DumbAtHeart.epub (11 page)

why in god’s name Phil?”

“Hey!” He was offended.

“My family maintains a face of wealth. Everything we have we don’t own. We

have massive debt. There hasn’t been money for a very long time. People just assume

what they want to.”

“Essentially, you look rich because you borrow big. Pretty shallow of you.”

“Don’t judge us!” Adele spat out at her.

“Oh, I understand you like money and I understand you like it so much you’d

screw Phil for it.” She looked at the man in question. “Well, come on, you had to

wonder why all of a sudden she wanted in your pants.” Cass turned back to Adele,

feeling all
Miss Marple
like. “And then there’s Murdo. The bit on the side.” Not that

Cass thought Murdo would care. He seemed the type to shag anything that stood still

long enough.

“One man is not enough for a real woman,” Adele told Cass, her hand toying

with her hair.

“Or a slut.”

“Bitch!” Adele’s hand drooped down and curled into fists.

“Cow,” Cass murmured calmly. Getting Adele riled up would make her

susceptible to making a mistake.

Phil looked thrilled by the exchange between the two women.

“This is exciting.”

“Shut up, Phil!” They both yelled in unison, turning angry eyes on each other.

“It must have pissed you off big time when Evan wasn’t interested in you, Adele.”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“There must have been a lot of Throcker gold.” Cass looked at Phil.
Lordy, there

would have to be billions of dollars to make any woman go off with him…maybe also

a couple of bottles of wine….

“More than you can imagine.”

“Where was it stashed?” Cass was interested to know where Jack Throcker had

hidden it.

Phil and Adele exchanged glances. She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter that she

knows now. We have it and she will go missing mysteriously.” Adele grinned at Cass.

“It’s not unknown for city girls to get lost in the outback and their sun bleached bones

found years later.”

Cass wasn’t playing into the fear Adele clearly wanted her to. “Blow it out your

ear.” She looked at Phil.

“It was in the one of the old railway carriage in the Railway museum,” Phil told

her. “No one had looked inside the carriage since the museum was set up in the

early1940’s. The war was on. People had other things to do and after the war, the old

carriages were obsolete. They just shoved all the bits and pieces of old railway machinery in the museum in there and hoped for a couple of dollars the tourists would

go and have a look at the old pieces or train memorabilia.”

“But Jack Throcker died before that.” Cass thought about the key they had found.

It was big and heavy. It probably had locked a carriage that may have carried gold or

money, in the past. “What was on the map?”

“It wasn’t so much a map. It was just a note.”

“A note?” That she hadn’t thought of. Cass was a little disappointed. After all,

why the compass? “Was it from Jack?”

“No, from his second wife, Maisie. She got one of her kids, Jack Junior, who

worked for the railway, to stash the gold. He did, in one of the carriages, until they

could move it,” Phil explained in a chatty mood. He reached around and pulled the

note from his back pocket and gave it to Cass. It was old, spidery writing, well faded

but still readable. “The compass was just a cool bonus. I have it on the mantle at

home.”

“I’m happy for you,” Cass muttered as she read the words on the note.

Jackie,

Old Jack hid the gold under the floor in the dunny. Jethro ran the tractor into the

side of it and its collapsed. Go get the gold and stash it somewhere safe until we can

get out of town.

Ma

“Then Maisie and Jack Junior died in an automobile accident. Those early cars

were treacherous. A tire blew, they lost control of the car and went straight over the

side of the mountain at Bunyip’s Pass.”

Jeez. Wow. Mundabucka was a town of revelations. First Evan, Jack, Phil, the

gold and frigging Adele. What next?
“Did no one ever look inside the carriage after

the gold was stashed?” That seemed odd to Cass.

“Nope. Old stuff only becomes interesting decades on. The museum was barely

looked at or considered until recently when Flo and Jo suggested to the local council

to make more of it. Lucky for us, we found the note and compass before those old

girls convinced the tight asses of the council to part with cash to upgrade the place.”

Cass nodded her head. “And no one ever knew where the gold was stashed as it

died with the family.” Greed, it was such a bitch. “So what was there? Gold bars?

Coins?”

“Nuggets of pure gold, actually.”

Cass didn’t know a lot about gold but it had to weigh quite a bit on mass. “How

were you going to get the gold out of the museum?” Was it still there? Was Murdo

still with Evan? Could this ill matched pair have moved it that fast? “Is the gold still

in there?” She also knew Evan would be frantically trying to find her.

“Me, Murdo and Phil planned it well.” Adele looked pleased with herself.

Now it made sense. “So, Murdo started a fight with Evan to deflect attention

from you two and your plan to blow up the carriage and take the gold.”

Adele was easy. “We drove a truck up to the carriage, blew the lock and scooped

it out. It didn’t take that long.”

“How much was there?”

“We had to leave half behind,” Phil told her. “It’s heavy.”

Adele whacked him on the arm. “Tell her nothing!”

What a cute couple. Not.
“I guess Murdo isn’t aware you’re taking off and leaving him with nothing?”

Adele dismissed this with a toss of her head. “I just used Murdo for sex. He

doesn’t need to know anymore.”

“What happens to the rest of the gold? That must be eating at your greedy, rotten,

little heart, knowing you can’t have it all.”

“Shut up!” Adele spat at her. “You have been nothing but trouble since you got to

town.”

Trouble? Only to this Sicilian chick.
It had to piss her off that Evan didn’t want

her. “So, I’m guessing you have some sort of plan to kill me?” Cass was pleased she

sounded so calm. But then, this pair didn’t scare her. They were as ill matched in wits

as they were in looks.

“You’ll kill yourself.”

Cass shook her head “That’s not happening.”

“Oh, but it will. You’re the city chick who wrote the emotional newspaper advert

about your fiancé screwing you over,” Adele told her. “You will be seen as being so

distraught with your life that you jumped off the church roof.”

“Why the church?”
I loathe heights. Like I would jump. They so do not know me.

Phil cut in there. “It seemed the logical place.”

“Added more drama to the story, Phil?”

He nodded, looking pleased that she understood.

Cass sat down. She knew she would be harder to move that way. “How do you

plan to get me to jump?”

“Push you.” Adele didn’t seem the slightest bit perturbed in what she was saying.

“All pretty simple, then,” Cass observed coolly.
And why can’t I think of
something equally as simple to save my ass?
There were two of them. One of her.

Yeah, they were bumblers but bumblers sometimes got lucky. She looked around her

thinking madly of a plan. That was until she saw a shadow, followed by another, on

the downward spiral of the stairs. Someone was creeping up the stairs. Who was it

and were they here to save her? She glanced away casually. “I’m not moving.”

Please be Evan.

“Pick her up, Phil.”

“I’m pretty heavy.”

Phil looked worried. “She does look heavy.”

“That’s rude to say that,” Cass remarked.

“You said it first,” Phil whined.

“Yeah, but you’re not supposed to agree with me. I’m a lady and should be

treated with respect.”

Phil blushed and apologized. “Sorry.”

Adele swore. “Get the fuck up now!”

“No!”

Adele grabbed her arm. Cass swung at her and a brawl started. Phil danced

around trying to separate them.

Sounds of feet racing up the stairs could be heard. “Let her go!” Evan yelled.

Cass smacked Adele in the mouth. Adele pulled her hair. Cass stomped on her

foot. Adele pinched her hard. It took both Evan and Deputy Bob to separate the

women.

Evan pulled Cass into his arms. “Way to go, slugger.” He tweaked her nose. “Are

you okay?”

“Yeah.” She could see Adele was restrained by Deputy Bob. “Where’s Phil?”

There was the sound of barking and of someone falling down hard.

“That would be Nellie containing the suspect,” Evan said.

“Suspect, my ass. That little rodent admitted it.” She pulled from Evan’s hold.

“Did you know he and Adele were having sex?” Cass shook at head just thinking

about it again. “Mundabucka is a hell of a town.”

Evan smiled and linked hands with Cass. “We like to extend a warm welcome to

you city chicks with our own special brand of intrigue to entertain you.”

“Where’s Murdo?”

“In jail.”

“I’m sorry.” Cass really was. Murdo was his family.

He shrugged. “My cousin made his bed—”

“—with Adele who was bonking Phil. Did you ever think—”

Evan interrupted her. “To have sex with Adele?”

“Yeah.”

“Nah, I’m not that desperate. Besides I like redheads.”

Cass smiled up at Evan. “And redheads like you.”

“Are you going to stick around in Mundabucka, city chick?”

“Yeah.”

Evan pulled her close against his body “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re pregnant?” Flo responded to Cass’s statement.

“Yeah.” She wasn’t sure how to tell Evan just yet. Trying it out on two other

people to get their thoughts on it was to give her the courage to tell him. It wasn’t that

she feared his response. It was more that she knew it would be a big surprise to him.

After all they hadn’t discussed marriage or long term goals let alone having a baby.

Having a child was huge. Cass herself was still stunned at the result of the pregnancy

test. The doctor’s confirmation had really brought it home to her. In reality she

shouldn’t have been. Unprotected sex created babies. That was sex 101.
Duh.

Jo clapped her hands with glee. “Wonderful! We haven’t seen a good wedding in

Mundabucka for a long time.”

Cass eyes widened at that. “I’m not getting married.” That thought hadn’t even

crossed her mind. The fact she was pregnant was only just sinking in.

“Why not?”

“I don’t
have
to get married.” For a moment she pictured herself and Evan standing at an altar exchanging vows.
Nah, I wouldn’t want anything fancy. Maybe

just a few friends and…forehead slap! What am I thinking?
There were no guarantees

that Evan even wanted a long term commitment.

Flo nodded. “Yeah you do.”

“Why?”

“It’s what people do.”

Cass shook her head and smiled at Flo’s words. Her two employers, and now

friends, were not following convention. Why should she? “I had sex without marriage

and didn’t go to hell.”
It was actually quite heavenly.

“Yeah, but—”

“What?”

Jo pouted. “We want a wedding!”

“Well, you two should get married,” Cass pointed out. The gender was irrelevant.

Love was the theme for weddings and that’s what people wanted to see. “Besides,

Evan doesn’t have to marry me.” There was no point getting all unrealistically gooey

over something that may never happen. Six year old girls with bride dolls and pretty

dreams did that.

“Yes, Evan does.” Jo was quite adamant on that.

“No, Evan doesn’t,” Cass responded.

It was then the man in question appeared. “What does or doesn’t Evan have to

do?” He raised his eyebrows in question.

“You have to marry Cass.”

Evan turned and smiled at Cass. “Okay.”

Cass took a step back. “Just like that? Because someone told you to?” This

wasn’t how she thought a proposal to go.

He spread his hands out wide. “It’s a good enough reason.”

Bloody hell.
“How romantic.” Her heart dropped to her feet. Imagine if he knew

about the baby. He would marry her for that reason alone.
And I want more. So much

more.

“You want romance, Cassie?” He walked over and reached out for her hand.

“Every night I spend with you is sublime. Every day is a revelation. Every word you

speak enthralls me. I am so in love with you, lady, that not marrying you is unthinkable.”

“Wow!” Her inner six-year old cheered.
He loves me. He really loves me
.

“Good, huh?” Evan pulled her against his body.

Cass melted into his body. “Yeah, real good.” She turned her head to the side.

“Haven’t you two gas-bags got stuff to do?”

Flo and Jo nodded, leaving arm in arm, a satisfied look on each of their faces.

Cass turned her gaze back to the man she loved. It was time to get serious. “What

about the future?” Where did he see them in twenty years? Did they have twenty

years in them? Or was it great sex that bound them together? If so, was that enough?