She moved in larger circles watching the fringe of bush for movement through the rain.
Her heart pounded as she approached the last fence. The dogs began barking excitedly in their enclosure. She swiveled, her gaze taking in the gardens, lawns and house. All clear. She headed uphill, in the direction of the frenzied barking, longing for normality, to return to the house, have a hot bath, and spend time with the children while Angela made them dinner.
She was a few meters from the enclosure when she heard him call her name.
She froze.
“Caitlin,
please
, it’s Max.”
She went into a crouch and aimed the rifle towards his voice.
And then she saw him. He sat in the long grass of the paddock just near the fence.
“I’ve been bitten by a snake.”
Max leaned back into the grass, his backpack lying beside him. His imploring, frightened eyes gazed up at her from his ashen face. She came to his side and kicked his rifle away, then knelt down to him. He had rolled up his trouser leg and there were two puncture wounds on his upper calf.
“The snake’s back there. I cut it up.”
She moved back to where the snake lay dead in the grass. It was a Brown. As she searched for a suitable branch, he began to rave. “It’s paradoxical. If you cut it in half, then in half again, in half again, it’s still—there.”
“But it can’t hurt you now,” she said beginning to peel a sturdy branch of its leaves. She reefed off the belt of her mac and began to wind it tightly around Max’s leg forming a brace, the way Harry had taught her. “How long ago did this happen?”
“About twenty minutes ago. Is it … too late?”
“I don’t know.”
“I was trying to find you.”
“Can you stand?”
“Yes … I think so.”
As Max pulled himself slowly to his feet, she put her arm around under his shoulders feeling his ribs. He’d grown painfully thin. Pity mixed with revulsion in her stomach, but she wasn’t afraid of him anymore. Her administrations were probably useless. The poison was already seeping through his veins heading for his heart. How long did he have?
“Do you think it was poisonous?”
She knew there was no antivenin within reach. “How did you get here, Max?”
“Got a lift with a truck driver just before the rain set in. I’ve been camping.” He touched his nose and giggled. “I avoided the town. No one saw me.”
“You, camping?”
“Thought I was doing okay until this.”
“Why couldn’t you just leave me be, Max?”
“This is your fault, Caitlin. None of this needed to happen.”
“Did you kill Blaine and Mary?”
He didn’t answer. The poison was already affecting his legs. She dragged him up onto the steps of the verandah, calling for Angela.
She came running. “Is that him?” she asked, surprised.
“Help us inside, will you? He’s been bitten by a snake.”
They laid Max out on the settee in the sitting room. Caitlin put a cushion under his head. “I’ll be back in a minute, Max.” Caitlin took Angela’s arm.
Outside in the hall, she whispered, “I think it’s a Brown snake.”
Angela’s lips tightened.
“I know he’s a dangerous madman,” Caitlin said, “But is there any chance of treating him with antivenin?”
Angela shook her head. “No likelihood of that. We can’t get him to town.”
“He can’t stay here in the house with the kids,” Caitlin said. “How about we put him out in Jake’s office? There’s a couch out there. We can lock him in so he’s no danger to anyone. But I doubt he will be. He’s pretty sick, isn’t he?”
Angela ran her hand through her hair, ruffling it. “On his last legs, I’d say.”
They went back into the room. Max was semi-conscious and mumbling, not making any sense. Caitlin caught her name and for a moment, she almost lost it. She didn’t have time to dwell on whether she could have handled things better. She decided that now was not the time to try to make sense of it. She would do her Christian duty by him.
When she and Angela managed to drag Max out to the office and settle him there, she motioned for Angela to come outside.
“He couldn’t be faking, could he? He
is
as bad as he looks?”
“He’s a goner,” Angela said. “I’ve seen it before.”
Caitlin handed her the rifle. “Can you keep the children in the kitchen and keep watch for a bit? I have to go and get Riley. He’s up with the horses in the barn.”
“Don’t be long. I might put the blighter out of his misery.” Angela went back into the house.
Chapter Sixteen
Riley was stretched out on the hay. He looked pale and weak, but his head wound had stopped bleeding.
“Let’s get you back to the house.”
“Have you seen anything of that mad bloke?” he asked anxiously.
She explained about Max and his brow cleared.
“That’ll fix him.”
“Can you walk?”
“Sure,” he said rising, but he wobbled a bit. “You carry the gun. It’s dangerous in the bush in these conditions.”
“Okay, let’s go.” The gun was heavy in her hands. She still didn’t feel at home with one.
They headed back into the bush up to their ankles in mud. They’d only gone a short distance when a snorting, stamping sound came from the bushes ahead and they began to sway about violently.
“Christ, that’s a wild boar,” said Riley.
“What do we do?” Caitlin cried.
“Climb a tree,” he yelled looking wildly around. “That one over there.”
They made for a sturdy tree with low branches and she helped him up. Before she could join him, he yelled, “Look out Caitlin, here it comes.”
She turned as the bristling gray boar burst out of the bushes, barreling along with its head down. Fear gripped her by the throat, turning her insides to water. He was only a few feet from her when she brought the gun up to her shoulder. She aimed, trying to remember what Harry had taught her. Aim at its body as if pointing a finger, he’d said. She knew she wouldn’t get a second shot and prayed aloud as she pulled the trigger.
The force of the gun threw her back against the tree, jarring her neck and banging her head.
At the sound of a loud squeal, she opened her eyes. The boar lay in its death throes almost at her feet.
“What a shot, straight into the chest,” Riley said as he climbed down. “I didn’t know you were a marksman.”
“I’m not. It was pure luck,” she laughed shakily, rubbing her head.
Riley looked up at her, his eyes filled with admiration. “I’m mighty glad to have you around, Caitlin. We can dine off him for days if we have to.”
Caitlin’s stomach heaved and she leaned over in the grass and vomited. She felt Riley’s hand on her back. “There you go girl, you’ll feel better now.”
She wiped her eyes and mouth on her shirt. She still had Max to deal with. “Let’s get back to the house.”
* * * *
When they reached the house, the children were playing on the verandah. “Caitlin, Angela said we were to wait here for you.” Elizabeth pulled at her sleeve. “There’s a sick man in Dad’s office.”
“Yes, I know, honey. You and William must stay here for a little bit longer. Don’t go out in the rain.”
They made their way through the kitchen to the office where Angela waited. “How is he?” Caitlin asked.
Angela shrugged. “Quiet.”
Caitlin went into the office. Max lie on his back his eyes half open. He was dead. “Oh, Max,” she said, beginning to sob at the futility of it all. “Why?”
She covered his face with a towel and went back to the kitchen. Angela was patching up Riley’s forehead.
“He’s gone,” Caitlin said, falling into a chair.
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Angela said sticking plaster over the bandage.
Caitlin couldn’t answer.
“You’ll be right soon, girl,” Angela said briskly. “A cuppa with a good dash of Brandy is what you need. What
we
all need,” she amended.
* * * *
The rain eased off in the night and by morning, the sky was clear. Caitlin was able to contact Jake by phone. “The airport should be open tomorrow if the rain holds off,” he said. “How are thing’s up there, I’ve been going crazy with worry.”
The reception was still so bad she could hardly hear him. “We’re all okay,” she said her voice ringing with false self-confidence. “I’ll fill you in when you arrive.”
After another dry night, they awoke to sunshine. Caitlin was relieved to see Riley looking much better. “There’s more rain coming, but the worst’s over,” he said. “I’m going to see to the horses.”
She took the children out for some air. It was hot and humid, the quickly drying earth steaming under the fierce sun. “If this keeps up, we’ll take your ponies out for some exercise in a day or so.”
“Yippee.” William danced around.
Caitlin smiled at Elizabeth. “And your Daddy is on his way home.”
Elizabeth slipped her small hand into Caitlin’s and smiled.
There would be a lot to do when the roads cleared and the men returned. The Burrawong police would have to be summoned to deal with Max. Until then, Riley and Caitlin had moved his body to a storage shed.
At midday, the Jeep pulled up and Harry jumped out. Caitlin raced out onto the drive and threw her arms around him. “Well,” he said, pleased. “Didn’t know I was so popular.”
She took him into the sitting room and sat him down. As she explained, his hands gripped the arms of his chair. “And I wasn’t here to protect you,” he said. There was a pause as he gave her a respectful glance. “But you didn’t need me, did you?”
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Harry,” she said. “If you hadn’t taught me how to ride and fire a rifle, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“I guess that’s true,” he said grinning.
It was odd. She felt some subtle shift in their friendship. Harry held himself away from her. It occurred to her that he was a rescuer, too. She’d been vulnerable and in trouble when she first came here, but she wasn’t anymore.
As she sorted this out in her mind, he rose. “I’ll handle the police if you like.”
She nodded. “That would be great, Harry.”
“I’d better go and see how Riley’s managing.”
“Harry?”
“Yeah?”
As he turned back to her she said, “Thanks for being such a good mate.”
He doffed his hat. “Anytime, Caitlin.”
Later that afternoon, Jake’s plane appeared over the treetops. Caitlin sat with the children on the verandah waiting for him to arrive.
“Has that man in the shed gone to heaven like Mummy?” Elizabeth asked, squashing her small body against Caitlin’s.
It amazed Caitlin that Elizabeth knew so much, when they’d worked so hard to protect her from what was happening. “Yes, darling. He’s at peace now.”
“He might say hello to her, and tell her we’re okay.”
“I think your Mummy knows that you and William are fine, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth’s little face gazed up at her. “Daddy said Mummy’s always with us.”
“I believe so, darling.”
An hour later, the Jeep drove up the drive and Caitlin had to hold the children back until it stopped. They rushed down the steps squealing to throw themselves at Jake.
Manacled, he came up onto the verandah, a hand on each of the children’s heads. Elizabeth was explaining in a scrambled fashion how a man had been bitten by a snake and died. And Caitlin shot a wild boar.
Jake’s alarmed blue eyes sought hers. “Perhaps you’d better let Caitlin tell me, Lizzie,” he said.
Caitlin opened the screen door. “Elizabeth, you and William ask Angela to put the kettle on for tea. And help her make the tea.”
“I’m sure you could do with some,” she said to Jake.
“Sounds like I’ll need something a good deal stronger.” He shut the front door and took her arm, leading her to the cane lounge setting on the verandah. Sitting down beside her, he said, “I’ll have it all,
now
, please.”
She feared he would hate her for bringing violence to Tall Trees, and her voice trembled as she explained what had happened.
Strangely, it was in the second telling that her emotions caught up with her. She began to sob.
Jake put his arm around her and drew her against him. Placing his hand under her chin, he lifted her face to look at him. “My God, you’re strong Caitlin. If I didn’t know better, I’d guess you were an Outback woman, born and bred.”
She saw warm admiration mixed with contrition in his eyes, as he handed her his handkerchief. “I’m sorry I left you alone here. I honestly didn’t think he’d have a chance of making it out here.”
“Max was more determined than most.”
Caitlin leaned against Jake’s chest breathing in that male smell that had set her pulse racing the first time she met him. She felt too exhausted to be anything but glad to be there. But he released her and stood up. “I think we’d better have that tea and then check the horses and … he shook his head, his eyes sad … everything else.”
“Jake, I know you must resent the danger I’ve brought to Tall Trees,” she said. “I still plan to get that bus, as soon as I can.”
He shook his head. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he said, “We’ll talk soon, when all this has been sorted out.”
Caitlin had to be content with that as she followed him into the kitchen.
Chapter Seventeen
Over the next few days, Caitlin saw little of Jake. He’d been with the men sorting out the damage done by the flooding. After the police had removed Max’s body, Mick drove her down to the town. She gave a statement to the police and arranged for the coffin to be sent to England. As she signed the papers, she wondered if Max’s parents would mourn him. Had they ever loved their son? Not according to Conor. In Max’s confused, sick mind, love meant obsessive control, and if the object of his obsession rejected him, then he would strike them down and anyone else who got in the way. She still wondered why he hadn’t killed her when he had her in his sights on that Dublin road.
When she returned to the house, she found the children drawing at the kitchen table. “Where’s Jake, do you know?” she asked Angela. She had sorted out her thoughts on the drive home.