My Island Homicide (21 page)

Chapter 36

Now that Dave's fraud and murder charges were on the court list, I felt a sense of closure, like I could get on with things. I forced myself to go walking with Jonah and the dogs after work, but that lasted three days. I was exhausted. It was time to go to the doctor and get a blood test for glandular fever. Mind you, I still hadn't bought those iron tablets. The good news was that I'd lost weight, enough for me to need a belt to hold up my uniform shorts.

I dusted off my yoga mat and attempted a few stretches, but I ached and could not control my sudden yawning. I rolled up the mat and stood it back in its corner. Jonah walked the dogs in the afternoon and often, I'd sit with Maggie on her verandah, drinking one of her herbal tea brews. They tasted revolting, like freshly mowed grass. But she was slim and active so I figured they'd have some restorative power.

In September, Jack showed me the second complaint Robby made about a trespasser. One night, Robby settled on his verandah with a beer about eleven and noticed a figure, with shoulder-length hair, run from his yard and up the track into the scrub of Millman Hill. Robby raced downstairs, but was distracted by light from the storeroom. As before, the trespasser had knocked items to the floor – the spare reef anchor, a car jack, some gardening materials and other belongings – but nothing had been stolen. Salome did a doorknock in the street, but none of the residents had seen anything unusual.

‘But check this out,' said Jack, holding out an A3 sheet of paper.

He'd created a spreadsheet outlining the incidence of theft and possession of stolen property over the last year. The increases we'd noted back in April had continued.

‘Theft has never been complicated here. It's usually things like drums of fuel from someone's dinghy so the thieves can get home, food from the school tuckshops because the thieves are hungry and grog from the pubs—'

‘Because the thieves are thirsty?' I asked.

‘Funny. The poor bowls club used to get a real thrashing and so did the pool kiosk till they installed security screens.'

‘What was stolen from the pool? Floaties? Pool ponies?'

‘Food, actually.'

‘Food?'

‘Chips, chocolate. And Billabongs and frozen pies.'

‘I don't believe it.'

‘I once responded to a call that the high-school kitchen had been broken into during the night. The culprits cooked a meal and washed up.'

‘Wasn't that considerate of them.'

‘Like I said, stolen property isn't usually complicated and that's why this is a puzzle. The total value of stuff stolen is up around the 50,000 dollar mark. The victims are all educated public servants, two were doctors. But they're stupid to leave their doors unlocked. We had that article in Crime Stoppers in July, but people don't care.'

I made a mental note to start locking the front and back doors. ‘This sounds like a racket.'

‘It isn't the work of a local.'

‘Do you think that Robby's trespasser could be part of this racket?'

‘Yeah, but they didn't nick anything from him.'

‘Tell me about the offenders and the results.'

‘All male, late teens or early twenties, all pleaded guilty and wanted fines. As you know, magistrates aren't keen to give fines when the defendants have never held down jobs. But these defendants suddenly became professional crayfishermen who were going out on the next neap. That's suss, them asking for fines.'

‘Not if someone is bankrolling them.' I stared at the spreadsheet and my head started throbbing. ‘Talk to Zavier.'

It was inevitable that Robby and I would run in to each other in a small community, at IBIS supermarket, at the newsagency and often while he and Alby were in the playground at Back Beach. If I was feeling well enough to go for a walk on the beach, I sometimes chatted with Robby. Occasionally Maggie would join us and she'd ask Alby about how the kittens were doing. I noticed a positive change in Robby. When I first met him, his face was rigid with grief. Over the months, his face softened, levelled, like his grief, I suppose, and the lines in his skin lost their depth. His forehead, once a canvas of horizontal lines, had smoothed.

Georgia's accusations about Robby being controlling sat in the back of my mind. In my experience, such people can hold up pretences for a while, but eventually their true character is revealed. I watched Robby like a hawk and found no evidence of arrogance.

At some point, I realised I hadn't seen Georgia around for ages. I made a note to follow it up because she was required to give evidence at Dave's committal hearing in November. Jenny and Jack hadn't seen her either.

‘I'll make enquiries,' said Jenny. ‘Give me an hour or two.'.

I waded through Melissa's file and found Georgia's mobile number. Her phone went to message bank. A couple of hours later, Jenny had Georgia's whereabouts sorted. ‘Georgia has left the island. Don't know where she's gone though.'

‘That was sudden. I hope she's all right. Perhaps—'

‘Perhaps her husband was naughty,' Jenny said, tapping her head knowingly. ‘Georgia hot-footed it off the island two months ago when her husband had a fling with her friend Stella Maine.'

‘Wasn't that the red-headed friend who had the wee bit of coke?'

‘Yes, that's the one.'

‘Poor Georgia. I hope she didn't fall to pieces. Although, I remember she was pretty well fed up with her husband. I've left a message for her to call me.'

I walked home and as I reached my driveway, I noticed a thin, hunched figure up ahead. Franz. I was about to call out, but for one major distraction: a great pile of fibro panels and long pieces of wood with peeling paint and nails sticking out at all angles. Someone had probably ditched them on the grass in front of the unit to save on dumping fees. I went to have a closer look and nearly tripped on a red and yellow kid's lifejacket. ‘A Ramu' was penned in black letters on the yellow panel. I picked it up and placed it at the front door. But I was more concerned about the pile of rubbish.

‘Jonah,' I yelled as I tried to race up the stairs, ‘someone's dumped rubbish out the front.'

He had his feet up on the table, reclining with a schooner of cappuccino. The froth left a neat white moustache.

‘Well?' I said, hands on hips. ‘You must have seen it.'

‘It's not rubbish. It's recycled. We're adding a room to the cottage on Friday Island. Your mum can have her own room.'

I thought that was ridiculous. ‘She's come over twice and we practically had to force her.' Then I remembered the lifejacket. ‘Do you know anything about the lifejacket that was on the driveway? It's got “A Ramu” on it.'

‘No idea. Let me make you a cappuccino.' He went to the kitchen. ‘Maybe it fell out when Robby was putting his dinghy down and someone threw it here, knowing you'd get it to him.'

That made sense. I'd take it to work tomorrow and let Robby know to collect it. Then my phone rang. It was Georgia, well, it was a woman claiming to be Georgia, except she sounded positive and upbeat. ‘Sorry I missed your call. I'm doing my last teaching prac and was in class. I should have rung to let you know I was leaving TI. Tim and I have separated and I needed to get away.'

‘Georgia, please don't apologise. I just wanted to let you know that you may need to appear at Dave Garland's committal in November if Dave's lawyer wants to cross-examine you in person, which is unlikely. If necessary, the prosecution would cover your travel costs.'

‘Yes, of course. I will have finished my prac by then. I'd be happy to come.'

Wouldn't you know it? Georgia was happy.

Chapter 37

I felt more lethargic now than I did a few months back. I had a constant low grade headache; at least it responded well to paracetamol. But I was getting concerned – not even glandular fever should last this long. Jonah said he was fed up with me still feeling
wreck
. The next day when I got home from work, he was at the dining table, drinking another cappuccino.

‘You shouldn't be this la . . . lath . . . what's the word?'

‘Lethargic. See, I can still think. It's my neck and shoulders. No wonder I've got a headache. And the long work hours don't help.' I regretted adding that last bit.

‘Why don't you take some time off? That's what sick leave is for. And see a doctor? That's why doctors are there.'

‘All right. I'll see a doctor.'

‘Good. And the girls have made some fish
zura
for you. It gives you energy when you feel slack.'

I suddenly felt more slack at the thought of
zura
.

I made an appointment to see Dr Carla Dimaggio. I tried to explain the reason for my visit but realised I didn't really know what was wrong with me. ‘I've been feeling run down, lethargic, you know, for a couple of months, maybe a few months.'

She went through some housekeeping stuff about my last pap smear, breast examinations, weight, general health, sleeping patterns, any liver or thyroid conditions, periods. She also took my blood pressure. ‘Beautiful. I'll run a full blood count and we'll have the results in a week.' She wrote in chicken scrawl script on a pathology request form and gave me a specimen jar for a urine sample and the accompanying paper bag. ‘On the way home, grab some iron tablets and take one a day with a vitamin C tablet. Iron deficiency is the most common cause of lethargy in women of childbearing age.'

I left chuckling. It was kind of her to describe me as being of ‘childbearing age'. I finally bought those iron tablets, as well as some fish oil capsules for mental acuity, and Ultimate Energy Boost multivitamins with B12, magnesium, zinc and antioxidants. It came close to guaranteeing bountiful energy. While I was paying for my purchases, I decided to ring Jenny for a lift. I needed to take it easy until the Ultimate Energy Boost kicked in.

‘You do look sick,' said Jenny as I got in the car. ‘Hope you're well enough to deal with the sorry business happening again at work. Settle down. No one's dead. You'll see.'

Once inside the station, I went to see why everyone was huddled over Lency's desk.

‘What's going on?' I asked.

A hand stuck out with a document I recognised as a DV application form. I took it and noted the complainant, Edwina Pamela Jensen, and the defendant, Noah Job Jabiri. He was the genius who claimed he'd been
maydh
to cheat on his wife and abandon her and their four kids.

‘Good job, arsehole,' said Salome. ‘Rita should flog him.'

I was handed another document, an assault charge. According to Edie, now five months pregnant, Noah came home drunk and beat her up.

‘Edie's kicked him out,' I said.

‘Fuck Noah,' said Lency, typing, her eyes on the screen. ‘Edie doesn't want him, neither does his wife. Rita said if he sets foot in the house, she'll bring up all the DV he put her through.'

‘He's sticking to
maydh
,'
said Salome and turned to face me. ‘You look
wreck
. Are you all right?'

‘Just tired.'

I couldn't wait for those multivitamins to kick in.

The follow-up visit with Dr Carla was a week later in a consulting room adorned with cartoon-character stickers and glow-in-the-dark stars and rockets.

Dr Carla keyed into the computer and announced that all my results had come back clear and there were no antibodies for glandular fever, which meant I'd never had the condition. ‘Except,' she said, pointing her pen at me, ‘you are low in iron but the tablets will take care of that.' She pointed to the screen. ‘The urine test was a little inconclusive but that's not uncommon. I'll need to test that again.' She pulled a specimen jar from a drawer and a brown paper bag. ‘Get that while I do the paperwork.'

There are few occasions when I wish I were male, but producing a urine sample in an impossibly small container is one of them. I finally pulled it off and went back into the consultation room to hand it to Carla.

‘I'll send that off, but I need to do a pregnancy test, to rule it out.'

I studied the animated movie characters on the wall while Carla waited for the result to show up on the small screen of the pregnancy test. There were so many stickers that the room seemed crowded. I was disgusted that movie marketing companies, whatever they were called, preyed on young children with paraphernalia like T-shirts and lunchboxes and stickers to make millions, if not billions, of dollars. And I silently criticised parents for succumbing to the marketing ploys or giving in to their children's demands. At times like this I took a smug pleasure from not having children.

‘Thea, there is a simple explanation for your fatigue.'

‘Great. What's the problem?'

‘You're pregnant.'

‘I can't be pregnant.'

‘You are.'

‘What about a false positive?' She shook her head. ‘But I can't fall pregnant.'

‘You have. You may not be super fertile, but one of your ovaries released an egg, which was fertilised and now you are pregnant.'

I stared at the prescription pad on the desk, my ears ringing, my heart thudding. Then Carla reached out and touched my arm.

‘You're in shock,' she said, smiling. ‘Jump up on the bed. If you're over 15 weeks, I'll be able to feel it.' Dr Carla prodded my belly and her face contorted. ‘You'd be over halfway. Here, feel this.' She pushed my finger against something that felt like the curve of a balloon. ‘You've got the height to hide it, I guess. Congratulations.'

‘Listen, I'm thrilled, but feeling a bit dizzy at the moment. I thought I was sick. I can't wait to tell my . . . my . . .' I couldn't think of how to refer to Jonah. He wasn't my husband and boyfriend sounded trite for someone who was middle-aged. Partner sounded too middle class and politically correct. ‘The father. I mean, I didn't think I could have babies and I've planned my life around work and now you tell me I'm pregnant and I just don't know what to . . .'

She placed a firm hand on my arm again. ‘It's okay. In a way, this is better than winning the lotto.'

I relaxed. ‘Yes, yes. You're right.'

Jonah's mobile went straight to message bank. I caught a taxi to the station but as it pulled up outside, I asked the driver to keep going, to home. I was too excited and I knew I'd tell everyone before Jonah. I needed a comfort beverage, a hot chocolate. I dug out some of that dark chocolate Jonah kept hidden at the back of the fridge. While I heated a cup of milk in a saucepan on the stove, I broke three, four, five squares of the Lindt chocolate into a cup. Just as bubbles appeared on the perimeter of the milk, I poured it onto the chocolate. I stirred in a bit of sugar and drank it in bed, which was where Jonah found me a couple of hours later.

I woke as he was shaking me. ‘What did the doctor say?'

I had been sucked from a beautiful dream in which I shared a dark chocolate ice-cream with Sissy as we sat on the waterfront under the shade of the sea almond tree. I stared up at Jonah, orientating myself. ‘The doctor?'

‘Yes, the doctor. What's happened? Are you all right? You're not sick, are you?'

‘Would you like me to answer the questions in that order?' I stood up, grabbed the cup that was now covered with ants the size of pinheads and walked to the kitchen sink. Jonah followed. Then it all came to me. I'm pregnant. I couldn't help but smile.

‘Just tell me.'

I leaned against the sink and noticed the mango tree in the backyard was laden with green fruit the size of large oranges. It was the first week of October and I recalled Jonah saying mangoes were in season in October. He'd better live up to his promise of mango ice-cream and mango pudding.

‘Thea?'

I turned around. I had a sudden burst of incredible energy like I was about to break into cartwheels and somersaults and it all came out in my smile. ‘I'm pregnant.'

‘Yes. I knew it.' He punched the air and grabbed me into a hug.

‘You knew what?'

‘You were tired all the time, you lost weight at first cos you weren't eating and you have a little belly.' I smoothed my shirt down. There was a belly but I'd had a belly since I broke up with Mark. True, this belly wasn't the soft flesh I'd arrived with.

‘Who would have thought?' I said, still grinning.

‘
I be
maydh yu
.'

‘Yeah, right.' I laughed.

‘No, true God.' He checked his wallet. ‘How about we celebrate and grab some Indian takeaway from that new place.'

We took our curries up to Greenhill to watch the sunset. Two sea eagles – one parent and its baby – were diving into the water beyond Back Beach.

‘The big one is teaching the little one how to fish,' said Jonah, gazing at me with a delirious smile. ‘I can't wait to teach our baby how to fish. I can't even remember catching my first fish, a
zaber
, garfish on dough. Dad said I was three. He reckoned I wanted to keep it in a jar and I cried when he said we were gonna cook it for supper.'

‘Did your mum take you fishing?'

‘Dad taught me everything about fishing. Mum would stop house when
mi two
went fishing. Probably like the other eagle, stopping in the nest with another egg. When we finish
kai kai
, let's walk up to the tower, see if the mother one is there.'

We did find the other parent at the base of the tower, but it was a sad sight: a shrivelled carcass, minus its feet.

‘
Maydh
,' said Jonah. ‘They been take the claws.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Someone has killed the eagle and taken the claws to make
maydh
.'

‘But . . .'

‘Don't worry about it. Let's go home.'