‘Is that a problem?’
‘I was expecting someone a bit more … most coppers looking for a couple of years in the sticks are, well, a bit more relaxed.’
Jake had thought he was being relaxed. ‘I’ll work on it.’
‘Oh well, as it’s Saturday night you probably want to be on your toes anyway,’ Kelly said.
‘Why’s that?’
‘You’re on call tonight. There’ll likely be a fight to break up at the pub, a few domestics, the usual.’
Damn it. Jake’s first overnight shift in Dunton had been a complete non-event, but that wasn’t a Saturday night. He should have realised Saturdays in country towns would be busy, like they were everywhere else. He had been looking forward to sneaking several hours of sleep in the heated station lockup, which happened to contain a full-length single bed.
‘Give me a call if anything looks like it could get out of hand,’ Kelly said. ‘I usually know the people involved, happy to go around and have a word with them.’
‘Sure.’
‘Aiden,’ Kelly’s wife called from the kitchen end of the corridor. ‘Time to eat.’
Kelly downed the remainder of his whisky and smiled at Jake. ‘Best not to keep them waiting.’
*
Jake took a seat next to Evelyn at the adults’ table in the portico. It almost groaned under the combined weight of Trent and Kayden’s contributions from the barbeque plate and the multitude of salads and sides Kelly’s wife, Maria, ferried from the kitchen.
The children were encouraged to serve themselves then sit at a smaller nearby table. As the adults began to fill their own plates, Maria tsked and bent her head to stage whisper to the mother of Daniel and his long-suffering sister, who now bore a scraped chin.
‘Talia, I’m concerned that Jackie’s looking a little heavy.’
Talia pursed her lips. ‘Maria, as I said before, she’s healthy and that’s all we care about.’
‘I put Evelyn on her first diet when she was eight, and look at her now.’ Maria patted her daughter fondly on the arm, who smiled in return. ‘Jackie’s not too young to start.’
‘Absolutely not,’ Talia said, her volume rising.
‘Let’s not talk about something so trivial.’ Aiden Kelly chuckled. ‘Especially not in front of a guest.’
Everyone at the table, bar two, began eating industriously. Talia met Jake’s eyes with a look of exasperation. He had learned from Nic long ago to never to interfere in female politics, because doing so could only result in his being caught in the crossfire.
Jake offered Talia a neutral smile in return and began constructing his first forkful.
As late afternoon became evening, Jake realised he’d been at the Kelly home for a good three hours. He really needed to get back to the station and go through whatever paperwork Murphy had started.
His phone buzzed and he pulled it from his pocket to check the number, expecting it to be Nic.
It was a landline, possibly Tasmanian. He stood up and walked away from the table, on to the dew-slick grass beneath the oak trees lining the property’s perimeter.