The Shearer's Wife Read online

  Jack nodded. ‘Fine.’

  Dialling Zara’s number, Jack listened to the ring tone, before putting the car into gear and turning on to the main street.

  ‘Hey,’ Zara answered the phone.

  Jack’s heart rate kicked up a notch. Her voice was so familiar, it made him want to go to her and touch her.

  ‘Hey, what are you up to?’ He struggled to keep his tone even.

  ‘Just about to head out to interview the boss of the Port Augusta grain handlers. The forecast for the harvest is due to come out today.’

  ‘Right.’

  Silence hummed between them. ‘Have you got time for a chat before you go?’

  ‘If you want. I’m still at home.’

  Jack flicked his blinker on and did a U-turn. ‘I’m coming now. I’ll be there in two minutes.’ He jabbed at the disconnect button and ran his hand nervously through his hair. How was he supposed to start this conversation?

  Butterflies flickered through his stomach as he waved to Kim, who was just coming out her front door as he pulled into Zara’s driveway.

  Zara was standing in the doorway. Jack took a breath, looking at her. She was gorgeous, and he couldn’t stop the white-hot anger that flooded through him at the thought of the photo.

  He picked up the Farming Telegraph and glanced over his shoulder as he got out of the car. Kim had retreated quickly back inside.

  ‘Hi,’ Zara said.

  Jack swallowed. ‘Hi.’

  ‘Coming in?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Zara pushed the door open wider and walked towards her office.

  Jack followed her, tapping the Farming Telegraph on his palm.

  Leaning against her desk, she watched him, not smiling. He could tell she was waiting for him to start. He opened his mouth, intending to ask quietly about the photo. What came out instead was pent-up fury and hurt.

  ‘What the fuck is this story?’ He threw the newspaper on her desk, and opened it to the photo.

  ‘That’s the story I did on Jesse.’ Zara crossed her arms.

  ‘I can see that. I wasn’t really interested in the story. More the photo. Seen it?’

  Giving a ghost of a smile, she nodded. ‘It’s my story, of course I’ve seen it.’

  ‘Looks like you’ve got stars in your eyes.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Jack, you’re jealous over a photo? That’s my job—to get people to talk, and if it means I play nice and smile or buy them a few drinks, then that’s what I do.’

  ‘Yeah, do they all get to take you home afterwards?’ He was breathing heavily now, blood thumping in his ears.

  Zara looked down. ‘I told you, nothing happened.’

  ‘But this photo looks like you wanted it to.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, Jack! I love you. If you remember, I came straight to you and told you the next morning. I got drunk, and he made sure I got home okay. End of story.’

  Now it was his turn to be quiet. The anger simmering in his stomach meant he had to stop talking because he might say something he shouldn’t. And really, if Dave’s plan was going to get put into motion, he shouldn’t even be here.

  He changed the subject.

  ‘Dave wants to see you.’ He turned away from her and started towards the door.

  ‘Oh, yeah, what have I done now?’

  ‘What?’ He turned back to see her looking at him, the defiance in her face. That comment was so un-Zara like.

  ‘Pissed him off again, have I? Surely not, I haven’t been near the police station, or him.’

  Frustration trickled through him. ‘God, you’re angry. All I know is he asked if I could ask you to go and see him.’

  ‘What about us? I thought we were talking about us.’

  ‘No, I don’t think I want to talk about us now.’

  ‘Why not?’ she challenged. ‘I’ve already told you everything and you’re the one who told me to leave the other night. Ball’s in your court.’

  ‘I think we both need a bit of time to calm down, a bit of air. Zara, you’ve changed and I’m just not sure what’s going on with you, so let’s leave it until you’ve been to see Dave and you hear what he wants.’ He paused and gave her a sad smile. ‘We’ll deal with us when the time’s right. But,’ he looked at her steadily, ‘if you want any type of relationship with Dave on a professional level, you need to go and see him.’

  Her defiance changed to curiosity. ‘Why can’t you tell me?’

  ‘Oh, Zara!’ His frustration was clear. ‘Didn’t you just hear me? Go and see Dave.’

  ‘Hang on, before I go and do that, I want to know where we are. And don’t give me that crap about now not being the right time. If you’re angry with what I did, then you should say so.’

  ‘I don’t know what I am, and I really don’t want to have this conversation now. I’ve got to get on. See you later.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean? You’re too busy to talk about us? Aren’t we more important?’

  ‘Look, all I’m going to say is that not talking at the moment might be mutually beneficial.’ He held up his hand. ‘I’m not saying anything more, so don’t bother asking me.’

  He left the house and quickly moved to his car. As he opened the door he looked back and saw Zara standing in the doorway, tears on her cheeks.

  He started the car and reversed out before he could race back in there to give her a hug and whisper in her ear that he loved her, to tell her it didn’t matter about the photo or the fact Jesse had walked her home and that he really did believe nothing had happened.

  He just couldn’t escape the nagging feeling that Zara had changed, maybe forever.

  Chapter 20

  Kim waited in the car until the bus pulled into the stop and the doors sprang open. The driver got out and opened up the underneath to get out the bags, while two young girls in school uniforms followed.

  Their mothers were there waiting and Kim recognised the girls as locals who attended boarding school, home for the weekend.

  She smiled as the girls hugged their mums, chatting about the homework they had and life at school.

  Looking into the bus, she saw Essie holding on tightly to the back of the seats as she slowly made her way to the front.

  ‘Come on, Paris,’ she said, opening the door. ‘I can see your grandma coming.’

  ‘She’s nearly here?’

  The excitement in her voice broke Kim’s heart. None of this should have ever happened.

  As Essie’s first foot hit the ground, Paris ran from Kim and threw her arms around her grandmother.

  ‘Granny! I’ve missed you. Where have you been? How come you’ve been gone so long?’

  ‘Oh, my darling girl.’ Essie’s voice broke as she put her arms around the little girl and hugged her tightly.

  Kim pointed to a bag on the ground. ‘This one yours?’ she asked, and Essie nodded, mouthing thank you.

  ‘Come on, darling, let’s get home, shall we?’ Essie held out her arms to Kim. ‘Oh, my goodness, Kim, thank you. Thank you.’ The older woman’s voice caught again. ‘You can’t know how grateful I am to you and Dave.’

  Kim hugged her. ‘There was no way I wasn’t going to help, Essie,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Help do what?’ Paris asked.

  ‘It’s grown-up talk, darling,’ Essie said as they made their way to the car. ‘Did I tell you how pleased I am to see you?’ She took a firm hold of Paris’s hand. ‘I am very, very glad to see you. How has school been?’

  ‘Okay. My friends have been asking where you’ve been. Why were you away for so long, Granny?’ Paris queried again as they climbed into the car. ‘Did the police take a long time to ask questions?’

  Kim smiled and answered before Essie could. ‘Yes, they took far too long.’

  She glanced over at Essie and saw tears in her eyes, which made anger well up inside her. She reached across to take her friend’s hand. ‘It’s going to be okay,’ she said. ‘You’re home and safe now.’ Looking
in the rear-vision mirror she saw that Paris was looking out of the window, distracted now. ‘Was it awful?’ she whispered to Essie.

  Essie nodded. ‘You’ve got no idea.’

  Pulling up at the house, Essie sighed. ‘The old place has never looked so good.’

  Kim laughed. ‘There’s no place like home, that’s for sure.’ Putting the key in the lock, Essie pushed the faded blue door open and put her bag on the floor. ‘Yes,’ she said, looking around, ‘no place like it.’

  Paris ran through to the kitchen and Kim followed, hoisting shopping bags onto the bench. ‘I’ve made a few meals for you and got all the essentials, so you won’t have to go anywhere for a couple of days if you don’t feel like it.’

  ‘Did you bring the chocolate cake I helped make, Kim?’ Paris asked. ‘I made a chocolate cake, Granny. Kim let me mix it with a wooden spoon, then I got to eat the mixture.’

  ‘Did you? Was it yummy?’

  ‘It was the best!’

  Essie laughed, but Kim heard the sob behind it.

  ‘Paris, can you run out to the car and bring your school bag in please, honey?’ Kim asked.

  When the little girl had gone, Kim turned to Essie and drew her into a hug. ‘I know you’ve been through a lot, Essie. You make sure you come and talk to me any time. About anything. There’s always space at my kitchen table for you when you need it.’

  ‘I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t posted the bail …’ Her voice trailed off.

  ‘You needed to be back with Paris as soon as possible.’ Kim’s voice was gentle.

  ‘I hope I haven’t caused you any problems, financially. You’re so kind, Kim.’

  ‘It was my pleasure. Like I said, Paris needed you back.’

  Essie filled the kettle and took a cup out of the cupboard. ‘Do you want one?’

  ‘Yeah, that would be nice.’

  Kim could see the act of doing something normal was calming for Essie.

  ‘I really want to go and see Dave, to thank him as well. Will he be at the station tomorrow?’

  Paris came flying through the door. ‘I get to sleep in my bed tonight!’

  The two women laughed.

  ‘Yes, you do,’ Essie said. ‘Now, go and unpack your bag. Put your dirty clothes in the basket and then you can come and cut me a piece of that cake you made.’

  ‘Okay, Granny.’

  When the kitchen was quiet and Essie had put a cup of tea in front of Kim, she spoke. ‘Essie, nothing is wrong, but I need to tell you something.’

  Essie’s head shot up and her eyes showed fear.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Dave can’t come and see you, and you can’t go and see him,’ Kim answered carefully.

  ‘Why? Is it because you posted bail? Oh, no. I’m so sorry.’

  Kim covered Essie’s hand with her own.

  ‘Dave’s in some trouble and I’ve caused him a lot of embarrassment because I posted your bail. As a detective’s wife, doing something like that isn’t a conflict of interest, but the way it happened made the Assistant Commissioner call him in for a talk. They’re not allowing him to have anything to do with you until this case is over. So, if you want to come and see me, just call first to make sure Dave isn’t home.’

  Essie had her hand over her mouth.

  ‘Don’t worry, Essie. It’s fine, we can work around it, but I’m going to ask that you don’t contact him. You know that we’re here to help but if you need to talk, come to me, not Dave.’

  ‘He hasn’t lost his job?’

  ‘Oh, no! Not at all. In fact, I think he’s out patrolling as we speak. He knew I was coming to pick you up. Me seeing you, or helping you, isn’t a problem.’

  Paris came running back into the kitchen and threw her arms around Essie. ‘I’ve done it all, Granny.’

  ‘Good girl. Now, where’s that cake? You’d better cut us all a piece of that and tell me about what you’ve done at school while I’ve been gone.’

  Paris looked at Kim.

  ‘Ah, it’s in the esky in the boot. I’ll go and get it. That esky will be far too heavy for you, young lady!’

  ‘I’ve got muscles,’ Paris said, putting her arms in a position to show off her biceps.

  ‘I know you do. The way you stirred that mixture, your muscles were very clear! But I don’t know that even you can carry this. Sit and tell Granny about school while I go and bring it inside.’

  She got up and went out the door, pausing to look at the photos on the wall. Essie’s wedding photo was in the middle, surrounded in an oval by others. Mr Clippers was dressed in a suit and Essie was in a modest white dress, holding a sprig of roses. The background showed greenery, perhaps a park. They were smiling at each other, not looking at the camera. To the left, Paris’s baby photos took pride of place, then one each year, tracking her growth. In the first school photo, Paris had her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, and the next one showed a gap where her front tooth should have been.

  To the right, there were two photos of a young woman. Kim could see the resemblance to Paris and assumed this was Essie’s daughter.

  ‘Where’s the cake, Kim?’ Paris called.

  ‘Coming right up.’

  Out at the car, Kim popped the boot and got out the esky. She’d been right, it was heavy. Inside it were over a week’s worth of meals that Kim had cooked, then frozen, along with two cakes and three batches of biscuits. Essie wouldn’t have to worry about Paris’s recess and lunches for a little while.

  ‘Hello.’

  A woman dressed in a tracksuit jogged past and Kim smiled at her.

  ‘Cold day,’ she said.

  ‘That’s what makes the running good. Keeps me warm,’ she puffed back.

  Kim watched her go, wondering who she was. Maybe a tourist at the caravan park.

  Picking up the esky, she took it back inside, where Paris was still talking as fast as she could. Kim handed Paris the container with the cake inside and started to put the meals in the freezer.

  ‘Here we go.’

  ‘You’re so kind, Kim. This is all a bit overwhelming.’

  ‘Here, Granny.’ Paris held out the cake.

  ‘Well, well, that looks yummy. That icing is … bright.’

  Kim laughed. ‘We had fun with red food colouring, didn’t we? Your granddaughter seemed to think it was your favourite colour.’

  ‘And she’d be right. I love red roses and any red flower, don’t I, darling?’

  ‘Granny’s got a whole garden bed just full of red flowers.’

  ‘Does she? Now she’s got a red cake too.’

  Kim sat back down and pointed to the photos on the wall. ‘That’s your daughter?’

  ‘Yes, that’s Melissa,’ she said quietly.

  ‘How’s she going?’

  ‘She’s fine, as far as I know.’ Essie took another bite of the cake. ‘Paris, darling, can you take your cake outside and play out there for a little while? Kim and I need to have some grown-up talk.’

  Paris frowned. ‘Why can’t I hear it?’

  ‘Because it’s adult conversation,’ Essie answered. ‘Go on with you now.’

  Paris stomped through the kitchen and down the hallway, before slamming the door on the way out.

  ‘Little miss,’ Essie muttered. ‘Anyone would think she was a teenager already.’

  ‘You’ve done a beautiful job in raising her, Essie. Her manners are impeccable and she loved helping out.’

  ‘Having a young one around when I’m on the wrong side of sixty—well, it’s been a bit of a struggle. But when life doesn’t give you any options, you do what you have to. I’d do anything for my family.’

  ‘Well, she adores you.’

  ‘It’s the teenage bit that worries me. I’m frightened I’m too old to raise her. I’ve already had a go at caring for a teenager and I didn’t do so well on that front. And these days? Well, what do I know about mobile phones and the internet? Not much. How am I supposed to guide he
r through that time?’

  ‘You’ve got a few years before you have to worry. I’m sure you’ll have all the support you need when the time comes.’ Kim gave a smile. ‘Where is Melissa now? Does she ever contact you?’

  ‘I haven’t heard from her since she discharged herself from the hospital.’ Tears glistened in her eyes again. ‘I keep hoping that I’ll hear from her one day. That I’ll pick up the phone and it will be her voice on the other end.’ She was silent for a few moments. ‘I pray for her every day. I’m sure if she had … died, I would have heard.’ Her voice trailed off, her pain hanging in the air. ‘Someone would have found me. Told me. Wouldn’t they?’

  The thought of having a child in the morgue, unclaimed, must haunt her daily, Kim thought. She took a sip of her tea as the silence lengthened.

  Finally, Essie looked up. ‘Kim, there’s something I need to get off my chest. Like I said, you’ve been so kind, it’s only fair you know the truth.’

  Kim’s heart started to race and she put down her cup. ‘I’d be happy to listen.’

  Essie followed suit and seemed to square her shoulders before she lifted her head and stared straight at Kim. ‘I had to—’

  The shrill sound of the phone made them both jump and Essie slumped down. ‘Darn it all.’

  ‘Leave it, if you like.’ Kim didn’t want the momentum broken.

  ‘Better answer the call, just in case. Hello?’

  Kim watched as Essie suddenly turned away from her and hunched her shoulders. Her heart ached for the woman who obviously lived in daily hope that every phone call would bring news of her daughter.

  ‘Yes, of course, I understand.’ She put the phone down, her hand shaking, but kept her back to Kim.

  Kim stood up and went to her. ‘What is it, Essie? What’s wrong?’

  Essie didn’t answer but went to the window. Kim stood behind her, looking out onto the empty street.

  Reaching out, Essie yanked the curtains closed and turned around, leaning against the bench, her hand covering her heart.

  ‘Essie?’

  She shook her head and went back to the table. Grasping Kim’s hand, she said, ‘I need to ask you to leave now, Kim. Please don’t ask any questions. I can’t talk to you. Just go.’ She walked to the front door and held it open for Kim.