by Uc Amalu, Jr
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Ben walked through the doors of Bluey’s at eight o’clock.
He approached the bar and ordered a beer.
“Wow!” cried Tadpole, “Nice war wound.” He pointed to the
clear plastic band-aid covering the seven stitches above
Ben’s right eye.
Ben laughed, “Thanks.”
“She musta been some lady?” Tadpole continued, taking
the ten-dollar note from Ben’s hand. He rang up the cash
register and handed him his change. “I hope she was
worth it?”
“She was, and she most definitely was worth it!” replied
Ben, patting the laceration on his head. His war wound
was worth taking Rose-Marie Sugars down for, and he
wasn’t one bit concerned about his appearance. Ben
thought about Carolyn, his scar hadn’t deterred her. It
hadn’t stopped her from accepting his offer for dinner
tomorrow evening. He smiled dreamily when he thought
of her. She was everything he wanted in a woman and
strangely enough, she found him appealing too. It
seemed his fortunes were on the rise. He had Jay to
thank really, if he hadn’t have been so bold last night,
inviting her out on his behalf, things may never have
eventuated the way they did.
“Jayy here yet?” Ben enquired.
“Haven’t seen him.”
“Tell him I’m out there, would you please?” He pointed to
the smoker’s deck. “Gonna get some fresh air.”
“On the smokers deck?” giggled Tadpole. “Good luck!”
“Yeah, pretty dumb thing to say wasn’t it?” Ben smirked,
then picked up his drink and made his way to the open-
air deck.
The chill of the air slapped Ben’s cheeks. They stung and
turned rosey from the sudden drop in temperature. He
spied an empty table at the far end of the deck and walked
over. As he sat his beer down, the table wobbled and his
glass toppled over, spilling all down the side of the chair
and onto the deck. He bent down and retrieved the glass
from the deck and stared at the mess he’d just made.
“Well, that’s a fine way to start the celebrations!”
Ben spun around to see Jay standing behind him, his
hands on his hips and smiling broadly. “Crikey, Ben.
You’ve only been here five minutes, so Tadpole tells me,
and you’re already drunk!” his grin grew even wider.
“It was the table…”
“A bad workman always blames his tools, maybe you
should be restricted to orange juice all night, eh?” his
laugh encouraged Ben to do the same.
“You’re such a stirrer, Jayy.”
“Whoa! Nice scar there, buddy,” Jay cried, pointing to the
cut above Ben’s eye.
“Yeah, it’s a real talking point.”
“Bet that does wonders for your brain-bleeders?”
Ben patted his pocket, “That’s why I have these little
beauties.” he said referring to his painkillers. “First sign of
an ache, I pop two of these and I’m out!”
“Well, you better sit down before you hurt yourself, or
someone else,” Jay began. “And I’ll go get us another
round, okay?”
Ben chuckled and handed the empty glass to him, “I can
live with that. Hey, where’s that girl of yours?”
“I’m about to go and find out, grab us another table and
I’ll be back.” Jay spun around and weaved his way
through the crowd, back to the bar. He placed the empty
beer glass back on the bar and yelled, “Hey Tad, two more
here thanks.”
Tadpole nodded his head, “Coming right up.”
“Where’s Danni? I haven’t seen her yet,” Jay asked him
when he shoved the drinks in front of him.
“She’ll be here,” he answered, closing the till and giving
Jay back his change. “She phoned earlier and asked for
the night off for your celebration, I told her no probs and
she promised she’d make it up to me with an extra shift
next week.”
“Did she say what time she’d be here?”
A grin spread across Tadpole’s face. “You know women
mate… If they say eight, what they really mean is nine
thirty!”
“Yeah, you got that right,” Jay shoved his change into his
pocket and picked up the drinks. “Steer her in our
direction when she gets here would ya, buddy?”
“Will do.”
Jay negotiated his way back to the smokers deck with
very little spillage and headed to Ben, who was now
seated at another, less unstable table.
“I thought you must have gotten lost,” he joked.
Sliding a beer over to him, Jay replied, “Nah, just
checking on Danni. She should be here any minute.”
Ben smiled warmly at Jay. “You’re really taken with her,
aren’t you?”
“That’s a mild way of putting it, but yeah, I am.” He sat
down next to Ben and added, “And it’s not just cause
she’s pregnant either.”
“Hey, I know that, Jayy.” He smiled at him. “Blind Freddy
could see that.”
Jay pulled his cigarettes from his pocket and took one
from the packet, he slipped it into his mouth and lit it up.
Swirls of grey smoke whirled through the air around him.
“I suppose I’ll have to look at chucking these things to the
dog house,” he said, taking the cigarette from his lips and
looking at it. “They’re no good around babies.”
Ben nodded his head in agreement. “I do believe this
woman and your up-coming offspring could be just what
the doctor ordered for you, Jayy. There’s big changes
coming your way and I reckon they’re all good too.”
“I reckon you just might be right, Benny my boy,” Jay
looked down at his watch. “It’s eight thirty five, what’s
keeping her?” He looked back at Ben.
“I gave up asking that question about women many
moons ago. They march to a different beat than us. I can
never work them out and I doubt I ever will.” Ben laughed.
“I’m sure she’ll be here. She’s probably on her way here as
we speak.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Jay settled back into his seat and
then asked, “So how about you and that pretty little
nurse. What’s her name again?”
Ben’s face lit up, his efforts to hide his fondness of the
nurse were futile. “Carolyn.”
“Ah, that’s right. So how are things with her? Did you ask
her out again?”
The smile would not leave Ben’s face, he lowered his eyes
to the floor and kicked at the leg of the table like a love
struck teen.
“Come on, spill it. Tell me all,” Jay’s encouragement
spurred some answers from Ben.
“Yeah. We’re going to dinner tomorrow night.”
“That’s great, Ben. I knew you had it in ya. You just needed
a little push.”
“And thanks for that, by the way.”
“What?” Jay asked.
Ben shifted in his chair and kicked at the leg of the table
some more. “If it hadn’t been for you inviting her to our
celebrations tonight, well…” he sighed and finished his
sentence, “I don’t think I’d be taking her anywhere
tomorrow night!”
“Hey, think nothing of it. In the end it was you who made
the biggest move. You asked her out again.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“I’m proud of ya mate, you’ve had your fair share of shit to
deal with just recently and you’ve come out the other side
refreshed and ready for a new life. You deserve a good
woman.”
Ben ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back
of his neck.
“What is it Ben?”
“Well…”
“Well what?”
“It’s Anna.”
“Oh Jesus man, cut her loose for cryin’ out loud. She’s
poison, Ben.”
“I know,” he stared at Jay. “I know. I went and saw her
today.”
“You did what?”
“I had to, I needed to get some things off my chest and I
just felt I had to do it.”
“How did it go?” Jay softened his tone.
“Well it reinforced how selfish and manipulative she is,
and…”
“And?”
“And it also reinforced just how naïve and plain stupid I
have been. I have spent the best years of my life trying to
please that woman and wanting to win her back.” He
gulped down his beer and pushed the glass back on the
table. “Now I realise that it wouldn’t have made a
difference what I said or did, it would never have been
enough. Anna is her own worst enemy and that’s not my
fault.”
“Hey, don’t go beating yourself up over it. Y’know, when I
was reading her history, I found myself feeling sorry for
her. I imagine that’s how you felt most of your married life
after only knowing half of her story.”
“Yeah. What’s your point?”
“My point is, Ben, I was ready to make excuses for her for
anything she may have done or been involved in. It’s hard
not to want to protect a woman, or anybody for that
matter, when you know what they have been through.”
Jay crushed his cigarette out in the ashtray. “The fact is
that Anna got us both where we were the weakest, and
that’s human nature.”
“Yeah,” scoffed Ben. “And the nature of the beast!”
Jay reached for his beer. “Oh, I nearly forgot. Marla’s tox
results came in today.”
“Anything in it?”
“Unfortunately not. Her rape kit was positive for
spermicide, no fluids or hairs found though, and
halothane was also present in the tox screen.”
“So almost identical to Kylie-Anne, then?”
“No almost about it… exactly identical.” Jay swallowed
down his beer. “Augie has a theory on our killer though.”
“Yeah? Great, I’m all ears.”
“He’s thinking along the lines of an insider.”
“What? A cop?”
“Yup.”
Ben thought it over. “I guess there is some sense in that.
That would explain how the killer knew the full details of
Tessa’s murder, right down to the stolen foetus.”
“Yeah, and the precise details of the mutilation.” Jay
added.
“I don’t like the idea of it Jayy, God knows I don’t. The
thought of one of our own being responsible for the
heinous deaths of the people they’re paid to protect…”
“It wouldn’t be the first time there’s been a renegade cop
snap and set out on a power trip, though.”
“So, are you liking anyone in particular?”
“No, not yet. But I’d say first thing tomorrow we’d better
start sifting through some personnel files, eh?” Jay
glanced at his watch again, his brow furrowed.
“Sounds like a good plan. You ok?”
“It’s twenty past nine, Danni said she’d be here by eight.
Surely it doesn’t take her that long to get ready.” He
pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’m gonna give her a
call, make sure she’s ok.”
“Sure. I’ll go check back with Tadpole, see if he’s seen or
heard from her yet.”
Ben snatched the empty glasses from the table and left
Jay to his phone call. Inside the bar, the crowd had
nearly doubled and Ben found it more difficult to reach
the counter. After being elbowed, tripped and run into a
few times, he finally reached Tadpole.
“You seen Danni yet?” Ben asked.
“No, you mean she isn’t here yet?”
“Haven’t laid eyes on her. Jay’s giving her a call now.”
“You want two more while you’re waiting for her?” Tadpole
asked him.
“Sure.”
“Hold off on those Tadpole,” Jay cried from behind Ben.
He pulled him aside and said, “She’s not answering her
home phone.”
“How about mobile?” Ben tried to calm his concerns.
“No answer there, either. I’m worried, Ben.”
“Yeah, of course. You want to go check on her?”
“Do ya mind? Sorry to bust up our celebrations so early.”
“Hey, don’t worry about that. Do you want me to come
with you?”
“Nah, I’m sure she’s fine. I’ll go track her down and bring
her back here. You wanna hang around for a while? I
shouldn’t be too long.”
“Sure, I haven’t got anything else planned.”
“Thanks Ben.” Jay turned to Tadpole, “Give the man
another beer, I’ll be back shortly.”
Tadpole gave him the thumbs up and grabbed a fresh
glass from the fridge.
“Sorry mate, I’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t worry, just go get your girl,” Ben laughed in an
attempt to keep the tension to a minimum. He could see
Jay was worried sick and he couldn’t blame him.
Slapping his pocket he said, “I’ve got my phone on me, I’ll
let ya know what’s happening when I get there, okay?”
Jay made his way for the door.
Ben turned back to the bar and the fresh beer that was
waiting there. He felt sorry for Jay, he knew how
frightened he was of anything happening to Danni,
especially being pregnant and especially with the
knowledge of a serial killer roaming the streets in search
of young pregnant women. It was a lot to worry about.
Not that there was any reason to think Danni was in any
danger from the predator, it would have to be extremely
coincidental for the killer to go after Jay’s girl. How would
the killer even know about her or that she was even
expecting?
Augie’s theory returned to his mind. What if the murderer
was an insider? That would mean he or she was probably
more likely to know about Danni and her unborn baby.
Jay had been making no secret of his impending
fatherhood down at the station. Not that Jay could be
blamed for doing that. He was excited and why wouldn’t
he want to share that with his colleagues? Ben sipped on
his beer and leaned back against the bar. His mind kept
churning on Augie’s theory, it made too much sense to
ignore. He raised his hand and motioned to Tadpole.