The Girl in the Hard Hat (21 page)

‘You mean, all the practical jokes and stuff?’

‘Among other things.’ She cast a sideways glance at him, watching for signs of subterfuge. ‘As you know, Ethel gave me that donga that was out of service. But I seem to have got a few mysterious donations.’

He lowered the prawn that was on its way to his mouth. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, a desk, an air conditioner and a new flyscreen turned up without me or Ethel ordering them. Know anything about that?’

‘I wish I did.’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ She waved her hand. ‘It would just be nice to thank the person, you know.’

He nodded. ‘I’ll keep my ears out.’

They ate in silence for a minute or two.

‘What about work?’ Gavin opened the conversation again. ‘Is it what you were expecting?’

She took another chip. ‘It’s challenging. I mean, I love the work. It’s just been hard getting everyone else to buy into my changes.’

He examined the prawn in his hand, as though wondering whether he should say something or not.

She rolled her eyes. ‘Go on, everyone else has. I promise I won’t get offended. Believe me.’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve heard it all before. But then, you know, I didn’t take this job because I wanted to be popular.’

He looked up.

‘Maybe not, but if you want a man’s respect you need to involve him in the process a little.’

She paused to take a carrot, quietly munching as she considered his words. She hated to admit it but he had a point.

He shrugged. ‘I’m just saying . . . with every pair of hands, you get a free brain. Might not be a bad plan to see what that’s worth, if you know what I mean.’

She watched him closely as though really seeing him for the first time. ‘You are absolutely right.’

That gorgeous head of brown hair moved in the gentle breeze and those eyes so dark had her wondering how many layers this man had. Her nerves buzzed as he returned her thoughtful gaze, unsmiling. Not really saying anything, just studying her in the same manner she was studying him.

He frowned. While she was wondering what was displeasing him, he took a prawn out of the bowl and shelled it for her. ‘Here.’

‘Oh, er, thanks.’ She hadn’t really intended to eat any prawns: it all looked rather messy. But the intimacy of his gesture raised bumps on her skin and she couldn’t say no. Taking the shellfish from his wet fingertips, she bit into it.

Her eyes widened. ‘They taste so fresh.’

‘You see.’ He smiled.

He took another from the bowl and shelled it for her, looking at her again in a way that made her insides squirm.

‘You got something weighing on your mind, Sarge?’

She had a lot of things weighing on her mind. Not least of which was the fact that until she found her father she was unavailable for a relationship.

Not that Gavin was offering one. He’d made that perfectly clear. He wanted an after-work fling. A little romantic down time. That wasn’t her – she couldn’t do something like that. Once she let someone in . . .

She shook off the thought. It wasn’t an option anyway, which was why it was so important for her to hold a man like Gavin at arm’s length. He had
heartbreaker
written all over him.

‘That actually reminds me of why we’re here.’ She reached for a napkin to wipe her hands. ‘You were going to give me Yabber’s address, remember?’

He waggled his eyebrows at her before reaching into his shirt pocket and pulling out a piece of paper.

She opened it and looked at the words scrawled in black masculine handwriting on the small notepad paper with a frayed top edge.

Red Rock B and B

Cossack Road,

Cossack WA 6720

‘Cossack,’ she repeated. ‘That sounds familiar.’

‘Should do. It’s the nearest town to Wickham.’

‘Really? What do they do there?’

He smiled wryly. ‘Not much. It’s a ghost town, full of historic buildings and old Japanese graves from back when they used to dive for pearls in these parts. Now that stop is mainly for tourists.’

Wendy frowned. ‘Yabber is staying at a B and B there? How do we know he hasn’t already moved on?’

‘He’s not there on holiday. He bought the B and B and is doing it up. Apparently, that’s his retirement plan for him and his wife.’

‘Oh.’ She refolded the paper and slipped it into her handbag. ‘That sounds about right, I guess.’

He sat back in his chair to devote his attention to watching her. ‘Are you going to go see him?’

‘Probably.’

‘When?’

She shrugged. ‘I’m not sure . . . maybe next Sunday. We have the day off, right?’

‘I’m going fishing.’ He rubbed his hands together.

She smiled. ‘Of course.’

‘Unless you want me to come along with you?’

She thought about it. Did she want a friend to lean on when she met her father for the first time, just in case he dismissed her and wouldn’t answer any of her questions?

Of course.

But instead she shook her head. ‘No, I’ll be right, thanks.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘You know what, we should probably get back. It’s starting to get late.’

He sighed. ‘I knew I should have held onto that little bit of paper for another half hour.’

Wendy was excited to finally have Yabber’s address in her hands. The unfortunate part, of course, was having to wait an entire week before she could use it.

Sunday was uneventful and Monday brought with it the very welcome news that Chub had managed to hire a new engineer for installation of the new deck. His name was Dimitri Chrysanthopoulos, his credentials were excellent and Wendy couldn’t help but congratulate Chub on the speedy find.

‘Wow, you got us a guy in a week! That’s skill for you.’

‘Oh yes.’ Chub rubbed his knuckles against his generous chest. ‘Turns out I’m not just eye candy.’

Dimitri arrived on Wednesday. His hair was dark and his moustache beautifully trimmed. His clothes seemed to be ironed every morning, a trait that definitely set him apart from the crowd. His personality was passionate enthusiasm, level ten, which never seemed to abate. He did a lot of finger-kissing, exclaiming and relaying of old stories on past jobs that seemed to lend some sort of vague wisdom to this one. Nonetheless, the men accepted him into the fold. And that was despite his most annoying habit of all – his tendency to invade personal space.

At first, Wendy thought it was just her, because she was female. But then to her amusement she started to notice he did it with everyone. He just stood too close to people when he spoke to them. And he’d suddenly grab your arm when he was making a point he felt was particularly fascinating.

‘Men don’t touch men,’ Radar informed Lena and Wendy at dinner Friday night. ‘You just don’t do it; makes things damned uncomfortable.’

‘Wow,’ Lena turned and winked at Wendy, ‘could it be possible that the guys are suffering from a little sexual harassment? Geez, I wonder how that feels?’

‘It ain’t sexual.’ Radar rolled his eyes. ‘The man’s probably near-sighted, that’s all. Needs to make sure you’re still there or something. Who knows . . .?’

Wendy couldn’t help but smile a little, though, at the meeting she called for the engineers. They were having some tea and biscuits afterwards to celebrate Dimitri’s arrival. He was standing at the back with Carl, obviously too close for Carl’s taste. Dimitri’s hands fluttered about his face as he spoke. Wendy could see others watching the two in amusement also.

Dimitri took two steps forwards, Carl took two steps back. Dimitri took another step forwards. Carl’s back was flat up against the wall, his eyes darting to the left for possible space. He jumped as Dimitri’s hand suddenly whipped out and grabbed his arm, leaning in to impart the amazing climax of his story.

Carl’s expression was one of terror. Wendy found it very easy to lip-read his response: ‘For fuck’s sake!’

‘What’s the matter, Carl?’ one of the other engineers yelled across the room. ‘Got a tongue in your ear, mate?’

The room erupted in laughter and Dimitri turned around and beamed. He didn’t know what the joke was but was ecstatic to be part of it. Spreading his hands, he said, ‘Such a wonderful team. I look forward to working here very much.’

While he was addressing the group, Carl managed to slip away and head to the door. ‘What the fuck are you all still doing here?’ he threw over his shoulder on the way out. ‘Get back on the wharf!’

Wendy had an absolute stack of paperwork to get through for the safety audit. She didn’t need another incident after the fishing one. Particularly when all the men were still sore about her firing Fish. Despite his rather eccentric habits, the guys had found him to be a good leader. He got the job done. Whereas Dimitri, despite all his enthusiasm, was still untested.

Perhaps that was why disaster struck Thursday morning, just as Wendy thought she was going to clear the week without any mishaps. She was out on the end of the wharf doing what Chub called her rounds. Every morning she visited each nook and cranny of the site to look for new hazards. Her chequered hard hat was now becoming a bit of an icon around site. The men loved that she hadn’t swapped it for a new one, but instead continued to wear it proudly. It showed them that she didn’t just want to be their boss but their friend as well. They began to joke with her rather than at her, which was a refreshing change.

On the skid, during one of her daily inspections, they did a mock line up and stood to attention asking her if she wanted to check out their uniforms as well.

‘Feel free to give me a bit of a pat down,’ Biro, one of the skid boys, encouraged her. ‘I might be hiding something.’

She pressed her thumb and forefinger to her chin and considered him. ‘You know what, you’re absolutely right. Radar,’ she addressed the saluting monkey next to him, ‘pat him down.’

Biro immediately dropped his pose. ‘Hey, that’s not fair, you’re playing dirty.’

‘Get back to work!’ Mike barked from across the platform.

Wendy looked up in surprise. He must have been watching the entire episode.

‘Haven’t you got more inspections to do?’ he demanded.

She didn’t grace him with a reply. Simply turned and left. She wasn’t going to feed his rudeness.

This morning, however, she hadn’t been to the skids yet but was still standing on the end of the wharf, transfixed by a school of whales frolicking not too much further out. Throwing their giant black bodies out of the water, they re-hit the surface with a massive crash that looked almost as severe as the pile hammer. She held her breath at the freedom they represented. Unlike her, these majestic creatures led a simple, carefree existence. Even this human wharf extension invaded but a tip of their enormous world.

‘Whale-watching, Sarge?’

She recognised the voice immediately.

Sexy.

Confident.

Temptation personified.

He was like a box of chocolates someone kept waving in her face. She had tried without success to stop reliving some of the moments on her ‘date’ with him over the last couple of days. But it was difficult to get the man out of her mind, even though technically her personal obligations to him were over.

She braced and turned. ‘How’s the morning going?’

‘Good.’ Despite her preparation, her body still sang at the sight of him. ‘We’ve got one pile in already. What about you?’

‘Two hazard identifications and one minor incident.’

‘Is that good news?’ he asked wryly.

Her lips twitched. ‘It means we are collecting a healthy file just in time for audit.’

His eyes flicked to her hat and then back to her face again. ‘I like it. Do it yourself?’

She could only assume he was referring to the police checks. ‘No,’ she grimaced, ‘it was a present.’

‘Nice one.’

‘Well, I better get going.’ She turned to go. The bus had just pulled into the parking bay marked by a coloured zone on the deck. She saw Sharon hop out with a file of errands. It was good timing. The bus would be off again in fifteen minutes and she could hitch a ride. As she idly watched Sharon stroll away something seemed off. For some reason she couldn’t fathom, because it had never occurred before, the back of the ship-loader crane seemed way too close to the bus.

This five-storey crane, which ran up and down the jetty on a set of rails, was mainly used by the wharf owners to transfer iron ore from the conveyor into the bellies of the ships that docked there. Sometimes, however, if there were no ships arriving, they let Barnes Inc use the crane for their own purposes – such as was the case today. It seemed Dimitri’s men had taken charge of it for deck installation.

Wendy’s eyes narrowed to slits as she tried to work out what was wrong with the picture. But it was Gavin who acted first.

‘Sharon! Run!’

At the sound of his urgent call, the bus driver stopped dead. Her mouth dropped open in confusion. She looked around as though searching for the source of the voice. It was probably the worst possible thing she could have done. Gavin raced from the railing.

Then Wendy saw what was happening as though in slow motion. A cable tray that sat under the main body of the ship-loader crane had caught on the side of the bus. As the crane moved along the rails the bus tipped firstly onto two wheels and teetered . . .

‘No! Stop!’ The cry to the out-of-earshot crane driver was sucked from her lungs as she staggered forwards. She saw Gavin yank on Sharon’s arm to pull her out of range but at the urgency of his tug she dropped her files and tripped over them.

CRASH!

The bus fell.

Glass splintered as a few of the windows smashed.

Sharon let loose a blood-curdling scream.

Red dust on the deck whooshed into Wendy’s face, causing her to choke as she raced forwards.

Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!

By the time she reached the scene Sharon had passed out on Gavin, who was kneeling on the ground under her. The lower portion of Sharon’s left leg was caught under the top of the bus; the rusty, paint-peeling roof of the vehicle, normally hidden from them, was now a wall of steel on the deck.

Gavin looked up at Wendy, his face one of pain. ‘I was too late.’