My Brother’s Keeper (15 page)

I was already swinging the car around the last roundabout to the airport, picturing Wolf as I’d left him: gnawing contentedly on the bones I’d picked up for him on the way back from the prison while he waited for Robbie to collect him, when I remembered Norma’s phone was still in the bottom of
my overnight bag. In fear of wiping Karen’s message, rather than attempt to dismantle the phone I’d ended up throwing the whole thing in with my luggage. It would be cutting it fine, but I figured there was just enough time, if I got lucky with the lights, to drop the phone off to Inspector Fanshaw at the Wellington police station and still be back at the airport in time to catch my flight.

The uniformed cop behind the desk eyed me suspiciously. It might have been because of my urgency. More likely he was wary of the phone I was handing over, wires and battery pack dangling suspiciously. When I viewed it with the sceptical eye he was trained to look at things with, I had to admit it appeared not dissimilar to a home-made explosive device. He kept his eyes riveted on it as I repeated several times that I wanted him to give the phone to Detective Inspector Aaron Fanshaw and tell him to listen to the message from Karen Mackie that she had left for me on the morning she was killed. He kept asking me to wait right there and refused to even touch the proffered phone. We argued back and forth for a while and things were looking downright ropey until I offered to write my name and address down for him. He visibly relaxed, and handing me a police issue notepad, waited patiently while I wrote on it. It was endearingly naive of him. If this was a bomb I was delivering, it was unlikely to be my real name and number I’d written down.

With the phone delivered, I broke a couple of speed limits getting to the airport and was soon back in the air, struggling with an Anzac biscuit encased in cellophane that was impossible to open. It all felt a bit déjà vu really. But despite the sensation
of my stomach falling out of my anus during the roller-coaster takeoff, and despite the migraine-inducing buffeting as the pilot attempted to level out, it was a relief to be back in the air high above Wellington and winging my way back to Auckland.

Though I’d managed quite successfully not to consciously think about what had happened between Robbie and me earlier in the day, in truth the memory of his grin slowly unhitching haunted me.

W
EDNESDAY
28 N
OVEMBER
2012

O
ne hour later I was charging my way along the air bridge, juggling overnight bag, sunglasses and mobile. There were no new messages from Sunny. I carefully pressed her number but her phone clicked straight to voicemail again. Salena might give me shit for turning up unannounced, but Sunny had asked for my help and I’d flown back to Auckland to give it to her. I had no idea what that help might involve but I owed it to Karen to go find out. I still couldn’t figure out how Justin could have killed Karen, but presumably the cops had a tight enough case for them to have made the crucial move of arresting him. It’s not something they ever do prematurely.

Sunny sat cross-legged on the sofa. Pale and dishevelled, she
was eyeing the woman opposite her with a look of repugnance. As soon as she caught sight of me, she unravelled her long legs and ran to me, throwing her skinny arms around my neck like a distraught two-year-old. Salena put a comforting hand on her back but Sunny shrugged it off and kept her face turned into my collarbone. The woman moved towards me, her hands twitching with the desire to pull Sunny away from me. I gave her a look not dissimilar to the one I’d seen on Sunny’s face.

‘And you are?’ she asked, her irritation with my sudden appearance barely suppressed.

Ignoring her, I pushed the hair from Sunny’s face. ‘Okay?’ I asked. Sunny sniffed loudly and nodded her hair back into the tears and snot.

‘She’s a friend of Sunny’s mother,’ Salena explained, not unkindly.

‘My name’s Maggie. I’m the assigned social worker,’ she said, and held out her hand for me to take.

Sunny pulled herself out of my embrace but stayed close. ‘I don’t need a social worker. I don’t even know why you’re here,’ she said over her shoulder.

‘As I explained to you,’ the woman said in the slow irritating way some professionals adopt. ‘I’ve been appointed by the courts to check on your wellbeing.’

She looked directly at me, willing me to leave. I wasn’t going anywhere. I put my hand lightly on Sunny’s back. Her whole bony little frame was trembling.

‘In cases like this we need to be confident the children are safe.’ Maggie was addressing me. She was enjoying her role up there at the front of class, telling the poor students how it was
going down from now on. ‘Sometimes removing the perpetrator isn’t enough.’

Salena advanced towards her. ‘Are you crazy? What are you saying? That I was involved?’ Salena’s face was flushed. ‘I knew nothing about it! How could you think I would allow such a disgusting thing!’

I had no idea what they were talking about. Sunny dropped herself to the sofa. Hands over her ears, she rocked back and forwards. I lowered myself down beside her and placed a gentle hand on her. I felt the fragile shoulder bones beneath my fingers, the warm vibration of her movement. Maggie continued in her irritatingly calm voice.

‘It’s my job to assess the home environment and to ensure the children are safe here. I’m just doing my job, Mrs Bachelor.’

‘Don’t call me that. I don’t want that name any more.’ Salena wrapped her arms around her stomach as if in pain. ‘I don’t want anything to do with him ever again.’

Something was most definitely wrong here. A husband murdering his ex-wife is not usually met with such a harsh response from the incumbent. The room had lapsed into silence except for the regular squeak of the leather couch as Sunny continued to rock back and forwards, feet on the sofa, forehead tucked into her knees. Salena and the social worker had stopped yelling at each other and were watching her, but neither seemed able to decide on their next moves. I was pretty sure Sunny was ready to spring if anyone else came near her.

I risked a question. ‘What was Justin charged with?’

The women glanced at each other but neither offered a response. It was Salena who finally answered. ‘He’s been
charged with obtaining objectionable material.’ Sunny wrapped her arms around her legs but kept her face hidden against her raised knees. ‘But that was just to get him away from …’ she glanced at Sunny but couldn’t say her name. ‘They said there are more serious charges pending.’

The pained face Sunny turned towards her was devastating. I was struggling to keep up. Porn charges? Justin had been charged with obtaining porn, not for killing Karen?

Sunny was shaking her head, hair swinging from side to side. ‘I can’t stand to be in this house one minute longer. I’ll just … I’ll just go totally crazy!’

Maggie moved towards her. ‘That’s the right decision, I think, Sunny. I can take you to stay with some caring people—’

‘No!’ Salena glared at the social worker. ‘I won’t have her staying with strangers.’ She turned to Sunny. ‘We can go up to the bach, Sunny. We don’t have to stay here.’

A ghastly animal moan started from somewhere deep inside Sunny’s birdlike little frame. The sound built and built, louder and louder until she was screaming; a wild high-pitched ululation. She threw back her thin body, arching her spine to an impossible curvature. Feet pounding the floor, she smacked mercilessly at her head. Niki used to do this. I always thought it was something similar to a petit mal, a kind of epileptic seizure. Just as uncontrollable anyway. From experience, I knew it would only make things worse if anyone tried to restrain her. The social worker obviously didn’t know this and strode purposefully towards Sunny, her hands ready. I blocked her. In that frozen moment in which Maggie and I were eyeballing each other, Salena running her hands through
her hair, Sunny screaming and pelting herself on the head, Neo entered.

‘Sunny?’

And just like that, Sunny stopped. She ran to her little brother framed in the doorway, the sunlight creating an angel’s halo of his hair. His plump face was pale and frightened. Sunny put her arms around him as if it was he who needed the comfort.

‘Sorry, Neo. I’m so sorry.’

‘Are you okay?’ he asked, his voice breaking.

Sunny hurriedly pushed her hair back behind her ears, used her sleeve to wipe the saliva and tears from her face. ‘I’m totally okay. I lost it for a minute, that’s all. I’m okay. I promise.’ This transformation must have taken a huge effort on her part. It was impressive.

Neo’s chubby little arms folded around her, too, and they stayed like that, a tableau, until the social worker broke the spell.

‘I don’t think the children should be together. Not while Sunny is so reactive.’

Sunny straightened and gave the social worker the cool direct look she had once turned on me. ‘I’m going to stay with Diane,’ she declared. I nodded my agreement, but she didn’t even look my way. Salena hurried to take ownership of Neo. Her hands rested proprietorially on his shoulders.

‘I’m happy for Sunny to stay with Diane until things settle.’ She put one hand gently on Sunny’s arm. ‘But only if it’s what you want. Of course you’re going to get upset. That’s completely understandable. If you want to stay here with us, I won’t let this
woman stop us. We’re a family — even without Justin — we’re still a family.’

Sunny was clearly moved, and surprised. So was I.

‘I’ll be okay,’ Sunny said. In that moment anyway, everyone believed her.

Salena offered me her car, saying she’d use Justin’s. I waited in it, heater turned all the way up while Sunny packed a bag. I was struggling to get my head around Justin being arrested for downloading porn, and not for Karen’s murder as I had assumed. Salena said the cops had told her more serious charges were pending. Presumably, that would be the murder charge, but the whole thing seemed odd and I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I still hadn’t got it sorted when Sunny slammed the car door shut and threw her bag over her shoulder onto the back seat.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ she said bleakly, staring straight ahead.

I started the engine. ‘Are you okay staying at your grandmother’s?’

‘Why wouldn’t I be? I had nothing against her,’ she said, making no attempt to disguise her bitterness.

We were halfway along Jervois Road before she spoke again. ‘My friend Jasmine was there when the cops arrested him. It’s all over Facebook. All my friends know.’ She stared out the window at the rain-soaked streets. ‘I’m never going back to school. They can’t make me. I’d rather kill myself.’

I was trying to find a way to phrase the question. In the end I just asked it straight out.

‘What exactly did the police find, Sunny?’

She turned her bleak face to me. ‘Me. Disgusting photos of me. Naked and … and everything.’ She turned away again. ‘He took photos of me.’ The lights from the street strobed.

‘Shit,’ I said.

‘Totally,’ she agreed.

W
EDNESDAY
28 N
OVEMBER
2012

S
unny curled up on the sofa with a soft blanket wrapped around her. Like a malingering seven-year-old she picked fastidiously through a container of steamed rice and vegetables. It had been a challenge to find anything of the fast food variety that she was prepared to eat and from the way she expertly weeded out any of the coloured items, it looked like this attempt had failed too. She responded to my critical look with a shrug.

‘I only like food that’s white,’ she explained.

She seemed to want to talk about what had happened, replaying events over again and again with little variation. Details were being etched into her memory and with each retelling they would sink deeper. Trauma does that.

‘Jasmine and me were in the kitchen. Neo was eating Coco
Pops and Salena was lecturing him about having fruit as well, then Jasmine said there’s a cop down by the swings so Salena went to look out the patio doors. Then there was like, this knock on the front door.’ She mimed a fist knocking, visualising it, even though she couldn’t possibly have seen it. ‘And I went down the hall, and I could see them, see the police uniform, through the stained glass on the sides of the door. The glass made them look, like, all wavery. And I opened the door and there were these two cops asking for Dad. And then Dad came down the stairs …’ She turned her head, seeing the invisible stairs, seeing Justin, ‘and when Dad saw the cops, he froze. His hand was on the stair whatsit — the railing — and he kept saying “What’s happened, what’s happened?” And then he kind of just sunk down on the stairs, with his hand still holding on, like his legs wouldn’t hold him up any more.’ She choked a loud hiccup, her face flushed with the effort to hold back the tears. ‘I think that was because of Falcon. The cops coming to the door like that reminded him of when they came to tell him Falcon was dead.’ She looked down at her hands before adding, ‘And to tell him I was okay, I guess.’

Sunny was silent as I poured a glass of water and handed it to her. She took the glass but studied the liquid suspiciously.

‘It’s just water,’ I reassured her.

‘From the tap?’ she said, screwing up her face with disgust.

I nearly responded ‘It won’t kill you,’ but stopped myself in time. There were so many things that were inappropriate to say to this girl.

She put the glass on the floor and picked up the story exactly where she had left off.

‘And this cop, he was quite old, he walked right into the house and said he had a warrant for Justin Bachelor’s arrest and a warrant to search the house, and Dad went, like, nuts! And poor Neo was there holding his bowl of Coco Pops with his eyes all big and scared, and Dad was, like, yelling at Salena, “Call my lawyer! Call my lawyer!” And she was standing there holding this warrant, just staring at it and staring at it and then she looked at Dad like … like he was evil or something and then she spat! Right on his bare feet. Salena just spat this big glob at him.’ She lapsed into silence, eyes bright with the memory of it. ‘That was so not Salena. We’re not even allowed to wear shoes in the house.’ A little smile flickered at the corners of her mouth. I suspect she was impressed by Salena’s visceral reaction. ‘I made Jasmine leave but she was all “Oh no, let me stay with yooou”, pretending she wanted to be there for, like, me, but it was just because she thought this was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her, which it probably was. She was probably filming the whole thing on her phone …’ She stopped abruptly. The other filming, Justin’s filming of her, smashed into her consciousness. Her eyes were huge with the horror of it.

‘You shouldn’t have been there when the police arrested Justin,’ I said. ‘They handled it really badly.’

‘One of the cops said they hadn’t meant for me to be there. They were supposed to wait until Neo and me had left for school, but they stuffed up.’

They sure had. I didn’t think Fanshaw would have been thrilled by the way the Auckland cops had handled it.

‘Did they take anything from the house?’

‘They took Dad away, to the police station, and Salena and Neo and me had to sit on the sofa with the policewoman watching us while they went through the house. That was when Salena told me what he’d been arrested for and I went to the bathroom and vomited with the policewoman standing beside me checking her make-up in the mirror.’ She leaned forward to place the rice tray on the floor, then tented the blanket over her knees. ‘Salena said they took all our computers, but I don’t know what else they took.’

‘So where did the police get the photos from? The ones he was arrested for?’

‘They were on the computer at the gym. Salena said they told her they were like soft porn. But, well, they would have to be, wouldn’t they? I mean, I’ve never done anything gross. Except undressing and being naked and … and posing, and maybe dancing and all that. But not in front of anyone! Just by myself.’ Her eyes moved, figuring it out. ‘He must have been hiding behind the racks of clothes, where he keeps the new imports. He was always saying I could go in there and try on whatever I liked but not to wear them on the street.’ She buried her face in her hands. ‘It’s so gross to think he was watching me when I was, you know, playing around, thinking I was on my own, and all the time he was taking photos of me.’ She glanced shyly at me, a blush spreading across her face and neck. ‘You know the sort of thing you do on your own … posing and stuff?’ I nodded. I remembered trying out sexy poses in front of the mirror when I was her age. Sunny had lapsed into thought, her eyes darting. It seemed she hadn’t yet considered the possibility Justin had taken the photos not only for his own use but for trading on the
internet. It was impossible to know if Sunny would think this was better or worse.

‘What sort of father would take photos of his daughter like that? I’ve had, like, five showers today already. Salena said that’s understandable.’

‘How’s she been?’

‘Who?’ she asked petulantly, not yet ready to relinquish being the centre of attention.

‘Salena.’

‘Oh. She’s grossed out too. Neither of us ever wants to see him again. She is actually being quite nice to me,’ she added, ‘which is a first. I hope he stays in prison for the rest of his life. I hope he dies there.’

‘Has Justin done anything before? Anything that creeped you out?’

‘No way! Dad’s totally old school. He always knocks when I’m in the bathroom and stuff like that. I thought maybe it was Anton who took them. He’s such a creep. I told the social worker. I mean, Anton has keys to the gym. Maybe it was him who took the photos.’

It had occurred to me, too. ‘What did she say?’

‘Just that she was sure the police had got the right person.’

Oh, well, if she thinks that, it
must
be right then.

Sunny followed me into the spare bedroom and stood, arms crossed, leaning against the wall while I stripped the sheets and pillowcases off the bed.

‘Whose is that?’ she asked, nodding towards a jacket draped over the back of a chair.

‘It’s Ned’s. He stays here sometimes.’

‘With you?’ she asked, looking me up and down as if she thought it unlikely.

‘No. He’s a friend of your gran’s.’ I found him in the photo and pressed my index finger under him. ‘That’s him there.’

She studied the photo closely. ‘Cute,’ she finally pronounced. She lifted the photo off the wall to study it more closely. ‘His dad was called Arthur, eh? The old man who lived with my gran?’

‘That’s right.’ She didn’t turn but instead held the photo closer to her face to examine it better. ‘Do you remember him? He would have been around when you were a kid.’

‘I don’t remember the cute guy, but I remember his dad. He had this totally Irish accent that made everything he said sound funny.’

‘Yeah, well Ned’s a bit like that, too.’

With the bed stripped I went in search of clean sheets. Sunny was studying a photo of her mother and grandmother when I returned. The sheet cracked like lightening as I flung it over the bed.

‘That smell reminds me of Gran. Her things always smelt like that.’ It was lavender. I’d noticed the sachet in the linen cupboard.

‘Did you like your gran?’

Her skeletal shoulders went up and down. ‘Falcon was her favourite. She liked boys more than girls, I think. Or maybe she just didn’t like me.’ She lapsed into silence but remained staring at the photos. ‘Mum said Gran wasn’t a very good mother.’ A harsh laugh. ‘Not that Mum was that hot either.’ She tried to make a joke of it but it fell flat. ‘I guess there’s not much hope for me.’

‘Great sisters make great mums,’ I said confidently. I’d made that up on the spot but thought it was probably true. Sunny wiped away a tear. I hadn’t realised she was crying. ‘Are you okay?’ I asked. She nodded. ‘You’re a fabulous sister to Neo, Sunny.’

She didn’t respond, but her fingers reached out to touch the image of Falcon.

‘Gran came to see me. After I got out of the hospital. I think it might have been the day Mum was arrested. It was before the funeral anyway.’ She lapsed into silence again.

This must have been the time Ned told me about, the day Sunny had screamed and wouldn’t stop. When Sunny spoke again she addressed one of the photos of her gran. ‘That’s when she told me Falcon was her favourite. She said he had always been her favourite. She told me she never wanted to see me again and she said she wished it had been me who drowned, not Falcon. I was only seven years old when she said that to me.’ There wasn’t a lot I could say. She turned to face me. Her eyes were dry now. ‘Pretty harsh, eh?’

Now there’s an understatement.

I left her studying the photos and went to bring in her bag from the car. When I returned she was sitting in the middle of the bed, the photos arranged around her like a magical circle. She had a framed high school photo of her mother clasped in both hands.

‘I look like her, don’t I?’

‘A bit,’ I agreed, keeping my tone neutral.

‘I wish I had met her now. Just to check out stuff like that. I’d changed my mind about meeting her, you know, at the last
minute. I said no way, I’m not going, but Dad made me.’

‘Really? That surprises me. He was so dead against it.’

‘I know. He was in such a weird mood that morning. Not that I blame him. I mean, he totally hated her for what she did to Falcon. He probably just lost the plot, knowing he was going to see her again.’

So she still didn’t know Justin had seen Karen the night before they were supposed to meet; she didn’t know he’d flown to Wellington on Friday night to plead with her to leave Sunny alone. The only reason I could think of for why he would then insist that Sunny go to meet Karen was to maintain his cover. It would look suspicious if they didn’t turn up to an arranged meeting. Some might even make the leap that he didn’t go because he knew Karen was dead.

‘He was never, ever going to forgive her for killing Falcon,’ Sunny continued. ‘You know, after the funeral he never mentioned Mum again. He never went to visit her in prison or wrote to her or anything like that. And I just knew never to talk about her. We never talked about Falcon either. It was like, to him, both of them were dead.’ She put the photo of Karen back down on the bed. ‘I thought I had a good dad …’ she said, and shook her head. ‘Now there’s nothing about him I believe any more.’ She picked up another of the photos and studied it for a long time. It was the photo of her leaning on the bonnet of the car her mother had attempted to drown them in. Karen was in the driver’s seat, looking towards the camera with what seemed like a look of defeat. And Falcon, unsmiling, was reaching towards the car as if to anchor himself. She studied the image so closely her face was hidden from me. Her fingers slid
down the glass like a blessing. She kissed the glass and then, embarrassed, sniffed back her tears and rubbed the kiss away with the sleeve of her jumper.

She was struggling enough knowing her father had taken pornographic photos of her. I had no idea how she was going to handle it when he was charged with her mother’s murder. I tried to steer Sunny back there to see if she had any suspicion at all.

‘Justin was so against you and Karen meeting. Do you have any idea what changed his mind? Why he insisted you go?’

‘It was probably Salena,’ she said, her old nemesis rearing her snaky head again. ‘Dad does whatever she says. He probably just got sick of her nagging at him and wanted it over and done with. He came home late and she was yelling at him half the night. Neo came into my bed, he was so freaked out.’ She looked at me intently. ‘Someone killed Mum, didn’t they? She didn’t, like, OD or anything like that?’

Luckily, before I had to answer, Sunny’s phone rang. Her skin turned waxy as she listened to the caller. I could hear Salena’s tinny voice still talking as Sunny threw the phone on the floor.

‘They’ve let him out,’ she said, her voice barely a whisper. ‘He got out on bail. Anton has already picked him up from the police station.’ She grabbed a pillow and buried her face in it. I retrieved her phone. Salena was still talking, unaware Sunny was no longer listening.

‘He’s not allowed to come anywhere near you, Sunny. And he won’t. I’m sure of that. But if you want us to get out of town, we can do that. We can just—’

‘It’s me, Salena. Diane.’

‘How’s Sunny? Is she alright?’

‘She’s okay. Give us a minute. I’ll get her to ring you back.’

Sunny was biting into the pillow, her arms wrapped around it as if it was a giant teddy bear. ‘Justin’s not going to come here, Sunny. He knows better than to do that. You’re completely safe here with me.’

‘How can they just let him out after what he’s done? That’s so sick!’

‘Listen,’ I said, hunkering down beside her. ‘How about we get out a movie and just forget about Justin. Forget about everything for a while. We can buy some popcorn—’

‘Are you totally crazy?’ She looked at me in horror.

I thought I’d made a dreadful mistake but her horror had nothing to do with my insensitivity. ‘Do you know what kind of crap they put in popcorn these days?’