Authors: Jane Corrie
Some people, she told herself, didn't believe in taking no for an answer; she would just have to spell it out to him. It wasn't often that he lost out, but he had met his match in Sarah Helm, she told herself proudly.
In the event, no such fine display on her part was called for, for Lin was washing up Sean's breakfast dishes when Sarah got down to the kitchen. 'Boss off early. Meeting bigwigs in city,' he commented in his dry way.
Sarah experienced a variety of feelings at this news. After all that smooth talk Sean had given her about spending two weeks on vacation! And all the time he had known of this meeting! She drew in a deep breath. It had just been an excuse for keeping her chained to the homestead on the pretence of enjoying a flirtation with her.
Thank goodness she had had the sense to turn him down, for it had obviously altered his plans.
Now she could see the way he had planned it. After her capitulation to his deadly charms, he would have casually mentioned some time during the next day that he had been called back to the city, and she would have got stuck there until he recalled her existence!
A nasty thought then assailed her. 'Mrs Bandaman's still picking me up, isn't she?' she asked Lin anxiously.
Lin looked surprised. 'Boss said Missy Bandaman come for you,' he said.
Even so, Sarah couldn't feel easy in her mind until Kathy Bandaman actually drew up in front of the homestead, and she was installed in the car, and after a kindly farewell to Lin, and almost bursting into tears at his confident, 'Missy come again,' prediction, they were off.
`I don't know how to thank you, Mrs Bandaman,' Sarah said quickly, to stop herself dwelling on Lin's hopeful but definitely wrong forecast.
`Oh, do call me Kathy,' Mrs Bandaman said. `I'm only too pleased to be able to help. It was through Pauline really that I knew about you. It's not like Sean to burden himself with a stray female, less still take one to the homestead. It's a kind of a haven. No entertaining, no unexpected visitors, not unless you count Pauline, and she wouldn't have known that Sean was back if it hadn't been for old Joe at the garage,' Kathy added.
Sarah wondered if 'old Joe' had got the rough edge of Sean's tongue as Lin had surmised he would. For her part, she was devoutly grateful to
him. It had certainly put the cat among the pigeons as far as Sean Cartier's plans were concerned.
Sarah saw that they were now coming on to a highway. 'You must think me dense,' she said, 'but I've no idea where I am, or where we're heading.'
Kathy's mouth twisted wryly. 'Typical Sean!' she commented. 'Well, we're about thirty miles away from Pine Creek. That's where the Deckmans live, and where I've been staying. I've been promising to visit for years, and when Luke, my husband, had to go off to Newcastle on business, I grabbed the opportunity. It was now or next year—the wet's on the way, and it can make travel uncomfortable. We've got three hours ahead of us to get to Darwin, and it was good of Julia to loan me her car again. Her son works in Darwin, and he'll pick it up from the airport. It's so much better than public transport, isn't it?' she mused cheerfully.
Sarah agreed with her, although she wouldn't have minded using Shanks's pony, if it meant her freedom!
`Oh, I've brought along the paper for you to see,' Kathy said, 'it's on the back seat,' and Sarah leant back and picked it up. 'As you see, you've been credited with the scoop,' Kathy went on. `Still, you're used to seeing yourself in print, aren't you, and I hope it makes up for everything,' she added kindly.
Sarah's eyes were on the large double spaced headline of her paper that stated boldly, `STRIKE OF THE CENTURY!' and went on
with the caption underneath that read `by our special correspondent, Sarah Helm.'
Sarah's first thought was for the other papers, who must have been chewing nails, and had had to wait for the evening edition to follow the story up. She could imagine the dark looks she would get from her erstwhile companions, and she wouldn't find herself too popular for a while. Her second thoughts were very different. How come she had got the credit for the scoop? Sean had kept his promise to Eddie, obviously, but there had been no need to highlight her part in it. Had Eddie made a point of signing her off in fine flourish, in gratitude for the scoop?
Her eyes scanned the fine print below that set out in scientific terms the value of the find. The more she read, the more indignant she became. Eddie had no right to put her name to work as detailed as this; she had had her share of scoops in the past, but she had earned them, and had no wish to take credit for something she had not done. She gave an exasperated sigh and laid the paper down on her knees.
Kathy took her eyes off the road to look at her. `Something wrong?' she asked.
Sarah lifted an arm and then let it fall on the paper again. 'It's just not my work,' she said, `and strange as it seems, I'm averse to claiming credit that belongs elsewhere. This—' she picked up the paper again, 'why, it's all scientific! It would take a boffin to understand it properly, let alone report on it!'
Kathy grinned. 'Oh, is that all? Well, that's easily explained. It would have been Sean's work,
wouldn't it? I mean, he would have spelled it all out for them. It's not like him, I admit. He's got a thing about the press. It dates back some time. A brilliant professor of his was hounded by them—a meek and mild man, who was on to something, but was unwise enough to presume that certain remarks he had made alluded only to his hopes, and not to certainty. It was blazoned in all the papers, and would have been fine if later experiments hadn't proved the contrary, and he was made to look an honour-chasing sensation-hunter. Sadly, he became a recluse after that. One has to be so careful, you see,' she ended.
There was silence while Sarah considered this news, her eyes now on the busy highway. It helped to explain some of Sean Cartier's prejudice, but not all.
`Of course,' Kathy went on, as she skilfully overtook a heavy goods wagon, 'I shouldn't be surprised if it hadn't been Sean's idea to give the credit to you, either. He's not very good at apologising, in case you hadn't noticed,' she added with a grin at Sarah.
`I see—' Sarah said darkly, and now that it had been put to her, she did see. It would be typical of him. She was to be sent back with a feather in her cap. He had been so sure that she would grab the opportunity of revelling in the glory such a report would bring her.
She swallowed, Thank you for nothing, Sean Cartier! she thought furiously. I want no handouts from you. Now, or any time in the future, thank you very much!
The miles went by, and by signposts on the
way Sarah saw that they were on the Stuart Highway. She tried to keep up a flow of small talk with Kathy, but found it hard going, and sensing her mood, Kathy concentrated on her driving.
She had been so full of plans for what she would do once she had got free of that despicable man's domination that it now came as a shock to her that all she wanted was to spend some time on her own. It was amazing really, considering how much time she had had to spend whiling away the hours in the camp, longing for just this chance to get back to civilisation, but now that it had actually arrived she felt lost and uncertain of herself.
It would be all right once she was back in familiar surroundings, she told herself stoutly. It was not surprising that she should feel this way. For years she had been mistress of her own fate, pleasing herself what she did, accepting or rejecting the numerous invitations that came he! way, but never getting involved emotionally. She had become adept at handling any situation that looked like getting out of hand, and would simply not be available the next time a certain individual called.
Her flatmates had once called her the 'Ice Maiden' and were of the opinion that she had no heart, since it was they who would eventually have to hand out various excuses to the extra persistent male. In spite of all this, their friendship was strong, and Sarah wondered if she still had a room in the flat. It was true that she often went off for long periods chasing a story,
but never this long, and if someone had got her room there was the question of her things.
She sighed. They would have seen the paper, of course, and that would have explained where she had been for the past five weeks; even so, it meant some explaining on her part, and she didn't feel up to it right now.
Kathy glanced across at her. 'We'll stop at Adelaide River for a break,' she said. 'We ought to be able to get some lunch at the motel there.'
Sarah nodded abstractedly, but her mind was still on her worries.
Adelaide River was a small community in pleasant country surroundings, and as Kathy had surmised, they were able to get lunch at the small motel.
While they waited for their salad to be served in the bright dining area, Kathy, taking due note of Sarah's preoccupation, asked quietly, 'Problems?'
Sarah's eyes left the red and white checked cloth on the table and met Kathy's sympathetic brown ones, and Sarah thought how different she was from her brother, although there was some facial likeness between them. She took a deep breath. 'Five weeks is a long time,' she said. 'I did have lodgings with some friends of mine. It just means a lot of explaining—' she ended lamely.
Kathy blinked. 'As long as that?' she exclaimed. `Good gracious! No wonder you're worried. Er—anyone special?' she asked.
Sarah got the meaning, and shook her head. `Not in that sense,' she replied, then took another
deep breath. 'Take no notice of me,' she added firmly. 'I'm just a bit disorientated, that's all. I'll be all right once I'm back.'
`And no wonder!' Kathy said indignantly. 'I know my brother, and he's not the most admirable of hosts, and he's got this thing about the press. It must have been rotten for you.'
This produced a wry smile from Sarah. 'I wasn't exactly given the red carpet treatment,' she commented dryly.
After a leisurely lunch, they were on their way again, and within an hour and a half were entering Darwin and heading for the airport.
By late evening Sarah found herself installed at Kathy's home in Rose Bay on the outskirts of Sydney. She had been no match for Kathy's determined bid to take her home, in order, as she had put it, 'to get herself acclimatised', and as she had sensibly pointed out, it was too late an hour to go wandering the city streets, not certain if she had a bed waiting for her or not.
All that could be seen to in the morning, Kathy had stated firmly, and in the meantime, she would be glad of Sarah's company as Luke was not due to return from Newcastle until late the following day.
By the time Sarah had finished breakfast the next day, she had to admit that Kathy's sensible persuasion to take her time before announcing her arrival back in Sydney had been a good one. She now felt refreshed, and more able to cope with all the small problems that she had landed herself with the day before.
All that, she told herself cheerfully, could be
easily overcome. Whether she liked it or not, she was in the news again in a big way, and all she had to do was to present herself back at the news desk and go on from there. She would, she mused, as she drank her coffee, stand by her earlier plans where her fictional engagement to Sean Cartier was concerned. She would simply tell Eddie that it had all been a mistake, and could she now get back to work.
Firstly, she would have to pay a visit to the flat. Viola worked in an office just down the street from the flat, and she would have to pop in there to announce her arrival and see if she still had her room, and if not, where her things were.
When Sarah announced her plans to Kathy, she offered to take her into the city, and Sarah gratefully accepted, considering that Kathy was going there anyway some time that day to collect provisions.
It was strange being back in her old haunts, and strange was the word, for Sarah experienced none of the expected lifts of joy as the car swept down old familiar streets, eventually stopping as near as possible to the General Post Office in Martin Place, that Sarah had asked to be dropped at, as it was only a short walk from there to Viola's office and the flat.
After promising to ring Kathy that evening and let her know how she had got on, Sarah was on her own for the first time in all those weeks, and that did give her a lift. Her head came up and chin went out, as she made her way to Viola's office.
She might only have been gone a couple of
days by the casual, 'Hi!' and grin from Viola, when Sarah walked into Reception. `So you're back at last, and quite famous, too,' she went on chattily.
This, thought Sarah, was only the start of it, and it caused her some annoyance. She hadn't earned these tributes, and couldn't deny them either, without going into things that she wanted to forget. 'Is my room still available?' she asked. `I'm afraid I wasn't able to contact you—'
Viola blinked at her. 'Of course it's still your room. You're getting forgetful in your old age,' she commented teasingly. 'You sent the rent, remember? Enough to cover two months. With all that excitement I suppose it went out of your mind,' she added kindly. 'Who's the boy-friend?' she asked.
It was Sarah's turn to blink. 'Boy-friend?' she repeated bewilderedly.
`Oh, come off it!' Viola said indignantly. 'That gorgeous specimen who called on us last night and told us you'd be back today.'