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CHAPTER SEVEN
AARON LET THE frame rest in the palm of his hand. Julie had a photo of him with her arm wrapped around his waist. He was suddenly assaulted by memories. Julie smiling at him from atop her palomino horse as she galloped beside him. She loved the speed; loved the freedom of the wind through her hair.
They’d been happy together. Young and carefree. And in love. They’d both professed their undying love for each other. Aaron had thought she was the one. So bright and bubbly, confident and cheerful, she’d lit a fire inside of him.
But on the day he turned nineteen, he’d put out the flames of that fire. Squashed the burning coals down far behind all the walls he put up around his heart, so he’d never feel that special heat again. Denial was a wondrous thing. And it’d nearly worked. He’d almost been able to forget about Julie.
Until today.
Until he stared into that photo and knew that all the denial in the world couldn’t wipe away the feelings they’d had for each other.
Julie stared at him, like some wild animal he caught in the corner of the room, looking for an escape.
“Yoo-hoo, where are you? I’ve got the tools and equipment you wanted.” Daniella’s voice drifted in from the hallway, breaking the spell over the room.
“In here,” Julie called, relief evident in her voice. “We’ll be out in a second.”
Aaron placed the photo carefully back on the dresser. Julie might’ve got away without an explanation this time, but he was a patient man. He’d ask her later. Although, he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her answer. Did he really want to know she’d been pining for him all this time? Because if she had, it’d make him feel doubly like the dishonorable reprobate.
He glanced up and watched Julie draw in a deep breath and paint a happy smile on her face. At the age of seventeen, her smile had been incandescent, and she’d turned it on without seemingly any effort. But now, even though the smile was still there, there was a weary heaviness dragging down the corners of her mouth. Like the weight of the world sat on her shoulders. A pang of longing flashed through him. Longing and loneliness. He suddenly knew that he wanted to help Julie. It was the least he could do.
Wasn’t it ironic? A few measly hours ago, Aaron hadn’t wanted anything to do with this job. He’d been going to ask Jake to reassign him at the first available option. But now his protection instincts had kicked up a notch, and he knew he’d stay until the end. Because it was Julie.
“After you,” he said with a sweep of his hand. She gave him a sideways glance, but happily trotted out the door and across the hall into the family lounge.
Daniella had laid out all sorts of tools and odd bits of metal on the floor next to the rear exit. Aaron ambled over and bent down to examine the haul. “Thanks,” he said, straightening up once more. “I’m going to put a call in to Shield and get Lance caught up on what we need. Can I send him your number?”
“Of course.” Daniella nodded her head regally. Aaron still wasn’t sure what to make of Daniella. She was prickly and controlling. She ran this station and the resort with a firm hand and a cool business head, and it showed. Stormcloud was the top exclusive resort in all of Queensland, or so he’d been told. She and Steve had built this resort from the ground up, and turned it into a highly profitable asset. But then, when he’d watched her interplay with her husband Steve, Aaron could see there was a softer side to Daniella, that perhaps she kept hidden from those who weren’t close to her. He wondered what Julie thought of her stepmother.
Aaron put those thoughts aside as he dialled in to HQ. Jake picked up on the second ring and Aaron spent the next five minutes bringing him up to speed on recent developments. He asked Jake to fill Nash in on the details as well; they needed to keep their police counterparts up to date.
He turned from staring at the external door and pocketed his phone, just in time to hear Daniella say, “It’s okay, honey. We all have your back. No one blames you for any of this.” Interesting. It seemed she did care, after all. It was nice to see that Daniella seemed to treat Julie the same as she would her other two biological children.
“Lance will call back in five minutes. He’ll need the names of all the guests, so he can start checking them out,” Aaron said, when both women turned to look at him.
“Right, I’d better get back to the office.” Daniella’s businesslike persona was securely back in place. “I’ll see if I can find a locksmith who can come out as well. I’m assuming you don’t need me anymore?”
“We’ll be fine,” Aaron replied. “We’re just going to chill in here, while I add some extra security to the doors and windows in the family wing, as long as that’s okay with you?”
“Do what you need to do.” Daniella stood and made her way to the door.
“I’d like to call a full family and staff meeting after dinner, however,” Aaron said. “If that’s okay with you?”
A pained look crossed Julie’s face. But Daniella replied, “Yes, of course. That’s a good idea,” before she left the room.
Aaron wondered why Julie was so hesitant to have everyone gathered together. He knew it wasn’t because she didn’t like being the center of attention, because she could often be found in the middle of a group of people, telling one of her wild jokes, or showing off a magic trick. It was probably more to do with her not wanting to feel like a burden. It seemed Julie had been carrying this secret by herself for way too long. Which was sad. She might not want other people to know, but in his experience, they always found out in the end. Secrets had a way of coming to light. And she might need their help in the future. The more people she had on her side, the less chance this stalker had of getting even remotely close to her.
Julie sat on the leather couch and absently picked up a deck of cards sitting on the coffee table, then began shuffling them. Aaron would bet she had packs stashed all over the house. He’d noticed another deck on her bedside table in her room earlier. She’d always loved to play Solitaire whenever she had a spare moment, and it seemed she’d at least kept that little quirk over time.
Kneeling, he sorted through the bits of metal Daniella had scattered on the floorboards. There was an old latch and a couple of padlocks. That’d do to help secure the door until the locksmith could get here. He’d checked the windows earlier and was glad to see they were fixed in place and couldn’t be opened—as many large windows often were—which meant it was one less thing he had to worry about. If someone was determined to get in, they could always smash a window, but that sort of noise would alert everyone in the vicinity, and he doubted that was the stalker’s plan. This sort of guy usually worked alone, using the element of surprise or stealth to bring down their intended victim.
He found some screws and a cordless drill and went over to measure up the door. Julie was still uncommonly quiet on the couch.
He may as well use this time to catch up with what Julie had been doing with her life in the past twelve years.
“This seems like a pretty nice place to live,” he said, finding the right size drill bit and locking it into place. “I remember you talking about it, back when…back at Roseby Downs,” he added quickly. “But I thought you wanted to stay with Connie and Tony. Help them out with the property.”
Julie cast him an unreadable gaze. “At the time, I did want to stay on. But then things changed. I decided to go to Uni in Brisbane, and I discovered I had other talents besides mustering sheep all day. I guess you could say I broadened my horizons.” She gave a small shrug.
