Cry Blue Murder
Page 13
Q7Well, that’s something Hallie’s going to be able to confirm for us pretty soon, Rodney, because that little girl is a fighter and I can promise you that your situation’s going to be a whole lot rosier if you save us all the hassle, and Hallie the trauma, and plead guilty now. I’ve got a force full of blokes gathering evidence as we speak and it’s looking pretty damning, Rodney, pretty damning. Actually, Rodney, I’d say it’s looking like life.
Interview terminated.
From: Alice King Alicekingofthejungle@gmail.com
Thursday 16 June 9:34 PM
Tess said the police have nabbed someone. About time! Have they actually arrested the dude? Did it happen at school? Tess says it’s him for sure.
Totally cool those twin bitches fessed up and apologised! I didn’t think for a second it might be them, but it makes sense. Are we plotting a revenge plan?
I’m packing my stuff tonight, ’cause I leave for the station straight after class tomorrow.
So, I’d better go because I also don’t want to run out of conversations before Sunday!
xx
From: Celia Beasley CeeceeB@gmail.com
Friday 17 June 7:15 PM
Hi Alice
OMG. Get this. The guy they arrested is from the drama department. Jaime won’t shut up about it, because he was the techie they called Hot Rod and totally nice and totally normal just like everyone said. Those techie guys are usually a bit weird, actually. All tats and piercings and grey-green skin because they spend too much time in the dark. At least if he’d worked at your school he might have got a peek under Siobhan O’Connor’s bodice. At our school he’s just been gawking at a bunch of pimply Melbourne College boys and Jaime. Bottom of the fruit bowl, in my opinion. Still – good riddance. I can’t tell you how relieved I feel – I just slept so deeply last night. I’m not sure if it’s because I was in my own bed or because the killer is with the police, but the pillows have never felt softer, and today I haven’t felt that breathy panic whenever I go to the loo.
I had a chat with Grandma about Hot Rod this afternoon when we were at the park and she said to remember he’s still innocent, because in this country you’re innocent until proven guilty and that there’s so much hysteria in the community she doubts he’ll get much of a fair trial. There are photos of him all over Facebook. I said that there was heaps of evidence against him and she said, ‘That’s all just speculation, darling,’ and lit another cigarette. I’ll miss Grandma when she goes. Even if she stinks of stale cigarette smoke, I will miss her. I always do.
The nice news is that Dad’s back. He was at the gate to collect us yesterday after school and he gave me the biggest hug and I let him hug me even in public, because it felt so important to have him there. And I got presents! A collection of Sudesh Mishra poetry (which Mum called ‘ooga booga’ – how are we related?) and straightening tongs (which she thought were inspired). I might even straighten my hair for Sunday. Oh – and Dad opened champagne because we got an offer on the tennis court and not from a developer, but from a family. They’ll still be too close but better than a block of flats.
Jaime’s play starts tonight. Her dress rehearsal finishes at 10.30pm and we all know Jaime needs her beauty sleep – she could be a dog by closing night.
Love me.
CCx
From: Alice King Alicekingofthejungle@gmail.com
Saturday 18 June 4:00 PM
Hi CC
You would have LOVED lunch at our place. Nobody spoke about ANYTHING but child abductions and murderers! And not just this guy, either. Every freak in history got a mention, no matter how much I kept trying to change the topic. You’d think they would have been slightly more sensitive to Mum, but no. Thank goodness they’ve got someone in custody. Now we can just get on with life.
I’m just so happy to be home where we’ve got carpet instead of convent lino and heating instead of icy corridors. Tess and I sat up till late watching Rage and she even told me she missed me. Tess!!! Mum waited up for us to get home on Friday night and gave me a big welcoming (I don’t think you killed your brother) kind of hug and I asked if I could come home for good and both Tess and Mum said yes, not that it’s any of Tess’s business anyway, but, phew! I don’t even have to see the term out. I’m home. Right here, right now. And they’re happy for me to go to any old school I like, God or no God. Ashbourne?!!!
So on Saturday morning, Mum asked me to help her clear Johnny’s room out. She said it was time. We sorted through all his things that were going to be kept in a box and the stuff that could go to the Salvos and it was pretty quick, ’cause Johnny didn’t have a lot of possessions, really. Mum stripped the sheets from his bed and picked up his towel that was still on the floor right where he’d dumped it, and I could tell Mum was sad at that point ’cause she really did used to yell at him for leaving wet towels on the floor, and I bet she wished like crazy she still could. Anyway, I brought the laundry basket in and it all went in the wash just like any ordinary day. Then we put his basketball trophies up on a shelf in the TV room with his photos and made it into a kind of Johnny shelf. Dad put the Salvos bag into the boot of the car and I couldn’t help imagining the boy who ends up with Johnny’s old clothes and how he’d have no idea that they came from someone who’d died.
Mum was really strong through the whole thing and didn’t cry once, which was good because pretty soon after we’d finished the doorbell rang and Uncle Howard and Aunt Mandy arrived with the biggest pav I’d seen in a long time. God, I wish you could have meals backwards. Why can’t you have dessert first? So it’s about four in the afternoon now and I feel just as sick as after Christmas lunch. Think I might just chill for the rest of the afternoon while Tess washes up. Practically asleep already. See you in the morning! Text me when you’re in the car and I’ll come and wait outside.
Ciao for now xx
Alice
From: Celia Beasley CeeceeB@gmail.com Saturday 18 June 7:02 PM
How brilliant to have Johnny’s room finally cleaned. I didn’t want to say it before, but it was all a bit like your dad’s insects, with everything preserved just like Johnny’d left it.
This morning I woke early and it was so chilly I had dragon-breath, all smoky with cold, but as I dozed, I realised something was different – it was still and I could just lie there and hear the birds without helicopters and it didn’t feel like home at all. Anyway, I got up and checked the window for prints (because some habits are hard to shake) and the edges of the window were white with frost – tiny crystal flowers blooming on the glass. Of course the flowers had all melted by the time Mum got back from her trainer but there was something magical about having little flowers made from ice – like there was new life everywhere.
This afternoon, because I knew I COULD leave, being inside felt cosy and not like prison, so I just stayed curled up on the couch with DVDs. If there wasn’t still police tape up around this suburb, Alice, you’d never know anything had happened . . . well, police tape and Cleo. She’s still got everyone who comes to the house under surveillance – secretly photographing the number plates of their cars too. Who knows, maybe she will be a detective when she grows up – she’s obsessive enough!
Tonight, Bella asked me if I’d like to come down to her grandparents’ holiday house next weekend. We’ve got another German assignment to do and as her parents like to head down to the beach as much as they can. Bella was thinking we could combine our assignment with Scrabble and Der Rosenkavalier.
The year feels like a new edition, Alice, a fresh imprint and I’m excited.
X CCB
From: Celia Beasley CeeceeB@gmail.com
Saturday 18th June 10:56 PM
Hi Alice
It’s late so I have to be quick or Mum’ll kill me. We went to Jaime’s play tonight and it was seriously so brilliant that I had to write something.
The best bit was that the girl who plays Johanna came down with the flu and so Jaime, who was understudy but hadn’t told us, got to play an almost-lead. Can you believe that? I’ve never been prouder and I don’t even like her. My sister Jaime will be a star, Alice, a real star.
At the end she came out and she looked so small there on the stage and everyone clapped and shouted bravo for the whole cast, but especially for her, because when you turn up to school expecting to play Townsperson 67 and you end up in a main role, that takes guts.
On the way home, Cleo sort of hummed along to the songs (well grinded, because it was a good night, but she’s still mute) and then we stopped off at Koko Black for hot chocolates because Dad said he was too proud to sleep. Even Mum had one because who can resist (?!) but also because seeing a daughter up there on stage was one step closer to getting the Beasley name in lights. We all sat, hot chocolates warm in our hands, workshopping stage-names for Jaime. Anyway, here we are, finally home – I’ll fill you in on the rest TOMORROW!
Better go spaghetti-ohxCC
From: Alice King Alicekingofthejungle@gmail.com
Sunday 19 June 12:34 AM
Hey, CC
I hope you get this before I see you, but anyway I’ll text you in the morning too so no biggie – just thought you might still be awake. Mum says she’s not going to mass in the morning ’cause she’s still on sleeping tabs and isn’t waking up as early as she used to – it doesn’t really change much, just that Dad will go to mass on his own, pick you up, then collect me and Mum. Hope you don’t mind. He’s not so bad. If there’s an awkward silence, just ask something about beetles or the preservation of dinosaur bones.
Sorry for the email. Didn’t want to wake you up with a text.
See you tomoz,
Alice xx
PS The play sounds fab and, as much as I also don’t even like Jaime, I’m glad she pulled it off so well. Even had moments of proudness myself. Sorry in advance for any lame dad-jokes!
To: Alice
Text: Just passed a bus WITH ME AS A CHICKEN!
In car with ur dad. Beetles! Bones!
C U soon baboon.
X CCB
Sent: 09:07:06 19-jun
THE HERALD
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? Cocoon Killer strikes again
Maya Batawitz
June 20
Fifteen-year-old Celia Beasley has gone missing from her Armadale home. Celia was last seen yesterday morning and is feared to be the latest victim of serial child abductor and murderer, the Cocoon Killer.
A distraught Peter Beasley, the father of the missing girl, said Celia left their premises early on Sunday morning with a man believed to be Mr David King, the father of Celia’s friend, fifteen-year-old Alice King. Police have since revealed that neither Alice King nor her alleged boarding school, Ladywell Convent in Mildura, exist.
Celia has a pale complexion, shoulder length brown hair and a slender build. She was last seen wearing slim fitting denim jeans, red sneakers and a red and white striped sweatshirt. She is also currently featured in a Chicken Lickin’ advertising campaign currently posted on inner city billboards and buses.
Police are looking for a tall man in his early fifties, with brown hair and a dark complexion driving a tan BMW. He is calm, polite and well-spoken.
Photographs of the suspect and Celia (pictured) were captured at the Beasley family residence. Police are also reviewing CCTV footage along major roads in the South Eastern suburbs.
Please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 if you have any information.
Exhibit 34
Handwritten and annotated record of Girls’ Names and corresponding anagrams found taped to the Accused’s desk.
Note to readers
While the crime depicted in this story is entirely fictitious, this loose grouping of documents is based on a ‘barrister’s brief’ or the documents lawyers provide to barristers to educate them about the history of a court case. We were both struck by the literary quality of such briefs in criminal trials, which unravel stories, often told from the point of view of numerous narrators. Of course, real briefs are written by lawyers and are substantially longer (and drier!) containing duplicates and details that are not appropriate for a novel. Although we have gone to substantial effort to create authentic legal and police documents, we have deviated from standard form – imbuing some with more character or voice, culling others, creating interviews where there may only have been a statement, and organising them in a manner to assist narrative drive. The correspondence between Celia and Alice, for example, while an essential piece of evidence, is unlikely to have been spliced between the other records. We hope, however, to have given the readers the flavour of a true crime.
KFK and MR
With thanks to . . .
– our early readers – Georgia Atkinson, Alice Kelly, Jodie Webster – and our later readers – Lisa Gorton, Christine Hinwood, Andrew McDonald, Georgia (again!), Lizzie Glickfeld, Andrea Verwey, Anna Beckhoff and Rebecca Brezzi – all of whom provided encouragement, coffee and brutal criticism when it was most required;
– our merry agent, Pippa Masson;
– our publisher Kristina Schulz and her team including Kristy Bushnell, Mark Macleod, Sarah Owen, Jo Hunt and Libby Volke;
– Arts Law for their advice;
– all the anonymous professionals who critiqued legal, police and medical documents we’d never actually encountered – any failures or omissions are entirely our own;
– Sunjay for his coffees, seedy porridge and for providing a room of one’s own at Kotch Lane for KFK;
– John and Peter and to our children, all seven of them, with love.
First published 2013 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
www.uqp.com.au
uqp@uqp.uq.edu.au
© Marion Roberts and Kimberly Francis Kane 2013
This book is copyright. Except for private study, research,
criticism or reviews, as permitted under the Copyright Act,
no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior
written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
Typeset in 11/15 pt Bembo by Post Pre-press Group, Brisbane
Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group
Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
National Library of Australia
Kane, Kim
Roberts, Marion, 1966–
Cry blue murder / Kim Kane and Marion Roberts
ISBN (pbk) 978 0 7022 3926 7
ISBN (pdf) 978 0 7022 4871 9
ISBN (epub) 978 0 7022 4872 6
ISBN (kindle) 978 0 7022 4873 3
For young adults
A823.4
University of Queensland Press uses papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.