Scared Yet? by Jaye Ford Read Free Book Online Page B

Newcastle’s jewel of a harbour was visible at the top end and the grand, old park for which the street was named was almost six kilometres away at the other. Not too many years ago, this stretch of it had been a dilapidated neighbourhood strip but when commercial rent in the city skyrocketed, a group of investors bought up the vacant and mostly vandalised premises and gave them up-market makeovers. Professionals and small businesses moved in, bringing with them an influx of office workers, which in turn brought back the shops and the residents. Now the area was a mix of suits and locals, cafes and milk bars, boutiques and your basic butcher and deli.
    This morning, there were a lot of people out and about. Workers and mums with prams and older shoppers and uni students. Liv watched for bruised faces and kept her taped hand close to her body.
    As she passed a drycleaners, the sight of herself in the window made her cringe. It’d taken years to polish off the rough edges of her childhood, now the bruises, the borrowed clothes and the blonde hair loose about her face made her look like the grown-up version of the tomboy she’d packed away years ago.
    Her sunglasses were too small to cover much more than the pirate eye patch; the rest of it was right out there for everyone to see. Some people took surreptitious glances, others stared openly. What were they thinking? Car accident? Domestic abuse, like Daniel Beck had assumed? Is that what Detective Quest thought? That she’d let herself get beaten up by her husband?
    Waiting at the pedestrian lights, she eyed the building opposite where she and Kelly rented space. It had been a large store and workshop in its first life and was now sectioned into eight small offices, still with the original two display windows on the street front and the Art Deco masonry on the apartment above. The renovators had rendered the brickwork and painted it pearly grey, setting it apart from Lenny’s Cafe and the row of shops to its right and making the narrow lane on its left look less shabby. Kelly was so excited when she found it that she’d called Liv from the footpath out the front.
    â€˜You’ve got to come see it today. It’s perfect. In our price range with two small rooms inside. They’re cubbyholes more than offices really, but we’ll have one each and there’s space for a receptionist. Oh, and get this. There’s parking at the back, that four-storey council car park is right at the back door.’
    Yeah, well, handy parking wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
    Liv pushed open the darkened glass of the front door, cast her eyes down the straight line of carpeted hallway. Four doors either side, identical offices, unrelated businesses. The security exit at the other end that she’d left through last night was closed.
    The second doorway on the right opened and a grey, coifed head popped out. ‘Oh, Livia, I was so worried about you.’ Mariella must have been listening for Liv’s arrival from inside the wigmaker’s. She came towards her with arms outstretched and Liv winced at the thought ofthe double-cheek, European-style kiss the older woman always planted on her.
    â€˜No, no, I no hurt you.’ Mariella cupped Liv’s ears and tipped her face down so the tiny woman could look up at her. She shook her head in horror. ‘Teagan tell me what happen. Our poor Livia.’
    â€˜I’m fine.’ Liv gently prised Mariella’s fingers from her face, not giving her a chance get any closer to the bruising.
    â€˜Ray say he saw you go in the ambulance. He talk to the police last night, show them where you work,’ Mariella told her. ‘He tell me this morning what happen. I couldn’t believe it. Not our Livia.’
    â€˜Really, I’m fine,’ Liv tried again. She remembered the group of people standing by the ramp as she was loaded into the ambulance. Maybe there’d been