My Island Homicide (16 page)

‘Isaac says the main drug here is ganja,' said Shay. ‘It's cheap. Islanders can't afford cocaine. Ecstasy is a party drug, but the nightclub has just been closed down so there's nowhere to dance anyway.'

‘That's a good point, Shay,' I said. ‘So, if there is cocaine coming into the community, it's likely to be used by the professionals, the public servants?'

Yes, yes, everyone mumbled.

We considered the avenues of drugs reaching the island. The most obvious route would be overland up Cape York, then dinghy or ferry across to TI. The other option was to freight drugs up from Cairns to TI on the weekly barge.

‘What about those sniffer dogs at Cairns airport?' asked Jack. ‘The ones with the floppy ears?'

‘They are only programmed to attack and kill people who bring fresh food in their luggage,' said Jenny. ‘Airport security checks deter most offenders from carrying drugs, except the really stupid ones.'

‘Yeah, Noah Garipati was one of them,' said Salome.

‘You're a mind reader,' said Jenny. ‘Arthur Garipati's nephew was done two years ago for having ecstasy in his luggage on arrival at the Horn Island airport.'

‘That was only because the police were tipped off,' said Jack. ‘He would've got it through otherwise.'

‘Yeah,' said Jenny. ‘It turns out young Garipati's business partner, one of the backpackers working illegally at the Railway, was pissed off because he wanted a greater share of the profits. So he grassed on young Garipati, who then grassed on his business partner.'

‘What a shame,' I said, ‘Garipati's nephew didn't do that TAFE Business Administration course I keep seeing advertised in the
Torres News
. He'd have understood the importance of business planning.'

‘So what now, boss?' asked Jack.

‘Jenny, can you request bank records from all accounts in Melissa's name? And pray there are no cash deposits. Jack, where'd you find the cocaine?'

‘Actually, Shay found all this in tampon boxes in Melissa's underwear drawer. Last place men would look.'

‘Georgia Finucane,' I said in a flash. ‘We need to talk to her. I am sure she knows something.'

‘The classy white chick who lives on the waterfront?' Salome asked Shay.

‘O.M.G., Salome. She's a bit old for that.'

Gotta love Shay's wisdom.

Chapter 27

Georgia's face dropped when she saw Jack and me. ‘Thea, what a surprise.' Her voice was riddled with disappointment. She shoved a hand out to Jack. ‘I'm Georgia. I've seen you around.' We followed her to the lounge. A full glass of wine sat next to an open glossy magazine on the coffee table. ‘You'll need to be quick. I have to study.'

I advised her that cocaine was identified in Melissa's blood and that a large quantity had been recovered from her house.

‘And your question is?'

‘What do you know about the cocaine?'

‘Nothing.'

‘Do you want some time to think about that?'

Her eyes darted to Jack. ‘I know nothing. I'd never take drugs. That would be stupid.'

‘My colleague wants to know if you can help us understand how Melissa got the cocaine,' said Jack. ‘Our main concern is to find the person who may be responsible for Melissa's death.'

‘Georgia, what do you know about the cocaine?' I asked.

‘Nothing. I swear.'

‘We are investigating the murder of your best friend, who was in possession of a commercial quantity of an illegal drug. I believe you have some information that will assist our investigation.'

‘I know nothing.' She had that defiant resilience I'd seen in my brothers' children when one was denying bashing a sibling with a Tonka truck even though the offender was still holding the truck and the victim had a bloodied scalp. There was something deeply irritating about the way Georgia held my gaze as if we were eight years old and engaged in a staring contest.

‘Georgia,' I said, then left a long pause, ‘I may consider transporting you to the station for questioning. If you have been involved with Melissa in the alleged supply of cocaine, I will find the evidence and have you charged.'

‘Thea,' said Jack, but I ignored him.

‘I won't get into trouble, will I?'

‘I would really appreciate you telling me all you know about the cocaine and Melissa's involvement. I accept that you were not involved in her death.'

Her head dropped. ‘She started using cocaine mid last year because it made her feel good. And it helped her cope with studying and Ars . . . Robby.'

‘Where did she get it?'

‘I don't know.'

‘We understand Melissa confided in you. You might as well tell us what you know and we'll compare it to the information we've got.'

Georgia sighed. ‘She said she ran into some guy she'd known in Cairns years ago and he gave her some stuff. She offered me some, but I told her I didn't want to know about it. She respected that.'

‘That's quite a coincidence that she ran into her dealer from years earlier, just when she needed a boost to her self-esteem.'

Georgia related a heart-warming story of good friends losing contact and being reunited, years later, by coincidence and a shared interest in an illicit substance. Melissa had sent a camera away for repairs and it was returned via air freight. The delivery man knocked on Melissa's door and the two old friends recognised each other and exchanged numbers. He was based on Horn Island and delivered freight daily to TI.

‘What is the name of the delivery company?'

‘Eagle Express. There's a silver van with no windows and a big black eagle painted on the side.'

‘And the name of the delivery man?'

‘I don't know. I swear.' She gazed at me like a doll with round, sparkling eyes. I believed her.

‘Just cast your mind back to our first meeting.' Her eyes widened. She must have been wondering what she had disclosed. ‘You mentioned having get-togethers with two other women.'

‘No, it was just Melissa and me. The other women just helped us with our studies sometimes.'

‘Really? There are security cameras at the entry to this complex. I will contact the body corporate and subpoena the footage.' I prayed she hadn't noticed the film of salt spray that coated the cameras. My bet was that they hadn't worked for a while.

‘Fine.' My pen was poised. ‘Stella Maine and Paulina Ambrose.'

‘Thank you. We need you to be at the station for the next couple of hours while we follow up what you've told us. And we'll need to conduct a search of your house. Jack, would you ask Shay to bring the field recorder and camera, please? And Georgia, may I have your mobile phone.'

It didn't take long to search the two-bedroom unit. Georgia and her husband, Tim, had separate rooms.

‘Here, you'll find this soon enough,' said Georgia as she slid open one of Tim's wardrobe doors and pointed to a large plastic lunchbox.

The air conditioner was humming and the room icy. It stank of stale smoke. Jack lifted the box onto the bed. It contained three small bags of marijuana (my guess), scrunched balls of aluminium foil, Tally-ho papers, lighters and scissors.

‘I've told him not to be so stupid,' said Georgia. ‘At least my girls haven't seen anything.'

I suspected she was in denial. I'm sure her daughters knew all about the stash. Tim hadn't even bothered to hide it. I also wondered whether their teenage daughters made regular raids on the well-stocked fridge full of beer, wine and alcopop drinks.

Georgia came back to the station with us and stayed in the interview room with Salome while Jack, Jenny and Shay conducted searches at Stella's and Paulina's houses. I prayed that they'd find something, although I suspected that if Melissa was dealing for the Eagle Express guy, he'd have laid low since her death. I arranged a phone tap on all calls to and from Eagle Express's landline, fax and mobile numbers. I wasn't hopeful.

It was 6pm when the officers returned.

‘Stella had only enough for a couple of lines,' said Jack, disappointed, as though the searches were a waste of time. ‘And Paulina had nothing.'

‘Where's Shay?' I asked.

‘With Stella, who made full admissions about buying from Melissa,' said Jenny.

‘Blame the dead,' I said. ‘It's not even worth objecting to bail. My money is on Eagle Express air freighting the stuff in and dealing through Melissa, possibly others.'

‘Don't forget, ladies, Gapu? Any takers?' asked Jack. Jenny and I looked at each other.

‘Gapu? You know, the dog who needs a home?'

‘Jack, I've already taken two of your orphaned cats. I've done enough for your cause. Gimme a break,' said Jenny as she walked out, almost bumping into Shay. She was being followed by a red-haired woman, who must have been Stella Maine.

‘Thea?' said Jack.

‘Where is Gapu?' I sighed.

‘At Kelly's. It's not good. He really needs a yard and other dogs for company.'

‘Let me talk to Jonah. He might know someone at QBuild.'

He punched the air. ‘Interested in a cat, good looking, desexed?'

‘Don't push it, Doctor Dolittle.'

It was dark when I walked home, passing Jenny on the bend, footsteps padding in the quiet of the evening. Jenny now ran with long regular strides and was chatting to a statuesque blonde woman sporting a golden tan. They both waved. I got a shock when I found two of Maggie's kittens playing with a dead rat at my front door. But then I remembered Robby wanting a kitten for Alby. I ducked next door and gave Maggie Robby's number. ‘I was thinking about finding homes for them,' she said. ‘Perfect timing.'

As soon as I walked inside my unit, a rich, spicy aroma hit me. Jonah was chopping and stirring a pot on the stove. He gave me a quick kiss as he spooned chutney onto a saucer and said he'd follow up with a proper kiss after we'd eaten deer curry.

‘Can you buy venison up here?'

‘P.O.W. is full of it. This is from a cousin, Emerson, who lives there. He goes bow-hunting all the time.'

My phone rang as Jonah was serving dinner. Mum was thinking about visiting. ‘It's time I got up there. It's been too long.'

I wasn't ready to have Mum live with Jonah and me, not just yet. ‘Give me a few more weeks to get my head around this job and I might even take a few days off, take you to a cottage on Friday Island.'

‘When your brothers were little, your Uncle Gaman used to take us over to the spit for picnics.' She sounded wistful, far away. ‘He taught your father to fish. I loved those days, the long walks, collecting shells with the boys.'

‘Mum, do you remember . . .' I glanced over at Jonah. He'd already started eating. Now wasn't the time to ask about Yenah. ‘Do you ever remember eating deer?'

‘Yes, Uncle Gaman used to shoot the occasional deer and share it with the family. Meat was expensive and hard to get. I loved deer, especially the curry your father made. Uncle Gaman taught him.'

‘We'll have deer when you come, too.'

‘Okay, darling.' She sounded wistful.

On Friday morning I picked a bouquet of hibiscus from the bushes at Back Beach on my way to Melissa's funeral. It was attended by few people, perhaps because she'd been murdered and the allegations of sorcery were rampant, or maybe because she'd kept to herself. I'd been held up at work and only got to the church as the service was wrapping up so I slunk into the back pew. Robby and Alby were up the front next to a short, slim European man with greying blonde hair. I spotted Georgia, who wore a fitted black dress and a string of pearls. Next to Georgia sat Stella Maine, and beside her sat another woman, presumably Paulina Ambrose. I placed the hibiscus on the coffin as it was carried out.

I paid my respects to Robby, who introduced me to the European man, Barry, Melissa's father. He was petite and I imagined him in jockey silks. Like Robby, his eyes were sunken and skin was grieving grey. Robby excused himself and went over to the priest.

Barry talked in urgent, clipped bursts, as though his life was short and he might not live to complete his sentences. Close up, I could see he was mid- to late-fifties, but grief had aged him.

He launched into gushing about Mel, what a great mother she was and how excited she was about becoming a teacher.

‘I'd really like to help raise Alby,' he said, ‘because he is the only connection I have with Mel now. Of course, Alby will stay with Robby, but I'm going to come up more often.'

‘Can I ask about her mother?'

‘She died when Mel was a teenager. Breast cancer. Mel never got over it.' It wasn't a unique story. Parent dies, adolescent child disengages from school, explores drugs and alcohol, and spirals out of control, tries to go clean.

‘And now this.' Barry gestured to Melissa's coffin.

Robby came back over. ‘Thea, thank you for coming,' he said, kissing my cheek. ‘I really appreciate it. It's awful how people have stayed away because of the circumstances and that rubbish about sorcery. Melissa deserved better than this.'

‘I am so sorry,' I said, waiting for the moment I could make a polite departure.

‘Barry, shall we head to the cemetery? Are you coming, Thea?'

I declined and said I had to get back to the station. I figured my time was better spent catching Melissa's killer, rather than watching her body be lowered into the ground.

When I returned to my office, I had a message to call Karen Jane Wakeham.

‘The foetus was Ramu's. The tissue under the deceased's nails as well as the semen matched Garland, as did his hair on the cap with the Townsville Tackle logo, the pearl shell headdress pendant and on the O-ring attached to the leather. Nothing of the deceased on the hat, though. Nothing from Josef and nothing from Robby, Dave, Franz or Melissa on the pearl shell drum.'

‘Melissa must have scratched Garland.'

‘And there's Ramu's hair on her shirt and on the pearl shell head-dress pendant.'

‘That makes sense. We expected his DNA to be on her.'

‘I'd love you to find the knife with the killer's prints all over it.'

‘Karen Jane Wakeham, so would I.'

While we were continuing to investigate Melissa's murder, we got the go-ahead from Cairns to charge Dave with multiple counts of fraud. There was ample evidence in the witness statements to prove he had orchestrated the scam to improve results and falsely obtain funding. I rang him and advised him he could either come to the station to be formally charged or he would be arrested.

‘I will vigorously defend the charges,' he said pompously, when all I wanted him to say was whether he'd come to the station. ‘Any evidence you have is spurious and I will not hesitate to sue you for abuse of process.'

‘Mr Garland, I need to finalise this matter by four o'clock today.'

‘All right, all right. I'll come at three.'

By the time Dave arrived, the paperwork was ready and waiting. He was offered the opportunity to participate in an electronic record of interview, which he declined, and he was formally charged. We did not object to bail and within half an hour he was a free man subject to the usual bail conditions of staying out of legal trouble, not communicating with witnesses, and promising to turn up to court when required.

When I thought of Dave, I thought of the quote I had once read on my desk calendar:
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
.

Jonah met me at five and we walked home. He held two shopping bags and I couldn't imagine what divine a la carte meal he'd knock up for dinner on Friday Island.

‘About Gapu,' he said. ‘I printed the photo out and showed Mum. She said as long as she doesn't need to walk him, he can live with her. Jack is bringing him to Mum's house in half an hour and I've got some food.' He held up the shopping bags.

‘That's fantastic.'

‘But he's not allowed inside the house.'

‘Fair enough,' I said. ‘Hey, shouldn't we be heading to the cottage now?'

‘No, we'll go tomorrow morning. It's boxing tide.'

‘What is boxing tide?'

I had great difficulty understanding Jonah's explanation, but from what I gathered boxing tide is when the tide flows in the opposite direction to the wind so the wind and the tide box against each other, making bigger waves. I definitely couldn't understand why a four-metre dinghy couldn't handle it. The sea looked perfectly calm to me. ‘Come on. It's not far.'