Forty-six
With her heart hammering in her throat, Mia used the sleeve of her crusty work shirt to wipe away the sweat stinging her eyes.
‘Hit it.’ Dex held the punching bag, and Mia swung hard with the cumbersome boxing glove.
‘Come on, harder than that. You hit like a girl.’
A giggle escaped, sapping all her energy she barely managed to give the punching bag a feeble tap. ‘I am a girl and I’m done for today.’ She removed the gloves that had been a gift from Dex, who’d set up the punching bag beside a proper boxing ring, complete with assorted gym equipment that was part of the stockman’s shack, where Dex lived.
‘Your turn, brother.’
‘Nah, I’m a lover, not a fighter.’ Cap showed his knuckles that were almost healed. Atlas, Fern and Willow lay near his boots, with the rest of the muster dogs stretched out under the shade of the nearby tree.
‘Nothing wrong with getting fit.’
‘I dig holes and plant trees for cardio.’
‘Who’s been digging holes?’ Mia wiped down her sweaty face with a towel and guzzled on some water.
‘I wanted to, but you wouldn’t let me.’ Cap hadn’t held a shovel for days, not after punching out Mia’s ex. She’d told him she didn’t want his grazed knuckles to get infected. And he told her he wasn’t a wimp. But he could never refuse her requests.
From the farmhouse, the shepherd gave a deep bark, warning them of an incoming vehicle.
‘ Oi, it’s Porter. ’ Ash waved from the back of the sheds that stored their various vehicles.
‘What is Porter doing here?’ Cap waited to walk beside Mia.
‘He’s probably going to charge you with assault for recalibrating the bone structure on Gavin’s face.’ Dex smirked at him.
‘That sounds like something Bree would say.’
‘She did. We’re very proud of you, brother.’ Dex patted Cap’s shoulder as they headed to greet the police paddy wagon.
Cap tried to hide his smile, slinging his arm around Mia’s shoulders. ‘I’d do it again to protect you,’ he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She matched his grin.
Climbing out of the police wagon, Porter adjusted his police cap and smiled. ‘ Willow. ’
Willow gave a yap of recognition and bolted across the yard to jump straight into Porter’s arms for a hearty hug.
‘You didn’t bring another dog out, did you?’ Ryder crossed over from the farmhouse to meet them, with Charlie and Bree leaning over the front fence of the caretaker’s cottage.
‘No. But we got Atlas’s blood test results.’ Porter pulled out a folder and flicked open the cover. ‘It was a high concentrate of lead commonly found in industrial batteries used in mining machinery.’
Ryder slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans. ‘Any clues who did this?’
‘I was hoping one of you guys might know. I’m aware you’re having issues with the neighbours over the new lithium mine, and now Willow.’
‘Did Leo ever show you the paperwork proving Willow’s ownership?’ Cap squeezed Mia’s hands, ever so gently. She knew they weren’t going to say anything about Gavin, to protect Cap for hitting him, and Bree for pointing a loaded shotgun in his face.
‘No,’ replied Porter, his brow shifting. ‘Leo said he got rid of it. Didn’t see the point if he couldn’t keep the dog. Said he lost the dog off the back of his ute when he was pig shooting.’
‘Do you think he ever owned the dog?’
‘Willow reacted to him like she knew him, which wasn’t good,’ replied Porter, his brow furrowing into a frown as he looked at the kelpie. ‘And Leo would have contacts to access lead, especially if he was opening a mine. And rumour has it, Charlie, you’d lost all your working dogs to lead poisoning. Is that true?’
‘Can’t prove nothin’.’
Porter narrowed his eyes at everyone as if he saw straight through them. He was a lot smarter than Mia had realised.
‘And before you ask,’ said Charlie, waving his hand at the officer, ‘it was in the tank. Not the soil.’
‘Pop. Stop.’ Bree hissed, as Dex rolled his eyes, even Ryder shook his head.
‘What?’ Charlie shrugged. ‘The dogs are long buried in the dog cemetery.’
‘Right. When did this happen?’ Porter dragged out his notebook.
Oh, no. Mia froze, while trying not to look guilty.
‘You lot do want justice?’ Porter pointed at Willow, who he’d cared for. ‘Don’t you want it too, Cap?’ His gaze dropped down to Cap’s hands, the knuckles still bruised.
Cap slid his hands in his pockets.
‘Alright, let’s kill the suspense, shall we…’ Bree opened the gate and approached the officer. ‘As a good and close personal friend of the family,’ said Bree quietly, sliding her arm over Porter’s shoulders, ‘will you trust me when I say justice has been served for Willow and Atlas.’
Porter frowned. ‘I have a job—’
‘That I would never ever put you at risk of getting into trouble over. I know you love your job, and I have respect for you and your job, which is why I won’t tell you. The technicalities would’ve just gotten in the way of justice being served, Territory style.’
Porter stared at her for a long beat, then gave her a short sharp nod.
‘There’s a dog cemetery here at the station?’ Cap shrugged at his brothers, hoping to clear the tension in the air.
‘Yeah. Pleasant spot on the side of the hill, looks over the Mitchell Plains. A good spot for muster dogs as their eternal long paddock. Just don’t ask me to show you. Bree can.’ Charlie turned to head back inside.
‘Before you go, Charlie, I need to ask you something.’
Everyone froze.
‘It’s about your brother, Harry.’ Porter approached the old man.
‘Please don’t build his hopes up, Porter,’ muttered Bree.
‘Charlie started this by putting in a missing person’s report. As frustrating as it has been, sadly, I’ve found nothing. I wish I could give you more, Charlie, which is why I’m here. You said Harry allegedly ran off with another man’s wife?’
‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Charlie thumbed up the brim of his old Akubra with the hatband made from crocodile leather. His squinted eyes deepened the sun-tanned creases of a man who’d lived a long life under the outback sun. ‘Pen was her name. Penelope Price. She was wife to the head stockman, Jack Price.’
The Riggs brothers frowned as if some unspoken stockman’s code had been broken for someone sleeping with another stockman’s wife—especially the wife of the head stockman.
‘I could search for Penelope Price, hoping she might point us in the direction where your brother may have gone. But I technically can’t.’
‘Why not? You’re the copper driving that paddy wagon around like you stole it. Or are you wearing that uniform for fancy dress?’ Charlie waved the callused hands of a master brand maker who’d refused to retire in his eighty young years.
‘If I do, I’ll have to reopen the murder case.’
‘Why?’
‘My boss said so. It’s procedure. But I won’t do it, not without your permission. Yet, I think we should, Charlie, because with today’s technology we can look at it from a completely different viewpoint.’
‘Are you using this as some case study?’ Bree asked.
‘No. I mean, it is a cold case, and I am going for my detective’s certificate and want to—’
‘Use it like some school project.’ Bree crossed her arms over her chest, arching an eyebrow at him.
Ignoring the redhead, Porter lifted his chin to face the old man. ‘Do you want answers or not, Charlie? You’re the one who asked me to start this. I want to take it to the next level, but only if you say so.’
‘Pop, I warned you, this was wrong; it’s like opening Pandora’s Box—’
‘Pandora’s Box also held curiosity and hope in there too, kid. I know my Greek mythology.’
‘If Harry is still alive, do you really want him spending his last days in prison? And if you were in Harry’s situation, would your brother do that to you if he knew you’d done the Harold Holt and bolted after a murder? Don’t you think you should let sleeping dogs lie?’ Bree asked.
Charlie squinted his grey eyes at Porter, then turned to the Riggs brothers. ‘What would you mob do, if one of your brothers went missing?’
Dex and Cap shrugged.
‘I’d wanna know.’ Ash thoughtfully rubbed his jaw. ‘Because I’d be like you, Charlie, always wondering where my brother went.’
‘You’ll be opening old wounds, Pop.’
‘I know, I know.’ Charlie then faced Ryder. ‘What would you do?’
‘Not my choice, mate,’ said the man who’d practically disappeared for ten years. ‘But I know if I had to leave in a hurry, I’d make sure I’d leave some sort of message to say goodbye to my brothers, to stop them looking for me.’ And Ryder always did send messages to their mother.
‘That’s what I’d do, and Harry, too. We were close. But he left me behind without a word.’
‘And you copped a lot of hell for it too, Pop. Not only from the cops—’
Policeman Porter cleared his throat.
‘Not you, Porter, the investigating officers hassled Pop about the murder.’ Bree sighed heavily, her eyes softening as she spoke to her grandfather. ‘You also got hassled about Harry running away with the stockman’s wife. A head stockman at that. And we all know that’s a line a stockman does not cross—especially on a station. And because they couldn’t get Harry, they took it out on you. I saw the newspaper clippings.’
‘I know, I was there.’
‘Well, why would you want to stir up the dust of the past, when you can live the rest of your days doing what you love by annoying these boys?’
‘Maybe Bree’s right.’ Charlie poked up the brim of his hat, but then he squinted up at the policeman. ‘What do you think I should do?’