Chapter 21
When she was so close to Nick's that she could see the detail in the blinds that covered his kitchen window the car showed up. She had slunk all the way home from Matt's, taking her time, partly to be cautious and partly because she wanted a chance to think long and hard about the meeting she'd just had. When she reached the house next to Nick's, the front yard dense and thick with bushes and shrubs, as well as overhanging gums that looked like they hadn't been pruned in twenty five years, she felt safe enough to be able to cut through it and get to Nick's side of the fence quicker, rather than scaling what felt like her 50th fence in a matter of days.
So she crept through the neighbours front garden, trying not to make any noise with her footsteps on the twigs and brittle leaves that littered the lawn, fried to a crisp from the summer sun of November. She placed each foot delicately in front of the other, slow and rhythmical, which is why she was surprised she was still able to stub her toe on a rock so forcefully. She instantly held her breath, gritting her teeth in pain and trying her hardest not to let out a string of expletives that were the first words to pop into her head. She crouched right down to the ground, reaching for the little toe of her left foot. Her hand hovered around the throbbing part, unable to soothe it in any way. As she blinked furiously to keep back the tears that sprung to her eyes, Jennifer heard the low rumble of a hotted up Monaro. She looked up, barely moving, and came face to face with the car. It cruised along the street, just twenty metres from where she was crouched, hidden behind a fragrant smelling bush. She froze on the spot, hoping like hell that the darkness was doing its job of hiding her. The car approached Nick's driveway, and where before it had been doing maybe 30 ks, when it was in front of Nick's house it slowed right down to snails pace. Jennifer watched it with wide eyes. Something about it made her uneasy. It wasn't just the speed at which it was driving – no it was also the time of night it was choosing to drive, the way when it got in front of Nick's house, where he was sleeping, oblivious inside, thinking she was right next to him, it slowed right down, the way the front passenger window was rolled down and a black hooded figure leant half out of it, face shadowed over and obscured from view, but looking no less frightening than if she had been able to see the face.
Jennifer eased herself down closer to the ground, her stubbed toe a distant memory, and shuffled her position to be lying on her stomach. Using her elbows she moved forwards, partly burying herself in the bush – just enough to be able to see a good sized section of the street. She couldn't control her breathing anymore – Nick lived in a nice suburb, on a good street, with kids and families and businessmen and all sorts of people as his neighbours. There was no reason a car like that would be cruising around casing the joint – not in the middle of the night anyway. Jennifer knew already that it was there for her and Nick. Her mind raced, trying to work out how she could get back to Nick and warn him. But no plan came to her.
She stayed in her uncomfortable position for almost half an hour, watching the car go up and down the street, as agonisingly slow as the time before. When they disappeared shortly after 3:30am, she decided it was finally time to move, and began crawling out of her hiding place. She leapt from bush to bush, waiting five minutes between each movement. She had eclipsed four bushes in the large yard and was almost home free when she heard the car return over her shoulder. She looked frantically for a hiding place only half a moment later. The bush she had made it to was not nearly dense enough to hide her – she suddenly had nowhere to go. Her head sprang from side to side, her mind screaming at her to move, but the choices were almost non existant. All that was left was the car parked in the driveway to her right. A beefy landcruiser, there was plenty of room underneath it to wiggle in to. She slipped underneath, in her haste grazing her hip bone yet again on scratchy, unforgiving cement, just like on the wall behind the restaurant.
She flattened herself to the ground, keeping as close to the huge tyres as she could, hoping she would blend in and look like nothing more than a shadow. Not a single part of her moved as the car drove past, and she even squinted her eyes until they were almost closed, scared that their whites would glisten from a streetlight or moonlight reflection and they would spot her.
When she heard them squeal around the corner at the top of the street she knew they had finally finished their recce. She got herself out from underneath the car and leapt across the rest of the driveway and over the waist high fence that separated Nick's house from his neighbours. She bolted down the narrow brick footpath at the side of Nick's and into the backyard, breathing hard. When she got to the bedroom window she was glad to see the fold of cardboard she had wedged there was still in place, just preventing the window from being closed and locked. It was closed enough to not allow any drafts in that might wake Nick, as well as closed enough to make Jennifer feel like Nick was not in too much danger. But it was open enough, thanks to that little piece of cardboard, for her to get back inside. She pulled the cardboard out of the tiny gap and pushed her fingers in there in its place, prying the window along its track sideways. Before she opened it all the way though, she stopped for a second and crouched back down, keeping one hand in the gap. The other hand held the side of the old weatherboard house as she thought how she would explain this all to Nick. She did not even know where to start, or even if she wanted to. Sometimes, things were better left unsaid, she decided finally. It wouldn't be the first time.
She opened the window far enough to slip back inside. As she swung both her legs into the bedroom she marvelled at her break and enter skills that were so good and yet had come out of nowhere so quickly. When it came to the crunch, she guessed, as she padded over to the bed where Nick lay, still sound asleep, you just did whatever you had to, without thinking about how hard, or against your beliefs it was.
Jennifer lifted the sheet and slipped back into the bed beside the man she often thought was the love of her life. He didn't stir and she realised he must be more exhausted than she had sympathised for. She fell asleep uneasily beside him not much later, riddled with guilt.