Page 26 of Clear Skies (Stormcloud Station)

But she could see the questions hovering on his lips. “Will you be all right here, especially after all that’s happened—”

“And thanks for organizing my car to be towed,” she broke in. He’d been about to ask if she was okay here, in this shabby place. It was sweet that he was worried about her. But she needed him gone. And she didn’t need him blurting out the details of the murder to River. She’d fill him in with her own version once Dale was gone. River turned around from where he was placing packets of pasta in a cupboard and opened his mouth to say something.

She almost pushed Dale out the door and down the steps before either of them could say any more.

She closed the truck door as he settled himself behind the wheel. He stared at her out the open window, tipping his hat a little farther back on his head, so he could look her directly in the eye. “I’ll call you on the sat phone when your car is ready.”

“Thank you, that’d be good.” She had no idea what she was going to say when he called her. Or even how she was going to arrange to pick up the car, assuming she found the money to pay for it. He needed to know none of that, however.

She waited for him to start the truck and was about to take a step backward so he could drive off, when he said, “I don’t like you out here. So isolated. With no form of transport. It doesn’t feel right.” He lowered his brows, those warm dimples nowhere to be seen.

“I’m fine. We’re fine.” Daisy smiled at him brightly. “Ryan will have the motorcycle fixed by this afternoon, so it’s not as if we’re completely stuck. We can always ask someone at the community to come and drive us around if need be,” she added. Even though she knew this to be a stretching of the truth. The community would be completely consumed by their Sorry Business, getting ready for Karri’s funeral. She and River would be the least of their concerns.

“Hm.” His grunt didn’t sound totally convinced. But thankfully he finally put the vehicle in gear and drove the truck in a slow circle, so he was facing back down the road.

“Bye.” She waved vigorously. Please, just go. She needed him to take his compassionate gaze that was turning her insides to mush far away, so she didn’t have to think about him.

He waved a hand out the window and moved off down the road. Daisy let out a sigh, her shoulders dropping in relief. He was gone.

She was grateful Dale hadn’t mentioned River’s lapse when they first arrived and ask why he’d called her Dinnarri and not Daisy. She had a flippant answer ready, something like Dinnarri was her professional name, but she never used it, only her mother called her that. But it was a problem. Because now he knew her real name. Hopefully, he kept it to himself and never mentioned it to anyone else. Especially not the cops.

“Who was that guy? And why was he looking at you like that?” River pounced on her as soon as she came through the door.

“That’s not important,” Daisy said a tad huffily. She was already over the worry for her baby brother that’d eaten her up inside while she’d been confined at Stormcloud. And she was at the stage of letting her sisterly annoyance show. “I need to tell you what’s happened over at Stormcloud. Because it could affect us. We might need to get out of here, like today.” She took a seat on the battered couch and River followed her lead, slowly lowering himself into a wing chair, as he seemed to catch the gravity of the situation.

There was no point in sugar-coating it. “A girl died yesterday at the station. One of the station hands found her in the creek. But there’s a question whether her death was accidental, or not.”

River’s dark eyes widened with shock. “That’s terrible.”

“Yes, it was. But the most terrible part about it, at least where we’re concerned, is that the police are involved. I had to give a statement.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Exactly.” River finally seemed to grasp how bad this was.

“I didn’t mention anything about you to the cops,” she said. “But it’s probably only a matter of time before they find out you’re here and want to interview you.” She could hardly believe how many lies she was telling to protect River. It was eating her up inside. Up until now, although she knew what she was doing was wrong, she hadn’t had to lie to a police officer. Now, it felt a little like she crossed some invisible line. She was in this too deep to get out unscathed anymore.

“Do you know who this girl was? Did she work at the station?” River asked, leaning in closer.

“Yeah, well, it gets worse. When they showed me a picture of her, I recognized her. She’s from Koongarra, we’ve seen her around a few times.”

“What’s her name?” River had gone extremely still, fixing her with a stare that frightened her.

“Karri something or other. Why?”

“No, it can’t be.” River’s wail of anguish shocked her.

He jumped to his feet. “You’re wrong. You’re telling me a lie. Karri can’t be dead.”

What the hell was going on? How did River know this Karri girl?

Oh, shit. It finally dawned on her. Was this the girl she suspected he’d been having an affair with?

And if it was, could the police somehow link him to this murder?

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