‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
She nodded, her cheek rubbing against the stiff material of the hospital gown. Tears stung her eyes as the coughing fit subsided. She blinked them away. ‘Fine,’ she finally managed. ‘When can we be discharged?’
‘About lunch time they said. As long as the obs are fine.’
‘Good.’ She didn’t want to be here any longer than she had to. Despite the fact Carter was at CoalCliff and she knew he was being looked after, he would fret.
‘Reid will come in to pick us up after he’s gone to Target to get you and Carter some clothes and things and then come back to pick us up. Nat and Mum gave him a list.’
‘What?’ She sat back. ‘He can’t do that.’
‘What? Pick us up?’
‘No, buy my clothes.’
‘But you need some. You lost everything in the fire and you can hardly go and get them yourself.’
‘But, it’s too much.’
‘Why? What else are friends for?’
She didn’t have an answer for that.
‘Mum was here earlier too, but she had to leave before you woke up. She said to tell you not to worry about where you’ll be staying, because we’ve got a spare room and you can use that for now until you’re well enough to look after yourself and then you can move into the cottage. She and Nat are going down to clean it out today or tomorrow. Nobody’s been in there since we had the last family group stay there after Christmas.’
‘I … but … I can’t stay with you.’
‘Where else are you going to stay?’
‘A hotel or we could rent somewhere else.’
‘You know Mum won’t put up with a bar of that, so don’t bother even to start humming that tune. She’s made up her mind you’re coming to stay at CoalCliff until your house can be rebuilt and that’s an end to it. You know there’s no other properties except the ones Bob Thompson owns or what’s for rental at Walhalla, and you wouldn’t want to make your patients drive along that windy road when they’re not feeling the best, would you?’
‘No.’ But how could she live at CoalCliff? With him? It was impossible enough as it was without them being in even closer proximity to each other. Also, they’d already done too much for her, something she was already struggling to accept given she was used to being alone and doing for herself.
However, for now, it seemed she had little choice. ‘Thank you.’
They were silent for a long moment, just the sound of her slightly raspy breathing and the slow stroke of his hand down her back.
After a long moment, his voice rumbled against her ear again. ‘What were you going to see the police about last night? Was it about someone leaving dead animals at your house? I saw that possum last night. After the bird left on your desk—’
‘The police!’ She pushed back from him, staring at him as memory returned in full of last night. ‘We have to call the police. Now.’
‘We can do it when we get back to CoalCliff. Constable Bruce knows where you are—he was one of the CFAs who turned up to put the fire out.’
‘No, you don’t understand. Someone was there. They killed that possum and left a message on the door telling me to leave. They set the fire.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I caught them running out.’
Chapter 14
Flynn gaped at her, anger and disbelief vying for precedence.
‘Don’t you believe me?’ She made a pffing noise before he could answer. ‘Of course you don’t. I’m just being an overly-emotional excitable woman.’
He snorted. ‘Nobody would ever say that about you. You’re one of the most together women I know.’
She blinked, his words obviously derailing her rant. She looked down, fiddling with the oxygen tube that lay across her lap. ‘Sorry. That was unfair. I know you’re not like that. It’s just …’ She blinked rapidly and sniffed. ‘I’ve lost everything I strove so hard to build and someone’s responsible. I’m angry and upset and not thinking straight.’
‘Of course.’ He reached out and stilled her hands, afraid she was going to bend the tube and stop the oxygen she still needed. ‘It’s only natural to feel that way.’
She looked up at him. ‘Someone was there, Flynn.’
He nodded.
‘You believe me?’
‘I saw the possum. And the threat. That didn’t get left there by your cat.’ He paused, muscle in his jaw flexing. ‘Did you recognise them?’
She shook her head. ‘No. It was too smoky and quite frankly, I was in shock. But I’m pretty certain, from the size, and the way they smacked into me, it was a man.’ Her fingers clenched the blanket on the bed. ‘The phone calls were one thing.’
‘Phone calls?’
‘It’s what I was going to the police for last night. But that doesn’t seem to matter now.’
‘You’ve been getting threatening phone calls?’
‘Yes.’
Had the light in the room darkened? No, that was simple fury. The same fury that was making him want to get up and punch something. Someone. But she didn’t need that. She needed him to stay calm. To listen. He shoved his hands under his legs and schooled his face to neutral. ‘What did he say?’
She waved her hand, obviously uncomfortable to share or relive what was said. Christ. Was it that bad?
‘Just some swearing and telling me to leave, that I didn’t belong, that I couldn’t have what was his. It was annoying more than threatening. Except, last night, the call came to my personal mobile, not the work one like it usually did, and he told me I
