Blood Tears (2 page)

Knowing Baz was safely
ensconced on his ‘throne’ for a while, and with nothing better to
do, I tidied up the back office of the station. It was a bad move.
Every spare second I spent doing menial things, my thoughts would
wander to the Sarge. But I ruthlessly crushed each one of them. I
didn’t want, or need, to think of him. I’d even stopped reading his
emails and opening the gifts he sent me from overseas. He had
nothing to say that I wanted to hear.

The bell to the front
door rang. I went out to the counter, my hand hovering near my gun,
expecting a Bycraft. Relations between them and me had deteriorated
even further over the last couple of weeks. Rumours of the
coroner’s potential release of Denny Bycraft’s body hadn’t helped,
fuelling any number of arguments between my boyfriend, Jake, and
me.

“
You
can’t go to his funeral,” Jake maintained every time we
spoke.

Last night, we’d
bickered about it again.

“
Why
not?” I’d asked him. “I want to pay my respects to someone who
saved my life. Nothing you say will stop me from going.”

“
Tessie, no. You being there will just make my family
angry.”

“
Including you?” I’d asked.

When he didn’t answer,
I rolled over, turning my back on him, pretending to sleep.

But it wasn’t Bycrafts
at the counter. Two guys stood there expectantly, eyes widening
when I stepped through the doorway. You couldn’t find two more
mismatched men if you tried. One was ridiculously tall and gangly
with gingery hair and a goatee. The other was shorter, more
compact, muscled, clean-shaven with blond hair.

I’d seen them before
somewhere. My mind raced over all possibilities before hitting the
jackpot.

“
Hello, guys. Can I help?” I asked politely, my eyes moving
from one to the other.

The gangly ginger one
spoke, now shorn of the dreads he’d worn in the photo I remembered.
“Oh, sure. We’re just here for –”

“
You’re Maguire’s friends, aren’t you? I’ve seen a photo in
his house of the three of you at your graduation,” I butted in, not
giving him a chance to even test his pathetic excuse out on
me.

They looked at each
other, almost blushing.

“
Yeah,” Ginger admitted reluctantly. “I’m Trig, and this is
–”

“
I’m
Harley,” his friend said, holding his hand out. I let it hang. He
blushed even more, pulling it back.

“
You
can call him Harry,” said Trig.

Harley shot him an
annoyed look – clearly a long-time irritation amongst good friends,
which Trig duly ignored. “Only Trig and Finn ever call me Harry.
Everyone else calls me Harley. You can too.”

“
I’d
rather call you a taxi out of town.” They didn’t need to know we
had no taxis here.

“
Wow!
You really are prickly. I thought Finn was exaggerating,” said
Trig.

“
What
are you doing here?”

“
Nothing,” asserted Trig, his chin lifting in mild defiance.
“Finn told us this was a nice part of the world. Harry
–”

“
Harley.”

“
Harry and I had a few days off, so we thought we’d check it
out. You know, kind of a holiday.”

“
Right,” I said, eyes darting from one to the other again.
“And I’m supposed to believe that bullshit? You guys need to come
up with better alibis.”

Silence reigned for a
few ticks.

Harley leaned over,
whispering to Trig, “She’s really hardarse.”

“
Finn
warned us,” Trig whispered back. I wondered if I should tell them I
could hear them.

“
I
didn’t think she’d be this bad. I don’t know what to
say.”

“
Just
say
something, will you,” urged Trig. “We look like dicks
standing here.”

“
All
right,” blurted Harley to me in desperation. “Finn asked us to
check on you.”

Anger exploded inside
me. I slammed my palms down on the counter, scaring them. “You can
just tell Maguire to enjoy his life and to butt out of mine.”

I stormed into the back
office, ignoring the repeated dinging of the counter bell.

Baz, returning from
doing his business sooner than normal, walked through the rear
door, shaking his head sadly. “It’s just not happening for me
today, Tezza. Geez, I’ve got to eat more fibre or give up those
tasty meat platters at the pub,” he said with great regret, patting
his stomach. “I sat there, giving it all I had, but –”

“
Not
one more word! I
really
don’t want to know.”

He stopped, listening
to the dinging. “Aren’t you going to get that?”

“
Nope,” I replied, sitting and restarting my computer.
“Nothing but time wasters.”

He went out to the
front counter. I heard much conversation, laughter and hearty
bonhomies between the men. It didn’t improve my mood.

“
Keep it down out there!
” I shouted, opening a game of
solitaire on my screen. “Some of us are trying to work.”

The conversation muted
slightly before Baz strolled back through the doorway.

“
Tezza, lock up will you, love? I’m taking the lads for a spin
to show them all the town’s highlights.”

“
Like
what?”

He thought for a
moment. “I dunno. The lake. The pub. The Bycrafts.” His belly
wobbled again as he laughed at his own little joke.

I smiled at him
sweetly, sensing a few minutes of freedom from his velvety iron
grip. “No need to lock up, Baz. I’ll keep an eye on the place while
you’re gone.”

“
No
can do. You’re coming with me.”

I groaned, my smile
instantly evaporating. “I’m getting really tired of this
stick-together-all-the-time business.”

He dropped his
joviality. “I’m here to supervise you, and to do that I need to
know where you are, and what you’re doing. You’re coming with me.
Lock up.”

He took the key to the
patrol car from its hook, swinging it around his finger, whistling
nonchalantly as he ushered the guys to the carpark.

With a temper hovering
somewhere in the volcanic region, I shut windows with such force it
was a miracle they didn’t shatter. With both doors to the station
locked, I jammed on my sunglasses, and stomped down the front
stairs to the patrol car. Trig sat in the passenger seat with all
the enthusiasm of a five-year-old getting a ride in a fire
engine.

“
Get
out,” I ordered.

His face fell. “Aw, but
Baz said I could sit up front.”

“
Get
out. Sergeant Chives should know better than to let civilians in
the front seat of a patrol car.” I stuck my head through the
doorway to glare at Baz. “I’ll let the Super know about this. I can
report on you too.”

He threw his head back
and laughed. “Oh, Tezza, you’re such an ordeal for a man. Let the
lad have his ride.”

“
No.
Get out.”

A sullen Trig slunk
from the front seat to join Harley in the back.

“
You’re not good at making friends,” he sulked.

“
I
don’t want friends,” I said, adjusting the seat from his long
legs.

“
No
shit,” he muttered, doing up his seatbelt.

I moved the rear view
mirror so it reflected him. We locked eyes. He smiled, a sardonic
half lift of his mouth. He was cute. In different circumstances, he
seemed like someone I could like. But I stared back at him,
unsmiling, before I adjusted the mirror.

We drove around for
ages showing ‘the lads’ all points of the town, until there was
nothing much left to show them.

“
Where are you staying?” I asked our visitors
politely.

They looked at each
other.

“
I
guess we’ll just stay at the pub,” said Harley.

“
Have
you booked?”

“
No.
A place like this, there’s bound to be a free room.”

Baz whistled under his
breath. “Lads, there’re only three rooms at the pub. I have one of
them. And it’s bushwalking season.”

“
Do
you know the number of the pub?” asked Trig, his brow lowering. I
rattled it off. He dialled and we listened in on his half of an
unhappy conversation. Finished, he slumped against the seat.
“Shit.”

“
All
sorted?” I enquired.

“
No.
The pub’s full,” he snapped. “Where the hell are we going to stay?
It’s a seven hour drive here from the city.”

I checked my watch.
“You could be back there this evening if you left right now,” I
suggested helpfully.

“
We
just spent all morning driving here to check on a grouchy woman as
a favour for a good mate,” Trig said through clenched teeth. “The
last thing we want to do is drive back home today.”

I twisted the mirror to
pin him with my eyes again. “I’m not grouchy.”

“
Well, I’m glad we caught you on a good day, because I
wouldn’t want to see you when you were feeling grouchy.”

“
It’s
not pleasant, lads. Trust me.”

“
Who
asked you?” I grumped.

“
Tezza doesn’t have any good days.”

“
I do
so,” I lied. “And stop calling me Tezza.”

Baz sat up in his seat,
struck with a good idea. “I know, lads. You can stay at the police
house. I’m staying at the pub, so it’s vacant right now. Tezza’s
got the keys for it.”

“
Awesome,” smiled Harley in relief.

“
I
don’t have them on me at the moment,” I delayed, unhappy at the
thought of the two guys staying so close to the station. I didn’t
need even more men keeping an eye on me. Baz was enough.

The keys lay in the top
drawer of my dresser at home –the Sarge handing them to me before
he’d gone. I hadn’t used them for a while, no longer wanting to
wander aimlessly around the possessions he’d left behind. I
couldn’t say why, but expunging every hint of him made my life
easier to live.

“
Let’s go get them,” said Baz, throwing a cautious u-turn on
the main stretch of road through the town.

At my house, I jogged
up the stairs. “It’s only me, Dad,” I called out as my father
rolled his wheelchair to the door to see who was there.

Dad and Baz exchanged a
wave. “Who’s in the patrol car with Baz?”

“
Some
nobodies. Just a couple of Maguire’s friends.”

“
Have
they come to visit you?”

“
Who
gives a stuff why they’ve come here?”

“
Oh
now, love. Don’t be like that. It’s not going to hurt you to show
them some hospitality.”

“
I’ll
leave that for the gentler, less-disillusioned people of the
world.” I dropped a kiss on the top of his head and jumped down the
stairs. When I slid back into the car, I threw the keys over the
back of the seat, hitting Trig in the arm.

“
Ow,”
he complained, rubbing the sore spot. “You could have just handed
them to me.”

“
I
could
have.”

“
Somehow I don’t think the next three days are going to be
much fun.”

“
Three days? Oh, God,” I moaned.

“
Don’t worry, lads. I’ll keep her away from you as much as
possible so you can enjoy your break,” Baz said, pulling out on to
the road as I waved goodbye to Dad.

“
But
we promised Finn we’d check on her and make sure she was okay. See
if she needed help with anything. I suppose that means we’re going
to have to interact with her at some point,” lamented
Trig.

I angled the mirror to
look at him again. “I’m as thrilled with the prospect as you are.
And what on earth do you possibly think you could help me
with?”

“
Manners?”

I scathed him with my
eyes at that suggestion, while secretly giving him a point. It was
well played.

“
We
kind of hoped we could be friends,” said Harley. “We’re all friends
with Finn.” He shrugged. “We just thought you’d want to be friends
with us too.”

“
Maguire’s not on my friend list.”

“
Is
anyone?” asked Trig.

“
No.”

“
That
doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Baz laughed. “Tezza,
there you are, at it again. Winning over the public one person at a
time.”

“
I
wasn’t hired to be congenial.”

“
Don’t take any notice of her, lads,” Baz boomed heartily.
“She’s just ticked off about being disciplined. Haven’t seen her
crack a smile since I got here.”

“
You
haven’t given me any reason to smile.”

“
Some
days I wonder which of us is the one actually being punished,” Baz
laughed. “I really do.”

“
Finn
wanted to know how you’ve been coping,” Harley said
tentatively.

“
I
don’t care what he wants to know. He’s not my supervisor anymore,
and my career is none of his business.”

“
It’s
going to be a long three days,” muttered Trig.

My snarky reply died on
my tongue. A young man brandishing a knife ran from the grocery
store, frantically shoving cash into his jeans pocket.

“
Baz,” I alerted, sitting up.

“
I
see him.” He screeched around the corner, braked hard, pulling over
to the curb, and parking the car askew.