Temporary Intrigue (25 page)

Josh rubbed the back of his neck.

“You mentioned an insurance policy.”

“So?”

“And would he get the house too if anything happened to you?”

“He’s my beneficiary.” Dimity was now looking more bewildered than angry. “But even the house and the policy together hardly make up a fortune. Do you seriously think he’s rampaging around in a car trying to kill me for that?”

“I don’t know.” Josh raised his shoulders in a shrug of frustration. “People do weird things for small amounts of money. I don’t know Shane the way you do. All I see is the evidence, as you call it, suggesting there’s a threat to someone I– ”

He stopped.

They looked at each other, ignoring Bert snuffling around their feet. Then Dimity shook her head.

“I want to go home. Please go away.”

All the fight seemed to have drained out of her. She walked slowly towards her front gate leading Bert, also subdued by his energetic evening.

Josh started to follow, then stopped.

“I’ll pick you up in the morning.”

“No.” She spoke without turning. “I don’t want you to.”

“I’ll be here.”

He spent most of the night pacing around his suite, angry and upset once again about the way they had parted.

It was becoming a bad habit. And yet, as far as he could see, he’d had no choice.

He didn’t want to believe his suspicion about Shane any more than she did. It beggared belief to think he would do such things.

But if he had . . .

Roaming out onto the balcony, Josh thought of the scar on Dimity’s arm and felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night breeze. While he believed his reasoning that she was safest when she was at home, he would feel better when he could be with her.

The first rays of light appeared in the east. He watched them creeping across the water, willing them to hurry. He was going to be at her home early whether she liked it or not, and he’d straighten this thing out with her if it took all day.

The resolution, however, proved easier said than done. When he arrived he found another car parked behind Shane’s in the driveway and saw Dimity and Sandra loading it with equipment for the workshop.

Both turned hostile faces towards him.

“Didn’t you get my text?” were Dimity’s first words. “Sandy’s taking me.” From the look of her, she hadn’t slept much either. The dark shadows under her eyes reminded him of the shiners she’d been sporting when they first met.

“My phone’s been turned off.”
In anticipation,
he felt like adding.

“I’ll get that last box,” Dimity said to Sandra before heading for the house.

Sandra folded her arms and stared balefully at Josh.

“No need for you to wait,” she told him.

“You’ve heard?”

“How could you suggest that about her own brother? Shane mightn’t be perfect, but that was absolutely rotten!”

“Probably actionable,” said Dimity, returning with a carton.

“Probably,” agreed Josh. “Look, if we have to deal with this in the driveway, I accept I hardly know Shane, but I have to look after your interests first. Any slight possibility–”

Dimity shoved the carton onto the back seat and faced him.

“Why do you have to look after my interests? I’m quite capable of doing that for myself.”

“And she has
friends
to help her,” chipped in Sandra.

Josh raised his hands, palms towards them.

“Okay, okay, I can see I'm persona non grata around here right now–”

“I have to admire your perception,” snapped Dimity. She sat in the front passenger seat and slammed the door with such force that Josh winced, expecting it to bounce open again.

“Look,” he said hastily to Sandra, “I know she doesn’t want me around right now, but I’m worried about her. Don’t let her go driving on her own or walking the dog tonight. I’ll give her a chance to cool down, then talk to her at work tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t count on her being too chatty,” warned Sandra, but she looked slightly less belligerent.

“I’ll take the risk,” Josh said grimly.

****

As the car approached the community centre, Dimity wiped away angry tears.

“I’m beginning to wonder if he’s jealous of Shane and wants him out of the way,” she said.

Sandra looked dubious.

“It would be a pretty drastic way to do it.”

“He even picked up on the stunt driving. And the mechanics course. Next thing he’ll remember Shane’s a chef and accuse him of poisoning the soup.” Dimity scrabbled in her handbag for another tissue. “He said he had a
couple
of things to talk to me about. If that was the first, I hate to think what the second was.”

“The mind boggles,” agreed Sandra.

Most of the children from yesterday’s class were already waiting with their parents when Dimity arrived. Glad of the diversion, she launched into the day’s activities, even managing to forget about Josh occasionally.

It was impossible not to think of him, however, when she looked out the window while preparing the children’s morning tea. She found herself half expecting to see him in the yard, half hoping to hear his voice behind her.

Frustrated with her thoughts, she switched on the jug. Not for the first time where Josh was concerned, she felt torn in two.

She was appalled to think he could suspect Shane of such a thing, furious about the seeds of doubt he had now sown in her own mind.

But while the anger swirled on the surface, underneath, unchanging, rock steady, was a conviction. No, a knowledge.

Knowledge that she and Josh were right for each other.

It was impossible. Looking blindly out into the yard, where the same renegade group of boys had organised another impromptu cricket game, Dimity wished herself back to that uncomplicated time, seemingly a hundred years ago, before she had walked into the hotel in that dreadful pink suit, before she had known Josh Williams even existed.

But that was impossible too.

For better or for worse he was in her life, and she couldn’t wish him out of it.

She was actually glad when a squabble between two of the children threatened to develop into fisticuffs, requiring her intervention.

Sandra arrived at four o’clock, took her home and stayed for dinner, a quiet meal because Shane and Leigh were having a rare evening out together. For most of the time they confined their talk to neutral topics, including Sandra’s planned departure on Tuesday afternoon for a three-day hairdressing convention in Brisbane.

“If things get too bad, toss in the job and come with me,” suggested Sandra. “The hotel room’s paid for, the air fare’s cheap and I’d enjoy the company.”

Dimity nearly succumbed on the spot, but restrained herself. Maybe her general standards as a temp left something to be desired, but it would take an ultra-drastic event to make her walk out on a job before her time was up.

“Have you told Shane what Josh said?” asked Sandra when they were clearing the table. It was the first time Josh’s name had been mentioned since they arrived home.

Dimity shook her head.

“How could I? Can you imagine?”

Those imaginings kept her awake most of the night.

Not Shane, she kept thinking. Not her little brother.

Not anyone.

Was she going mad, contemplating the possibility that someone might be trying to hurt her, even kill her?

There were so many questions without answers. And over and above them all was the tormented memory of her rift with Josh, the awareness that things were no longer the same between them.

And maybe never would be.

She finally fell asleep shortly before dawn, but slept for only a couple of hours. When she awoke she knew she couldn’t go to work. Gail would doubtless demand her instant dismissal, the recruitment agency would probably never deal with her again and Josh would know she was avoiding him, but she didn’t care.

After a shower she put on comfortable clothes and, feeling cowardly but unable to deal with the voicemail of either Gail or Josh, left a message on Amanda’s phone. She made coffee, put a note on the kitchen table telling Shane and Leigh not to disturb her, turned off her phone, took the coffee through to the studio and closed the door.

Immediately a blessed sense of peace enfolded her.

Shutting off all thoughts of the world outside the studio door, she set to work to paint herself back to sanity.

****

Josh spent the day on automatic pilot. Somehow he functioned during the official opening of the convention and the various sessions he attended, but the weekend scenes with Dimity played constantly through his mind like a movie he was unable to switch off.

He was unsurprised, when he checked in at the office, to hear she had taken the day off. Several times between sessions he started to dial her mobile number, but each time he stopped. He needed to think about how to approach this. If he got it wrong – again – she would hang up on him.

Returning to the office after 5pm he prowled restlessly through the outer section, missing the sight of her blonde head bent over the keyboard, wanting to see the mischievous half-smile as she looked up at him, the quick, intimate glance that had been his reassurance he meant something special to her.

A reassurance now replaced by this aching emptiness.

An emptiness he wasn’t going to put up with, damn it.

Apart from the personal sense of loss, there was still that strong, underlying anxiety at the thought she could be in danger. In the light of day his suspicion seemed as improbable as she had claimed, but he would be on edge until he heard the result of the car inspection.

He made himself wait until 5.30pm, then rang her mobile. It was off. After half an hour he rang again, with the same result.

Gritting his teeth, he dialled her home number. If Shane or Leigh answered, and if Dimity had told them about his suspicions, he could expect a hostile reception.

Leigh answered. Apart from sounding as ill-tempered as usual, she gave no indication of having heard that Josh suspected her boyfriend of homicidal tendencies. With some difficulty he extracted information. Yes, Dimity had been at home all day, but was now at Sandra’s place. As far as Leigh knew, Dimity and Sandra were going out for dinner.
Yes
, she thought Dimity would be home later.

He continued to try Dimity’s phone at intervals until he’d had enough. It was clear she didn’t want to speak to anyone, or at least not to him. He’d go for a walk, then give it one more try. If that didn’t succeed, he’d leave it until the morning.

On his way out through the foyer he passed a group of young people heading to the restaurant after pre-dinner drinks at the bar.

“Mr Williams.” One of the men stopped. Josh took a few seconds to recognise Dave, the young garage mechanic, spruced up in a suit and with an attractive redhead in tow.