Silent Fear (20 page)

No answer.

She strode past Murray and across the driveway to the pool. The fence was tall, all narrow vertical bars to stop kids climbing it, the childproof latch not much use though when the gate was propped open by a plastic chair. There were no adults present. She walked onto the pebbled pool surrounds. Seven wet little bobbing faces surrounded by pool toys looked back at her, while three drier ones watched from chairs. The oldest one was about fifteen, and she stood and wrapped a striped towel in multiple shades of pink tightly around herself.

‘Is Trina Fowler around?’ Ella said.

‘She’s out,’ one of the kids in the water said.

Ella looked more closely at her, then at the younger girl next to her, who was wearing a pink surf shirt and grasping a yellow pool noodle. ‘Hi Darcy.’

‘Hello.’ Her voice was small but strong.

‘I wanted to talk to your mum,’ Ella said. ‘Do you know where she is?’

Darcy shook her head.

‘Do you know when she’ll be back?’

Another shake of her head.

‘Who’s minding you?’ Murray asked.

‘I am,’ the fifteen year old said, in a tone that challenged them to make something of it.

Ella took the chair from the gate and let it clang shut. ‘Don’t put that there again.’

‘It’s always there,’ said one of the kids in the pool.

‘It shouldn’t be.’

Ella took out her mobile and scrolled through calls received to Trina’s number. She pressed the button to dial and listened to it ring, while up the driveway a screen door clattered and a woman walked towards them.

‘
Hi, this is Trina Fowler. Sorry I can’t get to the phone at the moment. Please leave your name and number and a message, and I’ll ring you back later.
’

‘This is Detective Ella Marconi. Please call me back as soon as you can. Thank you.’ She hung up.

The woman reached them. She was round-faced and her stern expression looked forced. ‘Can I help you?’

Ella went out of the fenced area and held up her badge. ‘Detectives Marconi and Shakespeare, looking for Trina Fowler.’

‘Oh, hi,’ the woman said, her face relaxing into a smile, her voice warming. She was in her late thirties, with grey roots showing here and there in her rust-coloured hair and dark eyes bright as a bird’s. Her bare arms were sunburned and her cotton dress was stretched tight across her breasts. ‘This is about Paul, I take it? Terrible thing.’

‘Did you know him well?’

‘Sort of.’ The woman cast a glance at the listening kids and motioned for Ella and Murray to follow her to the hardly-there shade of a palm tree. ‘I’m pretty close to Trina.’ She saw Murray getting out his notebook and said to him, ‘My name’s Venus Mulligan.’

‘How long’ve you known the Fowlers?’

‘Since they moved in, which was, let’s see, would’ve been the Christmas before last,’ she said. ‘My daughter Allie is good friends with Darcy, so me and Trina’d do play dates, swap times minding them, you know. Give each other a break.’

‘Like this morning?’

Venus Mulligan nodded with no trace of irony.

Ella glanced back at the pool where the fifteen-year-old had abandoned her towel and was lying back in her chair. ‘Trina knows they were going swimming?’

‘Sure. Brought Darcy over in her cossie. Weather like this, what else are they going to do?’

‘Did Trina say where she was going?’

‘Something about getting things organised,’ Mulligan said. ‘I assume about the funeral or whatever. I didn’t like to pry.’

‘Was she on her own?’

‘Yep. She said her mum went home already, that was why she had to bring Darce over.’ Mulligan glanced at her wrist but there was no watch there. ‘About an hour ago, I guess.’

‘When did she say she’d be back?’

‘Couple of hours, she thought. I told her to take her time, do whatever she needed. Us girls have to pull together in our hours of need, you know?’

Ella nodded. ‘Tell us about Paul.’

She sighed theatrically. ‘I always thought he was a nice guy, you know? Seemed kind, friendly, good with Darce and the other kids too, happy to horse around in the pool with them all hanging off him. But then when he left Trina like that? That was really low.’ She shook her head. ‘But, you know. Men.’ She glanced at Murray. ‘No offence.’

‘None taken,’ he said.

‘Do you remember how you found out?’ Ella said.

‘I heard her yelling that night, on the phone to him that was, then when I saw her the next morning she told me. She was shattered, poor thing. I said to her, I’ve been there, and you just have to move on. Think of Darcy. Don’t try to work out why, because there’s no understanding men.’ She looked at Murray again. ‘No offence.’

‘None taken.’ He smiled tightly.

‘Did she have a theory at that point?’ Ella said.

‘Oh, she was all “he must have a girlfriend”, but I think since then she’s decided he doesn’t, or didn’t, whatever, and that he just went of his own accord.’

‘What about you?’ Ella said. ‘Why do you think he did it?’

‘Well, look.’ Kids bombed screaming into the pool but Venus Mulligan kept her eyes fixed on Ella. ‘There was this one time, four months ago, I guess, that he said something strange, and I didn’t think much of it at the time, because we’d all been drinking, and you don’t, do you, at parties and things like that, you just let stuff slide.’ She waited until Ella nodded before going on. ‘It was a birthday do for a couple of people here, a couple of fortieths, and we’d had a barbie and the kids’d been swimming and were finally in bed, and all the grown-ups were still out here, bottles everywhere, lots of laughing and talk.’

Ella nodded again, wishing she’d get to the point.

‘I was sitting there and Paul came up and sat next to me.’

She hesitated and Ella thought,
here we go
.

‘I thought at first he was going to hit on me,’ she said. ‘Trina was there, but was plastered and talking to someone else, and when Paul leaned over I thought, uh-oh. But he started talking instead. Got all deep and meaningful, and mournful, kind of. Said that when he looked in the mirror he couldn’t see the boy he used to be any more.’

‘Really,’ Ella said.

Mulligan nodded. ‘I’ve got one of those faces that people just respond to. You might’ve noticed it yourself? People just feel comfortable telling me stuff. So in one way I wasn’t surprised.’ She smiled proudly.

‘What else did he say?’

‘That his life wasn’t turning out as he’d thought. He said he felt like something was missing. I said to him, Paulie, everyone feels like that. It’s the human condition.’

‘What else?’ Ella said.

‘Don’t you find that yourself?’ Mulligan said. ‘There’s always that bit of emptiness inside. It doesn’t go away. You can fill it for a while, distract yourself, but it’s always –’

‘We’re trying to work out who killed Paul,’ Ella cut in.

Mulligan looked affronted. ‘He wasn’t entirely happy is my point.’

‘He didn’t suicide,’ Ella said.

‘He could’ve paid someone to shoot him.’

‘Unlikely.’

The kids in the pool shouted and splashed. Venus Mulligan screamed across Ella, ‘Keep it down, you lot!’

Ella wiped spittle from her cheek. ‘Did Paul say anything else?’

‘He didn’t tell me he’d been getting death threats, if that’s the kind of thing you’re after.’ Mulligan folded her arms.

‘How did your conversation end?’

‘He said sometimes he felt like there was no point to his life. I said, look at your wife over there, think of your little girl asleep upstairs. He said, I work in a fucking carpet shop. I said, but you can still enjoy that. I said, you’re only young yet, you’ve yet to learn that you just need to enjoy your life, whatever it is. He said what he needed was another beer and got up and didn’t come back.’

‘Did you ever mention that conversation to Trina?’

‘The next day,’ she said. ‘I said he didn’t seem all that happy. She flapped a hand and said something about none of us liking our jobs all the time but the bills keep coming and what can you do? And she had a good point.’ She glanced at the kids. ‘Some days any life could get you down.’

‘Was Trina coping okay after he left?’ Murray said.

‘That’s lovely of you to ask,’ Mulligan said, as if surprised. ‘Some days were good, some bad. She was getting better in the last week though. I could see it in her eyes.’

‘Time heals?’ Murray said.

‘Maybe,’ Mulligan said. ‘It hadn’t been long though. I think it was more that she was getting the support she needed at last.’

‘From?’ Ella asked, thinking,
Say her mother, don’t you dare say Carl Sutton and make John Gerard right
.

‘Carl Sutton.’ Mulligan smiled. ‘Lovely guy.’

Ella felt sick. ‘When did it start?’

‘Look, it’s not like I’ve been watching them.’

‘When?’

‘He’s been around since Paul left. He’s good with Darcy. But this last week, say maybe two weeks, he’s been here more.’

Ella thought of Trina and Sutton saying they were just friends and felt anger worm its way under her overheated skin. She pulled out her mobile and dialled Trina’s number again. She heard the start of the same voicemail message then pressed the end button hard. ‘You’re sure you didn’t see him this morning with her? They didn’t go out together?’

‘Not that I saw,’ Mulligan said. Someone wailed in the pool and she looked over. ‘Is that all?’

‘For now,’ Ella said. ‘Thanks.’

Mulligan nodded and headed for the pool gate, and Ella and Murray walked the other way to their car. Ella was opening the door when her mobile rang.

Trina Fowler said, ‘You wanted to speak to me?’

SIXTEEN

H
olly spent lunch in the plant room, washing the Mazda and calling Lacey at regular intervals.

‘Where
are
you?’ she said on the fifth message.

The station phone rang. Kyle had stayed in the air-conditioned station rooms for all of the break but now he put his head out the door. ‘Phone.’

‘Who is it?’

He went back in without answering, and she crossed the plant room and stepped inside to pick up the handset. ‘This is Holly.’

‘Hello, Holly, Maida Quartermaine calling from Human Resources in Rozelle. How are you?’

Holly broke out in a cold sweat. How could this be happening so quickly?

‘I’m okay,’ she managed to get out. ‘And you?’

‘That’s good,’ Quartermaine said. ‘Think you could come to Rozelle for a chat tomorrow?’

‘What about?’

‘We’ll discuss that then, shall we?’

Holly tried to think. ‘I’m on dayshift.’

‘I know,’ Quartermaine said. ‘I’m looking at your roster right now. We’ve arranged someone to cover for you.’

So why ask?
‘Okay.’

‘Ten am,’ Quartermaine said. ‘See you then.’ And she was gone.

Holly put the phone down. Her throat was tight and sweat trickled down her sides. She could hear Kyle talking in a low voice on his mobile behind the closed door of the office. Had he really done it? Was he somehow actually getting proof?

She hurried into the plant room and called Lacey again.

‘Hey, chick,’ Lacey answered. ‘What’s news?’

‘Where the fuck have you been?’

‘I went for a swim at Dawnie’s. Met this girl.’ Her voice held a smile. ‘She bought me an ice-cream. This could be –’

‘HR just rang me,’ Holly said. ‘I’ve been called in for a meeting.’

The line went silent.

‘Did you hear me?’

‘I can’t believe it’s happening already.’ Lacey’s voice was flat, all trace of the smile gone.

‘I don’t think it’s about you,’ Holly said. ‘I told Kyle where I’d fake-worked and he already knew. Said Roberto told him yesterday. And he’s been threatening me about it.’

‘No, it’s got to be about the overtime,’ Lacey said.

‘Why got to?’ Holly said. ‘Have you been called in too?’

‘No, but this is how they’ll do it. Get all their ducks in a row then shoot me down. Fuck. I’m going to be unemployed. I’ll have to move. That’d be right, just when I meet someone local.’

Holly couldn’t believe she was making it all about her. She looked at the office window. Kyle was still in there on his mobile.

‘You didn’t hear the way Kyle was talking earlier. It’s me who’s going to be unemployed, then when Norris finds out the truth I’ll be the one moving.’

‘No way,’ Lacey said. ‘How could he have got any information? And on a Sunday?’

‘We have people in some of our offices on a weekend, why not a hospital?’

‘They’re different,’ Lacey said. ‘No, this isn’t about you. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.’

Holly couldn’t stand listening to her any longer. ‘I have to go.’

‘Call me if you hear anything mor–’

Holly hung up on her and glared at the office where Kyle stood with his back to her, apparently still on his phone. It had to be against the law for someone in Royal Melbourne’s HR department to give him information. Then again, it’d been against the law for Dane the nurse at RGH to show them the drug overdose patient’s file, and it was sure as shit against the law for her friend and fellow (though recreational) user Lissa, Royal Melbourne HR employee twelve years ago, to create a fictional file about her in exchange for a month’s supply.

Kyle was still in the office. Holly dialled directory assistance on her mobile and asked for the Royal Melbourne’s number. She didn’t expect their Human Resources department would be staffed on a Sunday, but then again Quartermaine was working, so who knew?

When the hospital switch answered she asked for HR.

‘They’re closed today, I’m sorry,’ the woman said. ‘Would you like to leave a voicemail?’

‘I’ll call back tomorrow,’ Holly said.

That meant Kyle couldn’t have got information. Didn’t it? She had Lissa’s number written down at home; she’d try her later and warn her. She checked her watch. Lunchbreak was over. A long afternoon with Kyle lay before her. Maybe she should tell Control she was sick. Get out and hide, away from everyone. It still felt like admitting defeat though.
No. Stay and fight.

Kyle came out of the office. ‘You look happy. Get some good news on your phone call?’

‘It was nothing,’ she said. ‘Just someone checking the roster.’

‘Sure.’ He smiled widely. ‘Ready to save some more useless addicts?’

‘Actually,’ she said, ‘I was thinking. How about you try first on any patients who need cannulation this afternoon? You so clearly need practice. Then when you miss, I’ll see what you’re doing wrong, explain your flaws in great detail, then show you how to do it properly.’

He flushed.

‘Good,’ she said. ‘I’ll go and call on, shall I?’

She crossed to the ambulance and got in. ‘Seventeen’s complete code twenty.’

‘Seventeen, stand by,’ Control said.

Kyle came around to the driver’s door and opened it but didn’t get in. ‘It doesn’t have to come out, you know.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘What are you on about now?’

He squeezed his groin with those long red fingers. ‘Your secret can stay as safe as you want.’

She looked at him, then got out of the ambulance, went inside the station and rang Control. ‘I’m really sorry but I’m not well and I’m going to have to sign off sick.’

Three minutes later she was walking to the Mazda.

Kyle followed her. ‘This proves my point. If you had nothing to hide you’d be calling Rozelle and making a complaint.’

‘What makes you think I’m not going there to do it in person?’ She got in the car and slammed the door.

‘I’ll believe that when they come to interview me,’ he yelled at the closed window. ‘I can’t wait to tell them the truth!’

She reversed past him, then tore out of the station, her whole body shaking with fury.

*

Ella slowed before she reached the cafe in Lidcombe where Trina had said she’d wait for them. She wanted to spot her before Trina spotted them, check how she looked, see whether she was watchful or fearful or calm. There. Sitting at an outdoor table in the shade of a Cinzano umbrella, big dark sunglasses covering half her face, coffee cup hiding the other half. Her right arm was in a sling.

Ella parked and got out. Trina acknowledged their approach with a nod, then put down the cup. No smile, but no fear either.

Ella sat directly opposite her. The shade from the umbrella didn’t reach that far but it was the best place for watching. Murray stayed on his feet.

‘If you want coffee you better go in,’ Trina said. ‘Service’s terrible.’

‘When did you find out about Paul’s death?’ Ella said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Exactly what I just said.’ Ella stared at her. ‘And take off your glasses, please.’

Trina removed them, folded them and placed them on the table. She adjusted the position of her cup.
Stalling
, Ella thought.
Trying to figure out what we know.

‘Actually, I’m glad you asked that,’ Trina said. ‘I might’ve made a mistake when we were talking about that before.’

‘Mistake how?’ Murray said.

‘I believe I told you that I found out when Carl came over, but he actually phoned me earlier to let me know Paul had collapsed. I was in shock. I didn’t know what to do. He said he’d let me know once he knew more. I had Darcy, I couldn’t have gone out there and let her see something like that, her dad on the ground.’

‘He called you on your mobile?’

Trina nodded.

‘Can you check that timing now?’

She pressed buttons on her phone. ‘Quarter past twelve.’

‘And all he told you was that Paul’d collapsed?’ Murray said.

‘I think – well, no. He may have said more than that. Like I said, I went into shock. Everything was a blur.’

‘It’d help us if you can remember correctly,’ Ella said.

Trina stared into the distance, then her eyes filled with tears.

Ella folded her arms and leaned on the table. The sun was burning her scalp and she was hot and sweaty and getting annoyed. ‘What happened after Carl phoned and told you whatever it was he told you?’

‘I cried, of course,’ she said. ‘And tried not to let Darcy see that something was wrong. No point upsetting her until I knew for sure.’

‘Did you phone your mother?’

‘Again, I didn’t know for certain what was happening.’

‘Paul’s parents?’

‘Same thing. What’s with –’

‘Who did you phone?’ Murray said.

‘Nobody.’

‘Who phoned you?’

‘Nobody,’ she said. ‘No, wait. Some guy from Paul’s work called, almost immediately after I got off the phone with Carl. He wanted to talk to Paul. I don’t really know what I said but I remember I just wanted him to go away because I needed to try to absorb what was going on, and I think in the end I said something about Paul being hurt.’

‘You told this man that Paul had been shot and was dead.’

Trina widened her eyes. ‘I did?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh, I did too, I remember now. It’s all coming back.’ The tears again. ‘Oh my God. That’s what Carl told me. I can’t believe I forgot that. It must’ve been the mental trauma. And Carl wasn’t sure then, I remember now – he said the paramedics weren’t certain.’

‘Amazing how the memory works,’ Ella said to Murray.

‘I told you, I was in shock,’ Trina said. ‘You sound like you think I’m some sort of liar, as if I’m deliberately keeping things from you, but honestly, it was just the shock of it all. My mind’s all over the place, it really is. I can’t drive with my arm like this, and this morning I had to get a taxi here to see a funeral director. There’re so many decisions.’

‘But no rush,’ Ella said. The body wouldn’t be released to the funeral home for at least a couple of days. ‘You could do it together with his parents. Share the burden a little.’

Trina shook her head. ‘I feel better if I’m doing something, and they said they were okay with me getting arrangements under way.’

‘So you’ve talked to them.’

‘They phoned late last night. The police had told them. They’re shattered. They were getting on the road this morning but it usually takes them a couple of days to drive back.’

‘It’ll be nice to have them around,’ Ella said.

Trina nodded.

‘Although it sounds like Carl Sutton’s filling that role anyway,’ Ella added.

‘As are my other friends,’ Trina said.

‘Like Venus Mulligan?’ Murray said.

‘Yes. Minding Darcy, giving me support, bringing groceries. It all helps.’ Her gaze didn’t waver from Ella’s. Her skin was pallid in the umbrella’s shade, the rings under her eyes dark. ‘I am sorry about that mistake.’

A truck chugged past and filled the air with diesel fumes. The smell made everything feel hotter, grimier. Trina shifted in her chair and flinched as the splint on her arm bumped the table. She cradled it against her body, her face drawn, her eyes blinking back tears. Ella was struck by the sudden certainty that her pain was an act and so was her grief.

‘Have you found out about Paul’s life insurance yet?’ she asked.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Have you and Carl started making plans?’

Trina pushed her cup away, colour blooming in her cheeks. ‘I am the bereaved here. I am a victim too. You should remember that.’ She got to her feet and walked away, back straight and head high.

Ella watched her through narrowed eyes.

‘I thought you thought she was okay,’ Murray said.

Ella shook her head. ‘I don’t think anyone’s okay any more.’

*

Back at the office they reported in to Dennis. He sat forward in his chair to listen, his hands together on the desk.

‘The more I talk to Trina Fowler, the more I feel she’s telling lies,’ Ella finished. ‘I think she’s going to do this again and again: tell us as little as she can get away with, then say she made a mistake and blame it on grief when we confront her later.’

Dennis nodded. ‘I’ve been thinking we should put both her and Sutton under surveillance.’

Ella nodded back. If they were seeing each other that should provide some definitive proof – as long as they didn’t suspect it and rein themselves in.

‘What about surveilling the other friends too?’ she said. ‘I reckon that phone intercept conversation saying the woman was watching “to see if they knew” has to have something to do with them.’

‘It’s not enough,’ Dennis said. ‘If we get something more, then maybe.’ He checked his watch. ‘Lu and Cambridge should be here any minute from Newtown and I want you all to put together Comfits on the bystanders.’

‘Are there any leads on them yet from the hotline?’ Murray asked.

‘A few, and people are out there chasing them down,’ Dennis said. ‘Once you’re done with the pictures come back and I’ll give you the latest ones.’

Ella stood up. ‘Tell Anthony and Tom we’ll be writing up our notes.’

At their desks, Ella pulled her keyboard close, opened the file and started to type. Beside her, Murray downed half a bottle of water, then screwed the cap on and flipped back through his notebook.

A minute later she heard, ‘Well, well.’

John Gerard.
Dammit.
She concentrated on the screen.

‘The great, great Ella Marconi.’

She kept typing.

Gerard leaned over her shoulder. ‘
Interviewee stated she was mistaken in her original statement to us and that Carl Sutton had told her the victim had been shot and may be dead in a phone call at twelve fifteen
,’ he read aloud, then straightened. ‘Who would’ve ever guessed?’

Ella felt her shoulders tensing. ‘Do you need some help?’

‘Just checking in with my colleagues.’ Gerard bounced a fist sideways off Murray’s bicep. ‘Muzza, mate, how are ya?’ He didn’t wait for an answer before turning back to Ella. ‘So you’ve finally seen the light of Saint Gerard. I told you it all comes down to sex.’

‘There’s no actual proof –’

‘No, every man hangs around his dead friend’s missus,’ Gerard said. ‘Admit I’m right and move on, I say.’