Licence to Dream (23 page)

Later, as he was about to get into his car, he turned to say, ‘You
will
be careful, won’t you?’

The place felt empty without him. She wandered from one room to the other, amazed at how quickly Ben Elless had become a part of her life. It felt strange to keep all the outer doors locked, but she intended to be very careful, even during the day. And wherever she went in the house, the mobile phone did too, in a waist pouch. The police had promised to run patrols past her house at night and given her their emergency number.

You couldn’t let fear of what might happen stop you living.

In the end, she went back to her painting of walls and managed to lose herself in that. Well, most of the time. She would get the house reasonable before she concentrated on starting up a new business.

* * * *

Ben walked into the Brisbane office to find Phil kissing the secretary in a way that said they knew one another very well indeed. He hadn’t realised they had a thing going. He wondered how many times Phil had been unfaithful. They jumped apart when he cleared his throat.

Phil ran a hand through his tousled hair and moved across, hand outstretched. ‘Ben! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?’

Ben shook the hand because to refuse would have looked bad, but this time he didn’t believe the handshake or the direct, smiling look that went with it. ‘Sudden decision. I barely had time to jump on the plane.’

‘Come into my office. Nareen, get us some coffee, will you? Hey, what’s with the bandage and limp?’

‘Twisted my ankle. It’s nearly better.’

As Ben followed him into the big corner office he saw Phil sliding some papers under the blotter pad.

Ignoring his ankle, he strode across to the desk and yanked them out again.

‘That stuff is private!’ Phil protested.

‘Then what’s it doing here at the office?’ He shuffled through them, realised they were calculations and the word ‘casino’ at the head of one set of figures leaped out at him. He turned to look accusingly at his partner. ‘You’re in debt from gambling, aren’t you? Again! How could you possibly let yourself lose so much money?’

Phil shrugged. ‘Nothing I can’t handle.’

‘You said that last time, but you had to borrow from our company to pay off your debts. Where is this money coming from?’ He wished he understood figures at a glance, as Meriel would have done, wished now that he’d brought her with him.

‘Look, I’m keeping on top of it. I’ve learned not to get in too deep.’

Ben looked at the totals again and let out a whistle. ‘This looks deep enough to me.’

Phil snatched the papers out of his hands and crammed them into a drawer. ‘I’ve taken out a second mortgage, if you must know. It’s all sorted.’

‘Have you found another landscaper to take my place yet?’

‘No.’

‘Have you looked?’

‘No.’

‘I meant what I said about leaving.’

‘I don’t believe you. If you need a break, why don’t you just take a sabbatical and leave the partnership as it is for a month or two?’

‘No chance. I’m going to get my lawyer to sort out the arrangements to dissolve our partnership.’

‘I won’t sign anything.’

‘Then we’ll work out how to split the assets without you and the business will lose all its value, instead of being a working, saleable commodity. We do have those ongoing maintenance contracts still on the books, you know, and other clients who’ve promised to use our services in future ventures.’

‘I’m
not
signing you off.’

Ben watched in amazement as Phil stormed out of the office.

Nareen poked her head through the door a short time later. ‘Do you know where Mr Hantley’s gone? He has a meeting at five.’

‘Sorry. I don’t.’ Ben looked at his watch. ‘Look, it’s half-past four now. Why don’t you pack up for the day? I’ll wait for Phil and if he doesn’t come back, I’ll close the office.’

‘I’m not in a hurry. We were going to work late tonight.’

‘I bet you were.’

She flushed but went back to sit at her desk, looking stubborn.

Ben thought about it for a minute, then decided to do the thing openly. He rang a transport company he knew, then began opening his drawers and files, piling the contents up on the desk. He went into Phil’s office and did the same.

She followed him. ‘Are you looking for something? I’m sure I can find it for you without all this mess.’

‘Oh, I’m finding what I want.’

‘What are you doing?’

‘Taking the account books home to study them.’

A short time afterwards he heard the outer door of the office suite close. She was probably going out to ring Phil on her mobile. Well, by the time his partner got back, it’d be a fait accompli.

A knock on the office door heralded the arrival of a driver from the transport company, complete with a few folded packing boxes. ‘Ah, come in. I’m nearly finished. If you’ll unfold those magic boxes of yours and start piling the stuff on that desk into one, I’ll pack the stuff from next door. It’s really urgent that this gets away quickly.’

It didn’t take as long as he’d expected. Was there so little left of the business he and Sandy had put so much effort into?

Phil arrived back just as he was locking up.

‘Meeting go on for a long time?’ Ben asked.

Phil shrugged. ‘You know how it is.’ He went into his office, opened a filing cabinet drawer, cursed and began opening the other drawers. He came marching into Ben’s office. ‘Have you been going through my things?’

‘Yes. I need to go through the paperwork, since you can’t seem to find us another accountant.’

‘Where have you put it? I need to keep referring to it.’

‘It’s already on its way to my new accountant.’

‘But – how can I run the business without it? You have to stop it.’

‘I can’t. Anyway, I’m sure you’ll manage. After all, we’re not taking on any new projects, are we?’

Phil glared at him. ‘Are you trying to destroy everything we’ve built up?’

‘I’m the person who built it up, with Sandy. You came in only after it was established. I’ve every right to keep an eye on things.’

‘I want that stuff back. Otherwise . . . ’

‘You’ll sue me? I think not. I doubt you could afford to pay a lawyer’s clerk, let alone a lawyer.’ Ben slammed the door behind him as he left.

Phil didn’t come running after him.

Which was a good thing because he wasn’t quite ready to let the lid off how he really felt about Phil. He was still hoping to get out of this without hurting Uncle Rod. A man struggling against cancer didn’t deserve to have bad news about his son dumped on him as well. Even though he already knew what his son was like.

And anyway, this was Sandy’s family. For her sake, he wanted to keep everything quiet and not stir up trouble.

* * * *

The following evening Ben phoned Meriel and said without any preliminaries, ‘I've taken all the paperwork from the office and it’s being freighted across to you. There are receipts, plus the cheque book stubs, bank and credit card statements, plus all the office files and account books. I downloaded everything from Phil’s computer as well as the secretary’s this time. The thumb drives are in there too. I’d be grateful if you could go through everything as soon as the stuff arrives. Make it a priority.’

‘Why? What have you found out?’

‘Phil’s gambling again. As for the rest, I don’t know, I just . . . suspect. I think that secretary has been getting me to sign cheques that didn’t go where they were supposed to. I caught her kissing Phil. I hate people who’re unfaithful.’

‘When will you be coming back?’

‘Are you missing me?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m missing you, too. I never thought – Well, anyway, I'll be glad to get back.’

‘When?’
Goodness he could be so vague about details and practicalities.

‘That's the bad news, love. I think I'd better stay on for another few days. I want to see my mother and there are some things I can do better than Phil, practical things. See the sub-contractors, finish off this project. I thought Phil could cope with that, at least, but it’s not been done as it should have been.’ He broke off. ‘Well, anyway, I’ll sort it all out.’

She struggled for patience and repeated her question. ‘So when approximately do you think you’ll be coming back?’

‘It all depends. A few days, give or take.’

‘Right. Well, let me know once you
can
tell.’ She wasn't going to turn into a dependent female, unable to settle to anything when her man was away.

His voice was gentle. ‘I really am missing you, Meriel.’

‘Mmm.’

‘I can't think of anything else to say – I’m no good at nattering on phones – but I still don't want to hang up.’

She could feel her face softening into a smile. ‘I don’t want to hang up either. We're a pair of idiots, aren't we? I’m no good at small talk, either.’

‘Well, I’ve a lot to do so I’ll put the receiver down first. But Meriel – take care.’

The next day she received a phone call from one of the publishers who'd used her work before. Two more books to illustrate!

That took the emptiness out of her days – but not out of her nights.

* * * *

A week later in the middle of the night Tina started growling and pacing up and down near the bedroom door. Meriel jerked upright, her heart thumping as the dog growled again. She slid out of bed quietly, her ears alert for the slightest sound, and picked up the baseball bat. Hardly daring to breathe, she stood listening, but could hear nothing. Tina was still fretting to and fro, however.

Suddenly she heard a faint sound in the distance. It took her a heart-thumping minute or two to realise it was a car turning off the main road. Who would be coming here at this hour of the night? Adrenaline pumping through her, she crept through the darkness to the other side of the house and peeped out of the window. Tina pressed against her, growling.

She could see headlights on the side road now.

The car turned off up her drive and she began to wonder whether to ring the police, then realised she’d left her mobile in the bedroom. Running back for it she returned to her station by the window, fingers poised to dial for help. If the car hadn’t come up to the house so openly, she’d have dialled already.

The car’s headlights raked the shadows and settled on the driveway. Then Tina’s barking took on a different tone and the moon came out from behind some clouds. Meriel sighed in relief and rushed to fling the front door open. ‘What time do you call this, Elless, and why the hell didn’t you phone to let me know you were coming? I thought you were an intruder.’

‘Hey, don't hit me. I surrender!’ Ben cringed back, pretending to be afraid of the weapon she was still clutching.

‘Oh, you idiot!’ She dropped the bat and allowed him to sweep her into his arms. Tina jumped up and down pawing at them and yelping a welcome, but Ben only gave her a quick pat and then began to kiss Meriel again.

‘Did you really miss me?’ he asked, when they both came up for air.

‘Not at all.’

‘Liar!’ He swept her up into his arms and carried her through to the bedroom, slamming the door in Tina’s face.

‘You're limp's gone.’

‘To hell with the limp. I want to see if you're still as beautiful as I remember.’ He began to pull off her nightdress. She had already started tugging at his shirt buttons. And all the time joy was running through her, joy that he was back, joy that he still wanted her . . . loved her.

* * * *

In the morning they unpacked the rest of the boxes that had been delivered, then Meriel carried on going through them. What she found was like a jigsaw puzzle, and she took over the unfurnished spare bedroom so that she could lay the pieces on the floor in piles. She continued to work doggedly, sure that a pattern would gradually form.

Two days later she took Ben into his office and indicated several piles of papers and folders. ‘Voilà!’

‘What did you find out?’

She looked at him with sympathy. ‘I think your partner has been carefully milking the company – and doing it for quite a while, years actually.’

He sighed. ‘He swore he’d given up gambling.’

‘You should have kept a closer eye on him, insisted on being informed about every single thing.’

‘It can be difficult to insist when the person is a member of the family and his father has helped set up the business.’

She’d have insisted, she knew, but her Ben was a gentle person. She was only just beginning to realise how gentle. ‘What are you going to do about it now? Let this Phil take every last cent?’

‘No. I’ll take the evidence and confront him.’

‘You should turn him over to the police.’

‘His father’s got inoperable cancer, is in his last few months of life. I can’t do that to Uncle Rod.’

‘You can’t continue in the partnership, though. If Phil has to go bankrupt, they’ll seize your assets too, including the land here.’

Ben gaped at her. ‘Why would they do that for
his
debts?’

‘Because that’s how partnerships work.’

He swallowed hard. ‘So the business is probably worth nothing?’

She nodded then went to put one arm round his waist, hating to see the desolate expression on his face, her heart going out to him.

He hugged her absent-mindedly, then said, ‘I think better outside. I’m going for a walk.’

‘Want some company?’

‘Not this time.’ He looked at her sadly and kissed her nearest cheek. ‘I’ve made a mess of everything, haven’t I?’

‘Sounds to me like your partner’s done that. The point is, how
much
of a mess has he made? How much do you stand to lose? And can you get free of him in time?’

* * * *

Later Ben came back from his walk and joined her in the kitchen, his face set in grim lines. Meriel watched as Tina skittered out of the way of his feet for the second time. She waited, letting him get to it in his own time.

But he didn’t say anything, only kept pacing up and down, looking as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

When she couldn’t bear to watch his anguish any longer, she set herself in his path, arms akimbo. ‘Spit it out, Elless!’