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once, you’re right. If you want to go
over there, I’ll back you all the way. Scum like that can’t be
allowed to get away with it. Talk to you later, bye.’
    She clenched a
fist exultantly and started to pack.
     
     

CHAPTER 2
     
    Two weeks
later, when she’d got her passport and ticket, Robyn drove out to
the farm to say goodbye to Pete and to pick up a few last-minute
items. Pete looked surprised then suspicious at some of the things
going into her bag.
    ‘Why are you
taking fence staples, Robyn?’
    ‘Might need
them,’ she said airily.
    ‘And what the
hell are you doing with the lamb docker?’
    ‘Er, might pick
up some part-time farm work?’
    ‘Robyn!’
    ‘Oh all right –
look, you won’t be needing it for a while yet, will you? I just
thought I might get a chance to use it on our dear friend Mr
Symons, you never know.’
    ‘You’d use the
docker on a guy?’ Pete crossed his legs and winced at the very
thought.
    ‘On that dick?
In a second,’ she said coolly. ‘He deserves everything that’s
coming to him.’ Pete grinned.
    ‘There won’t be
much coming at all, once you’ve finished with him!’
    ‘Damn right.’
She swivelled the contraption round her finger and dropped it into
an imaginary holster. ‘Right, I’m just going to take a last look
around in case I’ve forgotten anything.’
    ‘I think I’ll
join you. Who knows what you’ll decide to disappear with.’
    They strolled
out of the farmhouse towards the shed as a winter sun lifted skeins
of mist from the valleys. Gnarled macrocarpa trees loomed through
the vapour, echoing with warbles and squeaks from the family of
magpies that made their home among the branches. Robyn gave the
farm dogs a quick pat, conscious of Pete’s amused gaze.
    ‘Come on Robyn,
aren’t you going to kiss them all goodbye?’
    ‘No, I’m saving
that for you and the horse.’
    She cast a
quick eye over the implements in the shed but decided her bag was
too full to squeeze in anything more. They ambled along beside the
sheep pens with Robyn idly flicking bits of lichen off the rails
with her fingernail. At the top of the path that led down to the
jetty they paused between rough-barked manuka trees to admire the
view.
    Rich blue arms
of sea reached between bush-covered hills, and below them in the
bay dotted rows of buoys belonging to a mussel farm were tossing
gently in the wake of the latest Cook Strait ferry
    Robyn surveyed
the scene for a few more moments, then turned to Pete.
    ‘I guess
that’ll do for saying goodbye to the place. Now, are you ready to
drive me to the plane?’
    As they made
their way back towards the farmhouse he looked at her
searchingly.
    ‘I’m ready, but
are you sure you’re ready? I mean, you’ve never been very far from
home before, have you? One day trip to Wellington on the ferry, and
you didn’t enjoy that very much. How are you going to feel when
you’re eight thousand miles away?’
    ‘Aw, Pete! Stop
fussing, will you? It’s not as if I’m going to a totally foreign
place - they do speak English in Canada, and they’re still part of
the Commonwealth, aren’t they? I’m sure I’ll fit right in, find
people I can talk to - and it’s only for a couple of weeks anyway.
I’ll be fine! I’ll track down Symons, do him over, squeeze whatever
reparations I can out of him, and fly home. Simple. If castrating
him and ripping his liver out convinces him never to steal again,
my work will be done.’
    ‘I still can’t
figure out how you think you’ll find him in a city the size of
Toronto.’
    ‘I told you, I
took a photo off the news video that showed his boat and the marina
it’s in - he tried to tell the reporter it wasn’t his boat but I
know damn well it was. I’ll just check out the waterfront until I
spot him, pick my moment, and POW! He’ll be sorry he ever tangled
with the Taylor family.’
    ‘I’m sure he
will! Just watch you don’t get charged with assault or anything
illegal - it’s too far