Outback Blaze (12 page)

‘Drew?' She swallowed, desperately needing to refresh her mouth of moisture before saying anything more.

‘Yes.' His voice was low, his gaze intense but not at all threatening.

‘Would you like to come riding with us sometime this weekend?' She waited, her breath frozen.

A flicker of what she thought might be hesitation crossed his face, but then he nodded. ‘Yes. I'd like that. Are you busy tomorrow afternoon?'

She shook her head. Not with anything that couldn't be rescheduled anyway.

‘Great. After tonight I'm not on roster again until Monday so how about I come to you, just after lunchtime?'

How about that!
‘Sounds good,' she replied, with the kind of cool that impressed even herself. And then she realised she still had a firm grip on his lovely arm. He grinned and she let him go, reluctantly. ‘Have a good evening,' she said. ‘Hope there aren't too many crazy people on the roads.'

‘Me too. And you have a good one as well. See you tomorrow.' With those words, he turned and strode between the tables of people drinking, eating and welcoming in the weekend.

She watched him go. Forgetting it was rude to stare and simply thinking she had made a date. Every part of her hoped it was more successful than the few she'd had with Monty.

What the hell are you playing at?
Drew shook his head as he shut the door of the pub behind him and strode towards the patrol car. He'd been flirting – he might have been ridiculously out of practice but there was no denying that conversation with Ruby Jones had been full of insinuation and flirtatious banter. And man, it had felt good. So good he'd almost pressed his lips against that cute little furrow of her brow when she'd been voicing her concerns about his eating habits.

He chuckled at the memory. The warmth he'd felt at being so close to her flooded his body again, but he shoved those feelings away. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that Ruby was the kind of girl you took home to meet your mother, not the kind who'd enter into some sort of mutual satisfaction, no strings agreement. And considering his mother didn't even want
him
at home, never mind him and a lady, neither was an option. At least that's the deal he'd made with himself when he'd chosen this over witness protection. It wasn't fair to get anyone involved in his mess. The sensible thing to do would be to cancel his afternoon with Ruby. Then again, many would argue that he wasn't always a sensible man.

Arriving at the car, he yanked open the passenger door and slid in next to Mike, who was busy texting on his smart phone.

‘Oh you're back.' Mike pressed one more button on his phone and then placed it in the console. Obviously Drew hadn't needed to worry about keeping him waiting.

‘How's your girlfriend?' Drew asked, nodding towards the phone as he clicked on his seatbelt.

‘She's great.' Drew didn't need to look at his colleague to know he sported a goofy grin on his face. He unwrapped his burger as Mike started the car. ‘We're trying to arrange a weekend where I can go down and meet her.'

‘Wow. It must be getting serious,' he said, before taking the first mouth-watering bite of his burger. Yep, this was definitely better than the garage, even if it was triple the price.

‘It is. And I'm stoked.' Mike reversed out of the car park and as he headed for the highway, he started to relate the conversation he'd just had. Word for glorious word. Although hearing about Mike's interactions with the woman he'd met online a couple of weeks ago was at the bottom of Drew's list of ways he'd like to spend the night, he didn't really mind right now. Mike was so besotted that he didn't appear to notice that Drew wasn't listening and having honed his ability to zone out noise, Drew took the opportunity to think more about the fire.

It was safer than letting his mind wander to the way Ruby merely looking at him had made him feel only minutes earlier and, despite thinking constantly about the circumstances surrounding the fire, he still hadn't managed to come up with anything that might clear Jaxon and Brad. He'd already grilled them twice and felt certain they were hiding something – he guessed someone else had been with them the night they'd taken the car out on a joyride, but if this person did exist, the boys refused to get them into trouble.

Part of him didn't even know why he was bothering, but the part of him who'd joined the force because of his best mate couldn't give up on them. He and Ian had only been slightly older than Jaxon and Brad when Ian had lost his life. Some perverse beast inside him felt like he owed this to his friend.

While Mike rattled on about the sound of his online girlfriend's voice, Drew wished he was with a more experienced officer – someone he could trust and bounce ideas off. He'd gone over the possible motivations for The Ag Store fire a hundred times in his head and he kept coming back to the Joneses. Whether one of Ruby's parents had instigated the fire or not, they were the missing piece of the puzzle. He was certain. Was Robert having an affair? How many times were crimes committed due to passion gone wrong? Or maybe Lyn had a secret lover somewhere. They looked as happily married as any couple he'd ever known, but he hadn't been in the job this long to take things purely at surface value.

‘I can't believe we're stuck out doing traffic duty on a Friday night.' The whine in Mike's voice alerted Drew to the change in conversation topic.

He finished the last mouthful of his burger and considered giving Mike a lecture about the importance of road safety, blah, blah, blah but there wasn't much point. He guessed O'Leary was exactly like Mike when he started out and sadly nothing much had changed. Before he could say anything a car sped towards them from the opposite direction.

Drew whistled as the red vehicle flashed past and wished he was in the driver's seat. ‘What are you waiting for?' he yelled at Mike. ‘Hit the lights and do a U-turn?'

‘What?' Mike glanced at him like he was speaking gobbledegook.

‘That red sedan! It's way over the limit.'

Looking like a kid chasing lollies, Mike switched on the lights and turned the patrol car around, screeching the wheels and nearly swerving off the other side of the highway.

Drew gripped the sides of his seat and silently prayed for his safety. When in pursuit you could never tell whether a driver would pull over easily or stupidly decide to try and lose you. This hoon proved to be the former, coming to a stop on the gravel at the side of the road.

‘I'll handle this,' Mike said, as he got out of the car.

Leaning back in his seat and folding his arms, Drew chuckled as he watched Mike swagger over to address the driver. Words were exchanged and then Mike leaned into the car and shook the driver's hand. WTF? Maybe Drew's eyes were playing tricks but the car moved off and Mike hadn't lifted a hand to issue a ticket.

The second Mike slid into the car, Drew asked, ‘What the hell are you playing at? That guy was going twenty-five over the limit. You should have breathalysed him and given him a ticket.'

Seemingly unfazed by Drew's reprimand, Mike clicked his seatbelt into place and said, ‘Nah, that was my old piano teacher. She's heading back to Perth after a holiday because her daughter is in early labour. She promised she'll slow down.'

Drew fought the urge to drop his head into his hands. He understood there were times exceptions could be made – he had made them himself on occasions – but not when someone was that much over the limit.

‘No one gets off again unless you consult with me. Got it?'

Mike hit him with a glare he hadn't thought the younger man possible of. ‘You're not my senior officer so stop acting like such a hot-shot. I don't have to answer to you.'

The air in the car felt stifling. Drew dug his nails into the seat to stop himself from saying something he shouldn't.

‘Sorry,' he said, taking a deep breath. ‘I lost a mate to a car accident once where the driver was speeding. It's a sore point.'

‘Man, I'm sorry.' Mike started the car and glanced at the traffic. ‘Was it recently?'

‘No.' And Drew really didn't want to talk about Ian with him.

‘Right. Promise I won't let anyone off again. Looks like we might be in for a busy night.' As he drove out onto the road, Mike nodded towards the other side. Due to it being Friday night, the highway was busy with travellers. There weren't as many trucks on the road as there usually were but there were lots of cars – people either heading home after a week working away or heading off for a weekend break.

But Drew liked being busy as it was a lot better than the alternative. They issued warnings, tickets and breathalysed a number of drivers before the roads quietened down just before midnight.

‘It's been quite a week,' Mike said, slumping into his seat. ‘I'm whacked.'

‘Yeah. Who said there's no excitement in small towns, hey?'

Mike shrugged. ‘Now Jaxon and Brad have been charged, things might calm down again.'

Drew didn't say anything.

‘You don't think they did it, do you?' Mike looked at him intently.

‘No. I don't.' Drew sighed, hating that he didn't have any concrete evidence.

‘All right then.' Mike drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. ‘What's your theory?'

‘I'd say revenge or insurance fraud.'

‘You think the Joneses did this to their own business?' Mike sounded incredulous.

Drew swallowed a scoff. ‘It's not like it hasn't been done before. Business owners get into financial difficulties, they see arson as an easy cop out.'

‘Mate, I wouldn't go spreading that rumour around Bunyip. The Joneses are well respected people.'

And that's what worried Drew. The thing about small towns was that people often failed to see the big picture – they only saw what they wanted to and no one wanted to think that Robert and Lyn Jones might have brought this disaster on themselves.

‘I don't think they're in financial trouble,' Mike mused. ‘They donate to every local cause and rumour is that they pay their staff above the award.'

‘So I've heard.' He'd been keeping an ear out around town the last few days, making discreet inquiries about the Jones. By all accounts they were the least likely people to burn their own shop and, if it were true they didn't have any debts – and that's what the arson investigators had uncovered – then what benefits would they get? The building was pretty old though; maybe they just wanted a new one without having to pay for it. He thought of the real estate business card he'd seen in their kitchen. Surely a brand new building would sell better than one in dire need of repair.

‘I think you're wrong, man.' Mike overtook a truck travelling at snail's pace. ‘I know you like those kids but it's not like
they
haven't been in trouble before.'

‘Yeah, I know.' Drew was flogging a dead horse. Mike didn't have the experience to delve deeper and, like Sergeant O'Leary, he probably couldn't be bothered anyway. That didn't mean Drew was going to give up.

Despite the horrible week she'd had, Ruby woke with a smile on her face. Last night at the pub had been fun and she couldn't wait for her afternoon with Drew and the horses. It would be healthy to focus on something other than the fire for a bit and she couldn't think of anything nicer to focus on than him.

When she'd started dating Monty a few months ago, she'd had to try hard to be enthusiastic. After Jonas, she'd wanted desperately to move on and grow close to a man again because one day she wanted to get married and have a family, but as gorgeous and lovely as Daniel ‘Monty' Montgomery was, she'd never glowed around him. She'd always been on edge as if the wind might change and suddenly he'd snap from being charming and attentive to someone who scared the hell out of her.

Lately she'd seriously begun to wonder if her awful experiences with Jonas had ruined her for life.

Then Drew had waltzed into town, smiled at her across Faith's car when he'd stopped her the one time for speeding and that tingly feeling – the kind you got when really attracted to someone – had nearly knocked her for six. She'd thought such feelings had all but died when her relationship with Jonas ended. With these rediscovered sensations came the hope for herself and for her future. Drew might not be her Mr Right but he could be her Mr Right Now and maybe that's exactly what she needed. She couldn't wait to see him again.

Ruby rolled out of bed and practically skipped down the hall to the bathroom, then spent a luxurious amount of time in the shower. Her legs had been neglected this week and although she wasn't planning on Drew getting that close – yet – she took her time shaving them. She washed her hair, lathered her body with shower gel and then covered herself in coconut body cream once she was dry. After dressing in her favourite jodhpurs and jumper, and blow-drying her hair, she shoved on her fluffy slippers and went downstairs to make her parents' breakfast.

This was the first Saturday in years they hadn't needed to get up early to open the shop and she thought they might as well sleep in a little. Yet, the moment she entered the kitchen, she realised how stupid that thought had been. Her mum and dad sat solemnly at the table, both of them huddled over their breakfast bowls as they slowly picked at their porridge. Neither of them had slept well the last few nights and she was up too late to cook for them.

‘Morning Mum, morning Dad.' She kissed them both on the head and tried to tame the joy in her voice. It felt wrong to be so excited when they'd lost so much these last few days. Insurance might financially reimburse but it didn't erase emotional stress and turmoil. ‘What are you up to today?'

She felt guilty that she'd planned an afternoon out of the house, but she needed this outing like a diabetic needed insulin.