. Something to stop me going around the bend. ‘Hello.’ Hoping it was Andre or Connor.
‘Think you’re fucken smart, eh?’ a harsh, metallic voice snarled. ‘You’d better watch yourself. Accidents happen.’ And then a low laugh that made all the hair on my arms stand up like spikes.
I couldn’t even say, ‘What?’ or swear at whoever it was. I was still standing there in disbelief, long seconds after he’d hung up. I was sure it was a he. Then I came back to the room and wanted to smash the phone against the wall. Fuck!
Instead I found my mobile and pressed the screen with shaking fingers. Thank God Connor answered in a few seconds.
‘Judi, hi.’
‘He… it… they…’
‘Another call?’
‘I… yes. Shit!’ I nearly screamed it, then clapped a hand over my mouth. The last thing I wanted was to wake Mia when I was in this state of panic.
‘OK, OK, take a few breaths.’
‘I don’t want to –’
‘Judi, breathe. Take a breath, suck it in, let it out. Come on, you’re tougher than this. Breathe.’ His calm voice was like a hand on my head, settling me down. I dropped on to the couch.
‘It was him again. I’m sure it was a him.’
‘Tell me what he said.’
I related the words, near enough, and added, ‘And this time he laughed, like threatening me was funny.’
‘You have all your doors and windows locked?’
‘Yes, I just did it before the call. I made sure.’ I was still trying to breathe normally, and sat on my free hand to settle it.
‘Good. I’m coming over, all right? I’ll be there in five minutes.’
‘Oh God, thanks.’
‘No worries.’ He hung up and I kept hold of the phone, ready to call him again if I heard anything at all and watching the time tick over. Finally, I heard his 4WD and then a light knock at the door. I checked it was him before opening.
‘You took six minutes and thirty seconds,’ I said.
‘But who’s counting?’ He smiled and finally I smiled back.
‘OK, I’m being neurotic,’ I said.
‘Hey, no, you’re not!’ He had on his solemn police face, which made me feel safer. ‘Calls like this have to be taken seriously. Never think you’re overreacting. And really, out here in Woop Woop, someone who goes to the trouble of threatening calls has to be dealt with. It’s not going to a random prankster.’
I made a face at him. ‘You are not making me feel better.’
‘Um, yeah, sorry.’
‘Who do you think it is?’ I asked, watching his face closely. I can usually tell when he’s dodging the question or fibbing.
‘Who have you had trouble with in the pub lately?’
‘Nobody! Not even any fights in the bar. Oh, hang on…’ Bronwyn yelling at me in front of everyone. ‘Bronwyn from the health spa place. But she’s always upset with me. And besides, I’m sure it wasn’t a woman.’
‘What about her partner, Wendell?’
I tried to remember what he looked like, hovering behind his wife. ‘He’s pretty skinny and small. Not much of a threat.’
‘Those are the kinds of guys who might try other ways to frighten someone.’
‘He’s good at glaring.’ I recalled his buggy eyes and smiled a little. ‘But why would he bother?’
Connor shrugged. ‘Their business hasn’t been doing too well, I’ve heard.’
‘Bronwyn definitely blames me for that.’ I thought about the voice again. ‘I want it to be him, to make it simple. But the level of hate was… horrible.’
‘Well, at this point I would say don’t answer your landline anymore. If I want you, I’ll call your mobile, or send a text if I can’t get through.’ Connor got up with a groan.
‘You sound in pain.’
‘I overdid the jogging yesterday, and then we were climbing hills and gullies, looking for Emma.’
‘Any sign of her? Anything at all?’
He shook his head. ‘They brought a dog in this afternoon but I think any scent would have gone by now. It rained last night.’
I rose to see Connor out, all the while wishing he’d stay longer. Guard the house all night. I tried to shake it off. ‘I’m really worried about Emma. It’s weird how she’s just disappeared. Have you heard any more about Kate’s past in Sydney?’
‘Apparently her ex-husband was working for a guy who’s known to police but they’ve never been able to get enough on him.’
‘Drugs?’
‘Guns more than anything.’
‘And Kate was shot.’ I stared at him for a moment. ‘Was she in witness protection?’
‘Not from what we know,’ he said. ‘And she’d never been arrested, or even suspected of any crimes. She kept a really low profile.’
‘On purpose maybe. What if she did know stuff and was on the run?’
It was his turn to stare at me. ‘How did you know that was one of the theories the homicide guys were discussing?’
I shivered. ‘Surely the police up there would have told you.’
Connor frowned. ‘Yes, well… It was just something they were throwing around as a possible motive. They’re also looking closer to home, of course. Relationships, that kind of thing.’
But Kate’s only relationships here were with people at the pub. Andre? Swan and Chandler were so serious, and such hard liners – I could imagine them suspecting him. It explained the way Swan questioned him. Well, I knew Andre had nothing to do with Kate’s murder, and I’d make sure Swan knew it, too. Even if he did see it as interfering again. Too bad.
‘Look, I have to go, Judi,’ Connor said. ‘Like I said, don’t answer that phone, and keep your mobile on all the time. You’ve got me on speed dial, right?’
‘How do you do that?’ I asked. My lack of techno ability was famous.
He took my phone off the bench and fiddled with it for a few minutes, then gave it back to me. ‘OK, I’m Two. All you have to do is tap the phone, and then tap the number two. Here, I’ll do it on your landline receiver as well.’
‘Thanks.’ It didn’t seem any simpler than using my Contacts but I didn’t argue. I shut the door after him and locked it, then went around the whole house and checked every window and door again. I wasn’t paranoid, no, not me. On the other hand, if it was Wendell harassing me, I might bring the garden fork inside and keep it handy in the cupboard with the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum was a wet-and-dry so I could quickly suck up any blood.
That made me feel a whole lot better, and I finally went off to bed.
Of course, my mobile rang about 3am. I jerked upright in bed and saw Andre’s name on the screen. ‘Hello?’
‘Judi, it’s – I thought – door – footsteps –’
What the hell was going on at the pub? Was Andre OK?
7
I glared at my phone and the one tiny reception bar that was showing. ‘Hang on, Andre, you’re breaking up.’ I raced out to the back door, my feet cringing at the cold bluestone floor, and stood on the mat, shivering. ‘Say that again?’
Andre’s voice was quiet and a bit clipped. ‘That guy, Winter. He’s walking around the pub.’
‘Inside or out?’ If he was inside, he was probably stealing drinks. Bastard.
‘Both. Wanted to let you know. Should I talk to him?’
I thought for a moment. What if Winter had a gun? No, why would he? Stop panicking. ‘Can you go down and ask him what he’s doing? Nicely. In case he’s sick, or delirious or claustrophobic or something weird. But if he’s just being a pain in the arse and nicking drinks, you might have to call Connor.’
He muttered something and said, ‘Hadn’t thought about him stealing stuff. Like we don’t have enough trouble.’
‘I know. Listen, hang up and go and find out what the fuck he’s up to. If I don’t hear back from you in five minutes, I’ll ring Connor. All right?’
‘Got it.’
I went to find my slippers, clutching my mobile phone, waiting. Wondering if I should just call Connor anyway, and, for some reason, listening hard for anything strange around the house. I mean, it wasn’t like weirdo Chris was going to run all the way out here to… whatever. Mia’s complaint about the possum noise niggled at me. But as usual, all around me was deep, dark silence. I’d always loved that: total silence – apart from chainsaws and tractors during the day – and being able to look up at the night sky and see thousands of stars.
Now, it felt threatening.
I pushed the thought away and checked my phone. Four minutes.
Five seconds before it hit five minutes, the phone rang. ‘Andre?’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It’s OK, he’s gone back to his room and promised to stop wandering around. Said he was an insomniac and found that walking helped. He’s a bit claustrophobic, too. I suggested he open the window instead.’
‘I suppose an insomniac is better than the drunks who can’t find the bathroom.’ That wasn’t actually true. The killers who wanted to shoot you were the worst, but I wasn’t about to go there. ‘Go back to bed. But if you have any more problems with him, ring Connor straight away, OK?’
‘Yep. Will do.’ He sounded a bit more confident, and I hung up. Maybe we’d have to employ a night manager, or stop taking guests. The last thing I wanted was to have to move into the pub. I couldn’t, not with Mia.
I tried to go back to sleep, but without much success. It was almost a relief to see dawn glowing over the top of my curtains, giving me an excuse to get up and make some ginger and lemon tea while I sat and made a To Do list for the day.
While I sat there, it all started to crowd in on me. The never-ending responsibility of the pub, dealing with staff, trying to pay the bills, wondering how the hell to get more customers in… Not for the first time, I wondered if Andre and I had taken on a huge bloody millstone that might end up drowning us. There was no way to deal out the jobs other than how we already had – Andre had control over the bistro, the supply orders, the menu and how it all ran. I did the bars and the guests. His sleeping partners in Melbourne had no say in operations.
Ideas of putting the pub on the market were creeping ever closer, and some days all that was holding me back was Andre, and his hopes for a business that would make his name and see him through to retirement.
I sat there for too long, staring at the wall, hoping to be struck by some brilliant idea that would solve everything. Fat chance. By the time I got up to have a shower, my bad hip was aching from the hard wooden chair and I hobbled into the bathroom, cursing. We hadn’t had enough decent rain for me to soak in a bath, so I stood under streaming hot water for a few minutes and then hopped out.
Saturday I was due to take Mia down to visit her grandparents, her mum’s parents, and I’d decided to stay overnight in Andy’s house that was my house now. It would be the first time they’d had Mia to stay for the weekend and I didn’t want to be too far away. I’d rostered Charlie and Marie on with Andre, but that had been when Kate was still with us. Shit. Maybe I’d have to come back for Saturday night.
I felt like pulling my hair out and screaming. Instead I made the mistake of glancing at myself in the bathroom mirror. Bags under my eyes, sagging chin, lines in my forehead. That was not how a relaxed country woman was supposed to look. I came to Candlebark to get away from all the crap, not to find more of it.
I shook my head and went to get dressed, pulling on tights under my work pants. The mornings were getting damn chilly. Mia woke up and dragged Bum in to find me sitting on my bed, staring at the wall again.
‘Good morning says Bum,’ she announced importantly.
‘Good morning.’ I gave her a kiss and then had to give Bum one, too. Ugh. He was getting a bit smelly, but there was no time to wash him before the grandparent visit.
We had breakfast, Mia chattering and talking to both Bum and I. Neither of us said much, but she didn’t notice. Once she’d finished, she wanted to go and look for the cat so I opened the back door for her, checking around outside first. She came back in a few minutes later, muttering to herself.
‘No cat?’ I asked.
She frowned and said something I didn’t catch. I pulled her jacket out of the cupboard and helped her put it on, then collected up snack food into a container for her. This morning we’d go to the pub first, and I’d take her to daycare a bit later. That way we’d have a bit more time together.
She was still chattering when I put her in the car seat, and I thought she was talking to Bum. ‘Look at his poor ear,’ I said. It needed stitching back on. ‘Don’t keep pulling on it, OK? It’ll fall off.’
She grabbed his arm instead and held him close, kissing his poor, tattered ear. At the pub, as we went inside to the office, I glanced into the bistro. Only Chris Winter was there, eating alone, reading a newspaper. ‘Good morning,’ he called when he spotted me.
‘Hi,’ I said. I wondered where Andre was, but when I checked my phone, there was a text from him. Gone home to shower and change. Done breakfast, the two journos left around 6.45am, Winter hasn’t emerged yet. It came into my phone at 7.02am, while I was in the shower. Maybe he shouldn’t have left Winter here alone after last night, but the guy was eating breakfast calmly enough.
I felt like, more and more, the pub was getting away on me, small things going haywire or just not working smoothly the way they should. It was the same bad feeling I’d had with the pub in Melbourne. Back then, I hadn’t known about Max’s drug dealing and how he’d been helping himself to cash from the till all the time. Once I’d realised what was going on, it was too late.
Kate’s murder increased the feeling tenfold.
I waited until Winter had finished his breakfast and gone back upstairs before I took Mia in with me while I cleared the table and put the breakfast stuff away. I didn’t want her around Winter – I didn’t like the negative vibe I got from him. I wished he’d pack up and leave today. She asked for a piece of toast and Vegemite, and when I’d made and given it to her, she said, ‘Keep for the girl.’
‘Pardon?’
She gave me back the toast. ‘Why didn’t the girl have breakfast? She was hungry.’
I stared down at her little, worried face, my tired brain churning until a few cogs managed to finally slot into place. Mia had seen a girl outside. She’d heard someone crying. Maybe, just maybe, it meant Emma was hiding at my place. If so, she had to be in the shed. It had a bolt on the inside as well as the outside, something the previous owner had done. I’d assumed he’d wanted to hide out there from his wife, or maybe she from him.
I grabbed my phone, ready to ring Connor, and then stopped. If Emma was there, a man’s voice would probably freak her out worse than she already was. I’d have to go. She knew me a little from being at the pub with Kate. But I wasn’t about to leave the pub for Winter to wander around in again.
