by Vanda Symon
‘He hadn’t ventured into something harder?’ Smithy said.
‘No chemistry experiments from what I’ve heard. If he had, I imagine he would have had a visit from our more organised elements. They tend to guard their business jealously.’
‘They could be lying to you,’ I said. ‘The way he’d been assaulted and his body disposed of suggests someone wanted something – information, drugs – or was sending a message. Also it suggests that the perpetrator had resources and access to a boat. Most people wouldn’t throw away dive gear like that. So you can’t be sure this isn’t drug-related.’
‘Never say never in this game. They could well be lying to protect themselves, and we’ll carry on the investigation from our side assuming that they are. Don’t trust them as far as you could kick them. But for the moment it would appear this guy was a little fish.’
An unfortunate choice of words given the circumstances.
31
Jason, or someone, had made an effort. There had been a few cosmetic changes to the flat since I was here last and since the SOCOs had finished their work. Firstly, the charming roof ornamentation had gone: the public attention must have prompted the local supermarket to come and claim back their shopping trolleys – there would have been a few thousand dollars-worth of hardware up there. It might have prompted the landlord to have a word too, as the litter had been picked up from the front yard and the beer bottle and crate collection dealt with. It almost looked habitable. I hoped the makeover extended to inside the flat as well, but I didn’t hold my breath.
When the door finally opened, Jase didn’t look too thrilled to see me. I noted he was wearing the same T-shirt as last time. I hoped it had been laundered since then.
‘Now what?’ he asked. He had mastered the victimised look.
‘A few more questions – about your flatmate Leo this time.’
‘Isn’t this, like, harassment or something?’ he asked. He almost seemed hopeful.
I gave him my charming-with-added-menace smile. ‘No, if this was harassment, I’d have come at two o’clock in the morning. And I would like to think you’d do anything you could to help us find the killer of your flatmate, unless of course you had something to hide. Do you have something to hide, Jason?’
‘Humph,’ he said, or something to that effect. ‘I suppose you want to come in, then.’
I didn’t really, but it was bloody cold and I didn’t feel like having this conversation on the porch. In a toss-up between getting hypothermia and septicaemia, I thought the odds were slightly lower for the latter. I could always take some antibiotics later.
He held open the door and I walked past him and into the student tip. The moment the door clicked shut behind me and the last vestiges of natural light deserted the hallway, I felt a wave of heat wash over my face and my heart rate kicked up several notches, pounding beneath my ribs. I could feel the tension of the air pressure on my skin, the smell of mouldy mustiness and unwashed male assailed my nostrils. My chest constricted and I had to open my mouth to gulp in air with rapid sucks. What the hell was wrong with me? Was I having a heart attack? No, surely I was too young for that. But something was definitely wrong. God, was I going to have to call an ambulance? Then realisation struck as suddenly as the palpitations. This was my first time out solo on the job since the assault. My body was telling me I felt nervous about this, and now that my brain had made the connection it only got worse. I forced myself to take each step down the hallway towards the kitchen. It was like every nerve ending in my body was waiting for the whack over the head or the knife between the shoulder blades, and was screaming out, Run, Sam, run. Why the hell did I let him walk behind me? Why oh why had I not done the basics: assessed the risk properly and worn the hated stab-proof vest? I was here alone for heaven’s sake. I had to force myself to inhale and exhale steadily. Don’t be so bloody stupid, Shep. It’s just Jase. He couldn’t hurt a fly. But what if he could? At least Smithy knew where I was. And Jase hadn’t shown any tendency towards violence before. In fact, he could barely muster anything. What was I being so babyish and damn panicky about?
The moment we made it down to the kitchen and open space I spun around to face him. He stopped short, startled at my sudden movement, and then stepped back a pace, caution creasing his face. He was more scared than I was. Stupid.
‘Er, take a seat,’ he said, and wafted his arm in the direction of the table.
‘Thanks,’ I said, and managed to sit down, all the while facing him.
While I extracted my notebook from my bag, I took the precaution of slipping my pepper spray into my pocket. It helped to quell my nerves a fraction. My notebook felt like it stuck a bit against the table surface. Nice. My hand was shaking, and I gripped the pen tighter. It didn’t alleviate the problem at all, so I hoped my memory would hold up, because I doubted I would be able to jot anything down without looking like a complete twat.
‘We still haven’t been able to locate your flatmate, Leo. Have you heard from him at all since we were here last?’
‘No. I thought he was still at his bit’s?’
I gave him a glare. ‘I take it you mean his girlfriend, Trina.’
‘Oh, yeah.’ He looked a little abashed. I still marvelled that someone would have a dreadlocked-mullet hairdo, but the more I encountered Jason, the more it seemed to suit his character.
‘When I was previously here, I asked you when you’d last seen Leo. You said it was four or five days ago. I’d actually like you to be more specific than that.’ I looked into his eyes, took in his general demeanour and guessed he was in a reasonable state of lucidity. The eye droop wasn’t too bad compared with last time, so he might even be capable of thought. Rational thought might be pushing it, though. I realised this cleaning-up act of his was partly due to the police confiscating all his drug doings the other day. That and a little court appearance he’d have to make sometime soon. I smiled at the notion. Jase noticed and it seemed to make him more wary. How marvellous that I could make a big lug of a thing nervous.
‘What day last week are we talking about here?’
‘I dunno. Thursday, Friday, I can’t be sure.’
‘Come on Jason, you’ll have to do better than that.’ This wasn’t the time to be vague. ‘I want specifics. Day, time.’
He sat down and did what I guessed was thinking, before he came up with a reply. ‘I think it was Monday, ‘cos I’d just come back from a lecture.’
I had to hide my astonishment that Jase managed to go to any lectures. Study looked like it would be a stretch for him, other than the odd bit of practical horticulture. Also, Monday was quite a bit different from his initial Thursday or Friday.
‘Did he talk to you? What did he say?’ He started doing that squirmy, non-eye contact thing again. ‘Well, Jase?’
‘I didn’t actually see him, as such.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, I know he’d been here ’cos he’d collected his mail and some of his stuff, so I thought he must have got some things and gone back to his…’ he checked himself before I got the chance to give him a look ‘…to Trina’s.’
‘Okay, so you didn’t actually see him then. When exactly did you see him last? And I mean clap eyes on and talk to him.’
‘A while ago, I guess. I can’t be certain, but I suppose I wouldn’t have seen him since the party at the end of semester.’
‘How long ago, Jason?’ He noticed the use of his full name, and I watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down uncontrollably.
‘I guess, two weeks ago?’ He said it like a question I was supposed to know the answer to. I did know one thing. Two weeks ago was a familiar date. So was the party.
‘This wouldn’t happen to be the party out at Aramoana, would it?’
‘Yeah. It was great.’
‘Okay, now I’m asking this question in all seriousness, and I’d like you to think very carefully about the answer, because you haven’t seen your flatmate Leo for a
bout two weeks, and your other flatmate Clifford has been dead, for, gosh, about two weeks, so you can see what I’m getting at here. Would Leo have had any reason to want to harm Clifford?’
Jase looked like he was in information overload. Too much to compute. He took on a kind of frozen-screen look. When he was finally reanimated he uttered two shocked words.
‘Fuck, no.’
32
‘Okay, I think we’ve got a serious suspect, guys,’ I announced as I swept into the squad room. It sounded very grand, but a girl always had to make an entrance. It backfired a bit though, because there was only one person in the room and he looked decidedly underwhelmed.
‘So are you going to stand there looking pleased with yourself, or are you going to enlighten me?’ Reihana asked.
‘Where is everyone?’
‘They’d be out working, following leads, detecting – you know: that thing we’re paid to do?’ What was it with CIB and sarcasm?
‘Did something come up?’
‘No, just the old-fashioned legwork thing. Heard of it?’
At least coming from Reihana, I knew it was a good-natured ribbing. With some of the others I was never quite sure. There were those who still resented my presence in the CIB, especially some downstairs. Apparently I’d queue-jumped and, if you believed some of the rumours, screwed my way here, both of which were considered worse than being a child molester. I still copped plenty of jibes and barbs, and unfortunately my hide hadn’t thickened any since I’d been here.
I gave Reihana the response he was expecting. ‘Yeah, yeah, heard of it, even do it sometimes, but only if desperate.’ But then I was distracted from my train of thought by a box on his desk. ‘What’s with the chocolate?’ I moved over to have a nosey.
‘Fundraiser for the kids’ school, you don’t get out of the room alive unless you buy at least two bars.’ Reihana flogged off a continuous stream of fundraisers for his kids’ schools: raffle tickets, Instant Kiwi boards and that great Southern staple – the cheese roll, AKA Southern Sushi. That’s what you got having so many of the things – kids that is, not fundraisers – and he had five of them.
‘Chuck us two Dairy Milk and two Caramello. No, make that three Caramello; may as well make it ten bucks.’
‘Knew you’d be a sucker,’ he said, looking pleased. ‘So what was it you were so desperate to tell me?’
‘Oh yes, that. Leo Walker, Clifford’s flatmate, has been AWOL for a bit longer than we’d been led to believe.’
‘How long’s a bit?’
‘Try two weeks since he was seen last, at the infamous party at Aramoana. Jason, the flatmate, thinks he called into the house on the following Monday to pick up a few things, but didn’t actually see him then. Apparently Jase got a bit confused about the meaning of the word “see”. So it would appear Leo has snuck in to get some gear together and scarpered.’
‘That all sounds a bit more than coincidence to me.’
‘My thoughts exactly. So I’m thinking we need to have a little chat with all concerned about what exactly happened at that party, and it’s time to pull out all the stops on locating Leo. I know Otto was trying to track down him and his girlfriend, without much success, but there’s a bit more impetus now. We should have got serious about this earlier.’
‘You’ll be wanting the boss’s job next.’
Comments like that triggered my self-preservation mode, and I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder to see if DI Johns was in the room. He seemed to have this knack for walking in on conversations at exactly the wrong time. Reihana noticed my look, and let out a chuckle.
‘Relax, Shep. He’s still out of town, remember?’
‘Sorry, habit.’ Ingrained by dire experience. ‘Where’s Smithy?’ I asked and pulled my cellphone out, ready to give him a call to let him know Jase’s revelation.
‘He said something about a doctor’s appointment.’
Doctor’s appointment? That could mean one of several things. He was sick, which wasn’t likely – Smithy had the constitution of an ox and had never taken a sick day in the time I’d been here. Or it could mean he wasn’t taking chances on any more surprise additions to his family and was sussing out the ole snipperooni. Or he and Veronica were perhaps serious about not wanting to be parents again. It was a Friday, and those particular appointments always took place on a Friday, as was evidenced by the usual three or four anti-abortion protesters outside the hospital entrance this morning, none of whom actually possessed a uterus. The news had thrown him into a pretty strange mood, and his mind was definitely elsewhere. I hoped he was okay. Whatever the reason, this could wait. I put the phone back in my pocket.
‘I’ll get on to acquiring a warrant to access Leo Walker’s cellphone records. They’re sure to have his girlfriend’s number. Perhaps she can shed more light on things, because so far no one else can tell me where he’s been or even where he works, or if he works. What is it with these guys? They’re supposed to be great mates and all, but none of them seems to know what the other is doing, or anything about each other’s lives. And as for the situation in that flat – wouldn’t normal people want to know if their flatmates were going to turn up for dinner? It doesn’t seem to matter to this lot. They can disappear off the planet for weeks, and none of the others even bat an eyelid. Great mates. And doesn’t anyone in this generation have a proper job?’ I was starting to sound scarily like my mother.
‘Different world, Sam,’ Reihana said. ‘But I’m with you on the exasperation. It brings to mind the whole “with friends like these, who needs enemies” concept.’
33
Finally, someone who had a clue. Once I’d faxed through the warrant, the cellphone company had quickly coughed up Leo Walker’s phone records. The most frequently used number led straight to Ms Trina Sanderson, who was now seated before me in a station interview room. It was one of the pleasures of having DI Johns out of the picture – I could get on and do what needed to be done without having to adjust to his whim and permission. Smithy was still preoccupied and everyone else was following other leads, so I took the initiative.
She was smartly attired in her ANZ bank uniform, her brunette hair swept up in a French roll, face lightly made up, and looking nothing like how I had imagined Trina the Screamer might look. I was sure she’d be mortified if she knew what they called her. When I’d phoned her, Trina had offered to come down to the station straight away. She struck me as one of those people who would bend over backwards to help anyone. It made me wonder how she’d managed to get herself tangled up with anyone from that tip of a flat.
‘So you last saw him on Monday the thirty-first of August. And you’re certain it was that date?’
‘Yes, he stayed over on the Sunday night because he was going off on one of his work trips on the Monday morning, a long one, and we wouldn’t get the chance to see each other for a while. I leave for work at eight-fifteen, so that would have been the time when I saw him last.’
‘And his work trip was for the Department of Conservation?’
‘Yes. He and another guy are tracking and surveying kiwi numbers in some remote part of Fiordland. It was going to be a two-week trip at least. I didn’t think it sounded much fun for them, it’s so cold at this time of year, but he always really enjoyed getting out in the bush and away from it all. He didn’t seem to think it was risky at all and laughed when I mentioned the possibility of getting lost or hypothermia.’
‘When we asked his flatmate about it, he didn’t mention Leo was away with work.’
‘You mean Jase? Jase doesn’t know which foot to stick his shoes on half the time. He’s utterly useless and the worst slob I have ever met. Leo probably didn’t bother to tell him, and if he did, Jase wouldn’t remember. Have you met him? If you had, you’d know what I mean. I don’t think I’ve ever been there when he’s been entirely with it. And have you seen their flat? It’s the biggest dump ever. It is the gold-standard in student dumps.’ Trina was clearly not a one-wo
rd-answer kind of a girl.
‘So if the flat was that bad, why did Leo live there?’
‘Because of Clifford.’ I noticed the familiar welling-up that occurred when any of these people talked about him. The impression I got was that he was loved and highly regarded by his mates. ‘Clifford invited Leo in last year. I don’t know how Clifford knew Jase, so I couldn’t tell you why he was invited into the flat, but Leo had known Clifford since school and they were great mates. And the rent was dirt cheap.’ Dirt being the operative word. I wondered if the squalor improved when the other guys were about and if it was only Jase who let everything descend into complete piggery.
‘Was Leo at the party Clifford attended at Aramoana on that Saturday, the twenty-ninth of August? Were you there?’
‘Leo went to the party, but I gave it a miss. He invited me, but I had a girlfriend’s birthday bash to go to at Eltrusco, and I wasn’t about to miss that. Nothing against his friends, but a girl’s night out was more appealing. He told me about it though. Said it was a great night, good bunch of people, good music. No one got too plastered and made a nuisance of themselves. And then there was the boat thing in the morning, he said that was really freaky.’
‘So he stayed the night out there.’
‘Yes. He’d never drink and drive, so he crashed on a couch. I think there were others coming back into town, but he was going to hang out there with the guys and make a night of it, seeing as I was off doing something else. We hooked back up together in the afternoon.’
‘And he seemed all right on Sunday? He didn’t behave strangely or seem a bit off?’
‘No, he wasn’t acting odd or anything. I think he was a bit tired after the party. I doubt they got much sleep.’ They weren’t the only ones. The events of the morning didn’t seem to do anything for people’s moods either.