Chapter 33
‘Brookes, oh my god, I’m so glad you’re back.’ She ran towards him and into his arms as soon as he was standing outside his car. Her heart was still beating at a million miles an hour as he pulled her close and ran his hands through her hair.
‘What happened?’
She averted her gaze towards the house. ‘There was someone there.’
‘Where?’
‘By the side of the house, hiding in the shadows.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘I don’t see anyone.’
He pulled away from her, and she followed. There was no way she was hanging around here on her own. She heard Rover barking from inside. Brookes jogged towards the house. Harper was right behind him. He opened the door and Rover ran out. He seemed more agitated than when she had left him barely five minutes earlier.
‘He senses your fear.’
She watched as Brookes knelt beside Rover and told him to seek. ‘If anyone is here, Rover will find him.’ The dog ran off, sniffing every few moments. For some reason, she didn’t think he was going to find anything. Had she been seeing things? No, someone had definitely been there.
‘I swear, Brookes, there was someone here. I saw a pair of eyes staring at me.’
‘A deer maybe. We get them this time of year. Or a kangaroo.’
She shook her head. She was certain that she saw human eyes. It was something in the way they looked at her, menacing almost.
‘Do you mind if I move your car?’ he said.
‘Go for it. I’ll just grab the keys.’
A few moments later, she came back with the keys.
‘What were you doing out here, anyway?’
‘Getting some fresh air, then I was going to grab a bottle of wine from the cellar door.’
‘You should have taken Rover with you. It’s dark out.’
‘Yeah, well, normally this isn’t the sort of place that would have intruders.’
‘Not usually, no. Still, better be safe than sorry.’
She followed him back towards the car. He got into the driver”s seat and pressed the ignition simultaneously with the accelerator.
Nothing happened. He tried again.
‘What is it?’
He pushed the button for the front of the car, then got out and reached into his car to start the ignition and switch on the headlights. Immediately, they illuminated the area, providing a small level of comfort.
Brookes opened the hood and looked around, his hands roaming the area before pulling out the battery.
‘The battery got unhooked.’
‘Unhooked? I didn’t think it could do that on its own.’
‘Not in this car.’
The air caught in her chest. There was no way the battery would have unplugged itself, and she hadn’t touched anything. Other than getting the window fixed, she hadn’t had the car serviced and they wouldn’t have needed to open the hood of the car to fix the window in the back. No, she was being paranoid. Then again, was she? There was the slashed tire, the broken window and now this.
‘Someone came out here and messed with your car,’ he said. ‘I can’t even plug it back in. Shit, you are leaking oil too. Whoever did this didn’t want you to leave.’
She raised an eyebrow.
‘Seriously?’ As if she was accusing him.
‘Of course, I know it wasn’t you,’ Harper said.
She noticed his gaze shifted, and he was looking around. ‘I thought I heard something.’ He put his fingers to his lips and whistled.
Rover.
The dog came running just as there was a screech of tires in the distance.
‘Fuck, I should have followed him.’
‘You weren’t leaving me here.’
‘I’m getting cameras installed first thing in the morning.’
Rover came running back. He yelped as he came towards them. He was limping and there was a scratch on his face.
‘Do we need to take him to the vet?’
‘I’ll take a look at him. If it looks bad, we’ll drive him into town, otherwise we can see how he is overnight.’
When they were inside, he assessed the damage. Harper watched as he checked every inch of the dog, from the top of his ear to the back of his tail. He was so gentle about it that Rover was licking his hands and face while doing so. Meanwhile, Harper refilled the dog bowl with fresh water and dropped some biscuits into the bowl beside it. She washed her hands and grabbed a fresh glass for herself and another for Brookes.
‘He’s going to be okay,’ he said, standing up. ‘I’ll monitor him overnight, but I don’t think he sustained any serious damage. A superficial wound on his ear and maybe a sprained paw. I’m going to stay here tonight and I don’t want to leave him on his own, which means…’
‘It’s okay. There are plenty of rooms in the inn,’ Harper said. She didn’t feel like going back to the family estate and talking to anyone about what happened. They’d only worry and then it would probably get back to Georgia and that wouldn’t be any good for her health.
‘Let’s go inside. I think we could both use a drink.’
She wouldn’t mind a glass of wine, but drinking around him was dangerous. She needed to remain in full control and that meant no alcohol and staying in the spare room upstairs as far away from Brookes as possible.
‘I’m going to call the police. They need to be informed about the incident.’
‘It’s three incidents in less than two weeks. It can’t be a coincidence.’
‘You’ve upset someone.’
‘Seems like a case of mistaken identity.’
‘Hmm, I don’t think so.’ The phone was to his ear in moments. She heard the buzzing of the other line. Then it stopped and there was a muffled voice. Then all she could hear was Brookes’ side of the conversation as he explained what happened.
‘See you soon,’ he said and put down the phone.
‘They’re coming out now?’
‘Yes,’
‘There could be more serious matters they have to deal with.’
‘This is pretty serious, Harper. My car tyre was slashed, your back window was smashed, and now someone came up to our vineyard while you were all alone and unplugged your battery and let the oil run. On top of that, they were hanging around. You could have been hurt.’ He pulled her close to him. She let him in and found herself tightly wrapped in his embrace. ‘We need to report it.’
He was right. While she didn’t like the idea of having to speak to the police, it was a risk not to. What if something more serious happened? What if Brookes hadn’t returned when he did? Would whoever was out there have attacked her? She didn’t want to think about it and yet the thoughts continued creeping back in her mind. After a while, she realised she was still standing wrapped in his arms. When she moved, he loosened his grip, and she stepped away. It would have been so easy just to stay there.
She looked over at Rover, who was now sleeping by the side of the door, his torso rising and falling with each breath. He looked at peace, but she knew that if required, he would attack without a second thought to protect his owner. That gave her some level of comfort, but how had the dog not noticed someone nosing around? It didn’t make any sense.
Half an hour later, lights were shining up the driveway. Rover’s eyes opened and head lifted. ‘It’s okay, boy,’ Brookes said and went to the door. He opened it before the knock came.
‘Constable. Sergeant.’ Brookes greeted both with a handshake. ‘Come in, please.’
Harper didn’t recognise either of them.
The taller one was younger. He would have been in his mid-twenties. Fresh faced and on the force. His gaze shifted around the house the moment he entered. The shorter and older one remained engaged in conversation with Brookes. They seemed to know each other well.
‘Thanks for coming out on such short notice.’
‘It’s been a quiet night,’ Constable Graves said.
‘I wish I could say the same,’ Brookes said.
Harper looked over at the dog. He was no longer sleeping. Instead, eyes wide open, he was watching everyone in the room.
‘Can I get anyone a cup of tea? Coffee?’ Harper asked.
‘No, thank you, ma’am. Can you take us through what happened?’ Sergeant Norris said.
Harper gathered her thoughts and recollected the afternoon, ‘I was working here in the office. I didn’t hear anything or anyone outside. Rover was by my side the entire time. It was getting late, and I thought I’d get some fresh air and grab a bottle of wine from the cellar door. I fed the dog, refilled his water, and went outside. I thought I saw someone, but then Brookes drove up and whoever was there ran off. Then Brookes wanted to move my car but it wouldn’t start. It’s one of those press the button and accelerator at the same time starts and it refused to budge. He tried multiple times, but the engine wouldn’t start.’
‘Are you sure it wasn’t a deer or a kangaroo that you saw?’
Harper shook her head. ‘No. I mean, it was dark, but at that level, it had to be a person. Especially given what’s happened to my car.’
‘It was dark, though. Things don’t always appear as we think they do.’
‘Yes, it was, but I know what I saw. Brookes let out Rover, and the dog ran after whoever might have been there. He came back limping after we heard a car screech behind the bush and drive off.’
Constable Graves turned towards Brookes. ‘You didn’t see anyone in the vicinity as you were driving back? Any parked cars?’
‘No, and I’d notice. These parts are fairly quiet. You pay attention when you see an unfamiliar car. Tourists don’t stop by the side of the road in the evening. They’re usually parked at the bed and breakfasts and being driven around by the wine tour buses.’
‘Brookes checked the car, and it looks like the battery cable was pulled and there’s an oil leak,’ Harper said.
‘Let’s take a look,’ Sergeant Norris said.
They went outside.
‘Is this light usually out?’
‘No, it was working yesterday,’ Brookes said. He paused and reached for the lightbulb. A moment later, it was in his hand. ‘Looks like it wasn’t screwed in properly.’
There was a deep feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. Could someone have purposely unscrewed the bulb so that it wouldn’t work if someone turned the light on? But surely, Rover would have heard an intruder if they were that close. Maybe Brookes had forgotten he was changing the light bulb. But Brookes didn’t forget things, not things like that.
They walked to the car, and she let Brookes unlock it and open the hood again as she stood back. Both the Constable and Sergeant had their flashlights out and were pointing them in various directions. She knew that whoever had been here earlier was long gone, but there was a chance they might have left something behind.
‘Did you touch anything?’ Constable Graves asked.
‘Yeah, when I had a look around to see what the issue was.’
She watched as they looked around the car, under the hood and under the car itself. Sergeant Norris walked around the area, his flashlight covering the ground, searching for something, but she knew it was unlikely they’d find anything at all.
‘It’s possible that whoever manipulated the battery could have done so away from the property, when it was parked somewhere else. Can you recall where you were today prior to coming here?’
‘You think it might have come loose on the way?’
‘It’s possible. I gather you don’t check under the hood each time you take a trip?’
‘Of course not.’
‘All four tyres are punctured, too,’
‘Whoever did this wasn’t messing around,’ Brookes said, coming around the other side of the car.
Harper looked to Brookes, her heart sinking with every beat. Could he have done this before he left? It would explain why the dog didn’t bark. He had ample time when she was inside engaged in the never-ending trail of emails coming through.
It was a fifteen-minute drive from the family estate to Mathers Vineyard. It was possible that she could have driven here, parked the car and not noticed anything. No, that was preposterous. Wasn’t it?
‘Did you notice anyone around when you left?’ Constable Graves looked to Brookes.
‘No. If I had, I sure as hell wouldn’t have left Harper here on her own.’
‘I’m not sure if there’s much we can do at the moment. Your car probably won’t be drivable for a while. Keep a lookout and if you see anything suspicious, give us a call right away,’ Constable Graves said. ‘And Brookes, try not to take the law into your own hands.’
‘I can’t make any promises.’