‘Father Damien, we shoulda known! Once again you’ve left it mighty late to come out,’ Karl said, startled by the unexpected appearance of the priest.
Father Damien looked around the group in front of him.
‘I feel so sorry for you all. Dreadful situation, isn’t it?’
He was in his usual attire of shorts and sneakers, his slouch hat pushed to the back of his head.
‘Well, Father, what can I say? We’ve told ya there’s a firebug runnin’ ‘round the valley. We’ve told ya not to roam ‘round late at night, and yet here ya are! Ya want someone to mistake ya for him? Hell, Father, can’t ya listen to us, just for once!’ Karl shook his head, his voice high-pitched in frustration. ‘You’re a flamin’ idiot!’
Father Damien stood looking at Karl with a blank expression. This added to Karl’s frustration as it was clear that he wasn’t getting through to the odd priest who simply turned and walked away.
‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say that freak gets off on watchin’ these fires!’ Karl virtually said to himself as he watched the retreating figure of the little priest.
‘Well the way he’s sprung up at each bloody fire only makes the bloke look suspicious. Priest or no bloody priest, we should keep our eye on him. The cops need ta be told about him too,’ Digger answered.
Eric and Des joined the group on the veranda.
‘Nothin’ left down there, mate,’ Des said to Karl.
‘You’ll have to order more packing cases first thing Monday.’
‘Yeah, and there’s insurance to take care of as well, don’t forget,’ Karl reminded them. ‘Two bloody sheds to rebuild! Fuck, I’d like ta get me hands on this prick!’ Karl’s hands formed fists and his face turned almost purple with rage.
Sam was still turning over the events of the evening in his mind.
‘Who left the dance early tonight?’ he asked.
They all thought for a minute.
‘Chancellor didn’t show his face after I saw him outside with Dot McLaron when I was takin’ Mum home,’ Karl told them.
‘That’s right, he never came back in,’ Sam said.
Kathy overheard the talk and bristled. ‘Des was out for a while too and Robert just vanished,’ she said, trying not to sound too defensive.
The men stopped talking and looked at her.
‘Robert’s not responsible for this, Kath,’ Arthur told her.
‘I didn’t light the bloody thing, that’s for sure!’ Des defended himself.
‘Well, you can’t blame Eddie Chancellor just because you don’t like him!’ she protested.
‘Well, whenever there’s trouble in the valley, he’s not far away!’ Dave said wearily.
‘That priest’s gotta be questioned,’ Digger said and then added, ‘He’s turned up at each fire now an’ each time he’s arrived or just appeared after the fires are out. He always has an excuse for not showin’ his face earlier an’ he’s always in those clothes and sneakers. I mean, what sort of priest is he? I have me opinion and it’s not pretty, I can tell ya.’
‘Hmm, he’s a queer’un right enough, but surely he wouldn’t stoop to somethin’ like this. After all, he’s a man of God!’ Arthur remarked.
‘Just because he’s a church-fairin’ bloke it doesn’t make him less suspicious, Arthur,’ Karl told him. ‘He’s a bloody oddball.’
‘I’ll stack me odds on Chancellor,’ Sam declared.
‘Well it’s obvious; whoever it is seems to know us quite well, whether we like to face that fact or not. To be able to get in an’ light these bloody fires right under our noses without us any the wiser… Think about it fellas –
really
think about it!’ Sam said tensely.
‘Look, we can stand around and speculate all we like. The fact is we dunno who the hell it is! Yes, it’s obvious the firebug’s watchin’ us; he knows our routines. We gotta make some changes!’ Digger had been sitting on the top step of the veranda, his arms resting on his knees. Now he hoisted himself up and faced the group. ‘We gotta change our plan and come up with a new strategy!’
‘Well, my strategy right now is for us all to get ourselves to bed. It’s been another horrible upset and we’re all tired and fed up,’ Emmie said, getting out of her chair. ‘You boys get some sleep; you can’t think straight while you’re all exhausted.’
They said goodnight and made their way to bed. It must have only been an hour, maybe two, when Win was dragged from her slumber by the sound of fire sirens growing louder.
She rolled onto her back and rubbed at her sleep-ridden eyes. She tapped Digger on his shoulder. ‘Dig… Dig, can you hear that…? It sounds like a siren…’ she mumbled groggily.
Digger rolled over and mumbled, ‘It’s a dream… Go… sleep.’ He exhaled a loud, rumbling snore.
‘No Dig.’ Win sat up. She could distinctly hear the sirens rapidly drawing closer. She shook him roughly. ‘Wake up! There must be another fire somewhere.’
Dig almost fell out of the bed. He wasn’t fully awake as he grappled for his trousers, gave up on finding them in the dark and stumbled to the door. Win reached to turn the lamp on but Digger was already heading down the hallway to Karl’s room.
He staggered bleary-eyed into Karl’s room and shook him hard. ‘There’s another friggin’ fire somewhere mate. Get up, we’re gonna have ta help.’
Karl fought his way out of a deep sleep. ‘Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout… Fire’s out.’
‘Wake up, mate, ya can hear the bloody sirens. Sounds like a coupla fire trucks comin’. C’mon, we’ll have a look outside.’ Digger shook him again.
Karl dragged himself to a sitting position. ‘Dig, the fires out.’ Then he heard the sirens. ‘Fuck!’ He leapt out of bed and pushed past Digger in his haste to see where the fire was.
Win dragged Ellie out of bed and they rushed downstairs, not waiting for the men.
Karl and Digger came hurrying out to where they were on the back veranda. ‘Where is it…? Where’s the bloody fire?’ they both asked, but didn’t need to be told.
‘Shit! It’s Rex’s bloody packin’ shed…!’ Karl swore. From the veranda they could easily see across the paddocks to where Rex had his orchard. They could clearly see the packing shed was on fire. They could hear the crackling and popping as everything was devoured by the flames.
‘C’mon, we gotta get our trousers on an’ go help the poor bugger,’ Digger said. ‘Flamin’ bastard. Two fires in one night…’
‘Yep… We got a real crazy bastard on our hands, Dig!’
***
Sunday morning should have been full of talk about the dance, but this Sunday morning was all about the fires.
The women were the only ones in the house. The men had gone down to sift through the remains of the shed.
‘You know,’ Emmie confided to Ellie and Win. ‘I don’t know how much more of this Dave can take. Last night, when I told him about the fire, his face was ashen. He was so grey. I was quite frightened.’
‘Yes, I noticed his face, Mum,’ Ellie said. ‘I was worried too. Dad said he was alright, but he wasn’t, I could see that.’ Ellie squeezed Emmie’s hand gently. ‘It’s virtually impossible to keep him calm like the doctor suggested, what with all this going on.’
‘Did it ever occur to you that the machinery shed might be next on his list?’ Emmie looked from one to the other.
‘We’d be ruined if we lost all the equipment we’ve got in there!’ exclaimed Ellie. ‘It seems whoever this lunatic is, they’re out to ruin us, but why? What
have
we done?’
‘Yes, and now poor Rex Willis has lost that huge shed of his. The men will have to come up with a damn good plan. This sort of thing can’t go on. We can’t be living in fear all the time, we just can’t,’ Win said adamantly.
‘You know,’ Kathy interrupted. ‘Dad and the rest of them reckon Eddie Chancellor could be the one doing this.’
Win looked a trifle surprised. ‘Well, they might be right. I heard you defending him last night Kathy. Why…? You know his reputation as well as we do.’
‘I know he’s been in trouble; it doesn’t mean he’s capable of something as horrid as this. I just don’t believe for one minute that he’s to blame for all these fires.’
‘Really…? Well, he was missing for the last half of the night,’ Ellie stated.
‘Robert was too. Des was gone for ages as well. He says he was outside having a cigarette but Robert just disappeared and didn’t come back at all!’
‘Des and Robert wouldn’t do such a dreadful thing! They’re family, remember! What would possess you to even entertain such an idea?’ Win assessed her face carefully, quite shocked at her daughter’s defence of Eddie.
‘Des probably had enough of the dance and went outside to be on his own for a while. He’s not one to socialise very much either. He’d prefer to be home with his nose stuck in one of his Phantom comics than out dancing,’ Ellie added. ‘And Robert more than likely went home and stuck his head back under the bonnet of that old bomb he bought!’
Tammi had been listening to the conversation and was surprised at her sister’s attitude as well. She decided to interrupt and get Kathy out of the room before she ended up having an all-out argument with her mother.
‘Okay, who knows what nut is doing this. Dad and the blokes’ll get him. He won’t get away with it. Come on, let’s go and find Laura, Kath,’ she urged.
Kathy was angry that everyone was so eager to pin the blame on Eddie but she knew she had to curb her defence of him.
‘Just because he’s had a few fights and his Mum’s not wealthy…’
she thought angrily, wanting to say that to them all.
‘Okay, Tam, let’s go. Bye, we’ll be back later.’ She kissed her mother, turned and walked outside, still prickling with anger.
***
Nat and Rex had come across to see Karl and Digger. Dave, Sam and Arthur had arrived as well. Apart from Dave, the rest of them had been up since Rex’s shed had gone up. Nat, Rex and a few of the neighbours had looked through the rubble that used to be Rex’s packing shed but had found no clues. The shed would have been an easy target, just like the one at Kia-Ora: the boxes would have provided good fuel for the fire.
Now they were searching through what remained, which wasn’t much. Just like the other shed, all that remained was twisted and buckled sheets of tin, part of the charred wall frame and burned beams lying on the ground. Apart from that, there was only a pile of ash that still smouldered.
‘Can’t believe this’s happened
again…
Wally was over here every friggin’ hour and saw no one around! He said that Towser was so quiet the dog never so much as farted. I can’t understand how someone was able to do this without being noticed!’ Digger was furious.
‘We’re bein’ watched, Dig! It’s the only explanation,’ Nat stated.
‘I know, Nat. It still doesn’t explain how the fuck he’s got the time to get in, set the friggin’ fires an’ get himself away without bein’ seen. We’ve been walkin’ ‘round the place every flamin’ bloody hour! Surely we’d see the mongrel!’
‘Well, this one woulda been an easy one for him, all the boxes we had in here would’ve been great fuel for him. Still, he’s bloody cunnin’. Wally could’ve come back at any time so he was quick to set it, that’s for sure. An’ that one over at your place, mate.’ He looked at Rex. ‘He woulda known that we all thought he was just targetin’ us Masons so he woulda known you woulda been snorin’ ya head off. He had an easy target there. We’re gonna have ta up our patrols. Can’t let the mongrel keep burnin’ our stuff. We’ll have nothin left.’ Karl spat angrily on the ground as detectives Bennett and Simpson arrived.
As predicted, they took the report and had a look around, but found no clues and hadn’t really expected to.
‘Look, fellas, we can’t do much. I know we keep saying that but there’s just nothin’ for us to work with. We’re frustrated about it as well, believe me. We would love to catch the bloke, don’t worry about that. What we’ll do is increase the police presence in the valley. You won’t know when they’ll show up. It will be both day and night and at random hours. That’s about all we can do until this maniac trips up. He’ll make a mistake, it’s inevitable!’ Bennett said them, trying to give them some hope.
The men weren’t convinced, but what else could be done? They felt frustrated, pissed off and utterly helpless.
‘We’ll take a look around your place now, mate,’ the detectives told Rex.
‘Don’t think ya’s gonna find anythin’,’ Rex said dejectedly. ‘We’ve been over an’ over it early this mornin’ an’ there’s nothin’ there.’
‘We still have to look, mate. We’ll meet you there, okay,’ Bennett said.
Rex and Nat hung back for a few minutes after the detectives left.
‘We have ta come up with a plan; got any ideas?’ Nat asked.
‘Yeah,’ Rex added. ‘The bastard’s put me in a rotten position. All that fruit we’d graded and packed was ready to sell to go out. We had two hundred cases all ready for the stores. Now it’s all gone. The bloody shed’s insured but not the fruit. I’ve lost thousands!’
There were murmurs of sympathy from the men. All the hard work they did had all gone up in smoke.
‘Well, we might set ourselves up in a good hidin’ place down here near the machinery shed for a few hours a night, eh Dig? We can’t risk it goin’ up next,’ Karl suggested.
‘Good idea. Grab a bite ta eat, then come down and hide out till say, oneish? The time frame the mongrel’s been strikin’ is around midnight, so that gives us an hour on the other side in case he decides to make a move a bit later. Reckon it’s the only way, mate,’ Digger agreed.
‘You’se are gonna be stuffed, workin’ all day, then up half the flamin’ night,’ Dave said.
‘Well Dad, we have’ta do somethin’ an’ right now that’s all I can think of.’
‘Look mate, we’ll help ya’s in the orchard as much as we can,’ Rex told them. ‘It looks like the cunnin’ bastard’s gonna hound us all so it makes sense ta join forces an’ help each other. We’ll be patrollin’ our places too.’
‘Reckon we can split the load between us all. Des an’ Eric, an’ what about Rob, Arthur?’ Sam looked at his brother. ‘He can lend a hand while all this’s goin’ on.’
Arthur nodded his agreement, and so the plan was set in motion. Karl and Digger would grab a quick dinner then head down to the machinery shed and camp there until around 1am. If they dozed off, anyone moving around would certainly wake them.
Usually the fires started around midnight. They wanted to wait out the extra hour to be sure.