Cold Justice (34 page)

‘Where were Paul and Kelly?’

‘She and Marcie stayed at her boyfriend’s. Paul went to a mate’s place for a barbecue. He got back about eleven.’

Plenty of time for her to have gone to Miranda and back. ‘Did Paul steal the car for you?’

‘What car?’

‘The car you drove to Miranda.’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘You’re going red again,’ Ella said. ‘It’s not as easy to lie as it used to be, is it?’

Danielle dug her hands into the washing. ‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘In 1988, when you and Paul got busted for burglary,’ Ella said. ‘He went to jail and you got a suspended. Because Kelly was just a few months old, right?’

‘I wasn’t really involved.’

‘Involved enough,’ Ella said. ‘But you either stayed clean or under the radar for the next ten years, didn’t you? While Paul got picked up for burglary three more times.’

Danielle smoothed a toddler-sized shirt over the top of the basket.

‘Did he steal the car you drove to Miranda?’

‘I truly honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Danielle, look at me,’ Ella said. ‘Saying that is not going to save you. You know something and you need to tell us what it is.’

Danielle couldn’t hold her gaze. ‘I need a drink.’

‘Stay where you are,’ Ella said. ‘Tell us.’

Danielle shook her head, and pressed the toddler’s shirt to her face. Ella took the moment to glance around the room, looking for something, anything, to help her out. On the shelves above the TV were an array of photographs and she got up to see. There were the usual pictures of kids on Santa’s knee, grinning family groups at weddings, a man she guessed was Paul leaning against a shiny black Falcon. She looked closer at one of the weddings, then grabbed the frame and thrust it under Murray’s nose.

‘Ashley’s bike crash give you a fright?’ she said.

Danielle looked up sharply. ‘What?’

‘Scary things, motorbikes.’ Murray held up the frame. ‘I’d be pretty concerned about my sister’s new husband riding one.’

Danielle’s face fell.

‘Did Lisa know where you were going when you borrowed the car?’

‘I told her a friend had had a baby and the Mini was playing up,’ she said softly. ‘She didn’t know a thing.’

Ella sat down. ‘Tell us.’

Danielle wiped her eyes. ‘It was because of Marcie.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘When Marcie was born I thought of that boy’s grandparents.’

‘By the boy you mean Tim Pieters.’

‘Yes. And when I saw his mother on the news, I knew I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.’

A shiver ran up Ella’s spine. ‘Tell us what’s so important about the girl who found the body.’

‘I need immunity.’

‘What did you do?’

‘It’s for Paul,’ she said. ‘He didn’t hurt her, I swear. He went there and it happened and he left, he didn’t touch a hair on her head. He even called for help. That counts, doesn’t it?’

‘Who are we talking about?’

‘The old lady.’

A light went on in Ella’s head. ‘Lucille Oldham.’

‘I don’t know her name,’ Danielle said. ‘He thought there was nobody home.’

The dots started to connect. ‘Paul was doing a burglary.’

‘He found the door unlocked. He went in and she was up, God knows why, and she collapsed. He said he knew just looking at her that she was gone. Freaked him and he got out of there.’

‘Why didn’t he ring triple 0, let somebody know?’

‘He did,’ she said. ‘Muffled his voice through his shirt, folded up over a payphone.’

‘Maybe muffled too well,’ Ella said. ‘Nobody went there. The police found her the next morning when they were door-knocking about Tim.’

Murray said, ‘Why didn’t he call triple 0 from her house and just leave it off the hook? They would’ve come to check straightaway.’

Danielle started to cry. ‘How was he to know that? He was worried they’d say he killed her and put him away for years. He honestly didn’t touch her. He didn’t even take anything.’

Ella held up her hand. ‘What about the girl and Tim Pieters?’

‘It was when he left,’ she said. ‘He was running down the street to his car when another car pulled up over the road.’

Ella leaned forward. ‘Did he see the plates?’

‘It was dark.’

Ella narrowed her eyes. Dark? Georgie found Tim at six. Early, but definitely light.

‘He had to hide behind some shrubs. He saw the girl get out. She was laughing, somebody was shushing her. She went into the bushes then made this noise, and Paul said it sounded like she fell over. The man got out of the driver’s seat and rushed round there, and then a minute later he came stumbling back to the car holding his hand up to his face, like, I don’t know, Paul said sort of like he was going to be sick, a bit like that, and he bent like he was falling or something, and by then the girl was already in the other side and he got in and they took off.’

Ella frowned at Murray, who looked as confused as she felt.

‘So this isn’t Georgie at all?’ he said.

‘Paul was about to run on down to his car when another car came down,’ Danielle said. ‘Slow, this time. Creeping past. Like looking out for who might be around. Paul stayed down behind the shrubs and the car went past and turned around then drove real slow to the same spot.’

Ella imagined the crunch of tyres turning slowly on the gravel.

‘Nobody got out at first. Then this guy climbed out, looking around, then went over into the grass there. Paul said he was back real quick, carrying something in his hand. He couldn’t see what, but the guy got in the car and –’

The front door opened. Ella looked around and recognised Paul from the photo of him leaning against his car. He shot them a glare that left her in no doubt that he knew who they were.

‘I had to,’ Danielle said.

‘No, you didn’t.’

‘You may as well tell us the rest,’ Ella said.

‘It’s hearsay. You’ve got no proof I did anything.’

‘We just want to know about the girl who found the body,’ Murray said.

‘That’s what you say now,’ he said.

‘They didn’t find her till the next day, Paulie. That poor old lady.’

‘That’s not my fault,’ he said. ‘I rang. I told them. System’s fucked if they can’t listen any better than that.’

‘For God’s sake, just tell them,’ Danielle said. ‘Think of the parents.’

Murray said, ‘If you tell us what you know it can help you once we look at the break-in.’

‘Can, he says,’ Paul said. ‘It wasn’t a break-in, neither.’

‘I’ll tell them if you don’t,’ Danielle said.

‘Shut it.’

Danielle was on her feet. ‘Don’t you remember when Marcie was born and you held her and you cried and you said then we should say what we knew, we should help that family out?’

‘I was half-pissed.’

‘Paul,’ Murray said. ‘Sit down.’

He paced instead.

‘Here’s what we know,’ Ella said. ‘We know you tried to get the old lady some help.’

‘I left the door open too, I thought the neighbours would see.’

‘We know you saw a girl and a man find the body and clear off. Then another car came along and you saw that man get out, go to near the body and pick something up,’ Ella said. ‘We need the rest. What kind of cars were they, what did the people look like? Did you get the plates?’

Paul swallowed hard.

‘You can help that family.’

He lifted a small pair of trousers out of the washing and flattened them on the table. ‘He was crying.’

‘Who?’

‘The second man. I could hear him. He went over and picked up whatever it was and came back, and I could hear him doing this terrible quiet crying. Weird. If he killed the kid, he’s a pretty bad man, right, but then he’s crying.’

‘This thing he picked up – what do you think it was? How big was it?’

‘Not big. It was in one hand. It was kind of . . . long, maybe like a bit of cloth or something. I couldn’t really say any more than that.’

‘Like a tie?’

He frowned. ‘Maybe.’

‘Can you describe him?’

‘White guy, tall, dark hair cut short.’

‘Clothes?’

‘Not sure. Trousers and a shirt.’ He shrugged.

‘Car?’

‘Falcon. Darkish. Maybe grey. Not black, not that dark.’

‘What about the other two?’

‘They were in a Volvo station wagon, light-coloured, maybe white,’ he said. ‘She was slight, looked young. Like in her teens. He was bigger and older, maybe twenties. I think he was in jeans. They were playing around at first. Before they came rushing out of the grass, I mean. Then when they did, he almost tripped and fell.’

‘You didn’t catch any names?’

‘Nope, couldn’t make out any words at all. They were whispering.’

Ella exchanged a puzzled glance with Murray, trying to fit the pieces together in her head.

‘That’s why I told you to talk to the girl who found the body,’ Danielle said. ‘She might’ve seen what the other guy picked up.’

‘I get that.’

It wasn’t worth the bother to go into the subject of which girl found the body.

‘So now that we’ve helped, you’re not going to charge Paul, are you?’ Danielle said.

‘You’ll have to come in and make a formal statement, and we’ll see.’

Paul swore under his breath.

Murray drove away from the house frowning while Ella dug in her bag for Panadol.

‘So some other girl found Tim, but didn’t report it.’

‘Right,’ she said.

‘Because . . . why?’

‘The million dollar question.’

Ella threw back the tablets. Her phone beeped.
mthr hre, hlo! nce day :) lol! pls cme for dnr?
Delete.

Murray wound his window down. ‘Do you believe what he saw?’

‘I can’t imagine he would make stuff like that up.’

‘Same here,’ he said. ‘But how the hell do we find them?’

His phone rang.

‘Shakespeare. Hang on, I’m driving. I’ll put you on loudspeaker.’ He handed the phone to Ella who pressed the button. ‘Okay, Chris, go ahead.’

‘I got those photos of the girls playing soccer,’ Chris Patrick said. ‘But I still can’t say if it’s her. They all wore those golden ribbons and it’s just impossible to say. Sorry.’

‘It’s fine,’ Murray said. ‘Thanks for letting us know.’

Ella pressed the button to hang up. ‘Golden ribbon,’ she said.

‘Yeah, Freya had one in her hair in the photos.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘It’s just made me think of something.’

‘What?’

‘Drive to the Pieterses’ house and I’ll tell you on the way.’

Georgie fell into bed with a sigh. The codeine she’d taken for her headache was starting to kick in, and between that and her exhaustion she was slipping pleasantly under when the phone rang.
Dammit.
She’d left her mobile off, but after the patch-up call to Matt at his office she’d forgotten to take the landline off the hook.

She pulled the quilt over her head but could still hear it ringing, and finally got up to answer.

‘It’s me,’ Adam said.

‘Hi.’ She put her face on the kitchen bench, her eyes closed. ‘I’m between nights.’

‘Shit, sorry. I just wanted to let you know about Barnaby.’

She opened her eyes. ‘Is he dead?’

‘No such luck,’ he said. ‘There was a burglary the other day and the prints came back to him. We went out to get him this morning and he’s gone. Faye and everyone swear up, down and sideways that they don’t know when he went and they don’t know where.’

Georgie was wide awake. ‘You have no clue?’

‘Not a one,’ he said. ‘The good thing is there’s a warrant on him, so if you do spot him you can call and he’ll be arrested.’

Yeah
, Georgie thought,
but the bad thing is that he could be on the loose here in the city
.

Adam said, ‘He’ll probably come home in a few days. We’ll be keeping an eye out, and when he does turn up I’ll let you know.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Sleep tight.’

Georgie put the phone down slowly. If she rang Matt he would want to come home, but then he’d want to talk, or get in bed with her, and she needed silence and solitude to sleep. There was really nothing he could do. She was safe up here. She wouldn’t answer the door, and the chances of somebody leaving the building right when he wanted to come in, like had happened with the flower guy, were slim.

She couldn’t think straight. She needed to sleep. She rubbed her face and went back to bed and pulled the quilt up high. The codeine slowed but didn’t stop her thoughts, and she rolled onto her side and stared at the wall and worried.

Josh was lying on his bed when John showed them upstairs.

‘Hi, Ella,’ he said.

‘Feeling a bit off, buddy?’

‘I went to see Uncle Alistair and he said I have to take it easy for a while.’ He was winding the ribbon between his fingers.

‘He has a heart condition, and Alistair started him on some new medication and said it might take a while for his body to adjust,’ John said.

Ella nodded. Murray was looking at the Luke Skywalker poster on the wall.

‘Isn’t he cool?’ Josh said.

Murray smiled. ‘I bet you’ve seen all the movies.’

‘I have!’ Josh sat up then blinked. ‘Whoah.’

‘Lie down,’ John said. ‘Lie still.’

Josh sagged back on the pillow. ‘Feel funny.’

‘Remember what Uncle Alistair said, that it’s only for the first couple of days,’ John said. ‘You just have to take it easy.’

Ella crouched by the bed. ‘Josh, your dad said it was all right for me to ask you some questions but I want to make sure that’s okay with you too.’

‘Yep.’ He smoothed the ribbon over the back of his hand.

She touched the end. ‘This is lovely. Where did you find it?’

‘In Tim’s cupboard. He said I couldn’t play with it but Callum said it was okay.’

‘Why wouldn’t Tim let you play with it?’

‘He said it was too special. You want to hold it?’

‘Thanks.’ She pulled it gently from his hands. ‘Did he say why it was special?’

‘Because it belonged to the beautiful fairy princess.’

‘Did you ever meet the princess?’

He shook his head. ‘Nobody meets the fairy princess, and after a while even Tim couldn’t see her because the evil wizard stole her away and put a spell on her so she wouldn’t talk to him any more.’