‘Can’t do tomorrow, but the day after is fine by me.’
‘Day after then, mid-morning suits us. She won’t be napping then and I won’t be at work.’
Paul took a couple more biscuits from the plate. ‘Didn’t have lunch today,’ he said, as if that excused the apparent greed.
If he was more pleasant, if the bond between father and daughter was obvious, Noah would’ve offered to make him a sandwich, or another coffee. But right now, he couldn’t wait to get this guy out of his house.
‘I’ll be back on Wednesday.’ Two days away.
Paul had the biscuits in one hand, his keys in the other. ‘And Noah, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but I’ll be going after custody of Eva.’
He left, out of the front door Noah held open for him without a single word and pushed closed with more of a bang than he’d intended.
He stood in the hallway, Eva in his arms, shellshocked. A week ago, he would’ve been thrilled to have a way out of being landed with a baby all of a sudden, elated he’d found Eva’s dad. But now, the thought of this man being the one to raise Eva filled him with dread.
What the hell had he done?
17
At the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance base, the entire crew mucked in with cleaning Hilda between jobs. Today was a full clean and Hilda needed it. Maya took charge of cleaning the helicopter’s exterior with the special shampoo and although she didn’t always admit it, she quite enjoyed the polishing stage that followed, when Hilda began to take on a high sheen and show herself off.
As a little girl, Maya had been interested in aviation but her fascination soon turned to helicopters after she saw one land so close, she could feel the wind from the blades on her face. There’d been an accident near her primary school that day and the field was cleared to allow an air ambulance to land. Maya could remember watching from the open classroom window when her attention should’ve been on her spellings. She’d been in awe of the shiny red helicopter against the rich green of the grass, the pilot standing guard with his aircraft. She’d leaned out of the window, and the pilot had waved. Maya would never forget that moment, and even when the teacher ushered her away and closed the window as the crew brought a patient to the helicopter on a stretcher, Maya still sneaked a look from herplace at her desk. She watched the aircraft take off, amazed that there wasn’t a runway and that it lifted into the air as if by magic.
Maya must have gone on and on about helicopters after that day because her birthday gift was a Meccano helicopter and the year after that, she got a model helicopter her dad helped her put together and paint in intricate detail. The year she turned ten, her dad had said that because she was in double figures, it meant a big birthday treat for her and that treat was a helicopter ride over the countryside that cemented her fascination and passion for aviation.
Sometimes she wondered how her dad had gone from embracing her hobby and her desire to fly to not wanting to hear anything about it.
Maya finished off buffing Hilda’s front windscreen and climbed down off the stepladder she’d had to use to reach the very top. She breathed in the fresh air outside, smiling at the beauty of the great outdoors. She loved the fact that it was still summer and when this shift came to an end and the other crew took over, there’d be hours of daylight still left before the sun even dared to drop in the sky.
Bess had headed inside after cleaning some of the interior and Noah was finishing up with the mopping of the helicopter’s floor using Stumpy, the name they’d given to the mop with the handle hacked off as it was too tall for the aircraft’s interior.
‘Hilda scrubs up pretty well,’ he beamed as he climbed out onto the tarmac and stood next to Maya.
‘She does. Great job all round.’
He might have smiled, but ever since the day of the hoax call, a light in his eyes had dulled, he didn’t have the same joviality or upbeat approach. Not that it had affected his work. They’d been out on four calls today, one of their busiest shifts in a while, with no fatalities which was always a win. But while Noah had been professional and focused during the job and joined in the chatteron the way back with her and Bess in the helicopter, Maya had noticed as he was cleaning that the chatter stopped, he went into his own head whenever he could, there was no joking about or teasing and laughing the way the crew usually did, which was probably why Bess had got her part finished and headed inside already.
Noah picked up the bucket of water, took it over to the grass area and tipped it out before coming back to retrieve the mop.
‘Is everything okay with you?’ Maya had picked up her cleaning gear and they were heading towards the hangar. She didn’t need to put Hilda away today; she’d stay on the helipad for the blue team who would finish their shift at around 2a.m. and put the helicopter to bed for the night.
‘All good,’ he assured her with another smile she sensed took some effort.
They put the cleaning equipment away and as Noah headed for the locker room, Maya washed out the rags and cloths. It was as she was hanging the last one up to dry that she picked up on a heated conversation coming from reception.
She went to find out what was going on and found Officer Ryan Tucker talking to Nadia, Noah on the periphery, asking questions. Ryan was a former colleague of Conrad’s before Conrad took a detective position and transferred to another station in the next town.
Maya acknowledged Ryan’s presence with a smile and a nod. He did the same in return but was soon back to business. He directed his address to Maya and Noah, although Maya sensed Noah had already heard the spiel.
‘As I’ve explained to Nadia, the likelihood of us finding the culprit for the prank call is very low. I appreciate how frustrating this is for you. It is for us too, but we don’t have anything to go on unfortunately.’
Noah wasn’t happy. ‘So they get away with it?’
‘Like I said, nothing more we can do at this stage.’ Officer Tucker was pragmatic in his approach. ‘If we find anything, we will let you know. Probably kids.’
Maya held the door open for him. ‘Thanks, Ryan.’
‘No worries. Good to see you, Maya, and please do send my regards to Conrad.’
