Darkening Skies Part 5

Mark folded his arms, unsurprised by the scene they'd just witnessed. 'Yes. Kris and Gil fell for each other pretty hard when he first came back to Dungirri, a few months ago.'

'But wasn't he caught up in the mafia?'

'Not through choice,' Mark said. 'And we've had our own tangled web of organised crime around here for a long time, Jenn. Gil might have walked a fine line sometimes through necessity, but it seems he stayed on the right side of the law.'

Unlike Sean, who'd fallen for the promises and the money and the power of corruption and committed acts she couldn't reconcile with the boy she'd known.

Maybe there was more to Gil Gillespie than she'd thought.

'Who's the girl?'

'Long story. The short version is, Barbara had a daughter, adopted out as a baby. Barb died of cancer a few years back, the adoptive parents died, and Megan is here with her grandparents.'

'And Gillespie?'

'Is her father,' he said calmly.

Jenn stared at him, searching for signs that he was joking. Gil Gillespie and the cop was hard enough to figure, but Gil and Barbara Russell ...

'How the h.e.l.l did that happen?'

For the first time since she'd been back, she saw a flicker of his old grin. 'The usual way, I presume,' he said. 'It seems Barb didn't share her father's prejudices. Two decent, lonely teenagers can find a lot in common, given the opportunity.'

A hazy memory re-emerged: a summer night, teenagers gathered at the swimming hole on Dungirri Creek for an impromptu party, and Barbara joining the crowd, a little upset, a little defiant, a little nervous. Someone said she'd argued with her father and walked out. She'd been just as much an outsider as Gillespie, and no-one quite knew how to treat her. Except, perhaps, Gillespie, who lived and worked cutting timber with his violent father a few kilometres from town, and rarely had the chance to mix with his peers.

Two lonely teenagers, something in common, and the opportunity ... she remembered seeing them talking, sitting together on a log at the edge of the crowd. One night, one party a it had to have been then, because Gillespie was arrested the next night a and now there was a teenage girl.

Oh, there but for the grace of a functioning condom ... She felt her cheeks suddenly heating. d.a.m.n it. Why the h.e.l.l was she blus.h.i.+ng over something so long ago, so natural and normal for the teenagers they'd been?

She slid a glance at Mark, but he watched the couple across the road, deep in his own thoughts, oblivious to the memories fresh in hers.

That long-ago afternoon, just after his eighteenth birthday, in the old shearers' quarters, the sweet, shy, gentle loving between them, and the heart-tearing sorrow that followed it when she told him she was determined to leave Dungirri soon ...

He didn't remember anything about that week. None of it. That bittersweet afternoon was gone, wiped from his mind along with the memories of the accident and Paula's death.

Two decent, single adults could find a lot in common, too. Not only s.e.x. And in the case of Kris and Gil, Mark could see the strengthening of the deep physical and emotional attraction he'd witnessed develop between them during Gil's return to Dungirri back in September. Respect, friends.h.i.+p, intimacy, commitment, love a it was all there, in a lively match of temperament and personalities, of values and ideals. No wonder Gil had voluntarily left witness protection to return to town again last week.

All the more reason Mark needed to stand his ground and see Gil's name completely cleared. He owed it to Gil, and he owed it to Kris, one of his closest friends, to do what he could to enable their relations.h.i.+p to flourish.

He and Kris had never been lovers a never wanted to be lovers, either of them a but their friends.h.i.+p had sustained them through some of Dungirri's darkest times, since she had arrived in the district five years ago. He trusted her completely: as a police officer, as a community leader, as a friend. In the twenty or so minutes since she'd arrived on the scene at the Russells', she'd spoken sympathetically with Esther, handed her to the care of Beth and Karl from the SES, instructed her constable, Adam, and made calls and given orders. Other than conveying the basics of the situation, Mark hadn't talked with her. Some time he'd undoubtedly get a good-hearted blasting from her for making his public announcement without warning her first, but for now all her concern a and his a focused on the murder of the doctor and its implications.

Gil rode off, and Kris strode across the road to them, a frown narrowing her eyes. A frown directed at Jenn.

Mark made the introductions, although it was clear that Kris had already figured Jenn's ident.i.ty.

'The police will release a media statement later this morning, Ms Barrett. Until then there will be no comment.'

Jenn matched every ounce of Kris's professional firmness. 'Sergeant, you needn't worry. I'm in Dungirri for personal reasons, and I'm just as invested in discovering the truth in this matter as you are. It's family business, not work, and I'm not at all interested in rus.h.i.+ng to be first on the morning news with no more than a headline about a suspicious death.' She gave Kris a restrained but genuine smile, one capable professional woman to another, and then turned to Mark. 'When you're finished here, can you let me know? I'll need to get my car from your place.'

Of course she'd want her car. He mentally juggled timeframes and tasks. 'I'll have to wait for Steve Fraser, so I'll probably be here at least an hour yet, maybe longer. Then I still have to go out to Jim's place.'

'To feed the dogs?' She had never been one to stand around idle, so it didn't surprise him when she offered: 'I could do that, if you can lend me your car. I can probably still tell one end of a dog from the other.'

One problem solved. In the building heat of the morning, the likelihood of the dogs being out of water had become a major concern. Even if they refused to take food from a stranger, they'd at least have access to fresh water. She'd been around the station dogs enough in their youth, and Jim trained his working dogs well, so Mark didn't worry about how she'd handle them.

Mark pa.s.sed the keys to his ute over to her without hesitation. 'Thanks, Jenn. The dog run is around the back and the feed's in a bin in the machinery shed.'

'I'll find it,' she said. 'I'll be back soon. a.s.suming they don't eat me.'

With a flash of her old, wry grin, she took the keys and headed over to his ute, practical and focused, and for a moment it was Jenn the teenage girl he saw, not the television journalist, and the summer heat on the breeze and the scent of dry gra.s.s brought a hundred memories of working together at Marrayin tumbling back.

As the ute did a U-turn and took the corner into Gearys Road, Kris shook her head. 'I'd heard she was Jim's niece, but I still can't quite get my brain around seeing Jennifer Barrett here in Dungirri. She lived here for a while, didn't she?'

'Yes,' Mark replied. 'At Marrayin for some years when Mick worked for my father, and then in town.'

'Does she know anything more? About what happened?'

'I don't think so. She was only seventeen at the time, Kris, and she and Paula were close. I left messages for her the other night, before the media conference. Like everyone else, she believed Gil was responsible for the accident.'

'Yeah.' Kris blew out a long breath, and leant against a tree. 'I heard about your resignation on the radio while I was driving to a suicide at Jerran Creek. I couldn't call Gil right then to find out what the h.e.l.l was going on, but when he got back from Sydney last night I extracted the details about the conversation you two had last week.'

Extracted. He'd have felt some sympathy for Gil if he didn't know that the man was more than capable of meeting Kris's a.s.sertiveness head-on and deflecting it.

But he needed to set matters straight. 'I'm sorry, Kris. I knew it would be a shock to you, but it seemed the best way to handle it.' He made an attempt at a grin, but it probably looked more like a grimace. 'I've challenged the government a both parties a often enough about honesty and accountability. I don't plan on being a hypocrite.'

'You've never been that.'

A simple statement, from a woman who didn't bulls.h.i.+t, and for a moment grat.i.tude clogged his throat.

Her phone beeped and she glanced at the message, then tucked it back in her pocket. 'I can understand why Gil kept quiet, all these years,' she said. 'I don't necessarily approve, but I can understand his take on it a that to speak out would do more harm than good. Especially since you don't remember it, and few would trust his word over yours.'

Privilege. She spoke no more than the truth, but he hated how the world worked, how he'd benefited from an accident of birth when others a when Gil a had struggled against prejudice and injustice every step of the way. Mark had recovered from his injuries, gone on to university, made a life and a career for himself, while Gil had gone to prison, just a youth, alone and friendless in a violent environment. It shouldn't have happened that way, and it made a mockery out of the principles he'd tried to live his life by.

'The investigation was corrupt, Kris.' He couldn't keep the anger from his tone. 'Those involved in framing him have to answer for it a for threatening an eighteen-year-old youth and sending him to prison for something he didn't do.'

She nodded in agreement, and her gaze settled on the doctor's body, just visible in the driveway. 'Was he one of them, Mark?'

'I don't know.' And that was the honest truth. 'To all appearances he was an ethical man. A defender of moral decency.' He had a folder filled with letters from Doctor Russell in his office, demanding parliamentary action on a wide range of issues.

'But he certified a blood-alcohol sample as Gil's when it wasn't.'

'Yes.' Mark could see no grey between the black and white in this case, no greater good to be served that could defend the magnitude of the lie, and he couldn't fathom the doctor's reasons.

But he had done it, certified the form when Gil was sixty kilometres away a and the only other patient who Mark knew with certainty was at the hospital at the time was him. If the well-over-the-limit blood sample proved to be his, then criminal responsibility for Paula's death lay squarely with him.

Driving down Gearys Road suited Jenn's restless mood better than waiting around, either outside the Russells' or back at the pub.

At Gearys Flat, a couple of kilometres from Dungirri, the 1930s homestead Jim had lived in was as well kept as Marrayin, except that instead of terraced gardens there was mown gra.s.s and a st.u.r.dy wooden swing set and a treehouse not unlike the one Jim had built for his boys when they were small.

Jenn had helped out mustering here a few times long before Jim became the manager, so she knew the place a little. The driveway, homestead, garage and a.s.sorted sheds to the rear of the house were all standard rural layout. As she drove around the back and parked near the large machinery shed, three border collies rushed at the fence of the dog run, barking.

Despite volunteering to do this, it had been a long time since she'd had anything to do with dogs, and somehow she had to get these ones to trust her. She walked slowly over to the fence, talking to them in an even voice, letting them watch her and take her measure while she took theirs. Three females of a.s.sorted ages. One grizzled around the jaw and thicker in the middle, but still the dominant dog. One quieter, holding back, wary. The third a half-grown puppy, all legs and bounce and excited barks.

The oldest and the youngest sniffed her hand through the wire and she spent a few more moments talking to them, light and easy, encouraging the timid one closer. Undoubtedly not the way Jim had talked to them, although he had always been a bit soft when it came to his dogs. Working dogs, yes, but mates, too. Unlike Mick, who'd treated his dogs more as barely tolerated slaves.

'How about I get you some food and water, hey? You hungry? Want some munchies?'

Three dog dishes stacked on top made locating the feed bin in the shed easy, and next to it sat a full sack of food with feeding guidelines on it. Not that she had any clue how much each dog weighed, but it gave her a rough idea. As she wasn't sure when they'd last been fed, or when Mark would be out again to collect them, she added extra. It surely wouldn't hurt.

She found a metal bucket upended on a post near the tank stand and filled it with water, the precious liquid noisy as it bubbled into the bucket. Just as well she'd come: the bowls in the run were empty, and the temperature was climbing. They were dependent on her, those innocent, trusting dogs. Not the kind of dependence she sought a her lifestyle was way too erratic to ever consider that kind of commitment a but today she could do this task for Jim, and take one weight from Mark's shoulders.

With feed bowls stacked in one hand and the water bucket in the other, she approached the gate to the run, the dogs running backwards and forwards along the fence. She had a vague memory of Jim feeding his dogs once a they would have been different ones, long-gone now a and giving them a command to sit and stay before allowing them to eat. With her hand on the gate latch, she tried telling them to sit, and with a second, firmer command, they did.

She felt as ridiculously pleased with herself as the puppy looked.

The puppy wasn't so good at the 'stay' part, jumping around her, but she managed to get the bowls down on the ground without spilling the dry food, and all three dogs began to wolf down their meals when she told them to eat. Innocent, trusting, and oblivious to death and murder. They would miss Jim when he didn't come home. The two older dogs looked up frequently, both keeping an eye on her, and looking for their pack leader.

She opened the gate into the larger, gra.s.sy part of the enclosure and spent a few minutes tossing well-chewed b.a.l.l.s and a piece of knotted rope for the younger two dogs while the older one sat beside her, permitting a back scratch. She envied them the simplicity a eat, play, work, sleep. Not to mention free, no-obligation back rubs.

The dog suddenly tensed under her hand, and the other two stopped tugging at the rope, all ears turned towards the house.

She heard a car door slam. A neighbour? A visitor? Maybe Paul's wife, Chloe. Jenn rounded the dogs back into the smaller enclosure and latched the gate securely. As she headed towards the house, she saw someone in the kitchen. Definitely not Chloe.

s.h.i.+t.

She reached for her phone, well aware she stood, fully visible, in the open yard.

The man crossed the kitchen in front of the window. Her Uncle Mick. Bitter and self-absorbed, he'd managed some affection for his daughter but never for Jenn. She'd avoided him as much as possible even when they lived in the same house, but now she had to confront him.

s.h.i.+t. s.h.i.+t. s.h.i.+t.

She dropped her phone back into her pocket. Mick might well have reason to be at his brother's home. For all she knew, he might live here a although probably not, since Mark hadn't mentioned it.

She walked around to the front of the house, and found the door open, the lock jemmied with a crowbar. In the kitchen, he had half-filled a cooler with meat and other food from the fridge and was rummaging in the pantry cupboard, leaving discarded tins and packages strewn over the floor.

For all that he was a broken old man, her anger boiled over. 'For G.o.d's sake, Mick, he's been dead for less than twelve hours and you're here stealing his food?'

He barely glanced at her, but she saw recognition and contempt register in his bloodshot eyes. 'He doesn't f.u.c.kin' need it now, does he?'

His callousness about his own brother stunned her, and for a moment words failed her.

He yanked open another cupboard, and muttered, 'Yes.' Bottles a wine, spirits, a six-pack of beer, went into his cooler. He opened a bottle of Scotch with an inch or so in the bottom and took a swig.

She followed when he wandered out into the dining room, bottle in hand. Jim must have been in the midst of doing some accounts, for there were papers on the table, a chequebook and a laptop.

Mick unplugged the laptop and tucked it under his arm.

Food was one thing a he'd been right, Jim didn't need it now a but valuables were another thing entirely.

'Leave it, Mick,' she warned. 'That's for Paul to deal with it.'

'Get out of my way.'

'No.'

The smell of alcohol a.s.saulted her nose as he approached but she stood her ground, one hand reaching for her phone, the other held out towards Mick. Her heartbeat thudded but she didn't let him see her rising anxiety. 'Take the food, but give me the laptop. It stays, Mick.'

'Don't you f.u.c.kin' tell me what to do, you little b.i.t.c.h.'

He shuffled forward and took another slug from the bottle, tipping it up to drain it but keeping his eyes on her. Hate-filled eyes, devoid of reason, just like the last time she'd faced him, and belatedly she realised that he'd positioned himself where he almost blocked her path to the door, the table inches to her right hemming her in. Stand her ground? Try to dodge around him? She didn't dare give him power by dropping her gaze to her phone; dialling triple-0 wouldn't do much good way out here, anyway.

He spat straight into her face. 'You should be dead. It should have been you, not her. You should have died with your goody-two-shoes f.u.c.kin' mother. My b.l.o.o.d.y brother Pete couldn't even get that f.u.c.kin' right. It's all your f.u.c.kin' fault.'

At seventeen, she'd almost believed him. At thirty-five, she knew the ravings of a mad alcoholic b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but still ... still his barbs. .h.i.t, derailed her concentration for an instant. First her parents, then Paula, then Jim ... he was s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with her mind.

Get out. She had to get out, get away from him. She pushed past him, but before she reached the doorway cras.h.i.+ng pain hit the side of her head and the bottle bounced against her arm before shattering against the doorframe. She instinctively raised her arm, turned her head to protect herself from the flying gla.s.s, but shards stung her. Head swimming, unsteady, she couldn't move quickly enough, and Mick grabbed her wrist, jerking her around with surprising strength, throwing her stumbling back against the sharp edges of the door.

'You should have burned instead of Jim, you b.i.t.c.h,' he said, and in her blurred vision all she could see was his fist, flying towards her face.

FIVE.

Mark jumped out of the SES truck the moment Karl pulled to a halt behind Mick Barrett's ute. Around the back, the dogs barked. Closer a inside the house a a woman's cry rang out.

The uneasiness that had been nagging at him since he'd seen Mick drive down Gearys Road blazed into full-blown alarm and he pounded up the front steps and into the house. A thud and another gasping cry led him to the kitchen just as Mick raised his arm to swipe another blow at Jenn, who was scrambling to her feet, blood on her face and arm.

'Leave her!' Mark bellowed. Fury raged red in front of his eyes as he grabbed Mick's arm, hauling on it, shoving him away from Jenn and forcing his body between them.

The old man snarled and with unexpected strength wrenched out of Mark's grasp. He stood for a few seconds, panting like a raging bull, venom in his eyes. 'You killed her. You b.l.o.o.d.y killed my girl. You and that b.i.t.c.h.' With a roar he swung, fists flailing. Mark dodged the blow and locked his arm in a choke hold around Mick's neck, dragging him backwards, swinging him around to slam him against a wall and holding him there.

Heat and revulsion and wrath pounded in his head along with his heartbeat. The image of Jenn, bloodied, flinching as she tried to deflect the blow played again in his mind, and he barely resisted the urge to ram Mick's head against the wall, repeatedly. If Mick had gone for him, he'd have understood it, but to attack Jenn a that was unforgivable.

'Jesus, what the-'

One glance at Karl confirmed he had grabbed a first-aid kit before following him. 'See to Jenn while I get this mongrel out of her sight.'

'I don't need seeing to. I'm okay,' she said behind him, but the breathless shake in her voice belied the words. 'Just keep the b.a.s.t.a.r.d away from me.'

'I will,' he vowed. 'I'll get him outside and then call Kris. She should be able to send someone down.'

'Don't bother the cops yet,' Jenn said, lifting her hand to her head and wincing. 'They've got more important things to do right now. They can pick him up later if they need to. He won't go far.'