North Star (3 page)

Kate gave a small grimace—there were probably no cockroaches here, on account of the rats who'd no doubt eaten them all.

‘What is this stuff?' Liam asked, nodding towards the piles of debris.

‘Newspapers,' Kate said, cautiously lifting one of the dusty yellowing stacks and noting that the date on top was July 1988. As they moved further into the house she realised that it wasn't just newspapers her grandfather had collected but also
Reader's Digests
,
Time Life
,
National Geographics,
and various other magazines she'd never even heard of before.

‘Why is there so much junk in here?' Georgia asked, sounding subdued.

‘I'm not sure, honey, but I think your great-grandfather didn't like to leave the house as he got older, and I guess he liked to read . . . a lot.' Understatement of the year. Single-handedly he had gone through a small Amazonian jungle.

Running a shaky hand through her hair, Kate forced a steadiness to her voice that she was far from feeling. ‘It won't be so bad once we get rid of all the rubbish.'

After walking through the entire gloom of the place, Kate realised there wasn't a single cranny that wasn't stacked with junk. One room at the rear of the house was wall-to-wall furniture. As Henry ran out of space to store his newspapers, he must have moved the furniture into this room.

Now that he was over his anxiety about cockroaches Liam was exploring the house with all the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old boy.

‘Was your grandfather rich, Mum?'

Kate put down the dusty vase she'd found lying in the hallway and rubbed her hands on her jeans. ‘No, sweetie. North Star used to be a very important place around here, but that was years and years ago. Now it's just a lot of unused land and a big house.'

‘Why did they need such a big house?'

‘Back then they had big families. I remember my gran telling me that her mother had fourteen brothers and sisters.'

‘Fourteen?' Liam gaped and Kate gave a wry smile.

‘Yep. I think the original Campbells who built this house had a lot of kids too. Everyone did back then.'

‘They must be so proud now . . . What a dump,' Georgia said disdainfully.

It was hard to imagine someone living in this mess. She supposed she should feel some sense of guilt, seeing as she had been Henry's only living relative, but she didn't She didn't feel vindicated either because he had ended up dying alone, just as she had told him he would. She felt . . . nothing. Apparently a farmer had found him wandering and disorientated and had taken him to hospital, where he'd suffered a stroke and died a few days later.

Spinning on her heel, Kate clapped her hands together and walked past her two stunned children. ‘First thing we need to do is go back to the motel and make some phone calls.'

As she walked out of the house, she glanced uneasily at the thicket of trees in the distance. No, she wasn't ready for that yet. There was too much she needed to focus on here first.

During the trip back into town, Kate mentally made a list of things to do. First she needed to hire a skip to get rid of the rubbish. The yard and the outside work could wait—at least until they had some room to move inside the house.

For the rest of the afternoon, Georgia and Liam stayed by the pool while Kate made phone calls and searched the local phone book for suppliers and help. There were no skip-hire companies in the area; in fact, most people she spoke to sounded as though they had no clue what a skip was, let alone why anybody would want to hire one. It seemed everyone owned utes, four-wheel drives or even semitrailers to move livestock.

Eventually, in desperation, Kate went to the front desk to ask their advice. An older woman was on duty and she greeted Kate like a long-lost friend. Kate smiled politely but she had no idea who this woman was.

‘You don't remember me, do you?' the woman said.

‘Ahh . . .' Kate searched frantically for a name, but nothing came.

‘Well, you weren't in town that often, were you? I'm Madge, I've owned the motel forever. You would have met Tracey when you checked in yesterday, she takes care of things when I have to lend a hand over at the pub. Best food in town, love. My brother Clive's the chef there.'

Kate smiled and let Madge chatter on. When she finally drew breath, Kate asked her if she knew someone who would come out with a trailer and help Kate cart rubbish away. Ten minutes later she had hired Larry and his trailer for about the same price as hiring a skip in the city and she would be getting labour into the bargain. The only drawback was that Larry wouldn't be able to start work for two days, which meant they were going to have to stay in the motel longer than she had budgeted for.

It turned out that Madge was right—the food at the pub was delicious, and there was plenty of it: mouth-watering roast lamb, homemade gravy and crisp farm-fresh vegetables.

A game machine, which was out of date in the city by almost two decades, kept Liam occupied after he'd cleaned everything on his plate, and Georgia took the opportunity to sit on the other side of the room and talk on her mobile—no doubt plotting her escape as soon as possible.

Lost in thought, Kate jumped when a deep voice beside her said, ‘Hello again.'

Looking up, she managed a small smile. ‘Hello, Senior Sergeant Cafferty,' she said, feeling slightly awkward.

He gave a warm, deep chuckle. ‘Please call me John—this place isn't big enough for a mouthful like that.' He slid out a chair and took a seat. ‘I see you're still here. Town hasn't scared you off yet?'

‘I'd have thought the local policeman would be more concerned that we haven't scared the town off yet.' Kate saw Georgia glance over and then, seeing who her mother was talking to, abruptly turn her back.

‘She'll outgrow it—we all did,' he assured her in that confident tone of his.

Only someone who hadn't gone through the hell of living with a teenage girl could possibly believe that, thought Kate. It was becoming easy to identify other parents of teenage daughters. If they still sounded positive and encouraging, they didn't have a teenager yet. If, on the other hand, they sounded resigned, downtrodden and completely wrung out, then they were fellow survivors of TDS—more commonly known as Teenage Daughter Syndrome.

‘So I hear you've hired Larry Bilco.'

‘How did you know that?' Kate asked in surprise.

‘First lesson in rural living—nothing is a secret . . . ever,' he warned with a grin.

Kate thought she could argue that point but kept quiet. ‘I hope he's okay. He's the only handyman listed in the phone book for miles.'

‘Larry's a good bloke, but you might find him a little . . . Well, let's just say he's thorough.'

Before Kate could ask what he meant, they were interrupted by a large tattooed man wearing a bandana around his bald head and a crisp white apron. He was carrying a cup of steaming coffee and a plate of cheesecake.

‘Here you go, darl, a nice slice of my sinful Sex in the Morning chocolate cheesecake,' he said in an effeminate voice that belied the fact he looked more like the head of a bikie gang than a chef. Leaning over the table, he extended a massive paw to her. ‘I'm Clive. I remember you when you were just a kid.'

Inwardly Kate flinched. It wasn't a very comforting feeling, knowing that so many people in this town knew something of her dysfunctional family life as a child.

‘Enjoy your dessert.' He nodded at the cheesecake and winked. ‘I'm famous for my Sex in the Morning—won prizes for it and everything.'

Kate stared at the huge slice of cheesecake and felt the kilos heading straight to her thighs before she even tasted a mouthful.

‘Hello, John,' Clive said, smiling coyly at the police officer.

Kate had to suppress a smile as she watched John squirm in his seat. He seemed to be looking around the room for some kind of emergency that would need his urgent attention.

‘Clive. Great meal as usual,' he managed.

‘I'm glad you liked it,' Clive replied with a flirtatious smile.

A shout from a table further over, calling for Clive to take an order, had the big man rolling his eyes dramatically. ‘I'm coming!' he bellowed. ‘No class in this place,' he confided and walked off.

‘How would I have not remembered
him
?' she laughed.

‘He's only been back in town a few years. Apparently, he surprised quite a few people. He seems to have taken a running jump from the proverbial closet.'

‘He seems to have a soft spot for you.'

John rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. ‘I've tried to let him down gently.' He glanced at her and saw that she was struggling to keep a straight face. ‘You might laugh, but you try offending a six-foot-bloody-seven brick wall.'

Kate grinned and slipped the dessert plate so it was between them. ‘Please eat some of this. There's no way I'm going to be able to finish it on my own.'

‘Never let it be said I'd turn down a bit of sex in the morning,' he said with a grin that spread into genuine amusement when he noticed her blush.

Kate felt the humiliating telltale flush creep up her neck. Oh, for goodness' sake, what was she? Twelve?

After an awkward silence John asked about her plans.

‘I haven't thought too far ahead yet. I wanted to get the kids away from the city and it was lucky this turned up when it did.'

‘Besides the fact that your grandfather had to die,' he added slowly, watching her with a curious expression.

Kate tried to keep her tone light; even so, she heard the underlying bitterness in her voice. ‘He chose his life.'

‘I take it you two didn't get along?' he asked quietly.

‘Henry was . . .' Kate's eyes flashed angrily. ‘You lived here. Surely you knew him?'

‘I didn't see much of him, but I heard stories from some of the locals. I gather he was a difficult person to like.'

She gave a small shrug. ‘As I said, I needed to find a new place to live, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of the kids living out here.'

‘Yes, your daughter seems thrilled,' he observed wryly.

Kate gave a rueful smile. ‘Georgia would hate anywhere we lived right now.'

‘Is the clean-up job out there as big as I've heard?'

‘Probably bigger. I can't believe he lived like that for so long.'

‘Do you have any other family nearby?' he asked, scraping the last of the cheesecake from the plate with his fork.

‘Nope, it's just the kids and me.'

John hesitated. ‘What about their father?' He sounded as though he wasn't entirely sure he should be asking.

‘He isn't around,' said Kate, more abruptly than she intended. But who in their right mind asked about an ex-husband barely the second time they met a person? Maybe he'd been living out here too long and had forgotten about that small thing called privacy.

Liam came over to the table and glanced nervously at John. ‘Mum, can we go now?' he said in a whisper.

Kate felt the familiar twinge of anxiety at her son's almost painful shyness. She knew it stemmed from the upheaval in his young life, and she felt guilty for her part in that. She'd been assured he'd outgrow it if she continued to provide a stable and loving environment for him, and she was determined to make sure he felt safe and cherished.

‘Go and tell your sister it's time to go . . . Nicely,' she added as he walked away.

‘I'm glad you were here to help me out with the cheesecake,' she said, turning back to John. ‘I don't think I would have gotten through it on my own.'

‘Glad to be of assistance.' He smiled.

Kate suppressed the uncomfortable suspicion that this man had been flirting with her. Just then Georgia appeared at the table, raising an eyebrow at her mother as if to say, ‘I'm here!' Kate watched John's smile slip from his face.

That's right, buddy
, she thought,
this is my reality—a hostile teenager and a chronically shy eight-year-old. I don't have any room in my life for another complication on top of all that.

Kate closed the motel door softly behind her. She'd tossed and turned in bed for over two hours before finally acknowledging that she wouldn't be able to sleep with her mind in such turmoil.

Sitting on one of the hard plastic chairs by the pool, she drew her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly. What was she doing here—really? Georgia hated it already, and Liam needed stability, not a huge change like this. What on earth had made her think she'd be doing them all a favour by coming back here? She should just do what any other normal person would have done and put the damn place on the market. From the proceeds she could buy a house in a decent neighbourhood away from all the bad influences that had made life such a nightmare recently.

A shiver ran up Kate's spine. How many nights of her life had she lived with nightmares? She rubbed her arms to ward off a sudden chill and reminded herself there was nothing in this place that could hurt her any more. Henry Campbell was dead.

Kate stared into the dark water of the pool and remembered her lovely gran's face, swollen and red. That bastard. She remembered her gran's wrinkled fingers, swollen with the beginnings of arthritis, folding around her own. No matter how bad things got, Gran could always make everything better.

Gran had been the one constant in Kate's life, and right now she longed for those old arms to encircle her and for her gran to whisper in that soft gentle voice of hers that everything would be all right.

Kate's erratic childhood was the reason she had been so loath to cause her own children any upheaval, the reason she had fought so hard to keep a failing marriage together no matter how bad things got. She'd been determined to spare Georgia and Liam the trauma of constantly being uprooted and displaced, as she had been throughout her childhood. And now look at them—dealing with a divorce and a move to the middle of nowhere.

Kate could feel the tension of the last few days begin to catch up with her. She stretched her neck and looked skyward. The blanket of stars shining overhead took her breath away. She'd forgotten how beautiful the night sky was. When was the last time she'd gone outside simply to look up at it? She'd done that with Gran sometimes, while they waited for Henry to pass out after a night of heavy drinking. Oddly enough, these memories were some of her happiest. At the time she hadn't realised that Gran was hiding her out in the garden to keep her safe from her violent grandfather.

Kate lost track of time after that, staring at the shimmering stars, lost in memories of her past. She must have dozed off because she awoke with a start some time later, then sleepily got to her feet and headed back inside to bed. ‘Everything will be all right,' she whispered to herself softly, and for a moment she actually believed it.