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“Stay here while I check it out,” Mack commanded softly.

“Why don’t you call the police?” Alex whispered back, clutching at his arm.

“Hasn’t anyone told you there’s no police officer stationed in Kingfisher Crossing? The nearest station is in Marraburra.”

Her eyes went even wider and her fingers tightened their hold. “No police?” she gasped. “What if there’s a murderer in there or something?”

Mack rolled his eyes and led her quietly but firmly off the veranda to the shelter of the water tank at the side of the house. “Stay here out of sight. It’s probably a possum looking for food. Did you leave your bedroom window open earlier?”

Alex bit her lip. “Um...maybe...”

He unpeeled her fingers from his arm and gave the back of her hand a little reassuring pat. “I won’t be long,” he said and melted away into the darkness.

Alex leaned back against the cool corrugations of the tank and tried to get her heart rate to settle. The night sounds she had delighted in earlier now made her feel terribly isolated. Apart from the medical clinic next door, there wasn’t another house for at least half a block. When Mack had shown her around before they had been called out to the Ellis’s property, he had mentioned something about one or two of the neighbors moving to the coast to escape the heat and persistent drought. The small general store and service station were in the street behind them, but she knew neither would be open at this time of night.

Alex peered around the side of the tank and looked for any signs of life but the only house she could see looked deserted, its windows like black eyes staring sightlessly into the night.

An owl suddenly hooted in one of the trees nearby and Alex nearly choked on her heart as it leapt into her mouth. She shrank back against the water tank, her breathing shallow and erratic, and her legs feeling as if they were made of wet cotton wool instead of sinews, muscles and bones.

She held her breath as she heard another sound of movement in the house, her senses on such high alert she felt light-headed from the adrenalin charging through her system.

The suspense was killing her. Why hadn’t Mack come out if it was just a possum in there? And why hadn’t he turned on the lights for pity’s sake?

With her back still pressed against the blessedly cool surface of the tank, Alex stealthily edged her way around to the other side, and came face to face with a man with a gun aimed straight at her.