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  When Gemma rang Ned to say she wouldn't be at Billbinya for a day or so, Ned told her that he and Ben were following the police out to Kettles' farm. With her mind too full of other things, she didn't question him, but felt a twinge of apprehension without knowing why.

  Chapter 7

  On Wednesday morning, Ben walked into the Jones and Hawkins Stock Agents and Merchandise office ready for a full day with clients. Ned was sitting at his desk talking into the phone in an animated sort of way, Bert was leaning against the wall talking on his mobile, and the merchandise blokes were firing up the computers in readiness for the day. The office always hummed madly in the early morning. Ben made his way to the kitchen to make a coffee.

  'Ben!' Ned's voice vibrated through the office. 'Get in here!'

  Ben turned and hurried back. 'What's wrong?'

  'Jake Birch has had a heart attack and the Carters, Smiths and Kettles think they have all had stock stolen overnight – out of their own yards, if you don't mind – and are going to the police. The cops are going out to interview all of the surrounding neighbours today. All of those farmers are within about a thirty k radius of Billbinya, Gemma's in here at the hospital and there isn't going to be anyone on Jake's place. Reckon we should take a trip out there and see what's going on.'

  Ben abandoned all thoughts of coffee and headed towards the car. He had some thoughts on this stockstealing business.

  Ben came from a long line of farmers, but he'd recently leased his farm out for three years in order to embark on a new venture. He'd always loved farming, but his enthusiasm had waned – finding it could be incredibly lonely and time-consuming. He hadn't managed to see his friends, or go to a B & S ball or concert, for at least a year. The weekly trips to the pub and the unwanted attention from single girls in the small town he frequented hadn't lessened his thirst for company, so he'd decided he needed some time away. Ben had come to Ned through his own stock agent down south. Knowing the rural industry as he did, and understanding how farmers thought, had made him an invaluable addition to Ned's team.

  'Is Jake all right?' asked Ben as Ned sped towards the main road that led to Billbinya.

  'Yeah, sounds like he's going to be fine. It'll put some pressure on Gemma though with no one on Hayelle. But she said her brother is coming down from Queensland to give her a hand so that'll be some help.'

  'What does he do?'

  'Oh, something with horses – breaking in stock horses, maybe? Dunno. He's a nice enough bloke, but I haven't had a lot to do with him since he was a kid.'

  'Ned, why are we racing out to Billbinya just because the cops might be going out? Why are you so protective of Gemma?'

  'Did you think that Billbinya could have stock stolen too? No, I didn't think so,' Ned said as Ben shook his head. 'She's a good girl and a hard worker. If Jake and Sinny aren't around to protect her, then someone needs to and that someone will be me. I don't like the way those sheep numbers are up and there is something wrong with the contract for the steers. Gemma just doesn't own that number of cattle. Where are they going to come from? I want to talk to Bulla and Gaz before the cops get there too. I noticed some foreign earmarks and I just wanted to check if some sheep had got through the fence and they hadn't noticed. Maybe the neighbour had bought some sheep in from outta town. I know that Sinny never dealt with another stock agent but Bert and me, and I know that I didn't sell him those sheep otherwise I'd know the earmarks. I don't think they're from around here. But where are they from and how did they get here? See? Best to have a chat to the guys, see what they know and if Gemma needs me then I'm right there.'

  Ben listened in silence. It was the longest speech he'd ever heard Ned make and he was surprised by the note of hysteria in the older man's voice. Why was he so concerned? Earmarks were important – it was how farmers could tell their stock apart from their neighbours' – but it didn't seem out of the question that Gemma would have other earmarks on Billbinya; it was a big place and he was sure that they couldn't breed all their own ewes. They would have to buy some in, so it stood to reason there would be different earmarks. Besides, sheep had been known to jump fences or walk through gates that had been left open accidentally – they could have just wandered through from the next station. Well, he'd just listen to what everyone had to say and see if he could make some sense of what was going on.

  The shed on Billbinya was a hive of activity on Wednesday morning. Garry's feet could be seen sticking out from under a ute as he serviced it and Bulla was loading materials and tools into the tray of his ute in preparation for the day. Jack received his allocated jobs and climbed onto the farm motorbike. He was putting on his helmet when he asked: 'Where's Gemma? I heard the ute take off in the middle of the night.'

  'She's with her father who isn't well.' Bulla said shortly, reluctant to reveal that she might be away for a few days, then clattered down the drive in his old yellow ute, with Jack heading in the opposite direction to start a stock run.

  Later, Garry was headed towards Hayelle when he passed Jim Carter. His two-way crackled to life.

  'Gotta minute to have a yarn, Gaz?' Jim asked.

  'Sure, mate.' Garry slowed and did a U-turn. Parked by the side of the road, the two men leaned against the side of the Billbinya ute.

  'How's it going?' asked Jim.

  'Not too bad, mate. What's happening with you fellas?'

  'Well, we've got a bit of a problem. There's some sheep gone missing off our place.'

  'What?' Garry said in surprise. 'How many you missing?'

  'About three hundred wether lambs. I know that isn't much by your standards, but I need every one of them with the wool prices being so low at the moment.' Jim scratched his head in a worried fashion and rubbed his hands over his face. 'Trouble is, I don't think this is the first time. Reckon I've lost lambs before but not realised it until it's too late, but definitely not like this – this time whoever took them is being really brazen. These lambs were in the yards for crutching and the buggers just came and loaded them out of the bloody yards. Can't believe it. Got over to the shed this morning to make sure everything was all ready and there's no sheep!' Jim shook his head. 'There are truck tracks in and no sheep tracks anywhere, so it's not like they've got out of the shed and walked out of the front gate onto the road. It's blatant theft. Never come across anything like this in my life!'

  'Bloody hell,' said Garry, shocked. 'Have you called the cops?'

  'Yeah, they're on the way out. But that's not the worst of it, mate. Sam Smith and John Kettle have had some stolen too – the same as me, straight out of the yards. They had theirs in for crutching too.'

  'You're kidding me? Who would know that all you fellas are crutching on the same day? It's not like that would happen often.'

  'I just don't know, Gaz. Look, if you hear anything let me know, all right? I'd better keep going and pick up Sam and John. The cops are going to meet us at our farm and then we're all going to drive around together and see what we can find.'

  'I s'pose you tried to follow the truck tracks?'

  'Yeah, we did,' said Jim. 'But it's all single lane bitumen roads from here back to the main drag, and you can see the tracks heading out the drive until they hit the bitumen but you lose them after that.'

  'Well, if we can do anything, you let us know,' said Garry. 'You know Gem was out late last night, she had to go to town unexpectedly – she may have seen something. I'll ask when I catch up with her next.'

  'Yeah, that'd be good. Thanks, mate.' Jim thumped Garry on the back and walked back to his ute.

  Garry drove on to Hayelle to check the stock. But really what he wanted to do was go back to Billbinya and talk to Bulla.

  * * *

  Bulla was checking the boundary fence when he saw from a distance a mob of sheep walking around a paddock. They looked like they had just been put there and they were checking out where the water was, and looking for the best tucker.

  Strange, he thought. There shouldn't be anything in that pad
dock. He turned the ute around and headed back to the gate that was just off the one-lane bitumen road. As he pulled off the road he could see there were truck tracks leading to the gate and that the gate's padlock had been opened and left unlocked. Any gates that weren't used regularly or that were a long way from houses or the coming and going of people were padlocked for security. Billbinya was such large acreage and had a lot of road frontage; when Adam's parents had owned the land they were forever finding people camping on it or stomping through the bush looking for dams to throw their yabby nets into.

  As he drove into the paddock he could see that the sheep were young wethers and they were not Billbinya's.

  Bulla was waiting at the shed when Garry returned. The latter jumped out of the ute and asked immediately, 'Have you heard about the missing sheep?'

  'What missing sheep?' asked Bulla.

  'Jim Carter, Sam Smith and John Kettle have all had wether lambs stolen out of their yards. They had them in for crutching and someone has brought in a truck and just taken them out of their yards! Can you believe it?'

  Bulla raised his eyebrows and rubbed his chin. 'Well, that's a bit interesting,' he said slowly. 'Reckon someone has dumped about a thousand wether lambs in our paddock – Reimer's paddock to be precise.'

  Garry looked shocked. 'What the hell is this?' he asked in horror.

  'Who knows?' Bulla said as he handed Garry Ned's card to indicate that he had called in early in the day but had not caught either man. 'Maybe Ned knows something.'

  They heard the revving of a motorbike and knew Jack was close by. 'Don't say anything, I'll fix this,' said Bulla.

  'All okay?' asked Bulla as Jack got off the bike.

  'Actually it's not,' said Jack, pulling off his helmet and running his fingers through his hair. 'I was over on the north side and the cattle have busted a couple of fences so I'll need to get back and fix that this afternoon. I'll need to borrow a ute to carry the fencing gear though. Plus there are two mobs of calving cows that have got boxed in together. Not sure what you want to do about that – it might be a bit hard to get all the calves back with their right mums.' He took out the little green notebook that fitted snugly into his pocket to read out the rest of his notes from the stock run.

  'The cement tank in Middleton's paddock has cracked and is leaking pretty bad and the windmill on that dam needs fixing. Compensator buckets look shot. There's a cow stuck in the middle of Mackay's dam – probably going to need the tractor to pull her out. And just for a bit more fun, the rams have got out into the Woolfords' place. Looks like a dog or roo or something has pushed them through the fence.'

  'Blast it all,' said Bulla. 'Yeah, all right, Jack, get some lunch and head back out. Take Garry's ute and all the gear you need for the fence. See if you can bring those rams back too. Gaz, you might need to take the tractor and deal with the cow, and I have some things in my ute that I can use to pull the windmill. I bet the tank's going to need relining so it won't leak. Have to organise for someone to come and do it.'

  As Jack headed towards the house for lunch, he overheard Bulla say, 'I was hoping to get those wether lambs into the yards and then call Jim Carter, but guess we'd better fix these problems first. I'll give the police a call when we get home tonight, and see what they want us to do.'

  Jack smirked. His boss's plan had worked.

  The work that Jack had created would keep the men on Billbinya so busy for the rest of the day they'd have no time to work out what to do with those wether lambs – and by tomorrow morning, there wouldn't be a wether lamb in sight.

  Chapter 8

  The workshop and sheds were quiet when Gemma pulled up at the homestead around 2 pm and there didn't seem to be anyone around. She really hadn't been gone all that long but she felt grimy and tired and longed for a shower and to curl up in her own bed. The doctor had said that Jake wouldn't be able to work for some time and he'd be in the city for at least a month. She definitely needed sleep before facing the ramifications of that . . .

  BANG, BANG, BANG! Gemma looked at her bedside clock. It was nearly four. She climbed out of bed and went to the door, squinting with bleary eyes at the police officers standing there.

  'Hello?' said Gemma, puzzled. Then as her brain started to work, she said in a panic, 'It's not Dad, is it?'

  'Mrs Sinclair?' asked one of the men.

  'Yes, what is it, what's wrong?'

  'I'm Geoff Hay and this is Ian Paver. We're from the police station in Port Pirie. Could we come in? We need to ask you some questions regarding some stolen sheep.'

  'Oh, okay.' Gemma opened the door wider. 'Please, come in. My dad had a heart attack yesterday and I've only just got home from the hospital. I thought something must have happened to him,' she explained as she led the way through to the kitchen. 'Take a seat. I'll be back in a sec to put the kettle on.'

  Taking refuge in the bathroom, Gemma splashed her face with icy water and tried to get her head together. Being woken up from a deep sleep, by two policemen wanting to talk about stolen sheep, was a bit overwhelming. Tears welled in her eyes but she impatiently blinked them away and returned to the kitchen.

  'What can I get you both to drink?' she asked, filling the kettle.

  'Coffee, thanks – white, no sugar,' said the officer who seemed to be in charge. Tall and slim, in his late forties, he had a stern look on his face, but his brown eyes seemed friendly.

  'Tea, black, thanks,' said the other one, who looked remarkably similar to the first but about five years younger. It must be the uniform, Gemma decided.

  Gemma busied herself getting the drinks and then sat at the table. 'How can I help?'

  Geoff Hay spoke again. 'The police department had a phone call this morning from one of your neighbours, Jim Carter. It seems he's had about three hundred wether lambs stolen. He had them yarded ready for crutching and someone allegedly brought in a truck in the middle of the night and took them straight out of his yards. Same thing happened to Sam Smith and John Kettle.'

  'You're joking? Who did it? Have you found the stock?' Gemma was horrified.

  'Hello? Anyone home?' called a voice at the front door.

  'Ned,' called Gemma with relief. 'In the kitchen.'

  Ned and Ben walked through into the kitchen. 'G'day again,' said Ned to the two policemen. Ben nodded and leaned against the doorframe.

  'G'day,' said Geoff. 'I'm afraid we've caught Mrs Sinclair on the hop a bit. Woke her up and now we're just explaining what has happened.'

  'Ned, you knew about this?' asked Gemma incredulously. 'How come you didn't ring?'

  'Come on, Gemma. As if I'd worry you about something like this while you were at the hospital with Jake. We only heard about it early this morning. Ben and I got out here as quick as we could to see if we could help. We've sort of been following them around from farm to farm. We went to Hayelle after not finding anyone here first thing, but no one was around either. Thought we might have caught Garry or Bulla doing a stock check and feeding the dogs.'

  Gemma was back at the bench making more coffee. She sat the cups in front of Ned and Ben and motioned for them both to sit down.

  'Okay,' Gemma said to the police officers when she resumed her seat. 'What did you need to ask me?'

  'What time did you leave to go into Pirie?' asked Geoff.

  'I think it was about twelve thirty or so. I remember looking at the clock when Mum rang and that was twenty past twelve, I think. I basically just ran out the door.'

  'Did you see a truck or anything suspicious when you were driving to Pirie?'

  'I was lucky to see the road! I was just hellbent on getting to the hospital to see Dad.'

  'Have you ever heard anyone talking about having stock – sheep or cattle – stolen?'

  'I haven't heard any rumours, but I haven't really gone anywhere since Adam died. I avoid town if I can and I usually just ask Ned to bring what I need from town or get things sent out on the mail run.'

  'Why don't you go to town much?' the young
officer asked curiously.

  Gemma looked at Ian, who had stopped writing notes. 'People stare and talk about me,' she said frankly. 'They don't think I should be running this property. They think I should've sold when Adam was killed.' Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ned wince. She knew he'd tried to protect her from all these things, as had her family, but she wasn't blind or deaf.

  'Do you think you've ever had any animals stolen from your property?'

  'Well, I don't think so. Adam used to keep all the records and I never really had anything to do with the office until he died. But I know he'd have said something to me if he thought that we'd had stock stolen.'

  'Yeah,' Ned agreed. 'He wasn't the type to take something like that lying down.'