Outback Blaze (39 page)

It wasn't Drew's fault she'd fallen head over heels. It had been stupid to think he might suddenly declare his love for her when he'd known all along his time here had a use-by date. She hadn't even been able to summon up anger at him for deceiving her about why he was in Australia – she understood why he hadn't been able to tell her. While they were still sleeping together, she could forget about the pain that was to come when he left. She'd deal with her broken heart after he was gone.

She must have fallen asleep again because she woke a few hours later to the sound of the doorbell. The time on her alarm clock told her it was almost ten o'clock. She didn't know who'd be visiting and had almost decided to ignore it when the doorbell sounded again. Whoever it was they were persistent.

Stumbling out of bed, Ruby cringed at her reflection in the mirror, grabbed her dressing gown and wrapped it around her. ‘I'm coming,' she called, just as the doorbell went a third time.

On her way to the door she ran her hands through her hair and pinched her cheeks an attempt at giving herself a little colour. She peered through the peephole in the front door, deciding, persistent or not, she could still ignore the person if she chose.

But it was Faith!

Ruby couldn't help but smile as she rushed to unlock the door.

‘You didn't say you were coming,' she cried as she flung it open.

‘I wanted it to be a surprise.' Grinning, Faith stepped inside and pulled Ruby in for a hug. ‘I heard about Riley and decided Monty could handle the farm for a few days by himself. I drove up early this morning. He's going to get the bus on Friday.'

‘I'm so happy to see you. You cannot imagine,' Ruby whispered into Faith's shoulder.

Faith pulled back and looked at Ruby. ‘Did I wake you up?'

‘No,' Ruby lied. ‘I just couldn't be bothered getting up.'

‘Oh Rubes,' Faith sighed and rubbed her hands up and down Ruby's arms. ‘I don't blame you, but you can't let all of this get to you.'

That was easy for Faith to say – Faith whose life was pretty much the definition of perfect – but Ruby swallowed that bitter thought and nodded. ‘Look, let me go have a shower and then you can tell me your plans for the week. Head on into the kitchen and make yourself a cuppa.'

Faith did as instructed and as Ruby traipsed to the bathroom, mixed feelings swirled in her head. On the one hand Faith visiting was the high point of a dark week but she would make Ruby talk about her feelings. And likely she wouldn't agree with Ruby's decision regarding Drew. Oh well, maybe she wouldn't even ask about him. She would want to know all about Riley…

That hope lasted about two seconds after Ruby reappeared in the kitchen. Faith stood near the table twirling a decidedly male hooded jumper in one hand. Drew's jumper.

‘I'm guessing this means the good cop is still looking after you?' Faith asked, the expression on her face one of excited bemusement.

Ruby nodded, then crossed to the pantry to retrieve some biscuits, hoping Faith would leave it at that. ‘How's Monty?'

Faith had already put two mugs of steaming coffee on the table. She dumped Drew's jumper on one end and pulled out a chair to sit down. ‘Don't you go changing the subject. He's fine, but right now, I'm more interested in that Drew boy. Is it serious, then?'

Ruby guessed Faith was trying to cheer her up, purposely avoiding the topic of Riley and her parents, but right now, she'd rather talk about those things. Aiming for the nonchalant approach, she shook her head as she placed the biscuit tin on the table and sat opposite Faith. ‘Oh no, he's just a bit of fun. A nice diversion, but he's leaving after the Undies Run.'

‘What?' Faith leaned forward, planting her elbows on the table. ‘But they usually stay about three years.'

Ruby shrugged. ‘He's got to go back to England. Family stuff or something.' She hated lying to her friend but wasn't sure how much Drew wanted the locals to know.

‘Dammit.' Faith picked up a choc-chunk cookie and took a bite. ‘How do you feel about that?'

It was on the tip of her tongue to say ‘fine', but her overwrought emotions grabbed hold of her tonsils and she found the simple word wouldn't come. She squeezed her eyes shut. How could there possibly be any tears left in her ducts after the bucket-loads she'd already shed lately?

‘Oh dear.' Faith was up and around the table, hugging Ruby within a matter of moments. ‘You love him, don't you?'

She could only nod. Although Faith's love story had ended happily, Ruby knew her friend understood this type of pain. It had been touch and go there with Faith and Monty for a while.

Faith rubbed her back, stroked her hair and then eventually said, ‘I was going to stay with Dad and Ryan. Grant's staying for a bit and I'm curious to get to know him, but they can manage without me. Do you want me to stay with you?'

This was where Ruby would really lose Faith's respect. ‘Thanks for the generous offer but…Drew's here most nights, so…'

Faith pulled away and stared wide-eyed at Ruby.

‘I know, I know, I have no self-respect but, dammit, I love him and I'll take what I can get.'

Faith sighed. ‘Are you sure that's wise?'

‘Nope.' Ruby shook her head. ‘But I'll worry about that after he's gone. In fact, I've decided to leave after the Undies Run as well. There's nothing left for me in Bunyip Bay. I'm going to see if Adam will keep Roxie for a while but if he can't, I'll give her back to the Vanderbreks.' It broke her heart to even contemplate this and her only comfort came from the fact that Jonas might not know how to treat people, but he'd never hurt a horse.

‘Where will you go?'

She shrugged. ‘Perth, I guess. Or maybe further. I need a fresh start. Even if the fire thing is cleared up soon, Mum and Dad want to travel. Without you and Monty or Mum and Dad here I don't see any reason to stay. My dreams of a horse-riding business are all but dead without Riley.'

Faith shook her head. ‘I can't believe someone did that to him.'

‘I know.'

They sat in silent contemplation until Faith finally said, ‘You know you can always come stay with us for a bit.'

As sweet as her offer was, Ruby didn't think she could handle living with lovebirds in her current state of mind. ‘Thanks, I'll think about it.'

‘Now,' Faith said matter-of-factly as she stood up. ‘I've got to go drop my stuff at home and I'll likely end up making Dad and the boys lunch, but I was wondering if you'd like to meet me and Simone at Frankie's later for a hot chocolate?

When Ruby hesitated, Faith added, ‘I won't take no for an answer.'

Going out was the last thing she felt like doing but it would no doubt do her good. ‘Sure. I've got to go check on Roxie at Adam's but a hot chocolate later would be great.'

Drew had to get out of the station before his head exploded. O'Leary had been informed of the truth behind his time here and for some reason this knowledge made him even more unbearable. He'd made it clear he expected Drew to work hard – ‘no slacking' had been his exact words – for his final week of work, but Drew didn't need O'Leary breathing down his neck for motivation.

He'd never wanted anything in his life as much as he wanted to find Riley's killer. Although Ruby professed she'd been enjoying their liaison, he wanted to her to give her something, some kind of hope, before he left. But, dammit, every lead he followed led to a dead-end. He glanced up at the station clock. Although slightly early, he decided doing the lunch run was as good an excuse as any to get some fresh air. Maybe a quick walk through town would help clear his head, get him thinking differently and come up with another angle to follow.

He stood, grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and addressed O'Leary and Mike. ‘I'm gonna get a sandwich from Frankie's. Can I get you two anything?'

‘The usual.' Mike didn't look up from the statement he was typing.

‘Nope,' O'Leary growled. ‘I'm going home for leftovers.'

Drew strode out of the station and gasped in the fresh air. On his way to the café, he stopped and talked to a number of people. He'd come to accept that making time to chat to locals was part and parcel of country policing. The surprising fact was he actually liked it. Just outside the library, he ran into Faith Forrester.

‘I didn't know you were in town.'

She shrugged, but didn't smile as she usually would. ‘I came up early this morning. Wanted to check Ruby was okay.'

‘That's great.' A lightness filled his chest at the knowledge Ruby had someone else looking out for her.

‘Yes.' Faith glanced at her watch. ‘I'm meeting her later this arvo for a drink. Guess I'll see you round.'

‘Guess so.' Feeling as if he'd missed part of that conversation, Drew shook his head and continued on. He strode along the footpath, his mind full with every little clue he'd followed the last few days. He was so preoccupied he found he'd walked right past Frankie's café and into the industrial area of town. About to turn around, something stopped him at the last moment and he decided to swing by the site of the fire.

Since it had been cleared a week or so ago, he hadn't had reason to venture here but as he stood in front of the burned out block now, his gut told him to stop and think. Riley's death had to be linked to the fire, he was sure of it, and so far they had to have missed a vital clue.

Drew shoved his hands in his pockets and closed his eyes. He blocked out the noise of the crow squawking in the tree across the road and the distant hum of lorries on the highway. He visualised the dark, cold night, the only warmth and light coming from the glow of the building and the lights on the emergency vehicles. He recalled where Ruby and her parents had been standing, the police tape holding back the general public who stood numbly as they looked on, most of them dressed in ugg boots and flannelette pajamas. He scanned the crowd, recognising the faces of the locals he'd come to know even better in the last few weeks, lingering on the faces of those he hadn't had dealings with yet.

And then it hit him.

Opening his eyes Drew retrieved his notebook from his pocket, his heart rate accelerating as he flipped to the pages he'd written on the night of the fire.

That's why he recognised her. Jonas's sister Saskia might have looked a little like Belinda's friend but that wasn't why she'd been familiar to him. She'd been in Bunyip Bay on the night of the fire.

She'd been right here watching with the locals.

He shouldn't get carried away and assume that made her guilty, but why the hell else would she have been hanging around? His thoughts were running a million miles an hour. Nothing made sense. If she
had
set fire to The Ag Store and poisoned Riley, what was her motivation? Did she have some weird incestuous love for her brother or had Jonas solicited her to enact revenge on his behalf?

Drew wouldn't put anything past that slime ball, but it was all speculation until he got some facts. Still, this felt like the strongest lead he'd had yet. He all but ran back through town, forgetting all about lunch. O'Leary had already headed home for his break when Drew returned to the station, but Mike frowned at his empty hands.

‘Where's my Chiko rolls?'

‘I got distracted.' Sitting at his computer, Drew quickly filled his colleague in on his suspicions.

‘Man, if you're right, she must be some kind of crazy bitch,' Mike said when he'd finished. ‘What's the plan?'

‘I don't want to alert her just yet. We'll need to run a check on her credit cards, find out if she'd ordered anything suspicious from overseas recently. And she's probably staying somewhere up here. Can you ring all the local places and then the hotels in Geraldton and surrounds and work out if they can recall anyone staying with them that matches her description around the night of the fire and on Friday or Saturday night before and after Riley died. We need to put her at the scene and we need some sort of motivation.'

‘Got it.'

‘I'm guessing she'd have stayed under an alias. And she's likely stayed in a few different places to keep under the radar.'

Leaving Mike to his tasks, Drew picked up the phone – his first step was checking if Saskia had been present at the rehearsal dinner for the family friend's wedding. He smiled when a few moments later his suspicions were confirmed. As she wasn't in the bridal party, her presence wasn't required that night. Of course that didn't mean she didn't have another alibi, but for the first time in days, Drew felt like he was onto something.

His gut feeling deepened as he dug up a little background history on Saskia Vanderbrek. It appeared Jonas's abusive behaviour wasn't the only thing the Vanderbreks had managed to cover up. The year following high school, after assaulting a shopkeeper, whom Saskia claimed had tried to touch her inappropriately, she'd spent three months in a psychiatric ward receiving treatment for something called delusional disorder. Drew wasn't a shrink but he knew that any form of mental illness wreaked havoc with criminal motivation and all this new information was too strong to ignore. His fingers itched to call Ruby and inform her of this latest development but he didn't want to get her hopes up just yet.

Maybe solving this case could be his parting gift to her.

Ruby was surprised to find Esther Burton with Roxie when she arrived at Annadale.

‘I hope you don't mind me feeding her treats,' Esther said as Ruby approached. She had a carrot in her hand, which almost matched the colour of her scraggly hair. ‘It's been a long while since we had a horse and I guess I'd forgotten how much I loved them.'

‘Not at all.' Ruby stepped up to joined them and rubbed Roxie on the neck. ‘How are you, girl? She deserves a treat after losing her friend.'