Outback Blaze (40 page)

‘Oh yes.' Esther put a hand on Ruby's arm. It was cold and felt papery as if it belonged to a much older woman. ‘I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your horse.'

‘Thanks.' Ruby smiled. They hadn't exactly gotten close while they'd been decorating the old cottage – she doubted Esther had it in her to get close to anyone any more – but they'd chatted about bits and bobs, and Adam had been pleased with his mum's interaction.

‘We had horses before my daughter disappeared,' Esther said, out of the blue.

Ruby simply nodded, not wanting to say anything to stop Esther opening up. She'd never mentioned her little girl before.

Esther chuckled slightly. ‘She was horse mad, she was. Pestered us for a pony of her own since she could talk. Her father could never deny her anything and she got her love of horses from me so I was hardly going to say no. I remember the look on her face when we brought her pony home.'

‘There's nothing like your first pony.' Ruby smiled recalling her own or at least the one she'd fallen in love with at her aunt's place.

‘Oh, dear, look at the time.' As if breaking out of a trance, Esther shook her head, thrust the extra carrot at Roxie who took it gratefully and then turned to leave. ‘I'd best be off, but you leave her here as long as you like, dear.'

‘Thanks,' Ruby called after Esther as she hurried off in the direction of the farmhouse. If Ruby's heart had been heavy before, it felt like lead now, as if some of Esther's enduring heartbreak had transferred onto her. There was so much sadness in the world. It could take you over if you let it and Adam's mother was a prime example of this.

‘How about we go out for a ride?' She looked up and tried to smile at Roxie. If anything could make her feel better it was doing the thing she loved most in the world.

They cantered across Annadale, exploring the farm. Adam had given her permission to ride on as much as she liked while they were here. With each metre travelled Ruby felt some of the tension of the last few weeks easing. She doubted the pain of losing Riley would ever leave her and she was trying not to think about the heartbreak to come when Drew left, but this beautiful winter's day with nothing but the sounds and smells of nature around her couldn't help but work some magic. Only the knowledge she'd agreed to meet Faith and Simone started her on the journey back.

Heading past the cottage, she glanced over and frowned to see the front door ajar.
Did I leave it open yesterday?
Maybe, lost in discussions with Adam about relocating Roxie, she'd forgotten.

‘Easy girl.' Pulling back on the reins, she signalled Ruby to stop then climbed down and tethered her reins to one of the fence posts. ‘I'll be back in a sec.'

On the porch she was just drawing the door shut when another thought struck. Had she remembered to close all the windows? She'd have to go inside and check or that blasted cat would get in again and who knows what damage it would do before the next guests arrived.

The lounge room windows were shut, but as she headed down the hall towards the bedrooms she heard a clatter in the kitchen. Her heart stilled for a second but common sense told her the kitty had already taken advantage. Shaking her head, she pushed open the door to the kitchen, stepped inside and then stopped still, frowning at the sight before her. No sign of the cat but a few shopping bags full of food sat on the bench and on the table were two tiny bottles that looked like perfume samples or something.

Realising Adam must have secured a last minute booking, she thought she'd better make a quick retreat but just as she turned, the door slammed shut behind her and before she could make sense of anything, a body launched at her. She found herself pressed up against another person, their arm closing around her neck, and a knife was only inches from her face.
Holy hell!

Breathing became almost impossible as the grip on her neck grew stronger. Instinct had her clawing at the arm as she tried to save herself from strangulation.

‘Stop struggling,' ordered her captor.

Despite the edge of hysteria in the voice, Ruby recognised it.

‘Saskia?' The knowledge that her opponent was a woman and one she'd once known quite well calmed her only slightly.

‘What are you doing here?' she choked. ‘How did you get here? Where's your car?' Ruby couldn't believe the ridiculous questions coming out of her mouth. What she
should
be asking was why Saskia was holding that damn knife against her throat.

‘My car's in the shed but never mind that, what are
you
doing here?' Her voice ranged through the octaves like a rollercoaster, at times high pitched and then she almost growled.

Ruby tried in vain to swallow. ‘I…clean…here,' she managed, still tugging against Saskia's surprisingly firm grip. ‘Please. Let. Me. Go. I. Can. Hardly. Breathe.'

Saskia said nothing, but drew the knife closer to Ruby's face. Why had she never bothered to make the time to attend the self-defence classes at the local rec centre? Although Saskia was the same height, she had always worked out at the gym religiously and Ruby felt helpless against her strength.

Saskia finally answered her, ‘If I let you go, you're to go sit against the cupboard over there, okay? Don't think about doing anything stupid or I'll use this knife.'

It was only a cheap one, likely not very sharp at all. Ruby had helped Adam stock the cottage only a few months back, but something in Saskia's tone – hell, her totally off-the-planet behaviour – had Ruby agreeing. And she meant it. ‘Promise.'

Slowly Saskia released her grip. Ruby took in a massive gulp of air and before she had the chance to start across the room, Saskia shoved her towards the corner of the kitchen. ‘I said sit down!'

Ruby's hip rammed against the table with the other woman's surprising brute force and she yelped in pain.

‘Now!' Saskia shrieked.

Her mind whirling, Ruby did as she was told. Turning against the pantry cupboard, she slid to the floor and got her first real look at Saskia, who was only a metre or so away. The woman, who'd never had a hair out of place as long as Ruby had known her, looked dishevelled and off-kilter. Her green eyes had become dark and sinister. She glared at Ruby as she paced back and forth across the kitchen, the knife in her grip thrust out in front as if she could strike at any moment. Her blood-red nail polish stood out against the black of the knife handle. Ruby glanced around the small room looking for something that
she
could use as a weapon.

Thoughts whirled in her head. What was Saskia doing in Bunyip Bay? Could she be responsible for the fire? For Riley's death? For both?
Why
? She couldn't imagine a Vanderbrek ever intentionally harming a horse but then neither had she ever imagined Jonas hitting her or Saskia coming at her with a knife.

People had made mention in the past of Saskia being a little highly strung and Ruby knew she'd been hospitalised for mental issues in her late teens, but Ruby had never had any problems with her. And Saskia and Jonas weren't close at all so it was hard to imagine she was doing this for him. As long as Ruby had known Saskia she'd never ventured into the Western Australian countryside. Her jaunts consisted of shopping weekends in Melbourne or Singapore, trips with girlfriends to Bali where they'd say at five-star resorts, never leaving the constant supply of cocktails poolside.

‘Aren't you supposed to be in Europe?' The words were out before Ruby could think better of them.

Saskia halted, lifted the knife higher and glared at Ruby like a wild beast closing in on its prey. ‘Yes. And because of you, you,' she punctuated each ‘you' with a thrust of the knife, ‘I can't.'

That didn't make any sense, but Ruby decided it wouldn't be sensible to say so.

Saskia continued, ‘Mum and Dad spent all that money ensuring the tiff between you and Jonas was kept out of the media, paying hot-shot lawyers to get him a more lenient sentence and they have nothing left for me.'

Ruby couldn't see how the wealthy Vanderbreks could be struggling for cash but was smart enough not to mention this either.

Confirming her monetary suspicions, Saskia said, ‘I think they're scared that if they let me out of their sight I might do something to bring their good name to shame like you did and that's not fair. I can't afford to go by myself…'

Saskia continued rambling but keeping up with her erratic train of thought was akin to having whiplash. If Jonas's sister had saved even a fraction of the allowance her parents paid her, instead of wasting each pay packet on high fashion clothes, parties and expensive weekends away, then she'd have more than enough money left to pay her way to Europe. But all that was irrelevant now. Ruby needed to focus on getting away from unhinged Saskia.

She thought of her mobile phone tucked away in the pocket of her jacket; it was impossible to reach without Saskia noticing. Taking a deep breath, Ruby tried to work out if she could slide her hand inside her jacket and somehow feel her way through a text message, but just as she moved her hand, the damn phone started ringing.

‘Don't answer it!' Saskia lunged towards her, the knife swiping back and forth through the air, terrifyingly close to Ruby's face.

Ruby froze, barely able to nod or raise her hands in surrender. ‘I won't but I'm supposed to be meeting a friend in town now. After everything that's happened, if I don't turn up she'll get suspicious.'

‘Fuck!' Saskia looked around wildly, tore her free hand through her hair and then scratched it against the wall in frustration. The sound, which was worse than a blackboard squeal, made Ruby's flesh crawl but she dared not even grimace. ‘Give me your phone,' Saskia demanded, holding out her free hand.

Ruby reluctantly parted with it, her jaw clenched as she watched Saskia stare down at the message. Would she try and type something back? Hope lit up Ruby's heart at the possible opportunity to run, but it was short-lived.

Saskia hurled the phone back and Ruby caught it just before it slammed into the side of her face.

‘Tell her something's come up,' Saskia shouted, ‘that you won't be able to make it.'

With her hands shaking, Ruby took her time typing as she thought of what she could say to keep Saskia satisfied but raise Faith's alarm.
Sorry, can't make it. Went shopping with Adam's mum in Geraldton and am running late
. She gave the phone to Saskia to check and tried not to smile when her captor pressed send. Then switched off the phone.

‘Right. Now what to do with you,' Saskia sounded like she was thinking aloud. She leaned back against the table and Ruby saw her knuckles return to a normal colour, indicating she'd loosened her grip on the knife.

Ruby stayed on the floor, barely daring to breathe, all the while trying to concoct an escape plan. Failing to think of anything, she tried her chances. ‘Why don't you just let me go and I'll pretend this never happened? I promise won't tell a soul.'
Yeah right
.

Sadly, although deranged, Saskia hadn't completely lost all sense.

She laughed like the hyenas from
The Lion King
. The grip tightened once again on the knife and she pointed it angrily at Ruby. ‘Do you think I'm stupid?' She waved the knife about indicating the house. ‘It wasn't in my plans you coming here. Not yet. I needed to set things up, get ready. But you're here now and I can't just let you go, not after everything you've done.'

‘What about what
you've
done?' The words were out before Ruby could think better of them.

‘What the fuck do you mean?' Saskia looked at her as if this was a trick question.

‘The fire.' Ruby aimed for a nonchalant one-shoulder shrug. She'd once read that psychos liked to be complimented. ‘That was pretty impressive. Although if you really wanted to get back at me, why not just burn the house while I was in it?' She may have sounded brave but inside she quaked with fear.

Saskia laughed with her mad hysteria again. ‘What you did to Jonas didn't just affect him, it affected my whole family. Our livelihood.'

Ruby wanted to argue that Jonas had been the one to do something to her and that as far as she knew Vanderbrek Stud had come out relatively unscathed, but Saskia's accusations kept coming like gunshots so Ruby bit her tongue.

‘You needed to know what it felt like to have your family threatened. It didn't take much. I happened to stumble on an article online about those boys playing with fire and that gave me the idea. It was too easy. And watching your face that night…' She made a noise of pleasure. ‘That was fabulous. I planned on stopping at that but then you shacked up with the cop.' She spat this last word as if it was a curse. ‘That made me really mad. Why should your life be so good when mine was ruined?'

‘Ruined?' Ruby scoffed without thinking. ‘And good? You're insane. My parents' business is gone and they are in the frame. Yeah, my life is one big party.'

‘Shut up. You know nothing about what you're talking about. You don't know what my life is like. I needed that trip to Europe and you took it away.'

Saskia's eyes flashed with rage and Ruby's heart pounded uncontrollably. Sooner or later she'd have to try her luck at tackling this crazy woman, but she had to know one more thing. ‘Did you kill Riley too?'

Saskia froze. For one moment sadness flickered across her face but she blinked it away. ‘That hurt you, didn't it.' A sinister smile stretched across her face. ‘Roxie was next.'

‘No.' Ruby's voice shook at the thought of Roxie grazing by the front fence. ‘How could you do that?'

Saskia waved the knife in front of her face. ‘It was painless. Entirely humane. I probably did him a favour – he'll never grow old and die of some horrific disease.'

Ruby couldn't believe her ears – how could Saskia justify such actions? Bile simmered at the back of her throat making it a very real possibility that she was going to be sick. Trying to ignore the sensations in her stomach, she said, ‘What would you have done next?'