Heart of Danger (11 page)

T
he news media went wild. Reporters hammered on our door every few minutes until Oban managed to get hold of D.I. Whitely, who sent a couple of sturdy cops to guard our house. ‘Go to the police station,’ they told the crowd. ‘The D.I. is giving a news conference at nine o’clock.’

They demanded to speak to me. ‘No,’ said the cops. ‘She’s going to be giving evidence. She can’t say anything till after the trial.’

Mother closed the window so that we didn’t have to hear their arguing. Hera climbed onto her lap, took hold of a handful of Mother’s skirt and shut her eyes. Mother held her till she slept, and not even Leebar suggested she ought to be in her own bed.

I took the mini-comp into the bedroom, hoping that some of my stratum would be online. They all were.

‘About time!’ Silvern said, but she was smiling.

‘We’ve been frantic,’ Brex said. ‘Such a relief when Sheen said you were both safe.’

‘Tell all,’ Marba ordered.

I told them everything – about Ivor, about the pillar of fire, the lot. When I had finished they were quiet, absorbing it all.

‘So what did you find out?’ I asked.

Marba said, ‘Biddo did some ancestry tracking on that Brighton Hainsworth.’ The lawyer who had accused me in court of the crimes he himself had committed or helped commit. ‘His father’s name is Samson Hainsworth. He disappeared about twelve years ago. Well, he’s not on any records that we could find.’

‘Short version, Juno,’ said Silvern, impatient to get to the heart of what they’d discovered, ‘is that the only ancestor of Brighton’s who popped up regularly in the news was his mother’s father, a guy called Bradwell Zagan.’

‘And that’s exciting why, exactly?’ I asked. Then a few things started slotting into place. ‘Oh! Twelve years ago? Like about the time the Mokau place was set up?’ I thought some more. ‘So the grandfather, that Bradwell guy, he could be the leader? Is that what you’re thinking?’

‘Well done,’ Silvern said, and she’d have been patting me on the head if she’d been near enough.

‘Tell her the rest, Biddo,’ Silvern said.

‘Bradwell Zagan was part of what was known as the Taris Experiment.’

I thumped back in my chair. ‘Whoa! That’s …’ I didn’t know what it was. ‘When?’

‘Right at the start,’ Paz said. ‘All our grandparents remember his name, but all they know is that he left the set-up phase and there was some sort of scandal but it was pretty much hushed up.’

‘He wasn’t one of the first settlers then?’ I wanted to make sure, wanted to be certain this wasn’t yet another secret our elders had known about.

‘No,’ Marba said. ‘They all agree on that. Zagan was one of those who helped build Taris, and everyone expected he would be a settler, but he more or less walked out.’

‘Huh!’ I said. ‘I’d like to see how you just walked out of Taris.’

Marba ignored that. ‘There are lots of news reports from then, but he just kept saying
no comment
. And the others left on the island just said it was a conflict of ideology.’

Wenda said, ‘I bet that leader guy was Zagan. Think about it. All those people who were on the boat stopped by the police are refusing to comment too. They won’t say anything. Sounds like a theme, I reckon.’

‘The only elder who might know more about what happened before the settlers arrived is Camnoon,’ Pel said. ‘All the grandparents told us to ask him, but he’s been off-line for a couple of days now. Biddo’s left him a message, but who knows when he’ll decide to join the world again.’

I thumped the desk, making the mini-comp jump. ‘It’s so frustrating!’

‘It’s been kind of exciting unravelling it all, though,’ Yin said.

I still felt angry. ‘We shouldn’t have had to unravel it. We should know our stories.’

‘You and your stories!’ Silvern laughed at me. ‘You having fun writing them yet?’

I was spared having to answer by Dad shouting
‘News conference!’
from the lounge. Before we could log out, Marba said, ‘Tomorrow night, nine o’clock. Juno, you tell D.I. Whitely about Zagan. We couldn’t get hold of her. Good night.’

We had our orders. We would comply.

Before the news conference there was footage of the police returning to New Plymouth with Secondus and his group handcuffed and under guard. A reporter tried to speak to them, but got a short shrift from the police. A different reporter called out, ‘Is it true that these people are responsible for the last pandemic?’

How would he have found that out?

‘The net’s full of rumours,’ Bazin said. ‘Guesswork, I’d say. Not bad guesswork, though.’

The news conference finished. Leebar laughed. ‘That inspector – she’s classic – says a lot and tells nothing.’

I turned on the mini-comp. ‘I need to tell her something the others have found out.’ But the officer who answered my call said the D.I. wasn’t available. I left my name and asked her to call me.

Mother looked worried again. ‘What now?’

‘We think the leader’s name is Bradwell Zagan,’ I said, watching my grandparents.

‘But he helped set up Taris! Surely there can’t be a connection to Hera, the pandemic …’ Leebar rubbed her hands over her face. ‘Surely not!’

I told them the rest. ‘His daughter’s husband is Samson Hainsworth, and Samson’s son is Brighton Hainsworth.’

‘Bradwell Zagan is Brighton Hainsworth’s
grandfather
?’ Bazin sat shaking his head, as if trying to accept that our troubles might all have stemmed from so far back in the past.

Mother bent over, her hands pressed to her stomach. ‘More secrets. I can’t bear it.’

‘We don’t know this Zagan is the same man who stole Hera,’ Dad said. But we all felt it would be.

D.I. Whitely called only a few minutes later. ‘Your friends have been busy again, have they?’

When I’d finished telling her what they had discovered, she didn’t comment, except to tell me to congratulate Biddo and the team. ‘Excellent staff work. It will help the investigation. Now, about the trial. It starts next Tuesday and we’ll be sending you to Wellington.’

‘Not by herself,’ Mother said, alarm flaring in her eyes.

The D.I. smiled. ‘No, but I’m sure Juno would cope. You have friends to stay with?’ she asked me. ‘The trial is likely to last for several days.’

I nodded. ‘Yes. Vima and James. I’ll be able to stay with them.’

‘Good. You’ll travel down with me and others in the investigating team. Callie will be needed too.’

Mother looked a little happier. ‘What about Callie? Has she got somewhere to stay?’

‘She’ll be staying under police protection,’ the D.I. said in a tone that warned not to inquire further.

Mother wasn’t cowed. ‘You’ll keep her in jail?’

The D.I. gave in, smiled, and said, ‘No. She’ll be in a secure house with a family until we find out whether her own family will welcome her back.’ She nodded towards Hera asleep on Mother’s lap. ‘Is she all right?’

‘She doesn’t like being alone now,’ Mother said. ‘But she’s safe. We’re so thankful.’ She reached for my hand, tears in her eyes.

‘Interest in both girls will be intense for the next few days,’ the D.I. said. ‘Juno, you and Hera will be taken to and from school in a police car until the trial’s over. But there’s no need to worry unduly. I think you can all rest easy that we have you covered wherever you are.’

I slept in the bed in Hera’s room that night, but I didn’t sleep well. Twice I fought my way out of dark dreams filled with evil menace. Each time, I had to get out of bed to make sure Hera was still in the room. In those desperate waking hours I grieved too for the loss of what I’d believed Ivor felt for me.

 

Thoughts of Ivor haunted me in daylight too. Everything seemed to lead back to him – even the police car that turned up for us in the morning. It used to be Ivor who came. At school, I felt my heart lift for a second when the bell went for break time. Ivor would come for me! Then reality crashed in. He wouldn’t come.

Ginevra was careful not to look at me as she said, ‘Noni and I usually hang out under the big puriri tree. Come with us if you’d like to.’

They surrounded me with peace as we walked together, and they didn’t ask questions.

‘How did you know?’ I asked as we sat down on the grass. ‘That we’ve broken up, I mean.’

Noni lay back and shut her eyes. ‘Easy. Ivor comes back without you. Face like sour milk. Your dad tracks him down. Yells at him
Where’s my daughter? What have you done with my daughter?’

I was stunned. Dad hadn’t said a word about that. None of my family had.

Ginevra, her face straight, finished the story. ‘Ivor said he’d woken up and you’d gone. He didn’t know where. Your dad, so the story goes, offered to choke the truth out of him if he wasn’t willing to tell it.’

I just kept shaking my head, trying to picture my father as an avenging warrior. Ivor had been right to fear him.

Ginevra grew serious. ‘I’m sorry, Juno. Sorry you’ve been hurt. Ivor eventually told your dad that you’d had a fight and broken up. He’d told everyone he couldn’t go after you because the horse ran away, but that was a lie. He told your father he didn’t think you’d want him to follow you, so he came back without you. Your dad wasn’t impressed.’

My thoughts lingered on the glorious image of Dad choking the truth out of Ivor, but then I sighed. ‘He was still angry with me is why he didn’t come after me. He wanted to punish me.’ I knew that to be the truth of it.

Noni opened her eyes. ‘Yeah, probably. He’s a bit of a lad, is our Ivor. Likes to have girls fall at his feet.’

I let that sink in. ‘He’s done it before then? Set out to make a girl fall for him?’

‘Ask Ginevra,’ Noni said.

‘You were his girlfriend? He dropped you when I turned up?’ I didn’t want to ask the next question, so it came out as a whisper. ‘How long after your mum died?’

‘Three weeks. The day we heard you were to come to Fairlands.’

I just sat there, shaking my head, unable to think of what to say, what to feel. At last I said, ‘But you’ve been so kind to me.’

Her smile was sad. ‘It wasn’t your fault. And I should have known better. I did know better. But it didn’t stop me falling for him. I wanted to tell you, to warn you. But …’

I finished the sentence for her. ‘I wouldn’t have believed you. I thought we were different. We were special. I was so stupid.’ I cringed, remembering how certain I’d been of his love, how sorry I’d felt for everyone who didn’t have the sort of love we had. ‘I told him … I was so dumb! I said of course we were going to get married …’

Noni shrieked with laughter. ‘No wonder he ran away! Oh, that’s priceless! A pity it was dark and you couldn’t see his face. I bet a million dollars he was horrified to his boots. Marriage and Ivor! No way, baby.’

Ginevra and I looked at each other, and I felt a smile tugging at my mouth. ‘It is a bit funny.’

‘I know,’ she said, and giggled. She sat up straight and stretched her arms wide. ‘I think I’m finally over him. At last.’

But I wasn’t. And now I also had shame to deal with. How could I have been so oblivious to Ginevra’s own feelings?

‘Don’t beat yourself up about it,’ she said, sensing my discomfort. ‘He’s not worth it.’

But it was my fault too. I had let him into my heart and ignored the warning signs that I could now see behind me, flashing neon red in the history of our relationship. I’d fallen for charm, good looks and flattery. I deserved to beat myself up.

We had English before lunch. I couldn’t concentrate. What if he came and sat beside me in the dining room the way he had since my very first day? What would I do? What would I say?

The lesson finished. I felt like a prisoner going to sentencing as I walked to the dining room.

‘Don’t stress,’ Noni said. ‘Sit between Ginevra and me. We’ll guard you.’

I flashed her a smile. ‘Thanks.’ He wouldn’t be brazen enough to confront both of the girls he’d hurt.

He was nowhere in sight, but joy and bliss – Thomas was waiting for me. The second the three of us sat down with our meals, he picked up his tray and squeezed in between Noni and the boy beside her, which landed him up dead opposite me. He didn’t say anything, just kept on eating while all the time trying to catch my eye.

I did not need Thomas on top of everything else. I gave him a single cool smile, then ignored him.

He did the same thing the next day. The only good thing about it was that his irritating presence kept me from constantly bracing myself in case Ivor appeared. But again I’d been troubled by dark dreams and I was in no mood to be kind.

‘Why me? Why can’t he go and play with somebody his own age?’ I grumbled as Ginevra, Noni and I did our afternoon chores,

Ginevra stirred the mix of foul-smelling plant food, stuck the lid back on it, let out the breath she’d been holding and said, ‘Why don’t you ask him?’

‘Because I don’t want to talk to him. I’d like to dunk his head in that tub of gunge you’ve just stirred is what I’d like to do.’

‘He’ll keep pestering you till you do talk to him,’ Noni said. ‘This will be a great battle of wills. Who’s your money on, Ginevra? Thomas or Juno?’