How long will you stay?
In a low, fierce voice, Tess said, I don’t want to go back to Penleigh, I don’t want to go to another boarding-school. When Mum comes back from India, I don’t want to live with her. I’m going to live with Gran and go to school in Adelaide. Maybe go to university. Thats what I want.
I think thats great, Leah said, then paused. You should probably ring your mother.
No. The police can do that. What about you?
What about me?
Tess grasped Leah’s wrist, suddenly needy. Will you stay here with me tonight?
Of course.
There was a pause. Leah?
Yes?
Can we, you know…
Stay in touch?
Yeah. Can we? Would that be okay?
Of course, Leah said, and realised that she meant it.
Tess relaxed. They told me you saved someones life. Someone who wanted to hurt you. I mean, God.
Leah shrugged. Saving Allynsons life had been instinctive. But it had earned her some grudging respect from the police who had swarmed through the house afterwards. In other circumstances they might have harassed her or arrested her on some trumped-up charge. They were wary around her, but it was coloured by respect, not hatred.
At least, thats how things stood here, now. Leah knew enough not to go back to her house. She certainly wasn’t about to rejoin the police force. There were still those who hated her and wanted to do her harm. Some men had long memories.
The only standing offer had come from Abbott, the private detective, not ten minutes ago. Would Leah consider joining his firm?
Leah had said shed think about it, but what she saw, in her minds eye, was not a Leah Flood shadowing some philandering husband, drinking stale coffee in a stakeout vehicle and pissing in a plastic container, but a Leah Flood standing with her thumb out, somewhere along a beckoning highway in the vast emptiness, waiting to see what might happen next.
