She flicked the switch on the coffee machine and dumped the groceries on the bench.
‘What are your plans for the day?’ she said as Simon stepped into the kitchen.
‘I’m home all day, writing my tender submission for the Education Department,’ he said.
She turned then to see him dressed in jeans and a windcheater, his wet hair combed back from his face, his mind seemingly in another place as he slowly poured a glass of juice.
‘Half your luck,’ she said, immediately regretting it.
‘You could quit full-time work too, Laura. We could live comfortably on my consultancy dollars and our superannuation.’ He took a gulp of juice, watching for her reaction.
‘I love my work too much to quit,’ she said, pouring the frothed milk into her coffee mug.
‘Don’t complain then,’ he said, before they lapsed into silence.
At her usual spot facing the view outside, Laura watched Simon at the end of the table, chomping into a slice of toast, his jaw grinding almost rhythmically as he read the paper.
‘You seem different since you’ve been home,’ Laura said, watching him above the rim of her coffee mug. ‘What’s changed?’
‘What?’ he said, glancing up at her.
‘What’s changed,’ she repeated.
He studied her face for a moment. ‘I told you,’ he said, licking his finger and turning the page. ‘Being away has made me appreciate what we have together. I don’t want to give that up.’
Laura sighed as she rose from the table and gathered up the dirty dishes, astounded by the ease and speed with which Simon redirected his attentions, and seemingly his emotions, back to the newspaper.
From where she stood at the breakfast bar she gazed through the window, immediately catching sight of Flynn striding through the dunes with Callie. Waited for him to turn towards the house. But of course he did not. She knew deep down not to expect it. Yet for some reason Simon looked up from his paper and followed her line of vision. Glanced back at her before returning to his reading.
‘Did you see much of Flynn while I was away?’ he said without lifting his head.
‘No more than usual,’ she said, loading dishes into the washer. Wondering if she should speak up about the time she had posed for him. She had nothing to hide, after all. But she knew Simon would read into it something that simply did not exist. Why bother telling him then? Besides, it was an event that had passed. Just as whatever had happened to Simon while he had been away from home were events that had passed.
She stacked the dishes and returned to the table to clear the remaining few. ‘What about you? Did you have any female company while you were away?’ she said, the image of the stiletto tip insistent in its intrusiveness.
Simon looked up from his paper. ‘Um? What did you say?’
‘Never mind,’ Laura said, swiping up plates and mugs from the table, noticing the time and scampering to the bedroom to dress for work.
Waiting for the roller door to open and dressed in jeans and a windcheater after deciding to shower and change into her uniform at work, Laura glanced into her rear view mirror after a car horn sounded from behind. Noah smiled at her from inside his pristinely aged black BMW. She returned his smile with a wave and they coasted into the car park.
‘Good morning, Laura,’ Noah said in the dimly lit cavity, one hand in the pocket of his suit pants, the other holding his briefcase as they both headed for the fire door. ‘You must get jacked off driving back and forwards.’ He watched Laura key the code into the security door before they stepped in and wandered along the corridor towards the elevators.
‘I love driving to our place on the Fleurieu on days off,’ he added, ‘but I wouldn’t want to do it every day – especially on shift.’ He stood aside for her to step into the elevator. ‘It took me five minutes to drive here from our apartment. How long did it take you?’ he said with a wry smile as the elevator door slid closed.
‘About fifty-five. But I bet my nerves are less jangled than yours,’ she said, returning his smile, wishing it was true.
He made a face. ‘I won’t argue with that. By the way, we’re making interesting discoveries in the Alex Holt case. We’ll have coffee later and I’ll bring you up to speed.’
‘You’re on,’ she said. ‘But can’t you tell me now?’
He tapped the side of his nose. Grinned. ‘No. It’s still panning out. I’ll swing by your desk at eleven and we’ll head over to Ambrosia’s.’
The sound of streaming showers would have drowned Jenny’s voice had she not been shouting as Laura pushed through the door into the steamy change rooms – fragrances of talc, soap and perfume mingling with visions of coloured personal towels, making the grey space seem much more glamorous than it was.
‘I don’t get it,’ Jenny’s voice chimed from inside a cubicle. ‘She should tell him to sling his hook. It’s that simple.’
Lyn’s agitated voice echoed from within the adjoining cubicle. ‘I know what you’re saying, Jenny. I tell you what, if my husband even looked at an online dating service, let alone bloody Timber or whatever its called, I’d tie his junk in a knot.’
Laura smiled. ‘Good morning, girls,’ she called, opening her grey metal locker, one of dozens lining the wall.
‘Morning, Laura,’ they shouted in unison before continuing their conversation about Jenny’s neighbour, who was obviously facing a traumatic decision regarding her husband’s obsessively frequent online philandering. Laura pulled off her civvies, unwound her shower ball dangling from her locker handle and grabbed her towel from its coat hanger suspended from the top of the lockers. No one bothered asking anymore why towel rails could not be installed in the change rooms.
Lowering her head, relishing the feel of the hot water running over her neck, Laura watched it pool and eddy on the tiled floor before swirling down the drain, all the while pondering Jenny and Lyn’s conversation. She wondered whether online dating had ever crossed Simon’s mind, immediately deciding he did not have the balls.
Later that morning Laura watched from her desk as Noah passed Tom’s office, calling ‘Morning Tom,’ his schoolboy smirk not fading until he reached her desk.
‘Let’s go,’ he said to her as he approached.
Laura checked she had change, feeling a jolt of disquiet at the menacing stiletto tip staring back at her from her purse. ‘You realise you’ll have no future if you’re seen by the boss talking to me, don’t you?’ she said to Noah, slipping into her leather jacket and lifting her cap from her desk.
‘Chances are, Tom has forgotten all about your little discussion by now. Strange that it’s still on your mind,’ he murmured, stepping aside for her to lead the way. ‘You’re bestowing Tom an inordinate amount of power by allowing the matter to linger in your mind, Laura,’ he added in almost a whisper.
‘I know what you’re saying. I need to get over it,’ she replied. But that doesn’t mean I should stop watching my back.
‘How’s Mia?’ she said moments later as the glass doors of the station slid open and the chilled air confronted them.
‘She misses Adam.’
‘He’s in Africa, isn’t he?’ Laura said.
‘Yes, in wildlife conservation with the giraffes. Mia worries about the high morbidity rate over there, but who wants to stop their kids from living their dreams?’
‘Does seeing Mia with Adam make you wish you’d had kids?’ Laura said as they waited at the pedestrian lights.
‘Sometimes. But I don’t think about it much. You don’t miss what you don’t know. Besides Mia tells me I invest more time and emotion in my work than most parents invest in their kids.’
The waitress wore her bad day on her face as she stepped up to them at the bench inside the front window of Ambrosia’s.
‘Don’t keep me waiting. What’s happening?’ Laura said after they had ordered.
Noah glanced around the room and leaned into her, speaking in
hushed tones. ‘The Victorian Child Welfare Department have an unsubstantiated concern registered against Clive Fuller from a couple of years ago. For some time he was keeping a fifteen-year-old female student regularly after class to give her support because her parents were going through a nasty divorce. During these support sessions,’ he made parentheses in the air with his fingers, ‘Fuller would tell the girl how attractive and desirable she was to men. We all know what that would do to most self-conscious fifteen year olds, don’t we? Anyway, as luck would have it, the girl boasted about these comments to her mother during an argument, causing the mother to immediately notify the department. The Victorian social workers and the police are aware the girl was protecting Fuller, but because he hadn’t really committed an offence there was little they could do other than talk sternly to him. It seems they followed up a month or so later and Mr Fuller had retreated back under his rock and given up on inviting her to stay after school. He left the school shortly after and the authorities lost touch.’
‘Mmm. That’s interesting. But there’s a quantum leap between making inappropriate verbal comments to a student and full-on sexual assault with intent. Fuller is a sleaze, but I don’t think he is Alex’s attacker.’
‘My point is that Mr Fuller is not a clean skin. Even though his actions in Victoria do not fit the profile of Alex’s attacker, it wouldn’t hurt for you to have a chat with Alex about him. See what you can find out. We both know it’s not uncommon for victims to have more than one abuser.’
Laura smiled up at the waitress as she solemnly placed their drinks down.
‘Sure, I’ll talk to Alex about Fuller. What were your other interesting revelations?’
Noah took the first sip of his coffee. ‘We’ve also discovered that a registered paedophile, John Mitcham, was released from prison and moved into Alex’s area a week before she was attacked, and he does not have an alibi for that evening. His history is more about subtle grooming of pre-pubescent victims than violent attacks on teens or women, but four and a half years in prison can affect people in strange ways. Anyway, we’re keeping an eye on him,’ Noah concluded before taking another sip of coffee.
‘Do you want me to probe with Alex about whether she might have seen him around?’
‘No, best not to at this stage. It’ll only alarm her.’
‘Is he tall?’ Laura asked
‘Yes. He fits every aspect of the description Alex has given us so far.’
Laura scraped the froth from her coffee and sucked the spoon, pondering the likelihood of Alex coming across this John Mitcham character at the store.
Noah interrupted her thoughts. ‘You seem more withdrawn than usual, Laura. Is everything OK – apart from the Tom debacle, I mean.’
Laura studied the concern on his face. She trusted Noah, but she wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about what was happening at home. She couldn’t understand it herself let alone explain it to anyone else. She was about to tell Noah everything was fine when he said, ‘It’s just that I’ve heard rumours around Ackland Bay that you and Simon have split.’
Laura looked down at her coffee. Privately shook her head at her own stupidity for believing people would not be talking. ‘He moved to the city for three months, but he’s back now.’
‘You don’t seem happy about that,’ Noah said, his eyes boring into hers.
‘To be honest, I’m having trouble readjusting. I think I’m the sort of person who is meant to live alone.’
‘But you and Simon have been happily married for eight years. What’s changed?’
‘He seems different. I feel different. Who knows what’s changed? He’s only been back a few days so . . .’ She shrugged. ‘It’s just a matter of getting used to each other again, I guess.’
Noah’s gaze was intense. ‘Let me know if you need to talk,’ he said, his eyes finally leaving hers as he picked up his cup and drank. ‘Now,’ he said, swallowing, ‘back to Alex. Here is the most interesting discovery of all.’
Laura’s smile was spontaneous, her relief immense that he had changed the subject.
Noah cast his eyes around the cafe yet again. ‘Isaac Harrison’s flatmate contacted us to say she was withdrawing her statement. That she could no longer provide an alibi for Isaac. She said she wasn’t at home the night Alex was assaulted, so she’d have no idea whether Isaac came home or not. She said he had begged her to back him up, and she was prepared to help him out because he told her even the tiniest mark against his name may preclude him from being registered as a doctor. She said she thought there was no harm in providing a statement because he is a good guy – a normal dude with no weird habits. But her parents insisted she tell us the truth.’
‘What did Isaac have to say about all this? Laura said, frowning.
‘When we spoke to him he seemed chastened and very apologetic. He reassured us he would never do anything to harm anyone, let alone Alex. He reminded me several times that he wants to be a doctor because he appreciates and respects humanity.’
Laura drained her coffee. ‘Mm. Alex gives the distinct impression she would trust Isaac with her life. In fact she wanted him to walk her home that night. But why would he immediately launch into lying about an alibi if he didn’t have anything to hide?’
Noah shrugged. ‘Yeah. But then again, we both know people just lie sometimes.’ He studied his empty coffee cup for a while. ‘Now that we know Alex’s attacker was wearing a balaclava, it’s likely it was someone `she knows. But who?’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Laura watched Alex drag her feet towards the car, her despondency a clear indication that what she has been going through was finally taking its toll.
‘Maddi’s mum rang me about a flashback you had when you girls were returning from the shops,’ she said as they drove from the car park for their prearranged lunch meeting.
‘Why did she ring you?’ Alex said, her usual smile noticeably absent.
‘Because she’s a responsible adult who cares,’ Laura said.
‘Well it was no big deal. It was the same as the one I had when I was with you.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Maybe it was a bit longer this time with more shadows, but it still wasn’t very clear. It’s not like watching a movie or a computer game or anything. It’s heaps more blurry and heaps quicker – like just a flash.’ She swallowed and looked down at where her hands lay in her lap, flicking her thumbnails against each other.
Laura moved into the right lane, the metronomic clicking of the indicators breaking the silence. ‘Alex, did you know that there’s sometimes a pattern when people have flashbacks? Sometimes there are triggers,’ she said. ‘Can you remember what was happening immediately before you had this one?’
Alex shook her head. ‘I was just watching Bruno sniffing around in the bushes at the side of the footpath when everything went black and it happened, like for less than a minute. Maddi said I stopped walking. She said I was really pale. She thought I was going to black out but I didn’t. I was back to normal by the time Mr Fuller reached us, just a bit spaced out, that’s all. Can we talk about something else now, please?’
Laura pulled into a park behind Swiss Chalet and they climbed from the car. ‘Jayne Sterling mentioned Mr Fuller. He’s your science teacher, isn’t he?’
Alex rolled her eyes. ‘Yes. Mrs Sterling probably said bad things about him because Maddi doesn’t like him. She even made me walk away when we saw him near the shop. I hope he doesn’t think I’m rude. He’s always polite to me . . . always makes time to talk to me.’
Hairs on the back of Laura’s neck bristled as she held the glass-panelled door of the Swiss Chalet open for Alex to step in. ‘Do you mean he speaks to you outside of class times?’ she said as she followed Alex to a table by the window.
‘He’s helping me deal with the attack.’ Alex sat, flanked by the window where lunchtime traffic slowed and stopped at the pedestrian crossing outside. ‘Like he asks me how I am and tells me I’m safe now. He s
aid he would make himself available whenever I need to talk. He totally understands.’
Amid the chatter of the busy cafe, the whooshing of the coffee machine and the repetitively burbling signals at the pedestrian crossing, Alex suddenly appeared to retreat into a world of her own, her face like flint as she stared across the long narrow room. Laura turned and followed her line of vision to a man wearing a checked jacket, sitting across the table from a tall thin woman in a white shirt, her tight curls and pearl earrings at odds with her relatively youthful complexion.
‘That’s Mr Fuller. And my class teacher, Ms Hosking,’ Alex said as the waitress cleared the table alongside and asked for their order.
‘I’ll have a chocolate with an extra marshmallow, please,’ Alex said, her eyes never leaving the couple. ‘I wonder if they come here together very often,’ she said once Laura had ordered coffee.
‘You seem bothered at seeing them together,’ Laura said.
Alex blew out the side of her mouth and turned to the window. ‘Why would that bother me? I was just wondering, that’s all.’
Moments later the two teachers passed their table on their way out. Ms Hosking touched Alex gently on the shoulder and smiled, giving Laura a knowing smile subsequent to their earlier phone conversation about Laura taking Alex off school grounds.. Laura returned Ms Hosking’s smile, thinking how Mr Fuller’s refusal to even acknowledge them was more telling than anything else he could have done.
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