Split (27 page)

The number of his B&B was tacked to the bulletin board next to the phone. She dialled.

“Hello?” An older lady’s voice.

“Hi, I’m calling for your guest, Andy Flynn.”

“Oh, hang on. He’s just here watching TV,” she said.

Mak chuckled to herself.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Andy. It’s Mak.”

“Oh, I’d know that voice anywhere,” he said. And she certainly knew his.

“Would you like to come over?” she asked, feeling a bit like a naughty teenager with the parents away. “We could order in and watch all the vampire and werewolf movies on TV. Whaddya say?”

“You want to drag me away from the Charlie Brown Halloween special with the haunted pumpkin in the pumpkin patch and all that? I’m enjoying it, you know.”

Mak couldn’t restrain a giggle.

“Get me outta here,” she heard him say in a low voice. “I was hoping you’d call.”

“I did recommend the Honoured Guest, didn’t I? But nooooo…” She laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t want to drag you away from Charlie Brown at grandma’s house. But the
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
is on next, so if you need someone to cling to when you get scared—”

“I’ll be right over.”

Grinning from ear to ear, she made her way back to the window.

Rain had begun to fall outside. She saw some children being ushered under shelter by their parents. Some had opened umbrellas and were rushing home, and others shivered and waited for it to pass. Hopefully it would clear up. It was never as much fun traipsing around in the wet. It was hell on those Dracula capes, not to mention the pasty ghoul make-up.

The rain depressed her, and she thought again about what Ann had said.

Be careful what you wish for.

In the end Makedde supposed she got what she wished for—another chance to prove herself, to save her own life. In some ways, she felt whole again.

“You came to save me,” she’d told Andy, “but I didn’t need saving this time…”

Andy and her father were rummaging through her apartment for clues when news came that she had called 911 from a cabin deep in the woods of Squamish. She hadn’t needed anyone to save her this
time, though she suspected that she might not have made it back to the cabin safely if the brothers had not fought. Their quarrel had given her time that the other victims were not afforded.

Debbie Melmeth’s and Susan Walker’s families had both contacted her. They found some solace in knowing that their daughters’ killer was dead, but nothing would bring their children back. Nothing anyone did could change that fact.

Whatever great being or force shaped Makedde’s life, it had an infinitely bigger picture in mind than she did. Now, more than ever, she was convinced of that. Whatever her fears were, they would come true. But what she was only just realising was that rather than being a curse, adversity was in fact a great gift. For once your greatest fears come true, you are no longer burdened by them. You have survived, you are stronger, and you are free.

The doorbell rang.

Makedde peered cautiously through the peephole and saw Andy’s familiar face.

“Aren’t you going to say trick or treat?” she asked, opening the door.

“What?”

“Never mind. Come on in.”

Andy was wet from the rain, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, and carrying a bottle of wine.

They sat up that night and watched the Halloween specials on TV, periodically answering the door for adventurous Trick or Treaters who still rang the bell despite the weather. In time, the visitors dropped off, and they hugged close to each other in silence on the couch. There was no need to talk.

Makedde gave in to her sleepiness around one. She kissed Andy goodnight and saw him to the family guestroom, not wanting to send him back to that awful B&B. But nightmares came to her quickly. She was running, and there were monsters, horrible monsters chasing her—twin vampires and zombies. She heard their footsteps behind her as they followed, fast—too fast even for her athletic strides. She was breathless, panting and running, and then somehow all was quiet. She had reached an oasis in the dark, a temporary haven behind a great gnarled tree like the ones in the forest when the twins had hunted her down. And then a noise…a crack of twigs…no, a scraping, somewhere…the sound was real, and she opened her eyes with a start.

NO!

There was a sound.

A real sound.

In real life.

She leapt out of bed. There it was again. It was coming from down the hall.

Daniel…with Roy’s blood on his hands…

But he’s dead…I killed him…

Andy was already in the hall, standing in his boxer shorts, his eyes wide. He had heard it too.

“What is it?” she whispered, coming up beside him, heart pounding and trying not to tremble. He gave a cursory glance at her dressed in underpants and a T-shirt, but said nothing. He was half-naked, too, so what could he say?

“It’s coming from the sliding doors at the back,” he said quietly. “I think someone is trying to break in. I’ll go check it out.”

Makedde followed, and when he looked back at her and held up his hand as if to say, “Stay here”, he saw from the look on her face that she wasn’t staying anywhere.

They crept down the hall together.

At the end of the hall, they turned to look into the kitchen. Through the opening on the other side, they could see the sliding glass doors of the balcony, and blackness beyond.

Silence.

They moved closer.

They were a mere five feet from the glass doors when a sudden “Boo!” pierced the silence, and a gruesome green face emerged from the dark to blow a big raspberry against the glass. Huge white lips squished up against the glass pane, the pink tongue writhing. Ghoul make-up. It smeared against the glass in a pasty mess, and in seconds the teenager ran away to the laughter of his hiding cohorts.

“Oh, bloody hell!” Andy exclaimed. “Kids!” They collapsed together in a relieved and shaken heap on the kitchen floor, holding one another in their underwear, laughing.

“You were more scared than I was!” Makedde cried, barely able to form words through her laughter.

They held each other when they drifted into sleep. That night Makedde slept soundly.

She didn’t dream.

First of all, I would like to thank my amazing literary agent, Selwa Anthony, for all her guidance and support, and the unique dedication that is her special calling card.

My research for this novel required a great deal of assistance and cooperation, and it is with much appreciation that I acknowledge Dr Robert Hare PhD for his consulting on psychopathy and for making a cameo appearance in this novel, Dr Tony Phillips PhD for his consulting on psychiatry, Steven Van Aperen of Australian Polygraph Services International for his consulting on polygraphy and the detection of deception, Dr Kathryn Guy for the medical consulting, Penny Gulliver for the self-defence tactics, Tom Ryan “The BC guy” for all his facts, Thomas Claxton at UBC Security for his help, and the FBI Academy, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the American Association of Police Polygraphists and the Los Angeles Police Department for their assistance.

Thanks to Janusz for being positively amazing on every level (and for letting me be a nutcase), David and Glenys for Paradise Point, Urszula for the tango, Sheila Hammond for the voice, Marg McAlister for the encouragement, Marty Walsh and everyone at Chadwicks for their ongoing support, HarperCollins for their patience and faith, Gloria and Mark and little Jacquelyn for their friendship and Bo-sitting, and all my great friends for being there. That means you too, Bo.

Special thanks also to my sister Jackie, the tattooed, rock-climbing, computer-programming antithesis to Theresa Vanderwall, and my father, who, with no police background whatsoever, nonetheless takes the constant comparisons with Les Vanderwall in good humour. Love to Lou and the whole Moss, T’Hooft, Carlson and Bosch families.

Without all of you, this would not have been possible. Thank you.

Tara is the author of four bestselling crime novels published in fifteen countries in ten languages. Writing has been a lifelong passion for her; she began penning gruesome ‘Stephen King-inspired’ stories for her classmates when she was only ten. Tara enjoyed a successful international career as a fashion model before pursuing professional writing, first earning a Diploma from the Australian College of Journalism. She began writing her debut novel,
Fetish
, when she was just twenty-three. Her crime novels have been nominated for the Davitt and the Ned Kelly awards. She has a star on the Australian Walk of Fame: the first person so inducted for services to literature.

Not a writer to rely solely on imagination, she has toured the FBI Academy at Quantico, spent time in squad cars, morgues, prisons, labs, the Supreme Court and criminology conferences world-wide, taken polygraph tests, shot weapons, conducted surveillance, flown with the RAAF, and acquired her CAMS race driver licence. Tara recently earned her PI licence, and was set on fire by Hollywood stunt company West EFX and choked unconscious by Ultimate Fighter ‘Big’ John McCarthy for her research.

Born in Victoria, BC, Tara is a proud dual Australian/ Canadian citizen, and divides her time between Sydney, Los Angeles and her hometown in Canada. She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, as well as an ambassador for the YWCA and the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.

Visit taramoss.com

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M
AKEDDE
V
ANDERWALL
IS A PSYCHO-MAGNET.

She’s a single, Canadian, street-smart daughter of a cop, an alluring Venus who works in the lucrative world of modelling while studying forensic psychology.

When Mak travels to Sydney on assignment and discovers her best friend brutally murdered, she unwittingly opens a Pandora’s Box of suspicious photographers, hired thugs and mysterious lovers. She also encounters Andy Flynn, the handsome, cloyed detective investigating the ‘Stiletto Murders’

— the most violent signature killings Australia has ever known.

In her quest to uncover the truth behind her friend’s death, Mak falls headlong into a deadly game of cat and mouse, unaware she has become the obsession of a sadistic psychopath. She is driven into a corner, an evil place where she must suspect everyone and everything.

‘… full of intrigue and suspense.Thriller fans will love it.’
Melbourne Weekly

‘Moss’s plain and simple depiction of the unglamorous worlds of middle-income modelling and the NSW Police Force is fascinating.’

Who Weekly

Eighteen months after her ordeal at the hands of the sadistic ‘Stiletto Murderer’, Makedde Vanderwall must confront her demons when she returns to Sydney for the trial. But just as the verdict is handed down, the unthinkable happens — the killer escapes aided by an accomplice whom no one expected …

Mak is terrified. She decides to leave the country, but the press dogs her every move, hindering her safe passage and unknowingly helping the Stiletto Murderer, who’s busy rekindling an old fetish —
her
.

Sharper than a Manolo six-inch heel, sexier than a Versace fashion show, and riskier than all seven deadly sins,
Covet
will set your pulse racing.

‘Realistic characters, dramatic plots and painstaking research make Tara Moss’s books a
must
read’ Steven Van Aperen, Forensic Polygraph Expert

‘Tara Moss’s knack for combining the unglamorous world of modelling with forensic science makes this thriller impossible to put down.’

New Woman

She’s street-smart, stunning and hoping to leave her troubled past behind her …

Makedde ‘Mak’Vanderwall has her PhD and has started a new life in Australia with her detective boyfriend, Andy Flynn.To scrape together extra cash to start her first forensic psychology practice, Mak begins working part-time for an infamous Sydney PI. With a knack for investigation and bending the law, she might just have stumbled across her true calling — and the career choice that could finally bust up her relationship once and for all.

Then Mak is hired by a mysterious client to investigate the murder of A-list PA Meaghan Wallace. The police believe it’s an open and shut case: a junkie street-kid is guilty. But the case turns out to be a lot more complicated as Mak uncovers a dangerous web of cover-ups, killers for hire, the powerful and debauched rich, and Australia’s sleazy underbelly. If the boy didn’t kill Meaghan, then who set him up? And how far will they go to keep their guilt a secret?

‘The pages of this suspense thriller just turned themselves.What a blast!’ Hugh Jackman

‘A thriller packed with sex, suspense and suspicion. Hold on tight!’
Woman’s Day

Mak Vanderwall — street-wise former model, graduate in forensic psychology, and now PI — is back in Sydney and has been hired by a concerned mother to track down her missing nineteen-year-old son. Mak finds that he has run off with a troupe of French performers sweeping through Australia with a modern and alternative performance of the ‘Grand Guignol Theatre of Fear’, which was famous in Paris in the early 1900s. Has he been seduced by the alluring and amoral older French woman who has a terrifying starring role in the show? And what of the rumours of death and murder that have plagued the mysterious troupe for the past decade? Is their shady past fact or fiction?

Meanwhile, Mak is increasingly obsessed with the powerful and ruthless Cavanagh family — one of Australia’s richest and most influential families, whom she believes got away with murder. And it seems their security advisor Mr White, and his hit man, Luther Hand, may not have forgotten about Mak either …