by Ann Michaels
Chapter 26
Thursday, September 14, 1989
Harry de Groot
….Almost a Year later
So much has changed in the last year that, the Ruslen Case feels very much in the past to me now. I don’t think about the case much anymore, because other than putting Kristina Ruslen in jail, we were never able to trace any of those other accessories, who made her criminal empire possible. Those lawyers, accountants, tradesmen, and indeed, Kristina Ruslen’s daughter, who had married the gunned down Gary Nobbs, had faded away and vanished like mist. Since then, I have lost and gained so much.
As I brought that yacht, Ad Astra, safely into the harbour, I knew in my bones that things would never be the same. Call it a premonition, or a realignment of the stars, or simply the distillation - the coalescence of my mind and memory, as I held that metal wheel and guided us all through the choppy seas.
Police vans were waiting and Kristina Ruslen was carted away, but before the doors closed behind her, I saw the gold cross around her neck, glint in a snap of light and I thought how the same words and ideas can so variously shape different beliefs and actions.
Janie, looking beyond pale, was sent away in an ambulance. She recovered, but lost the baby, and perhaps, part of herself in the process. But according to Dana, Janie is also developing into a new version of herself and growing in new ways.
After she had come out of hospital, Janie’s psyche had been bruised, but she got to thinking about her biological father, Philip Ruslen, and his legacy and was motivated to act. She thought about how Philip Ruslen had abandoned her mother - who had been a servant in the Ruslen household - with whom he had had three children, and she was appalled and saddened.
Then she thought how her brother had been approached by Ruslen’s lawyer, and told that the incapacitated Philip Ruslen was his father, only a year ago. But that Philip Ruslen had arranged years ago, that his three illegitimate children would work for the Ruslen business, and later, inherit money, when each gained the age of thirty. It was this work, arranged by the lawyer, that had almost destroyed all three of them and they didn’t want the money. It wasn’t that they didn’t like money or all the things that it could do; it was more the case that Philip Ruslen’s money felt all wrong, for so many reasons.
And it was important, Janie thought, that she find her own path. She knew she had skills but where to use such odd expertise?
It was from the man that she regarded as her real father, that she, Liz and Liam had learnt so much. He was the one who had taken them away on weekends camping; teaching them the survival skills and rope skills. He didn’t have much money, even less education, but he was a good man. He would beam with pride as he watched Janie untie a difficult knot, when Liam lit a fire using only sticks and as he watched Liz, reading yet another book. Then it occurred to her that she could join the fire brigade. And she did.
Liz graduated and became a psychotherapist. A good one too. But Liam was left very battered by his working life experiences, with the Ruslen’s, and he went into a treatment facility for a while - he escaped a jail sentence. But he came out, he said, a better man. He now runs a non-profit organisation for homeless people, which is something that he has in common with his father, who has now passed away. That giant house, Palais Royale, repaired with Liam’s money, with its subterranean rooms, now houses the old, the vulnerable, the lost and the destitute. This seems right, somehow. And according to Liz, such an arrangement has precedent, as Governor King, set up the Female Orphan School, in the most expensive house in Sydney, in George Street, way back in 1801.
Dana told me that when Liam turned 30, last month, and he was finally able to collect his inheritance, he sunk all his money into his enterprise against homelessness and Liz and Janie have pledged that when they come of age, their share of the money too, will be sent his way.
‘I want to make a difference in this world, for good’, Janie stated.
You may be wondering about those three missing women, who were at the very centre of this case. Of Tabra Hayden, no trace was ever found. Her remains lie somewhere at the bottom of the sea- a sad story, without any real justice. Lee Lin, however, from our reports, is still on the run. The last rumour to reach our ears was a whisper that, she had undergone extensive plastic surgery, in order to change her appearance. But this has the ring of myth and fairy tale about it. June Roze is currently in a nursing home and her home and its contents have been claimed and sold off by the government. She no longer resembles the beautiful, bikini model, and designer, she once was. I often think of her poor cats.
Oh and I should mention that Liam and Dana have starting knocking about together and…..well…. they are well matched, in some strange way.
I reconciled with my former wife, Linda, about six months ago and I have my darling child close to me again. Linda is in therapy, with Liz as it happens, and she has come so far. Her real strengths and inherent goodness become closer to the surface each day, crowding out the damaged parts of her being. But, I also attend therapy. Sometimes with Linda and sometimes alone, and I have also come to understand that I don’t communicate well; that I have been frightened of Linda’s more expressive emotions, retreating into anger and silence. We are all a work in process, it seems.
I am sad that I have lost Dana, but we both have moved on, and found ourselves again. But I must go now, and get dressed, as Linda and I are off to a wedding; we’ll pick up Dana and Liam along the way, and then, we’re heading out to join our good friend, beryl, as she pledges herself to her long time love, Peggy, at sunset, on Coogee Beach. Cheers.