Butcherbird E-Book

Cassie Hart

• Herausgeber: Huia Publishers
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 432

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Something is drawing Jena Benedict's family to darkness. Her mother, father, brother and baby sister are killed in a barn fire, and Grandmother Rose banishes Jena from the farm. Now, twenty years on, Rose is dying, and Jena returns home wanting answers about what really happened on the night of the fire and why she was sent away. Will, Rose's live-in caregiver, has similar questions. He hunts for the supernatural, and he knows something sinister lurks in the Benedict homestead. Together, Jena and Will unearth the mysteries around a skull, a pocket-watch, a tale of the Dark Man and a tiding of magpies. And in doing so, they set loose an evil entity determined to destroy Rose and her whole clan. Full of tension and psychological thrills, Butcherbird is a novel about uncovering truths and unshackling guilt.

Leseprobe

First published in 2021 by Huia Publishers39 Pipitea Street, PO Box 12280Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealandwww.huia.co.nz

ISBN 978-1-77550-632-4 (print)

ISBN 978-1-77550-642-3 (ebook)

Copyright © Cassie Hart 2021

Cover image: Courtesy of Pansfun Images/Stocksy.com

This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the prior permission of the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.

Published with the support of the

Ebook conversion 2021 by meBooks

For Paringa and all the generationsof my whānau that lived and breathedand grew on your land. Thanks for thememories and the magic.

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-SIX

THIRTY-SEVEN

THIRTY-EIGHT

THIRTY-NINE

FORTY

FORTY-ONE

FORTY-TWO

FORTY-THREE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHAPTER ONE

JENA

The jangle of her phone cut through the sound of the shower. Jena shut off the water and grabbed the towel, scrubbing her face and hands dry before wrapping it loosely around her body and reaching for the phone.

Please be work, please be work, even one shift would help.

They were so close to being kicked out of here, and if she didn’t get some hours soon there would be nothing to eat, let alone anything to pay the bills with.

‘Hello, Jena speaking,’ she said in her most professional voice.

‘Jena.’ That raspy voice. That single word. It told her so much.

‘Uncle David.’ She mimicked the dry tone. It had been a long time since they’d spoken, and she had no problem with that. She’d been in his house for seven years, but they’d never really been family.

Not like the family she’d had.

Before.

‘Pat wanted me to call. Your grandmother … Rose has taken ill and we think it’s best you head to the farm and make whatever peace you might need.’

Jena didn’t say anything, just sank down onto the rim of the grimy bathtub, the cold porcelain lip cutting into her thighs. Her heart thudded in her chest and a wave of irritation swept over her on realising she actually cared what happened to Rose.

‘Jena?’

‘I’m here,’ she said brusquely, swallowing the lump in her throat. ‘I just—’

‘She’s getting on, Jena. It was going to happen sometime. Lucky the neighbour went to visit or she might have died.’

It felt like birds were clawing at the inside of her chest, scrabbling for purchase on a heart Jena had thought was locked up nice and tight.

‘Jena?’

‘Yeah, I’m here. Give me a minute, would you? It’s a lot to take in.’ Jena pushed to her feet and walked into the small bedroom. ‘Is she in hospital?’ She moved to the wardrobe and looked, unseeing, through her clothing.

‘No, she’s home with a carer. Been back there a couple weeks now—’

‘What?’ Jena straightened. ‘She went to hospital weeks ago and you’re only just calling me about it now? What the hell, David?’

He drew in a long breath and Jena could picture the look on his face – his brow would furrow, his cheeks would flush crimson – like he wanted to blast her but knew better than to start.

‘She didn’t want visitors, Jena.’

‘And if she’d been on her death bed, would you have called me then?’

She heard him grind his teeth.

‘But she wasn’t. There’s no point going over what ifs. It’s cancer. She’s going downhill fast and they want to put her in a hospice.’ He paused, but he wasn’t giving her time to mull that over. He was choosing his words. He always chose his words. She wished he’d just say what he wanted to say, but he almost never did.

‘It’s time,’ he said. ‘We’re going to sell the farm and if you get down there and help out, you can get your cut of the inheritance early.’ He paused again, his voice softening when he said, ‘We know you could do with some extra cash.’

Jena choked out a laugh. Of course, she could always do with extra cash. She was a mess, and her aunt and uncle knew it. Probably even Rose knew. ‘Is this a bribe?’

‘No, it’s not a bribe, it’s an offer. Come on, Jena. We know you had a rough start …. We know we didn’t always make it easy for you. Just—’ He sighed. ‘We don’t know how long she’s got, and this way you could kill two birds with one stone. Make peace with the old bat, and earn some money. You can’t tell me you’ve got anything better going on right now.’

Her aunt whispered dramatically in the background. ‘David!’ And then the phone rattled as she grabbed it off him. ‘He didn’t mean it like that, Jena.’ She sighed.

‘It’s fine. I think it’s the first real thing he’s ever said to me. Why didn’t you call me?’ Jena asked. ‘Why did you make him do it?’

She could hear Pat breathing through the phone. ‘I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how to say it …. My mother is dying, Jena.’ Her voice caught. ‘And I might have bolted from that place as soon as I possibly could, but she’s still my mother. You have no idea—’

‘Don’t,’ Jena warned, her voice tight as she swallowed the loss of her mother again. Just like she’d been swallowing it for almost twenty years now. ‘Just don’t go there.’

‘We all lost a lot that night, Jena. You most of all, I know that,’ her aunt whispered. ‘Look, just think about it, okay? You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but we think you should.’

Jena licked her lips, her tongue catching on dry skin as she walked into the lounge. ‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Take care, Jena.’ Aunt Pat hung up.

Jena dropped the phone on the couch before sinking into it herself. It was worn and ratty, the fabric scratching against her legs where the towel didn’t cover her skin. She sunk her head into her hands and closed her eyes.

Rose was dying.

She shouldn’t care; she really shouldn’t. She’d barely spent any time with the woman since she was ten, and what little time they’d had was spent avoiding the only subject Jena wanted to talk about. The night of the fire. The night everything burned – including her family.

She needed to know if it was her fault, because she couldn’t make sense of Rose’s actions if it hadn’t been. Why else would Rose send Jena away to live with an aunt and uncle she barely knew and who didn’t really want her?

Jena sighed and leaned back, gazing at the water stains on the ceiling.

If she left this shitty little apartment – if she went to the farm – she knew she wouldn’t be coming back. Not because she wanted to stay on the farm, but because this was a crappy place to call home – she was working to keep a status quo she didn’t even like.

No, it was time for a change. Time to find some answers and reclaim some of her history, because maybe once she knew what had happened, she could move on. There was no way in hell she was letting Rose die without telling her the truth.

Now it was only a matter of whether Cade would come with her. He could stay here if he wanted – that was his choice – but she was going.

She was gone.

She pulled on the first clothes she could find – yesterday’s tee and jeans – and went to the wardrobe and rummaged around until she found her big bag, tossing it on the bed and shoving in her clothes and the few things she actually valued; her tatty old teddy bear, the only photo she had of her family, and the copy of Alice in Wonderland Rose had given her before she sent her away. Then she went to the bathroom. She left behind her overused toothbrush – she’d get a new one, Rose owed her that much at least – and ducked down so she could get into the cupboard, scooping up her birth control, antidepressants, painkillers and makeup.

The front door opened and Jena stood up, banging her head on the counter in her rush. ‘Cade?’ she called, rubbing the sore spot on her head. It could only be him, or maybe Dotty from next door.

‘Yeah, it’s me, babe. Where are you?’

‘Bathroom, be right out.’ She zipped up her toiletry bag and tossed it onto the bed. Her worldly possessions reduced to such a small collection; it was a bit pathetic.

Cade walked into the room. His long blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he wore his ratty old surf-brand T-shirt, and blue jeans complete with rips at the knees. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, nodding his head towards her pile of gear. ‘Running off with someone better looking than me?’ His grin said he knew that wasn’t it.

‘Yes, of course. Mr Rogers from the third floor promised to whisk me away to a better life.’ Jena grinned and folded her arms over her chest. She didn’t want to touch him, didn’t want to get closer, because she wasn’t sure how he was going to react to her news.

‘Just because he’s higher up than us it doesn’t mean his view is any better,’ Cade quipped.

Jena sat down on the bed and ran her hands through the contents of the bag, double-checking she had everything important: clothes, toiletries, bear, book, photo. All there. Looking up at Cade, she pulled her lips tight to stop herself from getting emotional. ‘My grandmother’s dying. I need to go back to the farm to see her. Before she passes.’

‘Wow, okay. Wow.’ He sat down beside her, his hand absently stroking her thigh. ‘How long for? I don’t know if I made enough money busking today to cover the rent.’

She shook her head and pressed a kiss against his cheek. ‘I’m not coming back.’ She let out a sigh when he stilled, then leaned against his shoulder, trying to pass some comfort along. ‘I’m not leaving you, but I’m leaving this shit heap. Come with me? I need to see her. I need closure. And then we can start over.’ She might want Cade to come with her, but for some reason she didn’t want to mention the money.

He was silent for a minute. ‘She owes you.’

She did, but it sounded way worse when it came out of Cade’s mouth. Jena just nodded.

Cade got up and moved to the wardrobe, flicking through his clothes and tossing things onto the bed. ‘You never talk about her. About what happened to make the two of you fall out.’

Jena sat up straighter and scraped the hair back from her face. ‘Maybe once we’re there,’ she said. ‘I mean, I barely know myself.’

But hopefully, soon, she would.

CHAPTER TWO

JENA

They decided to stay the night at their apartment. Cade made use of the time to flick off everything he possibly could – the couch, their tiny fridge, but not his surfboard – for some extra cash, and stocked the car with gas, food and enough rum to put a horse to sleep. Jena was barely able to get a wink in, which was probably why she fell asleep within an hour of hitting the road.

She jolted awake as the car hit loose gravel.

Loose gravel meant they were in the country, and being in the country meant she was almost there.

Almost home.

It was weird that she still thought of it that way because it wasn’t like she’d lived there long. Just before …. Before the night her family had died in a barn fire. Before she’d lost everything.

Before her grandmother had sent her away.

It had been almost two decades since she’d set foot on the farm. Two-thirds of her life spent elsewhere, and somehow it was still home.

‘You okay?’ Cade asked. He reached over and put his hand on her thigh, warmth seeping out from him. ‘You were snoring, but it was cute.’

She rolled her eyes and laughed as she straightened in her seat. ‘Uh huh. And yes, I’m okay. Can’t believe I fell asleep.’

‘Almost there.’

‘I’m so nervous. Can’t believe I could sleep at all.’

‘GPS is dropping out but I downloaded the map so we should be fine.’ He moved his hand back to the steering wheel, tap-tap-tapping on the faux leather with his fingers.

‘I’m pretty sure I can find my way there, with or without your fancy maps.’

She poked her tongue out at him and reached for the water bottle. The air in the car was dry and stale. The air con had crapped out months ago and there was no way they could afford to fix it. It was a shitty car, to go with their shitty jobs and their shitty apartment. Their shitty life. But maybe their luck would change soon.

She glanced over at Cade. His lap was full of crumbs, and he was wiping pie residue from his fingers onto his jeans like a toddler.

If he could knuckle down and pull his weight, anyway. No, she should be kinder. He was here for emotional support. Had chosen her over his life in the city. He wanted to help, and any help was better than doing this alone.

She pursed her lips and looked out the window, wondering what state the farm was going to be in when they arrived. Cade wasn’t the handiest of guys, nor did he have the most get up and go, but he was motivated by money, and she’d have that soon. She just hoped she could find a way to dangle enough over him without giving away that Aunt Pat said she could have her whole inheritance early.

Jena wasn’t sure why she didn’t want him to know. No, that was a lie. She cringed at herself in the reflection of the window, guilt chewing at her stomach. Cade would blow it. He’d find a way, he always did. And then he’d convince her that it had been a sure thing, that it wasn’t his fault. And she’d let him.

‘So,’ said Cade. ‘If you remember so clearly, where do we go from here?’

She snapped her gaze to the intersection in front of them, roads leading left and right. On the corner of one sat a small hall, the very same one she’d performed plays in at primary school. It had seemed so much bigger then, so grand. But not any more. She pointed to the left. Up there, at the end, was Mount Taranaki, underneath the halo of cloud that so often surrounded him. ‘We’re not far. Go down there, and it’s the third driveway on the right.’

They passed more green fields, more cows nestled together in groups. Everything seemed the same. There was The Johnsons scrawled in black on the first letterbox they passed, paint faded and peeled, with just enough clinging to the box to show it had once been yellow. The next house up was the Mertenses’. Some serious upgrades had been made to their place, a large extension to the side, a second storey attached.

She held her breath, the knot in her chest twisting tighter as they rounded the corner. And there it was. Her letterbox. It was fresh blue and the red flag was raised.

‘In there, just stop at the letterbox,’ she said, a breathless remembered excitement taking over. They’d loved seeing that little red flag as kids, you just never knew what might be in the box. She and Joel would fight all the time over who got to get the mail in.

‘Why?’

She let out a sigh. ‘Because if the flag is up, it means there’s mail. Have you never lived in the country?’

‘Now why would I do that?’ He raised an eyebrow and grinned. ‘You’re the only one who could drag me out to the ass end of nowhere and make me happy about it. As long as it’s not for too long.’

Her stomach clenched as she tried to swallow the thought that it might be for longer than he’d like.

But she had to make it work. If Rose was at the house then she wasn’t dead yet.

It was time to find out the truth. And maybe if she could find some peace with the past she could move on and make a life worth living.

She just had to find ways to keep Cade happy enough, and busy enough, that she could get that done without him interfering.

Jena gathered the bundle of letters from the mailbox and got back into the car, not bothering to click her seatbelt on as Cade drove up the gravel drive. It was long, but less riddled with potholes than the road they’d just left, and as the car climbed the incline Jena held her breath until they breached the top and she finally got a view of the house.

She sagged in relief. It was still there. The same two-storey farmhouse with the mountain looming behind like a watchful guardian, the ranges reaching around so that the farm seemed almost nestled in their embrace. It was as if the place had been suspended in time since she’d been sent away. Even the barn, reconstructed to look how it had before ….

She averted her eyes – it was too much the same, almost like the fire had never happened.

‘So, this is where you grew up, huh?’ Cade tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, keeping the speed of the car steady but slow.

‘Well, it’s where I was born,’ Jena said. Still hating that it felt like home. ‘I think Iprobably did most of my growing up elsewhere, though.’

‘Like, with me?’ he said as he pulled to a stop.

Jena looked at the veranda which ran all the way around the house, the rickety steps leading up to it, and then back at Cade. His face was warm, his blond hair falling down to his shoulders and across one eye. She reached over to tuck it back and then leaned in to kiss him, soaking up some of his warmth.

‘Yeah, like with you. I think I was just sleepwalking through life till I met you.’ Though was she really doing any different now?

He grinned. ‘Quite an endorsement. If you ever decide to give me the flick could you write that in your letter of recommendation?’ He quirked an eyebrow and Jena giggled.

‘Come on, let’s do this.’ She opened the door and went to swing her legs out, but paused before setting her foot on the ground.

‘Come on!’ Cade called. He was already at the bottom of the steps.

Jena closed the distance, her shoes connecting to the ground with a thud that seemed to reverberate through her body. She shivered, suddenly cold despite the heat of the day, and wrapped her arms around herself. A dark cloud loomed over the back of the house, though it hadn’t blotted out the sun yet. A harbinger of doom? She hoped not, but it hadn’t been there before, had it? Or maybe she was just being dramatic about the whole thing.

Cade squeezed her hand and she gave him a little smile before they started up the steps.

Jena paused at the door, curbing her initial instinct to just push it open and go in. This wasn’t her home now. She had to remember that. Her hand shook as she clenched it into a fist and rapped it against the wood. She peered through the window at the top of the door, the rippled glass distorting the view. She could see movement, a head coming towards them, looking disembodied from the lack of light inside.

The door swung open revealing a man about their age. He was taller than Cade, stockier too, though his face was clean-shaven and his attire informal, but tidy. His brown skin and broad nose hinted at Māori heritage. Even with his suntan, Cade looked pale in comparison.

‘Can I help you?’ the man asked, his tone professional, polite. Then his expression softened, recognition dawning in his brown eyes as he glanced back down the hallway before settling his gaze on her. ‘Hang on, you must be Jena. Right?’

She nodded slowly, eyes rounding as a grin flashed across his face. Cade gripped her hand tighter, as if he wasn’t sure what to think of this guy either.

‘Rose has photos of you around the house. It took me a minute, but I knew I’d seen your face before. Come on in. She’s resting at the moment. Pat told me you might be coming down, but I didn’t know it would be so soon.’ He moved to the side, ushering them in. ‘I’m Will. I’ve been looking after Rose since she came out of the hospital.’

‘Thanks, Will,’ Jena said. She removed her shoes before stepping over the threshold, trying not to think about how that small movement felt significant, and waited for Cade to enter before she closed the door behind him. It blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving them in gloom. Light trickled down the stairs, but she wasn’t ready to think about up there yet. ‘This is Cade, my boyfriend. He’s come to help me.’

‘Nice to meet you both,’ Will said. He shook Jena’s hand and then Cade’s, his palm dry, his grip firm. ‘Hope the drive out wasn’t too bad. Do you want a cup of tea?’ He led them down the hallway towards the kitchen.

Cade followed, but Jena trailed behind, running her fingers over the old wood of the bannister that edged the staircase. She looked down the hallway and could have sworn she saw the ghost of her sibling running towards the back door, laughing. Joel would cast a glance back, his eyes locking with hers, daring her to chase. She gasped for breath and leaned against the wall for support.

She thought she’d been prepared, but it was almost like she’d never left. The crush of loss crowding in on her again. How had Rose lived here all this time among the ghosts of their past?

A shadow crossed her face and she blinked to find Cade in front of her. He reached for her hand, brow dipped in concern, and drew her down to the kitchen where Will was preparing hot drinks and Anzac biscuits. Even if Will had followed the recipe, they wouldn’t be the same. They wouldn’t be as good as Rose’s.

Jena remembered the care packages she used to get that first year. Fresh baking wrapped up in paper towels and couriered as fragile. They’d always been broken and crumbly by the time they arrived, but she’d hoarded those cookies, hiding in the makeshift tree house she’d made, not sharing with her aunt and uncle. They’d tasted like home, and back then she would have done anything to go home. Anything to see Rose and the farm, even if it was laden with pain and the rest of her family wasn’t there.

She’d been too young to properly understand they were gone for good, too young to think about ghosts in the hallways and the echoes of her past coming to haunt her. As she’d aged, her thoughts had turned from a desire to go back to an obsession with knowing what had actually happened, because she knew the story, but the story and her memories had never quite matched up.

‘Jena?’ Will asked.

‘Huh? Sorry.’ She moved towards the kitchen table, pulling out a seat and sitting down, only realising once she was there that it was her seat. The same spot she’d sat in for almost every meal of her childhood.

‘How do you like your tea?’ His voice was gentle, his eyes kind. He must know what had happened here. Everyone knew. It was why Rose said she’d sent her to live with Pat and David up in Auckland, far from the rumours and whispers about the tragedy of their family. Jena liked to imagine she’d have coped growing up under that shadow, because whether she was in this town or not, that tragedy had always defined her. The girl whose family burned. The girl who was sent away.

The girl that wasn’t wanted.

‘White with one sugar, thanks.’

Cade slipped into the seat beside her – Joel’s seat – and put his mug on the coaster. His hand slipped onto her thigh beneath the table, stilling her jiggling leg. ‘Pretty traditional, right? This place.’

Jena nodded, but didn’t think she could speak. Will put a steaming mug on the table in front of her and she gripped it with both hands, letting the heat ground her.

Will circled the table, dragging out the chair opposite – Mum’s – and settling into it. ‘How much do you know about what’s happening with Rose?’

Jena sighed, her shoulders drooping as she leaned back in the chair. ‘Not a whole lot. David said she’d had a fall, and they found out there was cancer.’ She couldn’t help but think about the way cancer seemed to eat away at people, kind of like secrets. Maybe Rose’s secrets were all catching up on her. ‘They said she doesn’t have long, that they’re selling the farm and she’s going to go into a home.’ She licked her lips, suddenly feeling guilty for not being there earlier, and then angry at herself for feeling guilty. ‘Look, they only just told me. I’d have come sooner if I’d known, but ….’ She shook her head. This was hard. Harder than she thought it would be, and she hadn’t even seen the old woman yet.

‘It’s fine,’ Will said, as if he knew Rose. Knew her better than Jena did. Her gut clenched as a twinge of jealousy shot through her. ‘She’ll be thrilled to see you when she’s had a rest, I’m sure. She’s on quite a lot of medication, but she’ll put on a brave face. Don’t let it fool you, though. She’s not well.’

‘Why is it just me?’ Jena asked. ‘I don’t get why my aunt and uncle aren’t here too. Pitching in.’

Will frowned and she couldn’t help but think he was weighing his words carefully. ‘Your grandmother preferred that they didn’t come. I think … I think she wanted to give you some time here on your own. Perhaps you have some unfinished business?’ He looked her in the eyes then and she shivered, glancing away.

Yeah, he definitely knows more than he’s letting on.

‘And when will you be leaving?’ Jena asked, sitting up straighter. ‘I’m here now, and I can take care of Rose.’

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘I’m staying on until she goes to the home. She’s asked me to.’

Jena leaned back in her chair, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. She wished Rose was awake now so she could march in there and give the old woman a piece of her mind. If she knew Jena had unfinished business, then why was she asking this guy to stick around and get in the way?

Though, hadn’t that been part of why she’d brought Cade? A little buffer between them, a shoulder to cry on when she needed it.

Maybe avoidance runs in the family.

‘Okay.’ She shrugged.

‘And you’re a nurse or something?’ Cade asked. He sipped from his cup, his gaze never leaving Will, like he was making a challenge. From the way he was eyeing up the other man she wondered if he might be intimidated.

‘A carer, not a nurse exactly. But I’ve had training. I take care of her, make sure she takes her meds, clean up around the house; showers and toileting, that kind of thing.’

Cade’s lips twisted into a grimace. Jena glanced at him, begging him not to make some dumbass comment about it.

‘Thank you for all your help,’ she said, standing up from the table and taking her mug around the kitchen bench to the sink. She rinsed it out, twin feelings that she was out of place and exactly where she should be warring in her mind. But she had to keep focused. Get Will out of here as soon as she could. ‘I’m sure she really appreciates it, but maybe once we’ve had a chance to talk, she’ll see that you’re not really needed around here. I mean, no offence or anything, but we’re family, and if she really is on her way out, I want to be here for her and do everything I can.’

‘No offence taken, and I’m sure you mean well, but there’s more to it than just being here. And I have a contract.’ He got up and came over, pulling open a dishwasher drawer she hadn’t noticed, taking her mug from her and putting it inside. He was close to her now, his height, his demeanour not intimidating as such, but enough to make her take a step back. ‘Look, it’s not up to you anyway, but if Rose decides she wants me to leave then that’s what I’ll do.’ Will sipped from his mug as Jena levelled a glare at him. Clearly, he wasn’t perturbed by her. But aside from the slight tightening around his eyes, she couldn’t fathom what he was thinking.

She didn’t care.

‘How long do you think she’ll be asleep for?’ Jena asked. This wasn’t the homecoming she’d dreamed of. It wasn’t what she wanted.

‘It’s hard to say, but if you want to get settled in, I can call you when she’s ready to see you.’

‘Fine. Whatever.’ Jena stepped around Will and crossed to Cade. She put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. ‘Could you get our bags?’

‘Yeah, sure thing, babe.’ Cade turned his head and pressed a kiss onto the back of her hand.

‘You can stay in your old room. Just go to the end of the landing, on the right,’ Will added. ‘I prepared it yesterday after your aunt called to say you might come.’

Jena didn’t bother looking at him, didn’t want to give him any credit. As if this interloper could tell her where she could go.

‘I might not have been here in a while, but this was my home, thanks.’ She rolled her eyes at Cade, who laughed, and then got up from the table, leaving his mug behind. Jena left the room.

If Will wants to play nurse and assistant, then he can damn well clean up.

Cade followed her to the front door.

‘You got the directions, right?’ she asked with a sigh.

He laughed. ‘Yeah, loud and clear. Uppity cock.’

‘You could say that.’ Jena crossed her arms over her chest. ‘We don’t need him here. I don’t want him here, either. I get a weird vibe off him.’ She shivered, and Cade wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his warmth and found herself wishing they’d just stayed in the city. It would have been easier.

‘It’ll be okay, yeah? Get in, get some work done, get out with the money, and on with the rest of our lives.’

‘Yup, in and out.’ She kissed him on the cheek and took the first step up. ‘I’ll meet you upstairs.’

She watched him walk out the door, and then turned and faced the stairwell. It took up the left side of the entrance and was lined with family pictures from across the generations. Rose had been here since the 1950s, but her grandfather’s family had settled this area with the early colonists. It hadn’t crossed Jena’s mind until right now that this land could possibly belong to anyone else. Not that anyone in the family wanted it, with what had happened here. But the thought of it not being theirs was alien.

She inhaled deeply and took the first step. It creaked in the middle, same as always, and she grinned, trying to remember the right pattern for getting up the stairs without making a sound. Step close to the wall on the third and fifth step, the middle of the fourth, miss two and seven entirely, and eight was okay. A loud groan proved her wrong and she grimaced.

‘Take the rest up on the right-hand side and they won’t make a sound.’

Jena whipped around, grabbing the bannister to stabilise herself, and found Will looking up at her from the bottom of the stairs. She wanted to be grumpy at him for his familiarity with her home, but what was the use in that? If they had to tolerate each other for now, she would bite her tongue.

‘Thanks,’ she said, then turned back and took the rest of the steps at a jog. She paused outside Rose’s bedroom door. Jena’s hand twitched and she wanted to swing the door wide, but Rose wouldn’t be on the second floor. Not if she was as sick as everyone suggested.

Jena headed down the landing, pausing outside the door of her old room, uncertainty creeping over her. She put her hand on the doorknob, her fingers twitching as they came into contact. She wanted to pull them back, to just go somewhere else. Anywhere.

Because she had no idea what to expect on the other side of this door.

Was the place going to be a shrine to her dead family? The girl she used to be? Would it still be furnished with her old single bed and the shelf on the wall where her teddy bear had sat during the day?

Steeling herself, she turned the handle and opened the door. It took a moment for her brain to catch up to the present because she saw the ghost of the old bed, her drawers, and her toy box so vividly in her mind that she couldn’t quite grasp the reality. A double bed with a modern comforter on it, a sunflower pattern she’d never have chosen, and a bedside table with a new lamp. The wall shelf and her old set of drawers were still there, but the stickers she’d collected had been stripped off and someone had painted it white.

It was like her past had been erased.

Like she had been erased.

Jena crossed the threshold, skin prickling as she did. She moved to the bed and flopped down on her back, gazing at the ceiling.

And then a smile stole across her face as she noticed them; the subtle outlines of the glow-in-the-dark stars. She’d saved for weeks to be able to afford them.

At least a small part of her remained in this place. She would put her teddy on the bed, and her book and photo on the little shelf above the bed. It would kind of be hers again. Claiming her past, her present.

She couldn’t wait until tonight so she could see those little stars light up in the darkness.

CHAPTER THREE

JENA

Cade scrubbed the towel through his damp hair, tossed it over the door and put his hands on his hips. Jena realised that he didn’t even look out of place here. His well-worn, patchy clothing had looked hipster in the city, but on a farm it just looked sensible.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘You can’t just lie there until she wakes up. Show me around.’

‘Ugh. I don’t think I’m ready.’ Jena forced herself to sit up. She glanced out the window to where the huge cherry blossom tree grew.

Its branches used to be so long they’d scrape her bedroom window, making her shiver and hide beneath her blankets. It had been cut back sometime over the years and now it looked like it was reaching out to her, longing to reconnect after all this time apart.

Not that she needed any more fuel for her nightmares; she had plenty of that already.

Cade crossed the room, his footsteps seeming loud and out of place here, and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her to her feet and looked her in the eye. ‘We can use it as a chance to figure out how much needs to be done. Come on.’ He kissed her on the forehead. ‘I don’t want to be stuck here forever.’

‘Fine,’ she said with a groan. ‘Let’s go.’ Slipping her hand into his, she followed him onto the landing. His footsteps slowed, and he pulled her to a stop beside the wall of photos.

‘Nope,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Not yet. Maybe tomorrow, or the day after, just not now. Let’s go outside.’ Jena tugged on Cade’s hand and he started moving again, down the stairs, creaking all the way, and out the front door into the light.

Well, the half-light. The cloud that had loomed over the house earlier was now covering the whole sky, swallowing up the sun. Jena shivered and stepped back inside, grabbing one of the many jackets on the coat rack. There had always been a million jackets, left there over the years, probably from all the way back to when her grandfather Ernest had skipped out on Rose.

She shrugged her arms into somebody else’s coat and closed the door behind her.

‘Is there one in there for me?’ Cade raised an eyebrow.

‘Sorry.’ Jena shook her head. ‘I wasn’t even thinking. Old habit. Strange what sticks, isn’t it?’ She opened the door again and found one that would fit Cade, and then they set out, hand in hand.

Jena led them in the opposite direction to the barn. The gardens had run a bit wild, but overall shouldn’t be too much trouble to tame. Some of the paint on the house was peeling, but she didn’t think that would be too challenging either, though there were a few window sills with rot in them. Someone had been keeping the place tidy at least, which meant there wasn’t going to be too much work to do.

Jena wasn’t sure if she was pleased about that. She needed time to convince Rose to tell her the truth, but already she was on edge from being back here. She’d never known it was possible to simultaneously want to run away and stay right where you were. Kind of like the helicopter ornament that used to be on the fence, its rotor blades spinning endlessly while it stayed stuck in place, never lifting off or breaking free.

She wanted to be free.

‘Do you think we should check in the barn for paint and stuff?’ Cade asked. They’d made it almost all the way around the house and it was looming off to the side.

‘No.’ Jena snapped the word out, tugging him back in the other direction. ‘We’ll ask Will. I bet Rose gave him a list of things we’ll need. She was always really organised, knew exactly what was in the shed and how much, too.’ Jena would put money on that not having changed, despite Rose’s illness. ‘Come on, I want to show you something,’ she said, wracking her brain for an offering, a snapshot into her past that she could share to distract him from the barn.

‘About time we got to the good stuff,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Shame you weren’t here as a teen, I bet there would be juicier stories to tell if you were.’

Jena shook her head and rolled her eyes. ‘Well you’re shit out of luck, Mister. There’s nothing juicy to see here. But if you want to hear a spooky story ….’

‘Spooky works.’ He squeezed her hand and she caught the look of surprise on his face. It took a few seconds for her to realise that for most people the fire was probably scarier than anything else, but that wasn’t what she was thinking about.

Jena led him back to the front of the house, towards the tallest tree on the front lawn. There had been rose bushes here once; she’d seen them in photos from when her mother and Pat were really little. At some point before Jena was born, they’d been replaced by a bed of peonies, which she always thought of as Rose’s favourites. Though she couldn’t say why. Their pink heads would wave around in the wind; the sight had been hypnotic to her as a child.

The flowers weren’t blooming now; it was the wrong time of the year. Jena was surprised by the pang of sorrow that washed over her. She might never get a chance to see them again.

And that was when it hit her – that while she might have come here looking for answers, she also needed to say goodbye. Once she left, she was never coming back.

There would be nothing to come back to. This was the end of the line for their family on this property, and she couldn’t understand why that stung so much. But it did.

‘So, what’s this story?’ Cade prompted her. They’d walked past the garden and were now under the canopy of the tree. Jena approached it, running her fingers over the rough bark, remembering the times they had tried to climb this one, never getting very far because it was just too big. Her mother had always rejected the idea that they nail rungs into its trunk; maybe, if they’d all lived longer, they’d have been able to persuade her.

‘Living in the country is wonderful, but you also know this deep sense of isolation – no one is going to hear you screaming from next door. You can’t call for help and expect to be heard. Anything could happen and no one would know about it.’ She looked over her shoulder at Cade, capturing his gaze with hers. She could see the flash of fire in her mind, because of course, they didn’t hear the screams, but so many had seen those flames against the dark sky. ‘Rose always used to tell us the story of the Dark Man.’

‘Dark Man? Like, an actual man?’ Cade raised an eyebrow.

Jena shrugged, then shook her head as she turned to face him. ‘I don’t know if he was an actual man, but he was our bogeyman. He lived out here, in all the places we weren’t really meant to go. Like in the gardens.’ She grinned. ‘Rose would tell us that if we walked through her flowers, he’d come for us. That if we weren’t good, if we weren’t careful, the Dark Man would steal our souls.’

‘Well that’s cheery,’ Cade said with a laugh. ‘And were you a very good girl?’

‘Actually, I was.’ She leaned back against the tree as he stepped towards her.

‘That was a long time ago though, wasn’t it,’ he murmured, leaning in to nuzzle her neck.

Jena giggled, the soft brush of his lips tickling before he kissed her clavicle, his body pressing against hers, a delicious crush with the roughness of the tree at her back.

‘Mmm, can’t say I’ve ever done that here,’ she said, gasping when he nibbled her skin.

‘I bet there are a lot of things you haven’t. We can fix that.’ He moved up, capturing her lips and kissing her deeply.

Jena let herself get lost in the sensation. This was something Cade was always good for, helping her forget anything but the here and now, the feel of his skin against hers.

He drew back with a grin. ‘Where could we go?’ he asked, eyes full of lust.

Jena heard something – the scrape of a shoe? The call of the Dark Man? She glanced over Cade’s shoulder and tensed up. Will stood at the top of the steps. It didn’t look like he’d spotted them yet and she was tempted to duck behind the tree and hide, the same way she and Joel had when they were kids.

Except that maybe Rose was awake. Maybe it was time.

She pushed Cade back a bit and the movement caught Will’s eye. He called out, but she couldn’t hear what he said, his beckon enough to get her moving.

‘Looks like she might be awake,’ Jena said. She bit her lip, torn between the urge to move forward and the urge to run away. She wasn’t ready. Yet she’d been waiting for this for years.

Cade let out a frustrated sigh, but slipped his hand into hers. ‘He’s a real killjoy, that one.’

‘Yeah, yeah he is,’ she said absently. And then they were walking across the lawn, past the peonies and onto the driveway.

Will met them at the bottom of the steps, his face a blank canvas.

‘Is she awake?’ Jena asked, gripping the railing.

He shook his head. ‘She is, but she’s not up for visitors. She’s in a lot of pain today.’ He frowned. ‘I’m sorry, I know how much you wanted to talk to her.’

‘I can’t even see her?’ Jena took the first step, but Will moved to block her way.

‘Jena, please. Don’t make me have to intervene. I will if I have to, but I don’t want to.’

‘Don’t worry, you don’t need to get involved this time,’ she said, pushing past him. ‘Come on, Cade, let’s go for a drive.’

‘But we only—’

‘Cade!’ She didn’t wait for him to respond, just moved into the house, stripping off the borrowed jacket and hanging it on the hook.

‘Right.’ He followed her in, mimicking her motions. ‘Are you sure about this?’ he whispered.

‘Yeah, let’s get some fish and chips. We can get a few supplies while we’re out. I just ….’ She slumped then, shoulders curving over.

‘It’s okay. Come on,’ he said, tugging her up the stairs so they could get their wallets.

CHAPTER FOUR

WILL

Jena wasn’t what Will had expected.

She was more abrasive, more scattered than he’d imagined from the information he’d gathered. But then, it was always a little awkward getting to know someone you’d researched, and in this case, someone you’d looked into intensively.

He’d lived a few towns over when the fire had happened. Had heard rumours. Knew she’d been sent away and always wondered why. It just seemed strange, sending a kid off into the world right after her whole family had died. It was one of the things that had always niggled at him about the events here on this farm.

Will was determined to get to the bottom of it.

He watched as Jena and Cade headed to the blue Toyota with the surfboard strapped to the top and drove down the driveway, the battered vehicle kicking up dust in its wake. He felt a little bad for lying to Jena; he could see how much she needed to speak with Rose, but Rose was his boss. They might get along well, but he had to toe the line on this.

He closed the front door and walked back down the hallway to the second lounge that was now Rose’s room. He fished the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door to step inside.

‘I heard the car start. Told you she’d leave, didn’t I?’ Rose coughed as she tried to struggle into a seated position.

Will walked across the room to help, plumping her pillows as she leaned forward, hooking the spare one off the chair next to the bed to put behind her head. When she was comfortable, he took his customary seat.

‘I actually thought she’d try to come in here, which is why I locked the door.’ He looked at Rose differently now, seeking some change in her face, her demeanour. But it was the same as it had been every day of these past few weeks.

Rose was giving him nothing.

‘It was a possibility, but my little bird, she runs. She always has, even before ….’ Rose shook her head, sorrow making the many fine lines around her eyes crinkle together.

Will ran his tongue over the back of his teeth, weighing his words. ‘Why didn’t you want to see her today?’

Rose let out a long sigh, sinking into the pillows as she did. ‘I’m not ready.’ She shook her head slowly. ‘I know you don’t understand, but there’s a lot of time and distance between me and the girl. She’s like a bull in a china shop sometimes, and I wasn’t ready for her to come in here and charge around.’

‘Yeah, I bet she’s got a lot to say to you.’ He tried to temper the words with kindness, but it was hard.

Rose caught the tip of his accusation and turned her glare on him. ‘You need to treat your elders with respect, Will. You’re only here by my good grace. Remember that.’

‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ he said, scooting forward on the chair so that they were closer. ‘I can tell there’s a lot of history there, and pain. In my line of work, I see it a lot.’

She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Why are you in this line of work, Will? You’re good at your job, but it’s not the norm for men. Not that I’m complaining.’ Rose smiled to herself and let her eyes drift shut.

Will swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to push down the memories of his own tragedy; the one that had prompted him to get into caring for those close to death. He needed to see their eyes, to know if what he’d seen at his own mother’s passing held true for others. ‘I just want to help out, to make the hard times easier for those in their last days.’

‘Far from my last days, boy.’ Rose coughed and he grabbed the cup of water by her bed, offering it to her. Her fingers trembled as she reached for the straw, her tongue sliding out to capture it. He held the cup steady, knowing she wasn’t up to doing it herself. She let the straw go with a sigh. ‘I’m not done for yet, but I appreciate the help all the same.’

Will pressed his lips together. People often thought they had longer than they really did, but it wasn’t his place to say that. They realised soon enough. He reached for another pillow, grabbing an end in each hand and considering the weight of it as he fluffed it up and then tucked it behind her head.

Maybe she’d make it to the rest home, maybe not. From what he knew of Rose, he had a feeling that what she really wanted was to die in this house. Her daughter, Pat, wasn’t having a bar of that, though, and as much as Jena said she wanted to be here for Rose, the rift between grandmother and granddaughter was too big right now.

It didn’t really matter to him whether they healed that wound; what mattered was that the truth would come out in the process no matter the result. It wasn’t a lie that he found comfort in helping those in their final stage of life, but what he really yearned for were the secrets that came out when people were dying. Secrets that might explain the mysteries he’d found no reasons for. Yet.

And the Benedict Farm mystery was in his top five.