As if!
‘It’ll be for work,’ she snapped out.Not that Finn had mentioned anything.
‘Boring.’Tilly rolled her eyes, hands folded over the top of her tall cane like a queen holding court from her throne.‘Can’t work your whole life.Unless you love the job, then it isn’t a job anymore.’
‘Like you did on the station.’
‘I did.Until my husband died.’
‘Why let it go like that?And why do you call your son the overseer?Wouldn’t he be called the boss, the man in charge?’
‘Slow down, Montrose.Tilly can only answer one question at a time.’
‘No, keep ‘em comin’, girlie.Ask away, just give me a chance to answer.’Tilly chuckled as she sat higher in her chair.‘But…’ she added with a knowing smile.‘You’re right.An overseer is usually second-in-command, and that’s all Sawyer was ever gonna be.Yet that numbskull thought, with his father gone, that he’d take over the station.But I wasn’t lettin’ him have none of that.’She shook her head, with her grip tightening on her cane.
‘Why?’
‘Sawyer made some bad deals.Overextended his credit.Took a gamble on expansions we didn’t need.Poor management, it was.Only thinkin’ of himself first and not the station’s future.’Tilly’s scowl deepened.
‘And then, when his foolish schemes caught up with him, his debt got out of control.Especially after we cut him off, once he got into the drugs.My son scrambled for cash, then.Borrowed from the wrong people, thinking he could recover.But instead, he just dug his pity pit deeper.Silly Sawyer figured that once he got the deed to the land, he’d sell off pockets to pay back his debts and keep up that rich-loser’s lifestyle.’She then stared through the darkened windows as if whispering to her son himself.‘I see you, Sawyer.I saw what you were cooking.’
‘Where is the deed now?’Amara asked.‘And what would it matter?A deed’s not even useful these days.Everything is registered online with Lands and Titles.’
‘Not if the land was signed over before the Northern Territory split from South Australia,’ muttered Tilly.‘Porter, you explain it.’
Porter shuffled in his seat.‘Back then, paperwork was everything.’
‘No computers,’ butted in Tilly with a nod.
‘And since the Dixbys owned the station outright,’ continued Porter, ‘that original deed is considered gold—especially if the transfer was never officially lodged.’
‘So if Seery finds it?’
‘He could contest ownership.And with Tilly living here…’ He glanced around the place full of elderly residents.‘With the station shut down, it’d put Seery in a strong position to argue that it’s his.’
Tilly scowled as she gripped the head of her cane with two hands.‘My husband buried it somewhere safe, long before our son was ever born.Somewhere Sawyer will never get his grubby mitts on it.The bludger’s probably still out there diggin’ for it.’
She tapped the corner of her eye.‘I see you, Sawyer,’ she said again, like a warning from the past.‘Cunning little mongrel, he was.Always cooking up some crooked scheme or three.Selling off livestock behind our backs.Offloading bikes and farm gear for quick cash—then blowing it in the city on fancy clobber and hotel parties that only racked up more debt from the damage.Pinched cheques from my chequebook, he did—when he wasn’t swiping my grocery money, that we had to lock it away.His father and I both knew he’d ruin the place we bled for, when Dixby Downs was meant to be our legacy—not his downfall.’
‘When did Sawyer disappear?’Amara asked.
‘Six months after his father died.’She turned to Porter.‘I know it in the pit of my stomach, it’s connected.’
‘I believe you, Tilly.’Again, Porter patted Tilly’s frail hand as if to console her.‘Just tell the constable why you think so.’
Oh, Amara had stacks of questions, but she didn’t want to push the elderly woman any further, especially dragging up the past like this.Hopefully, Porter had done the groundwork with plenty of notes in his file back at the station.
But she did remember Porter telling her that the overseer’s ute was found empty, with blood spilled.And the other question—if Sawyer was so money hungry, why were his bank accounts left untouched?It had all the signs of foul play.
Was Tilly in denial of her son’s possible passing?
Or was this cold case about a murderer on the run?
‘What do you want to do with the land, Tilly?It’s prime cattle country with a lot of good infrastructure.’It was worth a lot, even if it had no livestock on it, and Amara knew that about stations, whether it be sheep or cattle.
Tilly gripped that tall cane of hers, making her knuckles whiten.‘I can’t do anything, not while the overseer is still out there.’
‘What do you mean?’Oh, Amara was gonna grill Porter something fierce about this cold case, right after this conversation.
