The Roadhouse by Kerry McGinnis

Author:Kerry McGinnis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143794202
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia

Chapter Nineteen

The donga was a box-like room containing a bed, wardrobe and a small washbasin and mirror. There were linen and blankets in the wardrobe but when I’d made up the bed I lay wakeful for a long time, stroking my swollen face as I puzzled over the night’s events. Bob would, I knew, be out at daylight searching for the man’s tracks and those of the vehicle he had used, but even if he found them they still represented anonymous boots and wheels, and would do nothing to resolve the deeper mystery of what the intruder had been seeking.

I must have dropped off to sleep then, for the next thing I knew was a low snarl coming from beyond the door. A pale greyness seeped through the single curtained window. Almost dawn, then. Imagining heaven knows what, I crept from my bed to the door and opened it a crack, telling myself that Ute was next door and I could rouse her with a scream, and anyway Jasper would have his leg off the moment whoever was there got within reach. The suspense of not knowing was worse than my fear. I pushed on the door, then let it swing fully open as I saw who it was.

‘Eric! You frightened the life out of me.’

He jumped guiltily, and Jasper lunged, only to be brought up by the chain.

‘Hush, Jasper. Sit! That’s a good dog. Sorry,’ I said belatedly, taking in the import of Eric’s presence. ‘None of my business anyway.’

He coughed and reddened. ‘Morning, Charlie.’ He shook his head and said baldly, ‘Not that it’s any of my business either, but what are you doing here?’

‘There was a bit of an incident last night. Oh, do stop it, Jasper! Look, come and pat him and he’ll give it up.’

Eric backed up a step. ‘Not likely! Let him growl. What sort of incident?’

The door he’d crept through opened then and Ute stuck out a dishevelled head. ‘Eric, what is happening? You sound like the bear.’

‘That’s the dog. Sorry, love. I meant to sneak away but Charlie caught me.’ He looked back at me. ‘What’s happened?’

I recited the night’s events and both looked astonished.

‘I didn’t hear a thing,’ Eric said. But he was hardly likely to, I thought with a little spurt of amusement, not with his blonde Valkyrie (and she really did resemble one with her tumbled locks and statuesque form wrapped only in a sheet) to occupy him. Ute, with a frown for the mystery, typically went straight to the heart of it.

‘So, he does not rob but makes the destruction. Why?’

‘I have no idea. The house is just one big mess, like he was angry – no, scrap that, furious. He even cleaned out the bathroom cabinet! There’s toothpaste and shampoo and Lord knows what all over the shower.’

‘You will call the policeman, yes?’

‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘As soon as we’ve had breakfast – and that had better be in the roadhouse this morning.’

In fact, I didn’t wait beyond getting dressed to do so.

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