Fifty Fifty (Detective Harriet Blue #2)(39)

‘And who exactly were you up there smoking weed with, young lady?’ Snale asked.

‘You know me, Vicky.’ Bella tapped the side of her nose. ‘I’m good with my secrets.’ Something over my shoulder, through the glass doors to the porch, caught her eye. She leaned sideways, took another spoonful of beans into her mouth.

‘Better get your guns out, coppers,’ she said, seeming amused and nodding towards the doors. ‘There’s trouble out there.’





Chapter 51


THE SOUND OF footsteps, followed by thumping at the front door. I’d risen from my chair instinctively and dashed down the hall, my gun stupidly still on the coffee table where I’d left it before dinner. Zac Taby was leaning against the door, bashing on it with his hands. He all but fell into my arms as I yanked it open. He was drenched in sweat and shaking.

‘They’re after me! They’re after me!’

‘What the hell’s going on?’

‘Help! They shot at me! They’re trying to kill me!’

I went out into the night. It was quiet. On the road in the distance I could see a car stopped, its headlights picking up the evening dust shifting in the gentle breeze, the occasional fluttering of a locust attracted to its beams. I started down the garden path and out of Dez’s front gate. Kash was close behind me, actioning his pistol.

‘Who is it?’

‘Probably Jace Robit and his merry band of meatheads.’

‘If they fired a shot at that kid, we’ll need to bring them all in.’

‘ I’ll just talk to them,’ I said, waving him off. ‘Stay here. We don’t want to present a hostile front.’

The car remained idle, the engine humming as I approached. I could see there were four men in it. The elbow hanging out the driver’s side indeed belonged to the leathery brown body of Jace Robit. He was watching me approach with a small smile playing about his lips. I knew these men. Though they’d used their truck tonight to chase down a frightened teenager, cracking pot shots off over his head to put the fear of God into him, he wasn’t their usual quarry. These were the guys who went out chasing, hunting, gutting bush pigs and kangaroos. The bloodthirsty, bored, angry men of small towns who had too much firepower and not enough targets to keep them satisfied.

I gained speed as I approached the car, lifted my boot as I got within range and kicked the mirror off the driver’s side door. The mirror and its casing smashed into the road, glass sparkling in the dim light.

‘Hey! What the fuck!’

Jace shouldered the door open, jumped down and grabbed my shoulder, fingers going for the underside of my arm in a bruising grip. I gave him a half-strength jab to the face, sending him stumbling back, more surprised than injured.

‘I told you to leave that kid alone,’ I said. ‘You got hearing problems?’

‘And I told you that we handle things ourselves out here,’ Jace said. The other men were out of the truck now and all around me. Two were behind me, blocking Kash’s advance. My partner was on the road, a hundred metres back and approaching fast, his gun by his side.

‘ That kid’s a danger to our town.’ Jace pointed at the house. ‘We want him out. I don’t care what you do with him. Take him back to the fucking city with you. Take him into – what d’you call it – protective custody.’

‘He hasn’t done anything wrong.’

One of the farmers behind me snorted.

‘You’re not from around here, sweetheart,’ Jace sneered. ‘You’ve got to understand. There are people who belong here, and people who don’t. And the Taby kid doesn’t belong. In the bush, you have the native animals, and you have introduced species.’ He held one palm up, then another, separate. ‘Like feral cats. They prey on the natives. If you don’t squash ’em before they multiply, suddenly you’ll be overrun.’

‘Thanks for the environmental science class,’ I said. ‘Truly enlightening. I have a couple of lessons of my own, you know. But you’re not going to enjoy them. So I’m telling you just one last time. Get back in that truck and fuck off home, before I decide to start teaching.’ A ripple of surprise went up through the group of men around me. They looked at each other and laughed. None of them backed down.

‘Harry.’ Kash was at the edge of the gathering now. ‘Don’t.’

‘Don’t what?’ Jace sniffed, looked me up and down.

‘You heard the man, Elliot,’ I said, cracking my knuckles. ‘He said they handle things themselves out here. So let’s handle it.’





Chapter 52


WHEN I FIGHT men, they try to put me on the ground first. They don’t want to punch a woman right away. Not until they understand that I’m no ordinary woman. They figure they can grab me and push me into the dirt and I’ll realise that I’ve been playing big boy games and I need to go back to my dolls and stop fooling myself. Jace Robit was a hard man. Wiry strength from years working on farms, burning off fat and loading muscle around uncrackable bones. His big hands came for my shoulders again. I ducked and stepped sideways, gave him a fast uppercut to the ribs, knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled, tried to swing an arm around the back of my neck. I bowed out of it, stepped behind him and kicked him in the arse.