Silent Fear (6 page)

The car was hot. Ella let the aircon run for a few minutes. Murray scribbled in his notebook.

‘Not too upset,’ he said.

‘They’d split up. What did you expect?’

‘That she’d know if he had life insurance, at least.’

She took out her phone and dialled the number Murray had written down.

‘
This is Paul. You know the drill.
’

The voice of the dead, eerily cheerful. She hung up.

‘What did you expect?’ Murray said.

Ella drove out of the estate and headed towards the city and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The paramedics and that Seth Garland had better still be waiting. Freaky that Garland was the paramedic’s brother. Ella wondered about the state of their relationship that she’d been so quick to put his name forward.
Another woman who might be ready to dish some dirt.

At the hospital she parked in the police space by the ambulance bay and strode into the Emergency Department, Murray trailing behind with his mobile in his hand.

A woman at the nurses’ desk looked at Ella’s badge, then pointed to a closed door partway down a corridor. ‘They’re in the family room. There are some other friends out in the public waiting area.’

‘Behaving themselves?’

‘So far.’

Ella tapped twice on the family room door, then opened it to see a male paramedic she recognised, a female one she didn’t, and an angry-looking man in his late twenties, all getting to their feet.

Murray thrust his badge forward. ‘Detectives Shakespeare and Marconi.’

‘Sorry for the delay.’ Ella smiled at the male paramedic. ‘Joe, right?’

He smiled back. ‘Nice to see you. This is Holly Garland, and her brother Seth.’

Holly was about a metre sixty tall, lean and strong-looking, with dark eyes and dark hair tied back in a smooth ponytail. Seth Garland was taller, with blue-grey eyes and brown hair cut short around his ears and across his neck. He wore a red T-shirt and black shorts with things weighing down the pockets, and stood with his hands on his hips. He met Ella’s gaze. His eyes were red but guarded. The other friends had said he was Fowler’s best mate and Ella was interested to see that Holly stood distinctly apart from her brother, body turned away from him, a cup in one hand and a mobile in the other, clearly uninterested in comforting him.
Dirt served ice-cold.

‘We’d like to speak to Seth first,’ she said. ‘Can you both wait a little longer?’

Joe and Holly went out into the corridor.

Ella gestured at the lounge. ‘Please, have a seat.’

Garland took the single chair.

Ella sat at the end of the lounge closest to him. Murray stayed on his feet and chose a spot near the wall to Garland’s left, hoping for some kind of looming effect, she guessed.

‘We’re sorry about your friend,’ she said. ‘We need to ask you a few questions about what took place today and about Paul generally.’

‘I have no idea what happened,’ Garland said.

‘What did you see?’

He told the same story Ella’d heard from the others – they’d been throwing the football around when Fowler collapsed, the bystanders came to help, the ambulance arrived.

‘Did you notice anyone hanging around?’ she said. ‘Hear anything strange? See a car or person heading off afterwards?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Did any of your friends mention anything they’d seen?’

He hesitated. ‘No.’

Ella studied him. ‘You’re sure?’

‘Yes.’

‘Paul’s been staying with you, is that right?’

He nodded. ‘Since he and his missus broke up.’

‘When was that?’

‘Six weeks, give or take.’

‘He left her?’

‘I guess,’ he said. ‘He didn’t really talk about it, and I didn’t pry.’

‘What did he do for a job?’

‘He’s been out of work lately.’

‘Lately being how long?’

‘A month, I suppose.’

‘How was he paying his share of the rent? You live in Brighton-Le-Sands, right? Rent’s not cheap anywhere in Sydney, but especially not close to the water like that.’

‘I covered it.’ Garland shrugged. ‘He’d do the same for me.’

‘How was he this morning?’

‘I don’t know. I was asleep. When I woke up he was already gone.’

‘You didn’t plan to travel to the park together?’

‘He likes to get out on his bike.’

‘Where do you work?’

‘Williams, Dean and Shaw.’

‘The shoe place?’ Murray said.

Garland looked at him. ‘It’s one of Sydney’s biggest financial firms.’

Ella wanted to laugh. ‘What do you do there?’

‘I work in corporate superannuation fund administration.’

Sounded fun. ‘How long have you been there?’

‘Almost two years.’

‘Where did Paul work?’

‘He used to manage a carpet store – Carpet Planet, in Summer Hill.’

‘He quit or get fired?’

‘He didn’t tell me. I just came home one day and he was on the lounge saying he’d finished.’

‘You two didn’t share much, did you?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You don’t know what happened between him and Trina, you don’t know if he quit or was sacked,’ Ella said. ‘Yet he’s living with you, and your other friends said that you’re his oldest friend in the group. Who’s he going to talk to if not you?’

‘He wasn’t a talker,’ Garland said. ‘Not about feelings anyway. We talked about cricket sometimes.’

It still felt odd to Ella. ‘Why did he and his wife split up?’

‘All he told me was that they fought all the time,’ Garland said. ‘She was never happy. He couldn’t take it any more.’

‘He gave you no other details?’

‘No.’

‘How did he come to move in?’

‘He asked. Said it’d be for just a few weeks until he got sorted.’

‘And was he getting sorted?’

‘He was struggling. I didn’t give him a hard time though.’

‘You said he wasn’t paying you anything,’ Ella said. ‘But was he paying maintenance?’

‘Until he lost his job.’

‘So he was fired,’ Murray said.

‘Lost it, quit it, I don’t know,’ Garland said. ‘He didn’t have it any more.’

Ella nodded. ‘Have you ever been in trouble with the police?’

‘Think I’d get a job like mine if I had?’

‘A simple yes or no will do,’ Murray said.

‘No.’

‘How about as a kid?’

‘No.’

‘What’s in your pockets?’ Ella said.

‘My phone and my keys.’

‘Mind showing us?’

‘Why?’

‘Just get them out,’ Murray said.

Garland stood up to extract the keys and phone and held them out on the flat of his hand. ‘Happy?’

‘Is that your phone or Paul’s?’

‘Mine.’

‘Can you prove it?’

He rolled his eyes but pressed the on switch, showed them that the screen asked for a PIN, and entered it. He scrolled through a list, then turned the phone so they could see the name ‘Paul’ and a mobile number. Ella recognised it as the one she’d called before.

Garland said, ‘If this was his, I wouldn’t know that PIN and I wouldn’t have him listed.’

Ella nodded. ‘What would you say if I told you someone said you were involved in Paul’s death?’

‘I’d say that’s bullshit. I’d also say I can guess who that someone might be.’

‘Who?’ Ella said.

He raised his chin at the corridor. ‘My sister, Holly.’

‘Why her?’

‘She hates me.’

‘Why?’ Murray said. ‘And don’t say ask her, because we’re asking you.’

‘Sometimes siblings just don’t get along.’ Garland pushed his phone and keys back into his pockets. ‘We’ve had no contact for a long time. Like eleven, twelve years. I’m guessing she saw me there today and just assumed I must have something to do with it. She’s always thought the worst of me.’

‘To the point of saying you’d be part of a murder?’ Ella said.

Garland shrugged. ‘Like I said, she hates me. Probably relishes the thought of putting me in the firing line like this.’

They’d find out when they spoke to her.

‘We need to look through Paul’s things,’ Ella said. ‘Sam Roberts-Brice gave us Paul’s keys, and we need you to either come with us or give us your permission to go in your flat.’

‘Why?’

‘Standard procedure. We learn as much as we can about him and work out why somebody might want to hurt him and who that might be.’

He shook his head. ‘I can’t go in there after this. Not today anyway.’

‘Why not?’ Murray said. ‘Something to hide?’

‘I just can’t face the place so soon,’ Garland said. ‘I’ll stay somewhere else tonight. I can’t walk in the flat and see all his stuff there and know he’s not coming back.’

‘So do we have your permission?’ Ella said.

‘As long as I don’t have to go.’

‘We may need to look briefly through your things as well,’ Ella said.

‘Why?’

‘To make sure he hasn’t hidden anything there,’ she said. ‘Does he have a computer?’

‘No.’

‘Do you?’

‘A laptop.’

‘Did he ever use it?’

‘No. He hates computers.’

‘Is the laptop in the flat now?’

‘It’s in my car, back at the park.’

Ella nodded. ‘We also need someone to identify Paul’s body to us.’

He started to shake his head again. ‘Trina –’

‘Is unable to do it,’ Ella said. ‘You can imagine the state she’s in.’

‘She hates him. She’s probably thrilled.’

‘He’s still the father of her child, and she’s grieving,’ Ella said.

‘And I’m fine?’

‘All we need is for you to look at him and tell us that yes, this is Paul Fowler.’

He rubbed the back of his ear. ‘His parents live at Blacktown.’

‘They’re away in Queensland.’

‘Could Holly do it?’

‘We need somebody who knows him.’

‘I really don’t want to.’

Ella knew she could suggest they get in one of the other friends from the waiting room but she wanted to see Garland’s reaction when he was face to face with the corpse. She wasn’t going to let go of Holly’s assertion that he was part of this mess so easily, no matter what he said about her reasons.

‘It’ll be a big help to us, and then we’ll be able to get on with the investigation.’

He shut his eyes. ‘Okay.’

*

Ella went into the corridor and Holly and Joe pushed themselves off the wall.

‘Do you know which doctor’s in charge of the case?’ she asked.

‘Callum McLennan,’ Joe said.

Ella choked a little.

‘He went past just a moment ago,’ he said. ‘Want me to get him?’

‘Please.’

He walked off and Ella folded her arms against her chest. Last time she’d seen Callum was when she’d suffered smoke inhalation on the Crawford case a few months ago. He’d been polite and formal as he listened to her chest, prescribed medication and told her she had to stay in overnight. She’d tried to joke, and he’d given her a thin smile and walked away. Not that she could really expect more: after all, in solving the nineteen-year-old cold case of his cousin’s murder she’d put his own father behind bars. Callum no doubt thought she’d smashed up his family, which was wrong, because his dad had done that years ago; they just hadn’t been aware of the gaping cracks. But she remembered the way he’d looked at her during the case, when she’d met him for coffee and he’d told her about his childhood and they’d both talked about work and dedication and passion. She remembered feeling a connection.

She drew a deep breath. She had to expect him to be angry and just get on with it. Concentrate on the job.

Holly was frowning at the screen of her mobile. Ella got her own out and brought up Fowler’s number but didn’t call it.

‘I’ve asked your brother to identify Fowler’s body,’ she said. ‘He’s not very happy about it.’

‘I’m not surprised.’

‘Why do you say that?’

Holly put the phone away. ‘He’s a coward at heart.’

‘Why do you think he had something to do with it?’

‘Because I don’t trust him one bit,’ she said. ‘He’s there, the guy’s been murdered – it felt wrong enough to say something.’

Ella stored that up for later. ‘Do you think you could come with him when he does the ID?’

Holly looked away down the corridor.

Ella looked too, but it was empty.

‘As much as you two don’t get along, I think he’d appreciate the support.’ That was pure crap: she wanted to see how they behaved when close together near the body.

‘I was hoping you’d be done with us soon.’

‘You being there might keep him calm, and that’d help us.’

Holly scuffed her boot along the floor.

‘It won’t take long,’ Ella said. She’d expected resistance but not this much, and looked forward to the ID more and more.

She heard voices, then Joe and Callum turned a corner into the corridor and came towards them. She smiled. Callum met her gaze and nodded without smiling back.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘We need to see the wound and identify the body.’

‘Follow me.’ His tone was even and gave nothing away.

Ella opened the door of the family room and beckoned Murray and Garland out, then raised her eyebrows at Holly, who took her time but stepped forward. They went in a little convoy past the nurses’ desk. Ella walked close behind Garland and hit the call button on her mobile, but he gave no indication that he could feel a hidden phone vibrating somewhere on his person. She wasn’t surprised – it was probably switched off anyway. She ended the call as they turned into a dead-end corridor where a uniformed police officer sat on a chair before a closed door, flipping through a magazine.

Ella held up her badge, then Callum opened the door and went in. Garland hung back. Ella could see the body on the bed, covered with a sheet. She nudged Garland in before her. He sidled into the room and stood side-on to the bed, eyes fixed on the wall. Holly and Murray squeezed in after them and Murray pulled the door shut.

‘Seth,’ Ella said, ‘all we need you to do is take a look and tell us who this is.’

Garland was pale. ‘I can’t.’

‘You’re his best friend. This will help us find who did this to him. He’d want you to help us, wouldn’t he?’

He glanced at the shape under the sheet. ‘I can’t.’

‘For fuck’s sake.’ Holly stepped forward and grabbed the sheet over Fowler’s chest and yanked it back. ‘Is it him or not?’