They ended up deciding on milkshakes and took them to a nearby park bench.

'You know, Kathy.' Eddie turned to look at her. 'I was surprised when you agreed to come out here with me. Your parents must've talked about me. h.e.l.l, everyone in the good ol' valley talks about Eddie Chancellor.' His last few words came across as bitter. Kathy paused before answering, not wanting to spoil things by saying the wrong thing. The afternoon had been going along nicely.

'Well, they have said stuff. I mean, you know, the good old country grape vine.' Her voice drifted away and she kept her eyes on her drink.

Eddie could see her embarra.s.sment at his question. 's.h.i.t, why did I ask her that?' he thought. Aloud, he said. 'Don't worry, Kath, I shouldn't have asked. I know what people say about me. I was just surprised you agreed. I mean, a nice girl like you an' all. I'm more than happy you came out here with me.'

'Oh s.h.i.t, shut up Chancellor before you put your foot all the way in your stupid big mouth!' he reprimanded himself. He felt fl.u.s.tered, very unlike him! For the first time in a very long time, he realised he was actually enjoying himself and he really liked Kathy's company. She was a very nice girl and he just didn't want to do or say anything to spoil things. This really was completely different to his other dates with girls. He wasn't used to trying to make a good impression. It was usually the girls trying to impress him...

'Hey, we still have a good bit of the arvo left, would you like me to take you out across the Tallangatta bridge? It's a nice drive and from there we can head back home.'

Kathy could see he was trying very hard to impress her and she found herself really liking him. 'Yes, Eddie, I'd love that.' She smiled at him, thinking again how good looking he was.

As they drove along, Eddie pointed out pieces of the scenery, telling her information that went with it and she realised that he was actually very intelligent.

'People have got you all wrong, Eddie Chancellor,' she thought. 'They don't know you at all!'

She was so lost in her thoughts that she jumped when Eddie tapped her on the hand. 'Um, what?' she asked, confused for a minute. 'Sorry, I was a million miles away.'

'You sure were. Hope I wasn't boring you?'

'Oh, no, definitely not. Quite the opposite, I was thinking what an intelligent person you are, actually.'

Eddie chuckled. 'Well don't spread that around will ya, no one'd believe ya anyway.'

When they finally drove up Centaur Road, Eddie pulled over in the gravel on the side of the hill just before Kia-Ora.

'I think I should let you get out here, Kathy. Your Dad would be hoppin' mad if he saw you with me. You okay with that?'

'Yes, thanks Eddie. He'd ground me forever. Still, I've really had a great afternoon. I loved every minute!' She turned and gave him a warm smile. 'Thanks so much for taking me.'

Eddie would have liked to grab her and smother that beautiful mouth with his, but he held himself in check.

'Well, I'd like to do it again sometime soon,' he said softly.

Kathy felt her heart flutter. She really liked this bad boy of the valley.

'I'd like that too, Eddie Chancellor.' She got out of his car, turned and waved as she started the short walk home.

Eddie watched until she disappeared over the hill and then he turned the car around and drove off down Centaur Road.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Kathy was finding it hard to get off to sleep, being keyed up about her afternoon with Eddie. She was very happy that she had gone out with him but, at the same time, she felt guilty going behind her parents' backs. Everyone was of the opinion he was no good and not worth the time of day. Kathy now felt that she knew differently. She had seen a completely different Eddie to the one that everyone else described. Tossing and turning, sleep evaded her, and she decided to get up.

Quietly, she went downstairs to the kitchen. 'Hmmm hot Milo might help me get to sleep,' she whispered. She was filling the kettle when she sensed that something wasn't right. 'Stop it stupid,' she whispered again. 'You're scaring yourself.'

But she still couldn't shake the feeling of unease. Then she heard it... crackling!

Leaning across the sink, she pulled back the blind of the window, her eyes widened in shock. For a moment, she was rooted to the spot. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Kathy felt the colour drain from her face. She had to raise the alarm... and quickly!

'Oh... oh... quick... quick... The old toilet's on fire!'

The Mason's old wooden outhouse, overgrown with creeping ivy, was well alight and burning fiercely in close proximity to Ted and Hazel's cottage and the hayshed. Kathy's heart dropped to her stomach.

Kathy dropped the kettle she was about to fill and panic took over.

She quickly ran up the stairs, yelling at the top of her voice, 'Dad, Uncle Karl! There's a fire outside, come quickly!'

She burst into her parent's bedroom 'Dad... Dad... the old toilet, it's on fire!'

Woken so abruptly, it took Digger a few seconds to get his wits about him.

'What tha h.e.l.l? Ya sure?' he muttered, rubbing his face in an effort to wake up.

'Course I'm sure. It's well and truly alight! C'mon... hurry!'

Win was already out of bed and pulling on her dressing gown.

'Dig, hurry, quickly!' Win clearly was in a panic.

Karl, having heard the commotion, ran past the door in his pyjamas. 'f.u.c.kin' h.e.l.l, Dig, quick... Ted's cottage could go up... and the hayshed!'

'I'll phone the fire brigade,' Win called after them as they all rushed downstairs.

Ted had the hose and was already drenching the flames by the time Karl and Digger ran outside.

'Grab that other hose, Dig, quick mate!'

Frantically, the three men doused water on the fire. This had to be contained quickly. It was dangerously close to the hayshed and the cottage!

Across the road, Walter Hansen had also woken and seen the flames. He quickly pulled on some overalls and rushed outside to grab his knapsack.

Standing on the back veranda, Dave, Emmie and the others were all watching.

'Looks like we've got some strife in the valley. Someone's up ta no good,' Dave muttered gruffly. 'That old toilet sure as h.e.l.l didn't light itself... just like those other fires didn't light themselves,' he added.

'You're right, Dave. It's been done deliberately,' Emmie replied softly. 'Look, Hazel's coming up the path.' Emmie pointed to the stooped figure of Hazel coming towards them.

'Well, another mysterious fire!' she called when she got closer.

'You and Ted both ok?' Dave asked.

'Oh, we're fine, Mr Dave. Ted got a bit of a start when he heard the crackling. He flew outta bed and it actually flared up right in front of us,' she said, coming to stand beside him. 'I don't like the thought that someone's sneaking around lighting fires. Glory be, what can they be thinking? Everything's so dry. Haven't they got any sense at all?'

Dave put his arm around her shoulders. 'Don't work yourself up, Hazel. The blighters won't get away with it. This is serious an' they'll be caught and dealt with!'

Just at that moment, Father Damien appeared from the side of the house.

'Father Damien! You scared us half to death!' Win and Ellie exclaimed together.

'Father, what the devil are you thinkin', sneakin' up like this?' Dave asked him, annoyance in his voice.

Privately, Dave didn't like the priest and he didn't like him just showing up like he did. For all they knew he could have been standing out of sight at the side of the veranda listening to what they had been saying. They would not have known he was there. Dave frowned, thinking about his dislike for him.

'I'm sorry if I startled you all,' he apologized. 'I was out on my nightly stroll again and, of course, I saw the fire, so I came down to see that you were all safe. I can hardly believe we have another one!'

'Well, thank you Father, we do appreciate your concern,' Ellie thanked him. 'But you did give us a fright. We didn't hear you coming.'

'No, we never do!' grumbled Dave Emmie put her hand over Dave's, giving it a gentle squeeze. Then, to be polite, she invited the priest to sit down.

'Thank you Emmie, but I won't stay. I can see you are all safe, that is, all except Francis. Surely he's not still in bed with all the excitement going on?'

'No, Father,' Ellie answered. 'He's at a friend's place.'

'Good, good. Well, the firemen will be here soon and have the fire out in no time. So I will be off and head back to the seminary. I will call in again tomorrow and see how things are with you all. Bless you all.' He left as quietly as he had arrived.

Dave glared around at his family. 'I don't like that bloke!'

Moments later, they heard the fire siren and the flashing red light appeared over the hill. A few seconds later, the fire brigade roared up the driveway.

Frank leaped from the cabin of the truck and quickly surveyed the fire. His crew went into action, connecting the fire hose to the hydrant at the front of the property. Before long, the fire was under control.

Only a pile of rubble was all that was left of the old outside dunny!

Leaving his crew to roll the hoses back onto the truck, Frank went to talk to the men.

'Looks like we've got trouble; this's the third suspicious fire!'

'Yep, and we're b.l.o.o.d.y lucky. If sparks'd got in the roof of the cottage, or the hayshed, it would'a all gone up!' Digger said.

'Flamin' b.l.o.o.d.y lucky,' Karl said angrily. 'We've gotta do somethin'. This can't be allowed to go on. I'm goin' to front O'Toole and get some answers! His kids did this I'll bet me life on it!'

'Not sure ya should do that, mate. There's no proof it was them.' Frank put his hand on Karl's shoulder. 'What good is accusin' his kids gonna do when there's nothin' to back it up!' he said heavily.

'Frank's right mate,' Dig added. 'Unless there's some proof you're better off keepin' your mouth shut!'

'Well, my guess is you're gonna get a visit from the cops 'bout this fire too. My suggestion's, tell 'em to look into those friggin' brats a bit more thoroughly. O'Toole won't mouth off at the cops the way he would at you'se two. Mind you, he'll still have a thing or two to say 'bout you'se sayin' anythin' at all, but that's beside the point. Let the cops deal with it.' Frank gave Karl's shoulder a friendly pat. 'I betta get this lot back.' He indicated his crew waiting by the fire truck. 'Make sure ya talk to the cops 'bout those kids!'

'I'm with you blokes. I reckon those b.l.o.o.d.y kids are responsible!' Walter told them. 'But I'm all for what Frank said; without proof we're stumped. Have a serious talk with the cops, make 'em do their job and stick it to the rotten little mongrels before they really do some damage!' He hoisted his knapsack over his shoulder. 'I betta get home. See you'se in the mornin'.' Karl, Digger and Ted made their way up to the house.

'Well, it's all out down there now.' Ted said, sitting himself down on the step of the veranda. 'Nothin' left of the old dunny now.'

'b.l.o.o.d.y suspicious though, isn't it?' Dave stated.

'This's the third friggin' fire and by h.e.l.l it better be the last! If I get me hands on the mongrels doin' it, they won't be fit to scratch their a.r.s.es let alone light a b.l.o.o.d.y fire!' Karl was livid.

'As soon as it's daylight, we'll go through the rubble, see what we can find,' Digger said, just as p.i.s.sed off as Karl. 'With a bit of luck we might find somethin', mate.'

'Well, in a way, whoever did it has done us a favour. We wanted to get rid of it, now we have,' Emmie said and started to laugh.

Before long they were all laughing. The toilet had been old, unused and an eyesore!

'C'mon you two old b.u.g.g.e.rs,' Karl said to Hazel and Ted. 'I'll walk back to the cottage with you.'

He didn't like the thought at all that someone was sneaking around lighting fires. Whoever was capable of doing all this had to be a sandwich short of a picnic basket in his mind, and the housekeeper and her husband weren't young. It was better to see them safely back to their home.

Karl went off with Hazel and Ted, and as soon as the others had gone back to bed, Digger told Win he was going to do a final check on things, make sure there were no hot spots.

'Be careful Dig. Whoever did it might still be out there and they could be dangerous.'

'I'll be alright, love. Karl's out there. I just want to check things.' He kissed her on the cheek and headed back down the path. Karl joined him, having seen that Hazel and Ted were safely inside their cottage.

'Find anythin' mate...?' Digger asked.

'No, but somethin' doesn't sit right about this. Towser didn't bark! That makes me wonder. '

Towser was the family dog. He was usually quite placid and friendly, but if he didn't know you, he would run around leaping and barking and making a racket.

'Ya think it's someone we know? Ya havin' second thoughts 'bout the kids?' Digger questioned.

'Dunno what ta think. Whoever's doin' it is waitin' till we've all gone to bed, which means they're hangin' 'round watchin'. I know those young b.u.g.g.e.rs are out all hours, but Towser would've barked at 'em!' Karl replied thoughtfully.

'Yeah, but maybe he did. An' we didn't hear him.'

'Kath would've, she was in the kitchen makin' Milo. No, I think we shouldn't be too quick to pin these fires on them. Reckon we should keep our minds open to other possibilities.' Karl rubbed his chin, his eyebrows drawn together.

'So what you're sayin' is, don't disregard the kids, but think about the possibility that we have some b.a.s.t.a.r.d we know, who's familiar enough that Towser wouldn't bark at him, and crazy enough to light a friggin' fire when everythin' 'round about is so b.l.o.o.d.y dry? C'mon Karl, this's more like somethin' the kids would get off on! They'd think burnin' the s.h.i.thouse is a huge joke!'

'Well, just keep an open mind, is all I'm sayin'. I'm still gonna make sure the cops know how b.l.o.o.d.y p.i.s.sed off I am, and that they should go and have a d.a.m.n good talk to O'Toole. This has to be nipped in the bud now. If it isn't them, we need to eliminate 'em and search for the real culprit!' he persisted.

'I agree with ya mate, I think we should keep our eyes open for anyone who might be hangin' 'round more than usual, keep a keen eye out for anythin' that don't look right.' Digger yawned. 'C'mon, we better go in, we have to be up again soon. We can talk more about this then, while we sift through what's left of the old s.h.i.thouse.'

Both men were exhausted; they were always up before daylight and worked hard all day. They certainly didn't need their sleep broken like this.

Detectives Bennett and Simpson pulled up the long tree-lined driveway at Kia-Ora promptly at 8 am the next morning.

'Nice place they have here, eh, Simmo?' Bennett said, looking around at the property. 'Must be money in fruit growing?'