Chapter 31 #2
‘No, he’s not. We went out to the piggery again last night to set up cameras, like Jemma said—’
He felt Jemma stiffen alongside him.
‘—and he reckoned he was taking a sickie today because he’s so over his boss. Then he came past mine about two hours ago. Now I can’t bloody find him anywhere.’
‘Charlee, you know him better than I do. It’s not like I have a tracker on the dude. Come inside. Tara, what the hell?’ His relief had quickly given way to rage. He had bigger problems to deal with than Charlee’s ongoing frustration at Ethan refusing to accept the relationship she wanted.
Tara grinned as he helped her to the lounge. ‘Like old times, Ham,’ she said dreamily.
‘This is bullshit, Tara, I’m calling Wheaty.’
‘Wait a minute,’ Jemma said quietly. ‘This is our chance to sort this. Tara, where did you get the gear?’
Tara counted unheard beats with one finger for a moment. ‘That ute. You were right, Jem.’
‘Right about what?’ Jemma sounded as though she’d been accused.
‘A lot of things. You knew there was something wrong with the ute. I like you.’ Tara nodded earnestly as she rambled.
‘The ute?’ Jemma prompted. ‘That’s where you got drugs?’
Tara drew herself up, nodding proudly. ‘When we went back last night, me and Charlee and …’ She looked around the room, frowning as she tried to work out who was missing.
‘Ethan,’ she added proudly. ‘I remembered. That was the ute that hit the ducklings. I’d chased them to the skatepark to rip into them.
But they didn’t mean to do it.’ She shook her head mournfully, so many times that Hamish winced.
‘They says … said sorry, man. We had a drink.’ She grinned and waved a finger admonishingly at Hamish.
‘They roofed-roofed-roofied me, dude. Ethan was right.’
‘Then why the hell are you smashed now?’ he demanded. His blood was boiling, and he could barely choose between heading out to sort the bastards and shaking Tara to try to get some sense out of her.
Tara frowned and chewed at her lips, looking perplexed.
Hamish clenched his jaw and turned away. ‘Jesus, I should have come down on you like a ton of bricks, instead of letting the issue go.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ Jemma said briskly, with exactly the right amount of clinical detachment to make him feel her words weren’t simply a platitude.
His phone flashed up an unknown number, but he ignored it.
‘When we saw the ute at the piggery, I knew it was a sign.’ Tara nodded solemnly and tapped her nose. ‘So I went back today.’
‘You went out there to confront bastards who roofied you?’ Hamish blurted. Hell, Tara had to have known any guy in the town would have stood up for her, would have sorted the bastards.
‘What the fuck, man?’ Charlee interrupted. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were going there?’
‘’Cos you’re already so cool,’ Tara moaned.
She suddenly started to sob, loud and harsh.
‘I wanted to be special for once. I wanted people to say I’d done the right thing.
You don’t know how horrible it is being stuck out here.
Working in the diner, looking after other people’s kids, there’s nothing for me.
’ She struck her chest with a clenched fist.
Jemma was keeping her distance, and Hamish realised with a flash of sympathy that she’d probably seen similar scenes too many times. He couldn’t blame her if she ran from this. Selfishly, he wished Charlee hadn’t brought Tara to his door. But then where would she have ended up?
‘It’s just shit,’ Tara continued, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Apparently the ‘high’ element of whatever she’d taken had worn off.
‘We’re hundreds of kilometres from anything decent.
There’s nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to see.
’ She pushed her fingertips into her temples as she whirled back to Charlee.
‘You don’t get it—you lived in the city, though God knows why you’d want to move here.
But at least you’ve got Ethan. Here, there’s nothing and nobody.
All the guys are already hooked up or aren’t interested because they’ve known me all their lives. ’
Hamish felt guilty, but what the hell else was he supposed to do? Add Tara to the list of conquests that no longer made him feel proud? How was that going to help her?
‘This is like …’ Tara jabbed her finger in various directions. ‘Being stuck here is like dying alive. I’m twenty-one years old, but Mum and Dad will freak if I move out. And where would I go, anyway? There’s no work in the city, and I don’t even know anyone there. I just need to escape.’
‘You can’t escape from yourself in the city,’ Charlee said with an unusual degree of grave calm.
‘Well, in any case,’ Tara said, ‘they only gave me smartees; the guys said they’re the ones that make everything feel better, and they were sorry ’bout what they did.
To the ducks. And to me. All I want is to feel better, you know?
And last time …’ she turned to Hamish, her eyes filling with tears. ‘Last time you looked after me.’
The immediate guilt was crippling. But Jemma’s hand slid into his.
‘Jesus, Tara,’ Charlee said. ‘Are you really that dumb? Smartees are fucking ecstasy.’
Hamish flinched. He’d have preferred not to know.
Tara shook her head adamantly. ‘No, they said it was Molly.’
‘Same thing,’ Charlee said.
‘No, it’s not.’ Tara still sounded defiant, though she glanced around, her breath coming fast and harsh.
‘Smartees, E, Blue Kisses, Molly, Vitamin E, Hug Drug, Lover’s Speed, call it any pretty name you want, Tara, but it’s all fucking shit.
’ Charlee ripped up her sleeve, baring an arm scarred with old track marks.
‘You know my dad and grandfather still can’t look at me when I wear short sleeves?
But everyone else looks, oh, yeah, sure they do.
They look and they judge the shit out of me.
And that hurts. And you know what? Thanks to Ethan, I’m one of the lucky ones. I got out early.’
‘Do we take her to hospital?’ Hamish asked uncertainly into the sudden silence.
Jemma shook her head, and Charlee replied dully, ‘She’s over the worst of the trip. Let her sleep it off.’
‘Ethan!’ His relief as his mate walked through the back door would be embarrassing if it hadn’t been so short-lived. Ethan looked wrecked.
Charlee’s head jerked around. ‘Where the hell did you get to?’
Though she tried to talk tough, Hamish didn’t miss the wobble in her voice.
Ethan frowned. ‘I was moving the stuff. You know that, Charlee.’
‘Moving what stuff?’ Jemma cut in coldly.
Ethan looked past Hamish. His eyes narrowed on Tara. ‘Jesus. Her too?’ He looked back at Charlee, shook his head. ‘I thought you were smarter, Charls. But to let Tara use, too …’
‘I fucking didn’t!’ Charlee’s cry was anguished.
‘You didn’t even give me a chance to explain, Ethan.
Tara was in my bedroom; I’d taken the shit off her because I didn’t want anyone in Settlers to know she’d fucked up.
I don’t use anymore, you know I don’t. Bloody hell, if I did, it wouldn’t have been on the table for you to snatch! ’
‘Why are you all on my case?’ Tara struggled up from the lounge. ‘You made your own choices, you got to try it. And you’re fine, right? I mean, there’s nothing that can’t be fixed. Why can’t I escape for a while, too?’
Hamish grabbed her as she stumbled.
Jemma moved as far away as she could in the small room and he desperately tried to catch her gaze.
‘Escape?’ Ethan repeated with a harsh laugh. ‘This is what escape looks like.’ He unclipped what Hamish hadn’t realised were veneers from his teeth, revealing a jagged row of rotted stumps and inflamed gums.
As Tara reflexively stepped back, Hamish gripped her arms from behind, forcing her to face her future. If they were having an unscheduled, unorthodox intervention, he was totally here for it.
‘You’ve got to do better, Tara,’ Ethan said, his words slurred without the false teeth. ‘Be better. And Charlee, I’m really sorry.’
Tears filled Ethan’s eyes as Charlee shook her head brokenly. ‘You could have trusted me, Ethan,’ she whispered. ‘I’ve never lied to you.’ She turned to Tara. ‘This is what escape through drugs looks like. Even if your friends don’t die, you bloody lose them. And we’re the lucky ones.’
Ethan huffed softly. ‘Yeah. Well, maybe not so lucky.’
His words fell into a sudden stillness, then Charlee turned slowly to look at him. ‘What do you mean?’
Ethan’s breath was ragged and Hamish’s heart thumped painfully.
‘I got pulled over on my way back from yours,’ Ethan said slowly.
Charlee shrugged, then she froze. ‘You still had the gear?’
Jemma gave a soft huff.
‘The cops found it?’ Hamish asked. He released Tara and moved to Jemma’s side.
‘They asked to search the vehicle?’ Jemma said with a frown.
‘Didn’t have to. I told them upfront I had it.’ Ethan replied. ‘The way I look, I’m sure they had cause to search.’ He glared at Tara. ‘Because that’s what happens if you use. Guilty regardless.’
Jemma clicked her tongue, lifted one shoulder. Hamish could just about feel the reluctance to get involved rolling off her. ‘I’m going to take a leap and assume you have priors?’
‘Mmm.’
‘But you told them the smartees weren’t yours, right?’ Charlee said anxiously.
‘No!’ Tara gasped, seeming to suddenly grasp the potential personal repercussions. ‘I mean, you’re here now, so it’s all good? There were only two smartees left. And if there’s a fine, I’ll pay it, of course.’
‘I wish it was just a fine,’ Ethan said. ‘It’ll go to court. At the very least, it’s going to cost me my job.’
‘Have you arranged legal counsel?’ Jemma asked flatly.
‘No. I’ll cop the punishment.’
Jemma nodded. ‘Owning the misdemeanour is the first step to rehab.’
‘Ethan doesn’t need bloody rehabilitation,’ Hamish flared. ‘He’s been clean for years. Jesus, Ethan, if you were getting rid of the stuff to protect the girls, why didn’t you just toss it out of the window on some backroad?’
Ethan gave him a despairing look. ‘It’s not that easy, mate.
Remember what I told you? The drug never lets go.
It seduces you. Sometimes you think that just being able to hold it, to look at it, will be enough.
So—’ He closed his eyes for a moment, as though hiding his shame.
‘I couldn’t throw it out. Tell you the truth, I was relieved when the cops pulled me over. I didn’t have to make a choice.’
Jemma clamped her lips together, her scowl ferocious. But with his arm pressed against her side, Hamish could feel her tremble. He inconspicuously slid an arm around her waist, loose so he wasn’t controlling her, but firm enough that she knew he was there for her.
‘What was the charge?’ she asked. ‘Basic or aggravated?’
‘It’s not like he tried to resist arrest!’ Hamish blurted. He fully understood Jemma’s reluctance to get involved; but he also knew his mate.
‘Aggravated refers to whether he’s affiliated with a criminal organisation, or acting on their behalf,’ Jemma said.
‘I told you, he’s clean,’ Hamish insisted, since it seemed Ethan had no intention of speaking out in his own defence.
‘Yeah, I got that. Yet he was arrested and charged, so …’ Jemma spread her hands, looking to Ethan as though giving him a chance to defend himself.
He remained silent. ‘Obviously, you’ll be in a more defensible position if you’re a user, not a supplier.
If you’ve nothing serious in your priors, you’ll be looking at a maximum—and this is ballpark, not taking into account specifics or circumstances—of two years. ’
‘Jail?’ Hamish said. Jemma’s expression was hard, and he was slightly appalled that she seemed unable to show the slightest amount of compassion or understanding.
‘Do the crime, do the time.’ Jemma stared at Tara as she spoke. Then she turned back to Ethan. ‘Of course, if you testify that the drugs weren’t yours, the charges will change.’
Ethan shook his head. ‘Tara still has a chance. I’m not letting her throw that away for one stupid mistake.’