Hunger of the Wolf (5 page)

When he
set out to swe
ep her off her feet
shortly after this
,
she was
powerless to resist
. He went
all out with expensive dinners, champagne and whispered Fre
nch poetry. Even her mother was
charmed
and
gave
the relations
hip
her blessing
despite the
significant
gap
in
their
ages
. He
told Amber
he was going through a
messy
di
vorce
at the time
of their courtship
,
and i
t was only much later
she
learned he was still with his wife
while he was wooing her
. For several months she had been the
‘
other
’
woman without even realizing it, and she
was not the first student he’d
had an affai
r with
either
. By the time she discovered this
they were already engaged
,
and Dominic s
eemed
completely taken with her. S
h
e had pushed any doubts
to the back of her mind
,
and told her herself how lucky she was that a man like Dominic wanted to marry her
.

“None of them hold a candle to you
my
darling
,” he told her. “
You’re
my
innocent,
trusting
little
girl. N
o one will ever replace you in my heart.”
He was especially
thrilled by the fact that Amber was a virgin when they met
,
and she wondered how he managed to deal w
ith
Tiffany’s
long line of
sexual conquests
.
I
t was ironic that he had ended up with a woman like her, because
in a sense
the hunter had become the hunted.

Just before sh
e reached the Jeep
,
Amber
noticed
a poster stuck to a
pole. One corner had come lose and it was flapping in the breeze
so she could not read
it pr
operly
. A
s she drew cl
oser she saw the word
‘
missing
’
printed in large lettering
at the top. Underneath was a picture of a youn
g Native American girl.
. According to the poster
her name Tehya Gordon, and
s
he was sixteen years old. S
he had
disappeared in the early hours of the morning six months earlier on the way home from a party.

The girl was very pre
tty with
delicate features
and long dark hair
,
but
there was someth
ing haunted in her eyes,
almost as if sh
e could see the
fate
that lay ahead of her
.
Her expression made
Amber
uncomfortable
,
and she
had to look away
.

S
he looked back down the attractive main street, but s
uddenly t
he town of Fernvale
did not
seem so charming
to her
anymore
. Her good mood began to fade
. It
was a town that had its se
crets
,
just like any other
,
and
it
was possibly harbouring a murderer.  Was that another
reason people seemed surprised she was staying at the cabin on her own
?
Amber
couldn’t help brooding
over the mystery of the missing girl as she drove back
through the woods to the cabin.
Teenagers ran away
from home all the time
it was true, but six months was a long time n
ot to make contact with anyone. E
ach day she was gone only increased the likelih
ood she had met with foul play
,
and
someone in Fernvale must know
what
happened to her.

The morning sunshine had disappeared behind clouds
,
and the sky had turned leaden b
y the time she pulled up at th
e cabin. It began
to sprinkle
just as
she
go
t
out of the car
and
hurried towards the house
with her shopping
.
The
last person Amber wanted to see at this
moment was
Jesse
Davidson
, especially
after
Sharon
’s ambiguous comments that morning, but to he
r dismay he was standing on the
porch waiting for her. She tried to
smile as she got closer.

“
Hi
.
Don’t worry I’m
not stalking you. I caught some
fish today and I thought you might like a couple. I was just going to leave them with a note.”
He opened the package in his hands
so she could admire his catch.

“Thanks, t
hat’s really thoughtful of you.” She tried not
to shudder at the sight of the f
ish’s blank dead eye staring
up
at her.

“I’ve already gutted them
,
so all you have to do is cook them.
You won’t taste any better
,
I promise
.”

“
I’ll do my best, b
ut I’m not much of a cook.”
She took the package gingerly from his hand.

“W
hy don’t I come over and cook them for you?”
He seemed very
keen
to make dinner for her
until he caught sight of her face. “Unless you have other plans, I mean
, well I
, I,
I
know your busy,” he stammered. “Just f
orget I asked.”

“No,
” said Amber, trying to think of a polite way to extricate herself from this embarrassing situation without hurting h
is feelings. “I’d love to
,
but
I have this deadline to meet
,
and I really don’t have time
right now
. I’ll have to take a raincheck.
I’m sure the fish will be just lovely though.
”

“Okay, maybe some other time,” he said walkin
g down the steps. “Cook them for about seven minutes on each side. They fry up really nicely
with lemon
.” 

“I’ll remember that. Thanks again.” She watch
ed him disappear into the woods before
stepping into the cabin
and turning on the light. S
he
wrap
ped
the fish he had given her in a plastic bag and dropped them into the trash can on the porch
.
S
he
had a squeamish stomach
and
could not
bring herself to
cook and
eat anything that still had its
eyes attached. S
he wasn’t too keen on accepting gifts from
Jesse
Davidson
either. If he offered her anything else she would turn him down politely but firmly and hope he finally took the hint and left her alone.

Chapter 4

Sometimes
Amber had to wond
er if she was the victim of a
cosmic j
oke when it came to her career.
She had just scored
the contract to write a book called
Say Yes to a Happy Marriage
,
when she discovered Dominic was cheating
with Tiffany
,
and the
foundations of her l
ife crumbled to dust beneath her
.
Over the past few
days
at the cabin
s
he
had mana
ged to write
two chapt
ers
almost
on autopilot
, but now she was up to the
third
chapter titled Truth and Trust: The Essen
tial Ingredients
,
and all she could
think about was
how
stupid she had been to believe in Dominic
. 

Picking up a copy of one of her previous books she turned it over and examined the happy, smiling woman on th
e back cover. She
barely recognise
d
herself. She had been so sure she
knew everything about love and marriage
when that photo was taken
at the ripe old age
of twenty-four.
H
er
life with Dominic was
secure
and happy
,
and in her innocence she assumed
it would always be this way
. Financially they were very well off
,
and t
hey’d recently st
arted talking about a family.
Dominic
had
seemed as eager as she was
to have children
,
and they’d even looked at a bigger house
.
Their sex
life had been fine as far as Amber
was concer
ned
,
although she’d never really understood
what all the fuss was about.
She still did not know
why Dominic had
gone and destroyed it all by falling straight into
Tiffany’s
trap. She was slowly accepting that she probably never would
.

             
Pushing her h
air back from her forehead
,
she
put t
he book down hard on the table.
It was no use trying to
attempt any work when she felt this way.
Sh
e had to get away from her computer
and take
her mind off things for a
while. Looking out the window at the beautiful fall day
,
she decided a
walk in the
fresh air was just wh
at she needed to clear her head of negative thoughts
. In the bedroom s
he rummaged through her bags
until she foun
d a pair of walking shoes and a
red shawl
Kat had given to her
wear in the woods so she didn’t get shot at by hunters
. 

             
There was no sign of
Jesse
Davidson
on the
jetty
,
and Amber realized she hadn’t
seen him since she’d
turned down his offer to cook
dinner
for her
two days earlier
. She hoped she ha
dn’t hurt his feelings
,
but at the same time she was relieved he was staying away. She walked right to the end of the jetty and sat down with her feet hanging over the edge just like she
used to do when she was a child at the seaside.
It was almost hypnotic
watching the ripples race across
the w
ater and lap
a
gainst the small boat that was moored there
. It hel
ped
soothe her mind
,
and she stayed there fo
r a long time, just daydreaming
and throwing some pebbles she’d found
in a pile on the jetty
into the water.
It seemed someone else also liked to while away the hours tossi
ng pebbles
,
and she wondered
idly
if it was
Jesse
.