Murderer's Thumb (25 page)

Loody was the first to react, intercepting the old man with his toothless grin, half greeting, half questioning. ‘You right, mate?'

‘Get out of my way!'

‘Hey!' Colin shouted. ‘What do you think you're doing?'

Kazek ignored them and tried to push past Loody. ‘My son, you must reason with your mother!'

Loody caught the old man round the waist and spun him towards the steps. ‘Back you go, mate.'

Don't touch him, you bastard, Adam thought. He stepped forward, seething. ‘It's OK. I'll handle it,' he barked. ‘Dad, calm down.'

Dad
, Loody mouthed, backing away to the carousel. A spray of cow shit spattered on the floor not far from where Colin had been working. But Colin was gone. Loody was the only one back on the machine now, moving frantically to make up for the interruption.

‘Your mother won't listen. Adam, you must speak to her,' Kazek said. His eyes, clouded by cataracts, were filled with tears.

‘Dad! Stop it!'

‘She won't let me in. You must tell her. I am your father. I have a right!'

‘You can't just walk in here. It's private property.'

‘Too bloody right,' Colin said from the top of the stairs. He levelled a shotgun at them.

‘Jesus!' Adam shouted. He pulled his father aside but Colin's aim was steady.

‘You get back in your fancy car and clear out,' Colin said.

Adam felt Kazek's thin bones shaking through the cardigan, but he knew it wasn't fear. Kazek's energy was electric and now that he'd found his family he'd do anything to confront Rosemary.

‘That man is criminal!' Kazek screamed up at Colin. ‘I must talk with my Rosemary. I must see her!'

‘You're the fucken criminal. Get off my land or I'll shoot,' Colin said.

Adam gasped. Was Colin crazy enough to shoot someone in front of two witnesses? Adam glanced across at Loody, who winked back. What the hell?

At the same time Kazek broke free of Adam and stood beside the rotary platform. ‘I'm staying here. He won't shoot cows. I won't leave till I see Rosemary.'

‘Dad, come on. This is stupid!'

‘I stay here until…'

One of the cows behind Kazek lifted her tail. Adam saw it coming, but said nothing. Shit sprayed over Kazek's neck, down his back and the side of his face. The old man staggered away, wiping at his clothes, spreading the green stink in trails over his beige cardigan. Then he bellowed, low and hoarse like an injured bull, and charged for the stairs.

Colin lowered the shotgun and let him pass.

Loody was rocking with laughter, still trying to put cups on. Cows kicked and fidgeted. More cow shit splattered onto the cement around him.

Adam looked from the carousel to the retreating figure of his father.

‘Piss off. Go on. Sort him out,' Colin said. ‘But I don't want him setting foot in this place again.'

‘Me neither,' Adam said. He flung off his apron and hurried up the stairs.

Colin smiled. It was the first time Adam had seen him happy.

Kazek was heading back to the house, yelling for Rosemary. He'd discarded his trademark cardigan. It lay in the dust, like a giant green and brown fungus. Adam picked it up with his thumb and forefinger, took it over to the orange Ford Falcon, and hung it over a side mirror. It was an unhurried movement, one he had to do to counteract the pace of his parents' madness. He couldn't let it overwhelm him. He took a deep breath. Rosemary would be trembling inside, frantic while Kazek paced the perimeter of the house.

A police car was coming up the driveway. It was Barry Timothy. Rosemary must have found the courage to ring. Adam waved him down.

‘Still here, is he?' Barry said.

‘Over at the old farmhouse.'

‘Right.'

Adam followed the police car past the cypresses, into his own driveway. He looked back through the trees to the milking shed. Colin was making his way across the yard. He stopped to put the shotgun in Loody's car.

Kazek was on the verandah of the old homestead, outside the kitchen window, shouting. ‘Open the door! You bloody bitch!'

Barry Timothy cleared his throat. ‘Mr Statkus!' he began.

Kazek ignored the newcomers, or didn't hear them. ‘Rosemary, I am your husband. Let me in!'

The house was silent. Adam knew Rosemary would be sitting on the floor in the hallway, as far from any window as possible, her head squeezed against her knees, trying to shut him out.

Barry took the stairs and walked slowly along the verandah to within a few steps of Kazek. ‘Mr Statkus, I have to ask you to move on please,' he said with the ring of authority.

‘Too bloody right,' Colin shouted. ‘This is private property. Can't come causing trouble round here.' He marched up the steps behind Barry.

Kazek spun round to meet them. His face was blotchy, streaked with tears and cow shit. ‘She is my wife!'

‘Mr Statkus, we've had a complaint from your wife that you're stalking her.'

‘Ridiculous. I've done nothing. She's tried this before.' He went back to the window and rattled at the frame.

‘Mr Statkus, we're taking this seriously. I'm asking you to leave the property please.'

‘You can't do this. You should arrest
him
,' he spat, pointing at Colin. ‘He points a gun at my head.'

Barry turned to Colin who threw up his hands in disbelief. ‘Bullshit. Man's a raving nutcase. Lock him up,' he said.

‘If you don't leave the property I'll have to arrest you for trespass, Mr Statkus.'

Kazek stepped away from the kitchen window. ‘This is madness!' he said, stomping past them. When he got to Adam in the driveway he reached up and put his hands on his son's shoulders and said, ‘Please tell them, Adam. I am not a bad man. We are family. We should be together.'

He stank of cow shit. It was stuck to the collar of his shirt and filled the latticework of wrinkles on his neck. Adam saw the confusion and sorrow in his father's eyes, but also the stubbornness. He took a deep breath. ‘You can't keep chasing us, Dad. You've got to let go.' He pulled Kazek's arms down and squeezed them, first with affection then harder till he hoped they hurt.

‘You are soft, Adam. You talk like a woman. One day you'll regret your mother controlling you.'

Adam walked away. Control meant everything to Kazek; he had to bully everyone to keep it.

‘Come on, Mr Statkus,' Barry said escorting him from the house. ‘I'll walk you to your car.'

TWENTY-SEVEN

Rosemary unlocked the door after Adam assured her Kazek had gone. Adam and Barry entered the kitchen to see her, back against the oven, still trembling. Her hair fell over her face, shadowing her eyes. Below the hem of her shorts her legs were scratched raw and bleeding. ‘I told you. I told you he'd find us,' she sobbed.

‘Mum, this time I'm going to make sure we get an intervention order.'

‘They'll refuse!' she screamed.

‘Not now. We'll keep a diary. Document every time he's shown up.'

‘That's the way to do it, Mrs Statkus,' Barry said. ‘Hit them with facts. They won't be able to dispute it then.'

‘We'll have to move…'

‘No!' Adam said. ‘We're staying here. We'll stand up to him.'

‘He can't come on the farm anyway,' Barry explained. ‘Colin will press charges for trespass if he sees him here again. You're better off here than in a suburban street somewhere.' He led her over to a chair. ‘Come on, sit down and Adam will get you a cuppa.'

Barry was smooth, handling the situation with sensitivity. It was so unlike his normal arrogant style. As Adam made the coffee he wondered if Barry might be trustworthy after all. Perhaps he'd misjudged him?

The policeman listened to everything Rosemary told him about Kazek's previous stalking episodes. ‘Can you remember the dates?' he asked her gently. He encouraged her to write it all down. Adam handed her a coffee and reached for the calendar. Together they listed every attack they could remember. With Barry's urging she agreed to approach the courts again. Barry got up to leave and wished them luck. Adam followed him to the door.

‘I'll give you a ring tomorrow,' Adam said.

‘Just ring if he comes back, otherwise don't bother.'

‘I mean…about something else.'

‘Changed your mind about counselling?'

Adam took a deep breath and walked out onto the verandah with Barry. ‘It's the diary, Lina's diary. I found it… at least I did, but now it's gone…stolen.' He told Barry how he'd found his bedroom in a mess earlier that afternoon and how he suspected Loody.

Barry leant back against a verandah post as he listened, legs crossed at the ankles. ‘What makes you think it was Loody?'

Adam hesitated and rubbed his turned eye. Had he done the right thing telling Barry? Should he tell him everything? How he'd found part five, how he knew Mongrel and Loody had raped, then killed Emma. Indecision sat heavily in his gut. ‘Loody was at the barbecue last night, with Mongrel. We set them up.'

‘We?'

He explained about the bogus letter and how Loody seemed over-interested.

‘Who else was nearby?'

‘Matt, maybe…his mum and...some other women. I think a couple of guys from the footy club…Birdie and his wife.'

‘So who did you tell about this…this letter?'

‘Just Mongrel and Loody.'

‘No one else?'

Adam shook his head, wincing. His brain throbbed.

The policeman shifted his weight and leant forward. ‘You realise you've been very stupid. This is a murder investigation. If you're up to your neck in this, you could be in danger. On the other hand, a stolen letter, made to trick someone, could be considered as wasting police time. Be very careful, young man.'

‘But the diary?'

‘How do I know you're not making that up too? Where did you find it?'

Heat flowed through Adam. His voice was unsteady. ‘In the house…well, in the wall actually.' The words jerked out of him as he tried to control his temper.

‘Description?'

‘Black, red spine, so big,' he gestured with his hands.

Barry moved off the verandah. ‘I think it would be wise to keep this to yourself, Adam.'

‘But…'

‘Whoever stole it doesn't want it to surface. If you advertise that you've seen it, you could be in strife. Keep your head down and let the police do their job.'

‘Do your job?' Adam seethed. ‘You didn't do it properly when Emma disappeared. Why should you do it now?'

‘Just cool it, Adam. The diary isn't a priority right now.'

‘But it explains about the murder, and Loody stole it. I know he did. Mongrel and him are behind everything. You won't arrest them because you're in Mongrel's pocket!'

‘I'll pretend I didn't hear that.'

‘Look, I'm not going to let this go. Emma's dead and maybe Lina too. You can't just cover it up.'

Barry walked down the drive, shoes crunching in the gravel. His voice was calm. ‘Just keep out of it, kid.'

Mrs Patterson answered the phone. ‘Sorry Adam, Snake's up the paddock with the horse.'

‘Oh, is Toot there then?'

‘No, sorry. She's at a fire. Didn't you hear the siren?'

He had heard it, only ten minutes ago when he and Rosemary were eating dinner. As soon as Rosemary heard the siren she dropped her cutlery and ran for the kitchen window. Then she raced to the one in the lounge room. Flitting, Adam called it—flitting from one window to the next, the way Kazek's canaries used to fly around the aviary. Rosemary couldn't see any smoke. ‘Maybe it's a hoax,' she'd said to him.

Mrs Patterson said the same thing on the phone. ‘I'll tell Snake to ring when he gets in, shall I?'

Adam was about to say ‘no, I'll ring back' when something about hoax phone calls struck him. Anyone could ring up and lie. But perhaps there was another type of hoax call, one that was never made.

‘Hello, are you there?' Mrs Patterson asked.

‘Yeah.'

‘What's your phone number?'

Adam looked across at his mother, her head buried in her hands. A crumpled wreck because she lived in fear of the telephone. But it didn't matter any more. Kazek had found them. If Adam couldn't trust Snake by now then he really was paranoid.

‘You got a pen?' he said to Mrs Patterson. He recited the phone number. Rosemary waved her hands at him, horrifled.

Adam hung up and pressed his fingertips to his temples. His pulse boomed in his skull, so painful it made him shut his eyes.

‘Why did you tell them?' she shrieked.

‘Well, what's the point? He's found us again!' He wanted her to snap out of it, to take control of her life instead of scuttling away from Kazek like a nervous hermit crab.

At that instant Adam hated her. He hated Barry, hated Loody, hated Mongrel, hated Colin. He'd given out the phone number because he had to act.
He
had to take control. Everywhere people blocked him: Barry, Loody and Mongrel warning him off, Kazek telling him he was weak, Colin laughing at him behind his back, his mum telling him what to do. He'd had enough. He wanted to hurt her, wanted her to know he was finding his own way. If that meant letting a few secrets slip, then great. He'd said enough to Barry to gauge his level of corruption. Barry was a slack copper, happy to let crime go on around him, not interested in following leads. Now Adam knew there was no one else to turn to except Snake, and he wasn't even around. Off with the fucking horse!

Adam checked his watch. It was nearly eight. He wanted to lie down and stop his head pounding, but he had to meet the Brolga. Surely, with her backing, they'd have to listen to him? ‘I'm going for a walk,' he said.

‘Don't…don't leave me, Adam,' Rosemary said. She looked tired and desperate.