“So it looks like Baxy is still on our suspect list,” Curtis said when Janux sat down again. “Lodax didn’t happen to mention how he came to have the list, did she?”
“She’s adamant he didn’t murder Nayxana but she’s not sure about the other two. The list was given to his boss, Sly Onyx, who handed it to him. She reckons Baxy is also trying to find out who murdered Nayxana. It was supposed to be his job, but someone beat him to it.”
“So, the guy you mentioned before – the Controller. I suppose he’s the one who’s ordered the hits on these women?”
“Lodax said Baxy met The Controller once at Ngahere Road when he first came to New Zealand. That’s when he gave Sly a copy of the list. But he’d have seen the state Sly’s in, and Baxy reckons he’s gone elsewhere to find others who are more capable of getting the job done.”
Curtis frowned. “Does Baxy know where The Controller is staying?”
“Lodax says Baxy doesn’t know, but he told her The Controller likes to frequent the Xlesky Street Home for Abandoned Babies. He has an eye for the ladies, it seems, and won’t be leaving New Zealand until all the Muritai women on the list have been dealt with.”
“He’s obviously keen to keep his hands clean and get others to do the dirty work for him.” Curtis looked at the names. “There’s only one more woman on this list who lives on the island apart from you, my love. We’d better try and warn her before it’s too late.”
“Where does she live?” Janux sipped her cappuccino.
“Her name is Eurwyn Nepase. She and her husband live at 7 Akeake Drive, Seal Bay.”
“That’s off Kekeno Street,” Janux said. “We can go there when we interview the Vascos’ neighbours.”
Curtis drained his coffee cup and pushed his chair back. “Come on, Trainee Assistant, there’s work to do.”
Fifteen minutes later, Curtis parked his Fiat a few houses away from number 56 Kekeno Street. It was a fine, cool day and the neighbourhood was quiet, but they both knew there would be enquiring eyes at many of the windows – mostly female, since their husbands would be out at work. They also knew that if the wives were Ryxin it was even more likely they’d be at home, cleaning and cooking and tending house. Most Human males didn’t like their Ryxin wives to go out and often treated them as virtual housekeepers.
“I want you to begin with the houses on either side of 56,” Curtis said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right outside each house when you go in.”
“So you’re not coming in?”
“Not to start with. This is all part of your ongoing training. I have to make out a monthly report on everything you’ve achieved. Each task has to be done by you alone, without assistance – otherwise you don’t pass muster, according the Ryxin PI Bureau. They have a committee of PI’s who read each report and evaluate it. Besides, you need to build up a rapport with the people you interview.”
She looked at him petulantly. “And have I passed so far?”
“Yes, you have passed the ones I’ve sent in. But I will have to report that you disobeyed my orders this week and left the house alone when I had specifically asked you not to.”
“I don’t care,” Janux said. “I wanted my pistol, you know that.”
“Your personal feelings must be put aside where work is concerned. Off you go, Trainee, and start the interviewing. Remember the handbook rules.”
“You mean not to go into any of the houses?”
“Yes, and to be polite and courteous at all times – plus applying your powers of observation.”
“I always do,” Janux said. “And right now I observe your heartlessness.”
“Come along, you can start with 54.”
Janux was nervous opening the gate. She’d been bitten once by a dog when she was helping Roscoe get honey orders and hadn’t seen the guard dog just inside the gate.
She walked up the concrete pathway of number 54 and pressed the doorbell. A pretty tune sounded and within a few seconds the door opened slowly. Janux relaxed when she saw a short, grey-haired woman with a long nose and spectacles standing before her.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked.
“Hello, ma’am, my name is Janux Lennan and I work for Curtis McCoy, Private Investigator. We’re making enquiries around the neighbourhood about anything you may have observed on Tuesday 13th May. That was when your neighbour Mrs Vasco was killed, you see, and we’re trying to build a picture of what may have happened on that day.”
“Oh, I see, dear. Well, the police told me not to worry – they said her husband is in prison and he was the one who done it.”
“I understand that, Mrs…?”
“Mrs Gomine, dear. My husband’s passed away ten years ago.”
“Sorry to hear that, Mrs Gomine. We believe someone else may also be involved so we’re looking at all possibilities.”
“I can’t see their house from here, dear. The hedge is too high, but I do have very good hearing. I used to hear a few shouts from that house, from the husband. I understand his wife was Ryxin, dear, so that may have been why he used to get angry. The police didn’t ask me any questions, dear. You’re the first one and I so wanted to tell them what I heard that day.”
Janux felt herself go tense. She hated this woman already. “What was that, Mrs Gomine?”
“It was laughter, a man’s laughter. After that I heard a woman scream once and then it was all quiet. I was out in the garden, dear, just pulling a few weeds.”
“Did you hear anything else after that, Mrs Gomine, or think to phone the police?”
Mrs Gomine hesitated. “I don’t know if it’s important. It was the fish van, dear. On the day Mrs Vasco was killed. It came here that day.”
Janux thought about the message Nayxana had sent Uxxl about the fishy smell in the van she’d been thrown into. “Was that before you heard a scream?”
“Yes. A man got out of the van. He was tall and had a limp. When he saw me in the garden he said, Sorry, wrong house. I asked him, Are you selling fish? Not today, ma’am, he said and got back into the van. But then I heard a noise coming from the back of the van, dear. Someone was banging on the side of the van, in the back. Well, he just slammed the driver’s door shut and backed out really quick. I don’t know if it matters, dear, but I wanted to tell you. You see, now I think it might have had something to do with Mrs Vasco’s death. I didn’t think much about it at the time, dear, so I didn’t think I needed to phone the police.”
Janux finally breathed out slowly. “Thanks very much, Mrs Gomine. Can you tell me what the man’s face looked like?”
“He had a thin face with black stubble as if he hadn’t shaved for a couple of days. His hair was black too and greasy-looking. He must’ve hurt his foot or his leg because he was limping badly. That’s all I can remember, dear.”
“You’ve done very well, Mrs Gomine. Thank you so much.”
“Then I had my afternoon nap and woke up when I heard the siren. After that the H-police came round. Such a nice detective sergeant came to assure me that they had everything under control and I didn’t have to worry.”
Janux looked at Mrs Gomine’s hands. They were five-fingered. “You’ve been most helpful, Mrs Gomine. I thank you so much for what you’ve told me. If you recall anything else, please phone us.” Janux handed her one of their business cards and turned to leave.
She spent a few minutes making notes in her spiral PI issue notebook, remembering to note down time, place and person, plus anything else she’d observed. She wrote ‘probable Human – five-fingered hands’ after Mrs Gomine’s name.
Janux felt more confident now and hummed to herself, noticing in her peripheral vision that Curtis was moving the car up to number 58 while she walked up the path to the front door. She refrained from looking right at the car, ensuring that she was working without help from Curtis during this part of her training. All the same she did feel supported by his nearby presence.
Number 58 had an untidy garden and lawns that were overgrown
. The front door was in need of a fresh coat of paint, Janux observed as she reached out to rap loudly on the faded wood. From within came the sound of a dog barking. Janux froze and looked back towards the car. Curtis was watching.
Then the door opened and a large, unshaven man towered over her. “What is it?” he bellowed, the dog still barking from somewhere inside the house. “Shut up, dog,” he yelled over his shoulder.
“I’m Janux Lennan and I work for Curtis McCoy, Private Investigator,” she said as calmly as she could. “I’ve come to make enquiries about anything you may have observed in the neighbourhood on Tuesday 13th May.”
“You mean the day the pig done away wiv his misuss?” he sneered.
“Yes, though his guilt has not yet been proven,” Janux answered.
“The ugly brute woulda done it awright. He liked to try and throw his weight around. Government pig.”
“Were you here that day, sir?”
“Ise here alla time, lady. I work from home, eh?”
“Did you hear or see anyone?”
“Nothin’ unusual, just the fish van. Later on the pig came home.”
“Fish van?”
“Yeah, I seen it drivin’ inta their place. It says fish on the side, eh?”
“Can you tell me exactly what the words on the van said?” Janux asked him, barely able to contain her mounting excitement.
“Lessee, um, somethin’ like Fancy Fish, an’ a big fish painted on the side – somethin’ like that.”
“Did the fish van come regularly?”
“Nope, never seen it afore.”
“Did you see the driver?”
“Nah, tinted windows.”
The dog was sitting behind the man now, panting and whining, its tongue hanging out.
“Thanks, Mr…?”
“Anaru Tamati. Bye, lady. Hope that bugger gets what’s comin’ to ’im real soon. He deserves it, eh – filthy pig.”
“So you didn’t phone the police at all that day?”
“Course not. Why should I?”
“Exactly, why should you? Look, could you please call this number if you remember anything else?” Janux handed him a card.
Janux noted down what had been said. It seemed that Anaru Tamati had also noticed quite a few things, but the H-police hadn’t bothered to ask him anything either. Janux was tempted to go back to the car but instead signalled to Curtis she was now crossing the road to 55 directly opposite 56. She saw him nod to her and then start the car and pull up on the other side of the road.
The front door was opened wide and as Janux approached she saw an open door at the far end of the house, giving her a view right into the backyard. She knocked on the glass-panelled door and waited.
“Who are you and what you want?” a voice behind her said.
Janux jumped and looked around to see a tiny Asian woman standing a few feet away from her in the garden, a trowel in her hand. Janux introduced herself and stated why she was there. “Did you notice anything different that day?” she asked the woman who had introduced herself as Molly Pang.
“I never saw Mrs Vasco for few weeks,” she said, looking puzzled. “Then the cops come in their orange car and go inside. They bring Mr Vasco out and take him away. I was standing right here, doing my veggie garden.”
“Did you notice when Mr Vasco arrived?”
“Yeah, it was not long after the fish van left. I never saw a fish van go there before. The cops saw me and came over. I thought they gonna ask me questions. But no, they say, don’t worry lady, we caught the killer. I say to them, who got killed? They say, Mrs Vasco, and her husband did it. We’re taking him away. You just go back to your garden. It’s all been sorted. I was wondering how she got killed when she don’t live there no more. I used to have cups of tea with her when her husband goes to work. We talked about lotsa things. She very sad ’cos she stay home all the time – not many friends. Then she gone with another fella. She came round one day and told me all about it.”
“How did you know it was a fish van?” Janux said, making notes in her book.
“It’s got Fancy Fish, Buy it from Me on the side. Home Delivery and then a phone number,” Molly Pang said with pride.
“I don’t suppose you wrote the phone number down?”
“No, I don’t do that. I don’t even know she been killed. I thought she come home again and buy fish. Later on Mr Vasco came home. I thought they back together.”
“So you didn’t phone the police that day?” Janux asked her.
“No phone call. No need, lady.”
Janux smiled, “Thank you, Molly. You’ve been a great help. If you remember anything else can you call this number?”
As she walked back to the footpath Janux saw that Curtis had opened the front passenger door and she climbed in, relieved that the interviewing was over.
“You’ve done well, Janux. I think that will do for now. Find out anything useful?”
“Oh yes, more than I ever hoped,” Janux said, lying back in the seat and breathing a sigh of relief. Another training module completed.
“Before you get too relaxed, we’re going to Akeake Street, remember? I’ll do this one.”
Akeake Street was two blocks up on the left, facing the coast. Number 7 was a medium-sized white house with a red picket-fence at the front and open venetian blinds in the windows.
Curtis approached the house cautiously. He didn’t know if the woman’s husband would be at home, although there was a note on the list saying he was a lawyer and was often away on the mainland where most of his clients lived. He pressed a button and heard chimes sound melodiously. The door opened and a tall woman with tawny eyes and shoulder-length black curly hair smiled at him. But it wasn’t her that shocked him. It was the sight of Lodax, sitting in the lounge behind the woman, drinking a glass of wine.
“I see you have company,” Curtis said, looking past her to Lodax who also smiled at him. “Look, I’m sorry. My name is Curtis McCoy and I’ve come to warn you. You are Eurwyn?”
The woman laughed. “Yes, I’m Eurwyn Nepase. Let me introduce you to my friend, Lodax. We’ve been discussing how to save our own lives. Lodax has been warning me for a few weeks now. That’s why I never stay here on my own, Mr McCoy. You are Private Investigator McCoy, aren’t you?”
“Yes, that’s me. How did you know?”
She turned to Lodax. “Lodax has been worried about me. She tried to warn Saeran Marwry too, but that’s another story. Too late for Saeran, I’m afraid. She also told me about you and your trainee, Janux. Come in and sit down - and get Janux too if you wish.”
Curtis breathed a sigh of relief and signalled for Janux to come inside. Once Janux joined them, they sat round the kitchen table and began to discuss what to do.
“I tried to warn Saeran,” Lodax said. “But she said she could look after herself. She said the dog always barked when people came near the house and she wouldn’t let anyone in if she felt suspicious.”
“They killed her dog too, the bastards,” Eurwyn said. “Poor wee thing.”
Janux looked around the table at everyone. “I suggest we discuss what to do here and now. And whenever anyone of us is going to be on their own, they must go to the Ryxin Women’s Refuge for safety until all this is sorted out. If we don’t take action then we’re all going to be picked off, one by one.”
“My husband’s going away all next week,” Eurwyn said, “but I’ve already arranged to stay with a friend.”
“I’ll tell Cyxia, the woman in charge, that our lives are in danger,” Janux said. “They all know what happened to Nayxana. She was a volunteer at the refuge. I assured Cyxia we’d find the killer and keep this island safe. I’m just sorry we haven’t been able to do that yet.”
Lodax said, “It seems I’m not yet on their list. But that could change any time and these killers are not going to stop until we’re all eliminated. There’s someone staying on this island right now who won’t be leaving until that happens. They call him Th
e Controller and he’s the one who ordered the hits on us all.”
Curtis cleared his throat. “The H-Police are not investigating these murders in the same way they would if the victims had been Human women. Janux and I became involved when Nayxana’s son, Aidan, came and asked me for help. His father’s been thrown in jail awaiting trial for his wife’s murder. But we don’t think he’s guilty. He was just there on the scene when the H-Police arrived. He’ll be tried and executed in a couple of weeks’ time unless we find out who the real killer is. The H-Police have already decided he’s guilty, without ever asking themselves about the others who’ve died. I think they’re either too lazy to be bothered or there’s someone who has infiltrated the police ranks. Whoever this person is, they’re making sure the murders are dealt with in their own ways, which don’t involve any kind of real justice or outrage, believe me. In fact, the first murder barely got a mention in the news.”
“That was Oonagh, wasn’t it? Oonagh Bleyis?” Eurwyn said.
Curtis pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. It was the list of women sentenced for elimination. “She’s not on the list but she was the one we were told about,” he said. “A young police constable who is sympathetic to the victims told us about her murder. It happened while Janux and I were away in Ireland.”
“I knew Oonagh,” Eurwyn said. “She told me she felt like someone had been following her. I invited her to come and stay with me for a few days while her hubby was away, but she said she’d be okay since her sister was coming over to the island for a holiday with her. But she was killed the day before her sister arrived, the murdering bastards. Not only that - Oonagh was three months pregnant. It was her first baby and she was so excited about it.”
“Did she also have the telepathy gene?” Curtis asked Eurwyn.
“No, she was an ordinary Ryxin half-blood. She was going out with a Ryxin half-blood guy for years until her parents put a stop to it. They told her if she married him she could never have kids so in the end she gave in and broke it off with him. About a year later she married Sam Bleyis, a work colleague of her father. Her father’s a Human and a high court judge. It was Oonagh’s mother who was a half-blood. Sam’s a well-known criminal lawyer on the mainland.”
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