Later Rachel could only remember the next few hours as chaos. Ordered chaos, but chaos for all that. But the township had been gearing for this event for two days now and when they moved they moved fast.
Firefighting became a lower priority. Once the firebreaks had been breached everyone moved into protection mode. All firefighters were pulled out of the hills-it was pointless and dangerous to stay there. Every able-bodied person was assigned a job. Volunteers went from house to house, ensuring people had left, checking that everything that could be done had been done, then the town was left to fend for itself.
Sam Nieve was in his element. He was the elderly man with the heart condition Rachel had sent home from the fire front. Now he was in charge of what he termed the home guard. He’d taken his role very seriously-he had lists of houses with every occupant, and by the time Rachel and Hugo reached the beach, Rachel accompanying Kim’s stretcher and Hugo supervising the other two seriously ill hospital inmates, he was set up at a makeshift desk, crossing off the name of every town inhabitant.
He’d even set up planking so that every person who arrived at the beach was forced to walk past his desk.
‘This way I know who’s still in their houses,’ he told Hugo, and there was no mistaking the pride in the man’s voice. ‘There’s only three I’m still worried about. Miss Baxter, who’s got a gammy leg and won’t leave because she loves her garden. Les Harding, who’s worried about his crazy feral cats. And Sue-Ellen Lesley. I’ve sent a couple of teams to bring in Miss Baxter and Les and as many of his cats as they can catch. There’s only Sue-Ellen left to worry about.’
‘You didn’t send a team to fetch her in?’ Hugo asked. The hospital stretchers were being set up far down the beach. The idea was that if the fire grew to firestorm status then people could back into the shallows. Every blanket in the town had been collected and was already lying sodden, waiting to cover a needy head.
Kim’s stretcher had already been taken down. In a moment Rachel would go down and readjust the drips that the girl still needed, but Hugo had stopped by Sam’s desk and so had Rachel. She saw the concern etched on Hugo’s face and was immediately worried.
‘Sue-Ellen won’t come if a team of people arrive,’ Sam said, casting an uncertain glance up at Hugo. ‘I tried to tell her the danger but she slammed the door in my face.’
‘Have you seen her today?’ Hugo asked shortly, and Sam shook his head.
‘Not since yesterday. Gary Lewis went up there last night but she wouldn’t let him in either. He’s been on the radio, worrying about her, but there’s nothing I can do.’
‘How did she seem?’
‘Erratic. Jumpy. Angry.’ The two men were looking at each other and their worry was mirrored in each other’s eyes.
‘Problem?’ Rachel asked, and Hugo nodded.
‘Sue-Ellen has schizophrenia. She’s normally good but something like this can throw her. I saw her last week and she was coping well but…’
‘I asked if she was taking her pills,’ Sam said. ‘She told me to go to hell.’
‘She’d say that even if she was taking them.’ Hugo had turned and was staring up into the hills. As if he could see anything. The idea was ludicrous. The smoke was whirling around their faces and visibility was practically zero. The fire trucks had parked on the sand and were surrounding the temporary township in a ring-fire trucks in a semi-circle with the sea at their backs. There was safety here. But not for Sue-Ellen. ‘You know she hates interference.’
‘I was a mate of her dad’s,’ Sam said heavily. ‘I know she stops taking her pills from time to time and I know it used to scare her old man.’
‘Where is she?’ Rachel asked.
‘Out the back of the town,’ Hugo said. ‘She has five acres.’
‘Of overgrown bush.’ Sam shook his head. ‘I’m not sending anyone else out there. Not now. If she won’t come, she won’t.’
‘She might come for me.’
‘Yeah, and you’ll put your head in a noose because of a bloody schizo…’
But Hugo’s face had set in anger. ‘Sue-Ellen’s a great woman.’ He looked at Rachel as if he was seeking her approval. By the look on Sam’s face he knew he wouldn’t get approval from him. ‘She used to play with the state orchestra before she became ill.’
‘And now she sits up there with her damned goats, getting madder and madder,’ Sam muttered, but Hugo shook his head.
‘She runs angora goats. She spins and weaves and plays…’
‘And talks to herself.’
‘I’m wasting time.’ Hugo hesitated. ‘I’m the only person she trusts.’
‘Where are her people?’ Rachel asked, dismayed.
‘Her father died five years back. She went out for a while with Gary Lewis, one of the local firemen, but she fretted that her medication was making her stupid. She made Gary leave her be, and since then she doesn’t let anyone else close.’
‘You can’t get up there.’
‘There’s still time.’ They turned to look northward but, of course, there was nothing. An impenetrable layer of smoke. The wind was pushing ash through the air. Rachel could taste it. She opened her mouth to speak and a fine film of ash landed on her tongue. Instead of speaking, she ended up coughing.
‘There’s surgical masks,’ Hugo said shortly. ‘Get one on. You need to be fit. Rachel, I want everyone here wearing them. Can you…?’
‘Can I what?’ But she knew already what he was going to ask.
‘Can you take over? I need to go.’
‘There’s Toby.’ She stared at him helplessly. Myra had collected Toby when the order for evacuation had come and now Toby was splashing happily in the shallows with his mates from school. To them this was still a game. Long may that last. ‘Hugo, let me go.’ She placed a hand on his arm, suddenly urgent with anxiety. ‘I don’t have anyone. I can go.’
‘You have a husband.’
‘Who doesn’t need me.’ There, she’d said it, and even as she said it she acknowledged it was the truth. Dottie was right. ‘But Toby needs you.’
‘You don’t know the way. And Sue-Ellen doesn’t trust you. There’s no one else Sue-Ellen will come with. I’ll be all right. There are dams in her home paddock. We’ll make it in time.’
‘Risk your life for a schizo…’ Sam was bristling in indignation.
‘She’s not a schizo,’ Hugo said wearily. ‘She’s a fine musician and she’s a lovely person and she’s my patient. I should have gone out there myself last night.’ He stared helplessly at Rachel. ‘I need to go. Can you cover for me here?’
Their eyes met. He knew what he was asking, she thought. He knew.
But he had to go. She knew this man well enough even after such a short time to understand that his need was absolute. Toby had an aunt. Toby had a town full of caring people.
The unknown Sue-Ellen had no one. Except Hugo.
‘Of course you need to go,’ she whispered, and watched his face change. ‘I understand. Go, then, but go fast and only go on the understanding that you’ll come back safe. Promise me?’
‘I…’
‘Promise?’ She reached out and grasped his hands, her voice suddenly urgent. She met his eyes and hers locked with them and held. ‘Hugo, you must.’
He stared down at her for a long moment and his gaze fell to their clasped hands. His mouth twisted into an expression she couldn’t begin to understand.
‘I promise,’ he said, and he pulled her to him and kissed her hard on the lips. It was a fast and brutal kiss, a kiss born of fear and of want and of pure adrenalin. Then he was pushing her away, his eyes bleak.
‘Take care of Toby,’ he said as he turned and ran into the smoke. ‘Keep the town safe for me until I come back.’