Gemma went straight to her ICQ program and typed in her details. Then, in the spaces provided, she typed ‘Grace Kingston’ and entered the year of her birth. Who knows, she thought. Grace might be looking for her. Gemma put out an email message:
Someone from your father’s family would love to get in touch with you.
That’s all I’ll do, she decided. If Grace was out there, and looking, they’d find each other. All she had to do was hit ‘Reply’ and her message would come straight to Gemma’s inbox. If Grace wasn’t looking for her, then she’d let the search for her half-sister go for now. She had more than enough to deal with at the moment.
While her email was loading, Gemma checked her mobile for voice mail. There was a quick hello from Spinner with
his address at a motel in Bathurst which she scribbled down. The next message started halfway through—a high young voice, desperate with fear, which caused Gemma’s veins to ice over even before she took in the words.
‘.
.
. is where they’ve taken me. I can’t get away. Please help me!’ Gemma jumped up, startled. ‘Someone’s coming. They’re—’
The voice was abruptly cut short. On the replay, Gemma identified it as Claudia Page. Almost in the same second, her email program sounded and she saw Claudia’s name in the sender field. The girl was sending attachments from her mobile. Gemma opened them and waited while three blurred images unfolded. The first two were muddy shots of a male figure looming through a doorway, far too shadowed and blurred to identify. But it was the last shot that really caught Gemma’s attention. It showed a dark room, a chandelier, a huge bed strewn with black cushions and, in the foreground, a small trolley or movable bar stocked with glasses and bottles. Gemma hadn’t noticed those earlier today, probably because the huge Polynesian had been blocking her way, she thought.
Gemma grabbed her mobile and rang Angie. Be there she prayed silently. But Angie still wasn’t in. Gemma forwarded the images to Angie’s email with a message describing how she came to have them and an urgent plea to get in contact as soon as possible. Just for good measure, she left another message on Angie’s mobile. ‘Get a warrant and search the nightclub Deliverance. I’ve just had a call from Claudia Page. She’s in trouble. I think she could be there. I found the Black Diamond Room there. You’ve got to bust that club right now. Call me!’
The last girl Gemma had seen in that room was dead. So was Tasmin Summers. Had she been there too? And was that where Claudia had ended up?
As she rushed out to her car, she rang Sean Wright and told him what she’d told Angie. ‘Sean, remember what happened to the last two girls! I’m really fearful for Claudia. I’m heading to Deliverance now.’
Gemma drove to the Cross, cursing the hopeless drivers and the traffic lights. After a torturous twenty minutes of weaving in and out of traffic she reached one of the back streets near Deliverance and was looking for a parking spot when Angie rang. ‘Got your message. The raid’s being set up right now,’ she said. ‘We want to go in as soon as Sean’s organised everyone. If Claudia Page is being held there, we’ll get her.’ It was what Gemma wanted to hear.
‘Claudia was interrupted,’ said Gemma. ‘She just had time to send off three fast photos before—’ Her voice faltered. Before what? Before she’d been discovered on a phone and had it ripped away from her? Before she’d been drugged and subjected to the sexual violence that had killed Amy and Tasmin?
Angie’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Gems? Vernon Kodaly—he’s the man Naomi saw at the club behind the desk. He married his nurse.’
‘Nice,’ said Gemma. ‘See you there.’
‘No!’ shrieked Angie. ‘You stay right out of it!’
Gemma called off.
Grabbing the ‘visitor’ card from the Western Australian Police Academy out of her glove box, she tucked it in her pocket and then sprinted to Darlinghurst Road. She found a window seat in the café diagonally across the road from Deliverance and ordered nachos and coffee. Not exactly health food, but she needed some fast carbs.
Gemma was dipping the first corn chip into the guacamole when she saw the unmarked car pulling up. Immediately, the street changed. People who’d been standing in doorways or on corners suddenly disappeared as Angie, Sean and two others got out of the car. Angie and Sean hurried towards the club’s entrance, while the others, also in plainclothes, disappeared into the shopfronts on either side of the club, working towards covering any back exit.
Gemma grabbed another corn chip, loaded it up, popped it into her mouth, left a twenty-dollar bill on the counter and bolted out the door. She ran across the road, ducking between cars, and pushed in behind Angie and Sean as they raced past the huge Polynesian.
Gemma followed Angie down the same hallway she’d been in only a little while earlier, running to the right of the foyer area. When she glanced behind, she met the eyes of the big Polynesian. Had he recognised her? He was yelling into his mobile, warning someone of the arrival of the police. But it was too late. Already she could hear raised voices around the corner. She ran, following the noise, hurrying towards the room she’d found locked previously.
This time, the door was open and Gemma looked in to see Angie holding a warrant in front of a heavy man seated at a desk. Vernon Kodaly, Gemma remembered. Sean was snooping restlessly around the office, lifting things up, opening drawers, already gloved.
‘Vernon Kodaly? I have a warrant here to search these premises,’ said Angie, shoving the warrant under his nose.
Kodaly pursed his lips in an odd grimace, but made no effort to get up or take the warrant. He waved it away with disdain. ‘Do what you need to do. I’m busy.’
Why isn’t he jumping up and down, Gemma wondered. It’s almost like he’s expected this.
‘Mr Kodaly, you don’t seem to understand the seriousness of this matter. We have reason to believe that a young woman has been abducted and is being held on the premises. We’ve also seen video footage of a young woman, Amy Bernhard, with several men. Amy Bernhard was murdered a year ago and we have reason to believe the video of her was shot here in this club.’ Angie moved in even closer and Gemma wondered why Kodaly still didn’t get out of his seat.
‘A year ago? You believe?’ Kodaly feigned shock. ‘You’re making a lot of suppositions, Sergeant. You’re not going to find this missing girl here, I can tell you that now and save you a lot of time. So what exactly do you think you can charge me with?’
Angie, sensing a presence behind her, suddenly turned. ‘Gemma? What the bloody hell are you doing in here? I warned you!’
‘You’ll excuse me if I don’t get up,’ Kodaly was saying. It was then that Gemma noticed the wheelchair.
Angie beckoned Gemma to come with her and, leaving Sean to mind Kodaly, the two women left the manager’s office and hurried down the hall. ‘This is it,’ said Gemma, pausing at the door. ‘The Black Diamond Room.’
Angie tried it but it was locked.
‘It was open when I was here,’ said Gemma.
‘I need a key for the next room,’ Angie called, hurrying back to Kodaly’s office.
He wheeled himself around from behind his desk. ‘You’ll have to wait,’ he said. ‘My partner has the key to that room. I don’t seem to have a spare with me.’
‘I’m not waiting for anyone,’ said Angie. ‘Sean? Come and give this door a nudge for me?’
Sean moved outside and took a running jump at the door, kicked it hard, then backed off, this time using the weight of his body to shoulder the door jamb. Weakened by the first kick, the timber around the jamb split and Sean’s third assault caused it to fly open. Sean felt around for the light and switched it on. The three of them stared at an empty room. A huge bed covered in fake black bearskin, illuminated by the light of a chandelier, practically filled all available space. Black satin sheets, black cushions. ‘This is it!’ said Angie. ‘The room Claudia captured on her mobile phone!’
Gemma looked over their shoulders. The only thing missing was the drinks trolley. And Claudia.
Even though there was nowhere for anyone to hide, just to be sure Gemma looked under the bed, fearing what she might see. But there was nothing there either.
‘Search the damn place,’ said Angie to Sean. Then, pointing to Gemma, she barked, ‘You wait over there. I’ll deal with you later. I don’t want anything we find thrown out because we had a student visitor on the team.’
Gemma nodded but she had no intention of obeying. Instead, she went right through the place behind Sean, as he opened every door and turned over every room looking for Claudia. When they’d finished it was clear the place was empty apart from Kodaly and the police.
Back in the Black Diamond Room, Sean squatted to be at eye level with traces of white powder on a cushion. ‘It’s coke,’ he said, running a gloved finger over and tasting it.
‘Hey!’ Angie objected. ‘That’s not your job. And how come you’re so sure it’s coke?’
‘Don’t ask,’ he said.
‘I didn’t hear that,’ said Angie. ‘Get Crime Scene down here straightaway. Stop eating the evidence and wait here till they come. I want this place picked over. Every room—walls, floors, ceilings. Carpets, hangings, windows, bathrooms, offices. I want every stitch examined. Every fucking speck. Got it?’
She turned round to Vernon Kodaly who had silently wheeled up behind them.
‘If I find one cell from Amy Bernhard or Claudia Page in this place,’ she said, ‘I’m arresting you.’
Kodaly smiled. ‘You’ll have to do better than that, Sergeant. Claudia Page has been to this club from time to time. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the other girl you mentioned, the dead one, had also been here. There are probably traces of both of them all over the place.’
Gemma couldn’t help herself. ‘She asked me for help! What have you done with her?’
Kodaly affected mock surprise. ‘Me? Why do you think I know anything about her? Shouldn’t she be at school? Or with her family? Shouldn’t you be asking those people these questions?’
‘We’ve found traces of cocaine, Mr Kodaly. We think you’d better come with us and tell us what really goes on in these premises.’
Kodaly shrugged. ‘Some of our clients may be a little free interpreting the law. I can’t be held responsible for the behaviour, the infelicities, of the club’s patrons.’
‘What’s your partner’s name?’
‘He’s a sleeping partner,’ said Kodaly. ‘He wants to remain anonymous. His name’s not even on the business registration certificate.’
‘Doesn’t he want to be associated with this place?’
Kodaly ignored Angie’s barb. ‘I’ll ask him to contact you. More than that I cannot do.’ He wheeled himself towards the foyer area. ‘You can find him yourself any time you wish.’
‘Why won’t you give me his name? Is it because he’s hiding Claudia somewhere?’
Kodaly turned his head and laughed. ‘You’ve got this obsession that she’s here somewhere. Or has been removed from here. I’ve been here all the time and I’d know.’
‘How do you explain that she sent off a photo of your Black Diamond Room before she was interrupted?’
Kodaly shook his head. ‘Maybe she took the picture sometime she was here as a patron, and it got sent off accidentally from the memory. I’ve heard of very embarrassing incidents with unintentional sendings.’
‘You interviewed Claudia Page. Tried to get her to do some “modelling” for you,’ said Angie.
‘That’s a crime? I was trying to help the girl.’ He turned the chair round to face them. The situation reminded Gemma of a duel and she could see the colour rising on Angie’s neck. It was taking all her friend’s professional cool to stay in control of this interview. Kodaly was needling Angie with the sang-froid of a man who knows that there’s just no way he’ll ever be caught, thought Gemma.
‘This place isn’t just a nightclub,’ Angie said. ‘You deal coke here.’
‘I deny that absolutely. You have no proof.’
‘And make porn videos!’
‘I’m a businessman.’ Kodaly looked at her with pity. ‘Eighty per cent of the internet is devoted to porn. Where there’s such a strong demand, it’s my business to supply it. I’m not aware of a law against that.’
‘When the girls are under age, there is,’ said Gemma, thinking of Naomi’s account of Kodaly’s partner with a fourteen-year-old.
Angie’s mobile rang. She took the call, listened and rang off. ‘That was the toxicology report on Tasmin Summers. Our chemists found a lot of Valium and Zanax as well as alcohol in urine samples. Sounds like someone spiked Tasmin’s drinks. Stupefied her.’
Kodaly shook his head. ‘It’s too bad. These days, young girls will experiment with everything and anything.’
‘Including asphyxiation by some strange man’s penis in their throats?’
Kodaly didn’t miss a beat. ‘They’re very playful too, the young girls these days. They enjoy all sorts of liberal sex games.’
‘You call being choked by someone’s dick a sex game?’ Angie’s voice was soft and menacing, a low decibel growl as she put the questions. ‘Being anally raped your idea of fun?’ Kodaly shifted in the wheelchair and Angie decided to stick it to him. ‘You’ll get to experience all that fun yourself,’ she said, ‘when we’ve got you charged, convicted and locked up. The heavies in maximum security are very liberal too. Love a good sex game. Remind me to tell you some of the stories I’ve heard from inside about barbed-wire sex toys.’
‘I really don’t know,’ said Kodaly, the injured innocent, ‘why you’re taking this line of questioning with me. And making these unpleasant threats.’
Gemma pulled out the business card that Kosta had given her and passed it to Angie who looked at it.
‘What’s this then?’ Angie jabbed at the art work, the stylised blade and the powder. ‘That’s an advertisement for what you do here. This graphic shows a blade separating cocaine into a line.’
‘One has to be cutting edge,’ Kodaly said. ‘It’s a very competitive business I’m in. That’s what’s denoted in that graphic. Cutting edge, Sergeant.’ He smiled, revealing gold. ‘Merely a symbol.’
‘You have an employee called Eddie,’ Gemma said. ‘We’d like a chat with him.’
Angie’s bewildered expression changed to anger, reminding Gemma that she’d failed to tell her friend about this. ‘I have some inside information about this Eddie,’ she added.
‘Eddie?’ At least Kodaly was engaged now, Gemma thought. Engaged and even just a little rattled. ‘He’s got nothing to do with this. Anyway, he doesn’t work for me anymore.’
Angie took her cue from Gemma. ‘How can we get in touch with him?’
Kodaly shrugged. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’
Obstruction and contempt, Gemma thought. Kodaly was master of both. Sean came up with rolls of plastic in his gloved hands. ‘We found this,’ he said. ‘And a hot press. For sealing plastic packets.’