‘He won’t let us.’
Darcy sat back on his heels. He waited in silence until the thermometer had had time to register.
A chicken wandered in the open door and started to scratch in the dust around the fire.
He lifted the thermometer free and winced.
‘It’s high, isn’t it?’ the woman said, as if it was a foregone conclusion.
‘She’s had high temperatures for almost a week. She’s not getting any fluid on board. Margaret, she must come to hospital.’
‘No. He won’t-’
‘He has to let her come. She needs an intravenous drip to get fluids on board. She needs antibiotics.’
‘Give her fluids here.’
‘You know I can’t. Margaret, look around. There are reasons the kids’ sores are infected.’
‘I can’t help it. We do our best.’
‘I need to see Jerry.’
‘He won’t-’
‘Jerry?’ Ally froze.
‘Jerry’s the head of the community.’ Darcy was totally occupied with the child but he talked to her over his shoulder. ‘There are three women and four men here, but Jerry’s the head.’
‘We do as he says,’ Margaret whispered.
‘Even if it means someone dies?’ Darcy demanded, and the woman gasped. He hadn’t referred to Jody by name but his meaning was unmistakable.
‘No.’
‘It may well happen.’
‘No!’
‘Then let Jody go to hospital. You’re her mother.’
‘Jerry says no. You know he says no.’
‘I’ll have to bring in Social Services.’
‘You know he won’t let them take her. Last time he went into the bush and stayed there. You know what happened then. And even if you report it…’ Her voice broke on a sob. ‘It takes weeks for them to do anything, and when they come he’s so reasonable and he makes them feel like everything’s under control.’
‘It isn’t though, is it, Margaret?’
‘N-no,’ she faltered. ‘But I’m only one. I can’t… The group decides.’
‘Lorraine’s Marigold is sick, too, and she’s just as upset.’
‘Lorraine won’t fight Jerry. Neither will Penny, and David’s sick, too.’
‘You must. You all must.’ But Darcy’s voice was weary, as if he’d had this argument a thousand times before.
But Ally was no longer listening.
She stared down at the sick little girl and she felt like she might explode.
Jerry. Jerome. Jerome was here?
‘Where’s Jerry?’ Ally asked-casually, but her voice was loaded. This whole situation… She might choke, she thought. After all these years.
‘He’s meditating,’ Margaret told her. ‘The men are. Penny and Lorraine are making dinner in the other hut.’
‘The other kids are there?’ Darcy demanded.
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll see them.’ Darcy rose. ‘But when I leave I’m taking Jody with me, Margaret.’
‘You can’t.’
‘If I don’t…’ He glanced down at the little girl who was staring up at him with eyes that didn’t seem to be registering. ‘You know what will happen. It’s happened before.’
‘Sam was an accident.’
‘A burn that got infected. That I wasn’t allowed to treat.’
Ally stepped back and gripped one of the wall supports, leaning heavily against it. The room was spinning. She felt sick. Jerome Hatfield. It had to be him. In this place, after all these years.
And a little boy called Sam had died of burns. Dear God, how much more damage had he done?
‘He’s in the far hut?’ she demanded, and the woman looked at her, startled. The fury in her voice was unmistakable.
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll talk to him,’ she said, and wheeled.
Darcy caught her before she reached the door. He’d moved like lightning, reaching her to grip her arm and stop her from going further.
‘Leave it,’ he said roughly. ‘I’ll see him.’
‘Yeah, like you’ve done a lot so far.’ She was so angry she didn’t care who heard her fury. ‘A little boy dead? And now Jody. I don’t believe this. Let me go.’
‘You’ll do more harm than good,’ he said urgently. ‘If you threaten him he’ll take himself off to the bush and take his people with him. He’s done it in the past. When Sam died.’
‘And you let it happen?’
‘I didn’t have a choice,’ he told her. ‘They watch the road. When Sam was ill I was so desperate I even called in the police. But they couldn’t find them. And now… It’s taken me ages to persuade Jerry to let me come and treat the kids.’
‘But you let the children stay.’
‘There’s been a Social Services hearing,’ he told her, and she could hear years of frustration in his voice. ‘Margaret loves her kids. Social Services knows that. So do Lorraine and Penny. Jerry’s agreed to let the kids be assessed once a month. Hell, Ally.’
Enough. His hands were tied. She could see that. Focus on Jody. Focus on one child’s needs.
Margaret loved her little girl, she thought, watching the woman’s face. But…did she love Jerry more?
Who could possibly love Jerry?
‘Margaret, you can’t possibly want to stay with Jerry when it’s putting Jody in danger.’ She hesitated and moved to face her. She reached out and gripped her shoulders, forcing her to meet her eyes. ‘You can’t.’
‘You don’t know what he’s like,’ Margaret whispered. ‘I’m his. We’re all his. When Sam died, Penny tried to leave but…she came back. He’d find us.’
‘So you’re scared of him?’
‘Of course we are.’
‘There’s no physical abuse,’ Darcy said from behind her. ‘We went through that after Sam died. Margaret might say this now, but if the authorities come in Jerry will have all their support.’
‘Right.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I do know what he’s like, Margaret. And I can deal with this. I promise.’
‘How the hell?’ Darcy was looking at her as if she was out of her mind.
‘Bring the rest of the kids and the women here,’ she told Margaret. ‘Things are going to change. Right now.’
‘You’ll destroy…’ Margaret looked appalled.
‘No,’ Ally told her. Once upon a time she’d been terrified of Jerry Hatfield herself, but that was going back almost twenty years. No more. And that these women and these kids-probably the men, too-were going through what she’d faced.
‘I’ve waited a long time for this,’ she said. ‘Trust me. I can cope with Jerry Hatfield. Darcy, give me your phone.’
‘What-?’
‘I don’t have a cell phone,’ she told him, as if he were being stupid. ‘I need it.’ Then, as he didn’t react, she stepped forward and lifted it from the clip on his belt.
She started dialling.
And she started walking.
‘If you want to see what a massage therapist can do when she decides to do no harm, come along and watch,’ she told him over her shoulder. ‘But this tragedy will stop right now.’ And she started talking urgently into Darcy’s
