She glanced away, then did the predictable double take. Her mouth dropped. Josh saw her blink a few times, as though testing she wasn’t seeing things. Then a number of emotions rippled across her beautiful features: disbelief, confusion and then anger. Josh’s stomach compressed into a tight ball and he jumped out of the car just in time to witness Lexie turn on Brad angrily.
‘What is he doing here?’ she yelled. ‘Why didn’t you tell me he was coming?’
Her eyes were narrowed with resentment and a sense of having been betrayed.
Brad put his hand out to take her by the arm in an effort to calm her.
‘Lex, if I had told you I didn’t think you would come. I’m sorry but—’
Lexie pushed his hand away and folded her arms across her chest.
‘Don’t sorry me . . .’
Josh had never seen Lexie this angry before. Aggression radiated so fiercely from her body it was palpable; as strong as a physical barrier. It was then, as she was standing in the street, visibly fuming, red-faced with rage, that the extent of his feelings towards Lexie hit Josh like a blow to the head.
He loved her.
He had known early on in their relationship that his feelings ran deep for Lexie, although he always did his best not to think too much about it. But facing her now, there was no denying it. He was utterly and irrevocably in love with her. And this knowledge, this realisation, was as shocking to Josh as it no doubt would be to Lexie.
Josh sucked in some cold air.
‘Lexie, it is not Brad’s fault. I wouldn’t give him the keys unless I could be here. You and I have a lot to sort out, but now isn’t the time.’
‘That’s right, now is not the time. There will never be a time to sort this out,’ she spat out. ‘You pissed off and left me. We are over. You can go and—’
‘Okay,’ Brad called out. ‘Not in the middle of the street, guys. This is not a Jerry Springer episode.’
Josh was too stunned at Lexie’s fury to make a sound. But he knew Brad was right.
Lexie opened her mouth to speak, but Brad interjected.
‘We are here to further investigate your theory, Lexie. We need to establish if there are any facts or evidence that link Jenna to our case. I am beginning to agree with you, that there are some similarities we can’t ignore, but you and Josh need to put aside your personal feelings right now. You can sort out your issues later – or not. I don’t care.’
He seemed to be getting angrier as he spoke. Brad was adopting the old adage; that attack is the best form of defence, Josh thought.
‘Just put your professional heads on and deal with it, okay,’ Brad continued.
Lexie and Josh were left in no doubt that Brad’s words were not a request. It was an order.
‘You got the keys?’ Brad demanded of Josh.
Tearing his eyes from Lexie long enough to nod, Josh handed them over to Brad. So many emotions were running through Josh right now it was hard to grasp and hang on to a single one. He was shocked by Lexie’s blatant hostility towards him. He was dreading entering his dead sister’s flat. And he was feeling increasingly sicker by the minute.
Lexie was staring wide-eyed at him, as if expecting him to say something.
Not being good with words or expressing himself well at the best of times, Josh was really falling short right now.
‘I’m sorry, Lex,’ was all he could think to say.
From the corner of his eye he saw Brad move a short distance away, in an attempt to give them a little privacy; or perhaps he just wanted to escape the oppressive atmosphere of tension and unresolved issues that hung like a storm cloud between them.
‘I’m hoping we can talk later, Lexie. I’ve been an idiot and there is so much . . .’ His voice trailed off. ‘This is not the time or the place but—’
Lexie face was a beautiful, expressionless mask.
‘As I said, we have nothing to talk about, Josh. Now, let’s get this over and done with, shall we?’
Josh felt as though he had been punched in the stomach.
Frozen by her words, he watched Lexie march up the concrete pathway that led into the building. Brad unlocked the security door just in time for Lexie to brush past him, shove it open and disappear inside.
Brad held the door open for Josh and he moved past him. Jenna’s flat was the first door they came to on the ground floor. Lexie was waiting, leaning against the brick wall next to Jenna’s flat. She didn’t speak or look at them as they approached, although Josh could see her mouth was set in a furious line. With a sinking heart, Josh wondered how he was going to even begin to chip away at the icy wall she had erected between them.
Brad put the key in the lock of Jenna’s front door.
Josh’s gut churned.
Just before pushing the door open, Brad turned to Josh and placed a hand on his shoulder; a show of support.
‘Are you going to be okay, mate?’
Josh shrugged, feeling sick for so many reasons.
‘I’ll be all right.’
Brad pushed the door open and they were all hit with a rush of stale air. The flat had been closed up for over six weeks, so there was a musty heaviness to the place, and it was dark; all the blinds were closed. Josh reached around the door frame and switched on a light. Nothing had been touched. It was exactly as it had been when Jenna was alive; neat and tidy. Josh stared at the picture frames lining the walls. He glanced from image to image: his mum and dad, arms entwined in happier days; Josh in full police uniform on his graduation day; Josh and Jenna as kids playing on a beach; a beaming Jenna with a bunch of girlfriends. It was a collection of memories from a life cut short.
Is this what it all came down to? Josh wondered. A few pictures on a wall to mark your existence; a visual aid to remember a person by when the memory of them starts to fade.
Josh hadn’t realised he’d frozen in the doorway until he noticed Lexie’s eyes on him. Her features had softened. He recognised the look of concern in her chocolate-coloured eyes. He must look like a ghost, he thought.
‘Are you all right?’ Lexie and Brad asked in unison.
Josh nodded but didn’t trust his voice to speak. Man up, for fuck sake.
Brad watched Josh for a moment, then, seemingly deciding it was best to just get on with things, moved him aside and turned to Lexie, who was still regarding him with concern.
‘Now, what are we looking for, Lexie?’
Brad and Lexie began to walk slowly around the living room while scanning everything in their sights.
‘Anything, I suppose; especially anything to link Jenna to Doctor Rod Bream.’
Josh took one step through the threshold of the flat and felt suddenly trapped. A strange dread, like nothing he had experienced before, trapped air in his lungs that he couldn’t expel. His heart pounded against his rib cage and a spasm of panic had him wanting to sprint out of there as fast as his legs would take him. Josh didn’t want to break down right now, but he feared he was fighting a losing battle.
Grabbing the wall for support, Josh struggled to take a deep breath. Brad was beside him in an instant.
‘Come on, mate. Let’s get you some air.’
Slowly guiding him outside, Brad called over his shoulder, ‘Lex, why don’t you start looking around? I’m going to have a chat with Josh out the front.’
Josh didn’t hear Lexie’s response. He couldn’t hear anything but the buzzing in his ears.
What was happening to him?
‘Breathe,’ Brad told him. ‘Breathe, mate.’
Josh gulped in the cold air as if he had been drowning. They were now standing on the grassed area outside the building and Josh paced in circles trying to recover.
‘It’s understandable, your reaction,’ said Brad, attempting to reassure him.
Suddenly Josh’s stomach lurched. He felt dangerously queasy.
He was still nursing a mild hangover – had been for weeks now – but there was no way he was going to throw up here, now.
/> No!
Terror shot through Josh as his skin broke out in a hot sweat. His mouth watered, his stomach flipped. Turning from Brad, he ran to the corner of the grassed courtyard and bent over, gagged, choked and then emptied whatever he had in his stomach over some shrubs lining the side of the building. When he was spent retching and the spasms in his gut had calmed, he turned to his friend and apologised.
‘Sorry, mate, it must be all getting to me.’
Brad shrugged and pointed to a tap nearby where he could wash his mouth.
Thank God Lexie hadn’t been here to see this pathetic display.
‘How much have you been drinking, Josh?’ Brad asked, with a hard frown.
Josh sighed, knowing it was impossible to hide too much from his mate.
‘Way too much.’
Brad shook his head but said nothing.
Josh was still catching his breath when Lexie appeared at the doorway to the building. She was holding something in her hands as she glanced between them.
‘What have you got?’ Brad asked.
‘It’s amazing. Nothing has been touched,’ she said. ‘I found a florist’s card with a cosy message on it, no name there, unfortunately. But better still, Jenna’s phone has no pin number.’
Lexie held up the phone.
‘There are a number of photographs of Jenna and Rod Bream on this; arm in arm, kissing. Intimate pictures that prove they were involved. Some were taken two days before she died. There is also a photograph of a single red rose in a plastic cylinder on her phone, also taken two days prior to her death. I’m guessing Bream gave her that rose.’
Lexie paused for breath.
‘I’ve checked the signature on Jenna’s licence, which was in her purse, with that on the suicide note. They are not even remotely similar.’
Josh knew he was staring at her, but he couldn’t help it. She had done all that in the short time they had been outside?
Lexie passed the phone to Josh. There, on the screen, was the man he knew to be Dani’s boyfriend, with his arm around his sister while she looked up at him adoringly. A cold rage hardened his insides as he thought of the implications. Could this man have killed his sister?
‘We need to find him,’ Josh said, through gritted teeth. ‘We need to find him straight away . . .’
CHAPTER 28
‘So Jenna Harrison didn’t commit suicide?’ Lurch asked.
‘We still can’t be sure, but it’s looking that way,’ Brad confirmed.
All available detectives had pulled their chairs around Brad’s and Lexie’s desks for an impromptu update on what they had discovered at Jenna’s flat.
‘This Doctor Bream; you think he was involved with both Jenna Harrison and Melissa McDermott? You think both these deaths are related?’ Patch inquired, thoughtfully.
‘That’s right,’ Lexie confirmed. ‘He is now our number one suspect. We need to step up the search to find him. Batman got the results of the preliminary toxicology results this morning. It has been confirmed alcohol and OxyContin were found in Melissa McDermott’s blood. Bream has opportunity, he has knowledge and access to drugs. As to his motive . . . we are not sure about that yet.’
‘Was he the one who may have contracted herpes?’ Grace asked.
Lexie nodded.
‘Yes, and I’m wondering if that’s enough of a reason to warrant murder?’
Lexie posed the question to the assembled detectives. They glanced around at each other but didn’t reply.
‘As for Jenna . . . we’re not sure what motive there could be for her death. But as I said, Bream is linked to both girls. The pictures on Jenna’s phone confirm it. The modus operandi of both deaths is the same. Both Melissa and Jenna had an injection site on the same side of their neck. They both overdosed on OxyContin. They were both found clutching a rose in their hands.’
Fester scratched his head and looked perplexed. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed, Lexie guessed he was struggling to get his head around things.
‘This doctor is a bit of a legend with the ladies, it seems,’ Lurch said. ‘Wasn’t he involved with your friend as well? The detective from the Cross? What’s he got that pulls all the chicks? Is it just that he’s a doctor?’
‘When you see him you will understand,’ Lexie replied, not wanting to involve Dani in their conversation. She wanted to protect her from all this as much as possible.
‘I met Jenna once. I can see why the doctor would have been interested. She was beautiful,’ Patch said, shaking his head sadly. ‘I can’t believe she might have been murdered.’
‘How did you get access to Jenna’s apartment?’
Batman’s question took her by surprise. Brad saved Lexie from answering by doing it for her.
‘Josh met us there. He had the keys.’
‘Is he back?’ Patch asked, enthusiastically.
Lurch glanced at Batman, who said nothing; instead he just stared at Lexie, who avoided his gaze even though she could feel his eyes drilling a hole through her.
Unaware of any underlying tension, Brad continued, ‘Marty Wells has been building a profile on Rod Bream so I’ll let him brief us.’
Lexie glanced towards Marty sitting to her right. Marty started rattling information off the top of his head.
‘For those of you who are unaware, Rod Bream’s girlfriend, a nurse called Rachel West, apparently committed suicide two years ago. The modus operandi is similar: girl involved with Bream, injected with OxyContin, found clutching a rose.’
Marty glanced at Lexie’s surprised face.
‘I managed to track down the cop who reported on her death. He filled me in on the details. The injection site was not exactly the same, it was in her arm – which would be easier to write off as a suicide – but it was the same drug, as I said.’
‘Good work, Marty.’
Lexie was grateful to have such a good analyst on their team. It made all the difference.
‘I haven’t finished yet,’ Marty said with a smile. ‘I got a copy of Rachel West’s suicide note from the reporting cop at Wagga. Luckily he kept all his prior briefs. Comparing the wording on Rachel West’s note to that of Jenna Harrison’s suicide note, it is very similar: “Sorry to have been so much trouble. I couldn’t take it anymore. You are better off without me.”’
Lexie felt anticipation building in her stomach.
‘What about the writing? Did the writing look the same?’ Lexie asked, hopefully.
Marty shrugged.
‘Hard to tell because of the quality of the photocopied note from Wagga, but I’ll get it analysed. Also, I’ve examined the crime scene photographs for all three girls. The position of the rose and the way their bodies appear “arranged” are very much the same.’
‘That’s great, Marty, thanks.’
‘Can I ask a question?’ Grace said, putting her hand in the air timidly. ‘It might be obvious but . . . if these three deaths are linked, why wasn’t there a suicide note left at the scene of Melissa McDermott’s death?’
‘Good question, Grace,’ Brad replied. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer but I think it might come down to circumstances. I get the feeling Melissa’s death was a more opportunistic act. She was drunk. She was easy pickings. Maybe it was not as organised, or thought out.’
‘I get that feeling too,’ Lexie agreed. ‘Being so intoxicated, she would have been a very easy target.’
Lexie looked back towards Marty, who was shuffling papers.
‘Did you have anything else, Marty?’
‘Yes. I’ve been working my arse off, you know.’
He shot her a smile.
‘The results of Bream’s call charge records for the past two months indicate he did not call Melissa McDermott during that time. However, Bream’s number comes up as having called Jenna Harrison the day before she died, and a number of times before that. However, a search on Bream’s criminal record has pulled up nothing, not even a speeding ticket. He is as clean as they come.�
�
He may be clean because he’s been too smart to get caught – until now, Lexie thought.
Brad cleared his throat to speak to the group without meeting Lexie’s eyes. He knew she was still angry that he hadn’t warned her about Josh.
Lexie felt guilty for being so harsh with him. She had given it to him in the car on the way back to the station. It was hard to stay mad at Brad when she knew his actions were never deliberately malicious. His intentions were always good, but sometimes he just didn’t think.
‘I spoke to my mate down the south coast a while ago,’ Brad told them. ‘He told me he’s spoken to Rod Bream’s parents, who have just turned up at their Sussex Inlet holiday house. They still haven’t heard from their son, but apparently that’s not unusual. He does tend to turn his phone off when he’s not on call. They didn’t know where he could be. The mother is apparently starting to get worried.’
Brad checked the notes in his hand.
‘They rang his phone and left a message for him, as we’ve done. His number plate has been circulated again, so if his car’s spotted he’ll be stopped. The intercept on his home and mobile phone is up and running but there has been no activity whatsoever on either line so far.’
‘What about Bream’s bank accounts? ‘Lexie asked. ‘Can we get access to see if he’s withdrawn any money? That could give us an idea of his location.’
‘We’re working on the notice to produce for the banks; it could take a while,’ said Batman, his voice flat and his jaw set in a grim line.
Lexie recollected that Batman had been his usual flirty self earlier this morning, so it seemed the knowledge that Josh was home had put him out of sorts.
Brad announced that he had just spoken to the homicide guys.
‘They are tied up with a triple murder up north and have just advised us to keep going with what we’re already doing. They suggested re-interviewing some of our victim’s friends and associates while we are waiting to locate Bream, to see if they have remembered anything that might give us another line of inquiry to follow.’
Brad looked down at his notes.
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