The Murder Suite: Book One - The Audrey Murders (16 page)

He was looking forward to going pig hunting tonight.  It was best just after dark.

C H A P T E R   6 2

              Audrey hadn’t even heard the gunshots.  She had gone to sleep early and slept all night.  Just before she woke she had a wonderful dream.  It seemed so real that she awoke embarrassed and feeling very vulnerable.  She had dreamed about her neighbor, Harry Armstrong.  They were making love and she had never felt so wonderful in all her life.  He had been so loving and caring towards her.  No man had ever treated her that way before. It took a few minutes after she had awoken from the dream to realize it hadn’t happened.  It was only a dream.    She lay quietly in bed for some time reveling in the blissful feeling of being in love.  

Audrey had stopped dating over a year ago.  That was when the darkness came.  She had joined a couple of Internet dating sites when she had returned to New Zealand eight years ago.  She would choose a couple of men from the hundred or so who had responded.

After talking with them by phone she would invite them to the chalets for a romantic evening of dancing, wine and music.  The date came complete with overnight accommodation as most of her dates drove from Auckland or further afield.  It was always made clear she did not sleep with anyone on a first date.   She was looking for a long- term relationship and wanted to get to know someone first.  After all, legalized prostitution gave men, who just wanted sex, an alternative to dating. 

It wasn’t long before she realized she had confused New Zealand men with American men who actually knew what a date was; a nice dinner, good conversation, a time to get to know each other and to find out if there is enough chemistry or interest to pursue the relationship further.   She had dated in America for many years but was not really attracted to American men.   Seven years of dating, entertaining, wining and dining in New Zealand turned out to be a nightmare from hell.   New Zealand men, she had found to be arrogant, egotistical, self opinionated, crude, chauvinistic and, more importantly, sexually aggressive and romantically ignorant.  

Once she had invited a city lawyer to dinner.  She had prepared his suite with his favorite wine and favorite CDs.  She planned a crayfish dinner (caught fresh the same day) with a Waldorf salad and homemade apple sponge pudding for desert.   She had shopped all day, dressed in her most feminine outfit and filled the spa with clean scented water.  The “no vacancy” sign was displayed prominently for the whole weekend.   

When her lawyer arrived he was wearing a linen shirt, baggy linen pants and bare feet. After a quick hello he immediately ran frantically to the top of the pa behind the chalets.  Shocked, Audrey changed shoes and followed him up the steep incline with equal stamina.  By the time they returned to the deck of Suite A to her prepared champagne and snacks, she was sweating profusely and extremely confused. The man was obviously on something.  

For the first hour they watched the sun set, drank champagne, danced and talked.  It was nice. Audrey prepared the meal in the downstairs kitchen while her date went upstairs to the lounge and dining room overlooking the harbor.  

The table was set for two. Audrey carried the carefully prepared meals up the stairs.  As she entered the room her date stood to reveal he had removed his trousers and underwear and was clad only in his open, gaping shirt - his willy protruding rudely in stiff acknowledgement of her presence. She felt completely disgusted and horribly disappointed. Not knowing how to respond, she simply walked to the table, placed the meals on her beautifully hand woven tablemats and took her seat. He nonchalantly walked over to join her.  

The evening went from bad to worse.  He wouldn’t go to his own suite but instead insisted on sleeping in her bed “I won’t touch you. I just want to lie beside you,” he repeated so many times Audrey just gave in. All she wanted to do was to go sleep and forget the whole event.   

The next morning he departed after she had cooked a wonderful bacon and egg breakfast.  He texted her in the afternoon upon his return home;
“I had wonderful time. Hope we can do it again sometime.”
 

Always the hostess, Audrey would entertain date after date.  Most men removed their clothes within the first hour.  All men wanted to have sex as soon as possible.   Once or twice she did sleep with a man to whom she was attracted to but he would mistakenly think having sex meant they were now a couple and he wouldn’t want to leave. 

Audrey had been both mentally and visually abused by men for as long as she could remember.   She couldn’t remember the last time she even liked the look of a penis.  She thought that in her sexual past, the sight of a penis might have stirred a positive reaction but years of men presenting their prize organ to her as though they were offering her a gift she just couldn’t refuse had destroyed any positive sexual feeling ever associated with them.

When Audrey was a young woman in her early thirties she remembered a meeting, which had been arranged with a businessman from out of town.   She was excited to be presenting her idea to a possible investor.  The meeting was held in his hotel suite. As she sat down at the glass coffee table and removed her presentation from her briefcase, he immediately removed his very large, naked, extended penis and presented it proudly six inches from her face.  

During her many careers, she had became more and more horrified by men’s appalling sexual behavior.  Bosses attempting to rape her in her teen years to grown men in their fifties acting like animals in the presence of a lady. 

She had even accepted a meeting on a Boeing 747 from LAX to Heathrow with a businessman who said it was the only time he had available to discuss investing in her new company. Once aboard, he postponed the meeting until they were at their hotel.  Audrey dressed in her most appropriate business attire complete with loan documents and high hopes was greeted at the door by the gentleman in his bathrobe.  She apologized for interrupting him and suggested returning back when he was dressed and ready for the meeting.  That was not to happen.  That was never to happen. The next few hours of his physical naked advances finally ended with him wanking off beside her on the bed.  Sad and disgusted Audrey fled to her sister’s house in London. She took the next plane back home.

A seething anger had been growing inside Audrey’s mind since she was a small child.  It had now matured into an uncompromising hate towards men.  Hence she was surprised by the fondness she was feeling towards Harry Armstrong.  She hoped he had killed the pigs.   He could collaborate her problem she was having with wild pigs if ever the police pursued her further.  She wondered if he would come by again today.  She hoped so.

C H A P T E R   6 3

It was more difficult than he thought.  There were a number of John Campbell’s living in Auckland and the address on his registration was not current.  He did a search, but without his driver’s license or current address it was proving difficult.  He didn’t even have a photo to help him with identification.   He would need to call Audrey at the Chalets.  If he was staying there he may have left an address.   He picked up the phone and dialed her number.

“The Three Suites, Audrey speaking” she sang into the phone.

“Constable Driver here.  We have a situation you may be able to help us with” he paused “A car has gone over the cliff on Radar Hill and it appears to belong to a Mr. John Campbell.  I have been told he was a guest at your chalets.”  He waited for her response.  

There was quite a silence before Audrey said “John Campbell? You said? She asked. 

“Yes. I was wondering if you had an address or credit card receipt.  We need to locate his family.”  

“Is he dead?” asked Audrey. 

“No, well we don’t know for sure. He is officially missing at this time,” he said.  “We do need to contact his family. Can you give me his address?”  

Audrey paused then said “I am so sorry Constable but he called by phone to make the reservation and paid in cash when he arrived.” 

“Don’t you require a deposit or credit card information to hold a booking?” He asked frustrated.  

“He only called a day or so before and he sounded like a business man.  I didn’t worry about it.”

“Did he leave a phone number?” he asked. 

She said. “No. But you can ask Captain Todd.  He went out on a fishing trip with him on the day he left.  He may have paid him by credit card or left a phone number”.                 

“He never turned up for the trip,” said Driver.  I saw his car parked down by the dock.  But there was no sign of the man.” 

“I am so sorry,” said Audrey apologetically. “If I remember anything that may help I will call you.”  

“So you say he checked out on Saturday morning to go on the fishing trip and you haven’t seen him since” he asked.  

“That’s right. She said. He must have checked out very early because his car was gone when I woke up.”  

“Thanks” said Driver “I will be sending a sketch artist over to you shortly.  I would appreciate it if you could assist with a likeness of the man.  You are the only person to have seen him and I would like to get the sketch on the six o’clock news tonight.   He went on to get a brief description of the man over the phone.

“Late fifties, good looking, greyish hair, good physique, about six feet tall,” she provided.

The team had called in to say they had done a complete search of the area and no body was found.  They had even searched deep in the forest behind where the car had been found with no success.  The car had been completely gone over. Apart from a few maps in the glove compartment there was no sign of a cell phone, wallet, computer or anything personal left in the car except for his clothing, golf clubs and fishing gear.  It was as if the man had simply disappeared and didn’t want to be found.

Driver felt as soon as they could track down his family and friends they may have the answer to the man’s disappearance.  Maybe there was money troubles, women troubles or legal troubles.  Something must have made Mr. John Campbell want to push his car off a cliff and disappear.  Did he want it to look like an accident?  Was it murder? He would have to involve the local and national newspapers.  He would also arrange an interview on the six o’clock news.  He picked up the phone and made the necessary phone calls.  Someone must know a John Campbell who had taken a fishing trip to Northland.   Someone would know who he was.

C H A P T E R   6 4

Pearl never missed the six o’clock news.   She nearly jumped out of her chair when she saw Constable Driver on the news again.  This time talking about another man who had gone missing in Whangaroa.  “Shit!” she said to little dog sitting on the sofa beside her “another one.”    She listened while the constable went on to say a car was found over the cliff on Radar Hill. “The car’s registration shows it belongs to a Mr. John Campbell. It would appear the driver of the car has gone missing. We would like to talk to anyone who knows of a John Campbell, late 50s, who drives a black 4runner license plate Number MS3047 and had planned a fishing trip to Whangaroa.”  The Constable was holding up a sketch of the missing man. “He stayed at a local lodge on Friday night and went missing on Saturday.  If anyone has any information please contact your local police department.”

That was it.  Pearl couldn’t sit down.  She paced up and down her little TV room. Her mind was racing.   Two men missing and they both stayed at Audrey’s.  They found the bones of one man.  What was going on?  

He had mentioned a fishing trip.  She called the local club and asked who was the skipper of the boat John Campbell was booked on.  She found out it was her friend, Old Todd.   She called him but he was no use.  He said the man hadn’t turned up on Saturday morning. He left messages at the Chalet but no one called him back.  

“Gone missing, they say,” said Todd.  “They found his car over Radar Hill but no sign of the man.  Wouldn’t be any big deal except the other guy’s car was also in a strange accident.  Something is going on.”  

Pearl agreed and made another call immediately.  She would get to the bottom of this.

Audrey answered the phone.  It was Pearl. 

“Can you believe it?  Who was he?  You met him.  What was he like?  Was he depressed?  Do you think it was suicide?” Pearl blurted into the phone.  

“I can’t talk now,” said Audrey.  “ I have someone here. I will call you later”.  She hung the phone.

Audrey had a visitor.   He was sitting outside on her patio smoking a cigarette. He looked so handsome in his cowboy hat, checkered shirt and jeans.   She had convinced him to have a glass of wine with her.   He said he didn’t really drink but obliged anyway and took off his hat ready to stay awhile.

She walked back outside carrying two glasses of her best wine.  She wished she could have a ciggy but knew just one puff would set her off again.   Harry had been telling her about the pigs he had shot the night before.   “They were big buggers,” he had said.  “Two big boars with huge tusks.”   He wanted to go back again tonight at dark to catch the rest.   “There are at least four others,” he said.  “I saw a big sow and her weaners. They look as though they have been there for some time.  Why didn’t you get me to shoot them before?”  

“I didn’t want to have guns going off around the guests,” Audrey said shyly.