Tell the Truth (6 page)

She was protesting a little too much, Ella thought. ‘So you've never seen James flirting with anyone, or –'

‘I just said no. Never.' Her eyes were hard. ‘Neither of them would even consider it.'

Hmm
, Ella thought.

Murray said, ‘James was trying to think who might have reason to want to hurt Stacey. Do you have any thoughts on that?'

‘There's a neighbour who yells at her from his house when her dog widdles on his trees, but she never sounded frightened when she mentioned him,' Marie said.

‘What about someone who might want to hurt James?' Ella asked.

‘I know there was that anonymous complaint a while back. Stacey said James was pretty stressed and angry over it. Apparently he thought it was some competitor trying to wreck his business. But that's all that comes to mind.'

Ella said, ‘Do you know anyone who owns a folding bicycle?'

‘You can get bikes that fold now?'

‘Never mind,' Ella said.

There was the sound of a key in the front door and a young woman appeared in the hall. ‘Hey, Mum – oh. Hi.'

‘Paris, is it?' Ella got to her feet and introduced herself and Murray. ‘Can you join us for a few minutes?'

Paris
–
Stacey's niece, Rowan's paramedic trainee
–
was dressed in gym pants and shoes and a white Adidas jacket over a black T-shirt, and carried a gym bag.

She eyed them warily. ‘What's going on?' She cast a sceptical look at the folded cloth in her mother's hand, a look Ella noted with interest. ‘Fainted again, huh?'

Hmm
. Scepticism in the voice too.

‘I'm fine, darling,' Marie said. ‘No need to worry.'

Ella said, ‘Paris, when did you last see or talk to your aunt Stacey?'

‘Last week, at work. Thursday morning. Rowan and I were finishing nightshift and she was coming in for a dayshift. Why?'

‘Has she told you about any problems she's been having?' Murray asked.

‘No, nothing.'

‘Would you say you're close?' Ella asked.

Marie let out a bark of laughter.

‘Mum,' Paris said.

‘Paris would say yes, but I doubt Stacey would,' Marie told Ella. ‘I myself would call it a severely lopsided relationship.'

Paris looked at the floor, and Ella saw the muscles in her jaw tense.

She cleared her throat and glanced at Murray. ‘Marie, if you're sure you're feeling better, could I perhaps trouble you for some water, please? Or maybe even tea?'

‘Tea sounds good. I'll give you a hand.' Murray stood and helped Marie to her feet.

When they were out of the room, Murray talking a constant stream in the kitchen, Ella said to Paris, ‘No matter what your mother says, you and your aunt are close, aren't you?'

‘Yes.' Paris's cheeks were flushed, and she shot an angry look towards the kitchen. ‘Sometimes I feel closer to her than I do to Mum. She helps me with work, she's been there all my life. We talk on the phone every other day. Why? Has something happened?'

‘Her car was found with blood in it. A lot of blood. And she's missing.'

The colour fell from Paris's face.

‘It's really important that you think hard,' Ella said. ‘Has she confided in you about trouble she was having with someone?'

Paris shook her head, her eyes brimming over. From the kitchen came the sound of teaspoons in cups and Murray's continued blather.

‘Does she get on with everyone at work?'

‘Yes,' Paris croaked. ‘Everyone loves her.'

‘How about with your mother?'

‘They bicker a lot,' Paris said. ‘Stacey says they always have.'

‘Is there anything they bicker about frequently?'

Paris shook her head. ‘They just don't seem to agree on things generally.'

‘What about your uncle, James? Do he and Stacey argue?'

‘Not exactly,' Paris said. ‘I mean, I've never seen them. I remember Mum and Dad yelling at each other when I was little, and even the times I used to stay at Stacey and James's place after Dad died and Mum needed a break, I never saw or heard anything like that.' She hesitated.

‘But?' Ella said.

‘But a couple of times when Stacey and I have been doing stuff, like she's been helping me study or whatever, she was almost crying, and when I asked her what was wrong she said it was nothing major, just a bit of disagreement at home. I don't know what about – she didn't tell me and I felt weird asking. I tried to say that she could talk to me if she wanted, but she just moved on to whatever we were doing.'

‘When did that happen?'

‘In the last few months,' Paris said. ‘Once since I've been working, so in the last six weeks.'

Ella could hear Murray still talking in the kitchen, but knew she didn't have much more time. ‘How do you get along with James?'

‘All right,' she said. ‘He's okay, though if it wasn't for him being with Stacey I wouldn't be his friend, probably. I sometimes feel like he's laughing at me, you know? I don't know why. I said to Stacey that I don't think he likes me, and she brushed it off. But he rang me last week, and asked me about Rowan.'

Ella sat further forward, one ear on Murray.
Keep Marie out there!
‘What did he say?'

‘He wanted to know how he and Stacey got along. I said great, as far as I'd seen, since I hadn't been on the station for long,' Paris said. ‘He asked if they worked together much, if they spent nightshifts together. I didn't really believe what he was asking, and must've sounded surprised or shocked or something, because then he laughed and said he was joking, couldn't I tell that? He can make you feel really silly.'

‘What day was that?'

‘Tuesday,' Paris said.

‘Did you tell Stacey?'

Paris shook her head. ‘It felt stupid.'

‘I have to ask,' Ella said. ‘Do you think Stacey could be seeing Rowan? Or anyone else?'

‘No,' Paris said. ‘I can't imagine that she ever would.'

She sounded certain – as certain as a niece could be about her aunt, at least. Ella nodded. She could hear Marie and Murray coming back. Time to shift to a safer topic. ‘So this last weekend, did you talk to Stacey on the phone?'

‘I talked to her on Saturday morning. She's been helping me with work stuff, going over treatment procedures and protocols, and I asked if we could get together and do some more. She was busy and said she'd call me back and let me know if she had time. But she didn't call.'

Murray brought in a tray of tea things and placed it on the coffee table.

‘She tell you everything you needed to know?' Marie asked.

Paris took an Iced VoVo and bit into it with her head down, avoiding her mother's gaze.

‘She did great,' Ella said.

‘How wonderful.' Marie reached for the teapot. ‘Milk? Sugar?'

‘Actually, we need to get going.' Ella put her card on the table. ‘Please call any time if you – either of you – think of anything else that might be helpful, even remotely. And thank you.'

Outside, Murray nudged her arm as she unlocked the car. ‘What did you get?'

‘Paris and Stacey are closer than Paris and her mother.' She told him about Stacey crying and mentioning problems at home, and about James's questions about Rowan. ‘Ties in with James eyeing Rowan off when we were at the scene, and the feeling that there was something between them.'

Murray clipped in his seatbelt. ‘So has James done her in because he thought she was having an affair?'

‘And put the car there for Rowan to find, to set him up somehow? I don't know.' Ella started the car and pulled out.

Murray looked back at the house. ‘I thought that passing out thing was a total furphy.'

‘Really? So did I, but you looked like you'd swallowed it hook, line and sinker.'

‘Nah, I was all over it.' He checked his notebook. ‘Next stop the friends?'

‘Sounds good.' But Ella was still thinking about James, and Rowan, and what might really be going on.

SIX

A
imee Russell opened her front door with a surprised look that turned into a smile. ‘Rowan, right? Wow. How are you? It's been ages.' A girl of about three peered around her leg.

‘He nodded at them both, and remembered the child's name was Charlotte. ‘Do you have a minute?'

‘Well, sure. Come in.'

They sat in the kitchen. Aimee wore jeans and a black T-shirt with a cartoon chicken on the front, and her feet were bare. The little girl ran off, and he could hear
Play School
on in another room. He said, ‘This is Imogen.'

The women smiled at each other. ‘Can I get you a coffee or something?' Aimee said.

‘No, thanks,' Rowan said. ‘Have you heard from Stacey today?'

‘No, why?'

‘I'm sorry to say it like this, but she might be in trouble.'

‘How do you mean?'

‘He found her car with blood in it, and the police don't know where she is,' Imogen said.

Aimee looked back and forth between them. ‘Are you kidding me? Is this for real?'

‘When did you last talk to her?' Rowan asked.

‘Hang on a minute. You're not joking?'

‘I wish I was,' he said.

She bit her lip. ‘Last week. Friday. I rang to see if she wanted to go out for coffee. She was busy. We planned to catch up this week.'

‘Did she tell you about anyone hassling her, anyone who might want to hurt her?' Rowan asked.

‘No. Never anything like that. Why aren't the cops asking me this stuff?'

‘The cops start with the family then work out, so I'm trying to find out anything that might help.'

The thought of Stacey's tears and the apology he owed her burned his heart.

Aimee let out a breath. ‘Was there a lot of blood in the car?'

‘Too much,' Rowan said.

‘Let me call Claire and Vicky.' She picked up her phone.

*

Ella and Murray arrived at Aimee Russell's house to find four cars parked outside. Ella swore when she recognised the one in the driveway: a blue Ford sedan with a paramedic sticker on the back window. ‘Rowan Wylie's here.'

She banged on the front door with an angry fist, hearing sombre conversation inside, smelling coffee. Murray fumed beside her.

The woman who answered looked about forty, and wore jeans and a T-shirt. ‘Yes?'

Ella held up her badge. ‘Aimee Russell?'

‘Yes.' She looked relieved. ‘Has there been any news?'

‘Not yet,' Murray said. ‘We'd like to talk to Rowan.'

Rowan was sitting in the lounge room drinking coffee with three other women. He looked a little embarrassed to see them in the doorway. Ella beckoned him out, and they went into the dining room and she shut the door. He sat at the dining table with a nervous expression on his face. Ella took the chair opposite and stared at him until he lowered his gaze to the polished timber. She thought of the killers who took pains to insinuate themselves into police investigations, to get involved in searches, to miraculously locate the body. To find the car. To talk to possible witnesses before she did.

‘Do you know why we're here?' she said.

‘As part of the investigation, I assume.'

‘And can you tell me why you're here?' She tried to keep her anger controlled.

‘Aimee's a friend of Stacey's. I wanted to know if she'd heard from her. I thought if she had, I could let you know. She hadn't, but she rang her other two friends and told them what was happening and they came over, but they haven't heard from her either.'

At the end of the table Murray clicked his pen and made a note. Rowan glanced his way.

‘Did it ever occur to you,' Ella said, ‘that it might be
important that we speak to these people for ourselves?'

‘I knew you would eventually, but I thought in the meantime it would help.'

Did you just.
She said, ‘Tell me again how you came to recognise Stacey's car.'

‘I noticed the paramedic sticker, then the numberplate. I see the car pretty often. I know what it looks like.'

Murray made another note.

‘How close are you and Stacey?' Ella asked.

‘We're friends, as I said earlier. Is this really helping, going over and over the same stuff?'

‘Have you had an affair with her?' Ella asked.

‘What? No!'

Murray marked his notebook again.

‘How did you two meet?' Ella said.

‘I told you, at work,' Rowan said. ‘We were partnered together and became friends. As I've said numerous times now.'

‘Then what?'

‘Then what what? I don't know what you're expecting me to say.'

‘When did you meet?'

‘I told you before. Eight or nine years ago.'

‘And you introduced her to James.'

‘Again like I said before, I was friends with him already. We had a party at our place. They both came and they hit it off.'

‘Were you jealous?' Murray asked.

‘Are you kidding? I was married. They were – they are – my friends. I was delighted for them.'

‘Do you ever see her outside work?'

‘Now and then. Sometimes she comes to Playland with Em and me. Occasionally we have dinner at their place, or they come to ours.'

‘When was the last time that happened?' Ella said. ‘The dinner?'

Rowan frowned. ‘It'd have to be a few months.'

‘Why so long?'

He shrugged. ‘I don't know.'

‘Who stopped inviting who?' Murray asked.

Rowan paused. ‘They did. I think. Or we both did. I don't know. Life's been busy.'

Murray wrote something else.

‘What are you writing?' Rowan asked.

Ella said, ‘How do you and James get on?'

‘Fine. Why?'

‘He ever have a problem with you and Stacey working together?'

‘What? Did he say that?'

‘I'm just asking a question,' Ella said.

‘If he did, he never said so to me. And Stacey never told me either. It's a ridiculous idea, anyway.'

‘All right,' Ella said. ‘You happened to notice her car, you happened to glance inside it. You're talking to her friends before we do. Is there a reason you're so intent on helping us find her?'

‘I'm her friend,' he said. ‘Isn't that enough?'

Ella waited.

‘Look,' he said. ‘If you really must know, I have a son who's semi-missing. So a sign that something might've happened to someone I care about gets my attention. Okay?'

‘I've never heard of someone being semi-missing,' Ella said.

‘He left home five years ago and I haven't spoken to him since. But he sends postcards now and again, from different places in western New South Wales, so I know he's okay, but I've never been able to get in touch with him.'

‘What's his name?' she asked.

‘Angus. He's twenty-four.'

Ella wondered if this was some kind of convenient cover, an effort to mask his attempts at involvement in the case. She'd look into it later, but right now they had to get on with the case.

‘That's all for now. Ask Ms Russell to come in now, and don't leave until we've spoken to you again.' That should keep him stewing in his juices.

Aimee Russell hurried in. ‘So there's no news? You really don't know what's happened to her?'

‘We're trying to put that together,' Ella said. ‘Can we start with your full name and date of birth, please?'

When they had all her particulars, Ella said, ‘When did you last have any contact with Stacey?'

‘On Friday.' Aimee described how she'd rung her to go out for a coffee, but Stacey had said she was busy.

‘Doing what?' Murray asked.

‘She didn't say.'

‘How did she sound?' Ella asked.

‘A bit flat, like she was tired.'

‘Did that seem strange?'

Aimee nodded. ‘She's usually pretty perky unless she's coming off nights, and I know she wasn't that day. You can hear her smile when she answers the phone, that sort of thing.'

‘And on Friday she wasn't smiling?' Murray said.

‘Definitely not.'

‘Did she ever confide in you?' Ella asked.

‘She'd talk sometimes about work things – a sad case, a tough one – but she didn't talk much about personal stuff. If we were out as a group and someone started bitching about their husband or whatever, she didn't really say anything. The times when she did mention James it was pretty surface stuff: he was busy at work, that sort of thing. Never any detail about issues or sex or anything.'

‘Do you know him well?' Ella said.

‘Not really. He seems an okay guy, though when we were out he'd often text or call and ask her something, and it was always something that I'd think could've waited, like “do we have plans on the weekend?” or “did you buy any parmesan?”. I asked her once whether he was suspicious of what she was up to, but she brushed it off. It always struck me as strange, though.'

‘Did she ever give an indication that she was annoyed or upset about him doing that?' Murray asked.

‘No,' Aimee said. ‘She'd just answer him then go on with the conversation.'

‘Did he do or say any other odd things?' Ella said.

Aimee thought. ‘He was always up when I dropped her home, no matter how late it was. He'd open the door and wait for her to come in. But they don't have kids, so he probably doesn't need sleep as much as my husband does.'

‘About kids,' Ella said. ‘They're not having any?'

‘When Charlotte was born, Stacey told me she'd like to, but that was three years ago and she's never said it again since, and when I asked her she said no.' As if on cue, a little girl came into the room and leaned on her mother's leg.

‘I'm hungry,' she said.

Aimee looked at Ella and Murray. ‘Are we finished?

‘Almost,' Ella said. ‘Did you ever get the idea that Stacey might be seeing or interested in someone else?'

‘I'd be very surprised. If she was, she was hiding it well.'

‘With some people you can tell when they're holding something back,' Murray said. ‘You can tell if they're not being completely straight. Did she ever give you that feeling?'

‘She can be quiet,' Aimee said. ‘When she'd talk about those sad jobs, she'd say so much then trail off, but we all work with dying patients at some time so stuff doesn't need to be spelled out. But I didn't feel like she was hiding anything big, and I sort of thought that with her husband there just wasn't much to bitch about. Because she'd talk about her sister Marie pretty freely.'

‘They don't get on?' Murray said.

‘They do mostly, but apparently Marie sometimes has this bossy big sister thing going on and it bugs the hell out of Stacey.' Charlotte whined, and Aimee rubbed her back.

‘Bossy how?' Ella asked.

‘Well, one time she said that she was talking to Paris, her niece, Marie's daughter, about some problem with Paris's boyfriend. Marie told Stacey later she should keep out of it, that she couldn't possibly understand and help when she wasn't a mother herself. Stacey was really riled up. She said it was about relationships, not whether you were a parent. I said maybe Marie was jealous that Paris had talked to Stacey about it instead of her, but she didn't want to talk about it any more.'

‘What else did they fight about?' Ella asked.

‘That's the only thing that stands out. Claire and Vicky might remember more, though.' She gestured towards the lounge room as she spoke.

‘The third woman out there,' Ella said. ‘Who is she?'

‘Her name's Imogen. She came here with Rowan. Was it okay that he was asking questions? I did say that I felt I should be talking to you instead.'

‘That would have been better,' Ella said. ‘How well do you know him?'

‘Not very well. I see him around the hospital sometimes, but I was surprised when he turned up this morning. He and Stacey came here once in the ambulance, dropping off flowers after I'd had Charlotte, but it's a wonder he remembered where I live.'

Ella and Murray exchanged a glance.

‘How did he seem when he was talking about Stacey?' Ella asked.

‘Anxious and worried. I understood why he wanted to help.'

‘Did you ever have reason to think there might be something going on between them?' Murray said.

Aimee shook her head, as Charlotte pulled on her arm. ‘No. They seem like they get on well, and Stacey's said she has fun when she works with him, but from what I can see it's the same when she works with anyone else.'

Ella thanked her and gave her a card with the usual instructions, then asked her to send in Imogen.

‘I don't know Stacey,' the woman said as soon as she sat down. She was around forty, round-faced, short chestnut hair.

‘Let's start with some personal details,' Murray said.

Once that was done, Ella said, ‘I'm curious how she came up in conversation between you and Rowan.'

‘We met for coffee,' she said. ‘I know his son's girlfriend. She thought we'd get along and she arranged for us to meet up.'

‘You mean you've only just met him today?' Murray said.

‘Two hours ago,' Imogen said. ‘He apologised for being distracted and said a friend of his was missing. He talked about what had happened and said he wished he could do something, like ask her friends if they'd seen her. I came with him.'

‘Not the turn of events you'd expect on a blind date,' Ella said. ‘How was he when he was talking about her?'

‘Concerned, worried, upset. I'd thought he seemed distant because he didn't really want to be there, but then it made sense.'

They let her go, then interviewed Stacey's other friends. Claire Comber was a thin woman of thirty-nine who blinked back tears and crossed and recrossed her jeans-clad legs. She was a paramedic who'd worked with Stacey on and off over the past few years. ‘I can't understand why this would happen. Stacey's the best.'