Girl Changed

by Mark Bailey

  Mia returned from her Sunday worship just after lunch, having dropped Christy off at her home in Dalkeith. She looked tired.

  ‘I don’t know how she’ll cope without James, I’m afraid. He did everything for her, down to driving the car. I suppose I’ll have to fill that role now,’ said Mia.

  ‘She’s hard work sometimes,’ agreed Milly. ‘Okay Mom, sit down. I want to know what’s going on, now that Christy’s not here. What are you doing with your life, what are your plans, where’s your money coming from?’

  ‘Don’t worry, Milly, as far as money is concerned I’ve been well looked after. James left me half a million dollars in cash and another 120K per year after tax, fully indexed, for the rest of my life. I will continue to work at the hospital two days a week, just to keep my midwifery qualifications current. Then I guess your aunt and I will spend a lot of time together and do some traveling. She still owns a lot of property, and I’m looking forward to the travel. It’s just as well she’s very wealthy, she’s hopeless with money.’

  ‘Yes, calling it a scourge, comparing it to wombat mange. She doesn’t have any respect for money, that’s why she doesn’t care for it … and I’m wondering … what’s this thing with Tasmania and marsupials?’

  ’Your uncle loved Tassie and would have lived there if the winters were milder. As for marsupials, he had always loved our native wildlife … the wombat, the kangaroo, and the bilby, among others, but, especially the Tasmanian devil. It would be a great legacy to leave, to help fund a cure for that wretched facial tumor disease that’s wiped out over ninety percent of the devil population there. He was hoping researchers would use some of his half-million-dollar gift completing their research for a vaccine. Apparently, they are very close.’

  ‘I agree, Mom; it is an honorable cause. Christy has looked happy the past couple of days. Why don’t you encourage her to get her license, to step out of her comfort zone? I’m worried about her, she’ll get bored, and you know what they say about idle hands.’

  ‘Yes, James confided in me privately that he was extremely concerned for Christy’s welfare. I believe in leaving money to you and me, he considered we would help watch over her. He wanted you living back in Australia, Milly, and he so wanted to see you before he died. He knew you were smart and would help me with Christy. Luckily, everything will be tightly controlled as far as the money is concerned with a management board of professionals made up of his old mates and work colleagues. If Christy plays along with it, she won’t have much say in anything, although it is her money.’ A short silence followed. ‘So that’s me done, Milly, what about you?’

  Milly was still worried about the media coverage of the trial, even though Mia and Christy had declared they weren’t interested in it. She had decided to come clean, to tell Mia everything — well, some of it, with light coverage of her sexual exploits. She wouldn’t go into specifics or the sordid detail. A general confession would be shocking enough.

  ‘I hope I don’t offend you, Mom. Please try not to be too judgmental.’

  ‘Go on, Milly.’

  She began with her sexual liaisons with Matthew Boyd Sr. and his wife, Melody Boyd. Then she mentioned but glossed over the fact that she had also slept with their son Matthew Boyd Jr. She had considered these two relationships alone would make great promotional fodder in any media story; they were sure to come out. She discussed the sex party at the Boyd house in Cottesloe, avoiding the word orgy — she hated that word. Matt Boyd Jr. had thrown the party, she explained. ‘Put simply, if I had left my bag in Dannii’s car containing the cocaine that night, this whole sorry tale could have been avoided.’

  They discussed her drug problem, her libido and her diagnosis of depression. She related how the medication had helped and that she’d been both drug and sex free for over six months. She stressed that she wasn’t avoiding a sexual relationship, she just wanted something — someone — more permanent, more wholesome. ‘I did play up for a bit in the U.K., Mom, but I had come clean with Rosie before Sibby’s death and have remained so up to now. I have also given the cigarettes away.’

  ‘I noticed that, Milly. Look, we all have things in our life we would rather forget. If I had listened to James years ago, I would have told you about Sibby. I have no doubt you two would have found each other and things might have been different.’

  ‘Yeah, we’d probably both be dead.’

  ‘Let’s forget about the past and concentrate on the future. I haven’t had as much fun as our shopping yesterday in a long time. I suppose every parent can look at their child and pick faults and see things they don’t like. Like it or not, parents are responsible for the good and the bad in our children, not least, in this case, your father,’ added Mia smiling, mitigating much of the responsibility for Milly’s bad behavior, at least in her eyes.

  ‘Thanks, Mom.’

  ‘And for God’s sake, no mention of this conversation to Christy. She still believes in Adam and Eve and that bloody apple tree. Don’t worry; I’ll keep her away from the media.’

  Milly left Ellesmere Street at 4:30 in the afternoon. She called Christy and thanked her, and Uncle James, for everything. She was going to stay at Dannii’s, and they would catch up during the week.

  When Milly arrived at Dannii’s, Simone had just left.

  ‘Good,’ replied Milly when Dannii told her.

  ‘Why, what’s wrong, Milly?’

  ‘I don’t trust her, Dannii.’

  ‘Why?’

  Milly thought she was a good judge of character. She repeated her previous statement: ‘I don’t trust her. Some things she said the other night didn’t ring true. She’s holding something back in my opinion.’

  ‘Like what, Milly? You can’t say you don’t trust someone for no reason … just because you think something. Anyway, as soon as you tell me your little secret, we can start driving the knives into Simone’s back properly. We need to prioritize things … first things first.’

  ‘She’s opportunistic, Danni,’ answered Milly, ignoring Dannii’s comments. ‘My relationship with her finished when Cameron Chadwick appeared on the scene. She knows Matt Boyd Jr. intimately … she was with him, and us, in his bedroom that night of the party.’

  ‘C’mon, Milly, that’s rubbish, and you know it. We were both with Regis, as you put it, that night of the party, and we haven’t seen or heard from him since … and never will. As for Simone and Cameron Chadwick, well … so what? That only means the grass was greener. Anyway, you were shockingly behaved after the party, a real bitch, so self-righteous, blaming everyone else,’ replied Dannii, who sensed she wasn’t going to divert Milly from the path of righteousness.

  ‘You know where Cameron Chadwick works don’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Simone went to the trouble of letting us know she, as a journalist, held no interest at all in investigating or reporting on this court case. I won’t go on any more about that one; just remember her boyfriend is a journalist.’

  ‘It’s like Simone said, Milly, she and I are involved in this with our photo on the front page of the Saturday paper after you were arrested,’ replied Dannii ignoring Milly’s comments on Chadwick.

  ‘I hardly think that will come up either. You have no other connection to the case, except your folks, and neither does Simone. I don’t think the journalist profession in general, or more particularly the West Australian newspaper will dump on one of their own. It’s like Simone said, there’s too much other juicy stuff to report.’

  ‘I don’t know where this is going, Milly, but please … what’s that little secret you need to tell me …?’ Milly interrupted.

  ‘Then, did you notice that I wrote down my new mobile phone number on the back of one of Rosie Grainer’s business cards?’

  ‘I did,’ replied Dannii. ‘You didn’t bring any of your own business cards with you.’

  ‘I did bring my business cards with me, Dannii. Anyway, when you went to the toilet, I confided in Simone that I had ano
ther drug charge of possessing cocaine hanging over me back in the U.K. I asked her not to say anything to you; that I wanted to tell you myself. Has she mentioned it?’

  ‘No, definitely not … you’re not on another charge, are you?’

  ‘No, I’m not on another charge. I’m trying to catch her out. The first thing she asked when I gave her my phone number on Rosie’s card, was if they knew about the charge at Watford Therapy. I told her I wasn’t sure, but I think so.’

  ‘I am so not with you, Milly.’

  ‘Right then, think about it; use that brain of yours. Supposedly, the only two people who know I have a charge in the U.K., in Australia at least, are Simone and me. The only way that Boyd’s legal team can know about a charge … because there isn’t one, is if Simone tells them.’

  ‘What have Boyd’s legal team got to do with it?’

  ‘Honestly, Dannii … sometimes. If the Boyd legal team find out about a second charge, they’ll use it against me in court when they question me. As it is, they’ll make me out to be a less than credible witness now with one drug charge plus all the sexual misconduct with the Boyds, senior and junior. A second charge, after the event, will make me an even less credible witness in front of a jury.’

  ‘I see,’ said Dannii unconvinced.

  ‘Obviously, they won’t find anything, not on any law list or in old newspaper articles because, again, there’s no charge … I’ve made it up. The only way they can find out about a charge … and they’d have to be desperate … is to call Rosie. Then if they accuse me of facing another charge back in the U.K. in court, I’ll turn it around on them, and make them look desperate.’

  ‘Well, they are desperate, Milly. So, what if they call Rosie?’

  ‘Don’t you get it, Dannii? They’ll only call Rosie on Simone’s say so.’

  Dannii looked at Milly like something had just dawned on her. Milly made the ka-ching sound of a cash register and poked her tongue out like a cash-register draw springing open. ‘Got it, have you?’

  ‘I think so, Milly. What if they call Rosie, though?’

  ‘Don’t worry about Rosie; I’ve worded her up. I apologized to Simone for Rosie’s card, then mentioned in passing that Rosie is a bitch, a typical HR manager, that we hate each other, that we hardly ever speak.’

  ‘So, the minute they call Rosie and Rosie tells you, we’ll know Simone is a snitch.’

  ‘You’re brilliant, Dannii. I don’t know … with that brain of yours an’ all, you could have been a vet, even studied for an M.B.A.’

  ‘So, what about the little secret then, Milly?’

  Milly wasn’t surprised by Dannii’s reply. Her love of gossip transcended her need for Simone’s loyalty — or was it that Simone didn’t mean much to Dannii, she wondered. Milly told Dannii of her inheritance, but that’s all she told her. She didn’t discuss Christy’s wealth. Christy had asked her not to, and she still wasn’t quite sure if she trusted Dannii yet.

  Dannii was very animated, very — well, very Dannii — on hearing Milly’s news. She cackled and whistled and jumped around, hooting and laughing, punching the air, doing star jumps; much the same reaction as when she saw Milly appear at the airport pushing her luggage trolley along, only a lot more raucous. She called her Milly Gates and hugged and kissed her.

  In all the excitement, it hadn’t occurred to Dannii that Milly might have laid a trap for her too. Milly was thinking, though, thinking ahead to events in the future. She was convinced now that Sim Charles had visited Australia to meet with the Boyds before Matt Sr. landed in jail. If Simone was a snitch, as Dannii put it, she could use it to her advantage. She swore Dannii to secrecy, asking her not to mention any of their conversation to Simone.

  After the excitement had faded, she logged onto Dannii’s computer. She checked her emails. The Russells would be at home until September when they intended going on holiday, so Milly was very welcome there.

  There was no reply from Rosie.

  Chapter 11.

  Milly rose early Monday morning. She checked her emails on Dannii’s computer — there was nothing in her inbox. Next, she looked on the eCourts Portal of W.A. and then to ‘Search for Court Listings’. She entered the details of the case, and the information appeared:

  Before the Hon. Justice Purdon Court No.2 10:00

  The State of Western Australia v. Matthew Jordan Boyd

  Trial by Jury

  She googled Perth weather. The forecast was for a high of 26 degrees.

  They ate breakfast: two boiled eggs, dry toast, and coffee for Milly. Milly had lost more weight over the past two days, and the strain on her 38DD holsters had lessened slightly; she was down to 80 kilograms. But she continued to abstain from lunch and only ate light evening meals, with water and the odd coffee through the day.

  After breakfast, both girls started work on Milly’s appearance. Dannii assumed the role of makeup lady and lady’s maid to her now wealthy best friend. They both agreed she should wear the new green suit she’d bought on Hay Street. They settled on a white lapel business shirt, one she’d brought from the U.K. She considered not wearing stockings with her ‘Marie Black Smooth’ high heels from ‘I Love Billy,’ but, as Dannii pointed out, ‘You’re going to court, darling, not an interview for a job at Club 318.’

  ‘What’s Club 318?’ asked Milly.

  ‘A North Perth massage parlor.’

  ‘Excuse me!’

  ‘You’re very well endowed,’ continued Dannii, who hadn’t been as lucky in that department. ‘You’d be a dead cert to get the job, darling.’

  ‘Thanks, Dannii … I have been rather fortunate with my Brad Pitts; there’s no doubt about that. There’s not a lot I can thank my mother for.’ Milly thought then of the conversation she’d had with Mia the previous day in which her mother had put all Milly’s bad behavior down to her father.

  They settled on light and cool stay-up stockings with stretch lace top. The packaging advertised ‘Climate Control Cool Touch’ and ‘Better than Bare.’

  ‘You don’t think they’re a bit too cheeky, do you, Dannii?’

  ‘No, darling, they are absolutely perfect. If things go well in court after the ponce interrogates you, why don’t you step ’round to the front of the witness stand, lift up your skirt and invite him to kiss your ass? Can you imagine the photo on the front page of the paper … with those lace stockings and your ample backside? All class, darling, all class.’

  ‘And if things go badly?’ asked Milly, grinning.

  Then we’ll just drive north to Club 318 for that interview,’ replied Dannii, smiling, and they burst out laughing.

  ‘Should I wear knickers, do you think?’

  ‘Yes, darling, sheer and skimpy.’

  ‘Will you stop calling me darling,’ and they laughed again. Milly tried on her new high heels with their three-inch heel lift; she stood well over 6 feet tall.

  They turned their attention to makeup and Milly’s hair. She was never one for using a lot of war paint, as Dannii called it. She had beautiful pale skin that was totally unblemished, not a crease not a wrinkle, but Dannii was an expert and knew just what Milly needed. She applied a Sweet Tea, tinted liquid foundation to Milly’s face and a dark cat eyeliner around her eyes. Then she enhanced the eyes more with some natural eye shadow — ‘To give your peepers a pop,’ explained Dannii, smiling. Next, some ruby red lipstick and finally some pink blush to intensify the natural glow of Milly’s cheeks.

  Her hair posed a slight problem. Dannii liked working with long hair; it gave her more options. Milly had cut her hair from long to ‘medium long’ before visiting Joe Charles in prison. She had worried her near exact resemblance to Sibby might upset him. It was still long enough for a decent ponytail, which Dannii tied in place with a beautiful brown ribbon with yellow dots splashed haphazardly around its edges and through the middle. Dannii asked Milly to do a fashion walk through the lounge room: ‘Stick your bum out and smile,’ she ordered, whistling and laughing as Milly st
rutted the lounge catwalk, spinning a tea towel in her hand as if she were in a strip show.

  ‘You look stunning, Dr. McTaggart,’ declared Danni, standing back and admiring her handiwork. ‘Having some weight on makes you more curvaceous … in a very sexy kind of way.’

  ‘Thanks, I really appreciate it.’

  As they prepared to leave, Milly eyed Dannii, who now looked equally elegant and made-up, and asked, ‘You don’t think we’ve overdone it?’

  ‘No, not at all. This will be one of the only times I’m happy to drive up in Mom’s car with those number plates, Milly. It’s half a million dollars’ worth of car, so we should dress to impress … a certain “je ne sais quoi” is required in our manner and appearance. When we step from the car, we don’t want to look like a couple of old tarts jumping out of an expensive wedding cake. We need to give ’em something to report, something to write about. We’ll even drive into court with the roof down. The car’s a convertible, you know.’

  ‘No, no, Dannii, I draw the line there! We’ll keep the roof up, please. I don’t want to upset Mom and Christy. We’ll try and keep it just a little low key.’

  ‘Alright, Milly, I won’t argue with you. This is your day, and I’m here to support you.’

  They drove to the Supreme Court at 28 Barrack Street, leaving Cottesloe at 9:00 a.m. Milly’s thoughts were interrupted as Dannii swung the HERS car into Barrack Street where they decided to park and walk to the court through Stirling Gardens. Dannii would return to the car and shift to a more permanent parking spot later.

  It was surprisingly quiet. There was no carnival atmosphere or fanfare, just the normal Monday morning hustle and bustle, until they reached the Supreme Court precinct. As they walked to the entrance of the court building they could see it, the media, as they chased Matt Boyd Sr. and his entourage into the building.