Detective Williamson looked genuinely concerned as he sat down and asked if I was ok. I didn’t want to waste time with his sympathy, so I told him I was fine.
‘Can you tell me what happened?’ he asked, getting down to business, taking out his notepad and pen. The sooner this was over the better.
‘I don’t know how, but these men who are after Sophie thought I was her, and tried to force me to be in some sort of movie. They were going to kill me. But I managed to get away...’
‘How did you get away?’ he asked.
‘One of them was forcing me to put on some lingerie in the bathroom. He had a knife. I had a piano wire in my pocket. It’s like a good luck charm. I managed to put it round his neck and... sort of strangle him with it until I could get away. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just needed to get out of there! The other guy came at me, but I had the knife by then, so I cut his arm. I don’t think the cut was very bad. He still managed to chase after me. But I got down to the ground floor before he caught me.’
The detective stared at me, looking surprised to hear me be so frank about it. ‘Why were you at the hotel?’ he asked.
‘I’ve been doing some investigating into who might be trying to hurt my sister, and I had a suspicion about some men who I found were filming a movie at the hotel... the Quay Suites at Circular Quay.’
Williamson put his hands up as if to stop traffic and said: ‘Slow down. How did you decide these men were suspicious? You need to give me more detail....’
There was no way I was going back over everything I had done in the last day, especially the bit where I impersonated a policewoman...and the bit where Andy and I used secret government software...
‘I found some things after contacting a friend of Sophie’s...’ When in doubt, white lies were always a good idea.
‘Have you had any contact with Sophie?’ he asked.
‘No, I wish. Liam saw her at the hospital, just as some police took him in for questioning. They thought he had something to do with the blackmail, which is ridiculous.’
‘About this Liam Kingsley, how much do you know about him?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, you told me your mum hired him as a private investigator. Did you know he used to be a lawyer?’
‘Yes, so what?’
‘And he was disbarred for having an inappropriate relationship with one of his clients? His client was a murder suspect, Abigail Marks. She was eventually convicted of murdering her ex-husband.’
What? What did this have to do with anything? Is that why the police had swooped in and arrested Liam, right when he was about to make contact with Sophie? So Liam had fallen for a client? I was amazed how unsurprised I was. It seemed just like Liam to fall for someone he shouldn’t. Like Sophie, for instance... It was time to get the detective back on track.
‘Look, that email to the politician was sent by me. Liam had nothing to do with it...’
‘Thought as much...’
‘But we’re wasting time even discussing that. The men who attacked me thought I was Sophie. That’s what worries me. I found out what they were planning to do to her if they found her...’
‘What do you think they were planning to do?’
‘Kill her. But film her first. And maybe film her while they killed her.’ A shiver ran down my spine.
Williamson could sense my fear. ‘What made you think that?’
‘From what they said when they tied me up. When they made me put on lingerie, and makeup, and then said something about me having to perform. There was a camera set up in another room. And there was a girl there too. I couldn’t see because the door was closed, but I heard them talking about it.’ I started to sound whiny and frantic as I retold just a bit of what had happened. I needed to calm down and focus.
Williamson was writing something on his notepad. ‘Another girl was taken away from the scene. She’s in hospital. So you are saying you think they were making a snuff movie, and they wanted to use you in it, but they thought you were Sophie?’
‘A snuff movie?’ I suddenly realised what he meant by that. I’d seen it in a horror movie years ago, but I never realised people actually made them in real life.
Williamson explained what it was, giving a surprisingly frank explanation. ‘People have been known to make pornographic movies where the viewer is able to watch as someone is killed, in real life, on camera. There must be a market for this type of film, as we do hear that they are sold. I’ve never heard of them being made in Australia, but I assume it must be possible.’
Unbelievable. How could people want to watch someone being killed? This was exactly the sort of film I had escaped from appearing in.
‘Why would they want to put Sophie in one of those films?’ I asked, suddenly impatient to get out and find her, before the man who escaped the hotel did. ‘I can’t believe one of the men got away. You guys were there so fast. Do you think they will find him?’ I pictured the man who I had stabbed running through the streets of Sydney, getting further away and harder to find with every second that passed.
‘We’ve got plenty of officers out there looking for him. The other suspect is under guard in hospital. He was still unconscious when they found him. Now, the more you can tell me about what happened, the better. And we will get you to sit with our sketch artist so we can get an identikit put together.’
This all sounded like it was going to take forever. And I hadn’t even called Liam yet, to let him know what happened. He would probably be relieved I was attacked instead of Sophie. He wouldn’t want anything to happen to his beloved.
‘Look, I think I can give you a pretty good description, but there are other things you need to know that will help you to find who these people are. I don’t have time to explain how I know all this, but can you just trust me for now and I’ll explain everything later?’
Williamson looked at me sceptically, he was obviously curious to find out what I knew, but he also wanted to know how I knew it. ‘Ok, what do you know?’
‘When I was here yesterday, you told me you were looking for Sophie because you thought she was blackmailing someone.’ Williamson nodded. ‘I think Sophie was going to be killed because she knew what these men were doing –or at least they thought she knew.’ Surely if she had really known she would have gone to the police, not tried to blackmail them. How could she risk people's lives just to make some extra cash?
‘That thought had crossed my mind.’
‘I don’t know if she knew about the... snuff... movies, but she used to hang out with a man called Bill Holland, and I think he had something to do with it.’
‘Where did you get that name?’ he asked. From the look on his face it meant nothing to him.
‘I just found it. I think he was one of Sophie’s clients, she was working...’ I avoided the word prostitute, still feeling a pang of embarrassment at the thought of Sophie’s work. ‘When she was working for him, I think he must have told her about the movies, or she found out about them somehow.’
‘And you think she blackmailed him, threatening to tell the police if he didn’t give her money?’
‘Yes. It was probably her boyfriend’s idea. They can’t have known how Holland would react. I think he was behind the murders. The thought of people knowing about the movies was too big a risk. I don’t know how these people managed to mix me up with Sophie. When they were waiting for me at the house in Newtown, they might have already mixed me up by then. And when I turned up at the hotel, they thought they had Sophie. They wanted to put her in a movie. When they tied me up, they spoke to someone on the phone, and were given directions about what to do to me.’ It was hard to keep my voice steady so I took a deep breath.
‘Do you think they were talking to Bill Holland?’ Williamson was now looking more interested in what I had to say.
‘I’m not sure. The thing is, I also happen to know Bill Holland is sort of missing. He hasn’t been seen in London, where he lives, for a couple of mo
nths. He might be here in Sydney. I’m not sure. But one of his associates is definitely here. Somewhere on the South Coast.’
Now Williamson’s expression changed again, and he looked incredulous. ‘How on earth could you know that?’
How many times did I have to tell him I wasn’t going to explain that? I put my face in my hands, and let out a long drawn out sigh.
‘I really don’t have time to explain now. You just have to believe me, because while we talk the men who attacked me are still out there. And, since they still think I am Sophie, they are probably aware that ‘Sophie’ has gone to the police. I’m not sure whether they will come here looking for me, but I won’t feel safe until you find them. And even more critically now, until I find Sophie.’
‘About that, you know we still need to speak to her about the blackmailing she was doing.’
‘Of course, but what’s more important? Finding someone who tried to make money off someone else’s crimes? Or finding the people who are actually doing the crimes? They tried to murder me today! And I wasn’t their first victim! Not to mention murdering two other people that we know of!’
I was starting to get hysterical again, because the detective wasn’t acting with any sense of urgency. He obviously wanted to know more before he acted. He seemed to be speaking as slowly as possible, in an attempt to calm me.
‘We need to find these people who attacked you today. If they are involved in murdering women on film, we should be able to find evidence of that fairly quickly. Right now, I think it would be best if you give us a description of the other man, and we hear in greater detail what happened to you this afternoon.’
Was he serious? I had told him everything he needed to know! How did it help him for me to re-live the last couple of hours? I was attacked and I got away! I was almost killed as the star of a snuff movie! End of story!
‘Can I make a phone call before I give the sketch artist the description?’
‘Who are you going to call?’
‘Does it matter?’ A week ago I would never have said that to a detective. This experience had changed me, whether it was for the better was hard to say.
The detective got up from his chair, looking at me like I was a misbehaving teenager who he didn’t feel like dealing with. I followed him back into the foyer and he motioned to the policewoman at the desk to come and stand with me as I picked up the phone. Liam answered straight away. He sounded tired.
‘Liam, it’s me Ellen. I’m at the police station...’
‘Not again! What the hell are you doing there this time?’ he interrupted.
‘I was attacked Liam!’ I hissed into the phone, trying to keep my voice down, as the policewoman was listening.
‘Attacked? Who? Where? When?’
‘Some people who thought I was Sophie. I found them, the people who killed Danny and Katie. I’m sure it’s them. They were about to use me in a snuff movie.’ I already hated the word ‘snuff’, having only found out what it referred to minutes before. Liam didn’t need to be told what it meant.
‘They were going to kill you on camera? Is that what they were going to do to Sophie?’ His voice petered out into a frightened whimper as he said ‘Sophie’.
‘They thought I was her! They were calling me Molly. We have to find her, Liam. The police are looking for the men now, but who knows when they’ll find them. I just don’t want Sophie found by the people they work for in the meantime. There are definitely more of them. One of them was talking on the phone to someone else.’
‘I’ve been trying to call you all afternoon. Your phone has been off,’ Liam complained.
‘The man who attacked me has it! Or it's still in the apartment. For fuck’s sake, didn’t you just hear what I told you! They almost killed me! I had to strangle one of them, and stab the other to get away!’
‘Shit Ellen! Are you ok?’ Finally a bit of sympathy.
‘Yes, I’m fine. Where are you? Mum has asked Andy to come and pick me up.’
‘That’s why I’ve been calling you, I think I’ve worked out where Sophie might be and I’m just on my way there now!’
‘Where?’
‘This morning I went back to the hospital, to see if I could find out who Sophie saw. I finally found a nurse who had checked up on Charlie, and she told me he was fine. But she had asked Sophie why he had a dirty nappy, and was wearing dirty clothes. Sophie admitted she had nowhere to stay that night, and she had been sleeping in her car. She must have slept in her car after she left the apartment at Dee Why. And she didn’t have any clothes or anything.’ I felt terrible. ‘The nurse asked her if she wanted the address for some women’s shelter, but she said she didn’t. She wasn’t going to stay in Sydney long.’
‘So where would she go?’ I couldn’t bear the thought of Sophie leaving Sydney. How would we ever work out where she had gone? Liam didn’t seem to share this anxiety.
‘I think I know where she might be going. It’s just a hunch, but it’s worth checking. When we went through Sophie's things in her apartment, she had the City Rail train timetable. We both thought it was Katie's. But why would Sophie keep it?'
'You think Sophie might be catching a train too?'
'It's just an idea. The thing is, her car was still in the car park at the hospital. She must have left it there. So I was thinking, if Katie was trying to leave Sydney by train, maybe the plan was that Sophie would take the same train later, and meet up with her. It was safer to travel separately. So if Sophie said she was leaving, and she’s not using the car anymore, and she was holding onto the train timetable, the chances are that she will be taking a train too. I looked into the reports on Katie’s case and found out what platform she was on, it was obvious from the timetable that she was either on her way to Brisbane or Lismore, depending whether she planned to catch the train that was stopped at the station, or the one that hit her. Soph has to be headed to one of these places, I’m sure of it.’
Liam’s enthusiasm was not infectious. I had to admit that his investigations had been quite clever, but there wasn’t any certainty that Sophie was going to Brisbane or Lismore. Even if she was catching a train, she could be going absolutely anywhere! She might have already left! And then where would we start looking?
‘I’m on my way to Central Station now,’ Liam went on. ‘Both the trains Katie might have been catching leave twice a day. They’re both due out in about an hour. But I may as well hang around the station, just in case she’s catching a train somewhere else.’
I had to hand it to Liam. He sure was persistent in his search for Sophie. The excitement in his voice was palpable. I had to keep reminding myself he had never met Sophie. What would he say when he found her? ‘Hi Sophie, you don’t know me, but I’ve been searching for you, and by the way, I’m in love with you’?
‘Ok, I guess it’s worth a try. Do you want me to meet you there? Andy should be here soon, I could get him to drive me over to wait with you?’
‘After what you’ve been through, you probably should just rest. If I find her, I’ll let you know and I’ll bring her straight to Parramatta.’
I did want to go wait with Liam, but I was also aware of how painfully exhausted I was. I had to try to stay positive, no matter how long a shot I thought Liam was chasing. Could it possibly be that by the time Andy got here, Liam would already have found Sophie and we could all meet back at Andy’s flat? The thought of being able to call mum and tell her that Sophie was with me lifted my spirits.
‘You’re right, I am pretty whacked. When Andy gets here, I’ll call you back on his mobile so you will have a number to call us on when you find Sophie...’
‘If I find Sophie,’ Liam corrected me.
'Yeah, if. Also, there's something else I thought of. Sophie has run both times we found her. If you find her again, you need some way to make her understand you have been sent by mum and me, so she'll know she is safe.'
'Good idea. Like what?'
'I was thinking you could yell 'S
oapie', instead of Sophie. I used to call her that when I was little. I couldn't say Sophie'.
'Do you think that will work?' Liam sounded dubious.
'Trust me, she'll get it.'
'Ok, thanks for that, it will be useful.'
The excitement in his voice gave away his hopefulness. He thought he was onto something. I just prayed he was right. I hung up the phone, now more eager than ever to get the rest of my police interview over and done with. I realised that in all the excitement, I had forgotten to tell Liam about the email from Sophie. But that wasn’t important now, especially if he managed to find her in the meantime.
The policewoman led me into another interview room, where a surprisingly young, scrawny little man was sitting behind a computer screen. He introduced himself as the sketch artist, and we got to work. I had such a clear image of the man who chased me that I expected the artist to be able to put together a near perfect likeness. But when he turned the screen towards me, I was shocked at how imperfectly the image resembled what I was picturing. I tried to change a few things - the size of the nose, the length of the ears - but I just couldn’t get the drawing to look like the image I could see in my head. The artist sensed my frustration, and calmly explained it was near impossible to make the sketch look identical to the man I had seen. This didn’t make me feel any better. I felt like I was wasting time.
When there was nothing more I could add to make the picture more lifelike, I asked if we could move onto my statement. Detective Inspector Williamson came in with another policewoman, who had a tape recorder. They asked me to explain the events of the attack in perfect order, from the first moment I saw the man in the hall, to when the policemen arrived in the lobby. I started out reciting what happened almost robotically...
Times of Trouble Page 26