Lexie watched the other detectives move in and handcuff Sasha, who was still kicking and spitting with all her might. Grumpy and Patch swiftly led her to the nearest police car.
The small crowd of onlookers who had stood curiously watching the commotion started to clap. More people joined in and soon the crowd that was still gathering was clapping loudly, almost like it was an unexpected free stage show. For a moment Lexie was distracted by the applause. Then she remembered: Brad.
He was leaning against the outside wall of a shop front. Lurch, Grace and Ossie were with him. Fester stood back, frozen and staring. The look on Brad’s face told her he was not in a good way.
‘Josh, call an ambulance,’ cried Lexie.
‘I already have,’ Josh told her.
Lexie broke free of Josh and ran to Brad. Just as she reached him, his legs seem to collapse from under him and he began to slide down the wall. Josh, Ossie and Lurch moved swiftly to help lower him gently to the ground. Lexie noted his arm was bleeding where he had been stabbed. Someone had wrapped a piece of cloth around it and Grace was pressing down on the wound. Lexie bent down in front of Brad, took a quick look and almost gagged. There was no small injection site to be seen. It was a bloody gash where Sasha had stabbed and ripped the needle into his flesh.
‘The ambulance will be here soon, Brad,’ Lexie told him. ‘Tell me how you are feeling?’
‘Tired,’ he slurred. ‘Really tired.’
His eyes closed and Lexie pulled up one eyelid so she could see his pupils. They were tiny. She was no doctor, but she had seen enough drugged-out people to know that was not good. She patted his good arm.
‘Come on, stay with me, Brad.’
Lexie looked up at Josh, standing beside her. They exchanged a concerned glance.
Suddenly she had a thought. Where was the syringe? There would be a remnant of the substance injected into Brad in the syringe. It might be needed in order to determine exactly what was in his system. She jumped up and began to scan the ground around where he had been stabbed.
‘Help me, Josh. We need to find that needle.’
In seconds Lexie saw the discarded syringe. Scurrying towards it, she picked it up carefully.
‘Where’s Sasha’s handbag?’
‘It’s here,’ Grace called out. ‘I grabbed it when she dropped it in the struggle. It’s right here.’
Lexie broke into a trot and plucked the bag from Grace’s feet. Handing Grace the needle, she told her to run into the nearby chemist and ask for a container to secure it in.
Then she went through Sasha’s bag. Instantly she found the scripts in a plastic sleeve. There was a blister pack of OxyContin and a small vial with clear fluid in it. It had to be OxyContin. It just had to be.
‘I think Brad’s unconscious,’ Lurch blurted out, unable to disguise the fear in his voice.
Lexie felt tears threaten and had to stop herself from losing it right there and then. Josh was beside her in an instant, placing a reassuring arm around her waist. Lexie gently brushed him off and sat on the ground in front of Brad and held his hand.
He is not going to die. He is not going to die.
‘Hang in there, Brad. The ambulance will be here soon,’ Lexie said over and over again, like a lullaby to soothe a crying baby.
Lexie heard the sirens and took a deep breath. It felt like hours but it had only been minutes. Suddenly Zack was beside her. She had never been so happy to see her ex-husband before in her life.
‘Zack.’
‘Lex, we’re here. My partner Scott and I will take over now.’
When she didn’t move straight away, Zack lifted her by her elbows and guided her out of the way.
Josh moved forward and took Lexie into his arms. His movements were deliberate. He clearly knew exactly who Zack was and his relationship to Lexie and was making a point. For a moment, Zack froze as the realisation dawned – Josh was Lexie’s lover. Both men stared at each other for a split second before Zack’s sad gaze flicked to Lexie.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked, swiftly snapping back to his official role, although his voice was notably flat. Lexie was impressed by his professionalism.
While Scott, the senior paramedic, examined Brad’s arm and took his vitals, Josh explained exactly what had happened. Lexie had not realised until this moment he had watched the whole thing unfold and had stood back, as he had promised, until absolutely necessary; until he had seen her lose it with Sasha.
Lexie watched Zack turn pale.
‘Jesus, I always thought Sasha was spiteful, even crazy but . . . I can’t believe it. She’s a killer?’
There was a terrific irony at play here, Lexie thought. Sasha had broken up their marriage. She had attempted to set Zack up as Melissa McDermott’s killer because he had rejected her. Brad had believed him responsible at first, had it in for him, in fact, and now Zack was helping to save Brad’s life. ‘So, we are pretty sure he’s had an overdose of OxyContin?’ Scott asked.
Lexie and Josh answered, ‘Yes,’ simultaneously.
Zack and his partner talked quietly between themselves. She saw Scott pull out a large needle. Zack handed him a vial of liquid and he swiftly drew it up into the syringe. Pulling Brad’s clothing aside, Joe plunged the needle into the muscle of Brad’s shoulder.
‘Is that Narcan?’ Lexie asked.
Having worked at Kings Cross for the first eight years of her service, Lexie had seen Narcan administered at many a drug overdose. A paramedic had explained to her that Narcan is a narcotic antagonist. It reverses the effect of opioids such as heroin, morphine, OxyContin and many others. It never ceased to amaze her that a simple injection of Narcan could have an addict – as near to death as a person could be – walking away, usually towards their next hit, in a matter of minutes.
‘Yes. We’ll give him one dose to start with. He’s a big bloke and I don’t know how much opioid he has in his system. We’ll see how this goes. I think we should get him into the ambulance and get straight to hospital. He can be observed properly there.’
Brad being such a big guy, Josh, Lurch and Ossie assisted in getting him onto the stretcher. Lexie watched as Brad, who seemed to be already regaining consciousness, was loaded into the back of the ambulance. Zack, who was attending to him, made certain to avoid her gaze.
‘I’ll go with him, Lex. He’ll be okay,’ Josh assured her.
Giving Lexie a quick kiss on the lips, he jumped into the back of the ambulance with Zack – another surreal situation. She hoped that perhaps seeing her with Josh might be the catalyst Zack needed to finally realise it was over between them. Lexie no longer held any ill-will towards her ex-husband. There was no point hanging on to anger and hate. It was toxic, self-destructive. Zack had made a mistake. She seriously hoped he could learn from it and move on.
Hearing crying, Lexie glanced over her shoulder. Across the courtyard she saw that Sasha’s son was sobbing. Cakes, who had been looking after him, had been joined by Grace. They had him sitting on a bench in between them and were doing their best to settle the boy with an ice cream, but to no avail, it seemed. Uniform had arrived and were in the process of cordoning off the crime scene.
Lexie turned back to Josh.
‘I’ve got to go. Call me later to let me know how Brad is.’
Hesitating, she glanced at Zack.
‘Thanks for looking after him.’
Zack nodded but still wouldn’t, or couldn’t, meet her eyes.
Lexie rushed over to the three sitting on the bench. Cakes looked to be at her wits’ end and Grace seemed to have no clue how to deal with a child.
‘It doesn’t matter what we do, he won’t calm down,’ Cakes said, exasperated.
Grace shrugged.
‘I have no idea what to do with a kid; especially a traumatised one.
Lexie leant down in front of the little boy and smiled at him. Strangely, he stopped crying almost instantly and put his arms out for her to take him. Lexie gave Cakes and Grace a baffl
ed glance. Reaching under his arms, she picked him up and nestled him onto her hip. Now they were so close, Lexie got her first good look at him and felt a wave of shock nearly knock her over. His features were so familiar, yet she had never seen him before. Unable to drag her eyes away from the little boy, Lexie stared into a set of big brown eyes, just like her own, just like her brother’s.
In that instant, Lexie knew there had been truth to Sasha’s words. This little boy was her flesh and blood. There was no doubt about it. He was Lincoln’s child. This was her nephew.
CHAPTER 47
Lexie knocked on the front door of Sasha’s mother’s house. The door flung open almost instantly and a sobbing Mrs Hemming held out her arms to the little boy.
‘Jayden.’
‘Mummy, Mummy,’ he shrieked and launched himself into her arms.
Mummy?
Confused, Lexie stood on the threshold of the doorway watching Sasha’s mother, a woman she had known since she was a child, softly weep into the little boy’s neck. Rocking him gently, she patted his back and smothered him with kisses, as if she was trying to absorb his pain and trauma.
Lexie hadn’t seen her for years and she thought how little time had changed her appearance. She was shorter than Sasha, a lot rounder, with olive skin, and big doe eyes like her daughter’s. But Mrs Hemming’s eyes were kind, warm and loving. Not malicious and conniving.
When Jayden had calmed down significantly, Mrs Hemming finally met Lexie’s gaze and gestured for her to come inside. Not having stepped inside Sasha’s mother’s house since she was a kid, Lexie felt weird being there. She wondered what lies Sasha had told about her, then decided it didn’t matter. The real Sasha had emerged today in front of numerous witnesses. Her days of manipulation were over.
In the lounge room Mrs Hemming soothed Jayden once more until he fell asleep with his head on her lap.
‘Please sit down, Lexie.’
They had spoken briefly on the phone earlier, when Lexie had explained what had happened and that she had Jayden. She hated to think what must be running through this poor woman’s head right now.
‘Please, tell me all about it,’ Mrs Hemmings asked simply, with tears glistening in her eyes.
Lexie took a seat on the sofa next to her. The next twenty minutes consisted of Lexie telling Mrs Hemming about Sasha’s setting up of the OxyContin drug ring, the murders of Rachel West, Jenna Harrison and Melissa McDermott, and that morning’s attempted murder of a police officer. Sasha’s mother wept as Lexie spoke while Jayden slept on.
‘I’m sorry to have to tell you all this, Mrs Hemming, but clearly Sasha is a very disturbed girl. She will be charged with a number of offences: murder, attempted murder, as well as forgery and supply of a prohibited drug.’
‘She won’t cope if she goes to gaol.’
Mrs Hemming’s voice was panicked and Jayden stirred and woke from his sleep . . .
‘I’ll just put Jayden to bed so we can talk,’ Mrs Hemming told her. Lexie watched her disappear down the corridor carrying him. She returned moments later and sat down next to Lexie.
‘She needs help,’ Mrs Hemming said, her voice calmer now, ‘psychiatric help. As you can imagine, I am in a great deal of shock. I’m horrified. It’s hard to comprehend that your child . . . that Sasha could do all this.’
She sniffed and blew her nose with a tissue.
‘I’ve known for some time things were not right with her, but she refused help. She would become really aggressive—’
Mrs Hemming’s voice trembled and she took a deep breath, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.
‘It’s those stupid pills, you know. She got addicted to them. It got worse when she started taking the pain-killers Doctor Bream prescribed for her.’
‘Doctor Bream didn’t prescribe those pills,’ Lexie said gently. ‘Sasha was forging his name on a prescription pad she’d stolen. She was also possibly stealing some medication from the hospital supplies.’
Lexie thought back to reading Melissa’s diary. She couldn’t remember her exact words, but she had ranted about ‘not taking kindly to threats’, and ‘giving the benefit of the doubt this time but if it happens again . . .’ And wondered if Melissa may have caught Sasha stealing medication from hospital supplies? Had Melissa threatened to report her? If so, being under threat of exposure and knowing Melissa had slept with Bream would have given Sasha more than enough reason to get rid of her.
Mrs Hemming hadn’t properly heard Lexie.
‘She’s addicted to them, you know. Those oxy things. I’ve even heard her talking to Natalia. When I asked her—’
‘What? Who is Natalia? That’s the name Sasha used when doing the drug deals.’
‘Oh God,’ Mrs Hemming gasped. ‘Natalia was her twin. She died at birth. Whenever Sasha was naughty when she was young she would blame it on Natalia.’
Mrs Hemming sighed.
‘Natasha and Natalia I called them, although Sasha insisted on shortening her name.’
Lexie knew about Sasha’s twin, although she had not known her name.
Mrs Hemming shook her head and stared at a spot on the floor. She seemed lost in her thoughts for a moment.
‘Sasha has always been a handful. Very determined to get what she wanted. She was outwardly confident but deep down Sasha is very insecure. That’s why she was always jealous of you, of your family. She thought you had it all.
Is that why she wanted what I had? Is that why she wanted my husband? My brother?
‘So you agree Sasha could be obsessive?’
Mrs Hemming nodded.
‘Please call me Nancy. You’re not a kid anymore . . . It makes me feel so old.’
‘Nancy . . . Could you please explain something for me. Jayden was calling Sasha “mummy” but I heard him call you “mummy”?’
‘Jayden is Sasha’s child but she has had little to do with him. She shows him hardly any attention. This morning he would have been calling for me. He doesn’t call her mummy. He thinks I am his mother and Sasha is his older sister. It’s better that way. I don’t want him growing up thinking he has a mother who doesn’t care about him. I don’t know if you are aware, but Sasha doesn’t live here. She chooses to live in a one-bedroom flat by herself. The only reason Sasha had Jayden with her this morning is because I had an appointment.’
‘When did Sasha give birth to Jayden? How old is he?’
Nancy Hemming gave Lexie a long, guarded look. As she began to speak, she closed her eyes.
‘He is four. Sasha came back from a holiday in Europe pregnant. She hadn’t realised and was too far along to . . . you know, to do anything about it. She didn’t want the baby – didn’t want Jayden. She wouldn’t tell me who the father was; said it didn’t matter, I didn’t know him. I promised I would bring up the baby as my own.’
Nancy Hemming opened her eyes and stared at Lexie.
‘I didn’t know at first. I would have contacted you and your family if I had known.’
‘So Jayden is Lincoln’s child then, definitely?’
The answer was obvious, but Lexie had to ask.
Nancy Hemming nodded her head.
‘It was only when he got a bit older and became the image of Linc . . . of your brother, that I knew it had to be his child. I asked Sasha and she eventually admitted that she had been intimate with Lincoln. You two were no longer friends by then.’
Lexie thought of the time-line of events. Lincoln had travelled around Europe over four years ago and he had mentioned catching up with Sasha over there. Sasha must have come back, had the baby, then left Sydney to take up her nursing position at Wagga Wagga, where she met Rod Bream.
‘I didn’t even know Sasha and Lincoln had,’ Lexie searched for the right words, ‘been involved.’
‘They weren’t really. It was a holiday fling. He was not interested in a relationship, Sasha told me.’
Nancy shook her head in dismay.
‘Sasha always had a thing for your brothe
r, you know that.’
Yes, she did know that. She’d had a thing for Zack as well.
‘I have to say I was very disappointed when you girls had that horrible fall-out. And I’m not here to judge you, Lexie, but . . . stealing Sasha’s boyfriend and marrying him . . . that was really not very nice.’
Lexie’s mouth dropped. Sasha, as always, had manipulated the story, turned it all around.
‘Mrs Hemming . . . Nancy, Sasha was never Zack’s girlfriend. She had an affair with my husband. She broke up my marriage.’
Nancy’s eyebrows knitted together in a frown.
‘Are you sure? She told me—’
‘She lied. Sasha lied about a lot of things. What did she tell you about Doctor Rod Bream?’
‘She was heartbroken over him when they broke up. Another woman got in the way but she was always confident, adamant in fact, that they would end up together. I thought she was wasting her time, but she always said he would see the light one day; that it was destined.’
Holy crap; Sasha was completely delusional.
‘I’m sorry, Nancy, but Sasha never went out with Doctor Bream. The three women we believe she killed were all linked to him. Sasha killed every girl he became involved with, possibly thinking that somehow that would ensure she and Rod would end up together. I hate to say it, but your daughter’s fixation on Doctor Bream turned into a dangerous and deadly obsession.
CHAPTER 48
SIX HOURS LATER
Lexie had just completed processing the charges against Sasha when her phone rang. It was Lurch.
‘Hey, Lex, got some good news. We’ve just found Melissa McDermott’s handbag in Sasha’s wardrobe. There are pictures of Rod Bream everywhere; all over the walls of her flat and especially in her bedroom. Some are blown up to poster size. It’s freaky. And it looks like he isn’t aware he was being photographed. She was stalking him.’
Three teams of detectives were carrying out a search on Sasha Hemming’s flat in the hope of getting some solid evidence to link her to all three dead women. This was great news.
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