With an index finger theatrically tapping his chin, he delivered his best. ‘Oh no, don’t tell me. She’s one of your conquests.’
Anger surged through my veins. I wanted to ram the smirk on his face right to the back of his head.
Darlene was quickly between us. ‘For God’s sake. Are you still going on about Becky marrying Craig? This is about Louise Simpson, not you.’
Mark stood intimidatingly close to Darlene. ‘I can get you kicked out of here in a flash,’ he snapped. ‘This is between Craig and me.’
I had no idea what had inflamed him again. ‘What’s your problem? A woman has been murdered and you are attacking me over old history.’
‘Are you going to tell me how you knew the victim?’
I took a slow breath and explained about Gus and Jennifer Finch. I thought I could see a faint smile appear on Mark’s lips, then just as quickly disappear.
‘I see.’ Mark rocked on his heels. ‘You provided two strangers with intimate details of our victim – for payment, of course – hours before she was found brutally murdered. And now you can’t tell us where to locate these people.’ He moved even closer. ‘Hope you get good job satisfaction.’
I lunged at him and Darlene was on her feet again, the other detective blocking us. Mark raised his hands in the air as if surrendering.
‘He’s not worth it, Craig. He wants you to hit him. Right here, in front of witnesses,’ Darlene warned.
I swallowed back the rising bile. Darlene was right. Mark would love nothing more than to report I’d started a fight at a crime scene so we’d never be allowed on one again. Finding Louise’s killer had to be our priority.
Rex spoke calmly. ‘Detective, a knife is missing from the set.’
A magnetic strip attached to tiles on the wall above the stove contained a series of knives increasing in size. There was a space between the first and third.
That meant the killer may not have planned to murder Louise. Maybe she refused to be their surrogate and things turned sour.
‘Right, that place of yours is filmed 24/7. I want the video footage of the couple you saw this morning.’
I sighed. This was going to sound like we had no intention of cooperating.
‘The computers went down overnight and we have no vision from midnight until after the couple had gone.’
Mark nodded. ‘That’s the way you’re playing this?’
‘Look, we came here to help with the investigation.’
‘Or to cover your butt.’ He stepped menacingly close. ‘You better get a good lawyer, cuz. You’re facing charges. Conspiracy to commit murder.’
Chapter 22
A WOMAN’S SCREAM stopped everyone. It was primal, guttural.
Mark and Kristen Massey headed for the open front door. I stayed close behind.
The female detective stopped the woman, who was in her late twenties. ‘Ma’am, this is a crime scene. I’m afraid you’ll have to –’
‘My baby! Where’s my baby?’
Mark flicked me a look as if I might know what she was talking about. I remembered the microwave steriliser and my heart drilled.
A young constable was trying to restrain the woman. ‘Ma’am, you can’t be here.’
She buckled to her knees. ‘Zoe needs me. She’s just a baby.’
‘Wait!’ I pushed through as the woman continued shouting for someone to listen to her.
I knelt down with her. ‘Was Louise minding your child?’
The woman dug her fingers into my arms. ‘Zoe, she’s eight weeks old.’ Her voice became higher pitched. ‘Why won’t anyone let me see her?’ She locked eyes with mine. ‘I just need to get my baby.’
‘Something’s happened to Louise.’ I spoke calmly, and slowly released her grip. ‘We didn’t know she had Zoe with her.’
Kristen Massey put her arms around the mother while Mark and I raced back inside.
We checked cupboards, drawers, a toy trunk, even the washing machine in case Louise had hidden the child to protect her. The search proved futile.
The baby was gone.
Chapter 23
MARK AND I MOVED outside, now united in our task. The mother was sitting on the brick wall, shaking. She still had the wide-eyed look of hope when we returned.
Her name was Courtney Ruffalo, Detective Constable Massey explained. Louise had been babysitting once a week for three weeks. ‘To give her a break. Her husband’s a fly-in, fly-out miner in Queensland. He isn’t due back until Friday night.’
Courtney nodded, holding back tears. ‘Is my baby all right?’
Mark said, ‘Is there anyone else who might have picked her up for you?’
There was no proof Zoe had been in the house when the murder took place. Then again, anyone who routinely collected the child would have known to take the steriliser and bottles too.
‘Geoff’s away. I have a sister. She works at Westmead Hospital and doesn’t finish until after three.’
That was at least forty minutes away by car.
We had to consider the possibility that Louise had been killed in order to abduct Zoe.
It could have been unrelated to the Finches’ visit. But I had to face reality. The Finches may have killed Louise for the baby.
Mark pulled me aside. ‘We’ll put out a state-wide alert for the missing child. I’ll let the powers know to prepare a media release. We’ll need a photo and description of what the child was wearing.’
Courtney Ruffalo had a photo on her phone, taken that morning. Zoe had on a pink cotton jumpsuit with a yellow-and-white flower embroidered on the chest.
Detective Constable Massey spoke quietly to me as I passed her the phone with the baby’s image.
‘Mark was out of line but he’s damn good at his job. He’s …’ She glanced around to make sure no one else heard. ‘Just going through a rough time. I’m trying to cut him some slack.’
Today was no joy ride for any of us. Even so, nothing matched what Louise Simpson had been subjected to. ‘Are you making excuses for him?’
‘No. But he just found out the woman he was seeing was two-timing him. They were about to move in together.’
At least that explained the change in my cousin’s attitude. He’d never taken rejection or betrayal well. Seeing me now was like ripping the scab off a deep and painful wound.
‘Priority for all of us is finding the child and Louise’s killer,’ I stressed.
‘Let’s hope Zoe’s still alive,’ she added, out of the mother’s earshot.
We needed to get a break quickly. The more time that passed, the less chance we had of finding baby Zoe – alive or dead.
Chapter 24
I RANG TO let Mary and Johnny know about the missing baby.
Right now they needed to utilise every possible resource, anything that could give us a lead on the Finches, or the Ruffalo family.
Meanwhile, Darlene began photographing and swabbing the back fence.
Mark and I jumped to the neighbour’s side and tried to follow the trail. From what we could tell, the killer had Louise’s blood on his torso. In a hole, stuffed beneath some rocks, was a blood-stained grey hoodie. Generic Target brand. One of thousands sold around the country.
We followed the trampled grass until it stopped a few houses down. On the other side of the fence was a red smear. The killer had climbed over the fence here, somehow carrying the baby.
‘I’ll get the uniforms to canvass the street,’ Mark said, frustrated the trail was lost.
I rang Darlene and told her about the hoodie and the extra fence marks. She’d get on to them as soon as she’d finished in the Simpson yard.
An elderly woman peered through the back screen door.
‘Excuse me, ma’am,’ Mark was in full professional mode, ID in hand, ‘can we have a word with you?’
The slippered woman shuffled down the back path and stopped at a gate that opened onto the course.
Mark explained there’d been an incident a few houses down
and asked if she’d seen anyone in her yard or noticed any damage to windows or doors.
She gripped the top of her blouse and looked back at the house, explaining she’d been to bingo at the local club and only been home half an hour. Everything was as she left it.
‘My children complain about me living so close to the golf course but this has been my home for over forty years.’
Cutting short her conversation, Mark gave her his card and asked her to call him if she remembered seeing anyone or anything out of place.
She toddled back to the house, muttering something about what the world was coming to. We entered through the gate and examined the yard. On the concrete drive was a dark crescent-shaped mark. It could have been blood from the killer’s shoe.
Mark ordered one of the officers to cordon off the yard.
‘This could be how our killer escaped,’ he said. ‘We need to test the stain for blood.’
We walked along the street to the Simpson house. Crowds had now gathered outside the crime scene perimeter.
DC Massey had established that Louise’s parents were touring the Northern Territory in a Winnebago. Her brother lived two hours north, outside Newcastle. He was trying to call the parents, who could be out of phone range.
‘What about the children?’ I asked.
‘The brother’s driving down to get them. Daycare staff will stay until he gets there.’
‘Zoe’s father?’
‘Flying back, gets in at eight.’
I checked my watch. If Louise’s parents didn’t answer their messages or get to somewhere with phone service, they’d be hearing about their daughter’s death on the nightly news.
Vans from all the major stations now blocked the street, with reporters jostling for the best position. Louise Simpson was already a ghoulish spectacle.
There was nothing more for me to do here. Running the gauntlet, I returned to the car without making a comment.
The only way to assuage the guilt I felt was to do everything possible to find that baby alive.
And catch whoever was responsible.
Chapter 25
BACK AT PRIVATE, Johnny and Collette were already working on a computerised composite of the Finches.
It can’t have been a coincidence that the security cameras had been down when the pair came in. If they were behind it, the plan to avoid being photographed was elaborate. Planting a virus and smashing a door suggested they knew the layout of our building and which computer operated the cameras.
They could have met us anywhere. In a park, another office, or a shopping mall. Something didn’t fit.
I racked my brain to recall even the slightest detail. The man was volatile and reacted badly when he thought he was being called a liar. Then again, he backed down with little persuasion. The woman was either genuine or a brilliant actress. She knew exactly what to say to garner sympathy.
Had they deliberately chosen me, today of all days? That meant they knew my personal history and planned to use me to get the information on Louise. But if they were that computer savvy, they could have found all the information on Louise themselves.
Had someone set me up? Someone who wanted me arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. I kept seeing the Simpson children’s playthings through my mind and images of their mother’s battered body.
Mary tapped on the doorjamb, with a coffee cup in hand and a ziplock bag of trail mix.
‘Thought you could use these.’
I hadn’t eaten all day and was beginning to feel the effects. My headache was back.
‘It’s probably fake but we need to check out the address the Finches gave us,’ I said, before sucking back the coffee and popping a handful of nuts and seeds.
Mary slumped in my lounge. ‘Already did. It’s a vacant block. And there isn’t anyone called Gus or Jennifer Finch either. I also tried Angus and Gustav. Nothing comes up on the usual databases.’
It figured. The couple had lied about everything.
The only other lead was the email address used to contact Louise through the surrogacy website.
‘They said they contacted Louise through that, which is how they found out she lived on the North Shore.’ I sat straighter. ‘Could you trace the address the email was sent from?’
Mary pressed both hands on her knees and stood. ‘Whoever owns that site is hiding behind a firewall. I couldn’t get through but we can try working backwards from Louise’s email account.’
‘Thanks. Keep me posted. I want to hear any news, no matter how insignificant it may seem.’
I sounded desperate. I was.
Chapter 26
I FOUND DARLENE in our lab.
‘Anything solid from the fence or kitchen?’
Her blue eyes had a spark as she pulled a white coat over her jeans and baggy shirt.
‘Good palm print on the fence, and the aglet on the cord of the hoodie has potential. Same with DNA from the print on the body’s neck.’ She placed her camera on the desk. ‘I’m more hopeful about what we got with the ALS.’
You could always rely on Darlene. She found evidence that seasoned crime scene technicians missed. Fingerprints on skin were notoriously difficult to capture, which is why she had been using the forensic Alternative Light Source, or ALS, when the opportunity arose.
‘Got the best result at 450 nanometres. Amido black’s risky but Rex agreed to try it on one of two bloodied prints on Louise’s arms. It washed away the first, but we got lucky with the second. Blood on the ridges darkened for what I hope is enough contrast to get a good image of the print. I promised to send through our copies asap.’
‘Did they fingerprint the neighbour who found the body?’
‘I asked them to. Even though he couldn’t remember touching the body, these could turn out to be his. He was pretty shaken up.’
If the killer acted impulsively, I hoped he or she had been sloppy.
‘Any sign of the murder weapon?’
‘Not yet. The police are searching bins, drains and yards in the area.’
She scrubbed her hands and put on fresh gloves. As she wiped down the benches with antiseptic, she thought out loud, ‘If the baby was the target, why beat then stab Louise? I get that she saw the killer’s face. But if our clients did it, you and Collette could already identify them.’
As usual, Darlene spoke good sense. The knife perforating the abdomen had to be key. That made the attack personal. Maybe we were missing something. What if another couple had wanted her to be a surrogate and things had gone sour?
I texted Johnny to join us. He was there almost instantly.
‘We need to look into Louise’s surrogacy experiences, her background,’ I explained. ‘Zoe’s parents need to be checked as well. Make sure the husband was in Queensland and find out if there was any tension in the marriage or questions of paternity, custody, anything you can think of. And anyone who might have wanted either woman to suffer.’
‘I’m on it,’ he said, looking to Darlene.
She nodded, as if giving him permission to leave. There seemed to be a new dynamic between the two.
Darlene laid out the evidence samples on the clean benches and I left to help Johnny. Mary bailed me up outside the lab.
‘Mark Talbot’s here. He’s got a warrant.’
Chapter 27
MARK AND DETECTIVE Constable Massey stood in the entrance with two uniformed officers.
Mark handed over the search warrant. It was for video footage from the last twenty-four hours along with files pertaining to Gus and Jennifer Finch: addresses, emails, invoices, payments. They also wanted my personal notes.
I explained again how the video had failed to record anything from midnight. But they were welcome to the footage we did have.
‘Still find it all pretty convenient,’ sneered Mark. ‘Mystery couple visits you; you assist them with surrogacy, which is illegal in this state –’
‘It was to be an altruistic surrogacy,’ I interrupted.
; ‘Unfortunately, Louise Simpson isn’t around to verify that,’ he retorted.
Clearly, his mood hadn’t improved since we’d left the crime scene.
He stepped aside to have a quiet word with one of the uniformed officers. No doubt a power play to make me sweat.
The conversation seemed to amuse him.
When he returned his smug expression confirmed it. ‘Your story about other businesses being vandalised doesn’t seem to hold true. It appears no one else had any damage last night. Just your office.’
Our receptionist jumped to my defence. ‘The repairmen said they had a number of windows to fix in the building.’
I hadn’t recognised the glass company as one we would use. ‘Collette, where did you get the number for the repairers?’
‘In a card that was under the door. I thought they were like, you know, tow trucks. My uncle drives one. He listens to police radio so he can get to an accident first.’
It became clearer now. We’d been deliberately targeted. But by whom? The glass repair company drumming up business? That didn’t explain the computer virus.
Mary offered to show Kristen Massey the video recordings we had up until the shutdown. Mark stayed with me.
‘You look tense, Craigy boy. Might as well have a seat. This could take a while.’
It was how he worked. Pressing buttons to get a reaction. Just like he did when we were teenagers in the same house. Back then he had the advantage of size and mates to belt me around.
Now he had a police force on his side.
‘Don’t think this is personal. Try seeing it from where I stand. You meet this couple, who could be serial killers for all you know, then you give them personal info on a young mother who’s struggling to bring up small kids while grieving for her dead husband.’ He sucked air in through his teeth. ‘Within hours she’s dead. And a baby she was minding vanishes.’
Private Sydney Page 5