Times of Trouble (42 page)

‘
Sophie!’ I yelled,
running forward towards the boat. The policemen, detective and my
uncle all lunged at me, trying to stop me. But too late! I was
determined to get to Sophie now. I yelled again. My voice was loud,
resonating in a high pitched shriek over all the other
commotion.

‘
There will be an
answer, let it be...And when the night is cloudy....there is still
a light that shines on me...Shine until tomorrow...let it
be’.

Everyone peeled off
me as I surged forward. They seemed temporarily paralysed; in a
state of shock that I had completely lost my mind. But Sophie’s
face was all I saw, her look of anguish suddenly turning into one
of understanding. And in that instant, as the two men on the boat
stood stock still, staring at me with confused anger, Sophie
soundlessly moved her hand towards the control panel, and flicked
down a whole bank of switches. I saw it, because that was what I
had hoped she would do. The song lyrics worked. My message had been
received. The lights on the boat’s cabin roof blazed on, straight
into the men’s eyes, and each threw up an arm to shield them. And
in the moment, where they were blinded by the light, Sophie got
away. All we saw was a huge glow of light, and then we heard a
splash, but as our eyes adjusted, the two men were standing there
and Sophie wasn’t. They didn’t have time to look for her. The
police cruiser was bearing down on them, and they were about to be
cornered.

The larger man acted
first, slamming the throttle down so that the boat lurched away
from the pier. The smaller man lost his footing, his arms flailing,
but failing to find something to hold onto. He flew backwards,
slamming onto his side, and sliding towards the back of the boat.
We all stared as the cruiser zig zagged towards the entrance of the
marina. The larger man must still have been blinded by the light,
as he seemed to be heading straight for the police launch. I
thought they were going to collide, but the water police swerved
out of the way just in time. The large man swerved too, in the
opposite direction. Then as his boat careered forward, a huge
crunching sound filled the air. The boat had hit the rocks on the
point of the marina, just where it met the sea. At the moment of
impact, a ball of fire exploded from the back deck, and within
seconds the whole boat was engulfed in flames.

I ran towards the
jetty, desperately searching for a sign of Sophie. Andy was by my
side in seconds, holding my shoulders as if scared I was about to
jump into the water myself. The boat had left white foam washing
against the jetty, and the water was so dark it seemed to have
swallowed Sophie beneath the blackness. Every part of my body was
frozen, my unblinking eyes staring into the water. Never before had
I wanted something to appear like I did now.

Andy suddenly cried
out: ‘There!’

He was pointing to
the water but there was nothing ... what had he seen? And then I
saw it too... it was her white head bobbing in the foam. She was
doggy paddling towards the jetty. She was ok!

Chapter 36

‘
There’s something I
need to talk to you guys about. Probably best to do it before Andy
gets here,’ Sophie said, looking uncharacteristically serious. Mum
and I sat down at the table.

Sophie had spent the
first week she was home telling both of us how sorry she had been
to put us through all the stress and worry. How sorry she was about
the money. How sorry she was that I had been attacked. And how
sorry she was that she had disappeared from our lives. Mum had
managed to be gracious in her acceptance of the apologies,
exclaiming that everything was ok now she was home with us. But, as
much as I would have liked to do the same thing, I couldn't totally
forgive what Sophie had done. As she started talking, she looked
down at Charlie in her lap, avoiding eye contact with me and
mum.

‘
So, I got a letter
from a lawyer yesterday. It came here. It’s to do with Danny’s
estate.’ She had barely mentioned Danny since we had been reunited.
‘When they opened a safe deposit box listed in his assets, they
found he had quite a bit of jewellery in there. Some of it was in
my name…’

Mum put her arm
around Sophie’s shoulder, quietly comforting her.

‘
That’s lovely, dear.
He must have really cared for you…’

Sophie looked
cynical, and said, ‘I think it was for tax purposes. But for
whatever reason, it seems it now belongs to me. The box also had my
original passport. That’s how they found out I lived here. Danny
must have been converting his cash into assets. Not that he ever
really told me much about anything like that.’

‘
So where is this
jewellery now?’ I asked.

‘
I’m going to get the
lawyers to sell it on my behalf. The various bits have been valued
at around $120,000. That’s enough to pay off the mortgage. And pay
back Allen.’

Mum and I looked at
each, trying to decide if the mood was right for celebration, or if
Sophie just wanted us to play it low key. We chose the
latter.

‘
Thank you Sophie,’
mum said. ‘That is a weight off my mind.’

‘
Oh, and I forgot’
Sophie added. ‘There will be enough left to buy you a new piano,
Ellen.’

She squeezed Charlie
tight, comforting herself as much as comforting him. The tears she
had tried to stop from coming finally started flowing down her
cheeks. Mum got up from her chair and hugged Sophie, her arms
wrapping around Charlie as well. I sat smiling at Sophie, selfishly
dreaming of a new piano. I was also glad to hear Sophie would be
getting back in contact with Allen. He seemed so lovely, but when I
asked her about him a couple of weeks ago she said she didn’t know
if she would ever see him again. We sat quietly for a while, until
there was a knock at the door.

Andy had a huge grin
on his face as he came in. He awkwardly put his arm round my
shoulders, saying: ‘Ellen! It’s great to see you.’ Mum appeared
behind me, and when he spotted her, his grin widened and he said:
‘Hi ya Sandy!’

As he moved away from
the front door, I saw two men standing on the veranda, staring into
the house. Before I had time to be scared or wonder why they might
be there, Andy turned to them and said, ‘Go and get it off the
truck. I’ll show you where to put it.’ Go get what from a truck? I
turned to mum as if to ask what they were talking about, but the
look on her face showed she had no idea either. I stepped onto the
veranda and saw the huge truck in the driveway. It had a piano
painted on the side. Andy stood nervously next to me.

‘
I hope you like it.
The man at the shop said it was a good one.’ The awkwardness
between us disappeared as I wrapped him in a huge hug.

‘
It’s to make up for
all the missed birthdays...and...you know...to show you how
impressed I am with your stunt at the marina,’ he said as I finally
let him go, and rushed onto the lawn to see my new piano. It was
beautiful, just like Picasso.

As the men brought
the piano inside, Mum showed Andy into the living room, where we
were joined by Sophie and Charlie. Andy fussed over Charlie for a
few minutes as I made sure the piano was put exactly where I liked
it. It looked so brand new and shiny, it was almost too perfect to
play.

After the men left,
Sophie waited until Mum and Andy were in conversation so they
couldn’t over hear, and said: ‘I’d really hoped to be able to
replace your piano, I know you sold it to save this house. I never
meant for all that money to be spent on me...’

‘
It’s ok. I know you
would have done the same thing for me.’

‘
I would have, I
promise. And I’m not going to let you down again...’ Her eyes
welled with tears once more, as she looked at the new
piano.

‘
It’s ok. It was just
a piano. Not like having you back with us…’

Mum interrupted our
conversation by proclaiming: ‘Ellen, you must play something for
us... I’ve missed hearing you so much.’

‘
What should I play?’
I asked, mentally flicking through the hundreds of books I hadn’t
touched in weeks.

It was Sophie who
responded quickest. ‘Can you play Chopin’s Nocturne, Opus 9 No 2?
That was always my favourite.’ Mum and I stared at her, open
mouthed, surprised she remembered the details of any piece I used
to play.

‘
What?’ she asked,
looking bemused. ‘I put it on my I-pod. I’d play it whenever I felt
homesick. Never as good as hearing it for real though.’

‘
What’s an I-pod?’
mum asked, as I found the piece and started to play.

I was excited to have
my own piano again, and also proud to show it off. Not wanting the
concert to be over too quickly, I quickly started another piece. It
was one I chose especially for Sophie: The Beatles ‘Let it Be’. As
I finished, I heard Sophie bounce Charlie on her lap, and say to
him: ‘Isn’t your Aunty a star! She might teach you to play one day
if you’re lucky’.

Had I heard that
comment two months ago, I would have been deeply offended. Both
because I wasn’t a star, and didn’t feel like one, and also because
I didn’t feel any pride in teaching. But something had changed
since my time in Sydney, and the realisation filled me with a
joyful relief. It was the first time I had played in as long as I
could remember when I wasn’t critical about my performance. I
wasn’t practising to get better. I wasn’t imagining myself in front
of judges at a competition. I was just playing and enjoying it. And
Sophie’s comment wasn’t aimed at hurting my feelings; she truly was
proud of me.

‘
This has convinced
me,’ I said. ‘I’m not going to give up playing – in public, I
mean.’ I could never give up playing, but performing was another
matter. ‘I’m going to accept the offer I’ve had from a violinist
and a cellist I knew when we were students to join them in a piano
trio. There’s heaps of beautiful music for piano trio, and if we’re
good enough, who knows?’ It wouldn’t be a career, but it would be
fun. Beaming, I sat down next to Andy on the sofa.

He turned to Sophie
and asked: ‘So how have you been Sophie?’

‘
We’ve settled right
in, haven’t we Charlie,’ she said. She put Charlie on his rug on
the floor, and smiled at Andy. You had to know her well to see the
grimace behind the smile. She wasn’t close enough to Andy to
explain how hard things had been for her since she got
back.

‘
So do you see much
of our dad?’ she asked. I was taken aback by her sudden frankness.
I had forgotten how openly she could talk about him. Mum looked
away, as if afraid of the answer Andy might give. His stammer gave
away how he felt about the question:

‘
Ah... no... not
really. I haven’t spoken to him in years. He moved up to Darwin
about five years ago...’

Ok, that was all I
could take. I interrupted for mum’s and my sake. ‘So did you have a
good flight?’

He sat back, much
more at ease with my question. ‘Yeah, yeah, it was
fine.’

‘
And can I get you a
cup of tea?’ Mum asked, falling back to the comfortable role of
hostess to smooth the tension in the air.

The conversation
started to flow more freely as we sat and ate morning tea. Even
when obviously unhappy, Sophie was still able to be sociable and
chatty. She seemed content to avoid any mention of her life in
London, preferring to laugh about things we got up to as
children.

When she paused to
play with Charlie, Andy turned to me and said: ‘I spoke to
Detective Williamson yesterday. He said there’s no real rush to
call him, but that he still had a few questions for
you.’

I nodded, aware I
still had more of that to deal with. Over the last couple of weeks,
I had slowly retold the whole story of my time in Sydney to the
detective. Andy had managed to keep the use of the government
software at his flat a secret. He had talked to someone he knew
high up in one of the national security organisations, and he had
had a word with Detective Williams’s boss. Need to know basis, and
all that. I had been relieved to hear Andy hadn’t got in trouble
over it.

‘
How are you going
Sophie? With the detectives in London?’ he asked. Sophie shrugged.
She had not shown any stress over her dealings with them. She had
been far more upset talking about her lost friend Katie than the
prospect of facing fraud charges. However it seemed unlikely that
she would be charged with anything.

‘
The detective over
there, Wolcott, he’s pretty cool. He’s willing to agree that I was
caught up with Danny’s plans, but that I didn’t do anything
illegal. There’s no actual evidence against me. The MP is still
putting a bit of pressure on, but I don’t think it’s going to be a
problem. I’m going to have to go over there at some stage, but I
was planning to go back anyway, because I have to sort out the
adoption.’

‘
So you are adopting
Charlie?’ Andy asked.

‘
I’m looking into
getting custody, fingers crossed. Not sure what I’m going to do
work wise. Not acting, that’s for sure.’ There was an uncomfortable
silence and no one disagreed with her.

I admired Sophie for
her candour. She spoke about the whole blackmail scandal with
regret and honesty, freely admitting what a dumb idea it was, and
how it was the beginning of all the misery that followed. The
stupid thing about the whole business was that she and the others
didn’t even have the information that Holland and his uncle thought
they did. After some long and confusing conversations with her
about it, it became clear to me that she and Danny knew nothing
about the snuff movies. She and Katie had met Bill through being in
one of his porn movies. Sophie only shot a few scenes because she
hated it so much. When Danny had threatened Bill that he would tell
all he knew, Bill assumed that Danny had found out they were
killing people at the end of some scenes. But Danny had only
actually meant to threaten him about using under-age girls in the
films. Danny had no idea that Bill’s uncle was a gangster who
killed anyone who got in his way. It had been a deadly
misunderstanding.