Over the next few days, the rain eased. The track down to the creek got harder, and the road closer to the house looked passable. Cody knew he'd have to take Fin back to her father's house to tell him she wasn't coming home. He hoped it rained some more and they'd never have to go anywhere. He put it out of his mind and took Fin and Max to the river.

"Don't you let me go?"

"Fin, I said I wouldn't let you go. Trust me." Cody grinned as she clung tighter. Her naked body touched his. He ran his hand down her back onto her backside and then put his lips on hers.

"Cody," she giggled. "You're supposed to be teaching me to swim. Stop it."

"I'd rather teach you something else." He chuckled and sucked on her earlobe.

Fin squirmed in his arms. "I know how to do that."

"Not in the creek, you don't. We've never done it in the creek, and how can I teach you to swim if you don't let go of me? It's not my fault if you keep pushing your body against mine. How's a man supposed to react?" He lifted her and put his mouth on her breast.

She laughed, cradled his head in her arms, let him do his thing for a minute, then put a hand on each of his cheeks and made him look at her. "If we do it, will you teach me to float?"

"Of course." He grinned. "Then we'll do it again, and I'll teach you to dog paddle."

Fin pushed the hair from his eyes. "I'll have to cut this. I said I would, but I haven't yet." She lowered her lips to his and sighed against his mouth.

"That's it. Move your feet backwards and forwards and your hands up and down." Cody beamed as he let her go. "There. You're treading water. Dog paddle. That's what it's called."

Fin squealed, "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!"

"You sure are, honey." Cody watched her paddle around.

Max barked from the bank.

"What's up with you, boy?"

The Labrador barked again and sat on his bum.

"I suppose you want to be fed, ya bugger," Cody said as he splashed the dog with water.

Fin paddled towards Cody. She swung her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. "He's jealous."

"You reckon?"

"Yes." Fin sighed and kissed Cody's lips. "He doesn't like it when you give me too much attention."

"Well, he'll just have to get used to it." Cody returned her kiss and gave her a light tap on the bum. "Come on, we'd better head back so I can feed him and the chooks."

While Cody fed the animals, Fin took the washing off the line and folded it up. She put Cody's clothes in the cupboard, smiled and swept her hand over them. He made her so happy. She closed the door and lifted the sheets. When she opened the wardrobe drawer, the corner of the blanket-covered box stared out at her.

Fin put the sheets away and then lifted the parcel from the drawer. The blanket slipped away. Her mouth fell open in awe.

***

The box was handmade and beautiful. Pieces of different coloured timber were joined together to make a star pattern with diamonds around the outer edge and sides.

Fin ran her hand over it, sat on the floor and opened the lid. Inside were photos and documents. She lifted the images; the first was a picture of Cody surrounded by others.

She studied each person and concluded that they were his family. He said he had a mother, father, two brothers, a brother-in-law, a sister and a niece. A younger lady held a little girl dressed in pink, so Fin figured they were Cody's sister and niece.

The older man and woman must be his parents because the man looked a lot like Cody. His fair hair was grey at the temples, but his eyes were the same treacle brown, which Fin loved so much.

The younger man in the photo had dark hair. Fin thought he could be Cody's brother or brother-in-law. That meant two people were missing, one brother and his brother-in-law or two brothers. Perhaps one of them had taken the photo.

Fin turned the picture over. She couldn't read the scrawled writing but thought she recognised the word, Cody. She'd never asked him how to spell it, so she wasn't sure. She put the picture to one side and then lifted the next.

It was a photo of Cody holding a fishing rod, grinning at the camera. Again, on the back, she read what she thought said, Cody.

There were other photos of different family members and some of him drinking a beer, holding a hammer, and playing with a football. In most of the pictures, he looked younger.

The next photo puzzled Fin. There were two Codys. They looked younger and had their arms around each other, beaming at the camera. This had to be the brother missing from the first photo.

She looked from one to the other, trying to decide which one was Cody, but she couldn't tell. They looked so much alike. Fin grinned. Maybe Cody was a twin. She turned the photo over and read Cody and... She studied the word but couldn't read it.

The handwriting was scribbled, and she wasn't good with running writing. Fin put the photo aside and thought she'd ask Cody when he returned.

Next, she lifted two plastic cards. Each one had a photo on it. They both looked like Cody. Fin studied the words. One had his first name on it. The other had a name she'd never seen before. It started with the letter B. Fin wondered if it'd been spelt wrong because the letters looked jumbled. What struck her the most was that the last name wasn't Compton.

A surge of worry rippled through her. She frowned while studying the cards. Why did Cody have two driver's licences? She knew this was what they were because Findlay had one. She strained to read the name that followed Cody. Again, it was too hard for her. She couldn't understand why it didn't say Compton.

Fin put the licences aside, along with the photo of what she thought were twins and then lifted a large piece of paper from the box. The first word she could read. It said Death. She recognised it because they had been reading the vampire story and Cody had taught her this word.

The word that followed was much longer. She sounded it out. C said C like cat. E said E like egg. R said R like run. T said T like top. That meant the first part of the word said KERT k.e.rrr. t. That didn't make sense. There was no way she'd be able to read it. She let her eyes scan the rest of the page. There were lots of words and names in small letters, but the word death stood out. A surge of panic gripped Fin's stomach as the memory of Cody's nightmare came back to her.

"What are you doing?"

Fin dropped the paper and looked up into Cody's enraged face. His shadow hand stretched long, the fingers like claws, bony and accusatory. The moment, like a heavyweight, pushed against her chest and stopped her airflow. She shuffled backwards as he strode into the room. Her shoulders hit the wall; she froze and stared at him.

"Who the fuck said you could go through my things?" He grabbed her by the arm, yanked her to her feet and slammed his palm against the wall. "These are my private things!"

No words would come. Fin bit her lip as he shook her hard; her head jerked on her shoulders.

"You don't fucking touch my private things! Especially after I told you not to!" He shoved her onto the bed, stared at her with a look she didn't recognise, and then gathered the papers and tossed them, along with the photos, back into the box.

Fin watched him slam the lid closed, lift the box, and turn to face her. She huddled into the corner. She'd never seen him like this. His pupils had dilated and turned his brown eyes black. The colour drained from his face.

He grabbed her by the chin; his thumb and forefinger dug into her cheeks. The veins in his neck strained as his jaw tightened. She felt his heated breath on her skin. "You stay out of my fucking stuff!" he hissed. "I give you a safe place to live and food in your belly. I've never mistreated you, and you do this!" he jerked her head as he spat the words. "Is this how you repay me? Snooping into my private things. How can I trust you?" he rammed her backwards and then stormed outside, slamming the doors behind him.

Cody dropped the box onto the tray of the truck and punched the shed wall, leaving indentations in the corrugated iron before he stopped and ran his hands through his hair. Fuck. What had just happened?

Seeing Fin looking through the box sent spears of rage straight to the base of his skull. He hadn't been able to control the eruption of emotions which exploded from every function of his intelligence. He sucked in a huge breath and then released it to calm his raging brain.

The trigger had been pulled. An overwhelming sense of distrust and loathing made his body shake. Cody held his hands out in front of him. They trembled out of control.

A sharp, piercing ring shot through his head. The sound dropped him to his knees. He clamped his hands over his ears. "Fuck...! Not again! This isn't happening!" Sweat broke out on his face. Cody curled in the foetal position as he panted in and out.

The woman was poison. She had changed everything. By touching his stuff, she had brought him back to this. Fuck. Why had he taken any notice of her in the first place? Why had he brought her to his haven?

In the recesses of his mind, Cody saw the Bell Ringer laughing. The bastard knew his privacy had been compromised in every way.

Snake would have worked out where Fin was by now and informed Findlay. They would come in search of her. They'd come when the wet dried, and now she knew his secret. She wasn't stupid. Another sharp pain pierced his skull. Cody gripped his head tighter. The bitch had made him teach her to read for this very purpose.

He couldn't forgive her. Her incomprehensible lack of respect for a person's privacy had sent him back to a place he didn't want to be.

He couldn't go there.

Couldn't let her have that kind of control.