Scared Yet? (23 page)

32

Half an hour of talking gave Rachel pages of notes but no answer to Liv's question. It seemed less of an interview this time around, as though Liv had gone from distraught victim to victim with vested interest, maybe one with some kind of clue. Rachel counted down the list of people Liv had given her of the faces she'd seen in the crowd of onlookers. She didn't have names for all of them, some were just shorthand descriptions: redheaded man from the bank, piercings guy from the music store, bald baker, bleached-blonde girl from the evening wear boutique.

‘Twenty-two. That's a lot of people to remember in a crisis. I'm impressed.'

‘Thanks. It's a new skill. I can also tell you the silver BMW beside my car outside was at the school this afternoon, the quickest way to get to Cameron is around that table and the cafe has a back exit through the kitchen.'

Rachel seemed equally impressed about that.

Liv watched Cam across the room, rolling around with Mitch on a giant, red beanbag. She also knew she could
pick up a chair and hurl it if she had to and there were knives in the cutlery canisters at the counter. The thought of plunging a blade into someone was unspeakable but she wouldn't hesitate if it meant protecting her son.

‘Did you speak to Daniel at any time before Teagan's fall?' Rachel asked.

‘I saw him early this morning.'

‘Before you got to the office?'

Liv's brows tightened in a quick frown. ‘No. In his office when I got in.'

‘What did you talk about?'

She hesitated. Did Rachel need to know Daniel had tucked her into a blanket on her sofa last night? ‘I just stuck my head in to say good morning. Why?'

‘I'm just asking questions.'

‘No, you're not. You're asking about Daniel. What are you thinking?'

Rachel didn't answer.

‘I've got a right to know.'

She laid down her pen. ‘Look, an investigation is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. I'm just sorting out the pieces.'

‘And you think Daniel is one of the pieces?'

‘At the moment, everyone in your life is a piece. I'm trying to work out where they all go.'

Liv knew where Daniel fitted. He came to her aid in the car park, he installed locks in her townhouse, searched it, kept her company, made sure she was breathing. It was more than the other pieces in her life had done in the last week. ‘He worked on Teagan when she was on top of the van.'

‘Yes, I know. She was lucky he was there.' She kept her eyes on Liv a moment as though there was more to it. ‘I'd like to look at the note from your bag.'

Liv watched Cameron and Mitch as Rachel took gloves out of her pocket and used the handle of a teaspoon to slit the envelope open. The page inside made Liv's eyes fill with tears.

Someone had taken a photo of Teagan in her green coat as she stepped out of the security exit into the laneway. The picture was printed on plain paper and the sender had used a keyboard this time to publish the message underneath:

‘I was parked on the second floor but down the other end,' Liv said. ‘Maybe he saw Teagan and . . . and I don't know. Couldn't wait until later.'

‘It doesn't read like that. I don't think you were the target.'

‘Mum?' Liv turned the page over as Cameron lifted her elbow and pushed his head into the circle of her arm. ‘Are we going soon?'

She wanted to hide him from sight. ‘Thirty seconds, sweetie. Go get your jumper from the play area.' Mitch's mum was packing up her laptop, telling the boy to get his backpack. When Cameron was out of earshot, she turned to Rachel. ‘What about Cameron? Is he going to be safe with me?'

‘Given that we don't know who it is and no attempt has been made to hurt you, I think the safest place for him is with you. Do you have someone you can stay with?'

‘Do you think the townhouse isn't safe?'

‘It seems secure. It would be for your own peace of mind.'

There was only Kelly and Jason but she wasn't sure she'd find peace of mind there. Not with Teagan in a critical condition in hospital, not with Kelly's decision to work for Toby Wright. ‘Can you get the patrol car to do laps past my place again tonight?'

‘It's already organised.'

Liv ignored the turn-off to their street a second time, not ready yet for the baseball bat walk-through, unable to get Teagan out of her mind. Tee's mum, Nina, was Kelly's big sister. She'd bossed Kelly and Liv around when they were kids, got married when they were still in high school. Kelly had been bridesmaid and it was the first wedding Liv had been to. Teagan was Nina's youngest – and Liv felt responsible.

She knew the Burke family well enough to know they'd turn out in force to support Teagan. Kelly would still be at the hospital. So would her mum and dad, probably her younger sister, a brother, maybe a sister-in-law or two. Liv had always been included as an honorary member and would've added her support in different circumstances. But she couldn't turn up at the hospital, not the way she felt, not with bruises on her face like an accusation, not with Cameron – a hospital waiting room with bad news hovering wasn't the place to take a child.

She wanted to know how Teagan was, though – more detail than ‘listed as critical'. And she was tired of coping alone so she drove to Kelly and Jason's hoping he was at home with the girls.

Emma opened the door, screamed, ‘Cameron! Bess, Cameron's here.' There was the thumping of feet on timber then Bess skidded around a corner in socks and repeated the war cry. The three of them were already heading down the hallway when Jason appeared. He stood a moment, holding the phone at his side, watching her. His hair looked like he'd been raking his hands through it, his eyes seemed grateful to see her. ‘Kelly's at the hospital,' he said.

Liv closed the front door behind her. ‘I figured she would be.' She hugged him and as he pulled her in and held on, she was glad she'd come. She was supporting someone and Jason was family.

She cut up fruit and cheese for the kids and made two cups of tea while Jason sat at the kitchen bar and told her what he knew.

‘She's got a hairline fracture in her pelvis, broken ribs and collarbone, all from falling on her side.'

‘What about her face? There was blood on her face.'

He tightened his lips, as though he'd left the worst for last. ‘It's not good. There was a deep gash on her cheek and the right eye socket is fractured. They're talking about surgery.'

Liv remembered the rope of Teagan's hair hanging over the side of the van and covered her mouth with her hand. On the other side of the family room, noise blared from the TV as a DVD started up. Jason closed his eyes, looking
as though his stress level was about to shoot out the top of his head.

‘Can you turn that down?' Liv called.

‘It's just the start,' Bess said.

‘The start's always loud,' Cameron added.

‘Well, turn it down anyway. We're trying to talk here.'

There was a brief argument over the remote so Liv rounded the bench, gave Jason's shoulder a squeeze as she passed him. ‘Let's go into the other room.'

They sat on the lounge, side by side, sleeves touching, drinking tea. Family. Home. Liv talked quietly, telling him about the man confessing to her assault, the two new messages, the guilt at Teagan being caught up in it.

‘How was Kelly when you spoke to her?' Liv asked.

‘You know Kelly. Family manager. She's made me the communications centre.'

Liv smiled a little. ‘She was mad at me. We were mad at each other. God, Jase, it's such a mess.'

‘We'll find a way through it.'

‘I might have no friends left by then.'

‘You'll still have me.'

She nudged him with her shoulder. He nudged her back. They drank in silence, didn't speak again until their empty mugs were on the coffee table.

‘Do you need me to stay for a while?' Liv asked.

‘Only if you want to.'

She glanced at the window. The sun was starting to drop and she was anxious to be home before dark but she didn't want to abandon him at dinnertime if he had calls to make. ‘Did Kelly say when she'd be back?'

‘I don't expect her for hours yet.'

She turned her head and watched him, trying to gauge his stress. And it was happening before she realised – his lips pressing hers, moving and insistent.

Shock made her go slack and in that moment of soft, intimate pressure, her body responded with the reflex of a bruised, lonely person starved for affection. It was only a brief firming of her lips, a tiny flutter of her tongue before her brain kicked into gear and shut it down. But he must have felt it. He was suddenly around her, against her, his breath on her face, in her mouth. Liv's heart slammed, her spine stiffened. Wrong. All wrong. She tried to turn her face but he took it as passion, found the space between her lips, pushed his tongue against her teeth. She got her palms to his chest and forced him away.

‘Jason, no.' She said it more quietly than she wanted, conscious of the children in the other room.

‘It's okay,' he whispered, leaning into her hands.

She shoved hard. ‘What the
fuck
, Jason?'

Before he could answer, she shoved him again, an audible thump in the chest. He sat back, an arm's distance away. Neither spoke, they both breathed hard.

‘It's okay,' he said again.

‘No. It's not.' She turned her face, closed her eyes and saw Kelly in her mind. ‘Oh fuck.
Fuck
.'

‘I know. It's difficult. But we're here now. We can't pretend it isn't happening.' His voice was gentle, coaxing.

She looked back at him in horror. ‘Are you nuts? There's nothing
happening.
Kelly is my best friend. She's your wife, for God's sake.'

Confusion and aggravation pulled his brows together. ‘This isn't about Kelly. It's about us. You knew where this was heading.'

‘Where
what
was heading, Jase? We were having a cup of tea on an awful day. Where's the invitation to stick your tongue down my throat?'

He put up his hands. ‘Okay, fine. You're feeling guilty because we finally got there. Whatever. But cut the innocent act, Liv. We've been going down this road for months. We both know that.'

Liv opened her mouth but no words came out.
Months.
Which months? Not any months she remembered. She shook her head slowly. ‘Jase, I . . .'

Whatever he read in her face, he got it wrong. ‘I know, I know, the timing is bad. But this last week, you've needed me. I knew you would eventually. I haven't been able to be there the way you wanted. The way we both wanted.' He lifted his hand to her cheek. ‘But I can now. Just for a while.'

She wanted to be sick, to slap his face, to wind back the tape ten minutes and drink their tea in the kitchen. One decision for a bit of quiet had changed everything. Jason. Kelly. The kids. The only family she had to offer Cameron. She smacked his hand away. ‘This is not what I want. How can you even think I would want that after what Thomas did? You've got it all, Jason. I only wanted to be a part of it. And you just fucked it up for everyone. You stupid bastard.'

She coaxed Cameron away from the TV, kissed and hugged the girls in case it was a long time before she saw
them again, ignored Jason in the doorway of the lounge room as they left. As she drove towards home, her heart pounded and her jaw ached from clenching her teeth. She wanted to call her best friend, share the shock, ask what she should do – but Jason had taken that away from her, too.

‘What's the matter, Mum?'

She swallowed down on the lump in her throat. ‘Nothing, sweetie. I'm just a bit . . . tired.' She leaned over and ruffled his hair. He gave her a toothy smile. ‘Oh wow, that is exactly what I need. Thank you, honey.'

It was dusk when she headed up the driveway and her neighbour's porch light was already on. As her roller door made its way slowly upwards, she eyed the townhouse warily.

‘Stay in the car for a couple of minutes, honey,' she told Cameron when she'd parked in the garage.

‘Why?'

‘I want to check I've got everything for the spaghetti. Hey, have you seen my new phone? It's in my bag. Check it out and I'll be back in a sec.'

She locked him in, flicked lights as she entered the townhouse, found the umbrella against the wall. Okay, you're on your own, Liv, but you've done this before. She followed Daniel's route – half-bath, laundry, kitchen, lounge room. Swapped the umbrella for the baseball bat as she passed it by the stairs and made her way to the upper level. Cameron's room, bathroom, her bedroom.

‘All clear,' she muttered in the ensuite, rolled her eyes at herself in the mirror as she passed.

Half an hour later, Cameron sat at the kitchen counter with his homework while she cooked the spaghetti. She called out ‘ea' words for him to spell and numbers he could divide by two and listened to him read and his company swept everything else aside.