He watched hungrily as she rolled over and stumbled over to the chest of drawers where her phone was, picked it up, frowned at the screen then put it up to her ear. As she said her greeting, his gaze ran over the long, generous lines of her body, the fullness of her breasts, the curve of her hip, the taught roundness of her bottom. God, he loved her arse. His mouth was suddenly watering with the need to lick and nip his way around the globes, exploring that interesting little birthmark and pattern of moles near the dimple of the left cheek.
He suddenly became aware of a certain stiff wariness in the way she was holding herself. He was off the bed and over to her before he registered the shock and anger growing on her face.
‘Listen, you son of a bitch. Whoever you are, you’re not getting away with trying to scare me and run me out. I’m not leaving. But you will be. As soon as the police track you down and arrest you for burning down my house.’
Flynn wanted to snatch the phone from her hand, to reach down it and strangle the bastard putting that look on her face, making that angry-tense-fearful sound vibrate in her voice. But all he could do was lean closer to try to hear the voice on the other end of the phone, see if he could recognise it.
She pulled the phone away from her ear and hit the speaker function and the voice on the other end sprang into the room with them.
‘… you don’t deserve what you have. You slut. You stole it. Stole everything that was mine. I tried to give you a chance to make amends, but you didn’t take it and now I’m going to make you pay.’
Her gaze met his over the phone as the man spoke, her frown a deep groove as she mouthed, ‘Do you recognise the voice?’
He did, but he couldn’t place where. The person was whispering, speaking in a low tone that wasn’t natural, but there was still something about it that registered in his brain as something he’d heard before.
‘Doc Simpson?’
He shook his head, although he could understand why she might think that, given what was being said. ‘Maybe a family member? Keep them talking.’
‘What have I stolen from you?’
‘Everything that matters. Everything that should have been mine. And now I’m going to burn it all down and watch you go with it. You and that shit you call a son.’
Prita jerked, the phone slipping from her fingers. Flynn grabbed for it before it fell, hit the speaker function and put it up to his ear. ‘Listen, you bastard,’ he began, but the phone line was already dead.
Prita’s gaze moved wildly from one part of the room to the next as if she couldn’t concentrate on any one thing, as if her thoughts were skipping around from one horrible thought to the next. ‘Carter. He’s going after Carter.’
Flynn wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight. ‘He’s not. He’s not going to touch you or your precious boy.’
‘He already has. He already took our house, my business.’
He pulled back from her and held her face in his hands, looking deep into her eyes. ‘He has taken from you, but we aren’t going to let him take any more.’
‘He said I’ve taken what’s his. I’ve never taken anything I didn’t earn.’
‘I know, but this isn’t a reasonable person. It’s time to demand the police take these calls seriously and start a proper investigation. While they do, I’m going to stay here with you and Carter and we’ll have the men watching out for this arsehole. He’s not going to get anywhere near you or your precious boy. Okay?’
‘But what about school for Carter? Or when he’s by himself because I get caught up and he’s waiting for me? You can’t cover every moment.’
‘We’ll talk to the police. We’ll talk to the school. Nobody will get near Carter while he’s there. And Mum and Reid and Nat and I will organise a roster to drop the kids off and pick them up and for Carter to always be with one of us when you’re busy with patients. It’s going to be fine.’ He kissed her forehead and pulled her to him, resting his chin on her head. ‘I won’t let anything happen to you. I won’t.’
He was holding her tightly, maybe too tightly, but then she wrapped her arms around him and held onto him just as tightly and he knew he had to protect her in whatever way he could. He couldn’t lose her. Couldn’t lose this. He needed it too damned much.
Chapter 22
The police arrived, Constable Bruce along with a Detective Constable Bryce Harrington from Trafalgar, and began to interview her and Flynn. As they talked, she realised that all the places fires had been set recently in and around CoalCliff, were places she and Carter loved to go—her gymkhana paddock, the dam on the top of the hill that was her special place, the climbing wall where Carter spent so much time. ‘Oh my god. I can’t believe I didn’t see this before,’ she blurted out in the middle of the detective asking Flynn about the call.
‘See what?’ Flynn asked.
She told them.
They all nodded. ‘Flynn already called us and told us his theories about there being a link.’
‘You already thought of this?’
He squeezed her hand. ‘I was hoping I was wrong, but this seems to prove it.’
She tried not to shudder as the police asked more questions about who might know about these places—nearly everyone in the community, so not much help there—and when they’d last been there—multiple
