Whistle Down The Wire

by Robert Engwerda

  ‘Poor Barry wasn’t too happy about getting brought in today,’ Cole began. ‘But then, I suppose neither were you?’

  ‘No, I was not happy. What is going to happen?’

  Cole opened his satchel and took out a notepad and biro, placing them neatly before him on the table. He then picked up the biro and recorded the date and time. He glanced up, and as Van der Sloot watched, wrote down the Dutchman’s name.

  ‘You’ll be pleased to know Miss Fowler is safe and well,’ Cole continued. ‘She’s in one of our offices. Senior Constable Sheridan is taking a statement from her in the company of the girl’s parents. They aren’t too happy about it, speaking of happy, but who could blame them? I think if Marnie was my daughter I’d be pretty upset about it, too.’

  ‘I did not do anything with that girl,’ Van der Sloot protested, already agitated.

  ‘How did you come to meet her, Jan?’

  ‘How? She was at the Youth Club playing table tennis. I was there helping.’

  ‘Helping, hey? What kind of helping?’

  ‘I made the scores sometimes. And I helped clean up afterwards.’

  ‘How old are you, Jan?’

  Van der Sloot looked away dejectedly.

  ‘I am twenty-seven years of age.’

  ‘What was the nature of your relationship with Miss Fowler?’

  ‘We were friends. That is all.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’re too old at any age to be hanging around with kids. But we’ll soon find out what you’ve been up to, I suppose, based on what the girl tells her parents and our interviewing officer. If you’ve been engaging in sexual conduct with her you’ve committed a very serious criminal offence, one that usually results in a prison sentence. You’re aware of that, I take it?’

  Van der Sloot tried to answer but nothing came out.

  Raised voices came from another room in the station, a man’s voice roaring loudly above the others.

  Cole tipped his head in the direction of the noise and asked Van der Sloot, ‘Have you ever met Miss Fowler’s father, Frank?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Did she ever talk about him?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I’m not surprised she didn’t. Frank Fowler has got a bit of a reputation, and by that I don’t mean a good one. I’d say you should consider yourself lucky we found out about you and Miss Fowler before he did. But from what I’m hearing through these walls, it sounds like Miss Fowler has already spilt the beans on you, Jan.’

  ‘Split the beans?’

  ‘Told her parents everything. And if she’s said what I expect she’ll say, you’re in big trouble now.’

  ‘But how? How?’ He threw his arms out in a lame attempt at appeal. ‘It was not my fault. She came to my caravan. I did not invite her. It was not a birthday party or a picnic where anyone could come!’

  ‘Your only chance of helping yourself is cooperation with us, Jan. Whatever you do to help us now, with no mucking around, will improve your chances later on. I’ll ask you to give us a statement after this interview, and in it you’ll have to tell us everything that happened between you and Miss Fowler. I’d suggest you be absolutely truthful in what you tell us. Do you understand that?’

  He shook his head bleakly.

  ‘Fine then. While we’re talking I want to ask you some questions about another equally serious matter, too.’ Cole paused, staring at Van der Sloot’s face so the latter began to fidget uncontrollably. ‘What brought on the fight between you and Barry Jennings, Jan? I’m talking about those bruises on your face,’ he said, pointing.

  ‘Did I say I was in a fight with him?’

  ‘Remember what I said, Jan. Please don’t waste my time.’

  Van der Sloot glanced at Cole.

  ‘So, yes,’ he said ponderously, his hands shaking. ‘There was a fight with Barry Jennings.’

  ‘What was it about?’

  He paused again, and put his face in his hands.

  ‘If I tell you I will be in more trouble.’

  ‘That would be hard, given what you’re already likely to be charged with. Spit it out or I’ll find some extra charges to lay against you. You’ve seen Barry Jennings. He’s in this building right now, and you know what I’ve charged him with.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Everything. And what your role in it was, too. I just want to hear your version of events now, because according to him you played the biggest part in it.’

  ‘I did not! It was him! I only went there to help him, you understand? I did not know he was going to do any bad things.’

  ‘That’s not what he said.’

  ‘He is a liar!’

  ‘Then tell me exactly what happened.’ He motioned to Whittaker by the door. ‘Constable, I’d like you to take some notes please. Sit down here and use these,’ he said, pushing pen and paper across to him. ‘Fire away, Jan.’

  The Dutchman looked at the constable and then back at Cole before dropping his head.

  ‘From the start,’ Cole told him. ‘How did you come to know Barry Jennings?’

  Van der Sloot spoke in a whisper now, everything about him defeated. He said, ‘I met him once at the hotel. He was with Wayne, and I was helping Wayne in his job.’

  ‘Running bets for Bob Fry?’

  ‘Yes. I did it once or twice at the beginning. Afterwards I helped Barry with odd jobs.’

  ‘More odd jobs! Did he and Bob Fry pay you well for your work? No, you don’t need to answer. They wouldn’t have. So how did all this lead to your more recent work with Barry Jennings?’

  ‘Oh,’ he said, pale as a sheet. ‘There was nothing.’

  ‘Just a minute ago you said there was.’

  ‘I cannot say anything more.’

  ‘I saw how you were living in that caravan, Jan. It didn’t exactly look like you were living the high life. How much of the ten thousand did Jennings give you? It was the money Harry Colston paid into the bank account of someone called Balfour not long before he was killed. Balfour doesn’t exist, and I’m pretty sure that fake account was opened by Barry Jennings, and that he took that money out. All of it.’

  ‘How much money was it?’ he asked, as if he were in a fog.

  ‘The ten thousand Jennings got from Harry. The money I told you about last time I saw you.’

  ‘That,’ he said dejectedly. ‘He gave me two thousand dollars. He said Harry had only given him five thousand dollars.’

  ‘And that was what the fight was about, wasn’t it? After I told you Harry had paid out ten thousand. It doesn’t take a genius to work out Barry conned you.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Barry took you for a ride then, didn’t he? And for only two thousand. That’s not much for two people’s lives, is it?’

  ‘No. But I did not kill them.’

  ‘That’s not what Jennings said.’

  ‘That is a lie! Barry is a liar!’

  ‘Settle down, Jan. If you want to save yourself from a murder charge you’d better do some quick talking. A bloke called Ronald Ryan was hanged in Pentridge just a few months ago for murder. You don’t want that to happen to you, do you?’

  ‘No, I do not. And it should not happen because I am not guilty, sergeant. I did not kill this man and that woman.’

  ‘What happened then? Start at the start and finish at the end.’

  Van der Sloot glanced across at the constable who was still writing. Despair and dismay were written large all over him.

  ‘I will tell you,’ he said, swallowing, and picking his way forward in deliberate small steps. ‘Barry Jennings came to my caravan one day. It was three weeks and one days ago. He told me he had a job I would like. It was good money. I thought maybe twenty or fifty dollars. Then he said i
t was much better than that. I said, “Well, how much then?” He said “Two thousand dollars.” I could not believe it. I said “How can there be so much money?” I made a joke. I said, “Who will I have to kill for that money?” And he said, “Nobody, because I will have done it already.”’

  Van der Sloot stopped and stared down at this hands.

  Cole said, ‘Go on. Tell us what happened after that.’

  ‘I cannot.’

  ‘You must, Jan. You’ve started now, so you can’t stop. You’ve admitted to something very serious in the presence of two police officers, one of whom is recording everything you’ve said. There’s only one way now, and that’s the truth.’

  Van der Sloot wrung his hands.

  ‘Very well, I am finished,’ he said and Cole gave him a minute to compose himself. ‘Barry Jennings told me when this thing was going to happen, at Hilltop. He said it would be all over by the time I got there. I would only need to help him get rid of the rubbish. I said, “What rubbish?” And he said, “The Colstons”. He said that. But when I came to the house I knocked on the door and Mrs Colston was there. She was drinking, the others were drinking, so she told me to go inside.’

  ‘One second. Who was in the house?’

  ‘There was Barry, of course. Mr Colston and Mrs Colston.’

  ‘Are you sure there wasn’t anyone else?’

  ‘A baby. I was very sad when I saw it.’

  ‘I bet you were. A baby you were happy enough to leave in the house by itself. But what did you think when you arrived and saw the Colstons still alive?’

  ‘I thought it was not going to happen, that Barry would not kill them. So I thought, this is good, have a drink and join the party, Jan.’

  ‘Would you say they were all drunk by the time you got to Hilltop?’

  ‘Oh yes. They were very drunk, especially the lady.’

  ‘Go on, what happened next?’

  ‘You see, I had a drink myself and everyone was laughing and we had more drinks. Barry said to Mr Colston he had something in his car he wanted to show. I did not think anything, we were having a good time. They went outside and then after a long time Mrs Colston said, “What are they doing out there? Pulling each others peckers?” and she laughed and thought it was very funny. Another ten minutes went by and then she said she was going outside. I did not hear anything. I waited, for a long time actually, and then Barry came inside and he said to me, “Are you ready, dickhead?” Then I knew something bad had happened.’

  ‘That you knew was going to happen, but that you did nothing to stop?’

  ‘No, I thought Barry had changed his mind. He did not tell me.’

  ‘So you went outside and saw the bodies?’

  ‘No, Barry put them in the back of the Colstons’ car.’

  ‘Had you heard shots before that?’

  ‘No. He said he hit them on the head with wood.’

  ‘That would have done it. And then?’

  ‘We cleaned up the empty bottles and then the mess inside the house and then Barry drove the car to the railway line. I went in my car. We put the dead people in the front seat of their car and waited for the train. I was frightened that someone would come. But it was raining and Barry said no people would go outside in this weather. But I was still very frightened. When we saw the train coming we got out and when the train was nearer we pushed and pushed the car.’

  ‘Then you ran back to your car, heard the smash, turned around and drove back to Hilltop because you couldn’t leave Barry’s car there, could you?’

  ‘Yes. Barry said good job and if I ever said anything I was a dead man and he gave me two thousand dollars.’

  Cole glanced across to the constable to check it was all being taken in.

  ‘I think that’s all pretty clear then,’ Cole said.

  ‘But there was a problem,’ Van der Sloot said as an afterthought.

  ‘Which was, besides killing two people?’

  ‘When we were leaving Hilltop in our cars, another car drove to us on the path.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Yes. It was Bob Fry.’

  Chapter 38

  Cole heard the insistent fall of rain on an old skylight as he returned Van der Sloot to his cell. Moving back through the building he rapped on a door, behind which the Fowlers were holed up. Sheridan opened the door to him, the strain showing on her face.

  She introduced Cole to the family and he saw the girl was in pretty much the state she had been earlier. Frank Fowler sat with arms folded, scowling. The wife, a tough-looking woman, showed no trace of anything.

  Having over the years observed countless people who had come into bad news, Cole already knew it would be the police’s fault the Fowler’s situation had come to be what it was.

  ‘The senior constable here says this Van der somebody has been with my daughter. You know who he is?’ Fowler glared.

  ‘I do now,’ said Cole, throwing a look at Sheridan for an explanation of what had been said so far.

  She picked up on it, saying, ‘Marnie has agreed to make a statement, senior sergeant. She’s made it pretty clear that the man in custody has been engaging in sexual activity with her. As Marnie’s a minor, that’s a criminal offence.’

  ‘Which he’ll be charged for,’ Cole was quick to add. ‘Miss Fowler, would you be okay to do that? Because this will go to court it’s really important you tell us everything that happened as truthfully as you can.’

  ‘We’ve already been through all that muck,’ Fowler growled. ‘Where’s the bastard, that’s what I’d like to know. He’ll be mince meat by the time I’m through with him. Anyone fools around with one of mine they’ll regret it a bloody long time.’

  The father’s anger provoked another flood of tears from the girl.

  Cole patiently said, ‘Mr Fowler, it’s fair enough you’d feel like that. Any parent would. But we all need to stay as calm as we can in this situation, as hard as that might be. Once we have Marnie’s statement we’ll follow through with charges. The fact that Senior Constable Sheridan here observed Marnie going into the fellow’s van is evidence enough to support anything your daughter has said.’

  ‘Then if she saw Marnie going in, why didn’t she bloody well stop her before she did?’

  ‘Because we needed to see exactly what was happening. And when all is said and done, it wouldn’t have been the first time your daughter was with him. To catch him with her was important, and we’ve done that now.’

  ‘Yeah, we’ll it’s a bloody pity you weren’t more on the ball before this.’

  Cole bit his tongue, thinking about the responsibilities parents had for their children, even as he said, ‘When we know someone’s up to no good, we do something about it, but we aren’t fortune tellers, Mr Fowler. Now, I think we should leave Senior Constable Sheridan and your daughter in peace to write that statement. Miss Sheridan will drive Marnie home as soon as they’re done. So if you’d like to follow me please, Mrs and Mr Fowler …’

  Cole led them out of the building, though not before Frank Fowler had let him have another piece of his mind, probably the last remaining bit of it, Cole thought.

  He watched them go with a shake of his head and went back inside. He briefed Sergeant Forrest on Van der Sloot’s situation and asked him to take the Dutchman’s statement.

  ‘I’m heading out for a bit,’ Cole then told Janice. ‘There’s someone I have to catch up with.’

  ‘Then take an umbrella with you, Lloyd,’ she said. ‘You couldn’t have picked a worse day to bring in half of Mitchell’s criminal population. All those muddy shoes. The cleaner will go nuts when he sees what’s happened to his floors.’

  Outside, rain was still falling but not with the force it had earlier. Cole took his car into Bob Fry’s driveway rather than leave it in the street where the dash to his front door would be longer
.

  Though it was late in the afternoon, Fry appeared at the door, again in his flannelette pyjamas.

  ‘Another pyjama party, Bob?’ Cole greeted him.

  ‘No point getting dressed up on a day like this,’ Fry said. ‘I guess you want to come in?’

  ‘You guessed right,’ Cole said.

  They sat in Fry’s lounge room, Cole surveying the general disorder in the room: newspapers tossed everywhere, empty cups on the mantelpiece and a carpet that needed professional cleaning, if not tearing up and throwing away.

  ‘You should’ve got married, Bob,’ Cole observed. ‘Many hands make light work and all that.’

  ‘I could have. And it’s not that I’m unattractive to the ladies, Lloyd, it’s just that if I did take one on board it would leave a host of others disappointed,’ he smirked.

  ‘And you wouldn’t want that,’ Cole said.

  ‘No, you wouldn’t. Not in the position I’m in, with my charitable work and all. I’ve got to keep everyone happy.’

  Cole said, ‘Bob, you didn’t tell me you’d been at the Colstons property the night Harry and Dianne Colston went out to meet the train.’

  ‘I don’t think that’d be right,’ Fry said nonchalantly.

  ‘No, I’m pretty sure you were. At least that’s what I was told by Jan van der Sloot and Barry Jennings.’

  ‘Were you?’

  ‘Yes, they told me you were there. Late. They ran into you in Harry’s driveway.’

  ‘Well then, I might’ve been.’ Fry took to looking pensive. ‘I could have been, I suppose.’

  ‘Why were you there?’

  Fry studied the room around him as if it was all new to him.

  ‘If I was – and I’m not admitting categorically that I was – it would have been to chase money owed to me. Harry Colston was known to be in debt to me. If I had been there, I would’ve called him on a number of occasions to discuss it first and he wouldn’t have answered the phone on any of those occasions, hence necessitating a visit in person.’

  ‘A bit of a coincidence, wasn’t it, that you went out there the night they died?’