Catch Us the Foxes

by Nicola West

  ‘Wait, what?’

  ‘The ghost train operator is Steve’s father,’ he began, condescendingly. ‘And I imagine by then he already knew what his son had done. I still think the kid didn’t know his own strength, but the dad knew that wouldn’t mean much to us. And then you come along – the police inspector’s daughter – the perfect person to sell his sob story to.’

  I opened my mouth in protest.

  ‘You really think Lily was the type of girl who’d fight back? Unless she really needed to?’

  My words to the carny echoed in my mind: ‘Lily’s not like that.’

  ‘Tell me, Lo. Did the carny say anything when he saw you heading through the restricted section towards the stables?’

  My face told him everything he needed to know.

  ‘Tried to stop you, didn’t he?’

  ‘But, what about the positioning of the blood?’ I asked, albeit meekly.

  ‘It’s an interesting theory. But if it really did happen on the ghost train,’ he pulled open the drawer beside him, removed something from its depths and threw it on the desk in front of me, ‘why didn’t his mask have any blood on it?’

  ‘Fuck.’ I stared at the well-worn gorilla mask inside the evidence bag.

  CHAPTER 25

  I was headed towards the showground. My dad had explicitly told me to ‘Stay the fuck out of police business and let me do my job’ but I couldn’t. My instincts were telling me that the ghost train operator had been telling the truth. Or maybe I was just too proud to admit that I’d been played. Either way, I was determined to find out.

  The main gate to the showground was being guarded by police, and I assumed the same could be said for the other entrances. I didn’t want any cops reporting my presence back to my dad, so I made a beeline towards the cheap motel that backed onto the fairground. There was a seldom-used thoroughfare there that granted access to Surf Beach, and with all the rides and trailers parked on the oval, I knew I could pass through undetected.

  I ducked under a short wooden fence and stepped onto the fairground, marvelling at how different it looked with all the rides and attractions packed up. It was now basically just a convoy of large trucks. The hulking arms of rides like the Hurricane had been retracted and flattened for easy transportation. It was hard to believe they could be transformed so dramatically.

  The majority of the carnies were there, helping ensure everything was secure and ready for the road. They were supposed to be heading south to an even smaller town for the next show the following weekend but the investigation was holding things up. The entire showground had been declared a crime scene and they’d been told they weren’t allowed to leave until the investigation was complete.

  I rounded a corner of trucks and was surprised to see that the ghost train was still fully intact, police tape lining the doors that I’d watched Lily both disappear into and emerge from. There didn’t seem to be any cops around though. In fact, there didn’t seem to be anyone around.

  ‘You right, love?’ an ocker voice called out from somewhere behind me.

  I turned around to see a shirtless bear of a man with a long mullet and copious tattoos.

  ‘Just trying to find someone,’ I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

  ‘Oh, yeah? Who?’

  ‘Ghost train operator. Uh, didn’t catch his first name, but his last name’s Masters, I think?’

  The carny strode towards me, sizing me up the whole way. He was covered in sweat, which made his tattoos glisten in the sunlight. Half of them were borderline pornographic: pinup-style damsels in distress bound in ropes, their breasts bulging in gravity-defying ways.

  ‘You a journo?’

  ‘Nope.’ I resisted the urge to add, Well, not any more.

  He took a step closer, invading my personal space. I wanted to step back, but I held my ground. Suddenly I felt a hand on the small of my back and let out an audible gasp.

  ‘Leave her alone, ya lug. She’s cool. She had a cheeky sesh with Baz on Satdy.’

  It was the carny from the Hurricane who’d caught me when I’d almost fallen.

  ‘Oh, shit. Sorry, love,’ Mullet replied, immediately taking a step back. ‘Don’t like your chances at the moment though. More pig arseholes than a sausage factory, if ya catch me drift.’

  ‘For what it’s worth,’ I began, ‘I made sure no one saw me. Snuck in through the back of the motel.’

  He crossed his arms in front of him and made an impressed grunt.

  ‘I think something can be arranged,’ the Hurricane carny whispered in my ear. ‘Follow me, gorgeous.’

  Mullet had watched the interaction closely, tracing his chapped lips with his tongue while his eyes greedily surveyed my body. He winked at me and I noticed that his breathing had grown ragged the closer his mate got to me. The bound women silently screamed from his sweat-slicked skin.

  With his hand still on my back, the other carny guided me towards the ghost train. I fought the urge to throw my elbow back and run – just like Lily had. But I needed answers, and I was prepared to do whatever it took to get them.

  When we passed by the ghost train, I started to get nervous. I was being corralled, away from the fairground and up to the restricted zone. We were basically following the same path I’d taken when I’d discovered Lily, but nobody was forcing me then. The carny was immediately behind me, so close that I could feel his breath on my neck. With every step forward, I regretted my harebrained reconnaissance mission more and more.

  As we traipsed through the narrow corridors between trailers, I was so fixated on where he was taking me that I didn’t notice the pile of power cords that were coiled on the ground like a neon snake. I tripped – badly. But, before I could even register what had happened, I was surprised to feel two large arms wrap around my waist and effortlessly lift me into the air. The carny carried me to the end of the passageway and carefully deposited me back on solid ground.

  ‘You got two left feet or something, darl?’ he teased.

  ‘Nah, just unco.’

  He laughed, and I tried to look around surreptitiously. I may not have wanted the cops to see me before, but now I would have been relieved to see a familiar face amid those eerily foreign trailers. The entire area was deserted. When I turned back around, the carny was staring at me, a puzzled look on his face. He had apparently sensed my discomfort.

  ‘Don’t tell me I’m going to have to give you a bloody piggyback.’

  I didn’t laugh. ‘Uh, where are we going?’

  ‘Back to mine for a quick root, yeah?’

  My mouth gaped but, before I’d even considered telling him to fuck off, he’d doubled over in laughter.

  ‘I’m just taking the piss. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.’

  I still wasn’t laughing.

  ‘Jesus Christ, love, you really do need that pot, don’t you? So bloody uptight!’

  I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped towards him. ‘Can you fucking blame me after what happened here?’

  His eyes darted in the direction of the stables, and then back to me. ‘Shit, sorry,’ he said, struggling to retain eye contact. ‘D-did you know her?’

  ‘Everyone did.’

  ‘I’m just taking you to Barry’s trailer,’ he said, pointing into the distance. ‘See the one with the Rabbitohs’ flag?’

  I looked at the red and green flag flapping in the sea breeze. It was on top of a large caravan parked close to the pavilion. I must have run straight past it just before I found her.

  ‘Barry’s missus will be there, too,’ he said reassuringly. ‘And their… uh…’

  ‘Son?’

  His eyes scanned my face. Then he nodded, glumly. ‘Don’t believe everything you see on the news, darl. He’s a good kid. It’s all just a bloody stitch-up.’

  I nodded. ‘If the locals didn’t have an outsider to blame, I think they’d tear each other apart.’

  ‘Probs best if you don’t bring it up with Baz though, yeah?�
��

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I started walking towards the Masters’ trailer. The carny sighed but dutifully followed. I felt terrible for what I knew was about to happen.

  CHAPTER 26

  ‘That better not be a bloody journo, Johnno!’

  The voice belonged to a shrill woman in a Bintang singlet, who was sitting on a camping chair in front of the Masters’ trailer. She glared at me as we approached.

  ‘Nah, she’s cool,’ the carny replied. He mimicked smoking a joint. But it wasn’t enough to stop the woman from scrutinising me.

  ‘She’s a fucking liar if she told you she wasn’t,’ a voice from somewhere inside the caravan growled. Johnno turned to face me, a look of betrayal plastered on his sunburned face. The flyscreen door flung open and Barry Masters locked eyes with me. His anger was palpable.

  ‘Let me guess. She also didn’t mention she was the inspector’s daughter, did she?’

  Johnno grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. ‘You sneaky little cun–’

  ‘Hands off. Now!’ Barry commanded, stepping down onto the ground.

  Johnno relaxed his grip and dropped my arm but got into my face. ‘I should have let you fall, you stupid little bitch.’ He spat at my feet, before walking away. I tried to pretend I hadn’t noticed it had hit my boot.

  ‘Why are you even here?’ the woman asked. ‘Haven’t you lot hurt my family enough?’

  ‘I’m not here as a cop’s daughter.’

  ‘Well, if you think you’re getting an interview you can piss right off,’ Barry spat.

  ‘I’m not here as a journalist, either. I wasn’t lying – I was fired.’

  ‘Oh, boo fuckin’ hoo, darl,’ the woman replied.

  I exhaled slowly. ‘I’m here as the person who found Lily’s body. I’m also here as the person who was fired for asking too many questions about her death…’ They were both rolling their eyes, but I continued. ‘But, more than anything, I’m here as the only fucking person in this entire town who is even prepared to consider that your son may be innocent.’

  Barry’s eyes flicked to his wife. She glanced from him to me, before finally nodding.

  ‘What do you want?’ he asked.

  ‘Answers.’

  ‘You’re gonna have to be a bit more specific than that, love.’

  ‘Okay, why did Steve refuse the DNA test?’

  For the second time, he turned to face his wife. She nodded once more.

  ‘Because it’s gonna match the blood on the girl’s dress and they’re gonna arrest him.’

  ‘How did his blood get on her clothes?’

  ‘You know the bloody answer to that! When she attacked him in the ghost train!’

  ‘That’s what you told me, yes. But there was plenty of time for you and your son to have come up with that story. And then I came along – the inspector’s daughter – the perfect person for you to sell your sob story to.’

  I hated myself for parroting my father’s words.

  ‘Are you thick or something, love?’ he asked, frowning at me. ‘I’d already told your mate what had happened, long before you ever showed up, and he’s not a cop’s son s’far as I know.’

  ‘You could have been testing the waters? Laying the groundwork?’

  He was growing frustrated. ‘Look, I told your editor the exact same story straight after it happened. She’d only just run off then, and Steve was still standing behind me with bloody tissues stuffed up his nose. Your boss saw him.’

  My heart rate rose. ‘Mark knew that Lily attacked Steve?’

  ‘Yeah, the prick wasn’t gonna give me a cent for the ride’s downtime, but when I mentioned getting the cops involved about the showgirl, out comes the wallet. Tried to say she had a panic attack or some shit. That it was an accident and not a police matter.’

  ‘And you agreed?’

  ‘I try and avoid the pigs as much as I can for, uh, obvious reasons. So, I took his cash.’ He glanced at his wife and slowly shook his head. ‘Biggest fuckin’ mistake of my life.’

  I stared up at the Norfolk pines above me and sighed. They were swaying in the breeze and raining their needles onto the showground below. The noise they made when they hit the caravans sounded like metal hail. It was pleasant – almost relaxing – until I heard her sobbing.

  Barry squatted down next to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. She clung to him so desperately that I felt the need to turn away. The moment seemed far too intimate for an outsider to observe, and I wanted to remain respectful.

  I kicked a bottle cap in the dirt while reflecting on what Barry had told me. My gut instinct – that he’d been telling the truth – had only grown stronger. He had absolutely no reason to lie about informing Mark about Lily’s outburst. In contrast, Mark had countless reasons for never bringing it up.

  Or maybe he did bring it up.

  Maybe he told my dad and, just like with me seeing the markings, my father somehow convinced him to keep it to himself. He changed the narrative once more and, in doing so, condemned an entire family. Steve was the perfect patsy. An outsider for the whole town to rally against. And with the markings never made public knowledge, who would question it? After all, his blood was on her clothes.

  I remembered I still had one more question for the Masters family and spun back around before clearing my throat.

  ‘Steve wears a mask when he’s in the ghost train, doesn’t he?’

  Barry let go of his wife and turned to face me. ‘Yeah. So?’

  ‘If Lily attacked Steve on the ghost train,’ I began, ‘and that’s how his blood got on her dress, then why wasn’t there any trace of blood on the mask?’

  Barry opened his mouth to reply but froze, apparently dumbfounded. He turned to face his wife, who looked equally perplexed.

  ‘Because I wasn’t wearing it then,’ a low voice announced from somewhere inside the caravan.

  A tall, lanky guy emerged. He seemed uncomfortable in his own body, like a baby horse trying to make sense of its oversized limbs. He had a cut on the bridge of his nose and the hint of a black eye. Both seemed to have come from a single blow.

  ‘That’s their smoking gun, isn’t it?’ he asked me.

  I knew I shouldn’t have answered, but I nodded.

  ‘Shit,’ he said, more to himself than anyone else. ‘I’m fucked.’

  ‘Why weren’t you wearing it, mate?’ his dad asked.

  ‘You know how bloody hot it gets in there. And you and that newspaper bloke spent so long fucking around that I took a break.’

  ‘What happened in there, Steve?’ I asked. ‘Tell me everything.’

  He turned to face me. ‘I was sitting on the milk crate near the door and had the mask off because I was having a drink. But then I heard the cart start moving and had to run to my first hiding spot. By the time I was in place, I realised I’d left the mask back at the front.’

  ‘And then what?’

  ‘The show went on. Tapped all three girls on their shoulders at the designated times, they squealed and laughed. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.’

  ‘So, what? Lily just attacked you, completely unprovoked?’

  ‘I wouldn’t say it was unprovoked,’ he said, distractedly touching his bruised eye. ‘The blonde definitely seemed the most skittish, so I targeted her. There’s a part where the cart stops and I creep up behind it and whisper something to whoever seems the most spooked. I put both hands on her shoulders, said the line and then, bam, she throws her elbow back and knocks me on my arse.’

  ‘And you only ever touched her on her shoulders?’

  ‘One hundred per cent.’

  ‘What did you say to her?’

  ‘Same thing I say to everyone,’ he replied, before lowering his voice to a chilling growl. ‘You’re mine now. You’ll never escape.’

  ‘That’s really fucking creepy!’

  ‘It’s a bloody ghost train, it’s supposed to be creepy!’

  His mother let out a small laugh, and
we both turned to face her.

  ‘He’s been doing it since he was a kid. The second his balls dropped, and he got that deep voice, we stuck him in the train. S’pose it was less scary when he wasn’t grown.’

  ‘I’m honestly amazed Lily was the first to lash out,’ I said.

  ‘I’ve had a few near misses. But nothing like that. The way she trampled over those other girls to get out…’ He stared at the ground, obviously recalling what had happened. He kept shaking his head. ‘And then when the emergency lights came on and lit up her face…’ He shuddered. ‘I’d never seen anything like it. She was like a wild animal.’

  I thought back to the moment Lily had burst through the ghost train doors. It felt like a lifetime ago, but I knew exactly what he meant.

  ‘I’ve scared a lot of people over the years,’ Steve began, ‘but her… That wasn’t me, that was something else. Something terrible must have happened to that girl, and I’m not talking about her death.’

  I wanted to tell him, but I knew I couldn’t.

  ‘So, you never saw her after that?’ I asked.

  ‘Nope. Stuck around while me and Dad tried to fix the ride but, when she saw my face, Mum told me to go clean up and rest. I went back to the caravan. Obviously, if I’d known I was about to be framed for murder, I would have made sure someone else came with me.’

  ‘And you didn’t hear anything?’ I asked, thinking about how close the caravan had been to the stables.

  ‘Yeah,’ Steve replied, frustrated. ‘I heard the argument.’

  ‘What argument?’ I asked.

  ‘The one I told the cops about.’

  CHAPTER 27

  Steve hadn’t paid much attention to the argument. At least, not at the time. It had happened not long after he’d left the ghost train, and about half an hour before the fireworks had commenced. He was lying on the caravan’s sofa bed – the lights off and a cold can of beer pressed against his slowly bruising eye – when he’d heard a woman yelling.

  It hadn’t struck him as being particularly remarkable. He was used to life among the carnies and tensions were often high on show nights. But when the sirens came and the rumours started spreading, he knew he’d heard Lily’s final moments.