Fatal Flaw. Sandy Curtis
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like you won the battle.' Mark couldn't keep the smile from his voice.
'Mark? I'm so sorry - Andy shouldn't have said that. How are you? And Claire?'
'Claire's okay. She's a strong person.' Mark paused, aware he was trying to convince himself. 'I thought we might get together today, if you're free, and catch up on old times like you suggested?'
'That'd be great. Could you come here? Andy has a few mates over and I can't leave them alone.'
'Just give me the address.' Mark strode back into the office, grabbed pen and paper and wrote swiftly. 'I'll see you soon.'
As he placed the phone in its charger, a sense of anticipation spread through him. For the first time in many months, he was actually looking forward to something.
'Who was that, Mum?' Andy Evans raised a quizzical eyebrow at Julie. With a jolt she recognised herself in the pale green eyes. It wasn't the physical resemblance of dark brown hair and a freckle-dusted nose, though that was remarkably strong, but the expression she read in those eyes. She, too, had been protective of her mother at the same age, anxious to shield her from the pain that life, in the shape of Ray Galloway, had inflicted on her.
'An old friend, Mark Talbert.' Julie tried to hide her eagerness as she bustled around the kitchen, putting dishes into the sink and wiping down benches. It was absurd to feel this way; Mark had never been anything but a friend, but his remark yesterday about needing her had sparked feelings she had long thought buried.
'Is that the guy in that picture with Mr and Mrs Talbert? The one in your album?' Andy's query carried more than just casual interest, and Julie knew that he had picked up on her tone.
'Yes. We grew up together. Our parents were friends.'
'So he knows Grandad?' A grin lit up Andy's face, and Julie felt her instinctive reaction. As much as she'd tried, she hadn't been able to curtail Andy's hero-worship of her father. She'd protested at the extravagant gifts Ray had lavished on her son, but with his usual blunt disregard for anyone's wishes but his own, Ray had ignored her.
'Yes,' she sighed, 'he knows Grandad. Now go and get changed. Your mates are already in the pool.' If the laughter and shouting was any indication, she thought, half the kids in the neighbourhood were there.
Andy galloped to his room, and Julie's heart lurched. It was such a contrast to her childhood. Ray's snapping bouts of temper had ensured she would never invite a school friend home on weekends. He was like a chameleon, suave and charming when it suited him, but verbally abusive if he perceived anyone going against him. Julie had watched the toll it had taken on her mother, and was grateful Andy had never seen that side of his grandfather. But she didn't like Andy's devotion to him either.
She was washing the dishes when Andy raced to the door, towel slung over his shoulder. 'Can we have muffins for morning tea?' he asked.
'Sure.'
'Great. Chocolate chip, if you can.' He paused, gave her a quick, assessing look. 'Thanks, Mum,' he said and disappeared.
The man to whom Yuusuf Haasan had entrusted the box he had purchased in Calcutta gazed across the dawn-shimmering ocean. No swell marred the flat surface; the only waves were those created by the yacht on which he travelled. His passage had been paid for, but if boarded by the authorities, he would assume the role of crew member, subservient to the supposedly wealthy owners who spent their days travelling the watery highways of the world. He smiled as he thought how close they were getting to his destination. He would not fail in his mission. He was well trained. And he was determined. Soon he would be able to prove himself.
A shadow passed over the boat. He looked up. An albatross, its great wingspan silhouetted by the glare of the sun, flew northward. The man aimed an imaginary gun at the bird, pulled the trigger, and laughed. Then he turned and went below deck to his cabin.
It wasn't his habit to stay overnight with Gaynor Farrell, but Ray Galloway had wanted to have an alibi for last night, just in case. He took many risks, but always covered himself if it were possible. He hurried down the stairs from Gaynor's apartment to the undercover car park. The business he had to discuss with Todd Langley, his security officer at GalCorp, wasn't something he wanted Gaynor to overhear.
The drive to his house was a short one. He'd set Gaynor up in the apartment when it became obvious that she was going to last a lot longer than his previous girlfriends, and convenience of access was important to him.
Todd was waiting for him as he drove up to his house. Although many years old, the house was a well-maintained example of white cement-rendered brick and arched, almost church-like, windows. Like a guardian of old, Todd stood in the front doorway, arms folded across his massive chest.
Within minutes both men were seated on the sweeping terrace at the rear of the house, looking out over the St Lucia stretch of the Brisbane River. The phss of escaping gas sounded as they pulled the tops off their stubbies of beer. A ferry hustled its way up-river, leaving a rippled trail on the mirror surface. The air was hot, dry, and hazy with the memory of many weeks without rain.
Ray was the first to end the silence. 'We don't have a choice. You'll have to break into Gordon's house.' He lit a cigar, and smiled at Todd's ill-concealed disgust. 'There must be a safe in his office where he's hidden it.'
'Okay,' Todd nodded, 'but I need a plan of the house. Any idea if there's a security system installed? Do they have a dog?'
'It's a while since I've been there, but I'll draw up what I can remember. I don't know about a dog, but be prepared just in case. Claire's moved out - she's living with her daughter for a while, but Mark's staying there at the moment.'
Todd stretched his powerful body in the cushioned patio chair. 'I haven't seen Mark since he was a kid. How old would he be now?'
'Must be about thirty-six. I think he's a few months older than Julie.' Ray swigged down the last of his beer. 'Be careful of him. I never was able to find out from Gordon exactly what he did in Canberra, but there's something about him …'
The laughter that rumbled in Todd's chest had a derisive tinge to it. 'As piss weak as his father, you mean?' he said, then sobered as he saw Ray's expression.
'No,' Ray's frown deepened. 'He was always a strange kid, but now… Now there's something dangerous about him.'
Further upstream, Mark drove across the Indooroopilly Bridge and headed towards Sherwood. Enormous old trees lined the streets close to his destination and dappled sunlight and shade on the windscreen. Julie's house was a low-set Queenslander, painted white and trimmed with green, set on a corner block and surrounded by a high wooden fence. As Mark walked up the three front steps onto the verandah he felt the coolness engulf him.
He reached for the large brass knocker on the front door, but before he could touch it, the door opened and Julie stood, smiling widely, tucking a lock of dark hair behind her ear. A simple gesture, but one that touched a chord; a memory of them in their early teens, lying on the grass and staring at the clouds. She'd pointed to an unusual formation, and before he'd turned to look, he'd caught a glimpse of her newly-formed breasts beneath her thin blouse. The jolt that had shot through him then had shocked him. But in the same self-controlled way that he'd lived most of his life, he'd decided that it was just one of the symptoms of puberty that he'd read about.
'Good timing,' Julie said as a bell rang further back in the house. 'Come in.'
He followed her down a tongue-and-groove-walled hallway to a spacious kitchen. Cream walls and cupboards were a pleasant contrast to the timber benchtops and polished timber floor. A wooden table dominated one end of the room.
'Take a seat.' Her voice was slightly muffled as she grabbed a mitt and bent down to open the oven door. The aroma of fresh cake wafted into the room and memories of his childhood after Claire had come into their lives hurtled back to Mark. He watched as Julie placed first one, then another muffin tray on racks on the bench.
'Coffee or tea?' she asked and took mugs from an overhead cupboard. She wasn't very tall, and reaching higher