Margaret Way - Secrets Of The Outback

“Sounds like you’re a bit in awe of him, Blair,” Jewel slipped in gently. Blair Skinner rarely spoke so highly of anyone.

“I consider it an honor to call Keefe my friend,” Skinner admitted with a modest smile. “I like to think my maturity and experience has left its mark. I hope so. By the same token I often partner Travis at golf. He’s an excellent player. So’s Amelia. She could give most of the men a run for their money. Do you play yourself?”

“Nope.” Jewel smiled. “Never had the time. Nor the money for expensive clubs. Tennis is my game.”

“Don’t be ashamed of tennis. If you’re good enough, I’ll give you a game. I can see you now!”

“Another Anna Kournikova?” Jewel asked blithely.

“Women’s tennis was in the doldrums before her,” Skinner said in a brisk voice. “I’m with Cash and McEnroe. The best woman player can’t match a man. Couldn’t come close. Now, you’ve got your legal pad, haven’t you?”

“Open, ready and waiting,” Jewel said and held up her pen. She didn’t bother to tell him about her cupboard full of tennis trophies. That could wait.

ALMOST TWO HOURS LATER, Jewel made it back to her office, so small that some days she thought she’d faint from claustrophobia. She was about to enter, when Anthea, one of the receptionists, all but bolted down the corridor to speak to her.

“Jewel!”

“Hi, Anthea, anything up?” Jewel turned.

“I wanted to catch you.” Anthea spoke a little breathlessly. “They don’t have an appointment or anything, but two teenage boys are out front asking for you.”

“Are they respectable?” Jewel grinned. “No shaved heads or outrageous tattoos?”

Anthea laughed. “No, they’re just kids. Nice-looking, actually. They say they know you.”

“Names please, Anthea,” Jewel said patiently, desperately wanting to get on with her workload.

“Harry and Josh Hungerford.”

“Good Lord,” Jewel said. “I have to keep reminding myself that kids grow up. Show them through, Anthea. I grew up in Hungerford country. I can spare them a few minutes, though we’ll all be knocking heads just trying to fit in my office.”

A few minutes later she was shaking hands with two young men she could easily identify, even if they’d both outgrown her by many inches. “This is a wonderful surprise.” She smiled at them warmly, as pleased to see them as they apparently were to see her. “Take a seat. Tell me what’s going on in your lives. How’s your mother? I hope you’ve got some good news.”

“Well, no, Jewel,” Harry, the older boy said, his deep voice cracking. “We couldn’t think of anyone else to come to. We know you’re a big-time lawyer now. We need help.”

“Is something wrong?” Jewel looked from one to the other. “I don’t know if I can do anything myself—” She indicated with her arm the stack of files: franchising, floats, syndicates, whatever. “But I can certainly point you in the right direction.”

“No,” said Josh, staring at her with his bright blue eyes. “We want you. You know about our life, Jewel. You know the people in it. You’re one of us. From our town. We trust you.”

“Well, that’s sweet of you, Josh.” Jewel was touched by his words. “Suppose you tell me what this is all about. I take it you’re here independent of your mother and stepfather?” George Everett, never an attractive man. Jewel had always felt uncomfortable with him.

Both nodded. “Mum has betrayed us, Jewel,” Harry said, turning his face away. “Ever since she married Everett, our lives have changed.”

Jewel acknowledged that with a sympathetic grimace. “He hasn’t been unkind to you, has he?” she demanded with sharp concern. “Abusive in any way?” It didn’t seem possible with Sheila, their mother, around. Sheila adored her boys.

“He’s never hit us or anything,” Harry said, thrusting a hand through his short chestnut-colored hair. “He wouldn’t dare. Not these days.” Both boys topped six feet and had strapping country physiques.

“It’s still abuse, the way he talks,” Josh insisted. “He’s still the same smart-mouthed, oily character, and he’s getting colder and colder.” He paused uncertainly. “It’s financial, the reason we’re here.”

“Tell me,” Jewel invited, instinctively pulling a legal pad forward. “I know your maternal grandfather Fletcher left you both a great deal of land just outside town. River frontage. I know it was held in trust by your mother. I know it was very valuable land then, which means it’s far more valuable now. I know that after your mother remarried, she and your stepfather bought several thousand hectares of adjoining land.”

“Nowhere near as valuable.” Harry’s voice was so tight it was distorted. “Ours has the river frontage.”

Josh picked up the story. “Some time after you left town to come down to Brisbane, Mum gave herself and Everett a lease on our land.”

“And listen to this—” Harry burst out loudly. “It was for fifty years. A dollar a year. Everett began working it, then they started borrowing big money using our property as security.”

“Finally they mortgaged our property when they got into debt,” Josh said.

“I don’t believe it!” Jewel had seen a lot of fraud and deceit in her business, but she was shocked. “Your mother would never allow such a thing.”

Harry shrugged, his expression unhappy. “Mum’s not the same person you knew, Jewel. She’s changed.”

“She’s like a puppet.” Josh closed his eyes tight, then opened them. “Everett pulls the strings.”

“So, where are you two living?” Jewel asked, beginning to feel protective. She had known the Hungerford boys since they were toddlers.

“Not in the house. We’ve left. We’ve fixed up the workers’ cottage. We live there now.”

“And you came all this way to see me?”

Josh folded his arms, suggesting he wasn’t leaving until she helped them. “Yeah.”

“But there are good solicitors in Cairns and Townsville.” Jewel named two of the major cities in the far north of the state.

“Sorry, we trust you, Jewel,” Harry said. “Not them. We talked it over. We rang your mum. You’d never betray us. Everett knows all the legal guys up north. He can get around anyone, he’s so smarmy, the asshole. He got the bank to lend him nearly a million dollars, remember? The thing is, Jewel, we don’t have a future anymore,” Harry said, his eyes holding hers. “Grandpa left us that land to work. The Hungerfords have always been on the land. It’s our life. His legacy was our future.”

“That’s always the way I saw it,” Jewel said. “You realize your mother has committed a breach of trust? She held that land in trust for you, her two sons. She had no legal right to mortgage the property. In doing so, she and your stepfather could be said to have squandered your inheritance, which must be worth several million. You’re in a position to start legal proceedings. When do you gain direct control, or is that some way off?” She addressed Harry, but Josh spoke.

“Just over a year. When I turn eighteen and Harry turns twenty. Our birthdays are only a month apart.” Josh sounded as if they could barely survive until then.

“For that matter, the bank has acted improperly. They knew perfectly well the land was held in trust for you boys. We all knew. The whole district. Your grandfather was a highly respected and influential man.”

“One of Copeland Connellan’s top mining engineers in the north,” Josh said proudly, his eyes wandering to Jewel’s wall of plaques, tributes, degrees. “I saw on the board outside that this firm handles Copeland Connellan’s legal affairs.”

“That’s right, Josh.” Jewel nodded.

Josh leaned toward her. “Mum always said you were really going to make something of yourself. You’re a corporate lawyer, right?”

Jewel nodded again. “Corporate and commercial. I had to work hard to earn it. What about you? I take it you finished your schooling Josh?” Both boys were very bright.

“End of last year,” Josh confirmed.

“And you, Harry? What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Harry said glumly.

“But surely your mother wants you to go on to university or agricultural college?”

Both boys sat silent for a moment, looking exceedingly upset. “We’re not talking to Mum,” Josh said eventually. “We can’t talk to Mum. It’s impossible to see her without Everett. He doesn’t let her out of his sight. That’s his tactic.”

“That’s hard!” Jewel frowned. “You were all so close. How are you supporting yourselves? Where’s the money coming from?” she asked.

“Grandpa left us some money, as well,” Harry said. “I got mine when I turned eighteen. I’m taking care of Josh. We’re in this together.”

“It sounds like you’ve been worrying yourselves sick.” Both boys looked as if they’d been carrying a weight of grief on their shoulders.

“It’s terrible to know we’ve lost Mum.” Harry swallowed. “It’s…it’s like she’s joined some sect. And it’s terrible to know what she’s done to us. Are you going to help us, Jewel?”

Jewel settled back in her chair, pondering the fact that she was already loaded down with work. “I should speak to your mother,” she said.

“You’ll never get to her.” Josh punched one hand into the other. “It’s always the two of them. Everett’s always alongside. I suppose a legal battle would cost a lot of money?”

“I’m afraid so, Josh. And from what you tell me, it would be very bitter. Are you absolutely certain you’d want to work the land if you won the case? Your stepfather and mother own and work the adjoining land.”

“It’s not as though we could even sell.” Harry let loose with his anger and frustration. “It’s not ours. We’re in limbo. Going nowhere. Everett thinks he has it all over us. A couple of hick kids. You have to help us, Jewel. We can’t deal with all these problems. You don’t know how it feels.”

“Oh, I think I do, Harry, and my heart aches for you. Let me talk to my boss about it.” Jewel started to drum her fingers on the desk.

“What does that mean?” Josh clenched his jaw, obviously anticipating obstacles.

“I’m free to take on cases, Josh, but my boss is the senior partner in the firm. I’d have to discuss it with him.”

“But you can help us?”

“You can be helped. Understand that. I’d like to be the one. Where are you staying?”

“With a friend,” Josh replied. “You wouldn’t know him. We boarded with him at school. He’s a good bloke. His parents are graziers on the Darling Downs. They have an apartment for when they come to town. Dex lives there—it’s close to the university. Dex is a real bright guy. He’s studying medicine.”

“Listen, why don’t I take you both out tonight?” Jewel suggested. “I’ll have spoken to my boss by then. We can really catch up. You like Italian? Thai? Indian? Chinese? Don’t for the love of God say McDonald’s.”

“Italian is great.” Harry grinned, looking as though he wanted to embrace her. “That’s very nice of you, Jewel.”

“Hey, aren’t you guys forgetting how nice your mother always was to me?” Jewel answered quickly, shaking her head as she considered what the boys had told her.

“You wouldn’t know her now, Jewel,” Josh said again, bitterness in his tanned face. “Everett has taken her over. She’s his now, the stinkin’ fraud.”

AFTER THE BOYS HAD GONE, Jewel got feverishly down to work, refreshing her memory of the Omega deal by speed-reading through the file. At the end, she still came to the conclusion, as had Skinner, that the deal was airtight. Omega ex-executives would be ill-advised to go to litigation, but it seemed that was their intent. Bad advice from their lawyers, who would nevertheless line their pockets. It wasn’t until after lunch that she had the opportunity to speak to Skinner about the Hungerford boys’ situation. She expected—and received—an irritated-sounding response.