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“It’s one of the breakthroughs we’ve been waiting for,” Finn continued. “Now we’ve confirmed how they’re transporting the drugs, we can start to lean on the drivers to get information about who’s controlling them.”
“That’s great news.” She lowered her hand and stared contemplatively at him. But perhaps not such great news forher. If Finn broke this case, then perhaps he’d leave soon, his undercover job over in the blink of an eye. Leaving her alone again. She took off her Akubra and slapped it against her leg, staring off into the distant floodplains.
“Anything more on the second murdered man?” she asked. More to keep the conversation going, then to get answers. She was suddenly over this whole goddamned thing. All she wanted was to go back to her simple life working at Stormcloud, where no one died, and no one was a suspect in a murder. Back to a time before she’d met Finn.
“No, not yet.” He touched her arm lightly. “You okay?” He leaned around the tree trunk so that he could look at her.
“Hmm?” She looked up to meet his gaze. Which was a mistake, because the confused concern hovering in their depths only made her want to reach out to him once more. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. “I was a bit on edge about the whole secret camp with a dead guy in it last night, but I’m okay this morning. He obviously wasn’t a good man, and perhaps he even deserved what he got.” Not that anyone really deserved to be killed in cold blood and left to rot in the bush. But that wasn’t the point.
“No, that’s not what I meant.” He pursed his lips. “There’s something else going on in that clever head of yours, I can tell.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Nope, nothing else is going on,” she denied. There was no way in hell she was going to ask him how much longer he was going to be working here. No way in hell she was going to let him see how much she wanted him to stay. She wasn’t even clear inside her own head with what she wanted from Finn. There was no logical reason that she should ever have a relationship with him. He was still technically married, even if he hadn’t lived with his wife for three years. His life was in the city. Hers was… Well, it was out here, for now. Just because there was this fizzing attraction between them. Just because he was the most beautiful man she’d ever come across.Just because she found him easy to talk to, easy to be around, like she was wearing her favorite fuzzy slippers, didn’t mean anything. Short-term attraction, that was all it was. In the long term, that’d all fade, and she’d forget him soon enough once he left.
“Why don’t I believe you?” he queried, lips still pursed.
She shrugged and pushed away from the tree. Time to join the crowd and get away from his tricky questions. Finn was right on her heels, she didn’t even have to turn her head, she could feel his presence, like tiny prickles of awareness all over her back, as if he were the sun, shining out his warmth onto her back.
Just as she joined the end of the queue, however, the low drone of an arriving vehicle made her stop and stare at the road. All heads in the line also swiveled toward the sound. It was Nash, in his police Land Cruiser. Indy could feel the tension in the air ramp up as Nash exited the car, placing his dark-blue police cap on his head as he came, indicating he was here on official police business.
Dale strode out to meet him, and the two men disappeared inside the mess tent, heading to a small table set up at the back for privacy. Steve and Daniella came in a few minutes later to join them. Indy wished she could be a fly on the wall and hear what Nash had to say. Finn was practically quivering behind her, and she understood he probably wished exactly the same thing. But they’d have to trust Dale to tell the rest of them what he knew after Nash left.
Everyone took their time eating, probably not wanting to leave, in case there was news. Dave and Carrot both went back for seconds, and then thirds. TheywereBindi’s special scones, but even Dave patted his stomach after the third one and admitted defeat.
Indy had taken a seat next to Beth Scanlon and resumed their conversation about the best online sites to order clothes, doingher best to ignore Finn sitting on the opposite side of the circle. Indy knew she and Beth were only filling in time until Nash left, but it was good to talk about something mundane and simple. There’d already been unending discussions, people expounding their own theories and supposition about what the hell was going on in this neck of the outback. She and Beth talked about the website where Indy had bought the pink-checked shirt she was wearing today. And they both agreed that just because they lived and worked alongside the men, getting just as dirty and weatherbeaten as the male folk, there was no reason they couldn’t look like women while they did it. Perhaps even add a touch of glamor to this unglamorous life.
Beth and Maddie finally went off to help Scanner mend a broken door on the rear of their truck. It was a job that’d been put off for a rainy day, and today looked like it.
Then Mack drew her into the conversation he and Aaron were having about the upcoming rodeo season. Mack had been a bloody good bull rider, by all accounts, and he was hoping to get back in the ring this season, much to Bindi’s secret annoyance. Bindi didn’t think his ankle was properly healed yet from where he’d ended up down a mineshaft last year. Indy wasn’t about to be dragged into that argument. But Mack asked whether she’d ever competed in any of the events, and she told him she’d done quite well in calf-roping a few years back. But everyone kept at least one eye fixed on the mess tent, all waiting to hear what Nash had to say.
Indy was just about to excuse herself from the rodeo discussion, and head over to let her dogs off their chains, and give them the tidbits of scones she’d saved from her plate, when she heard voices, and the group emerged from the back of the large marquee. Nash shook the trio’s hands and headed back to his Land Cruiser. Conversation died around the camp, as people looked expectantly at the owners.
Steve and Daniella stood at the entrance to the mess tent, allowing Dale to take the lead. This was supposed to be his muster, after all. Not for the first time, Indy felt sorry for Dale. How was he ever going to prove to his mother and stepdad that he was ready for this role when all this shit he had no control over kept happening? She guessed it was perhaps in the way Dale dealt with the shit that mattered, in the long run. Indy wondered if Steve was itching to step in and take over? If he was, he was doing a good job of staying calm and letting Dale do his thing.
Dale called for quiet, and everyone stopped talking, the rattle of tin plates settling down. Bindi came out from where she was cutting sandwiches to stand around the campfire to hear what he had to say.
“I know we’re all looking for answers, and I want to put your minds at ease. I know some of you are thinking about moving on,” Dale flicked a quick glance in Brian and Rosie’s direction, “And I won’t blame you, if you do. But I’m here to ask you to stay. I know the muster has been disrupted, and I know that these deaths are putting everyone on edge. Nash has said he can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t finish the muster, and that’s what I’d like to do.”
There were sighs of relief from some, Indy among them. It took time and money to organize a muster, which was planned months in advance. The contract musterers all had other jobs to move on to in a week or so. If they had to postpone this one, who knew when they’d next get back out here to continue.
“I’m not privy to all the information the police have,” Dale continued. “But Nash has told me that while they believe Wombat’s murder and the dead man found out in the bush may be connected, he doesn’t think the rest of us are at any risk. Whatever Wombat and this other guy were mixed up in has nothing to do with us, or the cattle.”
“So, we don’t need to be worried that we’ll be the next one murdered in our sleep?” Dave quipped with a laconic grin. But there was a smidge of apprehension in his words. Indy didn’t blame him; she’d been wondering the same thing herself. But at least she was privy to Finn’s insights on the case, and he’d allayed the worst of her fears. He said the murders were all centered around the drug ring, and nothing to do with the innocent people in the stock camp. As long as theywereall innocent. Finn was supposed to be looking at how the drugs were transported from hub to hub, and that was all. But Indy worried the links might go deeper than that. What if they were also using others in the mustering community as couriers?
Nash wouldn’t have divulged the drug link to Dale, as Finn’s boss wanted it kept on the down-low until they could break the links and bust the kingpins of the operation. Without that key information, to Dale and the rest of the crew, these murders might seem completely random. Indy fidgeted from one foot to the other. She didn’t like having clandestine information and not being able to pass it on to her employers. It felt like she was betraying them, somehow. She didn’t understand how Finn could do this sort of thing every day. Keep secrets and tell lies. How did he manage to keep everything straight in his head?
She glanced up to find him watching her with those serious, blue eyes.
“No, there is no risk of that,” Dale replied. “But like I said earlier, if you feel like you’re in any kind of danger, you’re more than free to leave.”
Indy watched Brian and Rosie out of the corner of her eye. It was as if they were pretending to ignore each other, but Rosie was jiggling her foot agitatedly. The pair had kept their own counsel ever since Wombat’s body had been discovered, but Indy could tell Rosie wasn’t happy with the situation. Perhaps she was the one who wanted to leave, but couldn’t convinceBrian to go. The pair had told Indy on the first night around the campfire that they were saving to buy a property down south. They were so close to their goal, Brian had said candidly. This season should be their last. But if they pulled out now, they’d lose a couple of weeks’ worth of pay, and maybe Brian was pressuring Rosie to stay for that fact alone. Money was always a big motivator.
“We’re staying,” Scanner said from the rear of the crowd. He and his daughters had rejoined the crew at some stage during Dale’s speech. “As long as what that cop said is true and we really can get right back to work.”
“Yes, it’s true,” Dale replied. He shifted his gaze to take in Dave, Carrot and Finn.
“Yeah, yeah. Of course, we’re staying.” Dave slapped Carrot on the back and the red-headed man gave a cocky wink.
“We’re not scared of no boogeyman,” Carrot echoed. “Ain’t that right, mate?” His gaze travelled to Finn, seated on Dave’s other side.
