by Andrea Drew
“The other three will be up soon. Tell me about this crackpot theory about Li, and then you can leave.” Kelly shuffled into the seat.
“I bumped into a man in the supermarket. My first thought was that he was pregnant, and he panicked and told me he wasn’t. I might be a psychic, but believe it or not, I’m not completely loopy.” In the small valley below us, trees rustled and a couple of young yellow-crested cockatoos began screeching in protest. “Then I realized he wasn’t pregnant, but that a young spirit child, a girl, was making contact. Her signal was weak though. She told me to find Mama Kelly. That’s what she called you, right?”
The expression on Kelly’s face told me it was. I continued, getting to the part Li was so desperate for me to pass on, the warning.
“She said she stayed with you for a while, and then the bad men took her. Then the bad men put a needle in her and stole her insides.” I paused. Kelly’s face was so white I wondered if she would pass out on me. “The man in the supermarket that I bumped into, the one I thought was pregnant? He’d just had a liver transplant. That’s how Li found me. The man has her liver.”
Kelly pushed herself up from the chair, shoving the sliding door open with considerable force. Through the opened door I heard the sound of her retching. I set my coffee cup on the outdoor table and followed her inside.
Bent over the kitchen sink, she turned on the tap; hands planted either side of the sink as she gasped to get back her breath.
“I’m sorry,” I said, taking a step toward her. “I do want to help, believe it or not, that’s why I’m here…”
Kelly ripped a piece of paper towel from a roll beside the sink and wiped at her mouth.
“Stay away from me. What is it with you? Do you get some sick perverted pleasure out of this?”
“Kelly, please, listen to me.” I wasn’t sure what to do to calm her down, so I plonked myself back down into one of the dining room chairs. “I’m trying to save your life, and the children’s lives. Li sent me here. She told me that any day now the bad men, namely Jack Regan, are coming for Lisa, to take her away. They’ll do to Lisa what they did to her. Then they’re coming for you and the children.”
“What? Why? We’ve been here for years…”
“I know you have. Unfortunately a detective is on the case now, and Jack Regan knows about it. Li sent me a message last night, that he’s coming to get Lisa, and soon. There’s a family whose daughter’s blood type matches Lisa’s and the daughter needs urgent transplants, kidneys and heart. Li seems to think it’s pretty urgent that I help you. Jack could come for you any day now.”
Kelly shook her head. “No, it can’t be. Not after all this time. Get out. Now. Don’t come back.” She headed toward me, her face pale and her eyes glassy.
Rather than leave, I moved closer to her. “I want to help, I really do. Tell me what I can do to help. You need to leave, all of you.”
Kelly seemed to crumple in on herself. I eased her into a chair. The children flocked toward her, wondering what was wrong with Mama Kelly.
“Can you play outside just for a little while? She isn’t feeling too good right now, but I’m going to help her, okay?” The children slowly filtered out through the back door, their eyes remaining on me until they reached the door.
Kelly covered her face with her hands, her sobs overcoming her. For the moment, I rubbed her back until they subsided.
“What do I do? The children… I’ll be back on the streets again, I can’t take it.” Her mouth contorted and her were words barely decipherable. I continued rubbing her back, attempting to soothe her.
“I’ll help you, so will Connor. We’ll help you move,” I spoke softly to her as the sobs subsided.
Kelly wiped the tears away from under her eyes. I handed her a tissue.
“To where? We have no one, nowhere to go.”
“We’ll work something out.”
“Thanks.” She blew her nose. “I had a feeling something was up, but didn’t want to think about it. Jack’s never been Mr. Personality, but lately he’s been edgier than usual. When do you think they’ll come for us? Where will we go?”
“I’ll talk to Connor. Between us we should be able to work something out, get you some protection.”
“Who’s Connor?”
“My boyfriend. He’s a detective.”
Kelly’s tears had dried and she squared her shoulders, seeming to compose herself. “I can’t go back to Jimmy, no way. I’m not going back to the streets, I can’t.” Her breath came in short gasps. “I wish this had never happened.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She met my gaze. “I’ll make sure you have somewhere to go. You and the kids will be okay. We’ll move you, and soon.”
“How can you be so sure? You don’t know Jack the way I do.”
“You’ll be out of here before you know it. Promise.”
***
Chapter 7
Jack knew he’d get a call soon. Since that pig had stuck his nose in, the game had changed and the boss’s twitchiness was contagious. They’d either need to relocate, or call the whole thing off. The boss would be spitting chips, and would let him know in the usual way. Usually conservative, when under stress his clipped tone spoke volumes.
The phone rang.
“Yeah.”
“We need to talk.”
“Thought so. Same time, same place?”
“Same time, but alternate location. Recent developments are…concerning.”
Jack paused, waiting for further instructions. He’d learned it was best to listen when the boss was under pressure.
“We’ll meet tonight, the usual time, but the supermarket closest to the clinic.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll also have new phones, I’ll bring yours tonight.”
“Right.” He rang off.
Although the boss did his best to sound calm and unruffled, Jack knew better. He was shitting himself, and with good cause. If this pig stuck his snout in much further, they were all fucked.
Time to take action.
***
The tall, lithe blonde commanded attention from the moment she entered the police station, something about the insistent clack of her heels and the way she carried herself, combined with her intense gaze, demanded attention.
She approached the front desk and hitched her bag a little higher up her shoulder. The officer on duty noticed the grey circles under her otherwise mesmerizing blue eyes.
“I’d like to talk to Detective Reardon, if I may, please.”
“Can I ask what it’s in regard to?”
“I’m pretty sure he’ll know. Tell him it’s about Jack Regan and the child adoption clinic. My name is Camille. That should get his attention.”
“Okay, I’ll see if he’s available, won’t be a moment.”
The uniformed police office flicked her a look before disappearing behind the two way mirror to go looking for Reardon. He found him at his desk, perched on the end of his chair, jacket flung across a filing cabinet and telephone glued to his ear.
He stood beside the desk, waiting for Reardon to finish his telephone conversation. After less than a minute, Connor put down the phone and swung his chair toward the uniformed officer.
“Brad, what’s going on?”
“Woman at the front desk asking for you and says it’s important, something about Jack Regan and the child adoption clinic.”
Connor was up and out of his seat in a heartbeat. Instinctively he looked toward his son-in-law’s desk, but Ryan was out on patrol with another officer.
“Thanks, I’ll be out in a minute.”
Deep in thought, Connor rubbed at his chin. He hoped this wasn’t some crackpot and actually proved a source of tangible leads as he suspected. There weren’t many facts to go on; technically no one had reported a crime yet. Whoever ran the operation had set it up so they could never be traced.
He pushed open the door and reached the front desk. Standing there was a lith
e, stunning looking young woman with blonde streaks through her hair. Connor stood before her, hands splayed across the desk.
“You asked for me?”
The woman seemed to shift her weight from one foot to the other. “Yes. My name is Camilla. I have some information I think you’ll be very interested in. Jack Regan dropped your card on my desk, warning me not to speak to you. I used to work at the New Beginnings Adoption Clinic. I was sacked rather unceremoniously yesterday.”
“Will you come through? Might be better if we talk in one of the interview rooms.” A queue had formed behind her.
The woman nodded. Connor bit his lip and headed around to grant her access. If her information proved concrete, she could offer a string he could pull at to unravel the web. Or at the very least, more of a tangible starting point than psychic visions. He imagined telling his boss about it and suppressed a shudder.
“Please, come this way.” Connor gestured toward the interview room. As they headed inside, he closed the door firmly behind him as he took a breath and put both hands behind him.
“Have a seat, please.”
“Thank you. I won’t waste your time, of that I can assure. My information is good.”
“I noticed you mentioned the name Jack Regan, who is a person of interest to us.”
“I’ll bet.” Camilla rubbed at her wrist. “My information is primarily in relation to Kieran Walkley. Jack Regan works for him. I’ve worked for Kieran for a couple of years now, or I did before yesterday.” She shivered slightly.
Connor leaned forward slightly. “By Kieran Walkley, do you mean the family law magistrate?” His pulse quickened.
“Yes. I’ve known him for a number of years. We broke up yesterday.”
“I see.” Connor assessed her for her mindset. She gave little away. Had she been a part of the child trafficking racket, or like Kelly, did she continue in blissful ignorance? Surely something like this would be difficult to hide. “Do you mind if I record our interview?” Connor sat back, waiting for her to give consent. She nodded and he turned the recorder on. After recording the usual details including date, location and persons being interviewed, Connor asked her to begin. Camilla cleared her throat.
“It all started innocently enough, the classic older man and younger woman. It wasn’t as if I didn’t know what I was getting into.” She smiled wryly, looking at the floor. “We worked together at the local courthouse. We were friends for a long time, one thing led to another. I mean, it wasn’t as if I didn’t know he was married.”
Connor waited for her to continue. One thing he’d learned early on his career was never to interrupt a cooperative witness. “Eventually I moved from working at the courthouse to working at the New Beginnings clinic. It was simply too good to refuse, reduced hours, less stress, more pay, I jumped at the chance.” Camilla reached down for her handbag and took out a tissue. “Back in those days, the idea of spending more time with Kieran seemed like the ideal scene. At first it was great; I worked three days a week as office manager, doing bookkeeping and administration. I was told I’d be greeting clients, but there were few and far between, six to eight per year, at most.”
Connor scrutinized Camilla, waiting for the next piece of information, something tying Kieran to Jack, to shove him into the abyss. If he sensed every ounce of breath had been sucked out of his body, he ignored it. “At what point did things go wrong?”
Camilla’s rocking at first had been subtle and Connor thought he’d imagined it. However, as she rubbed at the back of her neck, he realized this woman was going through hell. Whatever the heck was going on for her, it was heavy.
“The large deposits. Ten grand, twenty grand, lately thirty grand deposits, massive amounts. Who pays that sort of money to adopt a kid? Looking back, I can’t believe I was in bloody denial for all this time. But it was no question. Kieran had a medical doctor on the payroll. I did my own research at home, and he’s deregistered. Why?”
Something twisted in Connor’s stomach.
“You know, don’t you? Something sick, something twisted. To innocent children, faceless nameless children, sold by impoverished families, untraceable,” said Camilla, the blood having rushed from her cheeks to her chest. She swallowed, hard.
“We have an idea, yes,” said Connor, rubbing his chin. He didn’t want to give away any more than that for the minute, until she confirmed it; the despicable acts were nothing more than conjecture.
“Tell me they’re not. They’re not murdering these children for money. It’s impossible, isn’t it?”
Something about the firm set of her chin and the fluttering of her hands told him she knew the answer to the question, but wouldn’t or couldn’t say it out loud.
“We have our suspicions.” Connor looked at his hands and took a breath. “I’m curious. When did you first learn what they were up to?”
She raised herself up from the chair slightly and Connor wondered if she would leave the room, but she simply smoothed her skirt and settled back down before shoving both hands under her armpits.
“A while ago.” She squirmed, shifting on her seat to get comfortable.
“A while as in weeks ago, months ago, how long?”
“A couple of months ago.” Her answer landed with a thud, the silence louder than before.
“I see.”
“It all changed after Kieran and I met yesterday. We’d talked about moving in together, so I thought my pregnancy would be the next step for us. He was furious and told me to get an abortion, and that Vallis would do it for me… He tried to hide the threat of keeping my mouth shut, but I’m furious. And maybe nervous… I don’t know what’s next, but I don’t like to think of what he’s capable of.”
“By threats, can you give specifics? What was the nature of that exactly? Do you remember any specific words?”
She looked down then up quickly to meet his eyes “He said he would end me if I talked, which obviously had the opposite effect. I’m booked into a hotel for the night, just to be safe.”
“Why would he be so threatened by what you know?”
“Well…I didn’t exactly see any damage or harm to children, but over time it wasn’t hard to connect the dots. Payments from select families, bigger and bigger as time went on, nearly all of them had a child with some type of illness or disability requiring a transplant, employing Dr. Vallis on call for checkups, children taken from the nanny but no details in the files on where they went… It was never said, but over time it got to me. I mean, why would they need a medical room in an adoption clinic? It wasn’t overtly stated, but I should have done more, I should have stopped them. Stupid …” She shivered.
“Have you heard from Kieran Walkley since?”
“No, but then I’ve turned off my phone. I’ll stay at the hotel a few nights then talk to friends, the ones that he doesn’t know about, anyway.”
“I need to talk to another officer, but in the meantime, it’s vital that you keep me updated of your whereabouts. Is there any proof?”
“Well, possibly the size of the payments from parents. And Dr. Vallis, he’s the key; the one that actually did the deed, so to speak.”
“I’ll talk to my colleague. You understand you may be implicated if charges are laid.”
“I will testify, though. I’m willing to cooperate. And I never harmed a child, ever.”
“I understand. Just ensuring you’re aware of possible implications.”
Camilla unbuttoned the top button of her blouse. Connor continued to scrutinize her, but she refused to make eye contact.
Camilla clutched her hands. “So what now?”
“I’ll talk to my partner and talk with you again soon. We need you to stay in close contact. We’ll be in touch.”
Camille fiddled with her handbag. “Thank you, Mr. Reardon. I’m keen to put this horrible mess behind me, and somehow start afresh.”
The chair screeched across the linoleum as he stood. “Thank you for coming forward. Once the matter progre
sses, I’m sure you can. It may be difficult, but you’ve done the right thing, of that I have no doubt.”
Camilla refused to lift her head as she shook his hand.
“I’ll see you out.”
“Thank you.”
As she left the station on shaky legs, he wondered what the future held for Camilla, what it held for those children, for Kelly. He turned back toward his desk. He’d need to apply for a search warrant and pronto.
His mouth twisted at the irony of the title, ‘New Beginnings.’
Not if he could help it.
***
The first vehicle rolled in, making barely a ripple in the quiet supermarket carpet in suburban Carlton. The driver squinted in the darkness. Spotlights illuminated various sections, close to exits, but shadowy corners lurked and the white Holden headed to the furthermost right corner. The car reversed into position, and after parking, he killed the engine.
Jack Regan ran his hands through his hair and dropped a hand to his dirty jeans, wiping both palms from thigh to knee. He scoured the area for signs of life and saw just two vehicles parked at considerable distance from the vantage point he had chosen. They were either local residents or staff storing their cars overnight for whatever reason.
Any person with any reasonable sense of personal security wouldn’t venture to this secluded area any time soon.
As he moved his right hand to the steering wheel, the swish of quiet V8 power caught his attention. A silver Mercedes entered the sloping driveway. No remnants of daylight remained, not at midnight. The tinted windows hid the driver’s identity, but Jack didn’t need to see his face to know Kieran Walkley had arrived, under the cover of darkness, exactly as they did in the rare cases they needed to discuss something urgent and couldn’t do so in the office or via the telephone.
Connor Reardon, the interfering pig, probably had them both bugged. This would be the only way they could plan for the relocation of the entire operation, if not shutting the whole thing down. He’d been persuading, as much as possible when it came to Kieran Walkley, that he keep the gig going, especially with the amount of coin it paid him.