The Fourth Season (25 page)

Mindful of the fact that it was the last time we'd ever sit together, talking in his office, Brook filled in some of the gaps in the early part of the investigation, how DS Brideson's badgering had increased, how he'd felt helpless in the face of it.

‘He'll never forgive me for cutting him out at the end, but it doesn't matter. None of that matters now.'

Brook looked up and made a wry face.

‘Robben's falling over his feet to give us information. Claims that Cameron held onto Sanderson's share of the money as a way of bringing him to heel. According to Robben, Cameron got Laila to agree to meet him at the lake by saying that he'd consider taking her along next time. When they met, he offered her money. She refused, and I can imagine she didn't refuse quietly. When she turned to go, he took out the weight belt and cracked her skull open. As for Sanderson, he couldn't stomach the murder. Made all kinds of threats. It seems as though Cameron learnt about his jogging route from watching him. He picked his time and got rid of a second trouble-maker.'

The weight belt came from?'

‘Cameron's shop. Roger Stanton's talking too now. Can't be helpful enough. The drug run could have been abandoned, or postponed. Yachties are always passing through those islands. For all Cameron knew there were other yachts at West Cove for the same reason as the
Lightning
. He'd never have been told. But Cameron couldn't bear to fail in his first attempt.'

‘Laila's greatest weakness,' I said reflectively, ‘was expecting Cameron to understand her passion for finding the
Maria Rosa
. She expected him to believe her promise that if he gave her a chance to do that, she'd turn a blind eye on whatever else happened to be going on.'

‘I'm not sure that your reasoning's correct,' Brook said. ‘I doubt if Laila would have made any kind of assurance, if she guessed about the drugs. Robben's adamant she didn't. It's a moot point in any case, since Cameron decided he wouldn't take the risk.'

Don Fletcher was also bending over backwards in order to be co-operative, and claiming that he'd saved Katya's life and risked his own in order to overpower his brother.

‘Quite the hero,' Brook said dryly. ‘But it hardly makes up for his silence up until that point.'

I thought of the two shadows I'd glimpsed through the mist outside Dickson Pool, and of Cameron's outline underneath a streetlight opposite the internet cafe, which now had a ‘for lease' sign in the window.

I did not like walking past it, being reminded of the end of Owen's dream.

Of course it had been Cameron's idea for Don to hire me.

‘They wanted to keep track of you, Sandra.'

‘But the track pointed towards Cameron.'

‘It was you who called him a narcissist. Don's brief was to find out what you knew. And by the way, the customs station at Eden doesn't tape over their CCTV film. One of my constables finally found the
Sea Wizard
. And who should disembark and head off down the pier looking as pleased as punch? Cameron Fletcher. They've faxed through the form the
Sea Wizard
skipper filled in. Basic information, since they'd already been through customs. No reference to Cameron of course, or where they picked him up. But let them, or Cameron, try and deny the connection now.'

‘What if I hadn't said a word to Don about Laila's diagram or the
Maria Rosa
?'

‘Cameron read you for an honest person, who feels the need to justify her fee. And they thought to keep you busy. Cameron figured that, with Ivan as a suspect, you'd be asking questions anyway.'

‘And wanted me under suspicion too. Hence that report of my car driving around the pool. No one drives
around
the pool. You should have known that was nonsense.'

‘It had to be investigated. And not by me.'

‘So Cameron was the brains behind it all,' I said.

‘Don's not
innocent
. He was not coerced. And Cameron needed help to get Sanderson's body through the fence at Dickson Pool. He couldn't have done that on his own.'

I thought of Ben Sanderson's neighbour, Ian, and wondered how he'd reacted to the news of the arrests.

‘Robben knew that Cameron was a murderer,' I said, ‘but I doubt it worried him as much as his wife finding out that he'd been having an affair. My impression is that he saw a very lucrative partnership ahead, and that he wasn't sorry to have Sanderson eliminated either.'

Brook nodded. ‘A very nasty piece of work, our Romeo. Quite happy to spend his share of the money on a top class boat and look the other way.'

I thought about loyalty, when it was owed, and to whom. Ivan falling in love with Laila—had this been a symptom or a cause? Did it matter any more?

I had my children to think of, bonded together in likeness, and a mistrust of the adult world. I believed, I hoped, the bond would strengthen them, and that the mistrust would fade. I didn't think it would matter if Peter put off growing up for a while. Whether or not he would forgive me wasn't a question I was not about to try and answer.

The call Frances had failed to pass on to Brian Fitzpatrick had come from Dr Tarrant at CSIRO, and it had been about Laila. My hunch about that had been right.

After the Fletcher brothers' arrest, neither Tarrant nor Fitzpatrick saw any reason to be vague about it. Laila's red waistcoat had been a gift from Fitzpatrick. Brook was annoyed that neither man had been completely frank before, but lack of frankness was something he'd come across so often that he didn't stay annoyed for long. Laila had pestered Tarrant for information, and Tarrant, knowing of her friendship with the senator, had rung to warn him that she ‘might be about to do something foolhardy.'

Bronwyn Castles had believed that Laila had been having an affair with her former boss. Even when offered evidence to the contrary, Brook said, Bronwyn seemed unable to shake the conviction; she was still full of jealousy and anger.

Bronwyn was another one of Laila's casualties, I thought, along with Tim Delaney and Ivan.

We talked for a while longer about the water murders, as I came to think of them. They became a touchstone for the final season Brook spent as a policeman. The passing of time gave that autumn a framework that only distance can.

Brook and Sophie married and began a different way of life, far away from Canberra. There weren't many guests at the wedding; Katya was their flower-girl.

I don't know what will happen to the consultancy I struggled to maintain with Ivan, or to our marriage, if you can call it that. Ivan's still working at the computer repair place in Fyshwick, and seems content, in the evenings, to watch TV while Katya draws in her big sketchbook, or curls up beside him on the couch.

That last afternoon in his office, Brook paused in his packing up and said, ‘I don't mind now if the storm rages out there, Sandra.'

I nodded. I didn't want Brook to feel he had to justify himself to me. I didn't want him to see how I was close to tears.

‘Nature on our side for once,' I said.

‘What's that?'

‘We should be thankful for the storm.'

Brook left his boxes and took me in his arms. ‘Oh, I am. I am,' he said. ‘And not just
any
port in it.'

— END —