Ethan chuckled. ‘Not sure that’s the kind of defence you want to be making, mate.’
‘Yeah, I don’t even want to know. But speaking of defences,’ Jemma put in smoothly, ‘Hamish was filling me in on your drama from the other night.’
‘Jem said she might be able to help you out if it goes south.’ The pride in Hamish’s voice was flattering.
‘Thanks, but if that happens, I won’t be contesting it,’ Ethan said. ‘Happy to pay for you to defend the girls, though.’
She frowned; his response wasn’t at all the bluster and denial she’d expected. ‘I’d be doing it pro bono,’ she said, making a snap decision. ‘And you’d be as entitled to a defence as anyone.’
Ethan gave a tight smile. ‘You don’t know me. But thanks for the offer.’
She was a little thrown by his attitude, but nodded acceptance. ‘Has there been any further statement from the piggery about the trespassing?’ She used the word quite deliberately. People needed to understand that they weren’t above the law.
‘Not yet—’ Ethan started, but Charlee interrupted, leaning across him with her phone outstretched.
‘Have a look at what we filmed.’
‘No—’ Jemma recoiled; her defence of their trespass would be more plausible if she didn’t view the evidence and there was more than one reason she’d refused to take on the animal rights case at GB&A. ‘I’ve seen enough vegan terrorism to know how it works.’
Charlee scoffed. ‘I’m not a vegan. Hell, I’m not even a vegetarian. But that doesn’t mean I can’t respect animals and care about the way they’re treated, does it? I mean, it’s legal to eat animals, but not to mistreat them, right?’
Jemma was surprised to realise that Charlee’s passion had substance. It was ironic that she was now agreeing to take on a case similar to the one she’d mocked back in the offices of GB&A, but this was important to Hamish—in more ways than he realised. He was too nice to save himself from Ethan’s influence, so it was up to her to trap the drug dealer. If that meant temporarily getting close to him, so be it.
As Charlee again offered the phone, Jemma waved it away irritably; she refused to work animal cruelty cases as it was generally too late to prevent any suffering, but, instead of ever admitting that, it fitted her persona better to pretend to be hard-arsed, uncaring. If she couldn’t fix it, she didn’t want to know about it. Suddenly she leaned forward. ‘Wait, what is that?’
The footage was of the outside of some kind of shed, lit only by moonlight, but what caught her eye was in the corner of the picture: a ute with a huge pair of bull’s horns fixed across the back window above the flat tray.
Or more specifically, a diminutive bundle of fur on that tray.
She took the phone and pinched her fingers on the screen, making the image larger, then scrolling back to the start of the video. As they all craned in to watch, she saw it more clearly: the fur was a puppy, no larger than the one Paul Schenscher had promised her. A chain glinted as it tried to claw its way up the rear of the cab, but the dog didn’t seem to be able to turn toward the intruders.
‘That chain looks like it’s only a few centimetres long! Did the dog have food or water on the back of the ute?’
Alongside her, she felt Charlee shrug. Jemma glanced up to catch Ethan watching the video with a furrowed brow.
He gave her an apologetic look. ‘Sorry, I was too busy shitting myself about being there to even notice that poor bugger.’
‘Either of you?’ Jemma turned to Charlee and Tara. ‘Whoa, are you okay?’
Tara had gone pale, her gaze fixed on the screen. The fact that she was potentially in a lot of trouble must have finally hit home.
‘That ute …’ Tara whispered. ‘It looks familiar.’
‘Well, not unusual out here, are they?’ Jemma said.
Tara shook her head, but crimped her lips together.
‘Tara. Anything to do with those ducklings?’ Hamish pressed.
‘I don’t know.’ It looked like she was about to start crying.
Jemma shot a quizzical look at Hamish and mouthed, ‘What?’
‘The night Tara was …’ Hamish broke off, seeming to search for a word.
‘Stoned,’ Ethan said flatly. ‘Call it what it is.’
‘Oh my God, I’ve told you all, I didn’t take anything,’ Tara blazed, dashing away the tear that escaped. ‘Though I probably bloody should because it’s not like there’s anything else going on in this town.’
