The Maxwell Sisters (35 page)

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

Up ahead she could see Eric's wheelbarrow and a bag of manure under a tall red gum.

She walked over, clutching the note, looking left and right for signs of him or the direction in which he might have gone.

She was just thinking of heading over to the sheds when a hand slipped over her mouth.

‘Hello, Eve? Looking for me?'

She tried to speak but he was holding her too tight. Nothing more than a groan came out. The voice, while lacking its usual deference, was unmistakeable.

Eric reached down and took the phone and the note out of her hand, chucking them both into his wheelbarrow. ‘Don't worry, I'll show you where Phoebe is.'

It took her mind a moment to process that it was Eric, the shy, squeaky-clean teenager, who was half-pushing, half-dragging her through the garden, which was now starting to feel more like a haunted forest. No one could see her struggling from the house. The vegetation was too thick. She tried her hardest to wriggle out of his hold, but he held her fast. He was taller and stronger, so she never stood a chance. She just couldn't fathom why her old family friend was doing this. She tried to speak against his hand but the words came out muffled. They walked for five minutes in this close embrace through the gardens and beyond it to the back of the property. Perhaps she should have been more scared, but this was Eric pulling her along – anger and shock seemed much more appropriate.

When she saw his garden sheds at the bottom of the path, these feelings only solidified. This childish prank was getting beyond a joke. No one would hear them out here.

As if to prove the point, as soon as they drew near to one of the sheds, she could hear Phoebe yelling from within.

‘Hey, is someone there? Hello! I'm locked in here! Get me out!'

With one hand wrapped around Eve's body, Eric took the keys off his belt and opened the door. Phoebe was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. Her hands were tied behind her back and her ankles were bound together in front of her with plastic zip ties.

‘Eve!' Phoebe cried.

‘Phee! Thank God you're okay,' Eve cried as Eric shoved her inside. They were in even bigger trouble now that she'd been caught as well.

‘Of course she's okay,' Eric snapped. ‘Like I would ever hurt Phoebe.'

Phoebe's gaze flicked to him. ‘I'm sorry, Eric, but your behaviour thus far doesn't really give us much confidence.'

‘I wouldn't be doing any of this,' Eric retorted like a sulky schoolboy, ‘if you'd come to your senses.'

Eve yelped as he pushed her to the floor.

‘Hey! Easy,' Phoebe gasped. ‘Are you all right, Eve?'

‘I've been better.' She winced as Eric pulled her hands behind her, also securing her wrists together with the same sturdy nylon tape.

‘Eric, why are you doing this?'

‘There's no use talking to him,' Phoebe warned her. ‘I've tried.'

‘But this doesn't make any sense.' Eve turned to Eric. His face was red and sweaty from his exertions. She was sure her face must be glistening too, the shed was damn hot. She didn't know how Phoebe hadn't passed out from being in here all morning. ‘Eric,' she looked at him sternly, ‘this is not you.'

‘What would you know?' he demanded. ‘You girls are so blind, so caught up in your own little worlds. You don't notice anyone else or what they are trying to do for you.'

‘What are you talking about?'

‘Just be quiet,' he snapped. ‘You're the worst of the lot of them. Pretending to be nice to me, but secretly stabbing me in the back.'

‘Eric, calm down. If you'll just explain it all to me, maybe I would understand.'

‘No, you wouldn't. Because you don't know what real action is. You're too much of a coward. Well, I'm not like that!'

Eve blanched. ‘
Eric
.'

‘I tried to help you.' His voice wavered as he spoke to her. ‘I found your note in the tea jar. I could see you were suffering. I knew how you felt because that's how I felt about Phoebe.'

Oh shit and mushrooms.

Eve closed her eyes and moaned at the mention of that
blasted note
. ‘So,' he continued, ‘for both our sakes, I set fire to the restaurant.'

Her eyes flew open. ‘
You what!
'

‘The fire wasn't an accident, Eve. He did it,' Phoebe said crossly.

‘But you were stupid.' He shot the words at her. ‘You just ran away with your tail between your legs. You didn't use the opportunity I gave you at all.'

‘Which was what?' she said slowly, almost too afraid to ask.

‘To take Spider with you!' he ground out. ‘I thought you'd carry on as business partners and go work somewhere else. Away from Phoebe, away from here. But you let me down, Eve.'

‘Eric, only a simpleton would believe that a business relationship is forever. I had no power over Spider's choices.'

If anything, he'd had power over hers. All those months of self-loathing, feeling like a failure, wallowing in how much she'd let everyone down. All along it had been this guy, this over-eager teenager, who had set fire to the restaurant.

Her voice shook when she added for good measure, ‘You're completely nuts.'

‘No.' He shook his finger at her. ‘What's insane is that everybody just continued to find excuses for Spider to hang around here, even after I put the kerosene in his office. I mean,' Eric put his hands on his head, ‘how dumb can you people be?'

‘What have you got against Spider?' Eve demanded.

‘Nothing, particularly. Except that he stole my
girlfriend
.'

Eve glanced at Phoebe but she shook her head. ‘Don't look at me like that. I don't understand it any more than you do. I was never your girlfriend, Eric. Ever.'

‘We used to hang out all the time. You played bung cricket with me.'

‘As a friend,' Phoebe protested. ‘It was just family fun.'

He ignored this. ‘You accepted all the gifts and flowers I sent you.'

‘I had no idea those were from you. And I threw most of them out,' Phoebe shook her head. ‘I thought all those gifts were from Jack.' Phoebe rolled her eyes. ‘Or Colin … or Steve …'

‘You were always very popular with the guys,' Eve smiled. ‘I don't blame you for getting confused.'

‘You were just as popular as me,' Phoebe snorted. ‘Just more careful about giving out your address.'

‘I don't think so. You were definitely the life of the party.'

Phoebe sighed. ‘You mean the noisy one.'

‘
Enough!
' Eric snapped. ‘Remember me? The one who's holding you captive? This is not a sisters' bonding session.'

‘Sorry, Eric.' Phoebe glared at him, twisting in her ropes. ‘But this prank of yours is getting old. I'm getting married in a few hours. You need to let us go.'

‘You're too trusting,' he said. ‘When I showed you the note in the tea jar I was sure you would dump Spider and come to your senses. But you still didn't get it, did you?
Even then!
'

‘Get what?' Phoebe rasped.

‘That I love you.' He slapped his fist into his palm passionately. ‘You just need to give me a chance to prove it.'

Phoebe chewed on her lower lip. Eve could tell she was trying to figure out a way to let Eric know this wasn't the case without incensing him further.

Eric went to the bench along the back wall where a couple of one-litre water bottles were perched. He took one and brought it back to them. ‘Here, you better drink something or you'll both dehydrate.'

He gave Phoebe some first and she gulped it down. Eve frowned. It was very hot in the shed, she had to wonder whether a few sips of water would be enough.

‘You know, if you tied our hands in front of us, we could help ourselves,' she suggested tentatively.

Eric squinted at her before raising the bottle to his lips. ‘Not risking it,' he said shortly.

She drank quickly when he held the bottle to her lips. It was warm and not very refreshing but better than nothing.

‘What happens when we need to go to the toilet?' she demanded as he pulled the bottle away.

‘I don't care,' he tossed at her. ‘I'll be back soon.'

He stood up then, placed the water back on the bench and headed for the door.

Leaving already?

‘Eric, wait! This isn't going to prove anything. How long are you going to keep us in here?'

‘Relax,' he held out a staying hand, ‘it's just for today. I'll let you go as soon as all the wedding guests go home.' He winced slightly. ‘I'm really sorry you had to get mixed up in this, Eve. You shouldn't have come looking for her like you did.'

‘This is silly, Eric,' Phoebe cried. ‘Holding me here for a day is not going to stop the wedding. If I don't marry Spider today, I'll just marry him tomorrow. You can't change that.'

‘I'm not trying to stop you,' he smiled. ‘I'm trying to stop him. How do you think he's going to feel after you jilt him, Phee? Pretty bloody devastated, that's what. With any luck, he'll leave town.'

Eve groaned at his simple plan. ‘He's been talking to Adonis.'

‘Who?' asked Phoebe.

‘
Adam
,' Eve quickly corrected herself, wincing at the mistake. ‘I meant Adam. He left his hometown when his fiancé jilted him. Eric,' she addressed him with what she hoped was a patient tone, ‘people don't always react to things the same way.'

‘I'm not asking for your advice.' Eric stepped away from her. ‘All you two need to do is sit tight till I get back. It's going to be a long hot day.'

On these words, he backed out of the shed and slammed the metal door behind him. Thank goodness it was a shed with windows. They heard Eric slide the door latch, securing it with the rusty old padlock.

Great. Totally screwed.

‘You were looking for me?' Phoebe shuffled closer to her as soon as his footsteps faded on the path outside. ‘Does anyone else know you're here?'

‘Not really,' Eve groaned. ‘I was supposed to call Tash but he chucked my phone away. She's looking for you too but she has no idea I came here.'

‘So no one is coming to our rescue?' Phoebe sighed.

‘Not immediately,' Eve winced. She wriggled around a bit on the floor, trying to ease the tightness of her binds. ‘Geez, this is uncomfortable.'

‘Try it for another hour,' Phoebe said dryly, ‘then you'll really start to ache.'

‘Maybe we can come up with our own plan of escape,' Eve said brightly. ‘There's got to be a way out of here.'

‘If you can come up with something, I'd love to hear it.' Phoebe spoke like a seasoned kidnappee. ‘Struggling in these things doesn't help, it just gives you blisters. I thought maybe I could cut the zip ties somehow. But he's more or less emptied the shed of anything sharp … actually, anything at all. He must have been preparing for this all week.'

Eve looked around. Her sister was right, the shed was pretty empty. There were no tools anywhere. Apart from a steel bench attached to the right wall where the water sat, there was nothing else in the room.

‘Okay, we're stuffed.'

‘Well,' Phoebe sighed, ‘at least we've got each other.' She laid her head on Eve's shoulder. ‘Nice rollers by the way. You're going to look sensational with your hair all up and perfectly curled at the wedding.
Adonis
will have his tongue hanging out.'

Eve blushed, but leaned back a little and rubbed her cheek against her sister's hair, smiling helplessly at her optimism.

‘Phee, are you sure we're going to make it to the wedding? Eric seems to have all his bases covered.'

‘Well, Tash is still out there looking for us. She's a smart cookie.' Phee's voice was very firm. ‘She won't let anything get in her way.'

Athena Markopoulos was standing directly in Tash's way.

‘
My dear
,' she cried, clasping her small chubby hands together, ‘how you've grown since I last saw you! How old are you now?'

‘Er … thirty.'

‘Ah,' Athena rubbed Tash's cheek and then pinched it excitedly. ‘A big girl now, yes?'

‘Pretty much,' Tash said, taking a step back from the woman who was, ironically, at least a foot smaller than her. Undeterred, or perhaps unaware that Tash was trying to edge her way slowly towards the door, Athena closed the distance between them again, grabbing her hand. ‘How's that husband of yours? Any children yet?'

‘No, not yet.' Tash coloured, glancing rather desperately about the room for something with which to distract Athena before her mother's other cousins noticed her there as well. She had just intended to poke her head in on her search for Eve. Now it seemed Athena was not letting her go.

‘Never mind,' Athena smiled knowingly and to her horror, reached out and rubbed Tash's belly. ‘Very soon, my dear, very soon. But
tell me
, where are your sisters?'

Tash swallowed.

Well, isn't that just the question of the century?

‘You know,' she waved her hand vaguely, ‘getting ready in the bedrooms. Speaking of which, that's where I should be.'

‘Yes, I can see you're running behind.' Athena's coal-coloured eyes ran over her hair curlers and dressing gown. At least her face was more or less done. She'd started putting on her make-up while waiting for Eve's phone call that never came.

She'd tried ringing Eve herself but her sister was not picking up either.

‘You must be very excited about your sister getting married,' Athena gushed. ‘I remember when I was your age I was a bridesmaid for my sister at her wedding. I was incredibly nervous.'

‘I'm doing okay –' Tash tried to cut her off.

Apart from the hyperventilating.

‘It's such a stunning venue, Tawny Brooks. Your sister is so lucky to be able to use her childhood home.'

‘Yes, it's very special –'

‘And so generous of Anita and John,' Athena continued. And then, to Tash's extreme discomfort, she leaned in discreetly. ‘I did wonder why their names weren't mentioned first on the invitation.'

Tash blinked. ‘I beg your pardon?'

Athena pressed her hand sympathetically. ‘It seemed a little odd, you know, after their contribution.' She opened her eyes wide and leaned in even closer, as though expecting some sort of confession from Tash.

Suddenly a female voice shrieked from across the room, ‘Well, who have we here?'

And to Tash's horror all the Greek women by the window immediately spun around.

‘But it's Anita's eldest girl!'

‘The one in finance, or was it marketing? Anita was so proud when she graduated.'

‘Didn't we go to her wedding a few years ago?'

‘Yes, but no children yet.'

There was a groan. ‘What a shame! They have such a big house in Sydney, don't they?'

‘Her husband is a builder,' announced the only male in the group and the women seemed to hush at the sound of his voice. ‘He's very good with houses.'

This last pronouncement seemed to calm them somewhat and they all turned to her with expectant smiles on their faces, making her feel like a mouse in a trap.

‘Dear,' Athena pressed her gently, ‘where is your husband?'

And then, as if on cue, Heath walked into the room. His head was down, absorbed in the camera he'd just bought. Fortunately for Tash, he wasn't aware of the mousetrap he'd walked into until it was far too late.

‘Heath!' she cried as though a lifeline had just been thrown to her.

‘Tash?' He looked up in surprise.

With brute force, she wrenched her hand free from Athena. ‘Just in time for a photo!' She snatched the camera out of his hands and pushed him towards her mother's cousins. They immediately all attached themselves to him. She snapped a photo, laughing at his shocked expression, and then lay the camera on the coffee table. ‘Heath, these are my mother's family from Greece. I really must get back to getting ready.'

‘Tash –' Heath called out desperately.

‘You said you'd do anything for me.' She winked at him and then with a quick intake of breath, stepped out into the foyer again. The doorbell rang at that moment and with a sigh she quickly bustled over and opened it.

A small man with wizard-white hair, a priest collar and a black prayer book clutched to his chest beamed back at her.

‘Father Christos,' she blinked, not recalling her mother winning The Battle of the Celebrants.

‘Hello, dear, I know I'm a little early.'

‘Okay,' she nodded, quickly standing aside so that he might pass over the threshold. ‘I'll get my mother to help you. Could you just wait in the si– actually,' she changed tack quickly, ‘would you mind waiting in my father's study?'

‘Not at all.'

Shutting the front door, she swiftly ushered him further down the hall and into another room so that she could find her parents. After all, someone had to rescue poor Heath from the Greeks.

Luckily her mother was already in the hallway, with the hairdresser in tow.

‘Tash, I've been looking everywhere for you and your sisters!' she exclaimed. She was dressed in green lace and white pearls, her hair pinned back with a tasteful fascinator.

‘Mum, you look amazing!' Tash smiled. And she did. You could definitely see the beauty of her youth in her flushed cheeks and carefully lined dark eyes. ‘Dad is going to be blown away.'

‘Never mind that.' Her mother swatted her hand, though Tash could tell she was pleased. ‘The hairdresser is ready to do Phee's hair.'

‘I've been sitting around waiting for half an hour,' the woman by her mother's side said crossly. ‘I won't have enough time to do a good job if we don't get started right away. Where is she?'

‘Er … that's a very good question.' Tash was racking her brain for a stalling tactic.

‘What do you mean, it's a good question?' Her mother's voice heightened in pitch.

‘I hope it's not a case of a runaway bride,' the hairdresser said sternly. ‘I do have another wedding this afternoon, so I can't stay much longer.'

Anita snorted. ‘Runaway bride, indeed. That's ridiculous.'

‘Too funny,' Tash agreed with a twinge.

‘Where are your sisters?' Her mother turned back to her with a stern look in her eye. It was the same one from her teenage years when she got home from a party in the wee hours of the morning.

‘I think they're at the restaurant,' she quickly blurted, which wasn't a complete lie.

‘What are they doing
there
?' Anita demanded, but then spoke again before Tash had a chance to respond. ‘Never mind, just go get them and bring them back to the bedroom.'

‘Yes, I'll do that,' Tash nodded and then said to the hairdresser, ‘Would you mind waiting a few minutes longer?'

The hairdresser glanced rather impatiently at her watch. ‘I guess so. But please hurry.'

‘Of course,' Tash agreed and grabbed her mum's arm before she could walk off. ‘Mum, your cousins are here. Heath needs you in the sitting room.'

‘All right, I'll just find your father first.'

On this assurance Natasha quickly trotted back to the front door to make her exit. But when she pulled it open there was someone standing on the other side, her hand poised to knock.

‘Er … hi,' said the officious-looking lady in a white pants suit, her hair styled like Princess Diana, a pink carnation in the lapel of her jacket. ‘I'm Susan Cornish. I'm here to perform the ceremony.'

Tash cringed. So her mother
hadn't
won The Battle of the Celebrants, after all.

‘Er …' She chewed nervously on her lower lip.
Phoebe, why aren't you here when I need you?

‘Do I have the right house?' Susan tried to look behind Tash.

‘Yeah, you do. Come in.' Tash stepped back, trying to think of a quick way to deal with her. ‘Would you mind waiting in the … the …' She went down the list.

The sitting room: the Greeks.

The bedroom: impatient hairdresser.

The study: the priest.

‘How about the dining room?' Tash suggested with a hand in the small of Susan's back. ‘That appears to be safe, I mean,
free
at the moment.' She gave her a gentle shove. ‘Right down the hall,' she called out. ‘Last door on your left. Someone will be with you shortly.'

I hope.

Right now she had more pressing matters to deal with. Such as where the hell her sisters had disappeared to. There seemed to be no doubt in her mind that foul play was afoot. What with the decoy note and Eve's unanswered phone, she was starting to get rather worried. It was already half past twelve. Only one and a half hours before Phoebe was due down the aisle.

Okay, you can do this. You can find them.

She raced down the steps of the front porch, scanning her surroundings. All the cars were in the car park with an addition of a few extras so it didn't look like they'd driven off anywhere. She hurried down the driveway, her phone pressed to her ear with Eve's number on redial. She had already decided to search the entire estate, including the winery. But first she wanted to check the restaurant. The quickest way was through the garden. It was also less conspicuous for a woman in a dressing gown and curlers.

Ferns brushed her bare legs as she scampered past, nearly sliding on the gravel at one point. The scent of flowers filled the air and insects clicked at her as she began to sweat.

At this rate, I'm going to need another shower.

It was hot and sticky in the garden even under the shade of the overhanging branches of a giant red gum. And then she heard a phone ringing. Two phones ringing, in fact – one in her ear and one not too far from where she was. Her feet skidded to a halt and she dropped her hand from her ear so she could hear the other phone more clearly. She backtracked slightly until she saw a wheelbarrow in a small clearing, some gloves and a packet of manure on the ground. As she approached it, the sound of the phone got louder and louder, until she was standing over the wheelbarrow. There it was, lying on the dirt inside, the crumpled decoy note beside it.

There was a sigh behind her. ‘Not you as well.' She was seized from behind, one hand over her mouth. ‘All right,' he said in her ear, in a resigned voice. ‘You'd better come with me.'