Tell the Truth (20 page)

‘Win some, lose some,' Wayne put in. ‘Actually, win some, lose more. Most people who arrest don't come back, so don't feel bad. Like the doc said, that right there's a cool way to go.'

‘Rowan,' Marconi said again.

Paris wanted to walk out into the last drops of rain and turn her face to the sky. Even if he couldn't have been saved, which probably nobody could know for certain, she surely had a duty to tell someone. It was the right thing to do. But what would that gain? She would be in trouble, could very well get the sack, and none of that would bring Mr Leary back. But that was a selfish way to think, and all about her own skin rather than what was right and wrong.

She needed to talk to somebody, but she couldn't tell Rowan and she couldn't tell Wayne. They wouldn't get it. Stacey would. She would listen and understand and know what was best.

But Stacey wasn't here.

The detectives had walked Rowan away and were talking to him with serious faces. Wayne was making up the stretcher and glancing her way with sympathetic eyes. Paris pressed her back to the wall and saw again Mr Leary under the white sheet, felt his thin hand in hers.

*

Ella had watched with sympathy the realisation that the old man had died, the reaction of Rowan and Paris and the other guy, and their later emergence with the empty stretcher from the hospital. Paris was visibly upset, and Ella heard Rowan say it was her first. It wasn't hard for Ella to remember her own: a man who'd died in his house but hadn't been found for three weeks. This old man's way was better.

‘Have you found Stacey?' Rowan said.

‘No,' Murray said. ‘But we need to ask you some more questions.'

When Ella judged that they'd moved out of the other officers' hearing, she said, ‘How often do you go to Playland?'

‘Every weekday that I'm off duty,' he said.

‘Who knows about that?'

He blinked. ‘I don't know. It's not a secret. I've probably mentioned it to a lot of people.'

‘Who would know it for certain?' Murray asked.

‘My son, Simon, his partner, Megan, people at work, the people at Playland.'

Ella said, ‘People at work being . . .?'

‘Paris, I guess, and Stacey, and a couple of the guys who take their kids there too. It's Emelia's favourite place, so like I said, I don't keep it secret that we go there a lot.'

‘So Stacey would know,' Ella said.

He nodded.

‘James too?'

‘Most likely, from Stacey or from Simon or both. I might've said it to him too.'

‘Would you notice Stacey's car wherever you happened to see it?' Ella said.

‘Yes. It's distinctive. Haven't we done this before?'

‘What made you go close and look in the window?'

‘I told you all this. I hadn't seen it there before. I was walking right past it. I thought she might be around. I thought –'

Ella saw his gaze turn inwards as he stopped himself. ‘You thought?'

‘I thought we could have a coffee,' he said.

‘Nothing wrong with coffee,' Ella said. ‘Why did you hesitate before saying it?'

‘Because you might think that she and I were seeing each other. Coffee makes it sound like we were.'

‘Coffee can be just coffee,' Murray said.

‘Well, coffee was the reason I was looking for her. I checked in the shops, then on the way back I glanced in her car. That's when I saw the blood.'

‘Ah, yes, the blood,' Ella said. ‘We learned something about that today. It didn't come directly from her body.'

‘What? Where did it come from then?'

‘It was thrown,' Murray said.

‘Deliberately placed.' Ella watched Rowan closely. ‘Tipped out. Squirted. The drops, the splashes, the pool: somebody made it look like that. Somebody spilled blood in Stacey's car from some kind of container.'

He looked stunned. ‘What does that mean?'

‘What do you think it means?' she said.

‘How the hell should I know? You're supposed to be the experts.'

Paris and the other paramedic looked over.

‘Calm down,' Ella said with no sympathy. ‘Why don't you tell us the truth?'

‘I am,' he said.

‘I don't believe you. You weren't looking for her for coffee. What's really going on?'

‘Thirty-seven,' a voice called from the ambulance radio.

The other paramedic answered, then Ella heard a message about a fractured leg and an address in Leichhardt.

‘Rowan,' Ella said, ‘if you care about her as a colleague and a friend, you'll tell us.'

‘There's nothing to tell, and I have to go.'

She watched him walk away.

‘You believe him?' Murray asked.

‘No,' she said, as her mobile started to ring. She didn't recognise the number. ‘Marconi.'

‘This is Esther Cooper,' the woman's voice boomed. ‘It might be nothing, but I saw something on TV once about baddies trying to clean up a crime scene with bleach, so I thought I should call. Is this a bad time?'

‘Not at all,' Ella said.

‘Well, I went to take James some tomatoes just now, out of the garden, you know, but he wasn't home, and Stacey's sister answered the door. She seemed a little odd, a little mystified by the tomatoes for some reason, but also I could see past her into the kitchen, and she had a bucket, and the floor was wet, and the smell of bleach was so strong it made my eyes water right there at the front door.'

NINETEEN

T
he front door was open inside the screen at the Durham house, the smell of bleach as strong as Esther Cooper had described. Ella could see Marie on her haunches in the kitchen, back twisting, arms reaching, as she scrubbed the floor with a big sponge.

‘You think she's been doing that since Cooper called? How long's it take?' Murray said.

‘Depends what she's trying to hide.'

Ella knocked hard on the doorframe, and Marie straightened and looked around. She took her time pulling off rubber gloves and draping them over the side of the bucket before coming to the door.

‘Is James home?' Ella said.

‘No, he's not.'

‘Do you know where he is?'

‘At the shop, I presume.'

He wasn't. Ella had called his mobile on the drive over, and Nick Henry had answered to say that James had been in the shop earlier but forgot his phone when he left, and he didn't know where he'd gone.

‘Mind if we come in?' she said.

Marie hesitated, then flicked the screen's latch. Ella and Murray moved past her and inside. Ella looked in the bucket. The water was brownish with no tinge of red. The sponge floated in it, and the two pink gloves hung over the side. The kitchen floor was wet and the odour of bleach was almost overpowering.

‘Why such intense cleaning?'

‘It relaxes me,' Marie said. ‘Plus this way it'll be spick and span when Stacey comes home.'

‘Uh-huh.' Ella glanced around. ‘Where's the dog?'

‘I don't know,' Marie said. ‘I guess he ran away. Or was stolen.' She went to pick up the bucket, but Ella stopped her.

‘No more cleaning,' she said.

‘It's not your house,' Marie said.

‘It's not yours either,' Murray said.

Ella said, ‘Have a seat in the lounge room.'

Marie sucked her teeth for a moment, then went.

Crime Scene arrived quickly. The kitchen floor had dried, and they didn't look positive when Ella told them about the bleach, but said they'd check it all anyway. In the past, she'd seen blood found in cracks in places where a sponge just couldn't reach, and she was hopeful.

Murray took Marie outside and waited with her while Ella went to talk to Esther Cooper.

‘Have you noticed Marie at the house a lot?' Ella asked.

‘I've seen her car come and go,' Esther said. ‘Though I'm not always sure if James is home.'

‘Was this happening before Stacey went missing?'

Esther nodded. ‘She's here fairly often. I'd say once a week?'

‘Was she here on the weekend?'

‘Not that I saw. I was out most of Saturday though, for a family get-together.'

Ella went back to the house. James was pulling up and she and Murray met him on the lawn. Marie was sitting on the porch steps.

‘Where have you been?' Ella asked him.

‘Have you found her?' James looked at the police vehicles. ‘What's going on?'

‘No, they haven't found her. I was cleaning and they freaked out,' Marie called.

‘Just running some tests,' Ella said to James. ‘We've been trying to contact you.'

‘I left my phone somewhere. Tests for what?'

‘You left it at the shop,' Murray said. ‘Where have you been?'

‘Driving around, like yesterday. Tests for what?'

‘Various things,' Ella said. ‘I asked you to keep your phone with you.'

‘I can't help it if I have too much on my mind and I forget something. Don't you have to ask my permission to do stuff in my house?'

‘It's just part of the investigation,' Murray said.

Ella said, ‘When did the dog go missing?'

James looked shocked. ‘I didn't know he was.'

‘I think he ran away,' Marie called.

‘Oh my god,' James said.

‘There's something else.' Ella drew him further away from Marie. ‘Our blood expert said the blood in the car didn't come directly from Stacey.'

‘What the hell does that mean? You said it was hers, that the DNA matched.'

‘It is hers, but it was poured there,' Murray said.

James looked equal parts stunned and confused. ‘I don't understand. How can that be? What does that mean?'

‘We don't know,' Ella said. ‘Do you?'

He stared at her, then his gaze wavered and he ran a hand across his forehead. ‘I think I need to sit down.'

Murray helped him to the porch, where he sat next to Marie and put his head in his hands. Ella noticed Bill Willetts watching from across the street. He didn't look away when she met his gaze, and, intrigued, she excused herself and crossed towards him.

‘Mr Willetts,' she said.

‘You lot again.' He pulled a dead leaf from a shrub by his patio. ‘I see on the news you haven't found her.'

‘Not yet,' Ella said. ‘Have you had any revelations about what might've happened?'

‘Not a one.'

‘Seen that dog of hers today?'

‘Nope. It's no surprise. He never walks it.'

‘You didn't see it out on its own? Or anyone taking it?'

‘No,' he said. ‘You're tracking missing dogs now? Wish I had your job.'

‘How about that woman?' Ella pointed to Marie. ‘You see her there often?'

‘Plenty. I guess she's some close friend or relative or something?'

‘Was she here on Sunday?'

‘No, but she was on Saturday. In the evening. Five-ish. Or closer to six. Ish.'

‘How long did she stay?'

He shrugged. ‘Forty minutes?'

‘Was Stacey home then too?'

‘Beats me,' he said.

‘Well, did you see her open the door when the woman arrived? Or come out to see her off when she left?'

‘The other day you insinuated that I was some sort of pervert for watching, and now you're annoyed because I didn't watch more? Jesus.'

‘Okay,' she said. ‘I'm just asking.'

He muttered something and patted his hair down at the back of his head. ‘I saw the car pull up but didn't wait to see that woman go in. I saw her once at the window there in the living room, with the light on as it was getting dark. I heard the car door slam then the car leave. I didn't see Stacey at all.'

*

Paris was glad that Wayne and Rowan took charge at the fractured leg job, a man who'd fallen off the back of a delivery truck and lay gripping his thigh, moaning and pale, on the road. She was glad to fetch the splint, hold padding as instructed, take a couple of blood pressures when she was asked, and help lift him on the spineboard onto the stretcher. She was glad to sit huddled into herself in the resus seat while Wayne joked with the man on the way to hospital. And when they rolled him inside the Emergency Department, she was glad to go to the empty staff bathroom and lock herself in a cubicle and sit on the closed toilet lid with her shaking hands trapped between her knees.

Dead. Mr Leary was dead.

She took out her mobile and scrolled to Stacey's number. She pressed it hard to her ear as it rang, then heard Stacey's voice.

‘
Stacey here. Leave your deets and I'll bell you back.
'

‘It's me,' Paris whispered, fighting back tears. ‘Something bad happened. A patient died and I don't think . . . I think I could've done more. I think it might've been my fault.' She wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist. ‘I hope you'll hear this, and that we can talk about it one day. And I hope you come back soon.'

The end-of-message beep sounded, and she put her forehead in her hand.

*

Marie was still sitting on the porch steps, arms folded and face set, when Ella crossed back over from Willetts' house. James Durham was pacing the lawn.

Murray came to meet her at the kerb.

‘Willetts said that Marie was here on Saturday night,' Ella told him.

‘Hmm,' Murray said.

They approached Marie.

‘What now?' she said.

‘You were here Saturday evening,' Ella said.

‘So?'

‘You didn't mention that when we asked you when you'd last seen Stacey,' Murray said.

‘I told you I talked to her on Sunday afternoon about Paris's birthday,' Marie said.

‘And that you hadn't seen her since Wednesday.'

‘Which is the truth.'

‘She wasn't here on Saturday evening?'

‘No.'

‘Two questions,' Ella said. ‘Where was she, and why did you stay for forty minutes when there was nobody home?'

‘I don't know where she was,' Marie said. ‘I stayed because I thought she might be home any minute. I made myself a cup of coffee and watched a bit of TV. I guess I lost track of the time. I didn't know it was that long.'

Ella glanced at Murray, then said, ‘Did she come home?'

‘Not before I left.'

‘Do you often come into their house when nobody's home?'

‘Just because you've seen me here twice since she went missing is nothing,' Marie said. ‘James is my brother-in-law, so of course I'm going to be around to support him. Clean up a bit. Cook if he wants me to. Feed the dog. Wherever he's got to.'

‘Did you try calling Stacey on Saturday night when you were here?' Murray asked.

‘I tried once, but she didn't answer. I figured she'd be home when she was home.'

None of it added up for Ella. ‘Why did you come over?'

‘She's my sister. I didn't know I needed a reason.'

‘For dinner? For a coffee? There must've been some impulse that made you decide to drive here.'

‘For coffee then,' Marie said. ‘Does that make it better if I say that?'

Ella stared at her. ‘Your sister's missing.'

‘I am aware.'

‘Is there anything else you need to tell us?' Ella said. ‘Any occasion when you've talked to her since Sunday night, or seen her, or anything that she told you before she went missing?' Murray touched her hand and she brought her voice down a notch. ‘Anything at all that you can tell us about her, whether or not it seems relevant to you?'

‘No,' Marie said. ‘Nothing.'

Ella had to walk away. James was still pacing the grass, and she went past him to the front door and inside.

‘Anything?' she said to the Crime Scene guys.

‘Not so far.'

She stood in the lounge room, her arms folded, watching James. Murray joined her.

‘Something funny's going on,' Ella said.

Murray nodded.

*

The Crime Scene officers were almost done with their so-far unsuccessful examination and Ella was considering the next step when two media vans pulled up on the street. James Durham went straight to them.

Ella said, ‘Don't most victims' families shy away from the media? At least a little? And how did they know to come here?'

Murray shrugged. ‘Neighbours. Probably Bill Willetts. Probably got them on speed dial.'

‘Or James himself?'

‘On what? His mobile's at the shop.'

Ella watched the camera operators setting up. She couldn't spot Rachel Nisbet. The journalist's card was in Ella's desk drawer back at the office.

She said to Murray, ‘I feel like we're being played.'

*

Paris made it through the rest of the shift without falling apart, mostly because Wayne and Rowan let her be the gofer the whole time. She appreciated that, and told them so as they signed off at the station at the end of the day.

‘Things'll be better next time,' Wayne said. ‘First death's always the worst, no matter how it happens.'

Rowan walked her to her car. ‘You're sure you're okay?'

‘I think it was just that on top of Stacey.' She couldn't tell him the truth.

He nodded. ‘It sometimes happens that way. One bad job on its own you can manage, but two or three and suddenly your defences fall apart.'

She got in her car and closed the door. When she lowered the window, he leaned his broad hands on the sill.

‘Call me if you need to talk,' he said. ‘About this or anything.'

‘Thanks,' she said, not wanting to look into his eyes, afraid of what he might see in hers.

He tapped the roof and stepped back, and she drove off. She headed home on autopilot, seeing but not seeing the cars and trucks around her, the on and off of their brake lights. When she pulled into the driveway she sat for a moment after turning off the engine, thinking about dealing with her mother, how she'd say she wasn't hungry and had a headache and was going to bed. But when she went inside, she found the house empty, the car gone from the garage, no note anywhere about where she was or when she'd be back.

It was good, she told herself, but as she took off her uniform and went to step into the shower she changed her mind. She dressed quickly in jeans and a shirt and went back out to her car, and drove to Liam's house.