'Eric has never done a thing to hurt anyone. He has only ever helped people, including you. How dare you accuse him of any of this? If anyone is capable of these hateful things, I think that clearly it would more likely be you! Now if you don't mind, my sister and I have some things to attend to here. We would appreciate it very much if you would leave.' She was trying very hard to control herself. 'Furthermore, do not just walk into someone's home unless you're invited. Now get out, you creepy little man!' she spat.

Father Damien looked miffed and didn't move to leave straight away. He stood looking at each of them with his beady little eyes. Kathy stood her ground and glared back at him.

Then, without another word, he turned and left through the back door.

'Oh gosh, Kath, he's nuts, he really is. I felt like slugging him!' Tammi said furiously.

'So did I, Tam, believe me. What a nasty, s.h.i.tful little creep. I don't trust him one bit. I can't believe he's a priest at all. He gives me the jitters! Here, let me have a look at your arms again.' Tammi's arms were now very red and blistering.

'Run them under cold water quickly. I'll see if I can find some burn cream for you. You're a hero, Tam, you saved the washing!' She chuckled and hugged her sister.

Up behind the seminary, Jack and the other firemen had arrived at the scene of the fourth fire. The sound of iron sheets falling to the ground from the roof of Mr Hodges' huge fruit shed could be heard among explosions and loud cracks.

Again, the fire had a strong hold and nothing could be done to save it. Mr Hodges had also been in town when this fire started.

The exhausted men fought long and hard trying to bring it under control and, eventually, the fire succ.u.mbed to their efforts. All that remained were twisted pieces of iron among the rubble. A very familiar sight.

'Thank G.o.d for that!' Jack wiped a blackened hand across his perspiring face, leaving a streak of black from one side to the other.

'You can say that again, mate. Looks like the one over there's out as well,' a relieved fireman said.

A car speeding along the dirt track came into earshot. The Hodges had been coming home from town and had seen the smoke from Urana Road. They had no idea it was their property until now. As the blue EH Holden skidded to a stop, a white-faced Alan Hodges jumped out.

'b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l... It's all gone! Not a b.l.o.o.d.y thing left!' He walked across to the blackened mess and savagely kicked a charred piece of wood. 'The b.a.s.t.a.r.d... the rotten b.l.o.o.d.y b.a.s.t.a.r.d... If I could get my hands on him, I'd kill him!'

From behind her outraged husband, Daphne Hodges spoke quietly. 'Alan please... It's done.' Her voice broke. Alan turned and put his arm around her.

'Well, I suppose the only smart thing to do would be to not bother re-buildin' anythin' until this b.l.o.o.d.y lunatic is behind bars.'

Daphne sniffed and put her handkerchief to her nose.

The fire chief walked across to them. 'Tom Martin.' He introduced himself as he shook Alan's hand. 'I'm very sorry, mate. It was gone before we could get here. We've had two others just before this one. They went up one after the other, then another over the way there. b.l.o.o.d.y four in a matter of minutes!' Tom said, pointing toward Dawn's.

'Do you know how they started?'

'Well... it smells like diesel to me.' He sniffed. 'Yep, I'd say this one's definitely a diesel job.'

Across at Dawn's, the firemen were beginning the task of sifting through the charred rubble. 'Hey, look at this!' a young Fireman called out. He held up a blackened drum, a petrol drum! 'There's no delayed action start to this one. It's a petrol job for sure, ya can smell it too!'

Kathy and Tammi looked at each other and Kathy threw her arms around Tammi. They knew straight away what this information meant.

Hazel had tears in her eyes. She was standing beside Father Damien. Glancing sideways, she said, 'Well Father, I'd say quite a few people should be praying for forgiveness tonight for what they've put Eric through... don't you?' She left him standing alone looking vague and stupid.

Everyone had arrived at Dawn's now except Emmie, Win and Ellie, who had been dropped home by Karl and Digger. Emmie needed to rest and Win and Ellie wanted to keep an eye on her; she wasn't looking well at all.

'What the h.e.l.l!' Karl looked around him in disbelief.

'Well, mate, the real firebug has been having a wow of a time while you blokes have been in court!' a young Fireman said.

'Eric... Eric... This'll prove you didn't do it. They said petrol was used to start this one!' Kathy yelled excitedly.

Sam put his arms around Eric's shoulders, squeezing him hard and affectionately.

'Young Kath's right, mate: this's certainly one good thing that's come out of these fires. You can't be in two places at once.'

Eric looked up to see his mother standing nearby, tears streaming down her face.

'I'll be back in a tick.' Eric went to his mother. They paused for a second, looking at each other, then hugged each other tightly, tears streaking both their faces.

After the firemen left, Kathy and Tammi explained to them how everything had happened, also what a great help Jack Pearce had been.

'Everyone owes the old codger a ton of thanks by the sound of things,' Karl commented.

'That's for sure. You should have seen him. He was fantastic!' Kathy exclaimed. 'Even though he was only in his singlet.'

'What's that?' Digger asked, looking bemused.

The girls told the story of Jack in his singlet, which brought a laugh to everyone in earshot.

The family praised the girls for their wonderful effort and proclaimed Tammi a hero. She kept smiling, even though her arms were now in much pain.

'I have the best and bravest girls in the valley!' Digger looked proudly at his daughters.

'I think you should both go home and tell the rest of the family what's goin on up here.'

He tossed his keys to Kathy. 'Be careful and don't get caught, love.'

Kathy didn't have her license but she had been driving for years on the property. She winked at her father and Tammi followed her to the ute.

After they left, the men gathered around for a discussion and Hazel helped Dawn and Eileen to make some afternoon tea. 'You're a treasure, Hazel. I might have to steal you from Emmie one of these days,' Dawn said, smiling. She felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted from her shoulders.

The men were deep in discussion.

'This'll prove your innocence even more so, Eric. Only problem is, it also looks like the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's h.e.l.l bent on continuing with this b.l.o.o.d.y nightmare!' Sam declared.

Arthur and Robert arrived and the blokes re-told the whole story.

'By gingoes... Well, at least you're in the clear, Eric. Gotta say though, it looks like the crazy bloke's not givin' up!' Arthur sighed.

'Yeah... I wonder what he's gonna burn next. Nearly every shed around is gone...' Robert stated.

'Dunno, he'll find somethin' else to test us. We'll have to play the waitin' game,' Karl answered quietly.

Smoking their cigarettes in silence, the men wondered what in h.e.l.l they were in for next.

The next morning, the fires made the front page of the local paper as they had so many times before.

FOUR SUSPICIOUS FIRES IN HAMILTON VALLEY WITHIN MINUTES OF EACH OTHER!.

The report went on to describe the fires and how they'd been started. It told how Tammi and Kathy had risked serious injury and that Tammi had sustained burns to her arms.

It also stated that Eric, who was in court, could not be in two places at once unless he was a magician.

Win poured coffee for Emmie, pleased to note that she was looking much better today. She actually had a smile on her face which was good sign that the strain was easing from the old lady's mind.

'You look so much better today, Mum,' Win said, pa.s.sing her the coffee.

Ellie glanced up from reading the paper. 'She's right, Mum. You really look a lot brighter today.'

A serene smile spread across Emmie's face. 'Well, I can relax now knowing that Eric will be free. My prayers have been answered; I'm feeling sure of that.'

They both smiled with her. It was a relief to see their mother looking brighter. The past few days had been very worrying.

Up at Sam's, Connie placed one of her huge breakfasts in front of Eric. 'Eat up son. You've lost so much weight these last few weeks.'

'h.e.l.l, Aunty Con, you'll have me the size of a house!' Eric protested, laughing and tucking in heartily.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.

Sam and Des could smell Connie's cooking all the way down the back and soon joined Eric at the breakfast table.

'Breakfast smells great,' Sam said as he sat opposite Eric.

Des glanced at Eric. 'You must be feeling a heck of a lot better, mate.'

'Yeah, I am. I owe you a huge thanks, mate, but a lot of people suffered yesterday. I know what went on yesterday helped me, but we still have the problem of that mad b.a.s.t.a.r.d runnin' 'round out there!'

'You're right. The mongrel has outsmarted us again and yet he did us a b.l.o.o.d.y favour. I wonder who the h.e.l.l he is,' Sam said, just as puzzled as ever.

'You know, he really did a number on everyone yesterday and it's got me thinkin' that in a way, he was tryin' to help Eric,' Des added.

'Maybe he likes the publicity!' Eric said.

'The cops were full of questions yesterday and none of us were even home,' Des added. 'This'll make those city blokes look real b.l.o.o.d.y stupid! It'll give 'em somethin' to think about. They jumped the gun, arrestin' you, mate!'

'That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Riley even had the hide to suggest, as he put it, that one of us put someone up to the whole thing just to get Eric off the hook!' Sam retorted.

'He knows they had the wrong man, and I reckon he's known all along. They just had to come up with someone. He's tryin' to save face,' Des added.

'Well, the cops'll have to get their act together properly and catch this b.a.s.t.a.r.d before he starts on houses, 'cause there ain't much left to burn!' Eric added. In Eric's opinion, that was the firebug's next step.

'Eric, you're right. The locals've had enough. I reckon we should get a meetin' together in the hall. I'm goin' to suggest we double up on our patrols around the properties. Get more blokes involved. So far it's just been Nat 'an Rex helpin' us; the rest of 'em have relied on outside floodlights an' sleepin' with loaded shotguns at the ready. We need more action.' Sam looked at them seriously.

'Good idea, Sam!' Connie agreed, adding, 'I've been doing some thinking of my own. Why don't we have a celebration for Eric as well? After his hearing tomorrow, I'm sure we'll have something to celebrate.'

'Great idea, Mum. I reckon everyone'd like that.'

Des offered to get the meeting going early so they could hold the celebration afterwards. 'You organize the women, Mum, and we'll do the rest.'

Connie was pleased he was showing so much enthusiasm. He'd become a different person overnight. Connie knew Des would be feeling relieved that he was able to help save Eric from the injustice that had been looming over him.

Party plans went into action. Eric would be free of this terrible worry in one more day and the party would be on.

Detective Bennett was sitting on the corner of his desk at the police station, pondering the Hamilton Valley fire cases. He stubbed out his cigarette. 'What do you make of it, Simmo?' he asked his partner who was lounging back in a swivel chair behind his desk.

'Frankly, it looks like a setup to get Mason off the hook. It certainly helped prove his innocence. They were all fuel fires, each fire had fuel drums left at the scene. On the other hand, the court was packed with family and all the locals from the valley, so it couldn't have been a setup. The real perp' had a b.l.o.o.d.y field day,' Simpson answered.

Bennett stared out the window for a few minutes.

'The evidence against Mason was weak to begin with. We've got a b.l.o.o.d.y pyromaniac and potential killer on our hands. He's b.l.o.o.d.y deadly, whoever he is. After yesterday's events, the people of the valley'll be out for blood. We'll have them on our backs worse than ever. f.u.c.kin' Moore and Riley have p.i.s.sed off back to Sydney. They set this thing up and left us to wear it!'

He sighed, stood up and walked over to the window, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets. He had been up most of the night going over the whole case. Simpson watched him with open interest.

Staring thoughtfully out the window to the street below, he said, 'One thing's for sure: whoever it is knows the Masons' well. Someone in that community knows this fella and has to be aware what he's up to. I'm going to b.l.o.o.d.y well find out who!'

'Well, now that Moore and Riley are out of the way, we can do things our way,' Simpson said.

'Yeah, those blokes wouldn't take notice of anything Brewster told them. They wanted this done and dusted, and look where it got us. I'll bring Brewster back on board and we'll start this investigation from the beginning. We've got to get the b.a.s.t.a.r.d before one of the locals does.' Bennett drummed his fingers on his desk then reached for the telephone.

'If they get him before we do, we'll have more than a friggin' arson case to deal with,' Simpson replied, standing up. 'I'll get us some tucker. Want a burger?'

'Thanks, we're gonna be here til late,' Bennett replied, dialling a number.

Win was examining Tammi's burnt arms. Big blisters had appeared on her reddened skin. 'Tammi, this could have been so much worse. If you'd been near that heat much longer, I hate to think what state your arms would be in. You should have let the washing burn!'

Tammi smiled at her. 'I'll survive, Mum. They'll heal in a day or two.' Her arms were sore; they looked worse than they were though. Tammi was more interested in the fact that Eric would be okay.

'She was there pulling that washing off with the flames leaping really high right beside her!' Kathy said.

'So were you, Kath. We both saved the washing... Hey, we didn't tell them about the priest!' Tammi reminded her.

'What about the b.l.o.o.d.y priest?' Win asked, annoyed.