“Oh my God. How someone could abuse and then kill his own daughter? That’s the ultimate betrayal.”
Damon nodded. “Absolutely. I’d love to stop that sort of thing but have no idea how.”
“Our women’s self-defence class may help, but just knowing martial arts isn’t enough. Brady didn’t get violent with Georgina, so she never actually fought. She would’ve kicked his butt.”
“That’s probably part of the reason he didn’t get violent. He knew he couldn’t win that way. He got what he wanted without violence.”
Kat nodded. “I’m probably more worried about Tuesday than I let on. It’s going to be tough for all three of us, not knowing how the other will react.”
“Yeah. Do the earrings stop you from sharing your fears at times?”
“Mostly because I don’t want any of you to worry or try to stop me. I trust you all but I get worried about my secret fears and the girls don’t want to tell me secrets because they know at least five other people are listening.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. “You know how to turn them off. Why haven’t you? You’re allowed to for those reasons.”
“Um, I guess I thought I should leave them on. I’ll try to turn them off when I need to.”
Damon smiled. “While you have them off, is there anything you’d like to know about me?”
“Um, yeah, loads. If you don’t mind.”
“I trust you and I want you to trust me even when you’re scared I’ll hold you back. I’ll try not to.”
“The murderer attacked you in America? When did you come to Australia?”
“Dad’s parents are the only grandparents I’ve known. I don’t know much about Mum’s mum. They looked after me while Dad was in hospital. Not long after he got out, the four of us went to my Aunt Lizza and Uncle Everett’s farm in Townsville. Have you heard of Everett Black?”
“Isn’t he the best horse trainer in the country?”
Damon smiled. “Yes. We stayed there for over a year. My grandparents stayed for the first two months. It’s a fantastic place. Loads of horses and animals and the kindest people you could ever meet. I’ll have to take you there sometime. It really helped Dad and me. After that, we moved to Geelong and opened the gym.”
“Then he met Sensei Heather and gave you a brother and sister you adore,” Kat smiled.
Damon nodded. “Best thing that ever happened to the old man. They were great for me too.”
Damon’s phone rang just as they were turning into Kat’s street. “That’s Gareth’s ringtone.” Damon took out his phone. “Hey, Gareth.”
“We just found our missing rapist, dead. We still have no idea of his name or who killed him.”
29
Kat ran out of her front door the instant she heard Damon pull up. “Bye, Mum, bye, Dad. Love you both.”
Damon smiled. “You have a great relationship with your parents. I love it. Have you got your L plates?”
Kat bit her bottom lip. “Um, yes, but I’ve never driven on the freeway during peak hour.”
“There needs to be a first time. Plus, being a little nervous now will help you next time you steal your attacker’s car.”
Kat giggled. “I guess so. I really scared you, hey?”
“Oh yeah. I had no control whatsoever, and I hated it. This will definitely make me feel better.”
Kat smiled, handed Damon one of the L plates and put the other on the back windscreen. “We can’t have you scared.”
Damon grinned back at her. “No, we can’t. Jump in the driver’s seat and fix up your seat and mirrors.”
Kat did as she was asked. “All ready, Sensei.”
“Check if any cars are coming, hit your indicator and take it into drive. Ease off the brake slowly and gently put your foot on the accelerator.”
Kat smoothly drove to the end of her street and to the start of the freeway, obeying all the road rules.
“There’s a gap now,” Damon pointed out. “Smoothly increase your speed and slot in with the other traffic.”
Kat did as she was told.
“Well done.”
Kat sped up until she reached the speed limit and stayed on that speed. The driver in the red Holden ute behind her saw her L plates and started speeding up, trying to push Kat to go faster.
“Hold your ground, Kat. Just like in karate.”
“Yes, Sensei. He’s making me nervous, though.”
“Don’t show it. We’ll give him a few Ks and if he keeps doing it, we’ll get him to back off. Don’t let him pressure you into breaking the law.”
“He’s sitting way too close. I don’t like it.”
“You’ll be okay. I’m here. Hold your ground. He has ample room to pass us.” Damon waited a few minutes. Let’s teach the bastard a fucking lesson. “Gently reduce the pressure on the accelerator until you’re going ninety-five, just five less.”
“Um, but won’t that hold up traffic?”
“There’s plenty of room in the overtaking lane. He can overtake any time he likes, and so can anyone else.”
“Good point.” Kat gently reduced her speed.
The guy behind them stayed uncomfortably close although there was room in the overtaking lane.
“Go down to ninety, Kat. If I were driving, I’d be on sixty by now.”
“Do you think it will come to that?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. He’s trying to bully a learner driver. I don’t know how far he’ll push it.”
Kat kept reducing her speed as cars kept passing her on the right hand lane. The guy in the red ute stayed on her tail until it was time for him to turn off the freeway. He sped past them on the exit ramp, yelling obscenities out his open window.
Damon’s eyes blazed. “Idiot.” His tone softened. “You did really well, Kat. Slowly increase your speed back up to the speed limit.”
“Thanks, Sensei.” Kat took the Ford Territory back to one hundred kilometres per hour until it was time to turn off. She indicated at the same time Damon asked her to, as though she were reading his mind.
“Well done, Kat. Almost there. Park in one of the side streets. I’ll walk in with you. Brady may recognise me from the restaurant, but ah well.”
Kat smiled as she kept driving. “I don’t think he’ll want to bring up that night. Should I turn into the next street?”
“That’ll be great.”
Kat indicated and turned into the street. She saw an easy park in front of a house and stopped there. “Thank God that’s over.”
Damon grinned. “That bad, hey? You did really well.”
“Thank you! That arsehole freaked me out. Oops, sorry.”
Damon shook his head. “Don’t worry. I called him much worse in my mind. Picking on a sixteen-year-old learner driver, he should be ashamed of himself. Let’s go in.”
Kat grinned as they walked in at the same time as Evan. “Morning, Evan. This is Sen… Damon.”
Evan grinned back at her. “You’re used to calling him Sensei, hey?”
Kat nodded. “Yeah.”
“Nice to meet you under less disturbing circumstances, Damon.” Evan’s brow furrowed. “I’m hoping this is a less disturbing circumstance?”
The boy’s good. “This is Kat’s second last class for the year. I thought I should speak to her teacher in person. I hate talking on the phone.”
“That’s very old school.” Evan smiled. “We’re having a Christmas party in just over two weeks. The Saturday after college ends for the year. We’re hiring a hall, so it’s good for all ages. We’d love you to come, Kat. Damon is more than welcome too. So is Sasha if she’s free.”
Kat bit her bottom lip. “Um?”
Damon put his hand on Kat’s shoulder to stop her from trembling. “We’d love to come. Kat’s parents have something on that night, so Kat can drive me. We’ll see what Sasha’s up to. She’s usually booked out weeks in advance.”
Evan smiled. “I bet. It’ll be great to have you both there.”
Kat beame
d as Splash walked in. It was great to have an out, and Splash was one of her favourite people in her course. She was looking forward to introducing her to Damon.
Splash beamed back at Kat, and then she saw Damon. Her jaw dropped. She kept walking towards them, but it was almost as if she were walking in slow motion.
Evan chuckled softly and whispered to Damon with a twinkle in his eyes, “On second thoughts, maybe you should drop Kat off at the party. I don’t need the competition.”
Damon kept his voice low. “I’m gay and taken, so no competition here.”
Evan felt like sighing with relief. “Bring him along.”
“He’s serving in Afghanistan or I would.”
“I’m sorry.”
Before Damon could respond to Evan, Kat grabbed him by the elbow and walked over to Splash. “Sensei Damon, this is my friend Splash or Ariel.”
Damon smiled, making Splash’s knees feel weak. “Nice to meet you.”
Splash tried to think of something charming, witty or interesting to say but blurted out, “You’re a natural redhead!”
Damon smiled warmly, “Yeah, you are too. Kat tells me you teach swimming as well as aerobics. You’ve got a great name for it, and your nickname suits you.”
Splash blushed almost as bright as her hair. “Thanks.” Damn it, girl. Think of something else to say. This isn’t like you. “Um. You teach karate?”
“Yeah, I teach Kat.” This is so much nicer than her trying to come onto me or being afraid because some mongrel hurt her.
Kat’s phone beeped. Kat read the message and smiled. “That’s Georgina. She just got here. Let’s meet her.”
The three of them started walking to where Georgina’s mum usually dropped her and met her on the way.
Georgina beamed. “Thanks for meeting me. I was so scared I’d run into Brady while I was alone.”
Kat hugged her. “We’ve got your back.”
Splash’s brow furrowed. “What happened with Brady?”
Georgina looked at the ground. “Um.”
Kat touched her on the shoulder and answered Splash for her. “Brady’s an arsehole. We haven’t seen him yet. My date with him didn’t go the way he hoped. Maybe he won’t be in.”
Splash’s eyes became wide and she lost her nervousness around Damon. “You went out with him too, Kat? What happened?”
Damon answered for them. “He drives his dates to the middle of nowhere and threatens to leave them there unless they do what he wants. Georgina had to call her mum to come and get her. Kat did something that will hopefully stop him from ever doing it again. She stole his car and accidentally almost ran him over trying to get out of there. I definitely wouldn’t go out with him if I were you.”
“Oh my God! What an arsehole! I kinda wish you had run him over, Kat. No way will I ever go out with him! Is that why you came here today, Sensei Damon? In case Brady did something wrong?” Splash had found her words again.
Damon nodded, “Yeah. Kat and Georgina are both great at martial arts, but it’s more likely to turn nasty than violent. I doubt he’ll try either if he sees me. Let’s go in.”
The class had stopped milling around the entrance hall and started going to their room. Damon saw Trina about to go into the classroom but couldn’t see Brady. “Maybe you should ask her if she’s seen Brady, Kat.”
Splash shook her head. “That’s something I’d do. He often sits with us.” She started running towards Trina, “Excuse me, Trina. Have you seen Brady? I was going to introduce him to Kat’s Sensei.”
Trina stopped and turned. She smiled at Damon. “Nice to see you again.” She forced herself to look at Splash, “Brady had to change classes because they changed his hours at work.”
30
Kat glanced around the gym. The closest people shouldn’t be able to hear her. She turned to Damon and brought her hand up to her cheek so no one could read her lips; a trick she had learned from Damon. “I’m nervous about all the Christmas parties. I haven’t been to one since Courtney was alive.”
Damon nodded. “That’s why I offered to come with you. You’ll be safe with me, and we can support each other. My last Christmas party, not counting family events I was forced to attend, was on an army base in Afghanistan. I got to spend it with Bethany. She made it magical. She made everything magical.”
Kat hugged Damon. When they let go, they both turned to the TV to try to escape their deep emotions but saw Annalise Maitland, a gorgeous blonde from Channel Ten News, reporting a murder instead. “This morning children discovered the mutilated body of a sex worker known as Apple. The children are now safe and being counselled. If you have any information on Apple,” the screen changed to a glamour shot of the dead girl from her workplace, “or the people who hurt her, please call this number.” The screen changed to the number.
Kat spun around to face Damon. “Could it be the same monster who killed Trinity?”
Damon thought back, the sex worker who was murdered when Kat first started. “I’ll ask Gareth. Maybe there’s something we can do to help?”
“I could dress up as a prostitute and see if he attacks me?”
Damon’s eyes blazed. “No! There’s no,” fucking, “way I’m using a sixteen-year-old as bait. There’s no guarantee we’d know who he was anyway. Thousands of depraved men visit prostitutes. Until he actually tried to kill you, we’d have no idea who he was.”
Kat shook her head. “Using that plan, I’d actually have to be a prostitute to try to find him and it may not even work. We can’t do that. I’m willing to dress as a prostitute, not be one. Let’s find out everything the police know. Their work friends may know stuff too. We should talk with them. No, you should talk with them. Women love you, Damon. Use your looks to gain their trust and help them. If we find this bastard, we’ll be saving their lives.”
Use my looks, to save their lives? I could do that. “Okay, I’ll talk with them. Maybe even use one of them as bait. He is killing sex workers after all. I’ll keep them safe. You’re on research, understand?”
Kat grinned and nodded. “Yes! Thank you! Say you’re from the army. They won’t want to talk with the cops.”
Oh, fuck. I just said a sixteen-year-old girl could research prostitutes. Should she really be doing that?
Kat looked at the expression on Damon’s face. “Oh crap. Did you just reconsider allowing me to research the case because they’re sex workers? They’re still young girls, Day. They deserve to be protected, not murdered.”
“I’ll still be working on the case. It just feels wrong letting you be involved.”
“I am involved, Day. I need to help.”
Damon gave Kat a half-smile. “I know. I’m going to have to get your parents’ say so on this one, though.”
Kat crossed her arms and pouted, “Fine.” She took her phone out and called Dominique. “Mum, I need your permission to research a case. I won’t be helping in person, just online and in discussion. Two girls were murdered, and I want to help stop their murderer from killing again.”
Dominique googled the news and found several articles about Apple. “I can only find one, Apple. Who was the other?”
“Trinity. She was murdered just after I started working here. She’s why Chelsea found out about my attack.”
“It’s like you to tell me about the case but not ask my permission. Did Sensei Damon get you to ask me?”
“Not at first but then I think he remembered how old I am.”
Damon nodded. “May I have the phone for a minute, please?”
Kat handed him the phone.
“Hey, Dominique. Sometimes I forget how old Kat is. She isn’t the normal sixteen-year-old.”
“That’s the truth! She’s so much older in so many ways. Her honesty is younger, like a two-year-old who doesn’t know how to lie. I’m so glad she won’t, although she doesn’t tell me everything. She needs to help Apple and Trinity. I’m happy she helps with the research providing she keeps talking with us. So many things abo
ut their work could make her feel uncomfortable but she needs to know about them.”
“Are you comfortable for me to answer some of her questions or would you prefer she only researches this case around you?”
“I trust you to speak with her about prostitution and sex if you need to. Who will be doing the groundwork on the case? She’ll need to talk with them too.”
“That’s me. I might get Connor to come with me as he’s better at talking with people. I’m going to start at her place of work and talk with her colleagues.”
“I’m happy she works with you and Connor and pretty much everyone in our group, just keep me in the loop, and let me know if you bring anyone else into it. I’d like to be there if Kat meets anyone involved in the case, girls, pimps, clients. She’s still young.”
“Absolutely. I understand and wouldn’t have it any other way. Thanks, Dominique. I’ll hand you back to Kat.”
“Thanks, Damon.”
Damon’s phone sounded with Brent’s ringtone. “I can help with this case. I guess I’m one of the depraved men. I’ve only gone to one agency, and they’re really high end. I installed the cameras, security system and computers for them. They treat me well and will be happy to talk with me. Don’t be shocked. You know I’m not good with meeting ladies.”
Damon looked at Kat. “I’m taking this phone call downstairs. Can you look after reception, please?”
“Sure.”
Damon closed the office door. “We’re alone now, Brent. I understand why. You find it harder to talk with women than I do. It’d be hard to know which women just want you for your money. That’s honest. You are not depraved.”
“First time I didn’t even do anything. I sat there not knowing what to say and then asked if we could just talk. She found out I was into IT and could barely shut me up. I just gave her a cuddle before I tried to leave. She introduced me to Aiden who owns it with his wife. They were having problems with their computer system. I fixed it and Aiden introduced me to Sabrina who was studying IT at uni. I showed her how I fixed it and made an appointment to see her the next day. It took me a few visits before…but yeah. I helped her with computers and well, you get it. I can talk with Aiden or introduce you.”
Our Cause (Let the Monsters Live in Fear Book 1) Page 22