Head lowered, he trudged through town to the stables, to see about hiring a horse.
Chapter 42
Katherine McBride
“My husband isn’t here, Mr. Collins, as you’ve already been told.”
“But . . . I’ve traveled all this way.”
“Which is why you’ll have to make do with me instead.”
“No offense, miss, but it’s business I’m here for, not a social call.”
“I’ve not been a miss for over twenty years. Mrs. McBride, please.”
“McBride, Sullivan . . . you’re married so often it’s hard to keep track.”
His tongue slopped wantonly around his gums then he offered the same yellow, bucktoothed grin he’d worn when he first steppedthrough the office door. Now he sat across the desk from Katherine, sipping the bottom-shelf brandy she had offered him, whileKatherine folded her hands on the desktop and returned his smile with one of her own.
“Yes, of course, do forgive me. Two names over two decades. Must be quite a challenge for you, I am sure.”
He scowled at the insult, if that was what it was—she could almost see him calculating whether to take offense. A small manin a brown checked suit, blotchy-faced and sweating, he had a habit of dabbing himself with a handkerchief then sniffing itonce he was done. He repeated the ritual and calmed a little, took a sip of his brandy, said, “Right, so when are you expectinghim back?”
Days ago, thought Katherine; she had sent a telegram to the Bellevue Hotel and received a reply that Billy had checked out last week. She didn’t know where he was. Beyond Brisbane, he’d not told her anything about his plans. But she held her smile and kept her shoulders pinned and replied, “As I said, he has gone to the city on business, which will take as long as it takes. Then there is the return journey. If you’d telegrammed beforehand, I’d have told you the same thing.”
“Brave man, leaving his wife all the way out here, fending for herself.”
Mischief in his eyes when he said it. Katherine knew that glint. “I’m hardly alone, Mr. Collins. And I’m more than capableof fending for myself.”
He mulled it over for a moment. Another dab and sniff.
“It’s the commission I’m getting,” he said finally. “I need fifteen percent.”
Katherine stifled a burst of laughter. “Fifteen percent?”
“Exactly.”
“Up from five?”
“I know it’s a jump, but costs are up, labor, everything’s on the rise.”
“Your costs aren’t our concern, Mr. Collins.”
“Well they should be. It’s your cattle I’m putting through.”
“Indeed. Quite a substantial number of them, as I recall.”
“Still don’t change the numbers. The business won’t survive.”
“How you run things at your end is not our problem.”
“Will be if I go under. You could negotiate, at least.”
She busied herself with a stack of papers awaiting signature on the desk, slid one across and considered it. “As I said, youreally should have telegrammed first.”
“Twelve and a half then. I could make do with twelve and a half.”
She looked up at him. “You’ll make do with five, like everyone else.”
“Have a heart, Mrs. McBride. I’ve a family of my own to look after, so do my men. There’s kiddies’ll starve otherwise. Youwouldn’t want that, would you?”
Katherine put the papers aside again, leaned forward on the desk. “Well I’m pleased to see you’ve learned my name finally, but let me ask you this: If it were Billy sitting here instead of me, would you be asking for fifteen percent? Suggesting he have a heart, tossing out starving children like bait?”
“He’s a reasonable man, your husband. Fair.”
“You wouldn’t still have your seat, Mr. Collins. You’d be out that door and down the front steps with his boot up your backside,or worse.”
“It’s only business, I don’t mean nothing by it.”
“Business. Exactly. So what makes you think my answer will be any different to his?”
“Ten, then. I could scrape by on ten percent.”
“I’m sure you could. But you’ll have to scrape by on five.”
His stare hardened, a setting of the jaw. “You’ve a bloody nerve, sitting here in your mansion, telling me to scrape by. Thehell do you know about any of it—you ain’t never been nothing but a rich man’s wife. A dozen years I’ve been your sellingagent and I ain’t asking for nothing except what’s fair. Have Billy write when he’s back from Brisbane. I ain’t wasting anymore of my time.”
He went to stand but Katherine stopped him with a raised hand. “Mr. Collins, please, sit down. I think perhaps there’s beena misunderstanding here.”
A smirk teased his lips as he did so. Arms folded, head cocked, like he had her now. “All right, I’m listening,” he said,nodding. “On you go.”
“Thank you. You’re very kind. And you are correct, of course, about the length of our association. Twelve years is a long time. Over the past decade we have, as you know, outlasted and outgrown almost every other cattle station in central Queensland. Nobody can match us, Mr. Collins. The competition has all but disappeared. Now, we are a fair employer. You can ask any of our men. But when it comes to commercial arrangements such as the one we have with you, there really is no question as to who holds the cards. We set the rates we trade at, we decide with whom to trade; it does not work the other way around.” She paused and waited a beat before continuing: “Imagine a dingo, hunting out there in the scrubs, choosing which rabbit to go after—do you think the rabbits get any say? The best they can do to protect themselves, surely, is to keep their heads down, remain quiet, perhaps scurry into the long grass to hide. But now let us imagine that one particular rabbit begins jumping, screaming, provoking the dingo to its face—what do you think
