much bigger. This is serious, Gem, and we need to find out what is going on. Pat told me about the conversation you two had last night and, what with the rumours I've been hearing around town, it doesn't look good.' Jess's eyes held Gemma's as she made her impassioned plea.
Gemma slowly moved away from Jess. Looking hurt and bewildered, she returned to the table and sat down with her head in her hands. 'Okay, tell me what you know.'
Exchanging looks, Pat indicated for Jess to speak. Jess sat down again and started talking in a calm voice.
'There have been rumours flying around the district for some time, Gem. I can't pinpoint when they started, maybe a year ago, maybe more. At first I didn't take any notice. You know how country people are. You and Adam were doing well. You'd taken over his parents' place and were making a real go of it. You had planted all these new varieties of grasses, were running more stock than anyone else in the region, and were making your payments without, it seemed, any difficulty.
'Then came the whisper that a few people had had a small number of sheep disappear here and there. Shearing counts were wrong, and there were not as many sheep at lamb-marking time as there should have been. Calf marking – yeah, missing a few cows. At first nobody thought anything of it. I mean, who doesn't miscount their stock occasionally? Maybe some had strayed through the fence and the neighbours would call when they got their stock in the yards and saw the extra animals. But nobody received any calls.
'Now don't forget, I work in a bank. I'm a loans manager for some of the businesses in town, but also many farmers. I see people's end-of-financial-year figures, and that includes end-of-year stock figures. Some of these people were down ten per cent on their stock from the previous year. That's a huge amount to lose when you're barely making ends meet.'
Gemma broke in. 'So what? None of that implicates Adam in any way.'
'Yeah, I know, but do you remember our conversation that night we were camping about stock numbers not being right on Billbinya? Your sheep numbers were up and you've a cattle contract you don't have the numbers to fill. You have to admit it looks suspicious. Also, someone has contacted the police – an anonymous phone call, but don't ask me how I found out about it because I can't tell you – saying that Adam was involved. And Gemma, you're not going to like this bit. Apparently Brad knew Adam. It was before I met him, but they must have gone to the pub together a fair bit. Did Adam spend a lot of time at the pub at Dawns Rest without you?'
Gemma shifted in her chair. There had been more than a few nights when Adam had been late home, after meetings with the Best Farmers group. He had always been having 'a couple of quiet ones off the wood with the boys'. Now Gemma nodded reluctantly.
'Yeah, I thought so,' Jess said. 'Well anyway, Brad told me not so long ago that he knew Adam and had heard him brag that getting ahead in farming was easy if you knew the right people.'
Jess's last statement was met with stony silence. After a few seconds had passed Patrick cleared his throat and said, 'Now do you see why we're concerned? And why we think you need help?'
Gemma still didn't comment.
'Gem, we love you very much and we're so sorry to have to be the ones to tell you this,' Jess said softly.
'Mmm,' said Gemma. She rubbed her face wearily. 'Well, it's a good story. I find it really hard to believe, but I can see that there are a lot of things that seem to point to Adam. But I don't want to talk about this now, okay? I need some time to think. I'll make up the other spare room for you, Jess, while you guys get tea.' Gemma pushed her chair away from the table without another word and left the room.
* * *
After dinner, which was eaten in uncomfortable silence, Gemma bade the other two good night and disappeared into the office. The answering machine light was blinking. 'Hi Gemma, Ben Daylee
Gemma slowly moved away from Jess. Looking hurt and bewildered, she returned to the table and sat down with her head in her hands. 'Okay, tell me what you know.'
Exchanging looks, Pat indicated for Jess to speak. Jess sat down again and started talking in a calm voice.
'There have been rumours flying around the district for some time, Gem. I can't pinpoint when they started, maybe a year ago, maybe more. At first I didn't take any notice. You know how country people are. You and Adam were doing well. You'd taken over his parents' place and were making a real go of it. You had planted all these new varieties of grasses, were running more stock than anyone else in the region, and were making your payments without, it seemed, any difficulty.
'Then came the whisper that a few people had had a small number of sheep disappear here and there. Shearing counts were wrong, and there were not as many sheep at lamb-marking time as there should have been. Calf marking – yeah, missing a few cows. At first nobody thought anything of it. I mean, who doesn't miscount their stock occasionally? Maybe some had strayed through the fence and the neighbours would call when they got their stock in the yards and saw the extra animals. But nobody received any calls.
'Now don't forget, I work in a bank. I'm a loans manager for some of the businesses in town, but also many farmers. I see people's end-of-financial-year figures, and that includes end-of-year stock figures. Some of these people were down ten per cent on their stock from the previous year. That's a huge amount to lose when you're barely making ends meet.'
Gemma broke in. 'So what? None of that implicates Adam in any way.'
'Yeah, I know, but do you remember our conversation that night we were camping about stock numbers not being right on Billbinya? Your sheep numbers were up and you've a cattle contract you don't have the numbers to fill. You have to admit it looks suspicious. Also, someone has contacted the police – an anonymous phone call, but don't ask me how I found out about it because I can't tell you – saying that Adam was involved. And Gemma, you're not going to like this bit. Apparently Brad knew Adam. It was before I met him, but they must have gone to the pub together a fair bit. Did Adam spend a lot of time at the pub at Dawns Rest without you?'
Gemma shifted in her chair. There had been more than a few nights when Adam had been late home, after meetings with the Best Farmers group. He had always been having 'a couple of quiet ones off the wood with the boys'. Now Gemma nodded reluctantly.
'Yeah, I thought so,' Jess said. 'Well anyway, Brad told me not so long ago that he knew Adam and had heard him brag that getting ahead in farming was easy if you knew the right people.'
Jess's last statement was met with stony silence. After a few seconds had passed Patrick cleared his throat and said, 'Now do you see why we're concerned? And why we think you need help?'
Gemma still didn't comment.
'Gem, we love you very much and we're so sorry to have to be the ones to tell you this,' Jess said softly.
'Mmm,' said Gemma. She rubbed her face wearily. 'Well, it's a good story. I find it really hard to believe, but I can see that there are a lot of things that seem to point to Adam. But I don't want to talk about this now, okay? I need some time to think. I'll make up the other spare room for you, Jess, while you guys get tea.' Gemma pushed her chair away from the table without another word and left the room.
* * *
After dinner, which was eaten in uncomfortable silence, Gemma bade the other two good night and disappeared into the office. The answering machine light was blinking. 'Hi Gemma, Ben Daylee
Similar Books
