Brittle Shadows (32 page)

The sinewy man
leapt to his feet, his wavy hair paler than she remembered it. “Give me a heart
attack, why don’t you.” He shoved a bunch of limp pink carnations under her
nose. “These are for you.”

A first. “Thank
you, but what are you doing here?”

Intense green
eyes peered at her from under long lashes. “To see you, of course.” His tanned
face broke into a grin. “Why else?”

Her fingers
ached to touch his skin, feel his warmth. “What about your job?”

“What job?” He
cocked his head at her, a cheeky glint to his eyes.

Again that
familiar tug. She balled her hands.

Ash appeared at
her side. “So are you going to introduce us?”

Confusion and
something else flashed across Ross’s face, as if only just then aware of Ash’s
presence. He thrust a hand in Ash’s direction. “Ross Gibson, Jemma’s partner.”

Ash blenched
but just as quickly recovered. “Ashley Bartlett, Jemma’s brother.”

Checkmate.

“Say what?”
Ross.

“It’s
complicated,” she said. “Please tell me Gail didn’t put you up to this.”

“No. What do
you take me for?”

“So why are you
here really?”

Ross glanced
sideways at the other man. “Don’t you think that’s between us?”

She gave Ash
the nod.

“I’ll leave you
to it,” he said. “Call me.”

“Righto then,”
Ross said, hoisting his battered backpack from the footpath onto his shoulder.
“Lead the way.”

“Where are you
staying?”

“I thought with
you.”

“There’s
nowhere for you to sleep. I’m on the couch.”

“Couch, bed,
it’s all the same to me.”

“Ross, you
don’t seriously expect to walk back into my life like nothing’s happened, do
you?” Seeing him in the flesh had only magnified the hurt of him walking out to
follow the almighty dollar. Another woman she might have understood.

“You can’t
blame a guy for trying.”

She couldn’t
help herself, she laughed.

“That’s more
like the Jem I know. If it makes you happy, I’ll check into a backpackers for
tonight.”

“Didn’t they
pay you in the mines?”

“Yeah, why?”

She shook her
head. “Nothing. Come on, I’ll make you a coffee if you promise to behave
yourself.”

In the lift on
the way up, she tried not to breathe in his warm, mossy scent, tried to avoid
his gaze. When he cleared his throat, she knew he, too, was remembering their
last time alone together in such a confined space. She glanced up at the
security camera.

“That guy –
Ashley was it? – he’s not really your brother is he?” he asked as she inserted
the key in the door.

“Long story,
but I want to hear yours first. By the way, you gave up the right to call me
your partner the day you left.” She pushed the door open.

He whistled.
“So this is how the other half live.”

“And die,” she
said, the words out of her mouth before she realized.

“Yeah, I was
really shocked to hear about your sister.” His face paled under his tan. “Shit,
you mean it happened here?”

“Not so keen to
bunk on the couch with me now, are you?”

The color
returned to his face. “I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t
have to. Back to my original question: why are you here?”

He ambled to
the balcony windows and inspected the view. “What about that coffee you
promised me?”

“Why can’t you
just give me a straight answer?”

He chuckled.
“Some things never change.”

“We’ve
changed.”

His tone
sobered. “No, that’s where you’re wrong. We’re still the same two people. We
all make mistakes – I’ve made a couple of doozies – but hey, what good are
they, if we can’t learn from them?” He took a step toward her, his hands palm
up in front of him. “We had a lot of good times, Jem. Do you want to throw all
that away?”

“Please, I
can’t think about this now,” she said, her voice shaky. “It’s not as simple as
that.”

“It can be.
What about it? Forgive and forget?”

She ducked past
him. “I’ll make that coffee.”

Jemma gasped. The patient’s
bruised and bloodied face was almost unrecognizable, one eye so swollen he
looked like a creature from outer space. She checked the name above the
hospital bed just to make sure.

“Oh dear God,
what happened? Who did this to you?”

His head turned
at the sound of her voice. “Not… bad… looks,” he mumbled through split lips.
Visibly pained, he tried to muster a smile.

Careful not to
bump the intravenous drip attached to the back of his hand, she edged closer to
the bed. His chest and arms hadn’t escaped unscathed either, the crisp white
sheet draped over his lower torso only serving to accentuate his injuries. “Oh
Ross, I’m so sorry. If I had known…”

“Not… your…
fault.”

Tears pricked
her eyes. She blinked them away.

A young
bespectacled male nurse sailed into the room. “Okay, Mr Gibson, radiology is
ready for you now.”

Then they were
gone. She sunk down onto the lone visitor chair and stared at the empty space
left by the bed, the space where Ross had lain. If it wasn’t her fault, whose
was it? If she had just let him stay in the apartment, he wouldn’t have been in
the wrong place at the wrong time.

Too restless to
stay seated, she drifted out into the corridor. The pungent, almost cloying,
antiseptic smell gnawed at her stomach. She hated hospitals. Her last memory of
her mother was in a hospital.

Someone called
her name. Striding toward her were Chris and his taciturn sidekick, DC Tait.

“What are you
doing here?” Chris asked, his tone one of genuine concern. “Is everything
okay?”

“My…” She ran a
hand through her hair, pulling her fringe back off her face. “A friend of mine
was mugged last night.”

“Ross Gibson?”

“Yes. How did
you know?”

“We’re here to
interview him. You said a friend. Not Ross as in Ross-the-ex, is it?”

She nodded,
relieved not to have to go into lengthy explanations. “He’s been taken for some
sort of scan. He should be back soon. Although, I don’t know how much good
he’ll be to you in his current state. He can barely talk.”

Chris took her
arm and ushered her through a closed door into a windowless room. A staff
lunchroom if the coffee cups piled on the draining board and the overflowing
pinboard were any indication.

He pulled a
chair out from the laminate-topped table. “Here, have a seat. You look like you
need it. Make yourself useful, Lee, why don’t you, and get us a coffee.” He
parked himself opposite her. “What can you tell me about Ross Gibson? Anyone
with a grudge against him that you are aware of?”

“What?” She
caught her breath. “Are you saying you don’t think it was an opportunistic
mugging?”

“He was
unconscious when they brought him in, but he still had his wallet on him. Cash,
credit cards, driver’s license, the lot – it’s all still there.”

“I don’t
understand. Why would anyone want to hurt him? God, he only arrived in
Melbourne yesterday. Too short a time for even Ross to piss anyone off. Besides
he was with me for most of yesterday.” Guilt roiled in her stomach. Why hadn’t
she let him sleep on the floor like he wanted? Except to her willpower, what
harm could it have done?

“That’s what
we’re hoping to find out. Who knew he was coming to Melbourne?”

“No one, not
even me. He turned up unannounced.”

“Are you sure
no one else knew of his movements?”

She shook her
head, halting mid-shake. Only one other person knew her ex-boyfriend was in
town.

Jemma paced back and forth between
the kitchen and the balcony doors. Each time she arrived in the kitchen she
would forget why she was there and start again. She couldn’t shake the thought
that Ash’s outgoing persona might be nothing more than an act; a performance
intended to lull her into a false sense of security.

She unlocked
the balcony door and stepped outside. The sun had long set, taking the day’s
heat with it. She leaned on the rail. Below her, light from the glass-enclosed
swimming pool spilled across into the deserted tennis courts and cobbled
thoroughfare, a beacon to any late night stragglers. A siren sounded in the
distance. Police?

Chris had told
her to look for motive. Had she found it? Did it all boil down to money and
position? Despite denials from both father and son, was it possible that Ash
had discovered Marcus squandering his inheritance on an illegitimate offspring,
his first-born? Had he killed to protect what he thought was rightly his? Could
the man she knew be that cold-blooded?

Her mind kept
going back to Ross lying beaten and bruised, left for dead in some dark alley.
She couldn’t get away from it. Ash was the only person besides herself who knew
her ex was in Melbourne. She shook her head. Why target Ross? He had done
nothing wrong. She rubbed her eyes, gritty with fatigue. He wasn’t the target, she
was. How better to get at someone than through a loved one.

She returned
inside and closed the door behind her, the silence immediate. Dare she voice
her thoughts – and that’s all they were – to Chris? What if she was wrong? What
irreparable damage could she do accusing Tanya’s half-brother of something he
didn’t do? Besides, what did Ash gain by killing Sean?

Jemma poured
herself another nightcap. Anything to help her sleep. She almost envied Ross
his drugged slumber. The phone rang. She jumped for it.

“Finally,” Gail
said when she answered. “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.”

“I did try to
call you, but if you think I‘m hard to get hold of, you’re worse.”

“At least I
don’t switch my phone off.”

“Hospitals
don’t like it if you leave them on—”

“Hospital!”

Jemma brought
the phone back to her ear. “Not me – Ross. He got beaten up last night. And
before you panic, he’s okay.”

“Good Lord, is
he really? What happened?”

“I don’t know
all the details and Ross doesn’t remember much, but it seems that a gang of
thugs kicked and punched the living daylights out of him. It could have been
worse, they could have used knives. As it is, he’s sustained contusions to the
kidney, a ruptured spleen and cracked ribs amongst other injuries,” she said,
reeling off what the doctor had told her. “I spent today with him and I’m
heading back there first thing in the morning.”

“Poor boy.” A
lightness returned to Gail’s voice. “At least he has you ministering to him.”

“I notice you
didn’t ask why Ross was in Melbourne.”

“You know I’m a
softie for a sob story. He asked for your address. What was I to do?”

“Not give it to
him.”

“But Jemma,
love,” Gail said, “he really loves you. He made a mistake, that’s all.”

“I know.”

“Does this mean
you two have kissed and made up?”

“Seeing him
again made me realize I can’t turn my emotions on and off. But I’m just not
sure what they are at the moment? We’re comfortable with each other. Too
comfortable perhaps. I don’t know. Either way we have some major issues to work
through.”

“Good, good. So
when do the doctors say you can bring Ross home to Perth?”

Jemma laughed.
“Give the poor bugger a chance.”

“I just think
you should both be here where I can look after you. There’s something else I
need to talk to you about, but I don’t want to do it over the phone.”

“What are you
not telling me? You’re not ill or anything?” She held her breath.

“No, nothing
like that.” Gail coughed. “Oh dear…” She coughed again.

“Thank God for
that. So what is it then? C’mon out with it. I’ll tickle you if you don’t tell
me.” A reminder to her aunt of what she used to do when, as a youngster, Jemma
clammed up.

Gail didn’t
laugh. “Oh dear, where to start?”

Jemma tensed.
“The beginning, Gail.” Her words came out clipped. She didn’t care. The last
time she had heard her aunt say those words, her life and everything she had
believed in had been torn apart.

“I didn’t tell
you the whole reason—”

The intercom
buzzed. “Hang on a sec.” She pressed the door-release button for Chris. “Sorry,
Gail, where were we?”

“It’s time you
heard the truth, the real reason why I sent Tanya to Melbourne. I don’t want
any more secrets between us. They do no one any good. I know—”