Spiking the Girl

by Lord, Gabrielle

  Gemma was dipping the first corn chip into the guacamole when she saw the unmarked car pulling up. Immediately, the street changed. People who’d been standing in doorways or on corners suddenly disappeared as Angie, Sean and two others got out of the car. Angie and Sean hurried towards the club’s entrance, while the others, also in plainclothes, disappeared into the shopfronts on either side of the club, working towards covering any back exit.

  Gemma grabbed another corn chip, loaded it up, popped it into her mouth, left a twenty-dollar bill on the counter and bolted out the door. She ran across the road, ducking between cars, and pushed in behind Angie and Sean as they raced past the huge Polynesian.

  Gemma followed Angie down the same hallway she’d been in only a little while earlier, running to the right of the foyer area. When she glanced behind, she met the eyes of the big Polynesian. Had he recognised her? He was yelling into his mobile, warning someone of the arrival of the police. But it was too late. Already she could hear raised voices around the corner. She ran, following the noise, hurrying towards the room she’d found locked previously.

  This time, the door was open and Gemma looked in to see Angie holding a warrant in front of a heavy man seated at a desk. Vernon Kodaly, Gemma remembered. Sean was snooping restlessly around the office, lifting things up, opening drawers, already gloved.

  ‘Vernon Kodaly? I have a warrant here to search these premises,’ said Angie, shoving the warrant under his nose.

  Kodaly pursed his lips in an odd grimace, but made no effort to get up or take the warrant. He waved it away with disdain. ‘Do what you need to do. I’m busy.’

  Why isn’t he jumping up and down, Gemma wondered. It’s almost like he’s expected this.

  ‘Mr Kodaly, you don’t seem to understand the seriousness of this matter. We have reason to believe that a young woman has been abducted and is being held on the premises. We’ve also seen video footage of a young woman, Amy Bernhard, with several men. Amy Bernhard was murdered a year ago and we have reason to believe the video of her was shot here in this club.’ Angie moved in even closer and Gemma wondered why Kodaly still didn’t get out of his seat.

  ‘A year ago? You believe?’ Kodaly feigned shock. ‘You’re making a lot of suppositions, Sergeant. You’re not going to find this missing girl here, I can tell you that now and save you a lot of time. So what exactly do you think you can charge me with?’

  Angie, sensing a presence behind her, suddenly turned. ‘Gemma? What the bloody hell are you doing in here? I warned you!’

  ‘You’ll excuse me if I don’t get up,’ Kodaly was saying. It was then that Gemma noticed the wheelchair.

  Angie beckoned Gemma to come with her and, leaving Sean to mind Kodaly, the two women left the manager’s office and hurried down the hall. ‘This is it,’ said Gemma, pausing at the door. ‘The Black Diamond Room.’

  Angie tried it but it was locked.

  ‘It was open when I was here,’ said Gemma.

  ‘I need a key for the next room,’ Angie called, hurrying back to Kodaly’s office.

  He wheeled himself around from behind his desk. ‘You’ll have to wait,’ he said. ‘My partner has the key to that room. I don’t seem to have a spare with me.’

  ‘I’m not waiting for anyone,’ said Angie. ‘Sean? Come and give this door a nudge for me?’

  Sean moved outside and took a running jump at the door, kicked it hard, then backed off, this time using the weight of his body to shoulder the door jamb. Weakened by the first kick, the timber around the jamb split and Sean’s third assault caused it to fly open. Sean felt around for the light and switched it on. The three of them stared at an empty room. A huge bed covered in fake black bearskin, illuminated by the light of a chandelier, practically filled all available space. Black satin sheets, black cushions. ‘This is it!’ said Angie. ‘The room Claudia captured on her mobile phone!’

  Gemma looked over their shoulders. The only thing missing was the drinks trolley. And Claudia.

  Even though there was nowhere for anyone to hide, just to be sure Gemma looked under the bed, fearing what she might see. But there was nothing there either.

  ‘Search the damn place,’ said Angie to Sean. Then, pointing to Gemma, she barked, ‘You wait over there. I’ll deal with you later. I don’t want anything we find thrown out because we had a student visitor on the team.’

  Gemma nodded but she had no intention of obeying. Instead, she went right through the place behind Sean, as he opened every door and turned over every room looking for Claudia. When they’d finished it was clear the place was empty apart from Kodaly and the police.

  Back in the Black Diamond Room, Sean squatted to be at eye level with traces of white powder on a cushion. ‘It’s coke,’ he said, running a gloved finger over and tasting it.

  ‘Hey!’ Angie objected. ‘That’s not your job. And how come you’re so sure it’s coke?’

  ‘Don’t ask,’ he said.

  ‘I didn’t hear that,’ said Angie. ‘Get Crime Scene down here straightaway. Stop eating the evidence and wait here till they come. I want this place picked over. Every room—walls, floors, ceilings. Carpets, hangings, windows, bathrooms, offices. I want every stitch examined. Every fucking speck. Got it?’

  She turned round to Vernon Kodaly who had silently wheeled up behind them.

  ‘If I find one cell from Amy Bernhard or Claudia Page in this place,’ she said, ‘I’m arresting you.’

  Kodaly smiled. ‘You’ll have to do better than that, Sergeant. Claudia Page has been to this club from time to time. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the other girl you mentioned, the dead one, had also been here. There are probably traces of both of them all over the place.’

  Gemma couldn’t help herself. ‘She asked me for help! What have you done with her?’

  Kodaly affected mock surprise. ‘Me? Why do you think I know anything about her? Shouldn’t she be at school? Or with her family? Shouldn’t you be asking those people these questions?’

  ‘We’ve found traces of cocaine, Mr Kodaly. We think you’d better come with us and tell us what really goes on in these premises.’

  Kodaly shrugged. ‘Some of our clients may be a little free interpreting the law. I can’t be held responsible for the behaviour, the infelicities, of the club’s patrons.’

  ‘What’s your partner’s name?’

  ‘He’s a sleeping partner,’ said Kodaly. ‘He wants to remain anonymous. His name’s not even on the business registration certificate.’

  ‘Doesn’t he want to be associated with this place?’

  Kodaly ignored Angie’s barb. ‘I’ll ask him to contact you. More than that I cannot do.’ He wheeled himself towards the foyer area. ‘You can find him yourself any time you wish.’

  ‘Why won’t you give me his name? Is it because he’s hiding Claudia somewhere?’

  Kodaly turned his head and laughed. ‘You’ve got this obsession that she’s here somewhere. Or has been removed from here. I’ve been here all the time and I’d know.’

  ‘How do you explain that she sent off a photo of your Black Diamond Room before she was interrupted?’

  Kodaly shook his head. ‘Maybe she took the picture sometime she was here as a patron, and it got sent off accidentally from the memory. I’ve heard of very embarrassing incidents with unintentional sendings.’

  ‘You interviewed Claudia Page. Tried to get her to do some “modelling” for you,’ said Angie.

  ‘That’s a crime? I was trying to help the girl.’ He turned the chair round to face them. The situation reminded Gemma of a duel and she could see the colour rising on Angie’s neck. It was taking all her friend’s professional cool to stay in control of this interview. Kodaly was needling Angie with the sang-froid of a man who knows that there’s just no way he’ll ever be caught, thought Gemma.
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br />   ‘This place isn’t just a nightclub,’ Angie said. ‘You deal coke here.’

  ‘I deny that absolutely. You have no proof.’

  ‘And make porn videos!’

  ‘I’m a businessman.’ Kodaly looked at her with pity. ‘Eighty per cent of the internet is devoted to porn. Where there’s such a strong demand, it’s my business to supply it. I’m not aware of a law against that.’

  ‘When the girls are under age, there is,’ said Gemma, thinking of Naomi’s account of Kodaly’s partner with a fourteen-year-old.

  Angie’s mobile rang. She took the call, listened and rang off. ‘That was the toxicology report on Tasmin Summers. Our chemists found a lot of Valium and Zanax as well as alcohol in urine samples. Sounds like someone spiked Tasmin’s drinks. Stupefied her.’

  Kodaly shook his head. ‘It’s too bad. These days, young girls will experiment with everything and anything.’

  ‘Including asphyxiation by some strange man’s penis in their throats?’

  Kodaly didn’t miss a beat. ‘They’re very playful too, the young girls these days. They enjoy all sorts of liberal sex games.’

  ‘You call being choked by someone’s dick a sex game?’ Angie’s voice was soft and menacing, a low decibel growl as she put the questions. ‘Being anally raped your idea of fun?’ Kodaly shifted in the wheelchair and Angie decided to stick it to him. ‘You’ll get to experience all that fun yourself,’ she said, ‘when we’ve got you charged, convicted and locked up. The heavies in maximum security are very liberal too. Love a good sex game. Remind me to tell you some of the stories I’ve heard from inside about barbed-wire sex toys.’

  ‘I really don’t know,’ said Kodaly, the injured innocent, ‘why you’re taking this line of questioning with me. And making these unpleasant threats.’

  Gemma pulled out the business card that Kosta had given her and passed it to Angie who looked at it.

  ‘What’s this then?’ Angie jabbed at the art work, the stylised blade and the powder. ‘That’s an advertisement for what you do here. This graphic shows a blade separating cocaine into a line.’

  ‘One has to be cutting edge,’ Kodaly said. ‘It’s a very competitive business I’m in. That’s what’s denoted in that graphic. Cutting edge, Sergeant.’ He smiled, revealing gold. ‘Merely a symbol.’

  ‘You have an employee called Eddie,’ Gemma said. ‘We’d like a chat with him.’

  Angie’s bewildered expression changed to anger, reminding Gemma that she’d failed to tell her friend about this. ‘I have some inside information about this Eddie,’ she added.

  ‘Eddie?’ At least Kodaly was engaged now, Gemma thought. Engaged and even just a little rattled. ‘He’s got nothing to do with this. Anyway, he doesn’t work for me anymore.’

  Angie took her cue from Gemma. ‘How can we get in touch with him?’

  Kodaly shrugged. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’

  Obstruction and contempt, Gemma thought. Kodaly was master of both. Sean came up with rolls of plastic in his gloved hands. ‘We found this,’ he said. ‘And a hot press. For sealing plastic packets.’

  ‘The use of cling wrap is a crime?’ Kodaly was enjoying himself.

  ‘When it’s part of a cocaine packaging operation, yes,’ said Angie. ‘You deal in prohibited substances here, don’t you?’

  Kodaly spread his hands. ‘What can I say, Sergeant?’ he begged. ‘I run a nightclub. That’s what I do. I don’t know what you’re going on about. Plastic? Criminal cling wrap? Really.’

  Angie and Gemma stood outside near the Forensic Services station wagon. Crime Scene had arrived and were working inside. Meanwhile, while outside, a small crowd of people—those who hadn’t vanished at the arrival of the first car—hung around on the footpath.

  ‘You should have told me about this Eddie character! I felt like a fool in there. I didn’t know what the hell you were talking about!’ said Angie, angry eyes flashing.

  ‘Sorry, Ange. I forgot to pass it on to you. It slipped my mind.’

  ‘Slipped your mind? This isn’t the Royal Commission. This is a murder investigation!’

  ‘There’s been a lot going on.’

  ‘You reckon you’ve had a lot going on! What about me?’ Angie walked a little distance away, trying to recover her poise.

  Gemma followed. ‘Where is she?’ she said. ‘That girl is being held somewhere against her will. Scared, terrified. Or worse.’

  ‘We’ll find her. If they’ve moved her, someone must have seen something. I’ll get the local boys to do a doorknock along the street.’ Angie threw her mobile into her car. ‘Bloody fucking hell!’ She opened the door and slammed it. ‘That was a waste of time. All we’ve done is put them on notice. We didn’t find a damn thing that was helpful.’

  ‘It won’t take you long to get the partner’s name,’ Gemma reminded her.

  ‘But they know now that we’ll be searching and that gives them a chance to reorganise, regroup. If they’re holding Claudia somewhere, it gives them the chance to move her,’ said Angie.

  If Claudia was already dead it didn’t matter how long it took them to track down the elusive sleeping partner. Gemma didn’t want to think about that. ‘I was so sure she’d be there,’ she said.

  Another unmarked car skidded to a halt on the opposite side of the road and Bruno, one ear heavily bandaged, jumped out of it and raced across the road, dodging traffic.

  ‘What’s going on here?’ he demanded of Angie. ‘Why wasn’t I told about this?’ Then he caught sight of Gemma. ‘What the fuck is she doing here?’

  Angie started to explain, but he cut her off.

  ‘This is deliberate white-anting! Why wasn’t I informed about this raid?’

  ‘You were off sick!’

  ‘I was back today. It’s on the day roster! I should have been informed!’

  ‘Claudia Page emailed an image of a room in this club and a message saying she was being held here. We went to the boss and got moving as fast as possible. I didn’t have time to look at any roster! You’re never around anyway!’

  ‘Out of order, Sergeant!’

  ‘I don’t believe you’ve been sick!’ Angie yelled, coming up, toe to toe. ‘I’ll bet you’re moonlighting!’

  Bruno looked startled but rallied fast. ‘You’d better back that up, Sergeant. That’s a serious allegation!’

  ‘You’re never bloody here when you’re needed!’

  ‘I’m putting you on paper, McDonald!’

  ‘You do that, you bastard, and I’ll make it my business to find out why Jim Buisman took you off the original investigation! And wherever your second job is, they’d better be happy with you, because by the time I’m finished with you it’ll be the only job you’ll have!’

  ‘Angie,’ said Gemma as a crowd gathered, ‘this is not getting anywhere. Leave it.’

  Bruno swung on Gemma. ‘And as for you, you bloody interfering bitch—’

  ‘Chill, Bruno,’ said Gemma. ‘Or you’ll bust your bandages or your infected ear.’ Toes clutched tight and with racing heart, she practised professional poise. Every fibre of her body wanted to let him have it; instead, keeping her voice low and steady, she continued. ‘Claudia Page contacted me. Not the police, certainly not you! She sent breakthrough information to me! I’ve got more right to be here than you!’

  Bruno seethed a moment longer. Then he hurried back to his car, slammed the door closed and wound down the window. ‘So help me God,’ he yelled out, ‘you’ll never get your PI licence renewed again! Never! That’s a fucking promise!’

  He screeched off, causing the nearby pedestrians to scatter.

  Angie and Gemma retreated into a coffee lounge for an informal debrief. In the cool, dark interior, a television screen flickered with a program no one was watching. Angie t
hrew herself into a chair. ‘That prick! I can negotiate with psychopaths but not someone like Bruno Gross!’

  ‘Men like Bruno are always going to be there,’ Gemma said, as much for her own sake as for her friend. ‘And they’ll always underestimate you because you’re a smart, good-looking woman. And then, when they realise they’ve done that, instead of you going up in their estimation, they’ll just hate you more, because you’ve shown them up again for the mediocre arseholes they are.’

  ‘I hope he doesn’t make your life impossible,’ Angie said. ‘I don’t know how much influence he might have.’

  ‘I don’t want to have to change my career just now,’ said Gemma. ‘What’s our next move?’ she asked. Then she noticed something on the television. ‘There’s that shark again.’ She’d seen it in the earlier newsflash, being taken to the Aquarium.

  ‘What shark?’

  ‘A white pointer shark,’ the newsreader announced, ‘taken to the Sydney Aquarium for veterinary attention has proved costly. The shark smashed its way through a holding tank and bit a large chunk out of a display item in its enclosure before vomiting the contents of its stomach. Veterinarians finally had to sedate the shark with a tranquilliser. And a warning,’ the newsreader added, ‘this report contains images from an amateur video that may distress some viewers.’

  Gemma leaned forward to see the items in the cloudy water surrounding the doped-up shark—the artificial coral with a huge bite mark through it, the front half of a dog, a partly inflated sex doll, and a diver’s weight belt. She grabbed Angie’s arm. ‘Look at what’s attached to that belt. See what’s round it?’

  The heavy belt lay along the bottom of the enclosure and from it a length of cord trailed in the water. Angie, still stewing over the fight with Bruno, took a moment to comprehend.

  ‘Quick!’ said Gemma. ‘Ring the Aquarium. Tell them under no circumstances must they discard anything from that shark’s belly.’

  Angie downed the other half of her coffee and was already out of her seat and pulling out her mobile.

  Less than an hour later Gemma and Angie, along with one of the marine biologists and the assistant manager of the Aquarium, watched while Nicole from Crime Scene turned the heavy belt and attached cord over in her gloved hands. ‘This end looks like it’s been cut,’ she said, indicating the end tied to the belt, ‘with a very sharp knife. But if you look at this end,’ she pointed to the trailing end, ‘there’s fraying. This doesn’t look like a knife’s been used on it.’