Inheritance (35 page)

Stella would certainly know a Tubitjara when she saw one, and she said it was a new painting, by an obscure artist. He must be mistaken.

But he couldn’t let go of the problem. He thought about it during the night and in the morning, he made a decision. He knew Cassie had catalogued all the art works in the house, they had discussed it. She had taken photos of all the paintings. He would have to go and look at them. That way he would know for sure.

As he drove to Yallandoo, his mind buzzed with a dozen different thoughts. The puzzle of the painting was uppermost. If it was the Tubitjara, how had it come into Stella’s possession? And how had she not recognised it? That was impossible. So what did that mean? Surely she would not accept a painting, particularly such a valuable one, knowing it to be stolen? Of course, if she had, that would explain why she’d been so upset when Katie brought it in.

These thoughts were vying with his mixed emotions as he thought of seeing Cassie again. Part of him longed to see her once more, but he was apprehensive about how she would receive him. She had been so cold and distant the last time they were together. His heart thudded as he drove through the gate.

***

When Cassie opened the door and saw Mark standing there, she felt as if the blood drained from her body. She could not speak and stood staring.

‘Hello, Cassie.’ His words broke the spell.

She swallowed and was able to reply. ‘Hello, Mark. I…I didn’t expect to see you again. You’re still here?’ She realised her remark sounded stupid but he didn’t seem to notice.

‘Yes. Can I come in?’ He looked anxious. ‘I won’t take up much of your time.’

‘It’s all right. I’m not busy this morning.’ Turning, she led the way inside, surprised she was able to function normally.

‘I…er…I have what will probably seem like an unusual request. Do you think I could have a look at the inventory you made of your paintings before they were stolen? I’d like to see the photos you took of them.’

Whatever Cassie expected it certainly wasn’t this. The request jolted her back to normality, although her heart still beat a crazy tattoo. ‘Whatever for?’

He cleared his throat, frowning. ‘I think I may have seen one of them, but I’m not sure. I need to check the photos.’

‘Where did you see it?’

He hesitated. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d rather not say until I know if I’m right or not.’

Cassie didn’t argue. ‘Sit down,’ she gestured to a chair. ‘I’ll get them.’ She came back a moment later with a sheaf of photos in her hands. ‘These are the copies I made. Which one is it?’

‘Let me have a look.’ He stood up and took them from her and quickly looked through them. ‘This one.’ He took one and moved over to the window where the sun slanted through, to look at it in a brighter light. ‘Yes. There’s no doubt. This is the one. The river, and that tree bending over at that angle, and the signature, too. I’m sure of it.’ He tapped the photo against his other hand as he thought. ‘Now, what to do about it?’

‘Go straight to the police. What else?’

‘Perhaps I should go and talk to…the person involved…first. I find it difficult to understand.’

‘Who is it?’ she asked, mystified.

‘Let me think for a moment.’ He stood by the window, frowning. Cassie watched him, wishing the old feelings would go. Why did she have to care about him so much? Why couldn’t she just forget him?

‘Yes, you’re right. I’ll have to go to the police. It’s the only way.’

‘Where did you see it?’

‘At Stella Hardwick’s gallery.’

A wave of fury swept through Cassie, bringing the blood to her cheeks. ‘Stella! No wonder you don’t want to go to the police.’

Mark frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you wouldn’t want your…your…’ her voice trailed off as she drew a deep breath.

‘My what, Cassie?’ His voice was harsh.

‘Your…lover…in trouble with the police.’

His face took on a look like thunder. ‘She is not, and has never been, my lover. I simply wondered if I should see if there’s a plausible explanation for the painting being there, give her a chance to explain. But of course there can’t be an explanation.’ He inhaled deeply and lifted his hand tentatively in Cassie’s direction. ‘Cassie, I told you before there’s never been more than a business relationship between us.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘I don’t believe you.’

Mark raised his voice. ‘For God’s sake, what do I have to do to convince you?’

Moving across, he put his hands on her shoulders and shook her. ‘We — have — never — been — lovers. Do you understand? Never.’ He let go of her and stood staring at her, breathing heavily.

Cassie regarded him stormily. ‘Then why did you tell her about…us?’ she raged.

He jerked his head angrily. ‘I never told her anything about us.’

‘Yes, you did.’ The blood surged through her. ‘You told her about us…making love…at the rock pool. And that it was only to make me sell you Yallandoo.’

‘Christ Almighty! Whatever gave you such an idea?’

‘She told me.’

‘What! Then she was lying.’

Cassie wasn’t convinced. ‘How could she have known?’

‘I can only surmise she was guessing.’ He stood thinking for a moment, rubbing his chin, trying to calm himself. ‘When I got back to Binbin that day, Stella was there doing some measuring. I was so happy that I was probably beaming like an idiot. I remember her saying I looked cool for such a hot day and I told her I hadn’t noticed the heat because I’d been in the water for much of the day. I remember then she made some comment about heated pools not being refreshing on such a hot day and I said I’d been in a natural rock pool where it was wonderful. She must have put two and two together.’

Cassie regarded him suspiciously, still doubtful. ‘But you did want Yallandoo for a theme park?’

He spread his hands in a gesture of resignation. ‘That was the idea at first. I’d even spoken to Len about it, but he hadn’t given me an answer. Then, when I sounded you out and found you weren’t anxious to sell, I decided to wait and see what you decided. All the time becoming…more fond of you. And then, well, after…the day at the rock pool, I rang Laurence and told him if he still wanted to go ahead with a theme park, I’d look for another property. That Yallandoo was out. I think I’d been coming to that realisation since we sat by the creek in the rainforest that day. Some of its magic rubbed off on me then, too, and I could understand how you love Yallandoo so much. I’d never want to see you leave here, it’s too much a part of you. And I had this…well…sort of fantasy, I suppose.’

Something moved inside Cassie. ‘What do you mean? What fantasy?’

He hesitated. ‘I wasn’t sure it’d be what you wanted. But I had this idea about how wonderful it would be…if we could all be together. I mean…I know Gemma likes you and you seem to like her and…well…I had the idea that I could leave Laurence to run things down in Sydney while I stay here to manage the resort. And we could live here at Yallandoo. Together.’ A faint pink flush tinged his cheeks, and he moved uneasily. ‘All pie-in-the-sky, I suppose, probably not what you’d want at all, but I couldn’t help myself dreaming.’

Cassie swallowed. ‘Not so pie-in-the-sky, but why didn’t you tell me all this when I came to see you that day?’

He moved a step closer. ‘I tried to at first but you wouldn’t listen. You’d already made up your mind. I decided to wait till you cooled down. Then you told me you never wanted to see me again and I realised that you obviously didn’t have the same feelings for me that I have for you.’

Cassie regarded him with wide eyes, her throat tightening. ‘What…feelings?’

‘I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you, Cassie.’ He moved another step closer, his eyes shining with emotion. ‘I wanted to tell you that afternoon, but I decided I had to straighten out the business side with Laurence first. I didn’t want any shadows hanging over us.’

Cassie’s heart leapt. ‘I made a real mess of things, didn’t I?’ she asked, her voice quivering.

Mark moved very close to her now. ‘Not just you, I shouldn’t have been so stiff-necked. I shouldn’t have let my pride stop me from seeing you again when you were calmer, to try and explain.’

A hitch catching her throat softened her voice when she spoke. ‘Do you suppose it’s too late for us to try again?’

His arms went round her and, with a sigh, his mouth came down hard on hers. The intensity of his kiss answered her question.

An eternity seemed to pass before he lifted his head.

Cassie put her hand up to touch his face. ‘I love you,’ she said simply, stroking his cheek.

‘Cassie, darling.’ He held her as if he would never let her go. ‘I love you more than I can ever say. I surrendered my soul to you that day at the rock pool. If I couldn’t have you, there would never be anyone else for me.’

Cassie felt dizzy with happiness. ‘I nearly lost you.’

‘We nearly lost each other. Now I’ll never let you go.’

She drew back from his arms. ‘When are you leaving for Sydney?’

‘Never. Unless you want to go. I was only going because I couldn’t bear to be so close to you and not be with you.’

Mark took his arms from around her and took her by the hand.

‘Come over here.’ He led her over to a big, flowery couch against the wall.

When they sat down, his hands moved gently over her body as if getting to know the feel of her again, the feel of her breasts through the thin silk of her top. Then he undid the buttons, slowly, one by one. His lips came down to kiss the gentle, swelling curves and Cassie felt desire flare through her, hot and strong.

And they rediscovered their pleasure in each other, there on the big, downy couch, with the sun slanting in through the window on a quiet summer morning.

Stella picked up the Tubitjara painting and put it back in the small storeroom with the rest, then locked the door and tossed the key in the bottom drawer of her desk with some other odds and ends. Focusing on the problem of Ben’s whereabouts, she picked up the phone and dialled his mobile number, for the third time that day. A voice at the other end gave her the same message she had been hearing for days. ‘The mobile phone you are calling has been switched off or is out of range. Please try again later.’

Slamming the phone down in exasperation, she stood thinking. She couldn’t understand it. She knew his phone was always in his pocket, wherever he went.

Next she rang Gary, the builder, not giving her name, only to be told that Ben had not returned from leave when expected. No, she wouldn’t leave a message, she said, hanging up with a sense of foreboding.

Something had gone wrong. It was five days now since she had heard from him. Either something had happened to Ben or he had found the place and decided he would keep it all for himself. In that case, he would be well away from Cairns by now, probably in Sydney.

Stella paced up and down her office, a pulse throbbing in her head as she felt her anger and frustration rising. A wastepaper basket at the end of the desk stood in her way and she kicked it viciously, scattering several crumpled balls of paper on the floor. She kicked the wastepaper basket again.

‘Fuck you, Ben, where the hell are you?’ She spat the words out. Then she kicked each piece of paper around the room, uttering obscenities at it, pretending it was Ben’s head.

Breathing heavily, she sat at her desk, holding her head in her hands. Slowly, she calmed and began to think rationally.

If Ben didn’t turn up, what would she do? First, she could contact the other family members, one at a time, to see if they knew where he was. But if he had made off with whatever he might have found, he would be far away by now, probably heading to America to try and dispose of it. If so, she would be unlikely to ever find him.

So where did that leave her? Well, she still had the paintings. They were worth a small fortune, she would take them and quietly leave Cairns, not telling anyone. If she went on a weekend, no one would miss her until she was well away. She had grown tired of it here anyway, and now Mark was leaving, she had no desire to stay.

Feeling better now, Stella checked herself in the mirror, smoothing her hair with her hands and powdering her nose. At that moment, the phone rang. Perhaps this was Ben. Turning back to her desk, she picked it up quickly.

Her partner’s voice came over the line. ‘Have you heard from Ben yet?’

‘No, I haven’t heard from him, I told you I’d ring you as soon as I did. I told you not to keep ringing all the time.’

‘Do you think he’s taken the stuff himself and left us in the lurch?’

Stella’s voice rose. ‘No, like I told you before, I don’t think he’d try and dispose of it himself, he wouldn’t have any idea how to go about it. Like you.’

‘What are you going to do?’

Her rage erupted again. ‘What the fuck do you want me to do?’ she screamed into the phone. ‘I’m beating my brains out trying to know what to do. Get off my fucking back and leave me alone. Don’t keep ringing me. I’ll let you know when I hear something. If I hear something.’ With that, she slammed the phone down and sat back, the pulse beating in her temple again. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

At that moment, Katie knocked and opened the door.

‘Excuse me,’ Katie said hesitantly.

‘What do you want? You know I don’t want to be disturbed.’ Her voice sounded hostile and she still breathed heavily.

‘I wouldn’t have disturbed you but there’s an Inspector Bates from the police here. He wants to see you.’

Stella stared at Katie in shock. Her mind went blank. She tried to control a feeling of panic. When she could speak, she hoped her voice sounded normal. ‘Tell him I’ll be out in a minute.’

Katie nodded and withdrew, shutting the door.

Stella sat there, taking deep breaths. Slowly, her mind began to function again. Her first thought was that it had to be something to do with Ben. Maybe he’d had an accident. Then she remembered that no one knew of the connection between them. What then? Probably just a routine call with a list of stolen property in case someone brought in something to sell. It had happened before. When she pulled herself together sufficiently, she went out with a bright smile and walked over to the solid-looking man waiting patiently for her.