A Certain Malice Read online

  Ruby’s eyes bulged.“It’s not just me who knows. Cecelia has proof too. Someone’s out to get my father you stupid, motherfucking —” Her hand shot out to Derek’s teacup, and before Cecelia could stop her, she’d tipped the contents over his balding head.

  White-faced under the rivulets of tepid tea, Derek sprang back from the counter in a way that made Cecelia thankful he wasn’t wearing a gun.

  “Ruby, that’s enough,” she reprimanded without much conviction. “We’re obviously getting nowhere. We’ll go to the school ourselves and hopefully catch your father there.”

  She grabbed Ruby by the hand, leaving Derek slack-jawed and dabbing at his head with a handkerchief, staring at them as if he’d just seen horns sprout from their heads.

  They almost collided with Leanne at the station door.

  His heart dropped when he recognised Ruth Tilly. Of all the people in Glenroyd, why did it have to be her? And where was the hay truck? Had it turned into the farm and stayed there?

  Ruth ran from her car to where he sat leaning against the side of the ute. She surprised him with a look of genuine concern.

  “My God, Cam, what happened, have you had some kind of an accident?”

  “Snake bite,” he said, wondering if he’d lost the ability to make sentences; it was such an effort to get out the words. His mouth was as dry as desert sand and the beginning of a headache taunted the back of his eyes with tight jabs.

  Ruth took in his crude tourniquets.“Bandages would be better. I have some in my car, I’ll get them. And you should be lying flat.” She gently pushed him down. “Have you called for help?”

  He shook his head, regretting the movement as spears of pain were unleashed behind his eyes. “Phone and radio stuffed.”

  Ruth moved towards her car.

  “Wait,” he cried.“The bikies have Ruby. They’re going to kill her if I’m not there by two. The note said she was at the farmhouse at the end of this road. You have to go and tell them what happened, please. It’s me they want anyway…”

  She hushed him with a finger to her lips. “My phone’s long range, it should work. I’ll get help, don’t you worry about a thing.”

  Shit, how often had he heard himself say those very words to some beleaguered victim lying by the roadside? As he waited for Ruth to return, he tried to ignore the changes he could feel in his body. He focused his thoughts on Ruby. They’d have to let her go, he told himself. Even bikies wouldn’t kill a fifteen-year-old girl, though there were other things they might do. He screwed his eyes tight against the image until a shadow blocked the red. When he opened them again, Ruth was kneeling beside him. She leaned towards his hip, probably to replace the shoelace tourniquet with a bandage.

  Then he felt a tugging sensation at his holster and heard the pop of the stud. His eyes widened when he saw what she was doing.

  “Help’s on its way, Cam,” she said with a smile that chilled his blood. “But help for me, not for you. My assistant is as keen to observe the effects of a tiger snake bite as I am, he should be along shortly.”

  She backed away and sat on a rock, watching him with the clinical coldness of a vivisector. Cam couldn’t believe what he was seeing; he had to be hallucinating. She removed a notebook from her pocket, rested it on her knee and wrote something in it; careful to keep the gun in her other hand trained on him. After a while, she spoke.

  “I never pass up a research opportunity, Cam. I’m documenting your symptoms for a paper I’m writing on the Norechis Ater Occidentallis. Tiger snakebites can take up to twenty-four hours to kill if not treated. You were bitten three times. They often strike more than once, though of course there would’ve been little venom in the other bites. It will be interesting to see if your death will occur any sooner.” She let out a burst of staccato laughter. “I put the snake in the freezer after you left the lab so it would be sluggish and stay put under the front passenger mat. It must have been good and aggressive when it warmed up. Tell me, how are you feeling – headache? Blurred vision? I believe a victim can also experience severe abdominal pain. Perhaps you won’t reach that stage. Maybe you’ll just go straight to internal haemorrhage or paralysis.”

  Cam said nothing. He closed his eyes against the pricking tears of helplessness. When he opened them again, Ruth was leaning over him, very close. Her breath felt like dry ice upon his burning cheek.

  His tongue felt stitched to the roof of his mouth; he had to struggle to release it. “Please, Ruth. You have to help Ruby.”

  “I don’t want to make your dying any easier, Cam, but never let it be said I’m inhumane. Ruby was never in any danger. I wrote the note. She’s probably in the back room of the workshop screwing her boyfriend or smoking dope as we speak.”

  Cam murmured a prayer of thanks. The wave of relief washing through him brought with it some lucid thought. “The notes, they were from you, all along?”

  “Yes. The bomb was never meant for you. I’d been following you for weeks. I knew your Saturday routine, I knew you’d be at netball and I knew the bikies would be blamed.”

  He paused, not sure if he could believe his ears. “It was you who killed Elizabeth and Joe, not the bikies?”

  She gave him a satisfied smile. “Yes, me all along.”

  He made a pathetic attempt to flail out, but she pushed him back to the ground with the flat of one hand. His breath came out in gasping sobs. “Why?”

  Ruth settled by his side. Her fingers slowly moved across his chest. “Why, Cam? Think hard and you’ll know why.”

  Like a spider, her hand crawled to the opening of his collar. Twisting a tuft of chest hair around a red-tipped finger, she began to tug.“You made a fool out of me, Cam. I wasted years of my life over you.”

  “I don’t understand.” He cringed from her, willing himself further into the gravel.

  “We loved each other, Cam, but you chose to forget all about it.”

  Her hand left his chest. Cold fingers brushed his parched lips. Her touch sent shivers through him, worse than any amount of snake venom.

  “You seem to have conveniently forgotten about that day at pony club, all those years ago,” she said. “My pony got a fright in the arena and bolted off with me into the bush. You jumped on a horse and chased after me, grabbing hold of the reins and stopping us. When we dismounted, you took me in your arms and I knew then that you loved me, I knew then that we were meant to be together.”

  An image flashed into Cam’s mind: a terrified pony, a frightened girl. That was all there was to it. He’d not given the incident another thought since the day it happened.

  “I tried to forget about you, Cam, I really did. I even got married.”

  Cam drew a laboured breath. “You killed him.”

  “I got my Master’s degree, he served his purpose. You see, I couldn’t stop thinking of you, you poor little orphan of the empire. I decided to instigate a little psychological experiment. I was pretty sure when tragedy struck you’d come running back to the only home you’ve ever had, and I planned on being here, waiting for you when you came. You’ve always craved security – why else would you join the police? You traded one secure institution for another. You really are a very simple, predictable man, Cam. Unfortunately for you though, you hung on longer than I anticipated, arriving just a bit too late. My passion for you had finally burned itself out. I realised then that your presence would be nothing but a liability.”

  It was all beginning to make sense. “You got involved with Cliff, the drugs.”

  She laughed. “Wrong. I got involved with a real man, Cam, someone who does more for me than you ever could.”

  “He’s going to jail for a very long time; the case against him is almost there. They’ll still get him, even if they can’t get you.”

  Ruth laughed. “Cliff? That’s the whole idea. That’s how it’s meant to be. Cliff can rot in jail for all I care. I used him just as I used my husband.”

  Cam’s mind became a coloured whirl of pain and confusio
n. “You set him up? He’s a patsy? Then who?”

  “My lover, Eric Matthews.” She tweaked his nose. “You probably know him better as Chainsaw, the president of the SS motorcycle club.”

  “Over there!” Ruby said, pointing with the rolled note they’d found at the school. “It’s Dad’s ute.”

  “Oh shit,” Cecelia said, “it looks like Ruth’s there, too. Can you see your dad anywhere?”

  Ruby covered up her mouth with her hand. “God, he’s lying down, she’s bending over him!”

  Ruth stood up when she saw Cecelia’s car crunch into the siding.

  “Now, Ruby, you have to be calm. We have to play this right and you have to think clearly.” Cecelia squeezed her hand. Ruby nodded back, trying to be brave. But when she saw her father lying so still, she couldn’t help herself. Cecelia’s cry of warning came too late. Ruby sprang from the car and raced to her father’s side.

  Cecelia followed with all the caution of a tightrope walker. Ruth met her eyes and shrugged her shoulders in a what-the-heck manner. Cecelia switched her focus to Cam and stepped closer. His eyes were closed, his breathing tortured, his uniform black with sweat. Tears pooled in Ruby’s eyes as she leaned over him to stroke his face.

  His eyes fluttered open. “Ruby, be careful,” Cecelia heard him whisper.“You have to try and get away, she’s a killer…”

  Ruby turned to face Ruth. Cecelia sensed what the girl was about to do. She cried out. “Ruby, stay where you are, she has a gun!”

  But Cecelia’s warning was lost. “What have you done to my father, you fucking bitch?” Ruby yelled, and launched herself at the other woman.

  There was a shot. It was the loudest sound Cecelia had ever heard and went on blasting in her head long after the bullet had left the barrel. Ruby went rigid, staring at the swirling dust where the bullet had hit the ground, unable, it seemed, to take her eyes from it.

  Cecelia moved to pull the frozen girl into her arms. As the shock wore off Ruby began to shake, to suck in mouthfuls of air.

  Cecelia whispered in her ear.“Sssh, take some slow deep breaths. It’s going to be OK – remember?”

  Ruby nodded, trying to steady her breathing.

  “That was a warning shot,” Ruth said. “You won’t be so lucky next time.” Her voice was firm, as controlled as the hand on the gun.

  Cecelia was a lot less composed. “How could you do this, Ruth? I thought we were friends?”

  “Your naiveté always appealed to me, Cecelia. Your willingness to see the good in people before the bad.” The gun was pointing at her now. “Yes, I always did consider you my friend. I never planned on getting you involved in any of this. It was unfortunate that you happened to be in the prefab when I threw the bomb. When I saw him enter, well, I couldn’t believe my luck, so I locked the door. All I’d expected was to destroy a few photos.” She shrugged. “I’m an opportunist, Cecelia; you’d have been a necessary casualty, I’m afraid.”

  Cecelia swallowed. Still clasping Ruby to her, she said, “Are you planning on killing us now?”

  “Unfortunately yes, as soon as my assistant arrives. I’ll need him to help me clear up. We’ll have to think up a way to dispose of your bodies. I’m not going to risk burning again, it’s too unreliable.” She glanced towards Cam’s still form. “I’ll leave Cam’s body where it is. We’ll clear away any evidence and no one will know we were even here. A snake bite, what a terrible tragedy.”

  “Let the girl have some last words with her father then,” Cecelia said.

  Ruth thought for a moment, looked at Ruby then indicated to Cam with a flick of the gun. “You go with her, that way I can keep the gun on both of you.”

  Encouraged by Cecelia, Ruby moved back to her father’s side. The tears rolled down her face as she took his hand. He attempted to speak even though Ruby told him not to. It seemed he had something he needed to say.

  “Ruby,” he whispered, his face creased with agony. “I hope you know how much I’ve always loved you. I’ve never been very good at saying stuff like that. But I hope you’ve always known that I do. I haven’t been a good dad; I get preoccupied with my job. I should never have stayed on as a cop after…”

  “Sssh…” Ruby wiped at the tears coursing through the dust on his face.“We have a plan. We’re all going to get out of here. And then, when you’re better, you can buy me a pony and…” She couldn’t say any more. She laid her head on his chest and whispered into his shirt, “I’m sorry too, Dad.”

  The sound of a car engine drew Cecelia’s attention away from Cam and Ruby to a white ute pulling up next to her VW. She put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Ruby, someone’s arrived.”

  Ruby jerked in a breath, her eyes suddenly wide with hope.

  “Angelo!” she screamed.

  But he walked over to Ruth, staring straight through the girl, as if she was already a ghost.

  “You took your time,” Ruth said to him.

  Ruby jerked in her breath. Cecelia pulled her close.

  “I had trouble finding the place,” Angelo said in a conversational tone.

  Ruth clucked her tongue.“Never mind, you’re here now, you’ve done well. Eric will be pleased.”

  Angelo smiled. “I reckon I’ve more than earned my colours now.”

  “There’s just one more thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Kill them.”

  The smile fell from his face. “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Ruth, this was never – Jesus, I’ve done everything else, I’ve done more than enough!”

  “I told Eric you were too young. Now you’ve proved it.”

  Angelo’s dark eyes flicked around for a moment. Finally he swallowed and put his hand out for the gun.

  “Good boy, you won’t regret this,” Ruth smiled.

  Ruby mouthed him a plea then buried her face in Cecelia’s shoulder.

  Seconds passed. Cecelia waited for her whole life to pass before her eyes.

  But all she saw was an empty black void.

  Her throat began to twist. She was losing control. She had to stay strong, for Ruby.

  And then the gun began to shake in the boy’s hand. He couldn’t do it. He was looking at Ruby as if she was a pet dog he had to put down but was unable to pull the trigger himself. Ruth’s face twisted. As she snatched the gun from Angelo’s hand, a shot cracked through the stillness of the bush, uncorking a flock of screeching cockatoos. Cecelia pushed Ruby to the ground. She saw the arch of Ruth’s back, the startled look as she fell.

  With no time for shock or thought, Cecelia instinctively lunged for the gun before Angelo could get to it first.

  “Stay where you are!”

  But the gun had about as much effect on Angelo as a stick of liquorice. He ran towards Ruth’s fallen body. “Oh God, Jesus!” he screamed, throwing himself over her. Blood flowed like lava from her mouth and pooled on to the gravel.

  His hands ran over her bloodied face, his lips met hers as he tried to blow air into her lifeless mouth.

  Cecelia thought she might throw up. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to erase the sight before her. Then, thudding feet and heavy breathing alerted her to the stumbling form of Leanne crashing through the bushes.

  “You cut that bloody fine,” Cecelia said, surprised she still had the strength to talk, let alone stand upright.

  Leanne gave her a tight smile. “Keep that gun on him.” She nodded to the weapon Cecelia still held in her shaking hands.

  Leanne re-holstered her own gun, reached for her handcuffs and walked cautiously towards Angelo.

  Not sure what to expect from the boy, Cecelia’s hand tightened until the ridges of the grip were digging into her hand. But Angelo’s bloodstained face was pale with shock; he offered Leanne no resistance. If not for the occasional convulsive sob he could have been an automaton. He allowed Leanne to cuff him to the ute.

  Cecelia joined Ruby next to her father. Her throat constricted as
she gazed at the girl clutching at his limp hand. Cecelia touched his cheek. He was pale and cold, his lips shiny with blood. She brushed some of the gravel from his neck and felt for his carotid pulse.

  “Call the ambulance, Leanne,” she said, raising her head to find Leanne already gone.

  37

  They were having a picnic, all five of them, sitting in the middle of the school oval as a family. A sprinkler, like a giant insect, turned itself on with a splutter and the fine mist floated to their cheeks on a gentle breeze. The girls wore white muslin dresses and laughed when the moisture tickled its way through the thin fabric to their skin. Joe ran in tight circles, catching the drops in his plastic Darth Vader cape. Cam watched and smiled. He was wearing his old school uniform. The shirt was tight and one of his arms ached, but he felt strangely content.

  The girls had been picking flowers: wattle yellow, cobalt blue, deep, waxy pink. Elizabeth had picked the biggest bunch, and handed them to Cecelia to add to her own. She smiled, took Joe by the hand and began to walk away. When Cam called out to them, Ruby shook her head.

  He struggled to open his eyes; they were wet and sticky. Everything was blurry and indistinct, as if he were looking through water.

  He could hear better than he could see.

  “Cam, are you awake? Can you hear me?”

  He heard a familiar voice, felt a hand squeezing his. He squeezed back. He wanted to reach for Cecelia’s face but there was an invisible force pressing down upon him, pushing his limbs into the mattress.

  The ring tone of a mobile phone jarred into his senses. Again he heard Cecelia’s voice. “Yes he’s just woken, but still very groggy. Come in later this afternoon. I’ll see you then. Bye, Rod.”

  It was all coming back to him: Ruth, the snake, Ruby.

  Ruby.

  “Where’s Ruby?” he whispered. “Is she all right?”

  He could see more clearly now and found himself focusing on Cecelia’s soft mouth.