with a whole stack of issues, apparently unrelated but joined in
complex ways.
Hal, do you sometimes find it hard
working together with me?
Yes.
He said it promptly. That was good. In
what way? she asked.
I keep wanting to touch you. There
you are, sitting at your computer, and I want to rip your clothes off
She did and didnt want to hear
that. She moved half a pace away from him and folded her arms.
But he wasnt thick, or stubborn,
and said at once, I hate having to give orders to you, so I try to make it
sound like a suggestion. Im always conscious of not sounding critical, or
questioning your judgment, but sometimes I find myself needing to do that. But
if I do, will you take it the wrong way? And what do Scobie and Pam think? Do
they feel I give you preferential treatment? But you are a sergeant.
It came out in a heartfelt rush.
Ellen linked arms with him again. Something needs to change. But not yet.
She sensed that he wanted to say
more about working with her, but the moment passed. Instead he said, Do you
like living with me?
Yes, she said firmly, not feeling
a hundred per cent firm.
Hal said nothing but they continued
companionably to the driveway entrance and up to the house. Theyd bought a
stir-fry mix from the butcher: all they had to do was toss it in a spitting wok
and cook some rice. They would eat in tonight. They would eat together. Theyd
had a walk. This was a good evening and, in their line of work, good evenings
were rare.
* * * *
At
their house outside Waterloo, Ludmilla Wishart was playing the piano. She played
frequently, and expertly, and Adrian hated it. Her eyes, mind and body when she
played were not there with him but far away, possibly in a better
placeaccording to herand he hated that.
He stopped her slender fingers on
the keys and said, Im hungry She gasped and came back to earth. Hurried to
the kitchen to make things better.
* * * *
Scobie
Sutton went home miserably from the Chillout Zone. Rather than accompany him,
Beth had climbed onto her bicycle, saying shed sit with Lachlan Roe until he regained
consciousness. He needs me.
Beth, it could be days, weeks.
He needs me.
So do we, love. And he has
his brother.
That so-and-so!
Hed tried his hardest but she
wouldnt listen. Scobie felt aggrieved, stuck between two uncomfortable forces:
his boss and his wife. Neither one wanted or needed him, it seemed, yet they
both held sway over him. He was betting that Challis would never remove Ellen
Destry from a case. The benefits of sleeping with the boss. Im still useful,
arent I? he demanded. I could be tracking down witnesses, tracing,
interviewing, eliminating. Instead of which you want me investigating the theft
of a ride-on mower.
He boiled inside. When he got home
at six-thirty there was Roslyn, a small, wan figure in the dark kitchen, her
school atlas open at the mess that was the Indonesian islands. With a scrape of
her chair she was on her feet and hugging him fiercely, weeping so copiously
that her tears soaked his shirt. Sweetheart, he said, overwhelmed.
She hugged him tighter, released
him, returned to her homework. He tried to help her as he cooked chops for
dinner, but the Roe brothers had taken root in his mind and he wanted to harm
them in some way. He examined that notion, surprised that he didnt feel any
guilt.
* * * *
Caz
Moon knew where the anger had come from today, the courage, but shed been a
little in awe of herself even so. She hadnt always been angry and brave. For
months after the rape shed been, in her own words, a mumbling mess, contained
on the outside, contained enough to manage the surf shop, but distraught on the
inside. She couldnt believe some of the feelings shed had: defilement, yeah,
but guilt, too, for letting it happen. As if shed had a choice!
To make it worse, her memories had
been hazy at first, no clarity or definition, so she wasnt sure what had
happened. But slowly she pieced it together and even more slowly shed
complex ways.
Hal, do you sometimes find it hard
working together with me?
Yes.
He said it promptly. That was good. In
what way? she asked.
I keep wanting to touch you. There
you are, sitting at your computer, and I want to rip your clothes off
She did and didnt want to hear
that. She moved half a pace away from him and folded her arms.
But he wasnt thick, or stubborn,
and said at once, I hate having to give orders to you, so I try to make it
sound like a suggestion. Im always conscious of not sounding critical, or
questioning your judgment, but sometimes I find myself needing to do that. But
if I do, will you take it the wrong way? And what do Scobie and Pam think? Do
they feel I give you preferential treatment? But you are a sergeant.
It came out in a heartfelt rush.
Ellen linked arms with him again. Something needs to change. But not yet.
She sensed that he wanted to say
more about working with her, but the moment passed. Instead he said, Do you
like living with me?
Yes, she said firmly, not feeling
a hundred per cent firm.
Hal said nothing but they continued
companionably to the driveway entrance and up to the house. Theyd bought a
stir-fry mix from the butcher: all they had to do was toss it in a spitting wok
and cook some rice. They would eat in tonight. They would eat together. Theyd
had a walk. This was a good evening and, in their line of work, good evenings
were rare.
* * * *
At
their house outside Waterloo, Ludmilla Wishart was playing the piano. She played
frequently, and expertly, and Adrian hated it. Her eyes, mind and body when she
played were not there with him but far away, possibly in a better
placeaccording to herand he hated that.
He stopped her slender fingers on
the keys and said, Im hungry She gasped and came back to earth. Hurried to
the kitchen to make things better.
* * * *
Scobie
Sutton went home miserably from the Chillout Zone. Rather than accompany him,
Beth had climbed onto her bicycle, saying shed sit with Lachlan Roe until he regained
consciousness. He needs me.
Beth, it could be days, weeks.
He needs me.
So do we, love. And he has
his brother.
That so-and-so!
Hed tried his hardest but she
wouldnt listen. Scobie felt aggrieved, stuck between two uncomfortable forces:
his boss and his wife. Neither one wanted or needed him, it seemed, yet they
both held sway over him. He was betting that Challis would never remove Ellen
Destry from a case. The benefits of sleeping with the boss. Im still useful,
arent I? he demanded. I could be tracking down witnesses, tracing,
interviewing, eliminating. Instead of which you want me investigating the theft
of a ride-on mower.
He boiled inside. When he got home
at six-thirty there was Roslyn, a small, wan figure in the dark kitchen, her
school atlas open at the mess that was the Indonesian islands. With a scrape of
her chair she was on her feet and hugging him fiercely, weeping so copiously
that her tears soaked his shirt. Sweetheart, he said, overwhelmed.
She hugged him tighter, released
him, returned to her homework. He tried to help her as he cooked chops for
dinner, but the Roe brothers had taken root in his mind and he wanted to harm
them in some way. He examined that notion, surprised that he didnt feel any
guilt.
* * * *
Caz
Moon knew where the anger had come from today, the courage, but shed been a
little in awe of herself even so. She hadnt always been angry and brave. For
months after the rape shed been, in her own words, a mumbling mess, contained
on the outside, contained enough to manage the surf shop, but distraught on the
inside. She couldnt believe some of the feelings shed had: defilement, yeah,
but guilt, too, for letting it happen. As if shed had a choice!
To make it worse, her memories had
been hazy at first, no clarity or definition, so she wasnt sure what had
happened. But slowly she pieced it together and even more slowly shed
Similar Books
