The Darkest Hour (33 page)

‘Average type of fellow,’ Lottie said. ‘Short brown hair, normal size, height and weight, you know.’

‘And you’ve seen him driving Julio’s blue Ford.’

‘That’s right.’

‘How long’s he been there?’

‘Hard to say,’ she said. ‘A few months, I’d think.’

‘I’d like to show you a photo.’ Ella fumbled in her bag, almost dropping it in her urgency. Where was it, where was it? Notebook, phone, wallet, keys, scraps of paper, but no photo. Back at the office.
Damn.
‘Will you be home all afternoon?’

‘I think so.’

‘I’ll be back soon.’ Ella wrote her mobile number on one of her cards and gave it to Lottie. ‘If you see the Rioses come home, especially Sal, or if you see this boyfriend, don’t say anything to them but just call me, please.’

‘Will do.’

‘Thanks.’

Ella went back to the street, glanced around, then hurried up the Rioses’ driveway once more. This time she pushed through a couple of spindly grevilleas and along the side of the garage, then moved a couple of bits of timber so she could stand on them and peer through the window. The blue Ford was parked closest to her, and the other space was empty. She couldn’t see the plates on the car. If that car was here, did it mean Thomas was inside?

She went to the front of the garage and tugged surreptitiously on the roller doors. Both were locked. At the front door she took a deep breath, touched her gun and knocked.

Nothing.

She hurried back down the drive with a strong feeling of being watched, jumped into her car and dialled Murray. ‘Anything?’

‘Nope,’ he said.

‘I’m coming to get you.’ She started the car. ‘Be waiting out the front. No, wait. On second thoughts, stay there. Don’t step a foot away from that room. Ring if they leave or use a phone. I’ll fill you in later.’

‘But–’

She hung up on him and peeled rubber.

‘I
t’s like this,’ she said to Kuiper. She laid out everything she knew. She counted the points on her fingers and drew links in the air. She explained what they needed and why. Then she waited.

Kuiper ran his thumb over the stubble on his chin. ‘Murray told me about Julio Rios. A nun said he could die any time.’

‘Well, yes,’ Ella said. ‘That’s why he’s in a hospice.’

Kuiper aligned two black pens on his desk. ‘I don’t know that we have enough evidence to justify disturbing a family at a time like that.’

Had he been sitting with his fingers in his ears?

‘Yes, we can look into the immigration records,’ he said. ‘You can certainly ask Sal Rios in for an interview, but if he refuses you don’t have grounds to arrest him. We don’t have enough for a warrant to search their house or examine Julio’s blue car, or for a phone tap either.’

‘What if the neighbour identifies the photo of Werner?’

‘Then come back and see me again.’

Back at her desk she phoned Maroubra station and asked for Detective Chris Frame, who she knew from a training course a few years back. ‘If I email you a photo, can you show it to a woman who lives over there?’ she asked him.

‘Not a prob,’ he said. ‘Hey, what’s this I’ve been hearing about somebody attacking your house?’

‘It’s complicated.’ She pinned the phone between her shoulder and ear and sent the photo of Werner across. ‘I’ll tell you about it later. Has that arrived yet?’

‘Let’s see.’ She heard the clicking of keys. ‘Got it. You want me to go now?’

‘If you could, thanks.’ She told him the address. ‘This man might be staying next door. Nobody answered when I knocked but there’s a car in the garage.’

‘I’ll keep an eye out,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk to you soon.’

She put the phone down and glanced at her watch. Ten minutes to get out of the station and drive over there, five minutes to talk to the woman, ten minutes to drive back. Sooner, if he rang from the scene on his mobile. She imagined getting the confirmation, going back into Kuiper’s office, the team swinging into action. Lovely.

She got a cup of coffee and tried to read more statements but couldn’t concentrate. She set her watch beside the folder so she could glance at it, but soon realised she was simply staring at the second hand go around. At the twenty-minute mark she checked her voicemail, in case the phones were playing up and Frame couldn’t get through. She did it again at the thirty-minute mark. Her untouched coffee had gone cold.

She turned the page and tried to focus on the next statement then the phone rang. She snatched it up. ‘Marconi.’

‘She’s not sure about the picture,’ Frame said.

Ella couldn’t believe it. ‘She had a good look? She didn’t just glance at it?’

‘That’s what took so long,’ he said. ‘She really studied it. She wanted to recognise it, I could tell. But in the end she just couldn’t say it was him.’

Ella put her head in her hand.

‘No sign of anyone in that house either, and the neighbour said nobody had been around,’ he said. ‘Sorry.’

‘Thanks anyway.’

When Frame was gone she stared into space, trying to work out what to do next. Sal Rios hadn’t called. They didn’t have enough for a warrant on the house. Nona and her father would not be receptive to an approach asking about the identity of their lodger, and anyway she doubted Kuiper would give the okay. Not that she checked with him for everything, of course. But he was right about the evidence they had: it really didn’t amount to much at all. They’d already shown Nona the photo of Thomas Werner and she’d denied knowing him, and while Ella had a feeling she was lying, that’s all it was for now – a feeling. And while Kennedy had delivered goods for them, possible dodgy ones at some time, he’d also delivered to hundreds of people across the city.

She needed to speak to Sal.

An hour later she walked up the hospice corridor. Murray sat in the chair with a magazine on his lap, texting. He stood up as she approached. She looked sideways into Julio’s room as she went past and saw only Guillermo, dozing in a chair with his mouth open. Julio appeared asleep too.

Murray said, ‘I was just texting to say Nona and the kids left. I’m surprised you didn’t see them in the foyer.’

‘Dammit,’ Ella said. ‘I wanted to ask her where Sal might be.’

She’d already asked the same question of Paul Davids at Rosie’s, who said he had no idea and then stepped back to let her check the place and confirm that he was indeed alone.

‘Maybe we should call it quits for the day,’ Murray said. ‘We can talk to Nona in the morning if Sal hasn’t turned up by then, but I think he will. He’s got to eat and sleep somewhere.’ His stomach rumbled.

‘But maybe he works somewhere else that we don’t know about, and he’ll come by to see Julio this evening,’ she said. ‘I mean, he’s not going to stay away the whole time, is he?’

‘Well, you can sit around and wait if you want, but it’s almost dinner time and I’m starving.’ Murray started down the hall. ‘Call me if something happens, otherwise I’ll see you tomorrow.’

She sat down in his chair and picked up the magazine. She would wait. Even if Sal didn’t turn up, at some point Guillermo would leave, or at least go to the bathroom, and she could ask him then where Sal might be. She looked up at the Jesus statue. That was fair, wasn’t it? She wasn’t waking him up, she wasn’t hassling him in front of his dying son.

Her mobile rang. She didn’t recognise the number on the screen. ‘Marconi.’

‘Hello, this is Lottie Tuxworth.’

Ella sat upright. ‘Yes, Mrs Tuxworth. What’s happened?’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘that man friend of Nona’s must have come back to the house some time this afternoon, because a few minutes ago I saw him run out and get in a yellow car that pulled up in the street. I think a woman was driving.’

‘Could you see the numberplate of the car?’ Ella said. ‘Or the make or model?’

‘Nothing like that,’ Lottie said. ‘Only that it was small, and yellow.’

‘But you’re certain it was that same man.’

‘Definitely,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t say if it was him in the photo. But listen, Nona came home with the girls just now, so she might be able to tell you.’

‘You haven’t spoken to her about any of this, have you?’

‘No, no, she went straight into the house.’

‘Please don’t mention it at all, Mrs Tuxworth,’ Ella said.

‘No, I won’t,’ she said. ‘I promise.’

‘Thanks. I might be in touch again soon.’

Ella hung up then scrolled through her contacts list to find Kuiper. Just before she pressed the call button, movement down the corridor caught her eye. A woman came out of a room further along than Julio’s. She wiped her eyes with the back of one hand as she shakily thumbed a mobile with the other, then put the phone to her ear. ‘It’s me,’ she said. ‘Mum’s just passed.’

Ella sat perfectly still and silent.

‘Yes, just now.’ The woman’s voice cracked and broke. She put her hand across her eyes. ‘No, not since yesterday. But I don’t think she knew I was there even then.’ She slumped back against the wall as if her legs weren’t coping. She was crying now. ‘I’m okay, really. She’s out of pain, that’s the main thing.’ She glanced up and saw Ella sitting there, then turned and went back in the room and closed the door.

Ella looked at the floor, thinking of Netta. She hadn’t called her or her dad in a few days now; she couldn’t even recall the last time. Three days ago or four? They’d probably been calling her house and worrying that she didn’t answer. Oh god, what if they’d rung Lily and she’d told them about the fire-bomb? Netta would be furious that she hadn’t heard it from Ella herself.

I should have rung them, at least. What’s that take, five minutes?

She would ring them tonight. Soon. After this.

For now she called Kuiper. He answered curtly. ‘I’m flat out here. They’ve tracked Deborah Kennedy to a house west of Griffith but she’s refusing to come out. I’m trying to get more info.’

‘What’s she want?’

‘She won’t say,’ he said. ‘She’s got her daughter and that bloke with her, everyone’s apparently unharmed, but she won’t talk or leave the house. They’re sending more officers plus a negotiator now.’ The phone went muffled for a moment then he came back on the line. ‘I have to go.’

‘Just before you do,’ Ella said quickly, ‘the Rioses’ neighbour called to say she saw that the man who we suspect is Werner leaving the house with a woman in a small yellow car. No make, model or plates.’

‘Okay.’ He sounded distracted. ‘Are you knocking off now?’

‘I’m still looking for Sal–’

‘Keep me posted,’ he said, then he was gone.

Ella sat with the phone in her lap, thinking about Deborah Kennedy and her daughter and friend holed up in a farmhouse. Why would she behave like that? Had she gone crazy with grief? Down the corridor she could hear the bereaved woman sobbing. She thought of Sal in the chapel, telling her that his mother had died here too. She thought of Lottie saying how devastated he was at her death. She looked up at the statue and had an idea.

She scrolled through her phone to the received calls, chose one and pressed to dial. ‘Mrs Tuxworth,’ she said, ‘Detective Marconi again. Can you tell me where Mrs Rios is buried?’

Dusk was falling when she arrived at Waverley Cemetery. A man was stooped over locking the gates.

‘Excuse me.’ She showed him her badge. ‘I’m looking for a man who might have spent quite a while here today, and maybe recently, at one grave. He’s in his early thirties, brown hair, brown eyes, on the slim side, average height, and drives a white Honda.’

‘There was a guy like that who we had to ask to leave so we could close,’ he said. ‘I think I saw him get into a white car out on the street there.’

‘When was this?’

‘About fifteen minutes ago.’

‘Do you know which grave he’d been at?’

‘He was walking around in the southern side there,’ he said. ‘That’s all I can tell you, sorry.’ He bent to the gate again.

Ella went back to her car. She got in and stared out the windscreen.
Fifteen minutes.

I should’ve thought of this sooner.

Joe turned another page in the newspaper. ‘This is nice, isn’t it?’

‘What?’ Lauren said.

He gestured at the station living room, them with their boots off and feet in socks on the coffee table. ‘It’s not often we get to sit about like this. I could get used to it.’

It felt eerie to Lauren. They’d come in, checked the truck, and eaten dinner. She’d lifted the phone a couple of times, even going so far as to actually call Control and make sure they were on the roster. The officer had laughed. ‘It’s just quiet,’ he said. ‘Although now I’ve said the Q word, that should put an end to that.’

It hadn’t though. Lauren turned the TV on and flicked through the channels then turned it off. ‘Let’s go for a drive.’

‘Can’t we enjoy our downtime instead of going out looking for work?’

‘I’m bored.’
And I need us to be in the truck, side by side, so I can talk to you.
Now that she’d imagined it like that, she couldn’t conceive of it happening any other way.

‘Check the drug expiry dates if you want something to do.’ He focused back on his newspaper.

She got up and walked into the muster room. She felt antsy and unhappy. Kristi had had another shot before she’d left home that evening, saying she had to sort things out before they went too far.

‘I will,’ Lauren had said. ‘I will, okay?’

Kristi had watched her put her metal buttons and paramedic epaulettes on her shirt. ‘And be careful tonight.’

‘With Joe?’

‘I’m serious,’ Kristi said. ‘I’ve got a weird feeling.’

Everything feels weird lately, Lauren had thought. ‘I’ll be fine.’ She’d kissed Kristi’s cheek. ‘See you in the morning.’

Now, adjusting the magnets on the whiteboard, she had to admit she felt weird too. It’s just because of the slow start, she told herself. Almost two hours without a job – this must be a record in the history of the station.

The phone rang. She grabbed it up. ‘The Rocks.’

‘Told you I’d jinx us,’ the Control officer said. ‘For you I have a man crying.’

Lauren’s hackles rose. ‘Are you kidding me?’

‘Nope,’ he said. ‘Called in by a neighbour. The address is Unit 7, 19 Betts Street in the ’Loo. Cross is Victoria. Save a life, wontcha?’

Joe came in, hopping as he pulled on a boot.

‘Man crying,’ she said.

‘Not him again.’

‘Different address.’

She yanked her own boots on and followed Joe to the ambulance. She felt sick with apprehension.
It won’t be the same guy. You’re here with Joe, and everything’s fine.

‘So where is it?’ Joe drove out of the station into the night.

She told him the address. ‘Clear this side.’

‘Stay there, little yellow car.’ Joe accelerated out of the driveway across the path of traffic. ‘I’m going for girlfriend trouble this time.’