by Bowes, K T
Hana sighed and nodded. “Yeah. I know the drill.” She looked around Logan and her eyes raked the hallway for someone else. “Where’re the children? They said they were coming for the children.”
“Amy’s got them up at Culver’s Cottage, Mum. They’re safe. Nobody can get them there; you know that.”
Hana nodded and her face flooded with relief. “I’m so tired,” she said and used her forefingers to pull at the sides of her eyes until they resembled slits. “What do you want from me?”
“Your clothes and then a statement.” Odering’s smile looked false. He glanced at Logan. “And this time, I won’t leave until I get both.”
Logan shrugged. “I’m not stopping you. Can she take a shower?”
Odering narrowed his eyes. “No. We’ll go to the police station and my officer will wait outside the bathroom. Mrs Du Rose can pass her clothing out to him.”
Bodie bridled. “Sorry, Sir, you need to find someone else.”
“What?” Odering’s face changed colour, moving through shades of pink to an angry red. “What do you mean, Senior Sergeant Johal?”
“I’m off duty.” Bodie put his hands on his hips and glared at his superior. “And this is my mother.”
The lanky inspector glared at his protégé with malice and Hana’s brows knitted. She wanted to urge Bodie not to worry, to protect him from Odering’s ire, but something about his protest honoured her role in his life and she kept silent. “Fine!” Odering snapped. “I’ll stand outside the bloody bathroom.”
Logan rolled his eyes out of sight of Odering and Hana saw his desperation to get her by herself.
“Actually, let’s do a statement first.” Odering’s lips curled back in a snarl. “I’d hate for you to suffer amnesia whilst in the shower.”
“Sod off!” The look Logan gave him threatened violence and Odering took a step back.
With a shake of his head and an exaggerated sigh, Bodie closed Hana off from view, aligning his body with Logan’s to shield her. “I’ll do it. Don’t put her through it with strangers. I’ll bring the clothes.”
“If she’s got injuries, they’ll need to be photographed,” Odering cautioned and raised his eyebrows. “I’ll ask the doctor to make her way to the station. We’ll leave in a moment.”
Hana nodded with understanding and sat on the bottom step to at least remove her filthy footwear. “I have to take these off,” she pleaded. “My feet sting.” She held out the ruined woolly slipper and destroyed sock and Bodie took them, dropping them into a clear bag. The skin of her toes looked crinkled from the wet mud, their surface littered with scratches and shallow cuts. But when she pulled the remnants of the other sock from her foot, even Odering gasped in sympathy.
“That looks painful,” he commented, leaning in closer to look. Hana’s hands shook as she pulled broken fern fronds from between her toes and tried to ignore the rawness of the skin on her heel and the ball of her foot.
She attempted to make a joke. “Phoenix would’ve managed just fine. We can’t get her to keep shoes on, can we Logan?” She glanced up at her husband and his wooden nod affirmed her statement. Hana groaned as the air kissed the raw skin, the outer layers of the blisters peeling away with her sock. She put it in Bodie’s bag and tried to stand, holding onto the bannister rail and hopping on the better foot.
A soft knock on the door heralded the arrival of another officer and she nodded at Odering as he pulled it open. “Car’s not far off, Sir,” she said in an official tone. Hana noticed Odering’s gaze follow the tall, blonde woman’s lithe figure as she turned and stepped out onto the driveway.
“Let’s go,” he said, his face all business and short on compassion.
Logan carried Hana onto the porch to save her walking on her painful feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let his courage embolden her. They travelled in the back of the police car with Odering riding shotgun and Logan held Hana’s hand the whole way there. Bodie followed with Leslie in his vehicle after a short delay, during which the thoughtful old lady packed a bag of clothes for Hana.
“I’ve done this too many times for one lifetime,” Hana sighed as the female police surgeon photographed her superficial injuries. “I’ve had enough.”
“Yeah, I know, I know.” Logan squeezed her hand, the mud from her fingers sticking to his.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Hana sobbed from the shower as she washed dirt and blood from her body.
“Believe me, I get it, Hana,” Logan replied.
Through the glass she saw him close his eyes and heard him mutter, “Nor can I.”
Hana’s hair tangled without a wide toothed comb and she gave up, piling it onto her head in the clip the kind police surgeon gave her. She hid her cuts and bruises beneath the familiar clothes Leslie sent from the front waiting room and hobbled around in the small washroom until she felt ready to emerge. “Let’s get it over with,” she sighed and Logan placed his hand on her arm. He glanced across at the doctor as she put her copious bag of plasters and pain killers back in order and gave a slow shake of his head. Hana nodded in understanding, the tight smile making her sore lips crack and bleed.
Hana’s statement wove a version of the truth until the moment the car plunged into the ditch, although she managed not to mention names throughout. Odering sat forward and increased the intensity of his stare. “Officers apprehended three men at the scene of the accident.” He drew in a loud breath of exasperation. “They claim that ninjas took you.”
Hana’s bark of laughter embarrassed her and she reached for the glass of juice the doctor brought into the interview room. “Ninjas?” She laughed again and frustration built in Odering’s blue eyes. He straightened his tie and gave her a quizzical look.
Contemplating her six feet and four-inch husband as a black clad ninja touched something ticklish in Hana’s stomach and she sniffed and snorted while the men sat and watched her, their collective eyebrows furrowed. The woman police officer looked sympathetic and hid her own smirk. Every time Hana thought she’d calmed enough to continue, Logan’s ninja image ruined her resolve and she dissolved again.
“Hana, stop!” Logan’s eyes widened and he nudged her with his elbow. “It’s not funny, babe.”
Her head bobbed on her shoulders and she rubbed her eyes with a tissue. “It is, it is. Ninjas.” She inhaled and achieved some semblance of control, Logan’s alarm communicating itself to her. “It was aliens, actually,” Hana said, clearing her throat and avoiding Logan’s gaze.
Then the lying began in earnest, wrapping her in a web of deceit accompanied by prayers requesting forgiveness. “The tyre blew out and we ended up in the ditch. I didn’t wear a seatbelt because they put me into the car drugged.” She touched the side of her face with tentative fingers. “The driver and passenger escaped first and managed to pull me between the seats and through the driver’s door. It took both of them to lift it and the car slipped a few times.” Hana blew out a pursed breath as she relived the moment, watching her every word for flaws which might betray her husband.
“Take your time,” Odering said, his tone gentle. “There’s no need to rush.”
“I’m tired.” A wave of exhaustion rolled across Hana’s shoulders and she appealed to Logan for help. “They drugged me heaps of times.” She touched the sore spot on her temple, the result of her many clashes with the side window. “Ninjas,” she breathed, as though to herself.
“How did you get away from your kidnappers?” Odering’s voice stayed level but Hana heard the excitement beneath.
She sighed. “The third man got stuck trying to get out. He was too fat to go between the seats.” She closed her eyes and envisioned him there, flailing and drowning. Her eyes popped open. “Did he die?”
Odering shook his head. “No. He just got a little wet. What happened then?”
“I ran away while they tried to get him out. It needed both of them to hold the door up and the man still couldn’t wriggle through.”
“So
nobody appeared with a shotgun and held them up while you escaped?” Odering’s eyes narrowed and Hana felt tired of the never ending game. Bone weary tired.
“No.” She exhaled. “The tyre blew out and we crashed. He drove like an idiot and I hit my head against the window a couple of times.” She rubbed her eyes and hissed at the pain in her right one. She saw pure irritation flit across Odering’s expression as he realised once again, he wouldn’t get what he wanted. Logan twitched in his seat and the policeman smelled defeat. “I ran up onto the main road. The gravel cut my feet, so I stuck to the verge. The men wanted to get to the main highway and I didn’t want to go with them. I headed for my wee church because I woke up as we passed it and when I stepped into the road a car almost hit me. I looked a mess and she offered me a ride.”
“Who?” Odering’s brow narrowed.
“The old lady.” Hana blinked. “She gave me a ride home.”
Odering leaned forward. “Police dogs tracked you for miles across country onto Lake Road. You’re saying you didn’t go that way?”
“No.” Hana faked surprise. “I told you, the old lady drove me.”
“Describe her.” Odering sat back and folded his arms.
Hana sighed. “Asian, maybe Chinese or Korean? Yes, Korean I think. She had dark hair slicked back from her forehead and tied into a bun.” Hana closed her eyes in concentration. “I don’t think she understood me very well, but she took me back to school.” She reached for the orange juice glass and fumbled it, knocking the liquid over and producing a sticky pool. “Sorry.” Hana put her hands over her eyes and wished she could project herself home; her proper home on top of the mountain.
“What did she say?” Odering’s voice rose a few octaves and Hana heard hysteria brewing.
“Say? She asked if I was okay and I said not really. She planned to head for the Cambridge night market and I asked her to drop me off at the far end of Maui Street.”
“Why didn’t you call the cops or get her to?”
“She didn’t have a phone. I told you, she was an old lady and didn’t speak very good English.”
Odering stood and walked to the furthest corner of the room. Logan tensed as the policeman kicked the wall with his polished shoe and Hana jumped. “I want to go home now.”
“No!” Odering sounded vitriolic and his co-worker shifted in her seat, chewing her lower lip with anxiety. “You’re lying!”
“My wife is the victim here!” Logan stood and the pattern was set.
“I’m sick of this!” Odering yelled. The blonde officer scrabbled to turn off the recorder. “You always bloody do this!”
“Do what?” Logan tilted his jaw and the decades old game begun in a schoolboy fight, reared its ugly head. “I’m sick of this. We fought in school and you’ve dragged it on for years. How long will you hold it against me? I didn’t know Michael got your sister pregnant. He didn’t show up to fight you and I didn’t want my family name dragging through the mud as cowards, so I stepped up.”
Odering’s fists balled next to his thighs. “I hate your family, Du Rose. I detest every one of your miserable asses. Wanna go again? I’ll finish it this time.”
Logan shook his head in disbelief. “This is messed up, man. We’re grown-ups!”
“Yeah!” Odering lurched towards the table and rested his knuckles on its laminated surface. “I can break your nose again.”
“Break my nose?” Logan scoffed. “Lucky punch, dude. But that’s what happens when you fight a kid who’s younger and smaller than you. I would’ve kept going if Angus hadn’t hauled me off and you know it.”
Odering closed his eyes and let out a sigh. His shoulders slumped. “Yeah, you would.” He ran a hand through his hair. His body language oozed desperation. “Sorry. Please can we just do this interview? I know in my gut that it all goes back to that very first case three years ago. Robert Dressler formed a big part of that. I don’t understand how it hangs together but this reeks of him.”
Logan swallowed and Hana tugged at his sleeve. He glanced down at her fingers in irritation and his expression changed to one of concern. Slumping into the seat next to her, he turned her hand over and examined her palm. “You’re bleeding.”
Hana’s brow knitted and she prodded the saturated plaster over the knife wound. “I want this over, Logan. I want it over as much as he does.”
“Okay.” Logan reached into his jeans pocket and retrieved a white handkerchief ironed into a triangle. He pressed it over the plaster and soaked up the excess blood. “How do you feel?” He lowered his head to hear her reply.
“Tired and fed up.”
Logan caught Odering’s gaze. His grey eyes shone with a stormy hue. “Five more minutes; then we walk out.”
“Fine, fine.” Odering held his palms out in front of his face. “Let’s go back to when you disappeared. What happened?”
Hana groaned in frustration. “I already told you!”
“I want to cover it again.” Odering’s face clouded in anger and Hana sighed and went over the same ground for him.
“My phone rang and I talked to Bodie. Half way through the conversation I felt a draught and realised the front door was open. Before I got a chance to turn around, I felt a cloth against my mouth and nose and woke up in a house somewhere.”
“There’s no sign of forced entry, Hana. Did you let them in?”
“No!” she snapped and then heaved out a sigh. “Living on the mountain got me out of the habit of locking doors. I went out to the rubbish bin earlier and it’s possible I left the front door unlocked.”
“Did Robert Dressler kidnap you, Hana?”
She shook her head and told the truth. “No. Other men I’ve never seen before. They said they’d take my kids.” Hana stood. “I need to see my children, please?”
“In a minute.” Odering made notes and then looked up, studying Hana through narrowed eyes. “We lost track of Robert Dressler after he attacked you a couple of years ago.” He underlined a date with his pen, almost putting the point through his paper and onto the next page. “Nothing. No sightings, none of his usual antics and then he’s spotted at Auckland airport a week ago. Now you’re targeted again. Hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”
Hana winced and looked to Logan for support. He gritted his teeth and she saw the bone protrude through his cheeks. “You’re doing great, babe,” he said, his acquiescence to the cop surprising her. She floundered, wondering how truthful Logan wished her to be. His eyes flicked to Odering. “If you saw him at the airport, why didn’t you arrest him then?”
Odering shook his head. “An off duty officer saw him and called it in as soon as he got into arrivals. He should’ve just told customs and let them grab Dressler, but he didn’t.”
“Maybe Dressler went overseas,” Hana offered. “He went there for a while and then came back.” She shuddered. “I hope I never see that man ever again.”
“Why did these men take you, Hana?”
“I don’t know.” Hana rubbed her eyes again, remembering at the last minute not to touch the right one. Her head shot up with the sudden thought. “Didn’t you catch him at the hotel?” She looked at Logan and then Odering, the fear in her eyes genuine. “He went to the mountain to get my heart pills.”
Odering glanced at Logan. “Who,” he demanded.
Logan shook his head and his brow knitted in confusion. “It’s alarmed to the hilt. The security guys would’ve called me.”
“Make the bloody call, Du Rose!” Odering snarled and Hana cringed, realising she’d slipped up.
Logan’s chair grated back and he reached into his pocket for his mobile phone, turning it in his fingers and dialling the number for the hotel. He slipped through the outer door into the corridor and Hana saw him pacing up and down with one finger in his ear.
“I stole someone’s phone,” Hana said, staring at the table as her mind worked overtime. “I talked to an emergency operator, but it fell in the bushes when the man found me.”
Odering nodded and pushed a sealed plastic bag towards her. “This one?”
She nodded with enthusiasm. “It looks like it.”
“It’s a burner phone. We can’t get anything from it.”
The sense of defeat rode over Hana and she sighed. “I thought I’d escaped, but he came from nowhere and pulled me out. They kept drugging me. I feel so tired and disoriented now. When will it wear off?”
“I’m not sure.” Odering chewed his lower lip and glanced at the female officer. “Why would Dressler come back for you? I know this is his work. Where has he been, Hana?”
“I don’t know.” Hana sighed and felt her chest tighten. The lie stuck in her throat but if she sent him after Caleb, the teenager would crumble with cowardice and tell Odering how Logan employed Flick to work for him, knowing he was a wanted felon. She shrugged. Leaning forward, she lowered her voice. “What about the man I stabbed? Did he die?”
Odering’s brows knitted. “What stabbed man? We found nobody at the house you described. The family live in the UK and say nobody lives there. A family member left it in their will and it’s awaiting renovation before being rented.”
“I stabbed him,” Hana insisted, showing the detective her palm. “It’s how I did this.”
“So you say.” Odering folded his arms. “What was the man’s name?”
The lie tripped off her tongue. “I don’t know. They didn’t say names.” It galled her to protect Dominic Dressler, but she’d already slipped up once. Hana glanced backwards through the glass into the corridor. Logan looked deep in conversation on his phone. She forced herself to relax, reasoning if the cops didn’t find Dominic at the house, then he didn’t die and she should pay him no more attention.
“We’ll get his DNA off your clothes, I guess.” Odering sighed. “I feel like you’re keeping things from me, Hana.”
“You always think that.” She pouted and made herself sound grumpy. “What did the three men in the car say? They must know more.”
Odering’s lips pulled back in a snarl. “Contractors!” he spat. “Known to us and nothing more than hired muscle. They allegedly didn’t see who sent them after you, but received a hefty fee up front and another to follow on delivery. Apparently the ninja double crossed them when he took you away.”