Times of Trouble (32 page)

‘
Oh, really? That’s a
coincidence. Who was looking for him? I’m starting to get a bit
worried about him. I’m just a friend, not a girlfriend or
anything.’

‘
It was some girl
called Lena, or Karina, or something like that. She dropped in a
couple of hours ago. It’s the fourth time she’s been in this week,
looking for her friend. Veronica, she said the name was. Odd thing
is, she thought this Veronica worked here. I’ve been here since we
opened, and I know which girls are on the roster. There was never
no Veronica.’

‘
Why do you think she
thought her friend worked there?’

‘
No idea. I told her
she was mistaken, and that’s when she asked about Bill. She knew he
owned the place. She said her friend lived at his place, and that
she needed to speak to him urgently…’

‘
But you haven’t seen
Bill either…’ I guessed.

‘
Exactly. I told her
the same thing I’ll tell you. I haven’t seen him for weeks. Not
that I mind. He isn’t exactly the most proactive boss. We get paid
by the manager here, that’s all we care about. Bill only comes in
here to drink. He never actually does any work.’

Linda didn’t seem to
care that she was badmouthing her boss to one of his friends. She
actually sounded like she was enjoying having a good old fashioned
bitch. So I held my breath and hoped for some new pieces of the
puzzle to emerge.

‘
It wouldn’t surprise
me if he’d gone on holiday, and just not told any of
us.’

‘
So when was the last
time you saw him?’

‘
Can’t remember,
love. It must have been several weeks ago. Some of the other girls
here have commented that they haven’t seen him for a while either,
but no one is that concerned.’

‘
I think he might be
missing. Do you think that is possible?’

‘
Hadn’t really
thought about it, love. Like I said, he might own this place but he
doesn’t run it. That’s all sorted on his behalf. He might have
buggered off with one of the girls he was seeing. There was a
little Russian dolly that he had with him a fair bit
recently.’

‘
What was her
name?’

‘
Now you’re testing
me... let me think... no, don’t think I ever knew. There’s been so
many of them, love, I just can’t keep up! And they’re all so young!
But I must admit, I never realised he had women friends that he
wasn’t sleeping with. If that’s what you are, you’re a
rarity.’

I needed to sound as
casual as possible, so I laughed at her last comment.

‘
This girl that came
in looking for him tonight, you thought her name was
Lena?’

‘
Yeah, she had a real
strong accent, maybe something Eastern European…’

Another Russian
maybe?

‘
Did this Lena girl
leave any way to contact her?’

It was a long shot,
but Linda didn’t seem to think there was such a thing as too much
information. If someone else was looking for Bill, she might have
got further than I had.

‘
She did actually. I
wrote down her number, and promised to call if he showed up. It was
the only way to get rid of her, you know. Got a pen, love? It’s
07458749878’.

‘
Thanks Linda, you’re
probably right, he probably has gone away and not told any of us. I
just want to make sure.’

‘
No problem
love.’

I was starting to get
really good at extracting information from people I had never met.
It was all about getting rapport, and persistence. I dialled the
number and the phone went straight to message bank, explaining that
the person I was trying to call was on the phone. So I left a
message: ‘Hi, I got your number from the barmaid at the Cosmo. I’m
looking for Bill Holland too. My name is...Rita...can you call me
back on 0465780765? It’s an Australian mobile number.
Thanks’.

I needed more fake
identities ready up my sleeve; it must have sounded suss every time
I paused before blurting out my name. I wondered if she would find
it strange to be calling me on an international number. But I
didn’t have to wonder for long, as my phone rang within seconds of
leaving the message.

‘
Rita? This is Lena.’
She sounded stressed and tired. And Linda was right, her European
accent was very thick.

‘
Hi Lena, thanks for
calling me back. I know it’s quite random that I called you, but I
wanted to speak to you about Bill. The barmaid at the Cosmo said
you’ve been looking for him, and I’m looking for him
too.’

‘
Are you friend of
his?’ she asked, sounding almost accusing.

‘
Not really. I’m
actually looking for someone he knows’.

‘
Someone missing? Who
is missing?’

‘
It’s my sister
actually. I’m looking for my sister. And I think Bill knows
her.’

‘
Why you think that?’
Lena was starting to get on my nerves. I was the one who wanted
answers, not just questions from her.

‘
I just do. The
barmaid said you were looking for your friend…’

‘
Yeah, my friend
Veronica work for him… and live with him… but he hasn’t been around
for long time. I think since I couldn’t find her, she might be with
him…’

‘
When did you last
see her?’

‘
She say she meet me
on Saturday night. And she not turn up. Is not like her. She don’t
know anyone in this city…’

‘
Have you told the
police?’ The question popped out without me meaning to say it. With
all these missing people, it was odd that everyone seemed to be
doing their own investigations.

‘
I not involve
police.’ That sounded familiar.

‘
And what luck have
you had finding Bill?’

‘
None. I been
searching for both of them, but I haven’t got nowhere. Who you
looking for again?’

‘
My sister. She was a
friend of Bill’s too.’

‘
What your sister’s
name?’

‘
It’s
Molly.’

I avoided giving her
Sophie’s name, as I felt suddenly protective of the information I
had. It was definitely interesting that there was another missing
girl who was involved with Bill, but it didn’t solve anything. For
all I knew, Bill and Veronica had been killed as part of the same
situation that Sophie and her friends had found themselves in. Or
they had gone into hiding for some reason. Or they were both
responsible for killing Danny and Katie. I was pretty sure Sophie
was trying to blackmail Bill, but that wasn’t proof he was trying
to kill her. Especially since he disappeared around the same time
she left London.

‘
You tell police
about your sister?’ she asked, daring me to explain more than I
wanted to.

‘
They know she is
missing.’ That was true enough.

‘
And you are where?
Not in England I think.’

‘
I’m in
Sydney.’

‘
You think Bill is
there?’

‘
No, I don’t. I don’t
know where he is.’

‘
Neither do
I.’

I felt like we were
going around in circles. Lena wasn’t giving anything away and her
tone made me feel like I had to be careful.

‘
I’ve got a phone
number I think might be Veronica’s. Can you tell me if it
is?’

I started to read out
the number Andy had pulled out of his software, the number Bill
Holland called most often, and had phoned as soon as he got the
blackmail text from Danny.

But before I had
finished reading, Lena interrupted abruptly, saying: ‘No, that’s
not Veronica’s. She did not have mobile phone. Where you get
it?’

I avoided that
question too. ‘Did Veronica live with Bill before she went
missing?’

‘
Yes. She live at his
apartment, even since he’s not been there. I been there, she not
taken any of her things.’ That wasn’t a good sign.

Lena let out a
frustrated sigh. ‘I sort of... break in...and it not look like he’s
taken much either.’ Also not a good sign.

‘
Do you know anything
about what Bill was doing before he went missing? Did Veronica ever
tell you anything about him?’

‘
No, all she say was
he own a bar. She tell me she work there, but she didn’t. I don’t
know why she lie.’ She suddenly sounded distressed; her voice lost
its cold edge.

‘
You’re really
worried about her, aren’t you? You don’t think she’s run after him
do you?’

‘
She wouldn’t leave
without telling me.’

I heard the emotion
in Lena’s voice. It softened her slightly. Her tone wasn’t as
accusing and aggressive as it had been. I wanted to comfort her.
But I needed to know more about Bill.

‘
So you don’t know
anything else about Bill. Like who he hung out with, or if he did
anything other than own the club?’

‘
No. I been trying to
find out. There was stuff at apartment that was strange, but I
don’t know what it means.’

‘
Strange in what
way?’

‘
Just paperwork and
things that made it look like he work on a film.’

That’s odd. ‘Like
what?’

‘
There was piece of
paper that had – what you call it - filming schedule on it. It made
no sense to me.’

‘
Could be a hobby?’ I
suggested.

‘
Maybe.’

‘
Did you keep
it?’

‘
Yeah, I take it with
me.’

‘
Could you fax it to
me?’

I doubted she would
agree, but it was worth asking the question. She sounded so alone,
maybe she would appreciate having someone else on her
side.

‘
I guess I could. I
don’t have fax machine, but there is one at convenience store, I
could send it from there.’

‘
Ok, give me two
seconds and I’ll give you a fax number.’ I had seen a fax amongst
the computers and phones in Andy’s study. Scrawled in black ink on
the top of the machine was a phone number that must be the fax
number for this machine.

‘
Ok, +61287498345.
Got it?’ Lena read it back to me. She sounded more positive, like
she was getting somewhere even if only by finding someone else who
was looking for Bill.

‘
I’ll let you know
what I think of it. And I’ll keep you updated on my
search.’

‘
Me too. Thanks for
calling, Rita. I hope you find your sister.’

I felt bad all of a
sudden, and decided to be honest with her.

‘
My name isn’t Rita,
it’s Ellen. I try not to give my real name out, but I can trust
you.’

‘
I understand. Bye
Ellen’. She hung up.

Was it a mistake to
give her my real name? Oh well, just notch it up with the
others.

Chapter 28

While I waited for
Lena's fax to arrive, I thought about the email from Sophie. Mum
had obediently forwarded it to me. Andy had left his computer on,
so I logged on to see it for myself. It said just what mum had told
me, and the email address was almost the same as the one she had
used in London. I read through it a few times, and wondered how on
earth she knew I was searching for the people who were after her?
It just didn't make sense. I was about to give up, when something
at the bottom of the email caught my eye. She had signed the
message. Unlike the coded email this one said 'Soph' at the bottom.
That was odd. Mum hadn't mentioned that when she read it out, but
surely she would have noticed the same thing I did. Sophie never
got called Soph. She hated the name Soph. If anyone ever called her
that she would correct them straight away, saying 'my name is
Sophie'. Was it possible this had changed in the last seven years?
It didn't seem likely. Sophie was about as stubborn as it gets. And
no Beatles reference either. I supposed she didn't always need to
talk in code to us, but something just seemed out of
place.

As I sat staring at
the email, with the word Soph stuck in my mind, I heard Andy's fax
machine whirr into life. The beeping of the phone ringing made me
jump up and run towards his study. I had wondered, since it was the
middle of the night there, whether Lena would have to wait until
the convenience store opened in the morning to send the fax. But
London must be the city that never sleeps.

The first page
scrolled slowly into my hands. So desperate was I to see if there
was anything useful on it that I felt like dragging it from the
teeth of the machine. I even tried to read the text upside down as
the machine gave me one line at a time. The first thing I noticed
was who the fax was addressed to. It didn’t look business like;
just a hand written scrawl ‘Bill, the schedule as we discussed’.
There was a heading above the smaller text saying ‘Special
Productions’. Underneath this, there was a table made of straight
rows and columns, which seemed to be some sort of calendar or
chart. This had typed text, neat and evenly spaced. The first
column listed times, the second had dates, and the third had the
names of hotels with their addresses, none of which were familiar
to me. The last column had names in it. It looked like it was some
sort of roster. As the page finally fell from the clutches of the
machine, I read it more closely, the right way up.