Riverboat Point (36 page)

“But he's been in touch with you and not me. Why?”

“It's complicated.” He reached for her but she stepped away, pain etched on her face.

“Whatever scheme you and my brother have cooked up it ends here.”

“I have no scheme, Sav. Jaxon asked me to help you when you needed it.”

“And you thought you'd include taking me to bed.”

An ache started deep in his chest. He shook his head.

“I think you'd better go,” she said.

He wanted to take her in his arms, make her understand. He'd fallen in love with her. He hadn't planned to when he'd agreed to Jaxon's request to help his sister, it just happened. The steely resolve had returned to her face. He could see she was in no mood to listen.

He stepped outside. “I'll get the part and fix the boat for you.”

She crossed to the door. “Not for me,” she said. “For Jaxon, remember?” She slid the door shut and closed the blinds.

Ethan stood a moment staring at the glass. He'd blown it. He'd found the woman he thought he could spend his life with and now he'd lost her trust. Damn Jaxon and his secrets.

Savannah sat slumped at the table, her hands wrapped around her mug of tea. She felt numb inside. The feeling took her back to the time after the accident when she'd finally been compos enough to be told her parents had both been killed in the crash, their funerals done. All she'd felt was emptiness, the same emptiness she felt now. She'd thought Ethan loved her like she loved him but it had all been a lie. Jaxon had put him up to it, she was sure. His poor lonely sister needed a man. She'd fallen for it.

She looked out at the grey morning. It matched her mood. Patches of mist clung to the edges of the river. It looked brooding and dull. She'd not slept well, aching for her loss of Ethan and broken by his deception. She'd been another conquest for him. An amusement while he helped her brother. Her life had a nasty habit of repeating itself.

She'd been awake when Ethan's bike had started up. He would be halfway to Adelaide. Once he came back it would be hard to avoid him. She still needed his help where the houseboats were concerned. Surely Jaxon would return now. All she had to do was keep things going for a bit longer then she could go back to her life in Adelaide.

She stared at the river. Somehow the thought of going back to the city held no appeal. She shrugged her shoulders. No point in self-pity. Experience had taught her the only person she could rely on was herself. She had the fitness class to look forward to this morning. The women there were good fun and appreciated her guidance. There were no hidden agendas.

That was still a way off. She got to her feet. A run was what she needed to clear her head.

She pulled on her running clothes. They were clammy with the cold but she'd soon warm up. She stretched, focused on the run and set off. Outside, the yard held pockets of mist and so did the road. It wasn't thick but was enough to change the features of the roadside. The pounding of her feet echoed in the still air.

A shot rang out and a high-pitched squeal. Savannah stopped and looked around. She was almost level with Gnasher's gate. There was another squeal. It sounded human. It pierced the air again. Savannah's heart went cold. It was the sound of a terrified woman.

She looked around again. What the hell was she going to do? She hadn't brought her phone and who would she call anyway? Ethan had gone, Ash had gone, the only people close by were Belinda and Gnasher … and whoever was doing the squealing.

She climbed the fence and dropped to the other side. The mist was even thicker here. She followed the track, her heart pounding in her chest. Any minute she expected Gnasher to jump out from the mist waving his gun.

Every so often she stopped and listened. She heard no more shots or cries. She moved on. The bush ahead thinned and with it the mist. In front of her was a large shed. She took careful steps forward. Something moved in the shed. She froze. It was Gnasher. He stood looking down at a mound by his feet.

Savannah took a deep breath.

“Hello, Gnasher,” she called just loud enough for him to hear her.

He turned and she walked slowly towards him. He had a few days' growth on his face, his cheeks and nose were ruddy and his eyes bloodshot. He frowned at her.

The mound at his feet whimpered. They both looked down. Savannah put a hand to her mouth. The mound was a woman. She was small with long dark hair and dark skin. Blood ran down her arm from a gaping wound.

Savannah looked from the bloodied cowering woman to Gnasher. Then she saw the rifle hanging from his hand.

“Gnasher!” she cried. “What have you done?”

The woman lifted her head at Savannah's voice. She started speaking excitedly in another language. Was it Chinese? Savannah couldn't understand her but she recognised the pleading tone.

“I didn't do anything.” Gnasher shook his head. He had a puzzled look on his face. “She just came out of the fog.”

“Help, please,” the woman croaked.

Savannah understood that. She hurried over.

“What's happened to her?”

“I don't know.” Gnasher lifted his arms in the air. The rifle went up with them.

The woman cried out again.

“I don't understand,” Savannah said.

“Vietnamese,” Gnasher said. “Sneaking into my camp. Thought she was bloody Viet Cong.”

“You shot her?” Savannah gasped.

“Should have,” he said and let his arms slump to his sides.

Savannah eyed the rifle. He laid it on the table, sunk into a chair and put his head in his hands. Gnasher didn't look in very good condition. Had the woman startled him and he'd fired? Where had she come from?

Savannah didn't know what to do. The woman had a jagged wound around the top of her arm, possibly from a bullet. Savannah had no idea what a bullet wound looked like but this one was a mess. At least the blood was congealing down her arm.

“Can you get up?” Savannah gestured with her hand.

The woman moaned as Savannah helped her. There was more blood on her legs and her dress was ripped.

“Get her out of here.”

Savannah and the woman both jumped as Gnasher thumped the table with his fist. He picked up his rifle and stalked away into the bush.

Savannah put a careful arm around the woman and guided her along the track towards the gate. They made slow progress.

“I'll get you some help.” She hoped her tone was reassuring. She wasn't sure the woman could understand her.

“My name is Sav.” Savannah patted her chest. “Sav,” she repeated when the woman looked at her.

She nodded. “Li,” she said.

“Li?”

The woman nodded again.

“I'll get you some help, Li,” Savannah said.

The gate was up ahead. Savannah knew it was padlocked. She hoped Li would be able to climb over. They rested against it for a moment. Savannah stared back along the track. The mist had cleared but the trees remained grey, their leaves dripping with moisture.

“Let's go,” she said. She gestured with her hands showing they had to climb over.

Li nodded.

Savannah went first then reached back to help Li over. No sooner were they on the other side than a dog barked. Li cowered behind her. Savannah looked up the road in the direction of the sound. Ash came round the bend with a huge dog tugging him along. Their car moved slowly along behind. Savannah assumed it was Belinda at the wheel.

“Thank goodness.” Savannah put a steadying hand on Li. Here was help when she needed it. They could put Li in Belinda's car and take her into town. Maybe there was someone there who could help.

The dog barked and pulled on its lead.

Behind her Li gave a small squeal.

“It's okay,” Savannah said. “I don't like dogs either but this one's on a lead.”

She waved at Ash. He waved back.

“I thought you were in Adelaide,” she said as he got closer.

“Plans changed.”

“I'm glad.”

Belinda got out of the car. “What's happening?”

“I've found this poor woman at Gnasher's. Don't know what he's done to her.”

Ashton gave Belinda a funny look. Almost a smirk. Belinda came closer. Li started babbling excitedly.

“Take Brutus away, Ashton,” Belinda snapped. “Can't you see he's terrifying her?”

Ash patted the dog's head and tugged it away.

“Will you be okay?” he asked Belinda. He had an odd expression on his face. Even though he'd helped her yesterday Savannah still couldn't warm to him. He seemed to find poor Li's plight amusing.

“We'll be fine. Savvie and I can look after one tiny woman. Let's get her into the car,” Belinda said. “We can take her back to my place and clean her up. If she needs more help we can call an ambulance.”

Li tugged against her with a strength Savannah wouldn't have thought she could muster.

“It's okay,” she soothed. “We're going to help you.”

Belinda opened the back door of her car. “You get in with her, Savvie. She's obviously had a hard time of it, poor thing.”

Li's eyes opened wide and she shook her head. They had difficulty getting her into the car. Belinda had to peel her fingers from the door frame. Savannah climbed in beside her and patted her hand gently. She looked so young.

The doors locked as the car picked up speed. Li slumped against her.

“How would she have got out here?” Savannah asked.

“Do you think Gnasher had her as his woman or something?”

“Surely not?” Savannah said. “Ethan goes over there regularly. He'd know about it.”

Belinda gave her a knowing look in the rear-view mirror.

The full extent of Savannah's foolishness hit her. Ethan probably did know about it. He was mates with Gnasher. It was just another of the secrets he kept. Goodness knows what poor Li had endured.

Ash was waiting at the gate with the dog.

Li whimpered as they drove through.

“Shhh,” Savannah soothed. “We'll soon have you safe.”

She glanced back. Ash was shutting the gate behind them.

Belinda drove on. Thick bush lined this part of the track leading into the Palmers' house.

“How's the horse?” Savannah asked.

“It died last night.”

“Oh.” How sad, Savannah thought.

They came to a fork in the track. She caught a glimpse of the house straight ahead. Belinda took the turn to the right and slowed to a stop beside a large shed that was almost completely obscured by trees and bush.

She looked back at Savannah. “I hope you don't mind but she's a bit of a mess. We've got this shed set up quite comfortably for overflow visitors. Let's clean her up here and see what needs to be done before we take her to the house.”

Savannah thought it odd but that was Belinda. If the house was as fancy on the inside as it looked from the outside, Savannah could imagine she wouldn't want any blood spilt there.

Once again Li's strength surprised her and it was a struggle to get her out of the car. Finally they got her into the shed. It smelt stale inside. A mix of food and human scent, like someone had been living in it. Belinda flicked a switch and several strip lights flickered to life. The walls of the shed were lined and there were no windows. A large caravan filled the space opposite the door. The shed was big enough to hold three caravans. There were a couple of chairs, a mat on the floor and a battered cupboard with a sink at the back but otherwise the rest of the large space was empty.

“I'll be right back,” Belinda said. She stepped outside and shut the door. It rattled as if it was being locked.

Savannah let go of Li's arm and tried the handle. The door wouldn't open. She pushed it but it wouldn't budge. It was solid and thick. Not like the door on Jaxon's shed that was just made of tin.

“Belinda?” she called.

Outside the sound of the car engine was very faint even though it was close. She pressed her ear to the door. The car noise faded away.

Li moaned. Savannah turned around. Li was looking at her and shaking her head. Tears flowed down her cheeks. What was going on? Savannah looked for the sliding doors she'd seen from the outside. They were covered up by whatever it was that lined the walls. It appeared the only way in or out of the shed was through this one side door and that was locked. She hit the door with her arm and instantly regretted it as pain stabbed. Savannah leant her head against the door and pressed her arm to her chest.

“If only we could understand each other,” she said.

She turned around but Li wasn't there. Across the shed the caravan door hung open.

Ethan glanced down the drive as he went past. Savannah's car wasn't there. He hadn't expected it to be. She had a fitness class in Riverboat Point. Either that or she'd packed up and gone back to Adelaide. He wouldn't blame her if she had, but she'd said it was in her best interest to keep the business going. He didn't think she'd leave until Jaxon returned.

He parked his bike and let Jasper out. Together they went upstairs and had something to eat. Downstairs again Ethan gathered up everything he thought he'd need to fix the houseboat and took it all down to his tinnie. Jasper followed him and pranced around as he loaded the boat.

“Okay, mate.” He patted Jasper on the head. “You can come too.”

Jasper jumped aboard and went to the front of the boat. It wasn't until Ethan was away from the jetty that the dog sat and lifted his face to the wind. Ethan turned the tinnie upriver. He had a good look at Jaxon's place as he went. Three houseboats were tied up to the bank. Hopefully it wouldn't take too much effort to fix the fourth and have it back.

Both the bigger boats were booked to leave this afternoon, otherwise they could have substituted
River Magic
for
Riverboat
. He had a good look at Ash's sleek high-powered boat as he passed. Lucky he'd been there to help Savannah. Ethan gave a wry smile. Knowing how she felt about Ash she would have loved that.