Half Moon Bay (20 page)

Nick watched Ellie from the kitchen. She was curled up in the chair chewing her bottom lip, her arms crossed over her chest, hands restlessly rubbing her muscles. Her hair hung loose around her face and the T-shirt had slipped off her shoulder again. Until he knew the Feds had their end under control, he wanted her out of the Bay and in his care. Staying here the night was the least he could do. Moving her to somewhere safe tomorrow was his next priority.

With the fresh coffee in his hand, he stopped in front of her.

‘Ellie, I can’t leave you here by yourself. O’Sullivan might take matters into his own hands and he does have a gun registered to him.’

‘Then I’ll go and stay with Ronnie and Mavis. They love Shadow too. We’ll be fine there. I still don’t understand what O’Sullivan thought he’d gain by roughing me up.’

‘He may well have been naïve enough to assume you’d cave in and withdraw your opposition. You do realise that the sale could fall through without council approval, don’t you?’

Her head snapped up, a gleam of interest in her eyes. ‘No, I understood that it was a
fait accompli
.’

‘No way. I set it up so that once we’d finished our sting, the rest of the council would vote against the approval and the land would default back to them. It’s what I was referring to at the Bowls Club when you tried to have me run out of town.’

He saw a glimmer of a smile for the first time all night.

‘This isn’t some wind-up story you’re selling me, is it?’

He held up two fingers. ‘Retired scout’s honour.’

She laughed this time, though it was more of a chuckle. ‘Yeah, yeah. Bondi Beach Adventurer with the world’s most extensive first-aid kit.’

He sensed a softening in her and pressed home the advantage. ‘So here’s my plan. I’m not leaving you alone again. When we collect Shadow in the morning I’ll drop you to Ron and Mavis while I sort some stuff out. Then the very best option would be to get you out of Half Moon Bay until this is fully resolved.’

‘And what if he doesn’t survive the night?’

‘He will. So is that a yes?’

‘I’m not sure. It’s been a big night.’ She looked down at her hands in her lap before meeting his eyes. ‘And to be honest, I’m not sure who to believe. I need to sleep on it. I can’t make a decision right now.’

That sounded like a qualified no to him.

‘Sure, we’ll talk again in the morning. I’ll give you a hand to straighten things up.’

‘No.’ She let out her breath as she got to her feet. ‘I’ll tidy up tomorrow. The couch is yours for the night. I’ll get you a doona and pillow.’

Why was she resisting his help? He peered at his watch. ‘Thanks. It’s almost one o’clock. I need to make a couple more phone calls.’

‘Okay. And I need a shower.’

He waited until he could hear the water running before picking up his phone. As he talked he walked, closing doors and drawers, stacking magazines and papers in heaps. Nothing seemed to be broken, just ransacked. He had no way of knowing if anything was missing.

When he finally hung up he tipped his head back, feeling the ache of fatigue in his neck and shoulders. Chances were he wouldn’t get much sleep tonight. None of the locks on the doors or windows was very substantial. And knowing that Ellie was tucked up in bed in the room next door while he tried to fit on a couch that looked to be a metre too short wasn’t going to help. He groaned. Either way it would be a long night.

‘What are you doing? Something else wrong?’ Ellie had come up behind him and as he spun towards her, startled by the sharp edge in her voice, they collided.

She put out a hand to stop him and it landed on his chest. The hem of the dressing-gown she was wearing dragged on the floor. It had to be her father’s. The rolled-back sleeves and the oversized shoulders added to her vulnerability, despite the suspicion in her eyes. It took a supreme effort not to reach out as the touch of her hand burned into his skin.

‘I couldn’t stand the mess even if you could.’

‘Right.’ She sounded hurt. ‘I couldn’t face it. Not yet . . .’

‘No, I’m sorry.’ He was an idiot.

‘I left a towel in the bathroom for you. The doona and pillow are on the couch.’

‘Thank you.’

The moment was awkward.

He shook his head. ‘Go. You’re safe. I’m here.’ He turned her around, her shoulders hunched under the soft fabric. Despite her bravado she was fading fast.

‘See you in the morning.’ She didn’t look at him again.

‘Thanks, sleep well,’ he managed.

He hadn’t slept well in ten years. No night went by without the dreams. Most people he knew who’d served in battle zones had similar experiences. The constant watchfulness left you wakeful, alert, and if you did manage to sleep, then it seemed that the subconscious did everything in its power to chase out the demons through nightmares.

The night Nina Wilding was fatally wounded and one of his men died, caught in the middle of a fire-fight, had replayed incessantly in cruel, glorious colour for the last two years. Whenever he closed his eyes to sleep he would relive the moment when Nina and Geoff Trader were reported missing from the compound.

He recalled the frantic search for them, the Bushmaster-armoured vehicles thundering down deserted streets. Then the call came through that they’d been abducted, snatched by opportunistic insurgents. The local Afghani force led them to the fringes of the city and a deserted village, its wells dry, its buildings already battle-scarred.

Nick could taste the raised dust as the spent cartridges spat from guns around him, pitting the already crumbling mudbrick walls of the compound. His ears rang with the reverberations of the
yak yak yak
of small arms fire and the crack and thump of rocket-propelled grenades. His eyes burned from the explosive return fire of the insurgents despite the protection of his night-vision goggles. The chatter of the rotors of the Apache attack helicopter had drowned it all out but then the panic sent the insurgents into meltdown.

He would forever see in freeze-frame the ghostly moment when Nina and Geoff made a break from their captors, running across the open space towards his attacking position. He would see Nina’s head thrown back as the first bullet struck her side. The next one clipped her helmet and felled her. As she went down, Geoff stooped to grab her. An instant later a hail of bullets jerked Geoff’s body on invisible strings.

Nick could hear his own voice screaming orders as his men laid covering fire for the retrieval of the two bodies. Geoff was already dead, Nina unconscious and bleeding out in the dust. He remembered feeling the slippery heat of her blood pumping between his fingers as he searched desperately for a way to stem the flood before a combat first-aider reached them. Impossible with the fire-fight to get a medivac chopper in, they’d stretchered them out to the closest hospital. Would it have made a difference if they’d got Nina to the state-of-the-art facility on Kandahar airfield? His head said not, but his heart had a different view.

His men had stayed to ensure no insurgents walked away from that battle. It was a bloody night with no mercy, just the bitter emotion of losing a brother in arms. And Nina.

Everyone knew Nina’s little sister was arriving that day and he’d tasked Dave Miller with meeting her. His own day was filled with the repercussions of the engagement. Several of his men were lightly wounded, all were affected by Geoff’s death. The implications of the shooting would have serious consequences once the media got hold of it.

Nick knew it was a truism that a leader was a dealer in hope. Sustaining that hope in the face of death was the most difficult thing he’d ever done. With his own unanswered questions he’d had to make a supreme effort to keep his men together, concentrating on their task, when everyone’s thoughts turned to home and their loved ones. Death focused men like few other things could.

He walked down the short corridor and locked the back door.

The Defence Force psych had assured him his nightmares would reduce with time. So far time wasn’t helping.

He also knew he wasn’t going to sleep much, convinced as he was that the danger hadn’t yet passed.

Not yet.

Ellie struggled to wake up. Someone was shouting. What on earth was going on now? She lay still, holding her breath so she could hear more clearly. Nick’s voice. She slid out of bed cautiously and slipped her dad’s dressing-gown on.

Wearing pants and shoes, with the doona half-covering his naked chest, Nick was tossing and muttering in his sleep. She padded over, reading the scene. A twenty-four-hour news program, with the volume on mute, played on the TV. The desk lamp cast a soft pool of light that barely reached the couch. A magazine lay open on the floor. She’d done the same thing herself many times, trying to stay awake on an all-night story. He was ready for action if he needed to run. As she crossed the room she could see his hair was wet with sweat. He shook his head and his voice rose again.

‘No, no, don’t shoot! Hold your fire. No, get down. They’re locals!’

Tentatively, she reached out to touch his rigid shoulder, the muscles corded in ropes. ‘Nick, wake up. It’s just a dream.’

One strong hand latched on to her wrist and she stopped herself from struggling against its violence. ‘No!’

‘Nick, wake up. You’re having a nightmare.’

His eyes snapped open, wide and watchful, treacle-brown, as he struggled to sit up. There was no recognition in his face. The doona slipped to his waist, leaving his broad chest bare and still heaving with the fear of the dream. He looked at his hand clamped around her wrist and instantly released it. ‘Sorry. I woke you.’ He ran his hands over his face, fatigue so obvious in the lines and shadows that chiselled his jaw and carved circles under his eyes.

She perched on the edge of the couch, aware of his long lean body within touching distance. ‘I thought I’d be the one having nightmares.’

‘Sorry,’ he muttered. His skin glowed in the golden light, his leg warm against her hip. Ellie almost gave in to the urge to reach out to him. For the first time he looked wounded, defenceless, a man fighting his own demons.

‘Go to bed. It’s all right now.’ His tone was gruff.

Her body tensed as his gaze snapped to hers. There was no mistaking the flare of desire in his eyes. She drew her shoulders back, knowing the dressing-gown gaped at her throat. She wanted the comfort of his arms, the reassurance of his touch. She wanted to kiss the uncertainty from his coffee-coloured eyes. Tonight the rules had changed, the balance had shifted. It was just the two of them with the world a million miles away . . .

His eyes closed and he groaned. ‘Don’t be a little temptress, Ellie. It would be a mistake. Don’t.’ When he opened his eyes she could see he’d retreated, drawing the shutters down on his emotions. She gave him grudging respect for his cast-iron control. It smoothed away any sting of rejection.

‘Okay, okay.’ She leant across and feathered a kiss over his shoulder, tasting the salt of his skin. He reached out to cup her cheek and she turned her lips into his palm, feeling him tremble. She revelled in the power she seemed to suddenly have over this complex man. ‘See you in the morning.’

He lay back, and she heard his deep sigh as she closed her door. A tiny smile curved her mouth. For all his reticence, he was no more immune to her than she was to him. It lightened her heart.

She checked her phone and realised she hadn’t played the message that came in earlier. She listened to Alex’s message and threw back the doona, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. Nicholas Lawson had been in Afghanistan – why the hell hadn’t he mentioned that?

With the dressing-gown in her hands she sifted through the facts. So he’d been in the military. She’d already decided that. Did that mean Alex was there at the same time as Nina? No, it didn’t. And Alex had already made it plain that he didn’t approve of Lawson, yet he hadn’t turned up Nick’s connection with ICAC. Maybe this was all part of his cover.

She lay back down again. If she barged back out there now and accused him of telling more lies, then she was as good as broadcasting the fact they were still investigating him. That wouldn’t be smart. But if Alex was right?

If Alex was right, then Nick may well know more about Nina’s death than anyone, and if he did, she wanted answers. Ellie drifted off to sleep with the loose threads spinning through her mind. Nick Lawson was connected to Nina’s story. She was sure of it now. But she had to find out how. A perfect bombshell to lob into a conversation.

With the sun turning the sullen sky gunmetal grey, Nick finally dozed off again. He woke to the sounds of morning and the smell of coffee. The rain poured down in sheets. Ellie, looking refreshed, was standing beside him wearing cargo pants and a loose button-up shirt, a steaming mug in her hands. He could see the shadow of her breast and waist through the soft fabric. ‘Your usual.’ She placed the mug on the table.

‘Thanks.’

‘Liz says Shadow’s awake and doing fine, but apparently we’re cut off. The heavy rain is causing havoc from Coolangatta right down to Newcastle.’

‘Cut off?’ His brain was still fuzzy with lack of sleep.

‘The Nymboida and Orara rivers have already broken their banks. All that water’s going to arrive here some time this morning. They’ve started evacuating low-lying areas in Garrison, Yamba and Port Newel.’

‘You’re kidding.’ He sat bolt upright. ‘The highway’s still open?’

‘Well, yes, but the access road always goes under first. It’s not uncommon to be isolated for several days. Regional Australia does it a whole lot tougher than people in capital cities realise.’

‘So we’re stuck here?’

‘Seems that way. You’d better make sure your booking’s safe at the pub. They’ll be inundated with people being moved to safety.’

‘Shit. What about the airport?’ He needed to be back in Sydney and he still wanted Ellie out of the Bay.

‘Nope. The nearest commercial airport’s at Ballina and you’d be hard-pressed to get there at the moment. Palmer Island might still be open, but it doesn’t have a charter operator.’

‘Any other good news?’ Nick asked. Ellie was very upbeat after her night from hell and despite being stranded.

Ellie laughed. ‘The phones normally go down as well. The internet is patchy already. I’m using my mobile broadband to connect. Take nothing for granted up here.’

He bent his neck forward, trying to ease the kink from the sofa. At least his satellite phone should still work. Ellie looked almost relaxed. The intimacy of last night was gone. That was a good thing. He’d expected to find her still reeling from her attack. The only outward sign of the night’s trauma was the red mark on her cheek. Nick regretted not getting there in time to stop that.

‘I’m heading in to collect Shadow shortly. I can cook bacon and eggs if you want an early breakfast?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ll follow you in, then head back to the pub.’

‘Oh. Okay.’

He heard disappointment in her voice and mentally berated himself for the leap of joy that brought. In the dark hour before dawn he’d convinced himself he could walk away from Ellie Wilding after this operation was over. In the light of day he wasn’t so sure.

He rang work on the drive to the vet’s, keeping Ellie’s car squarely in his sights. He wasn’t sure his boss would actually take his call but he did. It was almost as though last night’s conversation had never happened.

‘The roads are cut,’ Nick said. ‘Unless you want to foot the bill for a chopper, there’s no way in or out.’

‘That’s convenient,’ the man retorted.

Nick almost laughed. ‘Yeah, but even I couldn’t organise a low-pressure system to dump three hundred mills of rain on the district in forty-eight hours.’

‘If you’d come back yesterday, this wouldn’t be happening.’

‘True, but then we may well have had blood on our hands.’

His boss snorted. ‘The Garrison police collected your two lads. They had some outstanding traffic offences, but they’re just a couple of local thugs. They wouldn’t have done anything but rough her up. O’Sullivan’s hired help.’

‘Have they served warrants on O’Sullivan and his mates yet?’

‘No. The Sydney police are holed up near Coffs Harbour. The roads are cut there as well. They’ve faxed the paperwork through to the local coppers. They should act today.’

‘If they aren’t out evacuating people from floodwaters . . . It’s still raining here. What about the shipment of drugs?’

‘It’s got a tracker on it and is currently stuck in a storage facility at Garrison owned by Jason O’Sullivan. They’ve lost the tanker at the moment. Customs will resume looking when they can get an aircraft up. They’ll pick it up further north. It’s their operation now. Their counterparts in Hong Kong are very interested in the outcome, not to mention the old boys at the top of Defence being very involved.’

Nick scoffed. ‘They knew two years ago that there was a problem with the private contractors in Afghanistan. They didn’t want to hear then that any of our guys might have left the army and joined those arseholes with the sole aim of setting up smuggling lines. So what’s changed their minds?’

‘Someone’s requested information about the hearing into Nina Wilding’s shooting. A journalist called Alex Creighton. Heard of him?’

Nick stopped breathing. ‘Yes. I have.’

‘He’s been making noises about going public, saying he has evidence of a cover-up. It seems he’s gone into hiding.’

‘Is that right?’ Did Ellie know where he was? Nick wondered. Why did he assume she was telling him the truth? Her sister had obviously been a seasoned liar. ‘So what are you doing about that?’

‘Since you insisted on staying, you’re now in a good position to keep an eye on Eleanor Wilding in case Creighton makes contact with her. We need to know if she’s going to break the story herself. We can’t allow that to happen yet.’

‘So now you want me to stay here?’

‘Unless you have another solution.’

‘No, not yet, but I’d be happier if she was out of Half Moon Bay. We could hide her in Sydney. You have a tap on her phone?’

‘Yes, of course, but it doesn’t read text yet.’

‘Okay. So I’ll stick with Ellie and be in touch.’

‘Do that.’ The phone call always ended abruptly with his boss. So now he’d gone from being ordered back to Sydney to being assigned as a watch on Ellie. That should have made him happy, but it didn’t. Was she playing games with him?

He hadn’t heard Ellie’s phone ring, but had she spoken with Alex Creighton this morning? It had been unwise to tell her about the ICAC investigation last night. Had he jeopardised everything now if she was still in contact with Alex?

Liz was waiting for them at the vet’s with a wide smile as they pulled up in convoy. ‘He’s fine, Ellie. Still groggy and full of drugs. Feed him some raw chicken later today. I took the drip out a little while ago. But come and see him.’

She led the way through and Shadow lumbered unsteadily to his feet.

‘Ssh, big fella.’ Ellie knelt by him. ‘Take it easy now.’ She scratched behind his ears and the dog’s eyes closed in delight as he leant into her. Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked them away.

Nick squatted down beside her. ‘He looks good.’ Shadow pressed his head into Nick’s knee, surprising Ellie again. The big dog didn’t give his trust easily.

She glanced sideways at Nick’s profile, struck again by the solid strength in the jaw now covered with at least a day’s dark growth. He was wearing yesterday’s rumpled clothes. The ‘morning after’ look suited him.

Nick carried the dog to Ellie’s car and lowered him onto the back seat.

‘Thanks,’ Ellie said, closing the door gently. ‘I’ll see you around, then. Can I tell Ron and Mavis what’s really going on?’

‘You will anyway, regardless of what I say, but keep it brief. Just remember O’Sullivan’s not been arrested. The police have been held up by the flooding as well.’

‘Really? What if he finds out?’

Nick shook his head. ‘Apart from you, no one else knows exactly what’s going on except my boss and the police. Even if they don’t arrest him, the information isn’t going to go away. The corruption’s already been proven.’

‘And you don’t think he’s capable of retaliation?’

‘He’ll be too busy trying to shred documents and save his sorry arse.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ Ellie replied, shutting the door of the car. ‘I’m taking Shadow around to Ron and Mavis’s. When I phone this morning they were beside themselves. They’d already heard about it via the grapevine. Have to love living in a small community.’

He looked worried. ‘Right. I’ll tail you to Ron’s house.’

‘No need.’

‘There is. And that’s non-negotiable. I’ll leave you with them and be back as soon as I can.’

‘Okay, but this can’t continue indefinitely.’

‘It won’t have to.’ He rapped the side of her car and turned away. She started the engine and indicated to turn out, watching him stride to his vehicle, rolling his keys in his hand. It was a mannerism she’d noticed before. It made him seem like a man on a mission.

Alex still wasn’t returning her calls, but he’d sent an email late last night that made little sense to her. It was a series of numbers and a cryptic message:
You already know the password. You already have the key. Pitt St.
She guessed the numbers were bank account numbers, but the key? She didn’t know the answer to that yet, but she did still have Nina’s bundle of keys. They were now in her backpack and she wasn’t letting them out of her sight.

Mavis and Ron were both home. She parked the car and waved at Nick who lingered until the front door with its frosted glass opened. Wrapped up tight by Mavis, Ellie didn’t see him drive away. Ellie was steered into the cheerfully cluttered kitchen and the three of them sat around the table, although Mavis couldn’t sit still.

‘Bob says there’s already been some horsetrading going on about the prisoners.’ Ron wasn’t keeping his disapproval to himself.

‘Really? What prisoners? What are you talking about?’ Ellie knew she’d only mentioned Shadow had picked up a bait.

Ron waggled his finger at her. ‘Bob mentioned you’d had some trouble last night. He phoned me, since I was in the car when the idiots rammed us off the road.’

‘Why didn’t he phone me?’

‘Apparently Lawson told him to back off.’

‘Did he just?’ Ellie didn’t know whether to be annoyed or relieved.

‘Bob told me there was some heat from Sydney. He’s pretty sure the boys at Garrison station are going to release them.’

‘Since the road’s cut, they won’t get back here anyway.’

‘So what happened last night, Ellie?’

There was no short version of this. They let her talk uninterrupted, but Ron’s agitation was obvious when he stood up at the end. ‘The damn fools in ICAC could have let us in on it rather than running it like some secretive special branch operation. As soon as Felicity blew the whistle, I’ve been expecting them to do something. It would have put her mind at rest too. They’ve caused a whole world of grief for ordinary people.’ Ron stomped out to the garden, jamming a hat on his head as he went. He seemed oblivious to the rain.

‘He was so worried about you when Bob phoned last night, I just about had to tie him to the bed. Bob said Nick was going to stay with you, just in case. All I could imagine was Ron barging in on you unannounced.’

‘Then he would have found Nick on the couch, wouldn’t he?’

‘Oh.’ Mavis didn’t try to hide her disappointment.

Ellie’s mobile rang.

‘Hi, Flick. I’m with Mavis. Where are you?’ She laughed at the reply. ‘Well, don’t stand out in the rain. Mavis won’t mind.’

She disconnected. ‘Is that okay, Mavis? I’ve been trying to speak to Felicity since yesterday morning. I wish I knew where Dad was. I don’t want him to hear about this second hand. He hasn’t returned any of my emails or phone calls either.’

Mavis bent down to reach into a cupboard, her voice muffled by the counter. ‘Don’t worry about your dad. He’ll be in touch soon enough. Last time he spoke to Ronnie he was heading into north-west WA, no-man’s land.’

Before Ellie could say any more, Felicity knocked on the back screen door, shedding her rubber shoes and shaking the water from her bright-blue spray jacket. Her damp hair clung to her head and curled at the ends.

‘Hi, guys. Room for one more for coffee? You’re a hard woman to track down, Ellie.’ She gave both women a quick hug and perched up on one of the old-fashioned stools. ‘So,’ she leant on the counter, ‘spill all. The town’s humming with gossip. Is Shadow okay?’

Ellie shook her head. ‘The grapevine in this town must be the most evolved of its kind anywhere in the world.’

‘Something about two men and a gun. Is it true?’

‘Unfortunately, yes. And the back of my car is going to need some serious panel beating as well. Busy twenty-four hours.’

‘Shit!’ Felicity looked horrified as she clutched Ellie’s arm. ‘I thought Bob’s wife was exaggerating.’

‘Sadly, no. She wasn’t.’

Felicity glanced at Mavis. ‘Does this have anything to do with dinner the other night?’

Ellie shrugged. ‘I don’t know for sure.’ She read the uncertainty in Felicity’s eyes. ‘It’s all right, Flick. Mavis and Ron both know Lawson was at my house for dinner.’

‘Right. Bet you didn’t share my advice with them.’ Felicity was trying to lighten the mood, but she was chewing her lip.

Mavis spoke up. ‘I can imagine what your advice would be, Felicity, and I don’t disagree. But don’t discuss it in front of Ron.’ She dried her hands on a towel. ‘I’ll just get the washing out of the machine.’

Felicity turned to Ellie. ‘So, what’s going on?’

‘Where to begin? Dinner was interesting. I’m afraid it seems I’m not immune to all that seductive charm after all. And then his phone rang. Pretty obvious he wasn’t what he claims to be, so I tossed him out.’

‘You need to get a handle on that temper of yours, girl,’ Felicity admonished her. ‘And then?’

Ellie leant closer as she spent the next five minutes trying to make Felicity laugh. It didn’t work.

Felicity reached across and gripped her hands. ‘And you’re still putting on a brave face? Where is he now?’

‘Asleep in the laundry.’

‘What? Nick?’

‘No, Shadow.’ Ellie laughed. ‘Nick is busy tidying up the Bay apparently.’ She screwed up her nose before continuing. ‘So I hear you’ve been busy yourself?’

Felicity flushed bright red. ‘What do you mean?’

‘It takes guts to do what you’ve done. Courage and conviction. I’m so proud of you. You’re the reason this investigation got off the ground in the first place. The Bay owes you big time.’

‘No, they don’t. I did what anyone would have done in the same position. What O’Sullivan was up to is wrong.’