Legacy of Hunters Ridge Read online

  ‘Didn’t sound like it. Have you checked in here?’ Cam pulled on a door handle that seemed to be sitting on the wall. ‘I didn’t even see that. Is that a cupboard?’

  ‘Looks like it. The panelling of these walls clips together, but a couple have been fitted out with narrow shelves. Must have been all they had to build with.’

  He gave the handle another serious tug and the panel gave way.

  ‘Toys.’ As Ally stared in wonder at colourful wooden blocks, tin spinning tops and knitted teddy bears, Cam got to work on the other cupboard.

  On the floor inside was an enclosed box and Ally dragged it out, opening it up. ‘Look at this.’

  The baby clothes and blankets were handmade: knitted, crocheted, sewn. And beautiful.

  ‘They’re so small.’ She looked at them closely. ‘These have been used. They have signs of wear, this one has a small stain.’

  ‘They were probably her brother Billy’s.’

  ‘Oh, that would explain it. I wonder if she kept them for David? Sad for her.’

  ‘Ally.’

  His tone had her hand pausing mid-reach. She looked over her shoulder. Cam had pulled what looked like a large toy chest from the shelf. It was full of little whittled figures.

  ‘Oh. Wow. There’s so many of them.’

  He sorted through them, then shook his head. ‘None of them look like you. I can’t even see another human figure. I don’t think this is where they’ve been coming from.’

  ‘So someone is whittling them for me, but it isn’t Gus? How many people can do this?’

  ‘I don’t know, but regardless, whoever made them can get inside. We’ll start taking some precautions. Let’s take a look at what we need to do to secure the house. And I need to know who you told you’d be away – and when you’d be back.’

  ‘You know, you can’t just stand there all afternoon. It will be dark soon.’

  ‘I know, I know.’ Ally had the pony saddled again. Cam and Lee had been dead bolting the doors and securing the windows, and she’d called Cam down to make sure she couldn’t back out. Only now she was wondering what had possessed her. Because now, she couldn’t back out.

  Cam walked to the car and pulled a bottle of a particularly good dessert wine from a bag on the front seat. ‘I know these are your favourite. I bought six of them today. I was putting them away for Christmas but if you get on that horse, we’ll open one tonight,’ he told her with a big grin. ‘As a reward.’ The bottle disappeared back into the car and he was watching her again, waiting, all but tapping his foot.

  As if a bottle of wine was going to make everything better. And if it was then she was an idiot, because no matter what that wine cost, it had to be cheaper than eighteen months of therapy. And probably a lot easier to take. She’d been ripping herself off.

  But it was really good wine.

  She sent him a level look and took a deep breath, her hands trembling on the reins. The horse fidgeted. She adjusted her position. The foot she put in the stirrup felt like jelly and she wondered briefly if it would support her weight. Then the horse moved again, so she sprang up, lowered herself into the saddle.

  There was no time to think about it, as the horse had plans of its own. He stepped back a few steps, then leapt forwards. When she kept her seat, kept control, he reared in protest, tried again to bolt. Coco was used to being in charge. Her focus was the pony, what he needed to understand. And the first thing he needed to understand was that running away wasn’t an option. She moved him off again. Again he surged forwards.

  ‘Ally, be careful.’

  She flicked a look at a very tense Cam. ‘He’s okay, he just has no confidence, so he’s trying to run away. It’s the horse’s first instinct when threatened. Only I won’t let him, so he doesn’t know what to do. He’s threatened by me because he doesn’t know me and his learnt behaviour isn’t working.’

  ‘He’s threatened?’

  ‘He hasn’t had a proper start, so he’s taught himself how to cope. If he runs, Lucy gets a fright and gets off. He goes back to his safe paddock. Mission accomplished.’ She got Coco moving again, kept his legs and his mind busy with lots of easy activities.

  ‘You’re saying she should stay on?’

  ‘No. She did that. He just ran faster, and she came off and got hurt. He needs to learn not to run off in the first place. They both need training. I need to make the lessons simple, help him succeed, tell him, “See? How easy is that?” Reward him by taking the pressure off.’ She relaxed the rein, gave him a pat. The pony sighed heavily in apparent relief. She moved him on again. ‘Baby steps. He needs to feel confident. To be able to trust his rider. Horses are herd animals. They’ll willingly follow a leader they trust and respect.’

  ‘He doesn’t like Lucy?’

  ‘It’s not about like or dislike. She wasn’t being a leader, so he took on the role.’

  He watched for a while. ‘I know you’re doing something, because it’s making him do something, but for the life of me I can’t see what. It looks like you’re just sitting there.’

  ‘It’s supposed to, though I think at this stage that statement’s pretty generous.’

  She worked with Coco for a few more minutes then, pleased with him, she jumped down. It wasn’t until she was firmly on the ground that the shaking began.

  ‘I did it.’

  ‘Yes, you did. How do you feel?’

  ‘I didn’t realise how much I missed it.’ She slipped one hand around his neck and touched her lips to his. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You’re so welcome. Now put him back so we can celebrate.’

  ‘Not before you help me with this last window, we can’t,’ Lee called from above their heads. ‘And there’d better be a glass for me. Well done, Ally.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She took the pony back to the yard and couldn’t seem to stop smiling. She’d done it. She was still unsteady, but she couldn’t wait to get back on. She gave Coco a pat and loosened the girth.

  ‘See? We both survived. Good boy.’

  ‘Do you remember David ever saying anything specific about people in his hunting group, any enemies, arguments, anything he was worried about?’

  Ally sat with Cam in Ben’s makeshift office and tried to answer the questions as best she could. After the first few minutes, Rob had come in and sat himself down to listen. The men were quiet, waiting for her to say something, hoping she’d come up with anything that might give them the smallest clue. But she didn’t know.

  ‘David kept what happened down here to himself, mostly. He tried to mention hunting a few times, but I find killing animals for fun abhorrent, so he stopped sharing. All I remember is that he went out on Martin’s tours, and that he seemed to have a regular group of friends.’

  ‘That sounds right. Sullivan told me David joined the club and did the club days, rather than the tours, which are generally the one-offs for booked groups of outsiders,’ Ben confirmed.

  ‘And you think David pinched the girlfriend of this devil of Mavis’s and he got mad enough to do what he did?’

  ‘Some of these guys aren’t exactly model citizens, Ally. People do horrible things without much thought sometimes.’

  The door chimed and from her vantage point, Ally recognised Bella Campbell’s mother. Her face was deathly pale and her eyes were swollen from recent tears.

  Rob swore under his breath and went to speak to her.

  ‘Rob, have you heard anything? Anything at all?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Elaine, I haven’t.’

  ‘But she wouldn’t take off like that. I know those other girls could have, but not Bella. Something’s happened to her, I know it has! You should be out there looking for her!’

  ‘I am looking for her. The volunteers have been out twice and found nothing. You need to calm yourself down – this isn’t doing any good. I’m looking into it, doing everything I can. I’ve alerted authorities at every truck stop, in every town. Have you tried calling her friends again?’

&nbs
p; ‘Yes, of course. No one’s seen her.’

  ‘I’ll keep working on it, I promise. I’ll make some more calls this afternoon, check on any developments.’

  Elaine Campbell stalked out, more distressed than when she’d turned up.

  ‘You really think she’s hitched out of town?’ Ben asked when Rob sighed heavily and sat down.

  ‘I think all the others did. This one seems less likely, but I suppose she must have.’

  ‘But Bella was looking forward to finishing her degree and coming back here to be a doctor,’ Ally said.

  Rob nodded. ‘So she said. And honestly, she didn’t seem the type to run off.’

  Ben frowned. ‘What kind of investigation has been done?’

  Rob scowled. ‘A proper one, on every car. No problems with the car, no sign of foul play, no evidence of another vehicle. Nothing.’

  ‘No evidence of the truck that you’re saying picked them up?’

  ‘The trucks don’t necessarily pull off the road. Ben, the girls all made a pact to leave and I’ve already located a couple of them in Brisbane. The latest ones have gone out to the main road, gotten out of their cars of their own free will. What else would they be doing?’

  ‘I guess that’s your job to find out. Have you called in any outside assistance?’

  Rob rubbed his forehead. ‘I’ve done what I can. I’ve searched, I’ve made all the phone calls, I can’t get anyone interested in helping with a more involved investigation.’

  ‘It’s so sad for Bella’s mum,’ Ally said.

  ‘It is that,’ Rob agreed.

  Cam looked at Ally. ‘You ready?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Ally’s phone rang. ‘I might just get this.’ She slipped from the room and answered.

  ‘Oh, Alissa dear, it’s Carla. I just wanted to apologise for rambling on the other day.’

  ‘There’s no need, really.’

  ‘Colin said you’re helping Lucy with that pony of hers.’

  ‘Er – yes, just a bit.’

  ‘Oh that’s lovely, just lovely. See, my daughter Rebecca has the opposite problem, you could just drop a bomb under Prince and he’d point blank refuse to wake up. And I was wondering, if I brought Rebecca and her Prince over when Lucy comes around, could you maybe just help her out? We’ll pay you, of course.’

  ‘I don’t have a lot of time …’

  ‘Oh, we won’t take up much. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.’

  Am I going to do this or not? Feeling a little sick, Ally heard herself agreeing.

  ‘How about after I’m done with Lucy and Coco then, around elevenish?’

  * * *

  ‘So what’s next?’ Cam asked Ben.

  ‘I’d like to set something up.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Oftentimes these guys are drawn by their egos to be involved in their own cases. They’ve been caught because they showed up at their crime scenes, or volunteered to search for their victims. In the case of a victim’s survival, they can become stalkers in an attempt to stay close to their targets, or to finish the job. If this guy is interested in Ally, and she’s going to be at some kind of public event where he can blend into a crowd and get close to her, he just might show.’

  ‘You’re going to try and draw him out.’

  ‘Yeah. Just got to figure out an excuse. Any suggestions?’

  ‘We’re just about finished Ebs’s renovations,’ Cam said. ‘She might like to throw a little something.’

  ‘Can she do it this weekend while I’m still here?’

  Cam thought about that. ‘Sure. Why not?’

  CHAPTER

  21

  Ally picked up her pills. Put them down. Picked them up again. Put them down. She could do this without them. Probably. Lucy was coming to see her pony being ridden and Carla’s daughter Rebecca wanted a lesson. She had the shed spotless, she’d raked the round yard, she’d run out of things to keep her busy. What if she was a blabbering mess? She couldn’t give either of them what they needed if she couldn’t function.

  She picked the pills up again. She should take one. She’d only been on Coco’s back a few times and she didn’t want him playing up too much in front of Colin, so she needed to be steady. She had to be coherent.

  ‘No.’ She put them back on the table. ‘I can do this.’ Then she heard the car on the drive and nearly passed out. It was only Mia.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Ally asked, going outside to meet her.

  ‘Nice, thanks.’

  ‘Mia, you said you had to work late this week. You can’t be doing all this driving.’

  ‘I can and I will. I’ve been successfully making my own decisions for many, many years. Besides, as if I was going to miss your first riding lesson.’

  ‘Oh, well, thanks. Cam’s coming too, and you’re both amazingly supportive, but I don’t know if I can go through with it.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. I didn’t drive all the way back down here just to have you hide in the house. Of course you can.’

  ‘You’re right, I can. Of course. Of course I can.’

  ‘Don’t blabber.’

  ‘I can’t. What am I thinking?’

  ‘You’re not thinking, you’re panicking. You’ve been riding the pony all week, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes, but not in front of Colin. It’s important Coco behaves, at least a bit, if Lucy’s got any chance of getting him back.’

  ‘You make yourself nervous, you’ll make the pony nervous.’

  ‘That’s right and Rebecca –’

  ‘You forgotten how to train a horse? A rider?’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Of course you haven’t. See, you’re just panicking. Take a pill or something.’

  ‘I don’t want to.’

  ‘Good, ’cause you just ran out of time. Here’s Lucy.’

  ‘Oh, God.’

  Ally rode Coco in the round yard while Lucy and Colin watched from the fence, with Carla, Rebecca and the entourage of women and children that had poured out of two more vehicles watching on, bubbling with excitement.

  Cam stood back a little with Mia, unable to keep the grin off his face. ‘I feel like we should have autographed photos to hand out for her.’

  ‘Don’t laugh, I’ve done that.’

  ‘Really?’

  They watched her correct the pony, praise it and move on.

  ‘Just a few weeks ago, this would have done her in. Since the fire, she’s been so fragile. I don’t know why she’s changed, but if you have anything to do with it, I owe you forever.’

  ‘Yeah, but you know what? She’s really not. She thinks she’s fragile, but she deals. No matter what, she takes it and gets back up. And if you’d seen her face when she got on that horse the other day – there was no panic, nothing but a mile-wide grin. Said she hadn’t realised how much she’d missed it.’

  ‘She’s becoming more like her old self. This, what she’s doing now? It’s a miracle.’

  ‘She looks good out there.’

  ‘She certainly does. Cam, how worried should we be about this stalker? Should she come back to the city?’

  ‘I’m going to keep Ally as close to Ben and Lee and I as possible. Ben’s extending his stay for this.’

  ‘And what about the figures she’s been finding? Why would he do that?’

  ‘He’s telling her he’s watching her, can get to her at any time. It’s a tactic designed to scare her and feed his ego. Some assholes get off on that kind of thing. But it will make him easier to catch. There are things we can do to set him up, especially because we know his triggers. I’ve already spoken to Ben. We’re working on it. How long are you staying?’

  ‘I have to head back Monday morning at the latest.’

  ‘Good. We’ve got a busy weekend planned. Starting with dinner at Ebs’s place this evening.’

  Ally was pleased with the morning. It had been surprisingly easy to fall into her old role, and surprisingly rewarding. Lucy had bee
n all smiles watching her work Coco, and Rebecca had had a good, solid lesson on Prince. Now, Ally just had to move them on.

  ‘I really can’t thank you enough, I’ve just never seen him work quite so well.’

  ‘My pleasure.’

  ‘Can we do this again? I’d love her to have a weekly lesson.’

  ‘Sure, no problem. She’s a lovely rider with a talented horse, I’d be pleased to train her.’

  Carla beamed. ‘Well. Hearing that from you has made my day.’ Ally smiled at Carla’s enthusiasm. ‘I’ll see you next week then.’ Mia and Cam joined Ally as the cars and float headed off.

  ‘You know what?’ Mia said. ‘You were right to panic – that was awful.’

  ‘Rub it in a bit more, spoil my moment.’

  Cam wrapped an arm around Ally and dragged her in for a kiss. ‘Well done.’

  ‘Thanks. I’m actually pretty proud of myself. I might even do it again.’

  ‘You’re going to need an arena.’ Mia smiled sweetly up at Cam.

  Cam laughed and shook his head. ‘Then you’d better tell me what’s involved.’ He checked his watch. ‘I need to do a couple of things before this afternoon. See you at Ebs’s place around four?’

  ‘Okay, sure. Why?’

  He grinned. ‘I’ve got a little something planned.’

  ‘I thought Cam said he had a little something planned,’ Ally said to Ebony as she, Ebony and Mia sat on Ebony’s back veranda with a glass of white wine.

  ‘This’ll do me,’ Mia said lazily and yawned. ‘I’m glad I’m not driving home tonight.’

  ‘So am I. You shouldn’t be driving alone after dark.’

  ‘I told her that,’ Ally said.

  ‘Someone will have to turn up soon,’ Mia said. ‘Put an end to the mystery. Hopefully a good one.’

  Ebony took a sip of her wine. ‘Well, actually, Lee was here earlier. He said he thinks Ben is quietly looking at the girls’ disappearances himself.’

  ‘Ben told him that?’

  Ebony shook her head. ‘Lee went in to see him about something this morning. Rob was out and Ben had the missing girls’ files open right alongside his own research on the hunting forum members.’

  ‘He thinks there’s a link?’ Mia asked sharply.