Outback Blaze (10 page)

And then he was gone. She shut the front door behind him, leaned against it and stared at the clock on the lounge room wall. It was hard to believe a couple of hours had passed – that he'd taken time out to spend with her when he no doubt needed to catch up on sleep as much as the rest of them.

Drew trekked back to the café to collect his bike, all the while wondering what it was about Ruby that had made him spill his heart. Well, he might not have told her every gruesome thing about his past but he'd told her a lot more than he'd ever told anyone else in this town. O'Leary had tried to pry when Drew had first arrived, but he'd managed to brush him off with some cock and bull story about a childhood dream of working down under.

But sitting beside Ruby, sharing Frankie's freaking amazing cake, he hadn't been able to bring himself to lie outright. Maybe he should tell her not to mention his history to anyone, but then again, that might only raise her suspicions. He thought he was pretty safe here in the town that seemed a decade or two behind the rest of the world, but at the same time he shouldn't get complacent. One could never be too careful.

Despite desperately needing that rest O'Leary insisted he have, Drew couldn't help swinging by the site of the fire after collecting his bike. The sergeant didn't appear to be around, but Mike stood in front of the police barricade tape, his arms folded proudly across his chest like he was the guard at some high security site. Drew strolled over to his colleague.

‘Any news?' he asked.

Mike shook his head. ‘No more than we already knew. Looks like the fire began with a simple Molotov cocktail from the right-hand side of the building.' He turned and glanced towards the charred building. ‘They've just suited up Robert Jones in the asbestos protective gear and taken him in to let them know if anything else looks suspicious.'

Drew swallowed. It frustrated him no end not to be able to go in and take a look around, but O'Leary and the senior officers from the city believed they didn't need him. They had no clue how much experience he could bring to this case. He hoped like hell the investigators weren't as lazy as O'Leary and would look deep enough to find some evidence that would clear the boys he knew were innocent. He hadn't seen Jaxon and Brad after their interviews and while they hadn't been charged, their parents had been given strict instructions not to let them leave town.

Drew feared it was only a matter of time before the book was officially thrown their way.

‘The insurance folks are on their way up, too,' Mike continued. ‘Bet they'll find some sort of way to wheedle out of paying. Those wankers always do. I reckon we should arrest them for robbing people out of money. You pay exorbitant amounts for insurance but the companies always manage to find some loophole that means you're not covered.'

Not needing to hear Mike's philosophy on insurance companies, Drew positioned his helmet ready to yank onto his head. ‘I'm heading home for a shower and a couple of hours kip. Call me if they make any decisions regarding Jaxon and Brad, okay?'

‘Will do,' Mike saluted like a kid playing army.

Gritting his teeth so as not to tell Mike to grow up, Drew turned and strode towards his bike. It was a short ride to his department-provided accommodation but he couldn't really call it home. It came semi-furnished with a bed, fridge, couch and a wobbly, plastic table with one leg shorter than the rest – he didn't see any point in buying stuff he'd only have to get rid of again when he moved on. His place back in Newcastle hadn't been much better but it had had a bookshelf full of books and DVDs, a stack of old motorbike magazines, his beloved stereo and a few photos of his family and friends. It had been a conscious decision not to try to get replacement photos to bring to Australia with him, not the least because looking at them only made him lament over what he'd lost.

Thinking too much about that threatened to send him into a black hole that he refused to surrender to. Coming here had been better than the alternative – at least here he could continue working. Without that, what would he have left?

Arriving at the house, he parked his bike out front and waved to the old lady that lived next door. She was a friend of Mrs O'Neil's and he'd learnt not to stop to talk to her or she'd bail him up for half the day. Today she'd no doubt be desperate to question him about the fire.

Waving in response she started shuffling forward and Drew thanked the Lord she wasn't fast on her feet. ‘I'll chat later, Dolce,' he called, pulling his house keys out of his pocket. ‘Can't stop right now.'

As the door shut behind him he breathed a sigh of relief. The bang echoed in the emptiness. The house was cold and he shivered, berating himself for not taking Adam Burton up on his offer to go and collect firewood on his farm. But it hadn't seemed worth it – the locals reckoned it was getting cold but winter in Bunyip Bay was like an English summer. He went into the kitchen and put a TV dinner into the microwave. While he waited for it to cook, he grabbed a can of soft drink from the fridge and cracked it open. His diet had been shit since moving here, but somehow he hadn't been able to bring himself to get excited about cooking for one.

He sat down at the table with the barely palatable beef stroganoff, the cola and his iPad and brought up a British news site. Every day he scrolled through the stories watching for news about his case. Every day he was disappointed and more than once he'd almost broken the iPad as he shoved it away in disgust.

Halfway through dinner the phone rang. ‘Noble,' he answered, still not quite used to the name.

‘It's Mike. Just thought I'd let you know the investigators are bringing Jaxon and Brad in. Looks like they're going to charge them.'

‘Dammit.' Drew tossed the half-finished dinner into the bin and grabbed his keys.

He arrived at the station at the same time as the boys did. They looked as pale as ghosts and Drew was glad that because of their age, they'd each be able to have a parent present during the interviews.

Drew ignored O'Leary's glare as he crossed the patchy grass outside the police station and went to greet the two families. ‘Don't let them say anything without speaking to a lawyer,' he hissed to Mr Bird and Mr McDonald, and then he went inside to speak to the investigators about being involved in the interviews. Someone upstairs must have been looking down favourably because Drew was granted permission to sit in if he promised not to interrupt. Not much later, the kids' lawyer arrived from Geraldton and the interviews began.

As Drew listened to Jaxon answer question after question, a sick feeling coiled in his stomach.

‘Was there anyone else with you and Brad last night? Or someone who might have seen you?' asked one of the arson squad.

Jaxon looked to his lawyer and then to Drew.
Just tell the truth
, Drew wanted to tell him.

‘No. It was just me and Brad and we were trying
not
to be seen,' Jaxon said, folding his arms across his chest. Drew could tell he was trying to look tough, but the quiver in his voice gave him away. Drew bit his tongue when what he really wanted was to stand up, lean across the table and try and get through to Jaxon just how serious this situation was. They might not quite be sixteen but something like this could haunt them forever.

The interview with Brad wasn't any more inspiring and at the end of what felt like one of the longest days of his life, Drew watched on feeling totally helpless as the teenagers were charged over starting the fire at The Ag Store. They were summonsed to appear in court in Geraldton in a couple of weeks and their parents tearfully posted bail. The investigators believed excitement and simple vandalism to be the motivation behind the crime but Drew didn't buy it.

Since he'd sacrificed his opportunity to sleep when he visited Ruby, he had to head out onto the highway for traffic patrol now. The night was a long one but even if he had made it to bed, sleep would have eluded him. His mind was rife with thoughts of Jaxon and Brad, and also his very pleasant afternoon with Ruby Jones.

The last few days had been some of the craziest of Ruby's life. The investigators had done their bit in the destroyed building and it had been declared a hazard to enter due to the structural damage and the high content of asbestos. A team had been called in to remove the harmful materials and soon the building would be bulldozed because none of it had been salvageable. Every time Ruby thought about this, she shuddered and wasn't sure she'd be able to look on as it happened.

Despite having no more work at the shop Ruby barely found a moment to herself. She relished the times she could escape to see her horses because in the house her mum was constantly hovering as if unsure what to do with herself and her father was in a grump as he dealt with the insurance company and worked out where to go from here. Her father's attitude she could handle, it was understandable and typical of a man who never usually stood still long enough to drink a cup of tea, but her usually independent and confident mother was crumbling under the stress. It was like she didn't want to be alone or something. Ruby hoped that once the insurance was sorted, Lyn would get back to normal.

Nothing ever moved fast where insurance was concerned, but since the Bird and McDonald boys had been charged it looked like her parents' insurance claim would be straightforward.

No way would she want to be those boys right now, in fact, she kind of felt sorry for them. Their parents had visited her parents to offer profuse apologies and the town was up in arms over what they'd done. Support for the Joneses seemed unending and the casseroles just kept coming, as did all kinds of offers of support. Visitors came one after the other and Ruby and her mother bore the brunt of them while her dad holed up in his office under the guise of paperwork. Her mum looked harried and Ruby was certain she looked equally as bad but she'd been avoiding the mirror as much as possible.

When Adam rang on Friday afternoon and asked if she wanted to come down to the pub with them for dinner and a few drinks, she could have kissed the telephone.

‘We'll understand if you don't want to,' he went on, ‘but a few of us could do with a drink after this week and we thought you might be in the same boat.'

‘You have no idea,' Ruby told him. After hanging up she went into the kitchen, selected a donated casserole to put in the oven for her parents and then went to tell her mother she was going out.

‘You don't mind, do you?' she asked, twisting a lock of hair around her finger as she addressed her mum who was resting on the couch.

‘Not at all, sweetheart.' Her mum sat up and Ruby didn't know if she was imagining it but it seemed like a huge effort. ‘You deserve a night out.'

‘Are you okay, Mum?' Ruby closed the gap between them, knelt down and took her mum's hand. ‘This week has been hard on all of us, but you don't look well at all.'

Her mum waved her away and half laughed. ‘I'm fine, just not as young as I used to be and lack of sleep is taking its toll. I'll have an early one tonight and maybe take a sleeping tablet Doctor Rivers prescribed me.'

‘When did she do that?' Ruby had barely left her mum's side the last few days.

‘Oh, before the fire,' Lyn replied. ‘I haven't been sleeping well for a while, but taking a tablet seems like cheating.'

‘Mum, take it,' Ruby urged, hating to see her mum so exhausted. ‘I've put dinner in the oven and I'll dish it up for you and Dad before I go. You keep resting. Can I get you a drink or anything?'

Her mum shook her head. ‘Just pass me the TV remote. I want to watch
The Bold and The Beautiful
.'

Shaking her head at her mum's obsession with American soap operas, Ruby located the remote and gave it to her mother. She kissed her on the forehead and then headed to her bedroom to choose an outfit. It had been a tough week but she knew they could all get through this.

The Palace was a typical rural Australian watering hole – a faded red tin roof, verandas along the front, out of date carpet and a vibe that would put many city-slickers off, but, after a number of good nights here with new friends, Ruby had learned to look past the rough exterior and enjoy the place for what it was. However, this was the first time Ruby had been out since Faith and Monty had left.

In such a short time Faith Forrester had become a lifeline and the nerves Ruby had experienced when she first returned to town – nerves about getting out and moving on – reared their head again. Her hand shook slightly as she rested it just above the ‘push' sign on the front entrance door. Some sort of heavy metal music boomed from inside – Friday nights were always rowdy here – and she contemplated turning around and going home to spend the evening with her folks. Socialising wasn't supposed to be so terrifying and she hated that Jonas had made her hesitant about sharing a drink with men.

‘Evening, Ruby.' Ryan came up behind her and laid his hand against the small of her back. She couldn't help flinching and stepped sideways slightly, angry at her body for overreacting again.

‘Oh, hi Ryan.'

He chuckled, his playboy grin stretching from ear to ear. The way Faith talked, Ryan had plenty of women after him but until Simone had mentioned his hotness, Ruby hadn't thought much about it.

‘Sorry, if I scared ya. I thought you would have heard me stamping up behind you.'

She tried for a laugh as she gestured to the door. ‘Not with that noise.'

He made a face. ‘Man, Liam has the worst taste in music. Let's go inside and get a drink and I'll have a chat to him about the evening's playlist.'

‘Good idea.' She smiled. It was hard not to relax around Ryan Forrester.

As they stepped inside Ruby scanned the people already scattered around the pub. She saw Simone and Frankie sitting at a table with Simone's two daughters and the tension inside her eased a little. Having worked with Simone on the Barking Ball and now with both her and Frankie on the Undies Run, they'd become the closest she had to friends. She glanced at Ryan to see if he'd noticed them, but he made a beeline for the bar.