More Questions Than Answers

[lollipop_lover11]

good job

[ldscott]

Brilliant chapters!

Please post again soon!

[WYN100]

Just wanted to say thanks so much all for the great replies -appreciate it BIG- style !! , and so glad you've still thought it ok :-)

**PART 20**

It had been a frustrating morning for Kim Hyde. His undoubted good intention to rise early and head serenely through the dawn up to his day's surfing and relaxing at Murphy's Cove had failed to materialize - as so often happens in these situations. He was prepared to mount a vigorous case against his radio -alarm clock to be the culprit for failing to go off, but whatever the truth, here he was in the Beach House kitche at after nine o'clock with with a sore neck from awkward sleeping, a slight headache, and a patience threshold that didn't exactly embrace Kane making imaginary flapping movements with his arms and grinning

"Well well, if it isn't the early early bird !"

"Just my luck that you're the only worm left available then, isn't it, boat boy," jeered back Kim - pretending to start swinging a fake punch at the joker finishing the washing up at the sink alongside him but being persuaded against it by a sharp current of pain from a neck far from rejuvenated by its night's sleep.

Kane's hoots of laughter as he headed out of the door to work seemed to hang in the air and spur Kim on to get his preparations done quickly. Two paracetamol , one orange juice and three pieces of toast later the world was beginning to seem a little kinder of a place to Kim, and he felt it must be a good sign that the weather was set fair as he started the engine and pulled the car away from outside the Beach House - he could even produce a first smile of the day. His brow gave a minor wrinkle as he eased the vehicle down a hill leading out of the Bay to the coast road -was it just him, or did the brakes feel a little spongy there ?

"Ah, probably nothing.." he said out loud, reaching for the radio to boost the volume on the J-Lo track the Bay FM DJ was favouring -anyway, he decided - he needed some petrol and bits and pieces of food and drink to take with him on the trip, so he'd pop in for Jake to have a look at it on the way. Jake Mills was a bright, friendly gut of around 30 who ran his own garage franchise in the Bay, just before the turn-off to the coast road. He prided himself on the personal touch and KIM had often reflected upon how Jake must be doing something right as even his father Barry had moved his custom there from his regular big-name chain in the city.

Jake himself though wasn't actually there when Kim pulled into the garage - he made his purchases and was told by an earnest looking girl of around 17 on the cash-till that "Mr Mills will be back in ten minutes". A queue was forming behind Kim however, and even when queues have no need to be they inevitably adopt a fidgety air with a slight tutting beneath their collective breath as if anyone ahead of them is in a huge conspiracy to delay them hurling their money over the counter and dashing headlong from the premises.

Such was the case here, so Kim decided he could maybe catch Jake on his way home that evening, and trotted back to the car which this time powered up to the booming of Robbie Williams' "Let me entertain you" -Bay FM were certainly in feelgood mode today, he smiled, hanging an extravagant left as he exited the garage car=park. It was unfortunate indeed that the combination of high-octane music and combustion engine drowned out a plaintive call from behind him - -

"KIM -I don't like the sound of those brak......" Jake Mills had returned slightly early and on hearing the tone of Kim's departure had sprinted out from his office, but to no avail. He stood, frustrated hands on hips.

Kim's mood meanwhile was steadily rising. He sung lustily along with the in-full-swing Robbie as he thought - sun's out - food's bought - what could be better ?

He pulled down his sun-visor and his smile widened as he noticed Cassie - clearly returning from a morning beach-jog - looking to cross the road and access the short-cut back to the caravan. A sudden thought danced across his mind and he grabbed it with both hands. Drawing the car up to the kerb and secretly noting her excited smile of reaction, said "Hey Cass, I'm heading off up Murphy's Cove for the day - I don't suppose you fancy joining me ? - Surf, sunbathe, picnic ?"

Cassie would without doubt have binned any arrangement imaginable to accept that offer - but she had nothing planned, so attempting with little success not to look too enthusiastic she climbed in saying " You know what I just blew out dinner with Colin Firth, so I can just about fit you in !"

Madonna was by this stage their high-volume musical backdrop via Bay FM- this time at a pitch which upped the ante from unfortunate to positively ominous for the two passengers. The unseen damage inflicted by the gloved hand the previous evening was at crisis point as the now hair-thin brake cable groaned at the demands being placed on its failing resources,

The coast road out of Summer Bay contained several peaks and dips - - as Kim - adrenaline now pumping - surged the car down one of the steeper dips , his heart and stomach joined in a lurching downward charge as he pounded the brake pedal with increasing panic. Spinning his head round to Cassie, she heard a hoarse "Oh my God....."

"Well, Jesse's coming on very well but there's no change with Amanda,.." Flynn called across to Sally as he replaced the phone on its stand and headed over to the kitchen table where Sally had started to arrange some breakfast items.

They'd risen late from an abbreviated sleep following the previous days exhausting and traumatic events, and Sally- shaking her head as if still in some bemusement at what had happened replied as she extracted two peach yogurts from the fridge "And weren't YOU Mr action man yesterday - mercy dashes through the air - performing major surgery at a moment's notice - enrol this man in Doctor Idol immediately !"

She smiled, but two things were on her mind that she wanted to work into the discussion. Firstly this whole romantic gesture situation that Flynn was arranging but not mentioning - the latest being the intention of the dinner and movie at home together the previous evening - how was a girl's flesh and blood to STAND not responding to things like that ? - especially as he would have HAD to admit it with dinner being face to face and only falling by the wayside due to all yesterday's events ! However - if this was the way he wanted to play it, then as she'd vowed several times previously to herself - SHE could !

The aspect that was puzzling and even perturbing her slightly more was - where had Flynn actually BEEN yesterday that he'd ended up on the Eastern Access Highway into the Bay when the traffic snarl-up had happened and he'd needed to be lifted into the helicopter from there ? He must have had such a busy day, organizing the pre-meal things and so forth, but what had then sent him out again - and right to the other side of the Bay too?

They finished breakfast in a combination of thoughtful and still-bleary silence before Sally thought she'd start some gentle exploration of either or both of the grey areas "Flynn, you know...." She stopped short and tutted with frustration at the sound of a precise and insistent knock at the front door. She sighed, indicated to Flynn that she'd go, and found herself;f looking at a girl in her early thirties with a bright-eyed boy of about 5 at her side. Smoothing her as yet unbrushed hair down with her hand as she spoke , Sally assumed her brightest possible smile, saying "..Hi, can I help you ?"

"Yes, I certainly hope so, " said the girl, "My name's Lynsey Benson...."

Jack kicked off his boots, tossed his heavy work belt to one side and thudded himself down onto the sofa, emitting as he did a vigorous sigh , one of sufficient velocity to send the tassels of the lampshade above his head into a frenzied if brief collective dance routine.

He'd visited the recovering Lucas in hospital on his way back from the fire scene , and now - fingers crossed - it was well overdue for a little quality solo Jack time. As he closed his eyes he began to muse - could it REALLY be less than 24 hours since he and Martha had been at the cinema to see King Kong ? With everything - and he meant EVERYTHING that had happened, he'd have believed anyone who'd told him it had been two HUNDRED and 24. He began to feel the comfortable and agreeably slow onset of sleep while he flicked idly at the TV remote, registering only vaguely through rapidly descending eyelids what his surfing was throwing up on the screen - chat shows - rugby - weather....the box slipped from his fingers and he eased off into a bizarre dream where Jerry Springer kicked a 60 metre penalty for the Wallabies in the middle of a snowstorm.

The doze had extended past the 10 minute mark in the direction of the serious extended sleep that Jack required.....but if sign were needed that his ticket in that day's sleep lotto was to find itself quickly bin-bound with no reward, it came as the phone bell sliced aggressively through the room's still air and Springer's unlikely new career at outside-half. Jack started, shot up into sitting position, and wiping the sleep from his eyes, grabbed the fortunately adjacent phone and answered to hear after a pause "Jackie ! Main man Jackie H ! So good to catch up today - just like old times !"

A thundercloud frown rolled across Jack's brow as he stiffened and craned his head to look through the door and check no-one had arrived while he'd been asleep. He spat into the receiver "Look, you mongrel - didn't I make myself clear enough this afternoon?"

"Oh no, Jackie Boy, " came the non-aggressive but somehow unpleasant tone of reply ", in fact I though you said goodbye far too quickly - keen for every minute with that exceedingly charming lady, eh Jack ?" There was a laugh, a pause, and a decided frosting of the voice with the potential to churn Jack up so much and so quickly, "Yes, in point of fact , if you don't fancy the little chat I think we should be getting round to, maybe I should start taking a closer interest in that young lady...."

Veins were standing high on Jack's suddenly colorless forehead as he cut across viciously "You lay one GLANCE on Martha you scum, and so help me I won't rest till I've taught you a lesson..."

That venom-laden promise was halted by a sudden pointed and distinctly irate interjection from a voice he knew only too well. "WHO lay a glance on Martha , Jack - I suppose I AM entitled to know ?!" The very lady herself stood in the doorway, jaw set and face ablaze with indignant enquiry.....

Tension had hung in slice-able clouds over Leah and Dan as they'd returned to the hospital that morning to collect VJ and Ryan. The two youngsters had only been required to remain in for overnight observation after mercifully and remarkably suffering little more than cuts and bruises in yesterday's Highway smash. The one practical thing that could be said for Amanda amid her chaotic and disruptive behaviour of the previous day was that she had at least strapped them both into seat belts before embarking on her manic and fated dash from Yabbie Creek.

The previously mentioned tension was based around not only the threat to life and limb of their family members who'd been involved in the crash, but also the unique and very different reactions they'd displayed to Jesse's involvement. Dan's antennae had immediately registered how Leah's priority concerns had surged to him rather than Amanda, and while he wasn't surprised, a touch of bitter defensiveness had been fermenting inside him that she should feel that much affinity at such a crucial time to someone outside the family, hard as Amanda's behaviour had admittedly made it for her to be genuinely embraced as a member herself.

But the many-layered tension wasn't about to abate one iota. Having both given a brief "we might be arguing but we'll still be friendly to you" -type smile to Rachel who they saw going past with an armful of smiles, another of the substantial group who'd clearly had little sleep Doctor Gordon updated them on Amanda's unchanged condition - then threw a very definite curve-ball cat among their volatile flock of pigeons. Jesse had been coming on very well - but had asked whether there'd be any chance of him coming to stay with them once released and until recovered.

And so it was that the tension clouds seemed to have a developing tropical storm backing up behind them as Leah and Dan finished packing the few belongings of the boys in the ward where they'd spent the night. As if in due deference to the setting, both strove to keep the tone low - quite a task when the underlying passions were anything but. VJ seemed slightly the quieter of the two after their experiences, but their parents were already staking out firm positions of territory.

"Well I think it's the only right and proper thing we CAN do, especially as it was AMANDA who drove into him..

"Oh yes and we all realize you'd be VERY happy with that..."

"Oh yes, and what exactly..."

"Mummy..."

"Not now darling, Mummy's talking..."

"Exactly that you and he have always been VERY cosy..."

"Oh, and I suppose you and Amanda HAVEN'T...?"

"Mummy, I..."

"VJ I won't tell you again, now finish tidying up, there's a good boy..."

"Well Amanda was my WIFE after all..."

"Oh yes and I'm sure you..."

She broke off, distracted by the sound of a thud from behind the bed closest to them - where VJ had been standing, he was now no longer visible. Leah shot a momentarily bemused look there before bustling round the other side ready to admonish..."Now come on VJ this is no time for showing off...VJ ..?...she stooped...then shot an aghast look up at Dan... "Dan, for Heaven's sake call the nurse - NOW !! .... I don't think he's breathing...!!"

[Jackieleanne]

Wow that was brilliant I hope Vjs ok.

[ldscott]

Brilliant!

Can't wait to read the next part!

[I love music]

Good chapter. I loved the description of the queue!

[WYN100]

**PART 21**

Less than 24 hours on from the building society raid, Peter Baker was again in a situation of being left quietly seething and unable to pursue his immediate instincts for direct and decisive action. And his fury was all the more acute now for two particular reasons. Firstly - this incursion was happening within his own home, and secondly at the realization that had finally clicked with him as to who he was actually dealing with.

Dudley Sheperd, bookmaker, dealmaker and all-round troublemaker was relishing his moment of triumph and influence over an officer of the law, and he was going to milk it to the full. Seeing the still-uncomprehending and borderline aggressively dis-satisfied glances being thrown his way, He proceeded. " Now before saying anything you might regret - let me see - you got let out of the hospital rather quicker - and easier -than you imagined, am I right ?" Their faces turned from simmering resentment to stunned incomprehension more or less in unison - the instinctive look they shot at each other translatable only as "HOW does HE know THAT ?"

Dudley's smug and unpleasant smile surfaced again as he savoured their confusion "Now I can just somehow picture a certain matron getting a certain phone call from a father of a certain young man who YOU lady." - jabbing a thumb at Claire "...tried to kill.."

"Now listen you..

Sheperd carried on without flinching " Oh yes - the matron lady was MOST sympathetic -the distraught father- all too traumatic to think of court cases - just want to get him home quietly as soon as possible - I think we both had tears in our eyes by the time I said - tou just let those officers go home..."

He laughed - a rasping, guttural sound - and it further eroded Peter's rapidly fraying patience , "You low life, you're no more that guy's father than I am....!!"

The bookmaker's lips again parted in an oafish sneer "Well, you SAY that Sergeant, but he's been in my 'family' for quite a few years, has young Joe - in fact he gave me a very cheery wave when he and the other one went out yesterday morning - you know I believe they were planning to pop into the Building Society to make a withdrawal !" The scraping, thoroughly unpleasant laugh began filling the air again, but the facts were now beginning to crystallize with Claire, who cut sharply across him "So it was YOU who sent those two gorillas to Rob there yesterday morning...

"Ten out of ten officer - occasionally, VERY occasionally when a big bet goes against me - - well, do you imagine my cash-float re-fills itself or something ..?" His yellowing, uneven teeth were bared again as Peter interrupted curtly "But one of those huys DIED in the ambulance - and you're not bothered by that ??"

Sheperd shrugged "He was just hired muscle - but Joe - well - I guess you'd say -he's like a son to me...!" The nails down a blackboard laugh began to heave again, and the last thin thread holding Peter's tolerance of this admittedly ominous situation finally ruptured -

"Look here you piece of filth, I ought to...."

Sheperd's face suddenly darkened "Now come come Sergeant - I should have thought your brother could have told you when I mean business, I REALLY mean business. Now the way it's going to work is this-I'm getting a bit old for all the ducking and diving an independent businessman like myself has to do - and it just so happens in a few days, the council's hearing applications for five new official betting licences ...lots of competition for them....but where I'LL have the edge - - - is that YOU Sergeant Baker, will be supporting MY application - and that should NICELY tip the balance..."

"Yeah right, in your DREAMS..!!..."snorted Peter contemptuously.

"...because if you DON'T - -the words of that DEAR Matron just keep coming back to me -'Well Mr Sheperd, if you change your mind we'll be ready and waiting to get court proceedings going...'- so you see Sergeant - I get my licence, you're home free - IF i don't...." As he once again savoured their discomfort, the anguished shared glance between Peter and Claire indicated well enough that they realized EXACTLY what he meant....

For the second time that day, the Colleen Smart Security Surveillance Company had let its standards slip/ By and large its' motto was "If it moves- stop it, interrogate it thoroughly, and then possibly insist it takes one of your casseroles."

Unfortunately for the Chairwoman, Chief Executive and sole shareholder of the CSSSC this was a rime when her mind was elsewhere. She was in fact holding forth to a rapidly thinning late morning crows at the diner about how Edith Cowley MUST have cheated to beat her in the Bridge final at the ladies bowls club and about how she and Madge Wilkins had "incoherent proof - incoherent, I tell you !!".. that they were going to take to the committee - ,just you see if they didn't...!

She looked up and to her surprise alone found that the only remaining customer was an exceedingly deaf old gentleman in a side booth enjoying his regular morning coffee an teacake and whoi probably wouldn't have heard her if she'd screamed her story through a megaphone pressed directly against his ear, so she shrugged and returned a little grumpily to the kitchen To someone like Colleen, news that Paris Burnett was upstairs with Alf would have been like a chilled water fountain appearing to a long-stranded desert explorer, while she would have positively drooled to witness the scene unfolding upstairs just as she began washing up....Alex and Brodie had been the latest to slip in under her rasar having found the side door open and were preparing as they ascended the stairs...

"You know it'll be good to see the old flamin galah again..." smiled Alex, slipping into just the sort of mode Brodie DIDN'T want him to inhabit..

"Hey, none of that from you, we don't want to be putting Mr Stewart off us or anything like that !"

"Nah", called back Alex, who'd reached the landing and the ajar door to the living room "Done deal -you'll see!" And she did - but not how Alex imagined. As she joined him there, through the door came the unmistakable voice of Alf...

"Well that sure is music to a bloke's ears mate - all goes well, I could be handing this place over to you inside a month !" One exchange of thunderstruck glances on the landing later, Alex was through the door, drinking in the scene with a "WHAT the HELL.... ?!"...

Hospitals were such unswervingly grim places thought Leah as she sat, head in hands in the waiting room, - Your only reflections on them were tedious at best and tragically traumatic at worst. Yes it would indeed be an odd person whose final words in life would be "I wish I'd spent more time at the hospital.." That ever-prevalent smell that hovered somewhere between cheap disinfectant and surgical spirit - the depressingly out of date magazines from which no-one you've ever met can ever remember a single article they'd read - and the church-hall style noticeboards with their faded handbills urging you to keep your anti-tetanus injections renewed or not to swim after a big dinner.

She could swear that most have them had stayed , held unmoved in time, exactly where they were since she'd first ever been there accompanying Vinnie during his cancer scare. Her troubled face formed a brief smile at the thought of the ever-ebullient V-Man- but fresh worry lines again swept in quickly behind -Vinnie - where was he ?- HOW was he ? - would she ever see him again ? And how would he feel to know his son's health was so critically compromised at that moment in time ? She knew the answer to that well enough of course -he'd feel exactly as she did - consumed with a sickening fear and anxiety that began with a mild nausea and progressed to feel as if the pit of the stomach was being surgically removed square inch by square inch.

She glanced at her watch without remotely registering what it said - time had become a peripheral, obscure concept and would only begin again when she heard her son was given a clean bill of health. The only sign of action she'd seen since VJ had been rushed into surgery was a brief cameo from Dr Green, of which she had also absorbed very little. Dan had gone, taking Ryan with him and also muttering about having some "stuff" to do - and she hadn't been sorry .She'd seen his reaction to how she'd felt about Jesse's situation the day before - and once again her mental courtroom reconvened. SHOULD she feel guilty about not being over-bothered about someone like Amanda who'd had such a poisonous influence on her life ? NO Your Honour ! - - SHOULD she feel guilty for caring about a friend like Jesse with whom she'd shared so much in the past ? NO Your Honour ! DID she still have romantic feelings for Jesse ? How do you plead ? Leah,,?....Leah.....?...Leah...? Thoughts blended very abruptly into reality as she gave a start and found Shayne Gordon alongside her and gently tugging at her arm, She flinched - "Doctor - oh my God, is it VJ, is he ok ??"

"Well there were some severe problems in VJ getting the required oxygen to his lungs , and that caused the collapse you saw yesterday. Now we have managed to at least stabilize that and the little guy's in there punching his weight, so that's hopeful. But we think we may know WHY it happened finally, and that's what I wanted to ask you about. We've only Just had back the results of the blood work we did on him when he came in yesterday, and it shows a very high level of a narcotic substance.."

"WHAT..??"

"...and for one so young, this led to some mini-seizures that caused all the breathing problems..."

"By narcotic you do mean..."

"Yes - drugs - quite possibly cocaine....would you have ANY idea...?"

"Oh the POOR thing ! - and no, I DON'T...." she stopped - and raised her hand to her forehead - quite possibly at the precise spot where the thunderbolt thought has just hit her.."

"UNLESS...." her gaze was frozen into space.. could she POSSIBLY be right...... Shayne was left awaiting an answer that seemed even too outrageous to speak its own name....

Viewed from one angle, the scene seemed a serenely calm one. The now pleasantly balmy breeze rustling the bushes and tree - tops adjacent to the hill - from a nearby garden the shrill and imperious child's counting towards a hundred as the non-disappearing ingredient of a game of Hide and Seek flexed its muscles both vocal and literal. Even the most transient of observers though could have discerned the significant hedgerow disruption on the left around 200 yards down the hill.

That was where Kim's car had left the road - betrayed by its damaged brake, the vehicle had ploughed left from the road before is crazily erratic progress had been halted unceremoniously by the unyielding and unforgiving bulk of a baby oak.

The early summer breeze continued to provide the mood music for the ominous sub-plot to the young adult of a summer day it was helping to nourish.

An ever-inquisitive cat padded up to the scarred and dented side door which had swung open with the impact . It craned its head upwards, extended an inquiring paw - paused - sniffed the air in its own familiar " food detective" fashion - paused - but rejected the option of further exploration and trotted off to resume the important but Code Feline top secret mission that so many cats appear to be on when outdoors.

The moment may then have held no major significance or mileage for the cat, but for Cassie, its paw pressure upon her thigh had provided the final and missing essential touch to push her back from the mental ghetto of semi-coma and into full consciousness -the crash had spared her the worst excesses of injury - the sharp impact on her forehead witnessed by a deep and angry bruise over her left eye having been the worst of its unwanted donations, along with a myriad of bruising both internal and external that would catch up with her very quickly.

But as her eyes and head inclined to the right she saw that by the look of things the crash had delivered a far heavier payload on Kim . His head was slumped weakly on the wheel - a thick scarlet trickle of blood was emerging from two or three sources , and his breathing was shallow and uneven.

"Oh God - Kim !!"..she began to shake him, but one of those voices from one's past - one never quite knows who or where from - told her not to move him. The blood was now surging at high velocity through her veins, and the foundations of a monster migraine were now being slapped into place. But she knew she had to get help - somehow - and from somewhere . She moved - slowly, gingerly, and at the expense of a huge burst of pain through her midriff area, and levered her legs out of the door, which was now swinging perilously on an inch or two of twisted metal. Hearing a thud to one side of her, she saw Kim's mobile phone slide from his pocket onto the car floor. A small beacon of hope illuminated the chaos of her mind and she punched in the emergency number.

It was a poor reception area and her brows creased over the frenetic thumping inside her head. "Come on, come ON," she groaned as it seemed to take for ever - even longer than usual - to connect. Then however - a leap of the heart as she heard a voice at the end -indistinct as it was, she banked all on shouting very loudly from outside the car into the phone - what had happened, where they were and ending with a ringing and heartfelt "PLEASE - come NOW!" Glancing back inside there was still a worrying lack of movement from Kim, so she began attempting to make her way to the road, which she told herself couldn't be far away - could it ? With the cat now long gone, there was little or no active life to be seen, and it seemed SO quiet -uncannily so in many ways, but all her energies were now focused on getting to the road. And - half by instinct, half by sheer dogged persistence - she did. Her year-round deep tan was torn away at by the thorns and nettles but she finally arrived at the large hole burst open by Kim's car 30 minutes previously. She sighed - deep, tearing and heartfelt - tears of frustration and welling emotion beginning to blend on her lower eyelids. And then - as if all in a swift haze of joy - the ambulance ! - the waving it in - the urgent path back to the car - the lifting of Kim - and another sigh- this time of undiluted relief - as she sat next to the still unconscious crash victim. The back doors of the ambulance swung shut, and she smiled up , totally unknowing -.....at the man and girl who'd confronted Kim at the Beach house and had only been seen off by the concerted efforts of himself and Ric. The girl tokenly returned the gesture... but hers was a VERY different kind of smile...........

[ldscott]

Brilliant chapter!

Can;t wait to read more!

[Skykat]

Great updates. This story really intrigues me.xx

[WYN100]

PART 22**

"Look Martha, I SO don't need this, OK !!" The comfortable embracing mist of sleep into which Jack had been descending before the phone call had melted as quickly as doorstep ice under the contents of a boiled kettle, and indeed he was now aware of a potentially very severe headache having moved in to replace it, and which was now carefully unpacking its suitcase just above his left eye.

But, as he and others had learned to their cost on more than one occasion, a "hands on hips, jaw pointing aggressively forward" Martha was not to be put off with a mere sentence, particularly not one delivered as curtly and mysteriously as Jack had done, and even more particularly when she'd just heard her own name mentioned in some connection with the increasingly murky set of circumstances thar seemed to link Jack the guy they'd seen at the Multiplex cinema in Yabbie Creek and later and more dramatically in the quiet side lane.

"OH - YOU don't need it - YOU don't need it !! Well I'm sorry I came to see how you were JUST im time to hear you warning some potential psycho off me - well FORGIVE me why don't you - I just want to know what the hell's going on ??"

Jack felt the muscles in his neck heave with raw tension and he lowered himself back onto the sofa, wondering why he kept putting himself through this with Martha - theirs was NOT an apple pie and calm country cottage relationship, that was for sure ! But even as he began to feel the increasing malice of the headache begin to bind barbed wire tightly around his forehead, he remained grimly resolute that this was NOT an issue with which he could compromise,

"Martha, you just need to get it through your head that while we may be together, there are certain areas where you just need to leave well alone - can you begin to grasp that ?" He was by now beginning to feel decidedly unwell, but if the idealistic side of his brain - which we all possess - thought that would be sufficient to buy him some respite - he was to be sorely disappointed- Martha had already geared up for another volley of grievance.

"Oh- like you left ME alone when I wanted to deal with all that stuff after Cory I suppose..?" came the predictably uncompromising reply

"Oh that was Totally different ! .." Jack snapped back, then "OWWW.."as a searing burst of pain escaped across his forehead -

"Wha..?..".. said Martha, momentarily curious, but then as Jack rubbed the spot above his left eye she resumed battle stations..

"Oh yes, that'd be right..." she jeered..."A few home truths and he's got rent-a-headache..well let me tell YOU..."

"Oh I'm SICK of this, " Jack cut across her, snatching his car keys from the table and striding across the room, but even as he did, another wince and sharp exclamation even began to fractionally pierce Martha's shield of cynicism - but maybe a little too late...because by the time of her "Jack you can't drive if you're...." - he was already outside letting himself into the police squad car he'd left parked there . She sprinted for the door, but by the time she got there a screech of brakes and billow of dust blown high by a sharp acceleration were her only audience.

A considerably more muted "Jack, you IDIOT..." and a face etched with quickly growing concern betrayed her alarm that was quickly starting to replace the earlier anger......

Kirsty stopped outside the brightly adorned windows of the office, smoothed her hair down and paused for another go at levelling off her breathing. She'd sprinted back from the bus-stop at lung-stretching speed, not at all sure of what she would actually do when she got there, but trusting implicitly in her instincts to inform her of that when she finally got there. Like a contestant on "Millionaire" asked to confirm that an Alsatian was a dog rather than an armadillo , part of her had begun yo doubt the evidence of who she'd seen Dylan enter the office with from her elevated bus-top view....it MUST have been them......mustn't it,......? That of course was a question she knew that even the passing audience of Yabbie Creek shoppers could have begun to try answering - and anyway, ar least one per cent of THEM would probably have said an Alsatian was an armadillo anyway.

So instead she thought quickly - and one sweeping glance through the large , wide plate glass window fronting the colourful display boards and airy office told her what she needed to know. She pushed open the door and went inside. There was no-one else there at that relatively early stage of the morning, so it wasn't long before a cheerful-looking lady in her early thirties sitting behind the desk greeted her with a no doubt well-rehearsed "Good Morning Madame, can I help you at all ? Feel free to take one of our very latest brochures from the cabinet !",

Arranging her face very carefully and lowering her voice - quite unnecessarily diven the absence of anyone else in the room - proceeded in conspiratorial tones "Um, I don't suppose there's any chance is there , that I could use your um..er..ladies room...?..its just ..well, I'm er.."

The woman looked a little lost for words as people in such a situation tend to for some reason, but her mumbled response of "Well I don't know..we don't usually...." was cut very quickly short as Kirsty began to rock theatrically from one foot to another in a mime of impending desperation and was hastily shown through into a long, barely adorned corridor stretching towards the back of the building and advised to seek the last door on the right. Kirsty smiled at the empty space ahead of her - a smile double amplified as she noticed the lack of any steps heading to an upper floor - MEANING, she thought triumphantly that Dylan et al must as she'd gambled for - be meeting on this level, and indeed a hum of voices behind a door on the near-adjacent left bore that out. She knew her time was limited before the receptionist may come looking, so she ghosted quickly alongside the door and started listening - - at least three voices- there was Dylan's for sure - and that other one ! - it had to be - - or ..? - the "Millionaire" - style doubts returned. She could have ground her teeth in frustration at the "so near but so far" quality of the situation. The vague hum of words continued - and knowing the minutes were short, she squeezed still closer to the door, her ear now all but pressed flat against the varnished oak surface. There ! - now the ear could tune in more effectively, and now....her feet were pedalling frantically like a mid-air cartoon figure, the room lurched past her eyes...and from the carpet at the foot of the suddenly-opened door, she was gazing unsteadily upwards at an amazed audience of three.....

An extremely odd atmosphere had prevailed in the Caravan Park living room in theseconds immediately following Lynsey Benson's arrival at the door. For Flynn, ten seconds had seemed to pass as slowly as perhaps six decades , as he found himself and the air choked with uncertain apprehension. For Sally they were seconds no different to any other -greeting a new arrival presumably wanting to rent a van . And for Lynsey - well, hers was a mind inside which few could confidently claim the ability to project - and that caution would have been very well borne out as- after a very quick flick of her eyes around the room, she replied to Sally's greeting with "Yes , hi - I'm in the area doing some market research over the next couple of weeks, and myself and the young gent would like somewhere to stay, wouldn't we ?"

The young gent concurred with a vigorous nod of the head, no doubt at the same time earning his mother's undying admiration for the way he'd absorbed his lesson in temporary amnesia delivered by Lynsey that morning, and not shown even a flinch of reaction towards a Flynn who'd been sitting in his own front room with his mother less than 24 hours previously. It was hard to calculate the most profound element within the situation - Flynn's deep seething, Lynsey's brazen deception or Sally's natural but total acceptance of the scenario being played out before her. As it was, Flynn's limit was reached first, and it was almost surprising not to see smoke emerging from his ears as he muttered something about stretching his legs, passed Lynsey with a cursory nod and headed to an outside that must have seemed a sweet liberation to him from the increasingly claustrophobic air that he at least had felt descending upon him indoors.

He paced edgily around the yard, his mind churning over not WHAT had to be done, but how best and ideally how SOON he could do it. He kicked fiercely at a small stone which sailed a few airborne feet before gatecrashing a group of squabbling starlings, disputing and claiming ownership of today's breadcrumb donation -presumably left by Ric or Cassie before they'd headed out early to wherever it was they now were.

Inside, Lynsey was searching fruitlessly for her pen to sign the registration form - Sally couldn't find one either, and the pair shared a "only girls understand" moment at the inevitability of Lynsey's handbag having - as it was - to be dumped upside down on the table and the contents searched through before a triumphant smile signalled the discovery, the signature and the directions from Sally of where to find her van. The two headed out inside into the yard, where the continued smile on her face dug deep and intensely at Flynn's threadbare store of patience. And - he remembered with another high-dose jolt of frustration that he COULDN'T give her the full-scale verbal volley he'd been chafing for, precisely because of the presence of his so-called potential "son.." Another stone received the emphatic Harry Kewell treatment , and a high-pitched garble of complaint from the scattering starlings.

Inside meanwhile Sally sat down to file away the booking form, unaware her foot was resting on a folded piece of headed notepaper that had fallen from Lynsey's earlier bag evacuation. Written on it in her clear precise handwriting at an angle just below the address was "Flynn's cellphone number....."

The ambulance sped sharply along the tight, compact roads from where it had collected Kim and Cassie . It was certainly as big an ambulance as Cassie had ever seen, certainly bigger than the one that had taken her Gran to hospital after her collapse following the Miss Groper competition a year or two back - she assumed it must be one of these new generation paramedic ones you keep hearing about.

She looked down at Kim once again, a repeated stab of anxiety re-delivering a payload of concern as she once again prayed fervently inside for him to come round and wake up. Another sudden and savage high-speed lurch on the steering wheel saw her flung off balance and not for the first time only just find sanctuary on the couch next to where Kim was lying.

She had, over recent weeks been feeling a bubble of inner excitement grow about the indefinable chemistry growing between herself and Kim....and now THIS !! The inner pleading for him to come round and recover-quickly- once again grew to a fevered crescendo within her. She glanced down the vehicle's long, thin interior where the man and woman were talking in low, clipped tones. She of course still had no idea of the connection with Kim and the incident at the Beach House, but she did feel that by now they should have been doing some more monitoring or observing of Kim - she arose, and began stepping her way ginger;y down the small central aisle -and a high-current chain of events was set in motion. Yet another violently executed manoeuvre by the invisible driver sent her toppling forward with an irate scream of.."What the HELL....!"..that proved enough to shatter the remnants of the concussion from which Kim had been within centimetres of emerging. Rubbing his eyes to let in a first image of Cassie approaching two people hr knew to carry truly negative intentions towards him, he instinctively yelled "Cass....NO..!" ...and then...shock waves pounded through the vehicle as the reckless driver finally met his equal for that day in abusing the rules of the road.- the view from outside at the junction concerned saw the concertinaed bonnet of the fake ambulance driven squarely into the side of... Jack Holden's patrol car......