Sharp Turn (28 page)
‘I was worried. You took some serious risks to help me, Tara. I won’t forget that.’
‘To help both of us,’ I corrected.
‘When my investigator called and said you’d been taken, I . . .’
I waited. Would he be able to say it? Would I be able to hear it? Neither of us was very good with the deeper emotions.
Turned out he couldn’t. But he pulled me back into his arms and stroked my hair. ‘You’re giving me grey hairs, you know.’
‘Me too,’ I said in muffled tones.
I felt his chest move as he took a deep breath, then he kissed the top of my head. ‘I have to go and pick Antonia up from the airport.’
I froze. ‘Oh? Is she back from Brisbane?’
‘Yeah. She sounds great. Maybe this will be it. Lord knows, I could do with some good news.’
Couldn’t we all.
I sat on the couch for a very long while after he left, wondering why I hadn’t been able to tell him that I’d seen Antonia at the Gallery with Viaspa. Maybe for the same reason he hadn’t been able to tell me how much he cared what happened to me.
Neither of us wanted to change our lives.
My phone beeped a message and I flicked it open. It was from Lena Vine, telling me that the police had taken Kate and Leonard Roc away for questioning. I hoped that meant Johnny Viaspa would be on the police’s radar as well. But knowing my luck, he’d used an untraceable phone.
Another beep. This one was from Ed:
Let’s get
together soon and talk.
My spirits lifted. I took that as a good sign. Now I just had to work out what I wanted from him. Then Wal and Cass clattered in the door together.
‘Martin’s coming too,’ said Cass, smiling.
‘Wonderful!’ I cried.
Bok walked in a second later carrying an esky from which he produced two bottles of Roederer champagne, an ice-cream cake and beautiful black Miu Miu handbag.
I cried a little bit and hugged him.
‘I just saw your mum in the driveway. She said you missed a dinner engagement.’
‘Crap.’ I would pay for that in untold ways.
Bok gave me a sympathetic back slap. ‘Cass, we need glasses and spoons.’
We sat on the floor around the coffee table, eating the cake and sipping our way through the first bottle of champers. Cass begged off the champagne saying it tasted like petrol, which relieved me. She went to the fridge and got a Coke.
‘I just heard the news on the car radio,’ said Bok as he poured another round. ‘The police arrested a guy called Finn Fiegal who goes under the name of Josh Hamilton for the suspected murders of Sam Barbaro and Audrey Ponting. They found him tied up in a townhouse in Scarborough. Apparently he’s wanted for all kinds of other things too.’
‘I heard. The cops have just been here,’ I said.
Bok raised an eyebrow. ‘Problem?’
I shook my head. ‘No. Everything’s shiny.’
And it was, really. For the moment.
M
ANY THANKS TO
L
OUISE
Thurtell and Nicola O’Shea for an extra helping hand on this one. Also to Prof. Michael V. Henderson for specialist answers and the memories of Wanneroo back in the day.