Read Online Flight to Coorah Creek by Janet Gover - Free Book Online Page A

she put them to bed. She hadn’t heard a peep from either of them since. Then what had woken her? A glance at the window told her the sun was only starting to peek above the horizon. She’d been just as exhausted as the kids last night and had fallen into a deep sleep not long after they had. Something must have pulled her from that blissful rest.
    A cry. From a nearby room.
    Ellen listened intently. There was silence for a few seconds then she heard it again. A low cry. A woman’s voice. She slipped out of bed and even though it was dark and she was alone, she pulled down the sleeve of her nightshirt to cover the bruises. Then she padded softly to open the door just a crack. The hallway outside was deserted.
    As far as Ellen knew, there was only one other guest in the pub. Jess.
    Last night, Trish had insisted both women and the kids eat their dinner at the big kitchen table. She claimed she wanted someone to talk to, but it had seemed to Ellen that Trish actually didn’t need any other person. She seemed quite capable of doing all the talking herself. Still, Trish was a kind woman, and Ellen was more grateful for that kindness than anyone would ever know.
    Muffled sounds from the bedroom across the hall suggested Jess had woken. Ellen ducked back into her room. In their short time together, she had formed the impression that Jess was a very private person, who wouldn’t be at all pleased to know that someone had heard her crying in the night.
    Jess was out of bed very early. She always was when the nightmares came. She probably wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, and if she did the bad dreams would be waiting. It was easier just to get out of bed. She dressed and headed downstairs into the silent pub. There was no sign yet of the publican or his wife, so Jess unlocked the side door. She hesitated for a few moments before pushing the door open, enjoying the knowledge that she could just walk through it. Without being accosted. Without facing a barrage of questions. For such a long time, even that simple act had been denied her. And not just her …
    â€˜Get off my lawn. Do you hear me.’ Her mother’s voice was shaking with anger. ‘And just leave my daughter alone. She was the one who turned them in. She was the one who stopped them.’
    The front door slammed and her mother slumped against the wall, tears coursing down her face. Outside, the media scrum remained on the lawn, trampling her mother’s flowerbeds and tossing cigarette butts onto her father’s carefully tended lawn. Jess stood in the living room and cursed herself for bringing this into her parents’ lives. Cursed Brian for using her.
    And wondered … was there something she should have seen? Some hint of what Brian was doing? Could she have stopped him earlier?
    Stepping through the doorway, Jess took a long deep breath. The air had a crisp freshness that only comes at dawn. It helped clear her head, if not her heart. The sun was just beginning to peer over the horizon, bathing the town in a gentle golden glow. It was still chilly, but that wouldn’t last much longer. The streets were empty of movement, apart from a black and white cat sitting on a nearby fencepost, carefully washing his paws. He stopped for a few seconds, one paw still raised as he watched Jess walk past in the direction of the town’s main street. In the far distance, a kookaburra laughed. A crow cried as if in answer. This early in the day, the sounds of nature far outweighed the sounds of the town, and she liked that. It felt safe.
    Coorah Creek wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis. Apart from the pub, there were no more than a handful of shops. Diagonally opposite the pub was a grocery store. It was quite large, and Jess guessed it was the only one in town. The clothing shop next to it was also probably the only one of its kind too. Underneath the wide awning that was a feature of all the shops in the