The Milliner of Bendigo by Darry Fraser

Author:Darry Fraser
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Published: 2023-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Fitz headed out to the Bayley’s place next morning, wanting to see if there’d been any activity out there that shouldn’t have been. What he thought he’d do if he found any evidence of foul play, he wasn’t sure. Reporting it to John might be next to useless. It would be grist for the mill, though. Something to keep the pressure up on Haines, something ‘Our Correspondent’ could wield.

Not in any hurry, he and Patto wandered out of town, the horse well fed and watered. The day was a warm one again, and about to get warmer, no doubt about that. Sweat trickled under his hat, but dried before it dropped into his eyes.

A mood descended. Shit, I’m feelin’ it today. Solo, riding down a story, no one with whom to share it when he got home after his day. Was this the place to find that other half, someone to live his life with? He was pretty sure it wasn’t.

He’d long weighed up country living compared to a city life and still hadn’t come to an answer. In the country he couldn’t keep to himself enough; the city was too blowsy, aggressive; he’d learned that the hard way. Still, it had to be either-or. Maybe he should reconnect with family again. John, anyway, who hadn’t exactly driven him off. That was encouraging, though how to do it was beyond him. He’d have to step carefully; John was touchy. There was no solution, he knew. If he kept looking for one, he’d never find it. Instead, when you least expected, things had a way of finding you, but it was the devil itself not to think about it or wish for it.

At the turn-off to the property, the gruesome vision of Mrs Bayley lying over her baby’s grave hit him. Feeling sorry for himself paled in comparison to the desperate misery that Meryl must have experienced. Evie had lost her sister in awful circumstances; what the hell would she go through when she found out? The letter he’d written, the one Jenny Robinson had in her keeping, was on his mind. Had he said enough to Evie, conveyed the depth of his sorrow at the loss of her sister? They were friends, he and Evie. Maybe he should go and find her instead of writing her a note and mailing it, keeping her at arm’s length.

What would he feel if John was killed, or died suddenly? He shrugged. Loss, for sure, and he might even miss him, mourn for a bit, but they hadn’t been mates, not for years. Had been once; a long time ago John was the only one at home who hadn’t outright shunned him.

Fitz had lost contact with other family members. Lawrence, the eldest brother, had told Fitz never to darken his door again. His mother told him in no uncertain terms that he should change his ideas about his place in the world or God would strike the evil from his soul. (Fitz had never been too worried that God would strike anything much.

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