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Aaron looked for a moment as though he was going to argue the point, then his shoulders fell and he turned for the door. ‘I know we can get past this, Vee. I just know it.’ And then he was, finally, gone.

‘Drama queen,’ muttered Sue. ‘Thinks he’s auditioning for a role onHome and Away. Who in their right mind ever gets back with the dickhead who ruined their life?’

Vera drew in a shaky breath.

‘Hey, come on, don’t let him get to you. Want to know a little trick I learned my first year as a barrister?’

She breathed in, and out, and let her lawyer prattle on.

‘Whenever some arrogant guy was giving me grief—you know, suggesting I’d like to make him a coffee because I had ovaries and he didn’t, despite my law degree and having worked my arse off to get qualified at the bar, or leering down my blouse like he’d never seen boobs in the workplace before—I’d picture him naked, and work up an equally gendered backstory for him. Like, you know, when he was a small boy playing naked in the garden under the sprinkler, he had an unfortunate incident with the neighbour’s sausage dog.’

Vera closed her eyes. Jokes didn’t help, not today.

Sue tucked her hand into her arm and gave her a squeeze. ‘Come on. Let’s get you out of here. As fun as this is, the smell of yesterday’s stinky baby bums is going to get into my clothing, and you do not want to know how much I paid for this skirt.’ She pushed her way through the swing door and Vera followed her out.

She didn’t want coffee in some grey, city bistro.

She wanted mountain air. She wanted a quiet moment in the chair by her window with a fat grey cat on her lap.

She wanted to go home.

CHAPTER

28

Josh stared at the name. He’d marched down to the council office and asked Barry O’Malley to show him the objections council had received to his renovation proposal. Now here it was in front of him.

Pamela Hogan.

Why, oh why, was that name ringing a bell?

Sandy hadn’t known the name, and there were no Hogans in their client list. ‘Want me to google her? Stalk her on social media? I’ve got mad skills online, Josh,’ the receptionist had offered.

‘Drop your weapons back in your holster, Kojak. Let me ask Hannah first, okay?’

‘No problem. But refilling kitty litter trays isn’t my only skill. Just saying.’

‘Understood.’

Sandy had insisted on coming to work even though the clinic was shut and cordoned off with crime tape. She was neck deep in sorting paperwork in the back office, determined to do something useful. He’d not had the heart to say no—single mums with growing sons needed their wages same as any other parent.

He tracked Hannah down in the old shed out back, where she was looking into the engine of her car with a cranky look on her face. He moved in next to her and looked down. ‘Problems?’ he said.

‘Besides our livelihood going up in smoke? Yeah. My fan-belt’s screaming every time I start her up, the heater doesn’t work, and there are so many rust spots now, some days I feel like I’m driving a dalmatian.’

He pulled the oil stick from the engine, inspected it, and shoved it back in, thereby exhausting his knowledge of all things mechanical. ‘Maybe it’s time to say goodbye to the old beast and fork out for a new one.’

‘Says moneybags himself.’

He laughed. ‘Han, if you could see my bank balance, you’d know just how ridiculous that sounds. The bulk of my savings went into buying building materials for this place.’

‘We’re going to be broke before long if we can’t open up. There are the repayments on the ultrasound machine, the haematology unit.’

‘I’ve put a call in to the insurer. I’m waiting on them to get back to me.’

‘Yeah. You think they’re going to be paying us a single dollar if the police are investigatingusas the potential arsonists?’

‘One anonymous Crime Stoppers phone call is not a police investigation.’