Blood Secret (32 page)

‘And he said you won't be charged,' Max told her as she helped to lower him to a sun lounge. ‘Phil still thinks the gun was yours but he can't prove you ever had it.'

‘I wonder how hard he tried.' After being so cate­gorically wrong about Max, the detective didn't seem too interested in her previous crimes now.

‘Maybe you don't need that solicitor in Sydney after all.' He patted the cushion, an invitation to snuggle in
beside him.

She faced him instead, perching on the edge of the sun lounge. ‘We didn't see a solicitor, Max. We saw my father.'

After all the secrets, Rennie had wanted to tell him everything but he'd been drugged and hooked up to fluids, trying to remember and forget. And there'd been a stream of visitors and worried parents and Naomi's baby being born on the floor above. Now they were here and she needed to put her secrets
to rest.

‘Phil Duncan asked me about your dad,' Max said. ‘He said he was in hospital. How is he?'

‘He's dying. He didn't recognise us.'

‘I'm sorry.'

‘No. Don't be.'

She told him the story of her life then, starting from the brutal beating that prompted her mother's flight and finishing the day she arrived in Haven Bay with a gun in her backpack. It took a long time and when it was done, they sat in the hush of the summer afternoon
without speaking.

‘I didn't want to be that person anymore when I came here,' she finally said. ‘I thought I could remake myself, paint over the ugliness with brighter colours. I thought I had but Katrina Hendelsen is still in here.' She held a hand to her chest. ‘And you need to know that.'

‘You're Renée Carter, too,'
Max said.

‘I'm more like a hybrid now. An artist with violent tendencies.'

‘Van Gogh cut off an ear.'

‘It was his own ear.'

He smiled. She
smiled back.

‘I know who you are, Rennie. You found me and dragged me out of a tunnel and stopped James from . . .' He
glanced away.

‘I wanted to kill him, Max.'

‘So did I.'

‘I almost did. I thought hard about pulling that trigger.'

‘You protected my son and kept him safe.'

She nodded. She felt good about that. Maybe a little like Max and the bullet in his gut. ‘You asked me to marry you last weekend. Is that what you want?'

He hesitated, maybe wondering what she wanted to hear. Whether ‘yes' or ‘no' would be the deal-breaker. ‘I thought I was going to lose everything. I thought James was going to leave a bloody mess. I thought it would make you go and I wanted you to stay.'

It wasn't the answer to her question but she understood. When he'd seen it was all about to go to hell, he didn't

want to be there without her. She understood what that meant now. ‘Is that what you need, to be married?'

He reached for her hand. ‘I've got everything I need right here.'

She wanted to smile but there was more before she could get to that. ‘I've never put down roots, Max. I told you from the start I wouldn't stay. Until today, I thought I had no choice. Until the last two hours, I haven't let myself think about it.'

‘Rennie . . .'

‘Please, let me finish.' She took a breath. ‘All I thought I'd find here was a place to sketch. I didn't expect to find you. I didn't know what it was like to be happy. I won't marry you, Max. I don't want a signature on a piece of paper to be a reason to stay. But I
want
to stay. I want to be here with you for as long as you'll have me.'

His fingers tightened around hers as something sweet and moist filled his eyes. ‘Just to let you know, babe, that'll be for a long time.'

She smiled then, cupped her hands around his bruised face and pressed her lips to his dry, cracked ones. Let them linger there for a while, telling herself this was what it felt like to belong.

He winced as they parted, his fingers clutching at a twinge in his ribs.

‘You should rest,'
she said.

‘I was hoping we could seal the deal with more than just a kiss.'

‘Not in your condition, buddy,' she grinned as she stood and started for the door. ‘But don't worry, we've got plenty of time.'

‘Where are you going?'

‘Jo's at the cafe on her own this afternoon. I told her I'd help close up.'

‘What's with the backpack?'

She glanced at the worn black strap she'd picked up, looked back at him from the house. ‘I'm throwing it out.'

‘Are you sure? I mean you've had it a long time. It's taken you a lots of places.'

‘No point keeping it. I can't fit my life in it anymore.'

 

 

Acknowledgements

There are people without whom this book couldn't have been completed. Many
thanks to:

Random House for giving me the opportunity to write what I want. Especially Bev Cousins, for her enthusiasm and her input – even if some of it nearly sent me insane! To Virginia Grant and Elena Gomez, for not letting me take short cuts, and to the rest of the team at Random House that made this project
come together.

My agent, Clare Forster, and Kate Cooper in London, for making sure I get to
keep writing.

Cath Every-Burns, who walked me around Wangi Wangi and even braved the spider-webs at the gun emplacements to show me the creepy places underneath.

Grant Every-Burns, for his engineering and under­ground advice.

For research: Sam Findley, once again, for his police exper­tise, Lachlan Jarvis, Dean Grant and Dr
Shaunagh Foy.

Chris, Isolde, Elizabeth, Kandy, Carla, Carol, Simone and Melinda – couldn't do it
without you!

Wendy James, for being a terrific fellow crime writer to chew over
ideas with.

Dayle White, for sharing her story and being happy to
be inspiration.

Nikki, for her die-hard support – and for wanting to
be
Rennie!

Mum and Les, Joan and Brian – my
cheer squad.

And to my family – Paul, Mark and Claire. You keep me sane, make me laugh and understand what it takes. You are my safe haven – even on the other side of the world.

For those of you who have read this far, the World War II gun emplacements exist, although I've renamed the point where they sit, added to their number and moved their position to s
uit the story. There are bunkers underneath (and lots of spider-webs) but as far as I know, that'
s all.

 

 

Blood Secret
is Jaye Ford's third novel. Her first,
Beyond Fear
, won Best Debut and Reader's Choice at the 2012 Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards and her second,
Scared Yet?
, was also published to critical acclaim. Jaye is a former news and sport journalist, with the unusual claim to fame of being the first female presenter of a live national sport show in Australia, hosting Sport Report on SBS in 1988–89. She also worked in public relations before turning to crime fiction. She lives at Lake Macquarie in the NSW
Hunter Valley.

www.jayefordauthor.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian
Copyright Act 1968
), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Version 1.0

BLOOD SECRET

ePub ISBN 9781742756790

Copyright © Jaye Ford, 2013

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

A Bantam book

Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

www.randomhouse.com.au

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx

First published by Bantam in 2013

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Ford, Jaye, author.

Blood secret/Jaye Ford.

ISBN 978 1 74275 679 0 (ebook)

Suspense fiction.

A823.4

Cover image © kzww/Shutterstock.com

Cover design by Jem Butcher Design

Typesetting and eBook producation by
Midland Typesetters
, Australia