headed where he wanted.
The plane’s elderly occupants-a man and a woman dressed in dilapidated farming gear-took their time to climb out, and when they did it seemed they were mid-domestic tirade.
‘I told you we needed to get rid of this rust bucket.’ The woman was scolding at full blast. ‘We’ve got the money in the bank, you old skinflint. Regardless of what the girl and the kiddie do, we’re taking this bucket of bolts down to Adelaide, and we don’t come back until you’ve got us something respectable to fly in.’ She looked across the strip and saw Riley and she waved wildly. ‘Hey, Jackson.’ Her hat fell off. She stopped to retrieve it. She gave her loose trousers a tug to make sure they stayed up and she headed straight for him.
Despite his confusion, Riley smiled. He’d met this pair before at the cattle sales. Bill and Dot were the couple who lived a hundred miles north of Barinya Downs, and Bill had been the one who’d contacted him about Jenna and Karli. He liked Dot a lot.
But what were they doing here? Dot was a plump, gregarious little country woman with a nose for good- humoured gossip, but Bill usually kept himself firmly to himself.
The well-dressed woman and her pilot had started walking towards him as well. He strolled across to meet them all-his four unlikely visitors.
Dot reached him first. ‘Dot, it’s great to see you,’ he told her, smiling warmly down at the little woman. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘We’ve come to take your visitors to Adelaide,’ Dot told him, and she assumed an attitude of virtue that didn’t quite gel with the glances of curiosity she was giving the lady in the suit. ‘I told Bill it was the only Christian thing to do.’
‘You mean you couldn’t keep your nose out of what’s not our business,’ Bill said, exasperated, but he was smiling as well. He reached Riley and held out a hand in greeting. ‘Hey, mate. We thought we’d rid you of your visitors. Or rather Dot thought we’d rid you of your visitors and I’m here under sufferance. We thought we’d take them to Adelaide for you.’
‘But they’ve already gone,’ Riley told him.
He didn’t like saying it, he decided. He didn’t like the way Dot’s face fell in disappointment. It was too much an echo of how he felt himself. He turned to his other visitors to give himself time to make a recovery. ‘I’m sorry.’ He held out his hand to the lady in crimson. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know you. Should I?’
‘I’m Enid O’Connell,’ the lady told him, and she gripped his hand in a hold that was firmer than Bill’s. Her face puckered in concern. ‘Have I missed them?’
‘You’re looking for Jenna and Karli as well?’
‘I am.’ Then, as he looked confused she explained. ‘I met them on the train. I was the one who instigated the search. The police told me they were here, but I couldn’t stop worrying. I’ve done a bit of homework and managed to resolve a few of their problems, so I thought I’d fly out to put their minds at rest.’
His confusion didn’t lessen one bit. ‘How could you do that?’
‘As it happens, it was easy.’ She released his hand and looked up at him, her eyes assessing. He was doing his own assessing. What had Bill told him about the elderly lady on the train? Enid O’Connell? That she’d been a chief magistrate? Riley could understand how this lady could have held such a position. Her eyes were piercing, and her features spoke of a fierce intelligence. ‘I took a really strong dislike to Brian,’ she told him.
‘I’ve never met Brian,’ he said slowly as the rest of the group tried to take in what she was saying. ‘But I feel the same way. Um…tell me again why you’re here? You’ve resolved some of Jenna’s problems? Tell me how.’
‘The man’s a petty thug,’ Enid told him. ‘But he chose the wrong people to be witness to his extraordinary outburst. We were stuck on the train for two days and there was such a mix of people on the passenger list. Before we reached Perth I’d found three lawyers, a judge, a criminal psychologist, a-’
‘I think I’ve lost you,’ Riley said. He looked around at Bill and Dot and Maggie and the pilot of Enid’s plane and he could see she’d lost them as well. Or maybe not the pilot. The pilot was just plain impassive.
‘It’s easy,’ Enid told them, obviously exasperated at minds that were less acute than hers. ‘I was telling the little girl a story when Brian burst into the train’s sitting room. Brian was shouting at the child, telling her he’d conned her out of her share of her mother’s estate. Almost in the same breath, he was telling her that her mother was dead. The whole passenger lounge was appalled. Anyway, between us we had so many contacts that, with internet connections and phone calls, by the time we reached Perth we had the entire story. In fact, we had enough to go straight to court. We now have signed statements from no fewer than eight witnesses. Brian admitted he lied to get Karli and Jenna out of England, and it’s now all so beautifully documented that he’ll never get out of it.’
‘He lied?’ Maggie said blankly, and Enid nodded in satisfaction.
‘The man’s a fool. He was drunk, both with alcohol and with triumph, and he told the world how clever he’d been. Or how clever he thought he’d been. There were those among us who…well, who knew enough to encourage him. Anyway, the outcome is that there’s no way Nicole’s codicil can be overturned, as it’s been manipulated by fraud. Brian’s welcome to dispute it, but, as far as we can see, Nicole’s will stands. The girls will inherit everything.’
That was something to think about. They’d be rich, Riley thought. They’d be independent. Strangely, it gave him no pleasure at all.
It should. He wanted them to be independent. Didn’t he?
‘So you arranged to fly all the way from Perth to tell them that.’ Riley gazed at Enid in astonishment and she gazed back at him, her face serious.
‘I had to. I kept thinking of those two white faces the last time I saw them and I thought Jenna must be frantic. When I heard she hadn’t rejoined the train yesterday I thought, Dammit, I can afford it, so I’ll get in a plane and come and tell them what’s happening.’
Riley might be confused himself, but the rest of the group seemed just plain dumbfounded. ‘That’s…um…great,’ Dot ventured. Riley’s elderly neighbour clearly hadn’t understood a word of what Enid had said, but Dot was examining Riley now and she seemed uncertain about the expression on his face-as well as confused by the story. ‘Isn’t it great? Do you think it’s great, Riley?’
‘Riley doesn’t know what to think,’ Maggie said shortly. ‘He’s in love with Jenna.’
The whole world stilled.
Gee, thanks, Maggie, Riley thought, but he didn’t say it. He didn’t know what to say.
The silence went on and on. The pup nosed in and licked Riley’s hand. He whined softly as if he, too, was confused.
Everyone was confused.
Riley tried for anger, but it didn’t work. He tried for disdain or amusement or…or anything.
Nothing worked.
‘Riley’s fallen in love with Nicole Razor’s daughter?’ Dot asked at last, and Maggie nodded.
‘Hey, mate,’ Bill managed. ‘Whatcha go and do a thing like that for?’
‘You mean what did he go and fall in love for?’ Dot demanded, recovering a little and rounding on her husband. ‘Why shouldn’t he fall in love? Ooh. They must have got smitten while they were stuck at Barinya Downs. How romantic is that?’
‘It’s not even the slightest bit romantic,’ her husband retorted. ‘If you think Barinya Downs is romantic, you must have kangaroos loose in your top paddock.’
‘Yeah, but if they fell in love there now… It’s like you and me,’ Dot said dreamily. ‘I saw our place for the first time when we were in drought. You took me there and I thought it was great. I thought you were great. I fell in love then and you knew I was serious. Marriage is for the good times and the bad. If the bad times come first, then the marriage will last for ever.’ She sniffed and groped for a handkerchief. ‘So there. It
‘Yeah, but he can’t see it,’ Maggie said obtusely. ‘He thinks she’ll walk out on him.’
‘Why would she walk out on him?’ Enid asked, and Riley decided it was time to intervene.
‘Excuse me, but this is my-’
He was ignored.
‘Because every woman who’s ever come near this place has walked away,’ Maggie was saying over the top of him. ‘He reckons if he falls for Jenna and they try and make a go of it, then it’ll end in failure and the littlie’ll be hurt.’
Bill frowned. ‘That’s a bit of a long shot.’
