Licence to Dream (25 page)

The policeman gaped at them. ‘Why didn’t you report it at the time?’

‘No proof. Whoever did it came back and took away the sawn-off beams while Ben was getting treated. But the men who demolished the place can tell you that someone had been messing around with the place between the first time they examined it and the time they started work on it. Ben and I hadn’t been near the place during that period. Well, he could hardly walk. I did keep one of the pieces of sawn-off beam, but we can’t prove that it came from the old shack.’

‘Can I see it?’

‘Come inside the house.’ She’d stood it at the back of her walk-in wardrobe in case Ben tried to throw it away.

The policeman examined it in the brightness of the kitchen, then turned to Ben. ‘Who would want to hurt you?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘And there was an arson attempt, too.’ Meriel explained that to the young policeman, who was looking quite excited now.

‘Don’t you have
any
idea why this might have happened, Mr Elless?’

Ben shrugged.

‘It might be someone who wants to prevent our development and do one of their own,’ Meriel said, annoyed with his reluctance to speak out. ‘We’ve both had generous offers for our land.’

The policeman swung round to her. ‘Development?’

Ben glared at her. She glared right back. As far as she was concerned, lives were more important than businesses any day. Especially Ben’s life.

‘We’re thinking of starting up a little tourist development here,’ he explained reluctantly.

The policeman was clearly a countryman. If things hadn’t been as serious, Meriel would have smiled as he immediately voiced one of the main concerns of inhabitants of small Australian towns. ‘Why should anyone object to that? Tourism helps bring more people into the area and that’s good for business, brings jobs to the town. There’s too much money sitting in the cities. We’ve got higher unemployment out here in the country.’

‘I’d – um – be grateful if you didn’t tell anyone of our plans,’ Ben said. ‘If word gets around too soon, things can – you know – go wrong. Then there wouldn’t be any development.’

‘I’ll certainly not make it public prematurely.’ The officer put away his notebook. ‘Look, there’s nothing more I can do tonight. I’ll be back in the morning to see what I can find. Don’t go trampling on any evidence till I get here.’

When he had gone, they went to sit out on the back veranda, hand in hand, watching the moon slipping slowly down the sky.

‘I hope that damned mutt’s going to be all right,’ Ben said at one stage.

‘Me too.’ Meriel scowled out into the darkness. If these people – whoever they were – thought they were going to drive her away from her home, they could just think again.

A short time later she woke with a start to find she’d been sleeping cuddled up to Ben.

‘You snore,’ he teased.

‘I do not!’

He kissed her on the cheek then gave a great big stretch. ‘I didn’t dare move in case I woke you, Sleeping Beauty. Look, it’s nearly dawn.’

‘Want a cup of something?’ she asked, standing up to ease her limbs.

While she was in the kitchen Ben walked up and down outside, studying the ground. ‘There are some footprints,’ he announced, when she came out to join him.

‘How do you know those aren’t yours?’

‘I haven’t walked over that patch.’

‘How can you be sure?’

His voice was impatient. ‘I just am. And besides, I don’t have any shoes with that sort of sole.’ He took a mug from her and slurped some tea.

She looked at her watch and sighed. ‘It’s too early to phone the vet’s. They said not until eight o’clock.’

‘I have faith in Tina’s constitution. Labradors are hardy specimens.’ He looked at her piteously. ‘But if I don’t get a couple of your banana pancakes for breakfast, I’m not sure I’ll survive.’

‘Honestly! I’m going to have to teach you to cook. I’m not spending the rest of my life waiting on you.’ She broke off as she realised how much she was revealing.

His expression was suddenly very serious. ‘I wouldn’t expect that. Meriel, darling, I hadn’t dared hope – well, not so soon, anyway, that you’d be thinking permanence.’

‘Well, I am. I’m not a great believer in marriage, though, so don’t get any ideas about that. A piece of paper doesn’t make a relationship work, as I’ve seen in my own family. But I do want to stay with you.’ It surprised her that she could even say that aloud. She wasn’t the impulsive sort, had known him such a short time and yet – he was Ben, her Ben now. And she did love him.

He gave her a wry smile. ‘Well, I’m all for marriage. I’ve seen it work well and I shall want to publicly declare that we’re together for keeps.’

The world seemed to whisper to a halt around them. ‘Are you – proposing to me?’

He nodded, his face still serious as he stretched out one hand to her. Then, as she clasped it, he began to smile. ‘Mind you, some people might say
you
had proposed to me. You were the first to talk about the rest of our lives.’

She thumped his shoulder.

‘But if you prefer it,’ he dropped suddenly to one knee, ‘we can be more traditional about it all. Meriel Ingram – dearest Meriel might sound better, what do you think – ?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, but continued smoothly, ‘Will you do me the very great honour of becoming my wife?’

She didn’t know what to say. She loved him, there was no doubt about that, and this was another of his utterly disarming gestures, but marriage . . . No, it was too soon for that. For her, anyway.

He moved to sit beside her, quietly watching her, not pressing her to answer. The sun had just risen above the horizon and a light breeze was ruffling the air. Magpies were crooning in the bush nearby, other birds were calling to one another.

She knew he was waiting for her answer, waiting with remarkable patience, but she just couldn’t do it. Swallowing hard, she said shakily, ‘Ben, I do love you. Very much. But – can’t we just live together for a year or two first, get to know one another really well? Marriage isn’t really necessary these days, you know.’

His smile vanished and a tender look replaced it as he took her hand and lifted it to his lips.
‘I
think it’s necessary, but I can wait until you do too. Whatever we do, there are no guarantees that things will last, darling – not for us, not for anyone.’

She could see from the sadness in his eyes that he was thinking of his late wife and she kept hold of his hand, squeezing it gently. ‘Bear with me, Ben? Give me time to – to get used to the idea?’

‘As much time as you need, my love. Oh, damn!’ The phone started to ring and he rushed inside to answer it. She looked at her watch, saw that it was eight o’clock and raced inside after him.

‘Yes. Oh, thank goodness!’ He made a thumbs up sign at Meriel, who had followed him inside, and mouthed, ‘Tina’ at her. ‘Yes, we’ll leave her with you for another day or two. Thank you so much for letting us know. Great news.’

He put the phone down, dragged Meriel into his arms and danced her round the kitchen. ‘She’s all right. Weak, but doing fine. Hey, it’s all right.’ He brushed away her tears with his fingertips.

‘I’ve grown to love her,’ she admitted.

‘I’m pretty fond of her myself.’

When the phone rang again, a few minutes later, Meriel was still smiling as she picked it up and waited for the beeps that signalled a long-distance call to end. ‘Hello?’ She half-expected to hear Rosanna’s voice, but it was a man. And her smile vanished as she listened, to be replaced by a frown.
‘What?’
she exclaimed in a very different tone of voice and made an urgent beckoning motion to Ben, who was sitting eating his second pancake. He set down his knife and fork and hurried across to listen with her.

‘You heard me, Meriel Ingram,’ the man said. ‘It was only a dog that got hurt this time. We don’t want anything to happen to
you
next, do we, sweetheart? I’m sure you can find somewhere else to live, somewhere safer.’

Ben snatched the phone out of her hand. ‘Look here – ’ The connection was cut and they were left with only a buzzing sound.

Meriel stood there, stunned. ‘It’s like something from a sleazy detective novel.’ Anger began to replace the shock. ‘How dare they? Do they think I’ll just give in and sell my home?’

‘Nonetheless – ’

She thumped her fist on the surface. ‘This is my
home!
No one –
no one at all
– is going to drive me away from here.’

‘I don’t want you getting hurt. Maybe if you went somewhere else?’ He looked down, saw her open her mouth to refuse and added quickly, ‘Just for a while. I could stay here and keep an eye on things and – ’

‘Being careful is one thing. Running away is another. I won’t do it, Ben!’

‘I’m thinking about your
life
, dammit! I have to go back east again, soon. They’re bound to find out.’ His voice cracked. ‘You’ll be too vulnerable on your own out here.’

‘You’ve got a point there, Elless. I have to concede that – with great reluctance, mind. I’ve already said I’ll hire a bodyguard when you’re away.’

‘Hire a bodyguard! In a small country town like York! Oh, sure, there’ll be plenty of those to choose from. Just put an ad in the paper and they’ll be queuing up to apply.’

‘There’s bound to be someone who wants a job.’ Inspiration struck. ‘We’ll ask Bill Lansome. He’ll know if anyone will. He knows everything and everyone round here. And in the meantime we’ll make sure that one of us is at the block at all times. With a mobile phone, so they can’t cut us off from calling for help.’

‘No. Sorry, Meriel, but definitely not.’

‘What do you mean, ‘definitely not’?’

‘I mean, it’s very brave of you, but I’m not letting you take the risk.’

She poked her index finger into his chest, making him jerk backwards. ‘Get one thing straight from the start, Elless! If we take any decisions about this, we’ll do it together.’

‘But – ’

She poked him again. ‘I mean it.’

The quarrel was short and sharp. After which they separated – to make a lot of busy noise in different parts of the house and garden. Her anger soon faded though. It was just that he cared about her. And he had lost his first wife, after all. But still, he had to learn not to give her orders. She’d had more than enough of those from her mother.

An hour later, having been ostentatiously avoiding one another, they walked into the kitchen area from opposite doors, caught each other sneaking a glance sideways and both burst out laughing.

* * * *

The policeman didn’t return until late morning, this time accompanied by a detective. Together they walked around the edges of the area Ben had marked off by sticks and string, studying it carefully.

‘Those tyre tracks aren’t quite clear enough for definite identification,’ the detective said at last, sucking the inside of his cheek to promote thought. ‘And we can’t prove they were made last night. You’re absolutely sure those are not your footprints, Mr Elless?’

Ben gritted his teeth. He had already been asked this twice. ‘Of course I am. I don’t have any shoes with that pattern of sole. Nothing remotely like it. I’ve checked that out already. But you’re welcome to go through my wardrobe, if you like.’

The detective produced a camera and took a few shots of the various dust-blurred footprints. After he had finished, he sucked the inside of his cheek some more then made another pronouncement. ‘I don’t hold out much hope of finding whoever it was.’

‘There’s been a further development. A man rang up a short time ago and threatened Meriel’s life if we didn’t sell up.’

‘That does change things somewhat,’ the detective informed her. ‘I’ll get a trace put on your phone. Any other motive they might have apart from your development clashing with theirs?’

‘Nope.’

The detective referred to his notes,
‘
Mrs
–
er,
Ms
Ingram? Any,’ he coughed gently, ‘problems in your past? Anything you say will be treated in absolute confidence, of course.’

‘No shady characters, no deadly secrets,’ she informed him with a straight face, while Ben turned round to stare out of the window, shoulders shaking. ‘I’m an accountant. And an artist. I illustrate books. I’ve never even had a parking fine.’

Ben turned round again. ‘I hope information about my plans for a tourist development will also be covered by that absolute confidence you spoke of.’

‘It will, sir.’

When the two men had gone, she looked at him. ‘I could always come with you to Brisbane and we could leave Tina at the vet’s. He runs kennels as well as his practice.’

Ben shook his head. ‘Thank you for the offer, but I still need to sort this out on my own if I’m to have any self-respect.’

The next morning Meriel tried to find a bodyguard while Ben went to bring Tina home from the vet’s. The local security firm couldn’t help them except to promise to drive past every hour or two, so Meriel contacted Bill Lansome, who told her to leave it with him.

He rang back a short time later to say, ‘I may have found you some bodyguards – of a sort. You may not fancy them, though. They’re a bit – er – eccentric. Call themselves neo-hippies.’

‘Call themselves
what?’

‘Neo-hippies.’ He chuckled. ‘Don’t know about neo, they seem exactly like the old-fashioned sort of hippie to me. There were plenty of them around when I was young and surfing on the Gold Coast. Long hair and beards, women with full-length Indian skirts. This bunch smell of incense, but I guarantee they’re not on drugs. One of them’s been a good friend of mine for years.’

‘Hippies?’

‘Yeah. I suppose they were before your time, but if you’ve seen pictures of the sixties, you’ll know what to expect.’

A pause seemed to indicate that he wanted an answer, so she said, ‘Er – right. Go on.’

‘They’ve been caretaking a property outside town for a few months. Left it in excellent order when the owner came back, better than when they went there. But they couldn’t find anywhere else to house sit, so they made camp temporarily on an empty block. Only the owner found out about it and they were asked to leave. Actually, it belongs to the guy who made you an offer for your block.’