and stuck it out in front of her. “Now, do ya’ pinky-promise, no driving the car without me?”
Kirstie hooked his pinky. “I was just teasing.”
“Good. You stay smart.” He reached over to muss her hair, but Kirstie ducked out of his way. “I like my girls smart.”
“Okay, everyone, sit. Lunch is up,” Helen said.
Jake could feel Helen’s frustration and pain. He wondered, for the second time this week, what it would be like to have people in your life that you truly loved. People you ached to protect. He didn’t have that. Not anymore. He was bad luck for women he cared about. Trick was not to care. Work was his primary focus. With Firth captured, the money found, he’d have a well-established name for the big cases. Even with that security, it wasn’t the lifestyle that a woman would want to link herself to, especially if she wanted a family.
He pulled his chair up to the table and rubbed a finger back and forth across his top lip. He wondered if Amy had wanted a family when she married Firth.
****
Amy checked in to a cheap motel on the strip in Cairns. Not the strip opposite the beach with all of the exclusive hotels and the public park and lagoons, but a few streets back from the ocean. She paid for one night in advance, in cash, and explained to the attendant that her purse had been stolen, but fortunately she’d hidden a few hundred on her person.
“Park around the back, miss,” the attendant said, and slid a key across the green Formica counter. “We don’t have a restaurant.”
“That’s fine.”
“Ten dollars more, you can have a room with a view. Have to carry your luggage up a flight of stairs, though. No elevator.”
She handed him another ten dollars, thinking of the irony, ten dollars more to drag your luggage to your room. He exchanged the key. “Ice and soft drink machines are opposite the stairwell. You want a good meal there’s a beer garden next door.”
“Thanks.” Amy jiggled the key on its metal ring. “Check out is eleven, right?”
“Yeah. You can drop the key through the door slot if you leave before seven.”
Back at the Land Rover she smiled. She’d had to produce a credit card at the car rental place, so she figured why not go for a fun bright yellow jeep. The bald-headed guy wasn’t on her plane, she wasn’t being followed. She drove around to the back of the motel and parked. Driving on the opposite side of the road took some getting used to, but if she planned each trip carefully, she’d be used to the driving in a day or two. She folded the map and put it in her backpack, and pulled her small suitcase up the stairs to the second level.
Her room had a small terrace that overlooked the main street. Across the rooftops, a tiny spot of water sparkled gray and flat in the afternoon sun. If she stood on tiptoes she could see the sand. There were no waves rolling in, no whitecaps unfurling. The guy at the car rental place had said this wasn’t the pretty season. No kidding . He’d said it was pre-cyclone weather and the beaches were like tidal mudflats.
With her phone card in hand, she went downstairs to the pay phone. Tired as she was, she wouldn’t risk using the room telephone.
“I’m okay, just got in.”
“Thank heavens, I was so worried,” Diana said.
“I chose a little motel stuck between other little motels on a long strip near the beach.”
“A seedy place?”
Amy listened to Diana warn her of which areas to stay away from. “It’s okay, Di, I’m fine. No, I don’t need a five-star hotel.” She laughed. “That was in my other life.”
“Well, listen…um…Jake called,” Diana said. “He sounds nice—”
“When did he call?”
“An hour ago, at the gallery—”
“Wait.” Amy narrowed her eyes. “I never told him your name or where you worked, just that you’d given me the tip about my ex.”
“Jake said he knew you were in Cairns, that he’d spotted you.”
“Right. I’ll bet Daddy called him and said
Kirstie hooked his pinky. “I was just teasing.”
“Good. You stay smart.” He reached over to muss her hair, but Kirstie ducked out of his way. “I like my girls smart.”
“Okay, everyone, sit. Lunch is up,” Helen said.
Jake could feel Helen’s frustration and pain. He wondered, for the second time this week, what it would be like to have people in your life that you truly loved. People you ached to protect. He didn’t have that. Not anymore. He was bad luck for women he cared about. Trick was not to care. Work was his primary focus. With Firth captured, the money found, he’d have a well-established name for the big cases. Even with that security, it wasn’t the lifestyle that a woman would want to link herself to, especially if she wanted a family.
He pulled his chair up to the table and rubbed a finger back and forth across his top lip. He wondered if Amy had wanted a family when she married Firth.
****
Amy checked in to a cheap motel on the strip in Cairns. Not the strip opposite the beach with all of the exclusive hotels and the public park and lagoons, but a few streets back from the ocean. She paid for one night in advance, in cash, and explained to the attendant that her purse had been stolen, but fortunately she’d hidden a few hundred on her person.
“Park around the back, miss,” the attendant said, and slid a key across the green Formica counter. “We don’t have a restaurant.”
“That’s fine.”
“Ten dollars more, you can have a room with a view. Have to carry your luggage up a flight of stairs, though. No elevator.”
She handed him another ten dollars, thinking of the irony, ten dollars more to drag your luggage to your room. He exchanged the key. “Ice and soft drink machines are opposite the stairwell. You want a good meal there’s a beer garden next door.”
“Thanks.” Amy jiggled the key on its metal ring. “Check out is eleven, right?”
“Yeah. You can drop the key through the door slot if you leave before seven.”
Back at the Land Rover she smiled. She’d had to produce a credit card at the car rental place, so she figured why not go for a fun bright yellow jeep. The bald-headed guy wasn’t on her plane, she wasn’t being followed. She drove around to the back of the motel and parked. Driving on the opposite side of the road took some getting used to, but if she planned each trip carefully, she’d be used to the driving in a day or two. She folded the map and put it in her backpack, and pulled her small suitcase up the stairs to the second level.
Her room had a small terrace that overlooked the main street. Across the rooftops, a tiny spot of water sparkled gray and flat in the afternoon sun. If she stood on tiptoes she could see the sand. There were no waves rolling in, no whitecaps unfurling. The guy at the car rental place had said this wasn’t the pretty season. No kidding . He’d said it was pre-cyclone weather and the beaches were like tidal mudflats.
With her phone card in hand, she went downstairs to the pay phone. Tired as she was, she wouldn’t risk using the room telephone.
“I’m okay, just got in.”
“Thank heavens, I was so worried,” Diana said.
“I chose a little motel stuck between other little motels on a long strip near the beach.”
“A seedy place?”
Amy listened to Diana warn her of which areas to stay away from. “It’s okay, Di, I’m fine. No, I don’t need a five-star hotel.” She laughed. “That was in my other life.”
“Well, listen…um…Jake called,” Diana said. “He sounds nice—”
“When did he call?”
“An hour ago, at the gallery—”
“Wait.” Amy narrowed her eyes. “I never told him your name or where you worked, just that you’d given me the tip about my ex.”
“Jake said he knew you were in Cairns, that he’d spotted you.”
“Right. I’ll bet Daddy called him and said
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