They walked back inside and the smells of dinner permeated the room.
“Can I have a shower?” Faith asked.
Lara glanced at the oven. “Yep. I’ll show you to the bathroom.”
Faith squeezed Darcy’s hand. “That would be great.”
Lara didn’t need to know Faith had stayed the night Friday.
“You and Faith, huh?” Matt said.
“Yeah.” He smiled as he sat and took a swig of his beer. It was early days still. He’d have time to convince her to stay.
“She’s nice.”
Lara returned to the kitchen. “Do you want me to suss out the camp guests, Dad?”
Darcy blinked. “What?”
“One of them must have lit the fire. I could go around, ask them if they want to meet Maggie or Starlight, see if they’re bad people. People never suspect kids.”
He shook his head, smothering his smile. “No, pumpkin. It might have been someone driving on to the property.”
“Bennet would have barked, or Mum would have seen them when she left.”
Good point. He’d call Sofia after Lara went to bed. “Promise me you’ll leave the investigation to Dot. She knows what she’s doing.” He didn’t want Lara to be on Stonefish’s radar.
She pouted. “All right.”
They sat chatting until Faith returned and dinner was ready.
Afterwards, Darcy tucked Lara into bed, but only got halfway through a chapter before Lara was asleep. He smiled, brushing a kiss on her forehead and pulling the covers over her. Then he returned to the kitchen where the others waited.
“Have you sent the letter to Stonefish?” Brandon asked Faith.
She nodded. “Yesterday. I doubt I’ll hear anything from them, so I’ve prepared a letter for the ACCC.”
Darcy wrapped his hands around his coffee cup. These guys were in the big leagues and the Ridge was an annoying fly that wouldn’t go away. Perhaps it was time to pretend to be dead. “We should do a deal.”
All heads turned towards him and Brandon spoke. “You want to give in to them? Are you crazy?”
“Hear me out,” Darcy said. “For the past six months, they’ve been trying to buy the property. We don’t know why, but it’s got to be something significant for them to stick around and not move on to the next property.”
“Has anyone asked your neighbours if they’ve had offers?” Faith asked.
She had a point. It wasn’t too late, so he phoned Danielle.
“Darcy, what do you need?”
He smiled at the easy offer. He should invite her family over for dinner one day soon. “Danielle, have you had anyone approach you to buy the station?”
“No. Have you?”
“Yeah, some mob from Singapore.”
“They want to pay you decent money for it?” She sounded interested.
“Seems decent.”
