‘And we got footage!’ Charlee exulted. She pulled out her phone and slid a finger across the screen. The jerky, shadowy video showed two people dressed in black, their faces covered with balaclavas. Almost impossible to distinguish in the gloomy background were sties. More obvious were the angsty squeals of hundreds of pigs.
Hamish screwed up his face. The reality of farming was never pleasant, but while Charlee and Ethan were from the city, Tara should have known the truth of raising animals for food. ‘So you’re all turning into, what, ecowarriors?’ he asked.
Tara lay her hand on his arm. ‘Animal rights activists,’ she corrected.
Yeah, whatever. Plenty of girls felt the need to dabble in animal advocacy. ‘Hang on, that reminds me—ducklings. Tara?’
Tara’s forehead creased. ‘Ducklings?’
‘Jemma mentioned last night—or this morning—that Evie Schenscher has a brood you rescued.’ He kind of hated himself for throwing Jemma into the conversation, but it might help make Tara cool it a bit. Plus maybe he wanted to brag a little—particularly if his night with Jemma was destined to be a one-off. Besides, this way he could test the waters, see if anyone else immediately jumped in about the lawyer being as unsuitable a match as he knew her to be.
Thing was, if anyone tried to tell him that, chances were he was going to argue.
Although she scowled—presumably at the mention of Jemma—Tara seemed perplexed. ‘That kind of rings a bell, but …’
‘It was that day you were crook,’ he offered. ‘You said something about ducklings …’ Rambled, more like it. But perhaps now Tara could fill in some of the blanks from that day.
‘When I slept here, you mean?’
He started to set the record straight, but realised there was no point; Ethan, and, by extension, probably Charlee, knew the truth.
Tara’s face tightened. ‘Anyway,’ she said, drawing the word out, ‘do you reckon our footage will go viral?’
‘Hell, I hope not,’ Ethan blurted.
‘How come you were involved, mate? Seems a bit of a—’ Hamish had been going to saygirl thing, but realised his error just in time. ‘A bit radical for a uni lecturer.’
Ethan snorted. ‘Activism of any kind would probably make me more acceptable with that crowd.’ He nodded toward Charlee and Tara, who were watching the video again. ‘I figured they should have some company.’
‘Good call. So what’s the drama?’
‘The piggery posted on their Facebook account that they were broken into.’
‘Ah.’
‘Yeah, but that’s good!’ Charlee exclaimed. ‘They wouldn’t have reacted if they didn’t have anything to hide. Now they’re running scared. And that’s before they even know we took videos of how they’re mistreating those animals.’
‘Problem is, we’re not the only ones with footage.’ Ethan lifted his eyes to meet Hamish’s. ‘Their post said they have security footage of the offenders.’
Hamish groaned. ‘Shit, man. Still …’ He took the phone from Charlee and replayed the video. ‘I can figure out that the ninjas are you and Tara. And I guess you’re doing the filming, Charlee? But no one else would be able to identify any of you under that get-up.’ He used his free hand to draw an imaginary balaclava over his own face.
Ethan raked his hands through the short dreadlocks. ‘I hope that’s the case. I can’t afford anything on my record.’ He meant he couldn’t afford to have anythingaddedto his record.
‘Providing none of you post this video, there’s a good chance the security footage won’t identify you. Besides, did you actually break any law?’
Charlee had both hands pressed to her mouth, as though she’d not considered the legal ramifications for her friend.
Ethan shrugged. ‘Place wasn’t even locked up, so we didn’t break in, if that’s what you mean. I don’t know … trespass, maybe?’
‘But we have to post the footage,’ Tara said. ‘That was the whole idea of going out there: to get evidence. Look at how these animals are treated. You’ve no idea how disgusting it was in there, Hamish. There were so many piglets crowded in the stalls that the sows had squashed their own babies.’
Actually, he had a fair idea. Not everyone ran their farms along any kind of ethical ideology. The importation of pork products had taken a lot of the money out of the piggery business, and a bad farmer might try to increase his profits by cutting his expenses. That led to neglect.
‘Then you need to work out a way to get footage legally, Tars. Something you can use, without getting Ethan—or you—in the shit.’
Charlee pushed her phone into her jacket pocket. ‘Hamish is right, Tara. We have to keep Ethan out of it.’
‘Hey,’ Hamish interjected, ‘Hamish actually said do the thing legally, not just “keep Ethan out of it”. You won’t win any fans by breaking laws.’
