Beyond Fear (7 page)

‘Fuck you, Wiseman,’ Anderson said in a spray of spittle.

Matt ignored the second-hand beer on his face, narrowed his eyes and kept his voice even, an order. ‘Piss off and leave the tourists alone.’

Anderson made tough, squared off, bounced about on the balls of his feet like a goddamn prize-fighter. Matt looked him up and down, contemptuous, wary. Kane had always been on the edge but he seemed more demented than he’d remembered. Hyper, agitated. But then Matt hadn’t seen him in a while. Maybe he’d had too many kicks in the head in prison.

Matt held his ground, careful to keep Jodie behind him. He didn’t have to wait long. A couple of seconds and Kane gave it up.

‘Fuck you,’ he said again in a last attempt at aggression. He gave Jodie the finger and pushed back through the door to the bar.

Matt watched him go with a humourless smile. Anderson’s insults hadn’t got any more creative since the last conversation they’d had. He turned to Jodie, saw her still pressed against the wall where he’d pushed her out of the way. ‘Are you all right?’

She didn’t look good. Not as in hard on the eye – in fact, it was possible she’d never be difficult to look at – but her body was rigid, her hands were clenched in tight fists and her huge eyes were even bigger. She looked up at him suspiciously, edged down the wall a couple of steps. Obviously not the type to fall to pieces in the arms of the nearest safe man. He moved the one short pace to the opposite wall of the corridor to give her some room.

‘Did he hurt you?’ he asked.

‘No, I . . .’ She swallowed hard, shook her head. ‘Thank you.’ The blood seemed to suddenly drain from her face. ‘Excuse me.’ She turned and ran the last few steps down the corridor and out the door.

Matt watched her to the bottom of the steps, saw her wrap her hands around her head like a runner trying to catch her breath. He checked the glass doors into the main room. Anderson was at the bar, hands on the counter, head turned away as if he was keeping an eye on the darts. Although he wasn’t, he was looking down and around, a brooding, cagey, over-the-shoulder scrutiny of the room. Matt quickly scanned for Anderson’s brother, Travis. Kane was unpredictable – and sadistic, even if Matt hadn’t been able to prove that seven years ago – but Travis always had his back and could be brutal in his little brother’s defence. Matt figured he’d be stupid to turn his back on both of them after that encounter, at least not without a weapon. It didn’t look like the older Anderson was there, though, so he followed Jodie out into the cold night.

She’d walked the length of the pub and was standing at the corner in the light from the windows. She turned as he descended the stairs, crossed her arms over her chest and started the return walk. It was more of a stalk than a walk, her mouth a tight line. Man, she looked steamed up. A gutsy response after having someone like Kane Anderson in her face.

She stopped a few paces from him. ‘Thanks again.’

He stayed where he was at the bottom of the steps, let her have her space. ‘Nice move in there.’ He inclined his head towards the corridor. ‘Not easy to pull off with a wall at your back.’

She nodded stiffly. ‘Thanks. It seemed to do the job. Although your arrival made a nice follow-up.’

He grinned. ‘A good one-two. Nowhere to go after that but inside for another beer. Sorry about him. Not all the locals are jerks.’

She took a long, slow look at him. Matt pushed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and waited until she was done. She’d had a tough night, so he figured she was just working out what she was dealing with now. As her gaze reached his face, the tightness in her mouth relaxed a tad, her shoulders slowly dropped and the anger and whatever else it was that was lurking in her eyes seemed to retreat.

She smiled a little. ‘And hopefully all your tourists aren’t prone to dire circumstances.’

He gave a ‘whatever’ laugh. ‘I brought the loan car.’ He pointed to the clapped-out sedan across the road. The driver’s door was a different colour to the rest and there was a dent in the rear bumper.

‘Oh, wow, you should have said it was a limousine.’ She laughed then, that cool roll of sound that had caught his attention at the side of the road earlier.

‘Most of your luggage fitted in the boot. The rest is on the back seat. Where are your friends?’

She gave a tight-lipped cock of the head towards the pub. ‘Inside.’

‘Feel like going in to get them?’

‘Not really. I’ll ring.’ She went to put a hand in a coat pocket before realising she wasn’t wearing one. ‘Except I haven’t got my phone.’ She looked at the pub, winced.

Matt didn’t blame her for not wanting to go back. Anderson was in there. ‘I’ll go.’ He took off his coat, tossed it to her. ‘Put that on so you don’t freeze out here. The car key’s in the right pocket. Let yourself in.’ He turned to leave then stopped. ‘Maybe you should show me that move again before I head in.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘It takes a lot of practice. You haven’t got time.’

‘My mobile’s in the other pocket. If I don’t come out in five, call an ambulance.’

She gave him the once-over again. ‘You look like you’ll do fine.’

He left Jodie on the footpath. It was well lit, there was no one else out there and she was in front of one of the pub’s big windows. If Anderson made another appearance, Matt was guessing she’d make enough of a fuss to catch someone’s attention. He smiled to himself. She’d probably deck him.

Her three friends had joined the crowd watching the darts, the tall blonde perched on a bar stool. As he approached, he saw his dad shaping up to the board. He looked good tonight. Not so tired. It made Matt feel better about marking time in Bald Hill. He’d have to make a decision about his future sooner or later, and later was a lot easier to think about. Especially tonight, when his impulse to leap to the rescue was so pumped up. Jesus, he’d stared Kane Anderson down without a thought. Not that he would have left Jodie to it but he thought he’d put all that leap-to-the-rescue-without-a-second-thought shit behind him.

He tapped Louise on the shoulder. ‘I’ve brought the car around. Jodie’s outside.’

‘Thanks,’ she said and cheered with the crowd as Matt’s dad hit a bullseye.

When she didn’t make a move to go, he said, ‘I think she might need some company.’

Louise turned around then, concerned. ‘Why? What’s wrong?’

‘She got harassed out in the corridor. It got a little physical.’

‘Oh my God.’ Her eyes went to the window overlooking the footpath then she jabbed the other two women. ‘Come on. We’ve got to go.’

He swept the pub with his eyes while they collected their belongings. He couldn’t see either Anderson brother. They hadn’t left through the front door but then it wasn’t the only way out. He glanced out the window, saw Jodie standing at the kerb focused on something out of view down the street and decided her friends didn’t need him to escort them. He crossed the pub in long strides, pushed through the glass doors and out the main entrance. At the top of the steps, he looked right and left. She was still alone on the street.

She turned to him with a puzzled expression. Then Louise and the woman she’d come back to town with were hurrying down the steps, one of them carrying a coat, Jodie’s presumably.

‘Are you okay?’ Louise called. ‘Matt said you got in a fight.’

The tall one with the sprained ankle hobbled up beside him at the top of the steps.

‘Need a hand?’ he asked.

‘That would be lovely.’

As he helped her down, the other two crowded around Jodie. He could hear her saying, ‘No, really, I’m fine. It was just some drunk trying it on.’ Heard one of the others say, ‘Do you want me to drive?’ As he propped Corrine next to a parked car, Jodie’s voice lifted above the others.

‘I think that’s the ute that ran us off the road.’ She pointed across the street.

Both Louise and the other woman said, ‘Where?’

‘You saw it, Corrine,’ Jodie said. ‘That’s it, isn’t it?’

‘Mmm, I don’t know,’ Corrine said.

‘Did you get a rego number?’ Matt asked.

‘No, but that’s what it looked like.’

Matt cast his eyes in the direction of her arm. ‘Which one?’

‘The one with all the chrome.’

He frowned. ‘Which one?’

She looked crossly at him. ‘What do you mean?’ She pointed down the road again. ‘That one. Oh . . .’ She’d seen it. Almost every other vehicle on the street had a flat bed of some kind or another, with or without chrome. ‘The dark one with the chrome going across the back.’

‘Are you sure? There are a lot of utes like that out here.’

She closed her eyes for a second, as though trying to see it again. ‘Well . . .’

‘It could be,’ Corrine said.

Jodie turned to him. ‘It
looked
like that
ute
.’

He wondered what to tell her. Looking
like
a vehicle wasn’t the same as
being
that vehicle. And how well could she have seen it, coming towards her at high speed in the dark while she was taking defensive action? But, hey, he wasn’t investigating the incident. More than likely, she was just pissed off at the turn of events tonight and needed someone to blame. The only comfort he could offer, and for some reason he wanted to offer her some, was the idea that there might still be hope for closure. ‘The police station in Dungog is open tomorrow morning if you want to make a report.’

She looked a little embarrassed then, flicked her eyes across the road one more time.

‘We could go into Dungog tomorrow,’ Louise offered.

‘I’m not sure now. It looks like it but . . .’ Jodie shrugged, put an arm around Corrine’s waist.

‘Here, let me,’ Matt said, taking her other side.

‘Oh, you are a lovely man,’ Corrine cooed. He suppressed a smile, held onto her until Jodie opened the rear door and then lowered her inside.

Jodie slid in behind the wheel. As Matt leaned down to the window, she suddenly pushed the door open and lurched out again. Her cheek collided with his shoulder. He reached out to steady her and heard a sharp intake of breath as she recoiled as far as she could without dragging the door off its hinges. He raised an eyebrow, wondered if her personal space was always the size of a backyard pool.

‘I forgot your coat. Sorry.’ She took it off, held it out at arm’s length.

He gave her his best impression of a good guy. ‘No problem.’ He closed the door when she got back in and bent to the window as she wound it down. ‘You girls try to stay out of any more trouble this weekend, okay?’

Corrine leaned forward and spoke over Jodie’s shoulder. ‘Make sure you drop by for a drink if you’re in the Old Barn’s neighbourhood this weekend. So we can say thanks.’

Matt stood up, looked down at Jodie, thought of the kickarse way she’d handled Kane Anderson and the cool roll of her laugh and how it might be interesting to listen to it over a couple of drinks. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

7

Jodie held onto the steering wheel with clenched fists. Getting a grip, literally. Or trying to. She knew if she let go, her hands would be shaking from the adrenaline that was still pumping through her.

‘Are you sure you want to drive?’ Louise asked. She was in the front passenger seat again.

‘I can do it if you’re not up to it,’ Hannah said from the back.

‘I’m fine, really.’ She needed to drive, needed to feel in control of something. And after everything she’d fielded tonight, she wasn’t going to be comfortable with anyone but herself at the wheel. ‘Besides, I’ve only had one drink, which is better than the rest of you.’

‘Okay then. Let’s roll on take two of Fringe Dwellers Weekend Away, Episode Eight,’ Lou said and snapped her hands together like a movie clapboard. Jodie could see her grin in the light from the pub. Her derring-do grin, the one that had talked them all into their first weekend away eight years ago, that had goaded them into leaving the kids with their husbands to remind themselves they were people as well as mothers. It was Lou who’d come up with the Fringe Dwellers title for the way they’d all hung back from the kiddie craft table at playgroup. At the time, Jodie had just been relieved to find some other mothers who’d missed out on the scissors-and-glue gene. Eight years and countless coffees and babysitting and family dramas later, these three women were Jodie’s best friends.

‘Lights, camera, action, Jode,’ Hannah called from the back seat.

Jodie pushed the gearstick into first, over-revved the loan car’s old engine and shuddered into forward motion.

‘Just get us there in one piece, will you?’ Corrine said.

Jodie checked the rear-view mirror and winced at the expression on Corrine’s face. She’d seemed fine in the pub but maybe Jodie wasn’t the only one trying to hide how she really felt at the way the night had gone.

As she steered the loan car away from the kerb, she saw Matt Wiseman raise a hand in farewell. Jodie lifted a hand in return and watched him out of her window as she moved past. He was one interesting guy. Lean and fit looking with an athletic way of moving that made his limp seem more like a recent injury than permanent. He had some sort of jaded thing happening, as though he’d seen it all before but, what the hell, he was there so he may as well help out anyway. And there was something else about him, something that made Jodie take another look at him. There it was. He was standing on the kerb, hands in his pockets, and in one brief, fluid turn of his head, he checked up and down the road. He was alert. Relaxed and alert at the same time, if that was possible. And Jodie liked it.