Page 42 of Sharing Forever in Hope Creek (Hope Creek #2)

‘He would’ve known Jack would confront Thompson straight away about the scheme. Jack’s very direct,’ Jacinta put in. ‘When Jack found out about what Marcus was doing illegally, he didn’t wait to investigate and he didn’t go straight to the police, he went straight to Marcus and confronted him.’

‘Right,’ Sian said. ‘So he sent you the text knowing you’d confront Thompson. Then, once you had, he slipped into the winery—’

‘I suspect he’d made a meeting time with Thompson for later that evening, because Thompson told me he had another meeting lined up for after we met.

’ He considered that possibility further.

‘It would make sense Thompson would arrange a meeting with Marcus after hours if he thought Marcus was going to deliver money to him and pay off his debt. Also I spotted Marcus at the vineyard last week.’

‘Oh, Jack!’ Jacinta threw her hands up in the air. ‘You saw Marcus at the vineyard and that didn’t set off any alarm bells for you when you were considering buying the place?’

‘I saw him from a distance so I couldn’t be sure it was him,’ he said defensively. ‘I can only confirm it now because I know about his involvement.’

‘Okay.’ With the tone of that one word, Sian closed off further recriminations as she wrote a few notes in her notebook. ‘Wearing your shirt, he kills Thompson, slips back to the homestead to plant the shirt in your car, then gets the hell out of Dodge.’

‘Efficient,’ Jacinta said. ‘He wipes off his debt to Thompson and believes he’s settling a score with you, all with one blow.’

Sian’s lips turned down , giving her an expression of distaste.

‘Definitely more than one blow judging by the photographs I’ve seen of the deceased.

’ She used her pen to underline something on her notebook.

‘You never locked the car, so stealing the jack is easy to explain, but how did he get your shirt?’

‘I was staying at Hope Creek Farm cottage. Nothing’s ever locked whether anyone is home or not.’

‘Hm.’ Sian closed the notebook. ‘I’ll go straight away to see Detective Fahey. It might be too late but I’ll see if I can organise the cottage to be dusted for fingerprints—you never know what we might turn up there.’

‘You’ll tell the detective we’re looking for Marcus Covington and his girlfriend, Fiona Harris,’ Jacinta confirmed.

‘Correct.’

Jack was heartened by the new leads. ‘Sian, please remember that you can’t tie any of this information to Callie.’

‘Jack—’

‘Understood.’ Sian cut off his sister’s protest. ‘Are you staying?’

Jacinta didn’t hesitate. ‘Yes.’

Sian gave Jack a brief nod and turned towards the door. ‘I’ll be in touch again soon, Jack.’

Jacinta stood facing him and, for a few moments, apart from Sian’s heels clicking against the floor as she strode down the corridor outside the room, there was silence.

‘We’ll get you out of this, Jack,’ his sister promised. ‘I’ll make sure of it.’

He swallowed down on the thick emotion that coated his throat. ‘I’m glad you’re here.’

She crossed the small space and pulled him into a hug, her arms tight around him. It was the kind of embrace only a sibling could give—one that, based on a lifetime of knowledge, said everything that needed to be said, without any words needing to be uttered.

‘Are you heading back to Sydney tonight?’ Jack asked.

‘No way. I’m staying with Sian. I’ve arranged special leave and I’m here for as long as you need me.’

Jack was deeply touched. He’d never had to rely on his sister before, but he appreciated her protective presence. ‘I don’t expect that, Jacinta. I know you’ve got a family and work commitments.’

‘I told you, everything else is good. You’re my priority right now.

’ Her expression softened and he saw a stab of regret in her eyes as her hands firmed on his shoulders.

‘With Dad and Mum sending us to different boarding schools, we missed out on lots of time together, but I always appreciated knowing you were there—especially when Dad died. Nobody else could understand what it was like growing up in that environment and that created a special bond between us.’

‘It did. Do you hear from Mum at all?’

She let out a short, mirthless laugh. ‘I decided last Christmas would be the last time I contacted her.’ Her lips twisted. ‘She’s moved on with her life and especially doesn’t want any reminders that she’s a grandmother.’

It was unbelievable that their mother had never felt any interest in—any connection to—the children she’d borne.

Mitch’s words came back to him that his history didn’t need to determine his future.

He’d grown up vowing not to have children because he hadn’t wanted to put his kids through what he’d grown up with, but there was no way his son or daughter would ever feel unloved. And, he only had to look at how much Jacinta doted on Eden to know that she was the exact opposite to their mother.

‘How are James and Eden?’

‘They’re good. I’ll video call them tonight around bedtime and read Eden a story before she settles.’

‘Those photos you sent me a couple a week or so ago were cute. She’s growing up quickly.’

Jacinta rolled her eyes. ‘Jack, those photos were sent before Christmas. Honestly! It’s time you came to Sydney to visit us so she can remember who Uncle Jack is.’

‘Point taken.’ Guilt pierced his chest. When he saw how close the Richardson family was he realised the potential was there for him to have a closer relationship with Jacinta, James and Eden. He vowed he’d make more time to strengthen the bond with them.

‘Now,’ his sister said in a no-nonsense tone as she pulled away from him. ‘Tell me about Callie.’

Jack smiled. His smile came as much from his happiness at the mere thought of Callie as it did from amusement at his sister’s take-no-prisoners tone. ‘Where do I start?’

‘At the beginning,’ came the dry rejoinder.

Jack forgot the seriousness of his situation for a moment and laughed at Jacinta’s expression.

As he started at the beginning—at their chance meeting over three months ago—it struck him how much he’d got to know Callie in such a short time.

They’d connected deeply and it was a connection that ran deeper than Callie’s pregnancy.

He gave Jacinta details of how he and Callie had met, of her work and her connection to Mitch, as well as speaking of her relationship to Stella and the Richardson family. ‘You’ll love Callie,’ he concluded.

‘We’ll see,’ Jacinta said as she ran her all-seeing gaze over him. ‘The question is, do you?’

Jack didn’t hesitate. ‘I do.’

‘Whoa, big brother! That sounded like a vow!’

‘I think it will be, if she’ll have me,’ he admitted softly.

Jacinta let out a low whistle. ‘She must be extraordinary. I didn’t believe you’d ever consider marriage.’

‘I didn’t think I would either, but I didn’t count on meeting Callie.’

‘Does she love you?’

‘Neither of us has said the words, but I feel her love.’ And he knew she’d faced the demons of hell from her past to try to clear his name.

‘If I was a fatalist, I’d say it was meant to be. It’s extraordinary that you met her at a nightclub then met her again through Mitch.’ She sighed before conceding, ‘That she’s standing by you through all of this endears her to me, but I’m concerned at what you’re keeping from me.’

‘You have to trust me on this one.’

‘You’re not leaving me with any choice.’

‘There’s something else I can tell you,’ Jack admitted. ‘But I don’t want you to think this is the reason I’m with Callie or the reason I want to marry her.’

‘Oh, my stars! She’s pregnant. You’re going to be a father!’

Jack knew that despite everything, he was beaming.

‘I should be feeling sick about becoming a father right now, with me being here in jail and standing accused of murder. I know I always said I didn’t want to have kids, yet when I saw the ultrasound and when I think of that little life growing securely inside Callie, I just …

Well, everything has changed. I’ve changed. ’

Jacinta’s wonder was in her eyes. ‘You certainly have.’

The unfamiliar saltiness of tears stung him. ‘I’ve got to get out of here, Jacinta.’

‘Of course you do. There are lots of reasons you have to be released, but the most important one, and the one you have to cling to, is that you’re innocent.’

Yes. He was.

Now he had to hold on to the hope that the police and/or the investigator he’d hired would be committed to finding Marcus Covington and uncovering the truth about Andrew Thompson’s killer.