Sleight Malice (15 page)

Selena sunk
down onto the other couch, her hands resting protectively over her lower
abdomen. “I don’t remember anything,” she said, her gaze lost in the fire.

“I know that’s
what you told the police, but amnesia is a funny thing: memory can return when
we least expect it, sometimes as flashes, sometimes as a dream.”

Selena
continued staring into the flames.

“Whatever you
tell me is strictly between us. Unless you say otherwise, of course,” Desley
hastened to add. “No blame, no recriminations, I swear. You have my word.”

"What is
it you want to know?” Selena’s voice sounded distant, resigned.

“Well, how
about starting with when and how you became involved with Ryan.” Desley wasn’t
exactly sure how it tied into anything, but if nothing else, it might help fill
in some of the blanks. Had Laura been wise to Ryan’s philandering, or had she,
like Desley with Trent, been completely in the dark?

“It just
happened.” Selena sighed. “You know Ryan. He could be a real charmer…”

Desley raised
her eyebrows. Were they talking about the same man? Desley would not have
described the Ryan Moore she knew as charming. Aloof, standoffish, cold even,
but never charming.

“…and Trent and
I had been having a few problems.”

Though also news
to her, Desley didn’t pry and Selena didn’t elaborate.

Selena
continued as if she were in a trance, her voice a low monotone. “Ryan was there
for me when Trent wasn’t. He listened. He cared. One thing just lead to
another. We didn’t plan any of it. And we didn’t intend for anyone to get
hurt.”

Finding it hard
to catch all of Selena’s words, Desley moved down the couch closer to the fire.
“How long ago did Laura find out about you and Ryan?”

Selena shook
her head. “She didn’t as far as I know. Nor did Trent, that is until I told him
I was pregnant. Ryan was never going to leave Laura and believe it or not, for
all his foibles, I do love Trent.”

Funny way of
showing it
, Desley thought, keeping her opinion to
herself.

“Then I found
out I was pregnant.” Tears ran down Selena’s fire-reddened face. “I was excited
but scared at the same time. Trent and I had been trying for so long and I
really wanted it to be his. I had only once missed taking precautions with
Ryan. Anyway, I told Trent the good news, only to find out all those months we
tried to conceive had been a lie. I know two wrongs can never make a right, but
he hurt me as much as I hurt him.”

Yet she claimed
she still loved him? “And you’re sure Laura didn’t know about the affair?”

“Ryan assured
me she didn’t, but who knows,” Selena said. “Women are generally far more
perceptive than men give us credit for. Put it this way, even if she sensed
something was going on, I don’t think she could’ve known who it was with unless
he told her.”

Had Laura
suspected anything? If so, she had kept it to herself. But then again Desley
knew from experience that ignorance – feigned or real – meant not having to
face the awful reality. “Can I ask how long you’ve been seeing Ryan?”

Selena’s eyes
closed in a slow blink. “Coming up for seven months now.”

The fire’s
intense heat scorched the side of Desley’s face. Reluctant to move for fear of
disrupting the conversation flow, she stayed put. “And the cottage, did you
meet there often?”

Selena picked
up the poker from the hearth and prodded a half-burnt log, nudging it toward
the centre of the flames. “No, only twice. It wasn’t exactly easy getting away
together for more than a couple of hours at a time. The first time was when
Trent was in Sydney for some weekend work thing and Laura was somewhere else –
I don’t remember where. The second time…”

Desley watched
Selena poke absentmindedly at the fire. “How did Ryan take the news he was
going to be a father?”

“I don’t know.
He disappeared before I could tell him. I hope to God Trent didn’t get to him
first—” Selena stiffened. She turned to Desley, her eyes wide. “Don’t get me
wrong. I don’t think for one second that Trent could’ve physically hurt Ryan,
let alone Laura, regardless of how upset he was. And forget arson. That
would’ve meant getting his hands dirty.”

Desley couldn’t
help but smile. Different woman, same man.

“No,” Selena
continued, “bailing him up somewhere highly public and confronting him with the
news of my pregnancy would be more Trent’s style.”

She knew him
well. “So what made you think you would find Ryan at the cottage?”

“Just on the
off chance really; it was the only place I knew of to look. I’m assuming that’s
why you were there, too.” Selena’s gaze returned to the fire, her left forearm
nestled against her stomach. “Whatever, I’m extremely grateful that you showed
up when you did. Things could’ve turned out a lot worse.”

“Do you
remember nothing at all about the attack? What about the lead-up? Did you see
or hear anything? Try taking me through it step by step from when you first
arrived in Howqua?”

“There’s not
much to tell. The place looked empty, but I tried knocking anyway. When no one
answered, I went around the cottage looking in all the windows I could. From
what I could see, it didn’t look like anyone had been staying there. Then I
went back and tried the door. I got the surprise of my life when it opened,
believe me. I thought that someone must’ve forgotten to lock it. I called out a
few times. Nothing. I was dying for a pee by that stage, and I didn’t think
Ryan’s friend would object to me using the loo.”

“Ryan’s
friend?” Desley blurted without meaning to.

“The cottage
belongs to a friend of Ryan’s, or so he told me.”

“Sorry, go on.
What happened next?” Laura had told Desley the cottage belonged to a friend of
a friend, but that was something she could investigate further later.

“That’s it
really. I sensed movement behind me, but before I could turn around, whoever it
was hit me over the head and that’s the last thing I remember. I can’t even
tell you for sure if it was a man or a woman.” Selena shrugged. “Sorry.”

Convinced she
could smell singed hair and unable to bear the fire’s radiant heat any longer,
Desley shuffled sideways. A grey gloom closing in, she glanced outside at the
gathering dark clouds. Inside the fading light and the flickering firelight
caused eerie shadows to dance across Selena’s face, giving her an ethereal
look.

A crack of
thunder. Desley jumped, but Selena remained stock-still, seemingly spellbound
by the red and orange flames.

“How’s Trent?”
Selena asked, her voice almost inaudible.

“Why don’t you
give him a call and find out. Talk to him. Tell him how you feel.”

“I don’t think
he would want to talk to me.”

“You might be
surprised.”

Selena’s head
whipped round, her flushed and tear-stained face expectant. “Really? What did
he say?”

“He hasn’t said
much at all. Not to me anyway. But I do know he’s hurting, just like I know
you’re hurting…” She paused; it felt strange to feel compassion for the woman
who stole her husband. Maybe they deserved each other. “What have you got to
lose, Selena?”

A car door
slammed close by. “Oh shit,” Selena said, leaping to her feet, “that’s Mum.”

Desley gathered
up her bag, coat and other bits from the couch. “Don’t panic, I’m on my way.”

Moments later,
she heard the front door open and close, followed by footsteps across the
slate-tiled entrance hall. She had one arm in her coat when a shorter, plumper
and middle-aged version of Selena came into the room laden with green shopping
bags.

“Brrrr, it’s
cold… Oh, hello there,” she said, spotting the visitor. “Selena love, I didn’t
realize you had company.” Selena’s mother turned to Desley. “It’s so nice for
Selena to have her friends to visit. Why don’t I make you girls a big mug of
hot chocolate?”

Selena stood
behind her mother, shaking her head and mouthing ‘no’.

“That’s very
nice of you, Mrs Papa,” Desley said, wrapping her scarf around her neck. “Thank
you, but I really must be going. I’d like to get home before the weather gets
too much worse.”

“Of course, of
course. Next time then.”

At the door,
Desley pressed her business card into Selena’s hand. Her skin felt surprisingly
cool. “If you think of anything please call me, day or night. My email address
is on the card if you would rather not phone me.”

Desley left the
house, breaking into a trot as she neared the road and her car. She breathed
deeply, the chill moist air like a tonic after the fire’s dry searing heat. She
wasn’t looking forward to the trip home: she hated driving in the
half-dark-half-light.

As she buckled
her seatbelt, a dark-blue sedan crossed in front of her into the Papa’s
driveway. Though she thought she recognized the passenger’s frizzy blonde hair,
she couldn’t be sure. Why would DS Kim Mitchell be calling on Selena? According
to Fergus, the police had been satisfied that Selena couldn’t identify her
attacker, forensics confirming she had been hit from behind.

Desley
unclipped her seatbelt and scrambled out of the car. Using the rhododendron
bushes for cover, she crept along the edge of driveway until she was close
enough to see, but not quite hear, what was happening. She didn’t need the man
standing on the Papa’s doorstep to turn around. The cropped hair and burly
physique could only belong to one male: Detective Inspector Grant Buchanan. Kim
Mitchell stood to his right, her unruly blonde frizz like a beacon in the dull
light.

The door opened
and the two detectives disappeared inside, leaving Desley skulking around
outside in the bushes. She shivered. Caught up in the moment, she hadn’t felt the
damp cold seeping into her bones. She stamped her feet, pulling the collar of
her coat up around her jaw. She wondered if Selena’s mother was now offering
the new visitors that mug of hot chocolate. She swallowed, imagining the warm,
rich silkiness.

Deciding she
would be better off in the car, she bid a hasty retreat. Except, before she
could reach the gate and the sanctuary of the Peugeot, she heard raised voices
and car doors slamming. She shrank back into the shadows, feeling as if she
were a participant in some absurd game of hide-and-seek.

She heard the
vehicle before she saw it. The unmarked police car zoomed past her, but she
managed to catch a glimpse of Selena in the back seat, her head bowed and her
long black hair shielding her face.

Desley barreled through the door,
colliding with Brandon.

He caught her.
“Take it easy, Sis. Where’s the fire?”

“Why weren’t
you answering your phone?”

“When did you
call? I didn’t hear it ring,” he said, patting his pockets and looking around
the room.

“I rang the
landline, too. Didn’t you hear that?”

He frowned.

“Never mind…”
She spotted Brandon’s backpack, packed and ready to go, on the floor in the
hallway. “Don’t tell me you’ve had enough of your big sister already.”

“It’s been
hard,” he said with a laugh, “but I’m tough. No, my boss called and wants me
back like yesterday. But if you need me here, I’m sure I could sort something.”

She punched his
arm. “I’m tough, too. I’m quite capable of looking after myself, you know.”

Brandon rubbed
his arm. “Tell me about it,” he said, with an exaggerated grimace. “I wouldn’t
want to meet you in a dark alley, that’s for sure.”

She punched him
again, harder.

“Ow!”

“What time—” An
odd burring sound from the refrigerator interrupted her thoughts.

“Ah, that’s
where I left it,” Brandon said, opening the fridge door and retrieving his
cooled mobile phone.

She didn’t ask.

“Message,” he
said. “Why were you calling anyway?”

“It wasn’t
important.”

His eyebrows
arched. “No?”

“No, really,”
she said, thinking fast. She didn’t want to burden him with Selena and the
day’s goings-on just as he was about to leave. “I was going to suggest dinner
out, that’s all. And well, since you won’t be here…” She raised her palms in an
open shrug.

Cocking his
head to the side, he studied her. “Why don’t you come home with me? You know
Mum and Dad would love to see you.”

She shook her
head. “My boss wouldn’t like it.”

“Your boss is a
tough woman.”

She smiled.
“You better believe it. And remember, I’ve already promised Mum I would be home
for Christmas.”

“Fair enough.
Just one thing though,” he said, his face sterner than she had ever seen it. “I
want you to promise me that you’ll stay out of the police investigation and let
them do their job. And that also goes for your PI friend. You have no idea what
you could be getting yourself into or what sort of people you’re dealing with.
We’re talking about dangerous criminals here – you’ve seen what they’re capable
of. They don’t play by the rules.”