Conrad turned, winning this part of his little game. ‘So now you’re interested?’ He waved the folder again. ‘The man is under investigation and this information I happen to have proves it. And it’s your way out of the whole mess.’
‘All right, what do I have to do?’
Conrad came back inside, a smirk on his face. ‘I knew you’d see sense.’
28
Maya pulled the helicopter out onto the helipad and didn’t miss Noah watching her surreptitiously from inside the hangar.
Something else was going on with him now because all of a sudden, he was pushing her away rather than confiding in her. She’d tried to talk to him earlier and he’d barely been able to look her in the eye; he left the room when she went in, he kept conversation to a bare minimum, only talked about work.
They had a job soon after the start of shift, and it was one of the worst. Three motorcyclists racing on a strip of country road and one of them lost control, taking the others out with him. Two of them were dead on scene and the third died in the helicopter on the way to the trauma centre.
Bess was in the locker room when Maya went in. ‘That was one hell of a morning.’
‘Sometimes this job is the worst. Nothing prepares you for days like the one we’ve just had.’
‘Those poor families.’ Bess pinched the skin at the top of her nose to stem her tears.
The two victims who died first were twin brothers and right now, Maya imagined the police telling the family, the devastation, the heartbreak that they’d never ever get over.
Every time they had a loss, it brought back the day her mother died. She hadn’t only lost her mum that day; she’d lost her dad too because things had never been the same with him again. And she hadn’t seen him since the day she’d attempted to ask for a bit of help at his house.
Maya got her things together and caught up with Noah in reception but he looked much like a frightened rabbit, freezing before he opened the door. They often walked out together but not today; today, he hung back as though he didn’t want to come near her.
‘Today was a bad day,’ she said to him in an attempt to get him talking.
‘Yeah, you don’t need to tell me.’
‘You heading out?’
‘In a moment,’ he mumbled. ‘I’ve left something in my locker.’
Avoiding time alone with her, more like. ‘Right, well, I’ll see you tomorrow then,’ she called to his retreating back.
‘I’ll watch out for him.’ Nadia was working behind the reception desk but missed nothing. ‘He’ll be okay, Maya.’
‘See you later.’ She didn’t understand why he’d changed his attitude towards her and, to be honest, she didn’t have the energy to try to figure him out.
Instead, she put thoughts of Noah out of her mind and smiled as she emerged into bright summer sunshine. She closed her eyes briefly to the warmth of it on her back but the feeling of letting go of the stress of the day was short-lived when she heard Conrad’s voice from the end of the parking bays. She was caught out more now he didn’t arrive by motorbike, which hadalways made it far easier to detect when he was around because she could hear it roaring down the street.
‘You look like you’ve had a bad day,’ was the first thing he said.
‘Code for Maya, you look like shit?’ She noticed a taxi hovering nearby.
‘Didn’t say that, did I?’
As much as this man was a pain in her arse, she hated being rude. ‘Sorry, it’s been a tough shift. Three fatalities. Look, I need to go, wash off the day.’
‘Stop by, have a glass of wine, relax.’ He held up his hands. ‘No funny business, I promise. I want to cook for you, thank you for everything you did for me. My arm’s still in a cast but I can do enough.’
‘Conrad, I?—’
‘If not tonight then Friday night. We need to talk about Isaac, sort out what’s happening at Christmas.’
‘I thought you’d already decided.’ And so had Isaac, which left a dark cloud hovering over her as to what to do.
‘There’s always room for negotiation, you know that, Maya.’
