The Darkest Hour (20 page)

The cop gestured with his pen into the building. ‘They’ve been cooking ice. Meth. Stinks, doesn’t it?’

‘Does it always smell like this?’

‘Pretty much,’ he said. ‘It’s why they hide the labs in industrial areas, or on big properties with nobody around. Places where the smell won’t be so noticed.’

‘Is that how they get found? When somebody notices it?’

‘Sometimes it’s that,’ he said. ‘Some get found when they blow up, like this one. We’ve also cleaned up a few lately because of that amnesty. The little guy dobs in a bigger guy and in return he gets looked after. We’ll try to use it to flip this idiot too, on the next one up the line, but I don’t like our chances.’

The ice cook was yelling again about how he was going to sue everybody. ‘I’ll take your fucking houses and you’ll all be out on the street!’

The cop said, ‘I’d take you in for a sticky-beak but they haven’t cleared it as safe yet. These things are a full-on health hazard.’

Lauren stared at the blackened sopping floor. Thomas had smelled like this. She could close her eyes and recreate the entire scene in a heartbeat – his shirt in her face, the stink that filled her nostrils, the movement of his knife arm, the terror that threatened to take her voice and her strength when she needed them most. Yes, he’d smelled exactly like this.

‘Are you okay? You’ve gone a bit green,’ the cop said.

‘Huh?’

‘The fumes can do that sometimes. You’d better get out of here.’

‘I will.’ She pulled her phone off her belt as she walked to the ambulance, and hit the button to call Ella.

Ella put the phone down and hurried down the hall to Kuiper’s office. He was on the phone and he gestured for her to sit. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Okay.’ He jotted notes. ‘Yes, let me know. Thanks.’

As soon as he hung up, Ella said, ‘Lauren just rang me. She’s at a meth lab explosion, and she swears that Thomas had exactly the same smell on him on Thursday.’

‘She’s certain?’

Ella nodded. ‘If he’s cooking meth, that could be why he’s still here, and why he hasn’t left the country despite knowing that we’re onto him.’

Kuiper drew a line across the page and started new notes below it. ‘We’ll need to get people checking out local chemical suppliers, storage houses, places like that test tube factory in Ultimo, and look on chemists’ databases for large purchases of pseudoephedrine.’ He looked up. ‘Lauren’s fine, otherwise? No sign of our man?’

‘Not a thing,’ Ella said. ‘She sounds pretty good, considering.’

‘Good. What else is happening?’

‘The call made to Kennedy’s mobile when he was with Helen Flinders came from inside Rosie’s nightclub. We’re going there late this afternoon.’

Kuiper nodded and looked at the notes he’d made while on the phone. ‘Deborah Kennedy’s been spotted out near Griffith. A local officer saw her car this morning when it ran a stop sign. A male was driving, and there were two women in the car also. He checked the numberplate, found our alert and started a pursuit. Unfortunately he’s new to the area and lost the vehicle on the back roads.’

‘Does she have family out there?’

‘Not that we know of,’ Kuiper said. ‘Kanowski’s been in touch with her parents, who live in a retirement village in Drummoyne, and the only relatives they’ve told us about are in Melbourne. The Griffith boys are going to start a search of the area, see what they can turn up. Could be hard though. Huge region.’

Ella nodded. She wondered briefly about mentioning Wayne Rhodes’s call, but there wasn’t really much to say. Better to wait and see what else he found.

Kuiper said, ‘If you and Murray are going to be working this evening, do you want to take some downtime now?’

‘I’d appreciate it,’ she said. ‘I’ll let him know.’

He nodded. ‘Meeting’s at four.’

‘See you then.’

Netta looked up as Ella entered the ward and let her mouth fall open in mock surprise.

‘I know, I know.’ Ella kissed her mother’s cheek then sat down by her bed. ‘It’s this case. I start early and I finish late.’

‘You should’ve been here before,’ Netta said. ‘I could’ve shown you my walking.’

‘I saw the doctor outside. He said you’re doing very well. You only have another week to go.’

‘Less than that,’ she said.

‘They have to make sure the infection’s gone and that you’ll be safe at home with Dad.’

‘Of course I’ll be safe.’

‘They need to be sure,’ Ella said. ‘How is Dad? And Adelina?’

‘Dad’s got his cough back.’ Netta smoothed the blanket over the side of the bed.

‘See, you don’t want him getting sick and having to come into hospital because of the strain of looking after you.’

‘I’m losing weight in here.’ Netta raised her arm and plucked at the loose skin. ‘I’m fading right away. If I was at home I could cook even just a few things, and I could get some decent sleep. Between you you could do it.’

‘I’m sorry, but I have this case.’

‘Should work always come before family?’

‘If it was me that was killed, wouldn’t you want someone like me on my case?’

Netta slapped her hand. ‘Don’t even say that.’

The nurse came in to see one of the other patients in the room. Netta leaned over to Ella and nodded at the patient. ‘She’s why I don’t sleep. She snores all night. At home it’s so quiet you can hear the plants grow.’

Ella forced a smile. She’d wanted to visit; she’d felt guilty about not getting there sooner, and had even looked forward to sitting and chatting. But now she felt cooped up and irritated. The case tugged at her mind. She should call Lauren again, for starters, let her know she’d passed on the ice info and it was a good lead for them. She could ask her also about Nolan, what she remembered of that job and whether anything odd had been going on. She had no idea what that might constitute, but if you didn’t ask everyone everything you might miss something. And she could go and see Kristi, see how she was doing. Ask her what she knew about Rosie’s, if Thomas had ever been there when they were together. Who he’d known.

Movement brought her back to reality. Her mother reached for the call buzzer. ‘–you’ll be able to see how well I can go.’

‘What?’

‘I’m just saying I’ll show you how well I can walk.’

‘No, no.’ Ella grabbed the buzzer. ‘I believe you.’

‘I want to show you.’

‘Mum, really, it’s fine. I have to get going anyway.’

Netta looked at the clock on the wall. ‘But you have a whole hour yet.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Ella said. ‘I have to get back to work.’ She bent and hugged her mother, feeling the bones of her shoulders, the way Netta patted her back – pat pat rub – the same way she’d done all her life.

‘Do you think if you get a chance you could go past the house and make sure the plants are okay?’ Netta said in her ear. ‘Lily next door is watching them but I think sometimes she forgets.’

‘I’ll try,’ Ella said. ‘I’ll see.’

‘And try and visit again? Or call? Ella, carina?’

‘Si, mama, I will. Ciao.’

Once in the car she felt guilty. She couldn’t spare another twenty minutes? Even ten?

She should go back.

She gripped the wheel and stared out the dirty windscreen for a moment, feeling torn, then reached for her seatbelt.

Mum would be fine. She had work to do.

E
lla took Stacey Street up to the Hume Highway then turned into Chullora. She wouldn’t stop, she thought, she’d just drive past her parents’ house, then she could say things looked fine. Lily took care of plants like they were her children, so it was hard to imagine that anything would die before Netta got home. Lily was more likely to have propagated a whole new garden’s worth of life for her.

She slowed as she neared the house. Lily was sitting on an empty fertiliser bag on the nature strip, her red legionnaire’s cap pulled low over her face, a man’s blue business shirt buttoned over her sundress. She was digging up bindii with a silver dinner fork. Ella looked past her at the house, seeing the greenhouse down the side, the roses along the low front wall, the fern trees by the verandah. Lily was looking at the car now, and Ella waved though Lily wouldn’t see her behind the tinted windows. Never mind. She’d at least been past, and things looked fine. Netta would be happy. Well, not happy. Ella drove on and thought about her mother’s usual cheerful demeanour. The unhappiness she gave off now was a clear sign of pain and fear and distress at being where she was. Ella turned back onto the Hume Highway, heading for Summer Hill, and wondered if there was some way to bring her home earlier. Both her mum and dad would be thrilled, she knew, but it was hard to commit herself when she never knew what might crop up with the case and when she might work late or even overnight. That’d be no good if Netta was sitting in the bathroom waiting to be showered. Might Adelina come and stay? If Adelina was there as well, Ella would be less restricted, and it might just work.

Well, she would think about it, but not say anything yet.

Traffic was stop-start all the way to Summer Hill, and then she had to wait for a break between oncoming cars to turn into Lauren’s street. Sitting there, she glanced down towards Lauren’s house and was startled to see an ambulance parked at the front.
Oh Jesus, what now?
She should’ve called to check if things were okay. She fumbled for her mobile in her bag, one eye on the traffic, then saw a gap and shot around the corner.

The ambulance was parked right outside the house but there were no people in sight and the front door was closed. Ella hurried across the footpath, her stomach tense over what she might find. A knock brought the sound of a window opening overhead. Ella squinted up into the sun.

‘Hi.’ It was Kristi’s voice. ‘I’ll come right down.’

When she opened the door, Ella said, ‘You had me worried for a moment.’

‘Oh, because of the truck? Lauren and Joe were in the area so they dropped in.’

This was handy. Ella followed her upstairs. When she walked into the living room Lauren got up from the lounge. ‘Hi.’

Squeals came from the attic. ‘Joe, wait!’ Felise shouted.

‘Just thought I’d check in,’ Ella said. ‘Make sure all is quiet, and let you know that we’re right onto that meth lead you gave us.’

Kristi perched on a corner of the kitchen table. ‘I’d believe it of him.’

‘That smell’s pretty distinctive,’ Ella said. ‘I also wanted to check a couple of other things. Lauren, do you remember going to a man fallen from a train the same night that Kennedy died?’

She nodded. ‘We worked on him but he died. Why?’

‘There could be a link between him and Kennedy.’

‘You’re kidding. What kind of link?’

‘We’re not sure yet,’ Ella said. ‘There’re lots of aspects to investigate, but I wanted to ask whether you noticed anything strange at that scene. I know I’m clutching at straws here but every little piece of information can help.’

Lauren looked thoughtful. ‘The train was away from the station, so there was nobody around watching. The police were there, pretty anxious and upset. The patient’s injuries matched the story that they told us, that he’d fallen from the train while it was moving. He’d landed headfirst. Joe was there too, and two other paramedics. We just worked on him by the train, then took him up to St Vincent’s where they pronounced him.’

‘Okay,’ Ella said. ‘Do either of you know of a club in the Cross called Rosie’s?’

‘I’ve been there on jobs a couple of times,’ Lauren said. ‘The usual nightclub calls: drug overdoses, collapse unconscious from alcohol.’

Kristi said, ‘I’ve never heard of it.’

‘You never went there in your time with Thomas?’

Kristi shook her head.

‘Isn’t it a fairly new place?’ Lauren said. ‘One of the cases I did was during their big opening-night party, and I’m sure that was since we’ve lived here.’

‘So I would’ve been out of that life by then,’ Kristi said.

Ella made a note.

‘Are you any closer to finding him?’ Kristi said.

‘It’s hard to say,’ Ella said. ‘We have all these little bits of information and we’re slowly putting them together, but it’s difficult to know exactly what we’re looking at.’

A radio crackled. ‘Thirty-four, are you still in the Summer Hill area?’

Lauren lifted the portable to her mouth. ‘Thirty-four, affirmative.’

‘Thanks, Thirty-four, got a transfer for you, from Western Suburbs into RPA.’

‘Copy, on way.’ Lauren stood up and hooked the radio on her belt. ‘Joe?’

He came downstairs with Felise over his shoulder. ‘Job?’

Lauren nodded.

‘Just drop this in the bin on the way out, will I?’

Felise squealed and locked her arms around his neck.

Ella said to Lauren under the noise, ‘Got your tracker?’

She touched her shirt pocket. ‘It’s never off me.’

‘And there’s been nothing suspicious at all.’

Lauren shook her head. ‘I guess he found out about the surveillance and phone taps and he’s lying low.’

Ella hoped so. In her experience, however, somebody like Thomas was not so easily stopped, particularly if he wasn’t planning to leave until he had finished cooking up his drugs. It was likely that he would still try to take action, to get at these witnesses, or to slow the case down in some way.

The question was, what would he do?

It was rest period in RPA’s main medical ward and the corridor was sunlit and quiet when Joe and Lauren delivered their patient from Western Suburbs Hospital. He was a fifty-seven-year-old man with a metabolic disorder and renal failure. Joe eased him across to the hospital bed while Lauren gave her handover to the nurse in low tones. They said goodbye to the patient then wheeled the stretcher back to the lift.

On the ground floor they headed for the ambulance bay, then Joe stopped just inside the doors. ‘Wait here.’ He stepped out to look in all directions, even squatting to peer under the ambulance.

Lauren said, ‘He couldn’t possibly know where we are.’

‘Never underestimate the enemy.’ He unlocked the ambulance and they loaded the empty stretcher in.

‘Yeah, but that’s–’

‘You were lucky once.’ Joe pulled the back door closed, leaving the rest unspoken.

You might not be so lucky again.

Lauren knew he was right. It just struck her as silly to think Thomas might come after her in broad daylight, with Joe right there, hospital security only a scream away, and any number of possible witnesses walking past on the street. She touched the tracker in her pocket and got into the ambulance cabin.

‘Thirty-four, you on the air?’ Control called.

Lauren grabbed the mike from the dash. ‘Thirty-four’s clear at RPA.’

‘Thanks, Thirty-four, got a crane collapse at a building site in Castlereagh Street, no number given but it’s near Goulburn Street. Reports of three people injured, at least one possibly code four. I have another crew on way plus rescue. Will try to get a better location for you.’

‘I know the place.’ Joe started the ambulance.

Lauren said into the mike, ‘Thirty-four’s on way. We know where it is.’

‘Copy, thank you.’

Signs in Missenden Road asked drivers to keep noise to a minimum. Joe drove as fast as quiet would allow, beacons on and siren off until he hit Parramatta Road where he braked and reached for the siren at the same time.

‘One coming,’ Lauren said over the wail. ‘Okay, he’s stopped. You’re clear.’

The tyres screeched as Joe accelerated onto the main road. ‘Bloody big cranes at this place.’

‘Must’ve rolled, do you think?’

‘Or the boom’s broken somehow.’ He hit the horn to change the siren to yelp. A meandering truck finally pulled to the left and he shot past. ‘Come down and landed on people.’

‘Real or fake?’ Lauren pulled on gloves.

‘Thirty-four,’ Control said. ‘Just an update, no need to reply. Police on scene state one code nine and unconscious, one with severe limb injuries and two walking wounded.’

‘No need to guess now,’ Joe said, driving faster.

The site was a deep hole beside Castlereagh. An anxious-looking man in a hard hat waved them into a gateway, pedestrians stopping to let them through, and Joe negotiated the ramp down into the scene. Lauren shivered at the sight of the crane. The end of its boom lay in the mud and the middle sagged like limp spaghetti from the upright section. An ambulance was parked near the end of the boom. Lauren spotted one officer clambering on the metal structure, the other crouched beside a person in the mud four metres away. Workers in dirty hard hats stood around two men sitting on the ground nearby. Some were crying.

Joe drove off the ramp and onto the muddy ground. Lauren felt the wheels slip then grip as he made his way across to the first ambulance. Before he’d properly stopped she was out and yanking gear from the back, looking over her shoulder at the scene.

A man was trapped in the structure of the boom, lying face down at an angle on a metal walkway, his head over the side, one hand dangling free. Paramedic Danny Sutton was trying to assess him through the frame that pinned him down.

Closer to them, paramedic Bryan Forbes held a thick dressing to a pale and moaning man’s left thigh. He nodded to her. ‘If you can take over here, I’ll go help Danny.’

Lauren carried the Oxy-Viva and first aid kit over and put them down in the mud.

‘Big open fracture,’ Bryan went on. ‘He was thrown from the thing as it came down. Fell about five metres, landed on the leg.’

‘No LOC?’

Bryan shook his head. ‘Awake the whole time. Ready?’

Lauren took over holding the dressing. As Bryan got up he leaned close to her ear. ‘The guy who’s trapped is this guy’s little brother.’

Lauren looked down at her patient. His skin was pale, cold and sweaty, and his brown hair was plastered to his scalp. The blood from his leg wound had soaked into the mud around them and seeped into the dressing under her gloved fingers. She could feel its warmth. He wore shorts and a work shirt, all covered with mud. He grimaced, grasping the top of his thigh above the wound, his eyes fixed on the boom where his brother lay. Lauren felt for him. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Charlie Addison.’ He tried to raise himself up. ‘How’s my brother?’

‘The other paramedics are looking after him,’ she said. ‘Where’s your pain, apart from your leg? Can you take a deep breath?’

Joe brought the monitor and drug box over then opened the first aid kit.

‘Can’t breathe too deep, my back hurts.’ Charlie lay back in the mud. ‘Dizzy too.’

Lauren eased the pressure off the dressing and she and Joe had a quick peek. The flesh was torn open by the jagged broken end of the femur. The bleeding had all but stopped now. The exposed muscle and fatty tissue were coated with dirt, and the protruding end of the bone glistened whitely through the blood.

‘Okay, Charlie, just lie still for me there,’ Lauren said. ‘I’m Lauren and this is Joe. He’s going to do a couple of things to your leg while you and me have a talk and check some things out, okay?’

Joe opened some vials of normal saline and squirted the liquid into the wound, washing away the worst of the dirt.

‘What’s happening with my brother?’

‘They’re looking after him. They’re great paramedics, those two. He’s in excellent hands.’ Lauren wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his arm. ‘What’s his name?’

‘Mitchell.’ He tried to see again.

‘Charlie, you have to lie still, please.’ Lauren looked at Joe, who was folding a large moistened dressing carefully around the broken bone end. ‘Ninety on fifty. Pulse one-twenty.’

‘Will he be okay?’ Charlie tried to peer around her.

A couple of the workers forced angle grinders into the metal of the boom. One simply squatted in the mud and held Mitchell’s limp hand. Out on the streets cars droned by, and a news helicopter hovered overhead.

‘Charlie,’ she said gently, slipping an oxygen mask over his face. ‘If that was you in there, and he was here, would you want him to take care of himself?’

He focused on her face. Tears made clean lines towards his ears. ‘I got him this job.’

Lauren wanted to say that it would be okay, but Bryan was worming his way under the crushed boom with a resus bag in his hands trying desperately to fit the mask to Mitchell’s face.

‘What if he dies?’ Charlie’s voice was thick.