Page 28 of Sharing Forever in Hope Creek (Hope Creek #2)

No. Jack wasn’t her father.

Surely Jack hadn’t killed Andrew Thompson. Yet, how well did she really know the father of her child?

‘Callie?’ Concern in his features, Jack stepped towards her. ‘You need to sit down.’

‘No.’ She took a step back from him and realised her face must be a mask of shock and horror. Her hand flew to her abdomen, her first thought being that she needed to protect her child. ‘Don’t come any closer.’

‘What?’ His head jerked back. ‘Callie, if you think I’m in any way responsible—’

Jim moved to stand in front of Jack and raised his hand but didn’t raise his voice as he said, ‘Leave it for now, Jack.’

‘But—’

‘Not now,’ Jim asserted. ‘Callie’s …’ He shook his head. ‘Not now.’

Margaret had rushed to Callie’s side, her arm shooting around Callie’s waist as she led her to sit down in the chair.

When Jack may have protested, Gary demanded, ‘Where were you from the time you left the vineyard last night to six o’clock this morning?’

‘You can’t possibly think Jack had anything to do with the murder!’ Margaret made the protest before instantly leaping to Jack’s defence. ‘Jack left the vineyard to join us at the hospital in Lancaster, then he came back to the homestead and he’s been here ever since.’

When Callie dared to look up, she saw Jack looked sick. ‘Callie—’

‘Margaret, you can’t answer for Jack,’ Gary said.

Callie saw the disappointment in Jack’s eyes as he continued to search her face, but all she could do was shake her head in disbelief as pain lanced through her heart and her extremities felt frozen.

Finally looking away from Callie, Jack squared his shoulders and his jaw firmed.

‘Thank you for defending me, Margaret, but I wasn’t with you all that time.

’ Turning to the officers he said, ‘Callie was discharged about six o’clock from the hospital in Lancaster.

It would have been shortly after seven when I got back here. ’

‘That’s correct, because we all sat down for dinner at 7:20,’ Jim said. ‘I remember looking at the clock and realising why my stomach was rumbling.’

Rick’s eyes narrowed. ‘Given the drive is only about forty minutes, that leaves another forty minutes or so unaccounted for, Mr Marshall.’

‘Where were you in the time between leaving Lancaster Hospital and arriving back here at the homestead?’ Gary asked.

Jack had said he had urgent business. Had he returned to the vineyard?

He had certainly reacted strangely when she’d mentioned the vineyard earlier and he’d been so preoccupied last night …

‘I drove from the hospital to the police station in Lancaster. I wanted to report that Andrew Thompson virtually admitted he was running a wine Ponzi scheme, bottling wine from Hope Creek Vineyard, using false labels and storing the wine in a facility in Melbourne.’

‘How did you come to know about this?’ Gary probed.

‘I’ve been interested in buying the vineyard. I received information about the scheme. He showed his investors the stock in Melbourne and they thought they were investing in rare wine.’

‘Hold on,’ Gary told him as he shook his head. ‘Run that allegation past me again?’

Callie tried to listen intently as Jack repeated everything but she was so shocked and disturbed by Andrew Thompson’s murder that her brain refused to follow the conversation as Jack spoke.

‘So if we phone the officers at Lancaster Station, they’ll verify this?’ Rick stated.

Jack’s shoulders slumped a fraction. ‘No, because the police station was unmanned. The best they’ll be able to do is confirm that there was nobody at the station at that time. It was all locked up.’

‘We’ll check with them,’ Rick said.

‘How did you come by this information?’ Gary sounded sceptical.

Callie watched a muscle tic in Jack’s cheek before he answered. ‘I received a text message from a private number.’

Gary’s lips twisted. ‘I take it you didn’t erase it from your phone?’

‘No. I still have it.’ After a pause, he continued, ‘Listen, Thompson and I were arguing because I’d found out about the Ponzi scheme,’ Jack explained hurriedly.

‘That’s what I was referring to when I told him he wouldn’t get away with it and that he’d pay for his crime.

I made it clear I would be reporting him to the police. ’

‘Which you say you tried to do after you left Lancaster Hospital?’ Rick said as he scribbled away in a notebook.

‘I was in the car at the vineyard, intending to see you two when Margaret called and told me Callie was being taken to the hospital.’ Jack looked back at Callie but she looked away, unable to meet his gaze because she was overwhelmed with doubt.

‘That was about twenty past four yesterday afternoon,’ Jim supplied.

Callie kept remembering her realisation that Jack hadn’t been himself last night or this morning. Had it been because his mind was full of these allegations he’d learned against Andrew Thompson, or had it been because he was the one who was guilty of a crime?

Tears gathered in her eyes as doubt muddied her thinking and she clenched her jaw so she didn’t start sobbing.

Jim cleared his throat. ‘Surely you don’t believe Jack’s responsible for Thompson’s murder?’

Callie thought Jim was speaking to her. She opened her mouth to say she didn’t know what to believe when Gary answered.

‘At this stage he’s our prime suspect.’ His tone was almost apologetic.

‘That’s crazy!’ Jim said. ‘He couldn’t possibly have left us, gone back to the vineyard and got back here for dinner. Your timeline doesn’t add up.’

Gary’s jaw firmed. ‘We’re in the early stage of our investigations, Jim.’

‘You say you were here all night?’ Rick asked Jack.

‘Yes.’ As if he was speaking to her rather than the officers, Jack said firmly, ‘Callie can vouch for that.’

Could she? Would she have known if Jack had left in the middle of the night?

‘So can I,’ Margaret said. ‘I’m a light sleeper and Callie’s bedroom door squeaks when it opens. If either of them had left that room last night I would’ve known about it.’

Callie’s tension eased a notch.

‘Mr Marshall, we’re going to need you to come to the station with us to answer some questions about what happened between you and Andrew Thompson, and this scheme you say you uncovered,’ Rick told him. ‘You’ll need to provide an official statement.’

Margaret put her hands on her hips. ‘He can’t go yet. He hasn’t had his breakfast! Let him eat and then Jim can drive to the station.’

Gary shook his head. ‘Absolutely not. He comes with us. Now.’

‘Then wait right here while I make him a sandwich at least,’ Margaret insisted, overriding Jack’s assurances that he was fine and disappearing quickly in the direction of the kitchen.

‘Callie, have you been aware of any tension between Andrew Thompson and Mr Marshall?’ Rick asked.

‘N-no.’

‘Did Mr Marshall tell you anything about the information he’d received anonymously?’

‘No.’ The word was barely audible.

‘I didn’t want to worry Callie,’ Jack said. ‘I didn’t even know whether the allegation had any foundation until I spoke to Thompson yesterday.’

‘Jack,’ Jim cautioned. ‘I don’t think you should say any more until you seek legal counsel.’

Callie was aware Jack continued to look in her direction, but she could only study her hands as they pressed together tightly in her lap. On a subconscious level she realised that her doubt didn’t help the situation, but she simply couldn’t meet his eyes.

While Margaret was off making sandwiches and being supportive in the only way she knew how, Jim was reacting as though the allegations were preposterous. Callie realised she was the only one who wasn’t speaking up and jumping to Jack’s defence.

She just couldn’t.

This whole scene transported her back to her childhood trauma and suddenly she was eight years old again—feeling stunned. Feeling hollow. Not being able to make sense of anything in the moment but weighed down with shame and guilt when the truth had come to light.

Overwhelming fear paralysed her thought processes now and ice frosted over her heart to prevent further pain.

How could she survive this a second time?

But she would have to survive it because the stakes were higher. She had a child to consider and she had to protect her child at all costs and distance herself from Jack.

‘Detectives flew up from Melbourne this morning as soon as we reported it,’ Gary was saying. ‘They’re still at the vineyard, but they’ve told us to take Jack into the station and to hold him there until they arrive to question him.’

‘Sounds as though I should call a lawyer.’ There was a resigned heaviness in Jack’s voice.

‘That would be advisable,’ Rick responded.

‘Right,’ Margaret said as she bustled back into the living room with an oversized lunch box. ‘Now don’t worry, Jack, this will all work itself out. Meanwhile, I’ve thrown together a corned beef and tomato sandwich, and there is a slice of cake, a few cookies and a banana in there as well.’

A meal for the condemned man, Callie thought distantly. There was honestly no end to Margaret’s charity.

‘Thanks, Margaret,’ Jack said as she thrust the food towards him. ‘Just look after Callie for me, please?’

Part of Callie wanted to rant and rave at him and demand to know how he could do this to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything as she sat statue still, unable to move and unable to utter a single sound.

‘She’s likely in shock,’ Jim said.

‘Does she need medical care?’ Rick asked. ‘She looks catatonic.’

Margaret rushed back to Callie. ‘Oh Callie, darling! Jim, let’s get Callie back to bed.’

Callie didn’t resist. Margaret and Jim led her back to her bedroom as Rick and Gary led Jack in the other direction and out the front door.

‘Tea. I’ll get you a cup of sweet tea,’ Margaret said as Jim pulled up the covers.

Callie registered the slam of car doors and a motor starting as she curled up into a fetal position and willed the world to go away.

For all that she felt hollow, the bitter taste of regret permeated her consciousness.

Because, for all her declarations that she would never be like either of her parents, she had repeated her mother’s cardinal error and her baby’s father had been carted off to the police station on suspicion of murder.

Just when Callie was at her happiest and starting to believe she and Jack had a future—that her baby would grow up with a father—why had fate been so cruel?