The kettle clicking off startled her but at least it distracted her from her troubling thoughts. Now, where were the cups? This place was different: more country, more cosy. The wire fence and wire gate gave it a heritage feel. There were police inside and outside, and more of them. She smiled at them but didn’t engage in conversation—she didn’t want to connect with her protectors after what happened to T1 and T2.
She found a cup. It was white with the words All You Need Is Love in large black lettering around the cup. Love. Yes, love. That’s all we need. She put the cup next to the kettle and then went looking for the tea bags.
Her phone lay on the kitchen bench. It lit up again but didn’t ring. She ought to get someone to check it. Anyway, it wasn’t as though she could use the phone—Jack didn’t want her or Zoe contacting anyone, not even Shoana. Ruby opened the location app—Shoana was up the coast. A date? Nice for her. She put the phone down on the bench and went back to make her tea.
She found the tea bags in a vintage tin, orange with some kind of bird on the front. It had an Asian look about it, the last place she’d expect to find tea bags. But she needed to expect the unexpected, and recent events had confirmed the saying. Zoe shuffled in as she poured hot water over her tea bag.
Ruby gave her a smile. “You okay?”
Zoe yawned. “Strong tablets you gave me.” She closed her eyes.
Ruby knew she was fighting off the tears.
“I just can’t get the sight of T2 collapsing out of my head . . . and how she still tried to reach for her gun.”
The tears came. Ruby pushed a box of tissues towards her and gave her a hug.
“I don’t think the thoughts will ever go away, Zoe. But they will get less over time.”
A red-eyed Zoe looked at Ruby and sniffed. “How do you cope? I mean, with what happened now and that other stuff. I just don’t know . . . how do you cope?”
“You don’t see what’s going on inside me, Zoe. I could’ve done without what happened to T1 and T2,” She swallowed and felt her chest tightening. “But I know it will be easier as time moves on. It’s a moment by moment thing.” Ruby took a deep breath. “Did you want a cuppa?”
Zoe nodded. “Yes, that would be nice.” She sat on a stool. “A moment by moment thing . . . yep, you’re right, moment by moment.” Zoe closed her eyes as to let her newfound strategy sink in.
Ruby found a cup. This one had a Queensland Police insignia on it with the motto With Honour We Serve.
“We really do need to appreciate our police force, don’t we? What it says on this cup says it all.” Ruby tapped the cup.
Zoe gave a soft smile.
“And mine.” Ruby lifted her cup. “All you need is love.”
“Love . . . you know I’ve heard people say God is love,” Zoe said.
Zoe’s comment surprised Ruby. Since being dug out of the ground she’d felt different. Yes, she’d been traumatised by that event and by the recent deaths of T1 and T2, but there was something going on inside her. There was some kind of peace moving in her. A spiritual thing, but she wasn’t sure what to do with it.
And the voice that warned her—she believed that was a spiritual thing too, an angel. But her search for spiritual things had put her in the ground in the first place. She was surprised by her thoughts because she expected all this adversity would’ve turned her away from thinking on spiritual things, searching for spiritual things.
Zoe was scrolling through her phone. “Yes, here it is: Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” She looked up at Ruby with her eyebrows raised and soft smile. “My parents made me put a Bible app on my phone.”
Ruby gave Zoe her tea. “That’s right, your parents are Christians,” Ruby said. “So that’s saying we know God then because we ‘love’?”
“I’m not sure about that, Ruby. I love but I wouldn’t say I know who God is, and I grew up in a Christian home.”
Ruby thoughtfully took some sips of her tea. “You know, I think that’s what I’m searching for, why I got involved in the Wicca stuff. Trying to get reconnected to Mother Nature, who might be God.”
Zoe turned to look out the front window. Ruby could see tear streaks on her face.
“Maybe we should be seeking Father God, not Mother Nature,” Zoe said.
Ruby walked over to Zoe and gave her a hug. “But this week, I think you and I have seen what love is not. Evil is out there. It’s the opposite to love. It makes me shudder thinking what must be controlling the evil.”
Zoe looked up at Ruby. “Yes, Ruby, I think I’m going to seek out Father God.”
Ruby thought of the last week. Buried alive, attacked by a drug-crazed madman, and attacked by what else, she wasn’t sure. Maybe a wizard.
She also thought of the man who saved her life. She remembered him saying he hoped in time she would change her mind about visiting the island again.
“Me too.” Ruby felt a surge inside, small, but confirming. “Time to seek out Father God.” She would return to the island soon and tackle her demons.
<°)))><
Toby Watts sat on a bench at the Nambour railway station. A tourist poster informed him the town was named after a red-flowering bottle brush. He was thankful there was a picture of a bush, otherwise he would’ve been confused why a town was named after a brush. The town was situated a good hour’s drive from the city of Brisbane. He might come back here when his deeds were done, as the place had a nice feel about it.
As he sat in silence waiting for the train, he sensed something strange. A vision of demons came into his mind as if he was near some kind of activity centre—a kind of portal. Some kind of disturbance here had affected the atmospheric vibrations providing a gateway for demons to enter the earthly plane. Or maybe he was way out of line. Maybe he was losing his mind.
He had parked his car a few blocks from the station, in a quiet and secluded street. The car would be found eventually.
The train trip took two hours. Quicker by car, but the car was no longer an option. Departure time was scheduled for 2.43 p.m. and arriving in Brisbane city 4.35 p.m. Plenty of time for rest and planning. He was on a quest. He thought of Ruby. He thought of his high priestess. He thought of his mother. He hated them all. Why? He wasn’t sure.
But he was a hunter and a-hunting he would go. Cartoons. He laughed. They must have brainwashed him. What was that guy’s name? Elmer Fudd. Such a funny name, how could he forget?
A-hunting he could go, but he wouldn’t be letting anyone go. Not this time. And he was going to ‘be berry quiet’.
52 – Home but not for long
IT WAS LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON when Jack finally got home. He sat in his car in the driveway, staring up at his house. He’d been awake since midnight and was exhausted. He needed sleep.
