Page 194 of Crossed Wires: The Complete Series

That’s not what she said. She just doesn’t want to go back to Chicago. Very big difference, mate.

His gut knotted. He bunched his fist, staring at the doorknob.

A scoff sounded through the door, choked with grief.“I thought I’d kicked the demons of my past to the curb.” Harper’s voice was more strained than ever. More broken. It tore at Keith’s heart. “These past few days have been perfect, some of the best of my life. I got blindsided today and now I’m struggling to find my way back.”

Another pause, long enough for Keith to replay Harper’s words. Demons? What demons of her past?

“One day,” Harper continued, and once again the urge to open the door and take her in his arms surged through him. She sounded so lost, so sad. “I’ll tell you about why I came to live with Andrew and my dad when I was a kid. For now, let’s just leave it at my stepdad wasn’t a very nice person.”

Stepdad.

The utter torment in Harper’s voice at the word “stepdad” cut Keith to the bone.

Cold fury squeezed his chest. Images filled his mind, nightmarish in their suggestion. A faceless man towering over a small girl, a petrified child…

Keith killed the images before they could take root. Before they turned his anger against Ronald McNamara to a murderous rage. He took a step away from the door, and another, blood roaring in his ears.

It wasn’t just Big Mac he wanted to beat to a bloody pulp now, but a man he’d never met. A man he knew little about except he wasn’t a “nice person”.

More words came from inside, indistinct. Muffled. He heard “…to tell you. I need to…” and then they were gone, the sound of creaking floorboards telling Keith that Harper had walked away, possibly to the bedroom.

He swallowed, his stare fixed on the door. The wood around the lock was splintered, more of the bolt visible than should be.

If he kicked the door in again, if he stormed into the room—if only to take Harper in his arms so he could tell her she was safe, that he’d never let anyone hurt her again, no matter who they were—would she scream?

She would. And rightly so. Go back to the tree, Munroe. Let her be for the night. Tomorrow, when the sun is high and you know where Big Mac is, then you can hold her. Then you can tell her how much you’re beginning to care for her. Do it now, when she’s scared, when she’s vulnerable, and you’re a selfish prick.

Letting out a choppy breath, he moved back to the tree. Dawn was but five hours away.

He could wait that long. For Harper, he was beginning to suspect he could wait forever.

An hour later, Marc joined him. “Big Mac’s in Cobar,” he said as he settled his elbows on his bent knees, his voice almost a murmur. “Just got a call from Esmee, the barkeeper at the Great Western. Said he came in a couple of hours ago, sweaty, covered in dust with blood still oozing from his nose. She said it looked like he ran all the way there after picking a fight with a semitrailer. He’s apparently pissed as a fart already.” Marc grunted. “At least we know where he is now. What are the odds of him coming back tonight?”

Keith scowled. “Pretty slim. Reckon he’ll crash out in Mulga Place Park. It won’t be the first time.”

“So, we heading home? Or staying put until sunup?”

The chuckle that left Keith was humorless. “Staying put.”

Marc’s answering laugh was equally dry. “Yeah, figured so.”

Silence stretched between them. Keith chewed on everything he’d overheard Harper say, his mind trying to fill in the blanks.

It was impossible. Just as impractical as it was to remove the haunting, terrible images of a man he didn’t know standing over a little girl whose face was distorted in pain and fear.

He didn’t tell Marc what he’d heard. His best mate would have acted on it straightaway, wanting to ease Harper’s pain. Marc Thompson may appear to the world a laid-back joker, but Keith knew how deep his emotions ran. When it came to heartache and loss, Thomo was a seasoned survivor. The senseless killing of his father had made him feel other people’s pain on a level Keith himself couldn’t. If Marc knew what Harper had shared with the unknown person on the phone, he would be by her side now whether she wanted him to be or not.

Dawn broke the darkness a few hours later. Keith blinked at the blinding sliver of sun peaking above the eastern horizon, his eyes grainy and hot. A night without sleep wasn’t new to him or Marc. Both had done their share of watching over a cow experiencing difficulties delivering during birthing season.

The difference was, this time there was no moment of joy, no moment of new life to end the dark hours.

Just more confusion, more uncertainty.

“Reckon we should be gone when Harper comes out?”

Keith nodded at Marc’s muttered question. “Yeah. She may already know we’ve been here, but I’d rather not freak her out if she didn’t.”

Pushing himself to his feet, he winced at the pain in his stiff knees and back. And then jumped when the rarely used mobile in his pocket shrilled into life.