David fought her on it . . . at first. ‘You can’t just hand her over and wash your hands of her,’ he said. ‘This is your daughter, she’s a part of you. It doesn’t work this way. I’m not saying we have to be a family. I get that you don’t want to be with me, but surely you want to be with her.’
He’d assumed the custody arrangement would be a 50/50 split. But Amber kept pushing and pushing. You love her. I don’t. You want her. I don’t. You can take care of her. I can’t.
Eventually his mother was the one who convinced him to give in. She came around to see Amber with some paperwork she’d had a lawyer draw up.
‘We’ll take good care of her,’ she said, as Amber signed her daughter’s life away.
Amber shrugged. ‘Okay. Thank you.’
It started with the odd pill here or there that she took when she was out partying with friends. She always made sure she was clean by the time she went into the hospital for her next shift . . . at first. But then she started taking more. Anything to numb the pain. Anything to make her forget that she had a baby girl out there in the world. A baby girl she’d handed away like she was nothing more than a doll she didn’t want anymore.
The pills she took at clubs weren’t enough. She started pinching the odd one here and there from work. Oxycodone or Ritalin to give her an extra buzz. She stopped caring about whether they were all out of her system before she did a shift.
It was the grandmother of a patient who first caught her out. A sharp-eyed older woman who she’d mistaken for a clueless old biddy.
‘You just put that other tablet into your pocket.’
‘What? No, I didn’t.’
‘Yes, you did. I saw you. You popped three out into your hand but you only gave two to my grandson.’
Amber tried to keep arguing, but the older woman was already charging out of the room to get hold of another nurse. That’s when everything came crashing down for Amber. That’s when she finally faced the truth about her PND. She got the help she needed, she stopped taking drugs and she eventually got her job back as well. And then when she was properly on the mend, she approached David and begged him to let her take her decision back.
When she transferred to a new hospital in the North West and met Georgia, she was too ashamed to admit that she was the one who’d simply given her daughter away. So she was vague about her past. She let Georgia believe what she wanted about the reasons for her limited access to her daughter.
That night, as she brought the suave, good-looking guy into her home — Sam was his name, not that she cared — she knew that her pleasure would be short-lived. Once they slept together, she’d be alone again. He’d probably creep out in the middle of the night, thinking she’d be none the wiser, thinking she’d wake in the morning and put one dainty hand to her mouth in shock. Oh, how could he? she’d cry, I thought he wanted more than just a one-night stand!
Ha. I’m one step ahead of you, buddy. I want to wake up and find you gone.
But she wasn’t one step ahead of him. Not at all.
Because when they arrived home, they didn’t head straight to the bedroom. Instead he suggested one last drink.
She didn’t think to keep a close eye on her glass. In fact, she left him alone with the drinks while she went to the bathroom. After all, why would she think he’d put something in hers? He’d already been invited back. It was clear they were going to have sex, so there was no reason for him to drug her.
But he did. She felt the effects about thirty minutes after she finished her drink, as they were chatting on the couch. She was a nurse. She recognised the symptoms. She knew how much she’d had to drink and she knew it was wrong that her arms had become heavy. That her vision had started to swim.
‘Did you . . .’ Her voice came out in a slur, like her mouth had been filled with cotton wool. ‘Did you . . . put something . . . in my . . . drink?’
She passed out and didn’t wake until the next day. She was in her bed, in her clothes, and none of it made any sense. Had he drugged her last night, or had she miscounted her drinks?
But why do that only to carry her to her bed, fully clothed and never actually touch her? So, what now? Go to the police and report it? But report what exactly? Maybe she was mistaken, maybe she’d drunk way more than she’d realised. Or maybe he had put something in her drink, but then he’d immediately regretted his actions and backed out. And if she did report it, what if David somehow found out and didn’t want her to have Violet anymore? What if he judged her for bringing a strange man into her home, for letting him put something in her drink?
She decided to let it go, but to make sure she was more careful in future.
The following day though, while she was on a break at work, she checked her phone and discovered a message from him.
This is Sam from the other night. I need you to do something for me, the message said. I need you to get hold of some drugs from your work.
Amber had stared at the message, entirely confused. Then she wrote back.
You’re fucking joking, right? Why the hell would I do that?
Well, I think you’ll do it because if you don’t, your boss will find out that you’re currently at work under the influence of coke.
What are you on about? No, I’m not.
Funny thing is though, if they decide to do a drug test on you, it’ll show up in your system. Care to risk that?
She held very still, reading and re-reading the message. Cocaine could stay in your bloodstream for up to two days. He could be telling the truth. If he’d somehow given her some when she passed out the other night — maybe rubbed it into her gums or something — she could be in huge trouble.
While she was thinking, another message came through.
Seriously, you do this one thing and I go away, you never hear from me again. Grab the drugs and meet me at the cafe on Harris Street after you finish your shift and I won’t have to contact your boss and tell her that you’re high as a kite.
In the end, Amber couldn’t see a way out of it. She couldn’t risk being found to be working with cocaine in her system, not with her history. And if she lost her job, there was every chance she might lose Violet. Stealing drugs was risky too, but she knew a way she could do it and get away with it. She’d had a lot of practice back when she needed them for herself. Just get it over and done with it, hand them over, don’t think about what he wants them for, and forget any of this ever happened.
When she met him at the cafe, he’d had the nerve to place a hand on her waist and lean in like he was going to kiss her on the cheek. She dodged the kiss, resisted the urge to knee him in the balls, shoved the bag into his hands and left.
The next day she called in sick. She wanted to stay away from work for as long as possible to give the cocaine a chance to work its way out of her system. But then Rick called to tell her that Georgia had been suspended for stealing drugs. Her first thought was that she was going to have to turn herself in. She couldn’t let Georgia take the blame for the missing drugs. But then Rick said they’d been found in Georgia’s bag. She couldn’t make sense of it. How did the drugs she’d stolen for Sam end up in Georgia’s bag?
She was going to have to talk with Georgia, figure out what was going on. Find out the connection between her and Sam. The problem was, Georgia wouldn’t take her calls. Amber sent texts, left voicemails, but Georgia refused to call her back. It never occurred to her that Georgia’s boyfriend Luke might actually be Sam.
The guilt was eating away at her. She sent a message to Sam.
You fucking prick. I never would have stolen those drugs for you if I’d known what you were going to do. How did they get in her bag? Tell me what the hell is going on?
But he didn’t respond. And then she heard the news that Georgia had been in a car accident. And now Georgia was finally returning her calls, and telling her all about Luke, and how Luke wasn’t Luke at all but that his name was Sam, and everything finally made sense for Amber.
She trie
d to confess then and there on the phone . . . but she couldn’t seem to find a way to say the words. But she knew she was going to have to tell the truth eventually.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Cadence
It took a lot of convincing to get Marcus, Grant and Rick to leave. I could see it in Marcus’s eyes — how much he loved his little sister. How desperate he was to protect her. And Rick, he almost looked as though he was more hurt than Georgia as he heard about Amber’s part in all of this.
Amber had wanted to talk to Georgia alone, but there were too many cries of protest when she made that suggestion. Everyone else wanted to hear her explanation, so she had to tell her story in front of all five of us.
‘I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you straightaway,’ she said through tears when she was done. ‘I’m sorry I let it all get this far. Maybe if I’d gone straight to the police then you never would have got hurt.’
I was impressed by Georgia’s reaction. She’d walked straight over to her friend and hugged her. ‘You couldn’t have predicted any of this,’ she’d said. Then she started telling Marcus, Grant and Rick that they needed to go. That this was about the three of us. That we needed to talk and we needed to do it alone.
What I didn’t expect was what Georgia said next, once everyone had left.
‘I want to make him pay for what he’s done to all of us.’
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Georgia
‘That’s all well and good,’ said Cadence. ‘Obviously we all want him to answer for what he’s done. But how? The police haven’t been able to find him yet, what makes you think we can?’
‘Because we know him,’ said Georgia. ‘We know the games he plays. And we can find a way to use that against him.’
‘Umm, I hate to say it,’ Amber said, ‘but isn’t the point that we don’t know him? That he’s just spent months being someone else?’
‘No . . . yes . . . maybe, but I still think between the three of us we have a unique insight into the way this guy works. Plus, we have this.’ Georgia held up the phone.
‘We have to give that straight to the police!’ said Cadence.
‘We will. But first I want to find out what other messages are on here. And also, who was calling. I saw earlier that they left a voicemail, but I didn’t want to say anything until the others left. Here, let’s listen to it together.’
Georgia dialled voicemail, put the phone on speaker and held it out. A bubbly sounding voice burst out of the phone.
‘Hi Sam! It’s Nadia. It’s been for-fucking-ever, and I’m in the mood for your body. Call me okay? Mwah!’
‘For fuck’s sake,’ Cadence said when the message finished. ‘How many different girls is he juggling?’
‘Too many,’ said Georgia, thinking of Lena and how she’d been yet another one of his one-night stands. Another one of his victims, used by him to find out more about her past. When all of this was over, she was going to have to let Lena know the full story, and also keep her promise to reignite their friendship. ‘But this is a good thing. This girl Nadia is an opportunity to find him.’
‘Yeah, but how?’ said Cadence. ‘She has this number for him and he doesn’t have his phone. I don’t see how she’d have any more chance of finding him than us.’
‘I don’t know, but we have to try!’
There was silence for a moment and then Cadence said, ‘You know how I knew his password for his phone? Do you think he uses that same password for other things?’
‘Maybe,’ said Georgia.
‘The police took his laptop, right?’
‘Right.’
‘But did he ever use your computer while he was living here?’
‘Yep, he did actually.’
Cadence smiled. ‘Let’s see what we can find.’
*
Two hours later their plan was in place. Nadia had been extremely helpful over the phone once they’d revealed his true colours to her. And his Facebook account under his real name had been fairly easy to find as well.
‘I’m still not sure if he’s going to fall for it,’ said Amber. ‘Surely he’ll know that we’re only trying to draw him out.’
‘That’s why we’re using his own arrogance against him,’ said Georgia. ‘Trust me. That’s his weakness.’
In all honesty, she didn’t know if this was going to work. But doing something felt better than sitting back and waiting for the police to track him down. What if they weren’t even looking? What if he didn’t rank that highly on their list of priorities?
‘I wonder how long we’ll have to wait to see if it worked?’ said Cadence.
As if on cue, Georgia’s computer made a dinging noise with a Facebook message. The three of them leaned down and read it together.
When they were done they all looked at one another.
‘Nice fucking work, girls,’ said Amber.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Sam
He arrived early and took a table towards the back of the cafe, a corner booth so that he could see her coming first. He liked to watch her walk. The silly bitch always wear heels that are way too high for her, thinking it made her look sexy, when instead it makes her look like a fucking bimbo. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching her totter along in them. seeing her look so vulnerable, so . . . inferior, as she tries to look hot for me. It always gives me an instant hard-on.
He’d missed Nadia while he’d been running his con on Cadence and Georgia. They’d only ever had sex casually after meeting through Tinder, not that long ago. But she was great in bed and she let him get a little rough with her when he was in the mood. He’d been crashing at a mate’s place since everything had gone sideways with the girls. Obviously, he did have mates here in Sydney because he wasn’t from Perth, like he’d told Georgia. His plan was to take off up north until everything died down with the cops. But one last fuck with Nadia before he left would be nice. It’d cheer him up after everything had gone so far wrong. In fact, maybe this time he’d get even rougher than usual.
He hadn’t thought he’d ever hear from her again after he’d left his other phone behind at Georgia’s place and lost her number. So he was glad when she contacted him through Facebook and asked him to meet her for a coffee. Not as good as drinks, but still, he knew he could get her into bed. She was easy, always had been.
When the waitress approached his table carrying a plate of food, he immediately shook his head. ‘I haven’t ordered anything yet.’
She shrugged. ‘Whatever, someone ordered it for you.’
He was perplexed as she placed the plate down in front of him. Who’d ordered for him? Why? He looked at the food. French toast with berries. What the fuck?
That’s when his phone buzzed with a Facebook message from Nadia. He opened it and read it.
It was cute how you accepted my friend request without actually checking to make sure I am who I say I am.
It all clicked into place. He went to stand, and that’s when he saw them. Two police officers making their way through the cafe towards him.
‘Just the bloke we’ve been looking for.’
EPILOGUE
Cadence
I sold most of my shares. Seeing how easily Sam had isolated me from the world made me want to be a part of it, more than ever. So I bought a small warehouse-style place in Surry Hills. Michelle helped me set it all up. Downstairs was split into a gallery and a work area. Upstairs was my home. I shared the work area with other artists who rented the space from me on a casual month-to-month basis. And we had a gallery to showcase our work, along with pieces from various local artists. Once a month we had a Saturday night exhibition with drinks and finger food, and people got happily tipsy and spent more than they normally would on a new piece of art for their home. It was a decent business model.
I’ll admit, my work did take a darker turn. Call it my post-Luke period. Think lots of giant pieces done with wild charcoal strokes and splatters of black ink. But here and there a pop of
bright blue or sunny yellow would creep in. A sign that a happier part of me, deep inside, was fighting to come back.
Oh, and I got a dog. A tiny and very fluffy Pomeranian named Cactus.
Georgia
Her parents reissued their offer of a ‘healing and rejuvenation trip’ to Bali, which thankfully turned out to mean lying on the beach, sipping cocktails and having massages. There was minimal kombucha or yoga. They also suggested that Marcus might like to come along with them, because they knew how good it would be for Georgia to have his company. He accepted. Troy, Aaron and Pete were all curious as to when their parents would be paying for the three of them to visit Bali as well. Once the truth had come out about the stolen drugs, Georgia had been promptly reinstated at work; but when Georgia mentioned the Bali trip, Denise had granted her leave in an instant.
When Georgia asked her mum what had prompted the original offer, Susan had confessed that she didn’t really like Luke very much after meeting him at Marcus’s wedding.
‘You’re kidding me?’ Georgia said. ‘But he was playing the part of the perfect boyfriend at that stage.’
Her mother shrugged. ‘What can I say? I could tell there was something not quite right about him. I could see it in his aura. A muddiness. It worried me. I thought maybe I could sneak you away and somehow talk you into breaking up with him. Obviously if I’d known you’d let him move in with you I would have pushed a lot more.’
Georgia was confident the muddy aura part was bullshit. Her mother couldn’t see auras; she’d probably made that part up after finding out about Luke’s true motivations in order to convince herself she knew more than everyone else did.
*
Georgia was still smoking occasionally at that stage, and one night while they were sitting on the balcony, overlooking the ocean, Marcus made a joke about the time he’d caught Grant giving her a cigarette when she was fifteen.
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