by Anne Buist
‘So when did you last see her?’
‘I already told you. Before I went out to my mate’s the previous night. Tiph put her down and they were like, both asleep when I got home.’
‘How was she that night?’
Travis shrugged. ‘Like she always is. Happy kid. Had dinner and a bath.’
‘A bath?’
Travis scowled. ‘Kids have baths, okay? Chloe wasn’t little like Bella-Kaye. She could sit up, play with her rubber duck.’
She could easily drown nevertheless.
‘How was it for you having a kid after Bella-Kaye?’ asked Damian, moving into the next stage with one of Natalie’s questions. Maybe a bit soon, but then Travis’s concentration span wasn’t great. At least he wasn’t overtly irritable. Natalie leaned forward and watched him closely.
‘Great,’ Travis replied. ‘Always wanted kids.’
Liar. He did it. Kay’s words rang in her ears.
‘Tiph did a great job and Chloe was cute, you know?’
‘Was?’ The female officer playing bad cop.
‘Look mate, this is your chance to be as open as possible.’ Damian as good cop.
‘I was talking about like when she was born and what it was like.’ Irritable but not really defensive. Meaning what? That the ‘was’ meant nothing or that he knew he wasn’t going to get caught? ‘She’s still cute, more so, I mean she’s my kid.’
‘More than Bella-Kaye?’ Damian spoke so softly Natalie had to strain to hear. But Travis had caught every word.
‘She’s older. It’s easier.’
‘Did you worry about how Tiphanie would cope?’
‘Nah,’ said Travis. ‘She isn’t anything like Amber.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Not nuts.’
‘Do you fight with her like you did Amber?’ Damian’s delivery of another of Natalie’s questions was impeccably timed.
For a moment Travis’s smirk wavered. Only for a moment. ‘Everyone fights sometimes.’
Natalie felt herself tense. Arguments with Amber had meant more than just a brief retort. Holes in walls, broken plates. He threw the television at her once.
‘Ever feel like hitting her?’ the woman asked.
‘Feel like it?’ The smirk again. ‘Maybe, but I just walk off, ask Tiph.’ Who might well be too scared to say any different. Natalie sensed they’d lost him.
Damian asked a few more questions about their relationship and got no further. He went back to Chloe.
‘What do you think happened?’
Travis shrugged. ‘Fucked if I know. She’s a smart kid; she wandered off.’
‘And?’
‘She’s cute. Maybe got nicked.’
‘So you think she’s alive?’
Natalie picked the flicker of a real expression on Travis’s face before he shut it down. Sorrow? Guilt? Remorse? She couldn’t be sure. ‘Yeah,’ he said unconvincingly.
Damian asked a few more questions then called a break. Travis took the chance for a cigarette. Damian squeezed into the viewing room with the woman cop and introduced her as Detective Constable Andie Grimbank.
‘Nothing much to go on. Thoughts?’
‘He’s understandably defensive,’ said Natalie. ‘You might want to try and rattle him a little more. Particularly on his competence—or rather incompetence—as a father. See how much narcissism is there and how fragile it is, or if he’s just pure antisocial.’
‘Does it matter?’ Damian watched her closely but she couldn’t work out what he was thinking.
Natalie shrugged. ‘Maybe not, but he isn’t that smart and he might give more away if he’s on the back foot. Remember he’s already had the bad father tag hung on him once.’
Would he still be feeling guilty about Bella-Kaye, if indeed he had killed her? More likely to be concentrating on not being charged with murder. He had perhaps convinced Tiphanie to lie for him, but not to take the blame.
‘Pretty bad effort losing two kids,’ Damian greeted Travis, deadpan, as soon as they sat down again. He was good at this.
Travis looked startled. ‘It wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t there either time.’
‘So how do you account for it then?’
‘Amber was nuts, court said so.’ Travis folded his arms and looked defiantly at Damian.
‘What about Chloe?’
Travis looked conflicted. How much to blame Tiphanie? ‘I don’t know,’ he said. He looked to Andie for support then seemed to remember that she had been playing bad cop as well. ‘Kids do things off their own bat. She was a smart kid. She is a smart kid.’ He hit the table with his fist. Neither Andie nor Damian reacted. ‘We want her back. Why aren’t you bastards out there looking for her instead of wasting your time with me? I didn’t do anything. Tiph is a mess. This is wrecking everything.’
‘Sounds to me like you’re more pissed off about the inconvenience,’ said Damian.
‘More sorry for yourself than anyone else,’ added Andie.
Damian leaned in, face close to Travis’s. ‘Not much of a father or husband, are you Travis?’
Travis flinched and edged backwards slightly. Natalie wished she could tell one of them to ease up. She wanted him rattled, yes. Too much and he’d close down completely.
‘Chloe cry a lot, did she? Must have got irritating,’ Andie said.
‘She was a good kid,’ said Travis. ‘Don’t think you can hang this on me!’
‘Now why would we try to do that to an upstanding citizen like yourself?’ Damian wasn’t letting up. ‘Wasn’t your fault last time at all was it Travis?’
‘Or was it?’
Damian was so busy swinging his dick he’d lost sight of the objective; Andie probably felt she had to compete. Natalie knew they’d gone too far an instant before Travis stood up, knocking his chair to the ground behind him. ‘I don’t have to put up with this shit. Just find Chloe.’
Natalie watched Travis leave. Being a self-centred jerk didn’t mean he’d killed Chloe. Didn’t mean he hadn’t. Natalie knew he wasn’t all that smart, but he only needed a low to average IQ to keep repeating the same mantra, and no one was suggesting if he did kill Chloe that it was premeditated. He didn’t look away as some people did when they lied, but then he had probably convinced himself of the truth as he wanted to believe it. He looked irritated, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Had he really killed Bella-Kaye? There would be no reason for Kay to lie now; but maybe Travis, in a moment of guilt about the domestic violence, had felt sorry for Glen and thought it was no skin off his nose to send the man to God feeling better. Maybe. It was hard to picture Travis as caring about anyone other than himself. He wasn’t a psychopath though, and the guilty liked to offload their secrets. If you are involved in any way, I want you to remember what I’ve told you. Okay, but what the hell could she do with Kay’s information?
After Travis left, Natalie walked to the window across the corridor. Outside the police station a young girl was waiting for him. This must be Tiphanie. She looked, as Travis had sug
gested, a mess, with dark circles under her eyes. She gave him a guarded smile, offering him a cigarette from a packet that had been tucked into the cuff of her jacket. She was very different from Amber in how she held herself; but then she hadn’t been charged with killing her daughter.
Natalie stepped outside to watch them more closely and Travis caught sight of her. His eyes narrowed: he recognised her, his face twisting into a grimace of fury. Less surprise than she would have expected. She wondered whether Travis had heard the same gossip as Kay. Tiphanie turned to look at her and she caught a glimpse of an expression she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Shame? Guilt, maybe?
Travis grabbed Tiphanie’s arm and yanked her away. She went without protest; perhaps not so different from Amber after all. As they stood on the kerb edge, about to cross the road, a car accelerated and headed towards them. A guy and girl hanging out of windows holding beer cans jeered at them as the car swerved, narrowly missing them. Travis yelled obscenities back at them, barely aware that one of the cans had hit its mark, covering Tiphanie in beer foam. If losing a child wasn’t bad enough, it seemed that she was also having to deal with hostility from the local parenting standards lobby.
‘What does his mate say?’ Natalie asked Damian before she left.
‘That he came over, they had a few beers and watched football. His girlfriend and two other guys confirmed. He arrived before the game and left straight after.’
Natalie wondered if they were now cruising in cars heckling them. The Travis that had married Amber was a bully. She guessed his friendships weren’t likely to be deep.
Damian couldn’t resist a parting dig. ‘Enjoy dinner.’
Chapter 9
Liam was at the guesthouse reading the Australian when she returned.
Natalie flopped into an armchair opposite him. They had the living room to themselves. ‘I take it you never intended to be in the interview?’
‘I’m not allowed if I want to try the case. Australian law keeps things separate. I can’t even be briefed by the police; one of my colleagues in the office will be.’
Natalie looked at him sharply. What game was he playing? ‘But let me guess, you expect me to tell you what happened?’
‘I don’t want details. Impressions might be helpful.’
‘Talk to Damian,’ said Natalie. ‘You might have paid for a room for nothing.’
Liam grinned. ‘That remains to be seen. Drink?’
She watched him, wondering what the hell she was doing there. She wasn’t sure anything she had seen would shed light on what happened to Chloe, or help Amber. More to the point, Liam didn’t seem to care and the cops hadn’t wanted her there.
The more she thought about it, the more this was looking like an excuse for Liam to even the score for the humiliation she had inflicted on him; even if it had been Amber who had suffered most from the court steps debacle.
The fridge had only Crown Lager; she nodded when he waved a bottle in her direction.
‘By the way, I like the outfit.’ He levered the cap off the beer and handed it to her.
Natalie was wearing the little black dress she always travelled with. She didn’t want him to think she’d gone to any trouble, and travelling by bike limited the bag size. This dress didn’t take up much space.
Perhaps Liam was having second thoughts too. He poured himself a scotch and for the next half hour, directed conversation towards work, not pushing for information on Travis.
‘I’m involved in another case you might be able to help me with.’
Natalie thought this unlikely.
‘I’m part of an investigation into a paedophile ring.’ If he noticed her lack of enthusiasm he pretended not to. ‘We’ve got a couple of minor convictions against a few people downloading, but we want the guy behind it. Thought we had him once, but had to let him go.’
‘And I can help how exactly?’
‘The early stuff in particular, we are sure originated in this region. The girls would now be grown up, and from what I’ve been told, as victims they’re going to have much higher chances of psych illnesses, as well as ending in prison. Am I right?’
‘True,’ Natalie agreed, ‘but I don’t see how that has us working together.’
‘We need one of the victims to testify, or at the least give us some more information.’
‘Uh huh.’
‘You see abuse victims and prisoners…’
‘You think I’d turn them over to you to have the media splash their lives all over the papers and some lawyer grill them till they break down?’
‘Identities are protected. You know that. I’m just asking you to keep your eyes and ears open. Particularly for anything to do with pink bunny rabbits. Seems to be what they entice or reward the girls with. Tell me if you hear anything I might be able to use.’
She hoped her look conveyed how likely that was going to be. Her patients struggled talking to her about this type of issue, let alone to police and the O.P.P.
By the second beer she remembered why she found him so sexy. His outward respectability barely cloaked his edginess and the combination was compelling. She wondered what it was about her that was attractive to him. Just settling a score? Bored with a middle-class lifestyle? She started to wonder if he went for a certain type—if she was like other women he’d had affairs with. She stopped herself. She didn’t want to know. If something happened tonight it would be a one-off.
‘Dinner?’ he asked as their second drink was nearly finished.
‘Not hungry.’ Not for food at least.
Liam raised an eyebrow.
Their eyes locked and the brief glimpse behind the surface rattled her. She was a psychiatrist for fuck’s sake. Why was she letting him get to her?
As soon as the door closed in his room she knew why. Liam worked hard on hiding what was beneath his veneer but in the bedroom, or at least in the bedroom with her, it unleashed. There was a hunger in him that took her breath away, anger and passion that she hadn’t felt in a lover before, and she knew it wasn’t him she feared as much as her own response. If it had been ignited by a need to prove his dominance, the same need was continuing to fuel it.
They didn’t speak.
Liam pushed her firmly against the door, his mouth hard on hers. He tasted of scotch. Natalie pulled at his shirt as his hands pushed her dress up and went under the waistband of her tights. They half-walked, half-fell across furniture, pulling at clothing, knocking the lamp to the floor, bumping against the walls. Naked in the dark on the bed, Natalie could feel his cock hard against her as his tongue was in her mouth, then her ears; then he was biting her nipples. When he had pushed her need to a level where she would have given him anything he had asked, he entered her. She came almost immediately, and Liam followed only moments later.
Her arousal had left no room to consider anything other than her own pleasure. But afterwards it was not the physical gratification that she recalled, either then or during the repeat performance in the early hours of the morning, but rather, how he held her after they were spent. In those minutes was a lingering memory of what was absent: the tension that infiltrated every part of her and had been there for as long as she could reme
mber. Without it, she was left unsure of who she was, and for a moment believed that this was who she wanted to be.
On Monday morning, Jessie was ten minutes late. The honeymoon was over already. She slumped into the chair without speaking, still wearing her sunglasses.
‘Tell me what made your week so bad.’
Jessie stared at her sullenly. She clearly wanted to talk but she’d spent a lifetime learning it was dangerous to trust.
‘Everything.’
‘Hannah?’
‘Same stuff.’
Natalie waited.
‘I got a call about my father.’
‘Your father?’
‘He’s in hospital. Second time in a month.’
Natalie underlined this in her notes. Was this why Jessie was now turning up for therapy?
‘The hospital rang me as next of kin. They thought I should take him home with me.’
‘Did you?’
Jessie bit her lip, and angrily wiped a tear out of her eye. ‘Why should I? Bastard preferred the bitch to me, never thought about what I wanted.’
‘You presumed my response would be that you should have taken him home.’
‘He certainly did.’ Jessie was lost in her thoughts for a moment.
She was too young to shoulder adult responsibilities for the man who raised her, Natalie reflected. Particularly with so many unresolved issues between them.
‘Did they tell you his prognosis?’ Better to deal with the here and now.
‘Yeah. Shit.’ Jessie looked up at her. ‘Dying. The grog’s finally getting him. Just not fast enough.’
‘So where is he now?’
‘Jay found a nursing home. Same town we grew up in.’
Natalie processed this. Jessie might well feel alone, but there was family around to help when they had to.