* * *
Adam looked over the paperwork before glancing back to Jeremy. At last, something to work with. “Fine. I’m happy with it.” He signed on behalf of Simon and handed the agreement over.
“We’ll put him back in the main prison making sure the other prisoners can see him but I can concoct an issue to cause a lockdown, that way we can keep him isolated. I’ll make sure he dies in the early hours of the morning. That will give us all night to move him to safety. Expect to hear it on the morning news.” Jeremy took the document and slid it into a folder, and stood up. “Thanks for coming in on this, Adam. It’s made a heap of difference to settling this. Now we can focus on bringing them down.”
“My pleasure. If I didn’t like the country living so much I could almost be tempted to come back to the law but that’s not going to happen.” He stood up and shook the hand held out to him. Not a hope.
“Why this case then? Personal favor?”
“You could say that.” He smiled.
“Wouldn’t happen to run her own restaurant would she?”
Sneaking bugger. You knew all along. “If you ever want a weekend getaway, call in. She’s the best chef out.”
“Thanks, might take you up on that one. Right, I have a murder and a sting to arrange. Thanks again, Adam.”
He knew it probably wasn’t a good move but Adam was compelled to drive past Lena’s old restaurant. He wanted to see for himself if Sally was around. He wouldn’t go in, that was asking for trouble. Jeremy would kill him but there was no reason why he couldn’t do a drive by. The car he drove now wasn’t the one he had years ago when they were together so the chance of her recognizing him was zero if he wore dark glasses and kept the tinted windows up.
Adam drove down past the waterfront and turned up the main street, his heart pounding a tattoo under his ribcage. He could see the warehouse building on his right with a delivery truck parked out the front. The lights ahead were red, and the traffic light so he took his time and cruised up while glancing at both sides of the street.
The truck driver pulled down the back of his vehicle and shouted at someone standing on the pavement out of view. He then climbed into the truck, gesturing and shouting as he looked back at the traffic and pulled out onto the street.
Adam pulled up behind him and followed slowly toward the lights. He glanced left and saw the back of a woman as she walked inside the restaurant. She waved her hands and gestured back outside. While Adam was stopped at the lights he looked back in his rear vision mirror, and watched her stalking around the restaurant. As she turned, he saw a face he knew well. Simon had been right all along. Adam had been such a fool. She’d taken him for a ride as much as Cole had taken Lena.
You are such a patsy. Disgust rolled in his gut, the bitterness curling his lips. The truck moved and a car horn tooted behind him. Adam pushed the gas pedal and drove off wishing his ex-girlfriend all the hounds of hell on her tail in the next few weeks.
On the drive back to the farm he played everything out in his mind. Once he pushed back the image of Sally to a far corner of his mind he concentrated on what would happen in the next couple of days. Ben had been kept in the loop with the plans, but everyone else thought Simon had spent a couple of days in the prison hospital due to illness. Tomorrow on the news it would be reported prison guards found him dead and he could be buried at a private family gathering, taking the focus off of his family. Then it was up to Jeremy to do his bit while everyone else stayed in Mudgee out of harm’s way.
After the way Lena had reacted when Ben told her the appeal had been denied, he wasn’t expecting her cousin’s murder to go down well but there was no alternative. She would grieve as would Sofia. It was unavoidable if they were to keep Simon and his family safe. That was top priority.
When he turned down onto Hidden Lane, the tension in his shoulders eased and he understood what Lena had been trying to tell him finally. She insisted it was the best thing about living in the country. You could leave your problems in town and switch off at a certain point. The road sign had always been her point and Adam found it to be the same for him. He hadn’t noticed it before.
The lights were on in the dairy and on impulse he pulled over and got out of the car. The back door was open so he jumped the fence and walked in expecting to see Lena prepping for dinner. Instead she was wandering around with a glass of wine in her hand and Spencer running around her feet. What now?
The little dog barked when he saw Adam. “Hey buddy, how’s it going?”
Lena looked up, saw Adam, and gave him a watery smile. She raised her glass in his direction, bringing back a wash of de ja vue.
“Bad day?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
He place his arm around her waist and kissed her mouth, tasting the red wine on her lips. “Want to tell me about it?”
“I stole your dog for company.” She took another sip and handed him the glass. “I needed someone to talk to and he doesn’t talk back.”
“I noticed. Makes him a great companion. Want to come and tell me all about it?” He faced her and put his other hand around her hips to rest on the curve of her back.
“I should be open tonight,
