The Dark Series

by Catherine Lee

  “Are you going to give me a ticket, Mr Detective?”

  “I might. And if I searched your car there, am I going to find anything illegal, Luke? Any substances you shouldn’t have?”

  That wiped the smirk off his face.

  “You got no right to search his car, man,” said one of the lanky duo watching on. “We weren’t doing anything wrong.”

  Cooper turned to face the kid. “I just told you it’s illegally parked. That gives me the right to search it, if I want to.” He turned back to address Luke. “It just so happens that I don’t really want to. Too much paperwork, and I try to avoid paperwork this late in the day. So, with your need for privacy, and my need to remain paperwork free, what do you say we help each other out?”

  Luke glanced nervously toward his car, then back to Cooper. He raised his head in a half nod. “What do you want to know?”

  “What were you and Josh fighting about?”

  “I told you, it was nothing. Just a disagreement among mates, that’s all.”

  “You know what happened to his mother?”

  “Yeah. That’s shit, that is. She was a nice lady.”

  “So your mate’s mother gets killed, and you can’t be nice to him? You have to fight with him in his front yard? He was arrested yesterday for assault. Was that you, too?”

  Luke suddenly found something very interesting about the tops of his own feet.

  “I can easily find out.” Cooper pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket.

  “Yeah, that was me.”

  “So I’ll ask you one more time. What’s going on between you two? What’s got Josh so mad his face is still bright red?”

  Luke glanced over at his supposed mate, who looked the other way as soon as their eyes met. Something was upsetting him, and Cooper had a feeling whatever it was had to do with his mother’s murder.

  “He reckons I was doin’ his mum,” Luke blurted out, deciding it was a secret no longer worth keeping. It wasn’t what Cooper was expecting, but he did a reasonable job of keeping a straight face. Not like the two lanky lads standing in the driveway listening, who had obviously been aware of the charge against Luke and were waiting to see if he’d admit it to a cop. They sniggered and carried on until Cooper shot them a glance to shut them up.

  “And were you?” he asked Luke.

  “Are you for real, man? Of course not. I mean, she was a nice lady and all, but, geez, she was his mum. She was old enough to be my mum. That’s not how I roll, man. No way.” Luke shook his head emphatically, just in case Cooper had any doubts, which he did, of course. He always had doubts.

  “So, just let me get this straight. Your mate… best mate?”

  Luke shrugged and then nodded.

  “Your best mate’s mother is murdered, and he accuses you of — how did you put it — doin’ her. Is that all he accused you of?”

  “What are you tryin’ to say? You think I killed her? No way, mate. I wasn’t even sleeping with her.” Both hands came up and Luke rubbed and squeezed his head, as if trying to eradicate the images this conversation must be putting in there. Unless of course he isn’t telling the truth, in which case maybe he’s trying to eradicate memories of an encounter with an older woman he’d now probably rather forget. Either way, Cooper’s own mind was reeling. What did this all mean for the case? He wondered how Stocky was going with Josh.

  “I’m not accusing you of anything, Luke.” Cooper kept his voice as even as possible in an effort to calm the young man. Cooper was pretty sure he could handle him if he suddenly got violent, but that was the last thing he needed. Right now he needed this kid to talk. “What do you think made Josh suspect you were having some kind of relationship with his mother?”

  “I don’t know, ask him. He’s the one who keeps going off at me about it. I didn’t do nothin’ with his old lady. Seriously, the guy’s got it all wrong.”

  “But surely there must be some reason for him to be suspicious,” Cooper pressed.

  Luke took a seat on the low wall separating the Gilmore’s front yard from the footpath. He looked over to the driveway, to where his other so-called mates were still standing. Cooper sensed Luke didn’t want to talk in front of them.

  “I’m going to need to talk to you two in a minute,” he said. “Can you wait for me up there?” He pointed to the porch in front of the house. Stocky had taken Josh inside the house now, so they wouldn’t bother him on the porch. They raised their eyebrows in unison at Luke, who nodded his approval for them to move. The yes-men of the group, Cooper figured.

  “All right, spill,” said Cooper once they were alone.

  “Mrs Gilmore was a nice lady, like I said. She was a proper mum, you know? She looked after her family, cooked meals, was interested in what they did. Josh thought she was a bore, a pain in his arse. But he didn’t know what he had.”

  “Your mum not quite so domestic?” Cooper was starting to understand.

  “You could put it that way. Look, I love my mum, I’d do anything to protect her, and all that, but she’s not exactly hands-on in our household. Mrs Gilmore, she talked to me. She’d invite me over for dinner, and sometimes I’d help her cook and she’d talk to me. As if she really cared what was going on in my life, you know?”

  “And that was something you didn’t get at home?”

  “All my mum cares about is getting Dad’s money out of the account before he spends it on booze. But she’s no better, you know. She’s only going to spend it on clothes or bloody shoes or whatever. Look, don’t get me wrong. They do all right by me and my brother, put food on the table, that sort of thing. But they don’t care where we are or what we’re doing. I’m worried about my little brother, he’s starting to get mixed up in things he’s got no business being mixed up in. He’s only fifteen. But Mum and Dad couldn’t give a stuff. I’d be out of that house already if it wasn’t for my little bro’. I need to look out for him, even if he hates me for it.”

  “So, Mrs Gilmore fits in how?” Cooper tried to bring him back around.

  “Mrs G cared, man. That’s it. She always asked me how I was, how my brother was doing, and she wasn’t just sayin’ it. She really cared. Sometimes I would come over here to see Josh, but really, I think I just wanted to hang out and talk with his mum in the kitchen. And if you tell those other pricks that, I’ll deny it. Including Josh.”

  Cooper understood. He’d seen enough damaged kids with disinterested parents in his time to understand that all Luke wanted was someone to hear him, and it seemed he got what he wanted from his best mate’s mother. But how did this help them find out who killed her?

  “Can I go now?”

  Cooper didn’t get the chance to answer before Royce Gilmore’s work truck pulled into the driveway and he and Ashley got out.

  “What’s going on here?” Royce demanded. “Do you have something? Have you found out what happened to Rebecca?”

  “We’re still working on it, Mr Gilmore. We had a development and we needed to talk to Josh. My partner is inside the house with him now.”

  “Jesus Christ, I thought I made it clear to you people to leave my son alone. He’s got nothing to do with this. Why do you keep harassing him like this?” Royce seemed to only now notice that Luke was standing there. “What are you doing with him?”

  “I’ve just been asking him a few questions.” Cooper could see that Royce was getting agitated, and that was the last thing they needed with Stocky interviewing Josh inside. “He’s been telling me how Rebecca was always nice to him whenever he came to see Josh. Really, Mr Gilmore, we’re doing everything we can to find out what happened to your wife.”

  “No you’re not. You’re harassing my family, that’s what you’re doing. I won’t have it.” With that he stormed up the driveway and yanked open the door to the house.

  So much for a calm chat, thought Cooper, instructing Luke and the two boys to stay where they were before following Royce inside.

  13

  Inside the house, Stocky
and Josh were seated at the kitchen table. Josh had a beer in front of him, Stocky a glass of water. Cooper caught up with Royce just as he entered the kitchen.

  “Why are you questioning my son again?”

  “It’s okay, Dad.”

  “No, it’s not okay. It’s very much not okay. Why aren’t you out there looking for the son of a bitch who killed my wife?”

  Stocky stood so he was level with the angry father. “Mr Gilmore, we have our best officers on this case. Everyone’s working overtime to find out what happened to Rebecca. But you have to understand, we follow all the leads we get, even if they lead us back to your family.”

  Some of the bluster went out of Royce. “What leads? What do you mean? What’s led you back here?” He looked at Josh, who responded by picking at the label of the beer in front of him.

  “Why don’t we all sit down?” Stocky suggested, resuming his chair.

  Royce sat in what was probably his spot at the head of the table, and Cooper took the remaining seat by the window. Ashley stayed in the kitchen and started getting things out of the fridge, reminding Cooper that it was dinner time for normal people. He briefly wondered what Liz was cooking for the boys right now, before shaking off the thought and concentrating on the case and the people in front of him.

  “I’ve just been speaking to Josh about the fact that his car was seen on a number of traffic cameras in the area around Lane Cove National Park on the night Rebecca was killed.”

  “He was out with his mates, he told you that.” Royce looked at his son. “You told them that, didn’t you?” Josh didn’t reply.

  “The pictures we have show Josh was in the car alone.”

  “Well that can’t be right. Where was Luke? And those other two who are always hanging around? They’re hanging around on my front porch right now. Surely they were with you?”

  “I’d just asked Josh why he was alone when you walked in just now. I’m still waiting to hear.”

  Josh picked at the beer label some more and remained quiet.

  Royce wrapped a big hand around the bottle and pulled it away. “Answer the question,” he instructed.

  Josh shrugged. “So I was on my own? What’s the big deal?”

  “The big deal,” said Stocky, “is that you lied to us. When we interviewed you at the station, you said you spent the night driving around with your friends. We have photos from two separate surveillance cameras that say you were alone. We checked the footage from before and after your car, and your friend Luke’s car isn’t there, so you weren’t driving around in convoy. You said you left here on Friday night with the three boys in the car, you went to a fast food restaurant, and a couple of bars. That doesn’t fit with the evidence, Josh. It looks bad. It’s time to tell us what you were really doing.”

  “All right, fine. I left here with the boys and we did go to Macca’s. But I had a fight with Luke, and I needed some space. I needed to clear my head, so I dropped them off back at his place and I cruised around by myself for a while. Why do you care so much? What difference does it make?”

  “It makes all the difference, Josh. We’re investigating a murder. You have to tell us the truth. Otherwise, when we find out you lied, we have to spend our time figuring out why you lied. We get suspicious, because that’s our job.”

  “I didn’t hurt Mum,” said Josh, and Cooper watched as a single tear escaped the teenager’s eye.

  “What’s going on between you and Luke?” asked Royce. “He’s supposed to be your best mate, but now you’re telling me you fought on Friday as well as getting arrested for assaulting him yesterday? And from the looks of things you’ve had another go at each other just now.” Royce reached over and gently touched a new bruise on Josh’s cheek. “What’s that all about?”

  Josh reached for the beer and pulled it back in front of him, fiddling with the label again. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Well I do. Something is clearly wrong with you two, and I can’t have it. I need to concentrate right now, mate. Your mother’s gone, and I need to pull us together as a family. I can’t have you fighting and getting arrested all the bloody time.”

  Josh remained silent.

  “Well is it something you can fix? Something I can fix for you?”

  Shrug.

  “I think I have a fair idea of what’s going on, Mr Gilmore,” said Cooper. Josh was clearly embarrassed by the situation, and wasn’t about to confess to his father that he thought his mother was sleeping with his best friend. “If we can get the two of them to sit down together and talk, I’m confident we can resolve the issue and get on with finding out what happened to Rebecca.

  “I see. And I suppose you don’t want me present at this little sit down?”

  Cooper looked at Josh, who ever so discreetly shook his head.

  “I think I can probably handle it myself, if that’s all right with you.”

  “I guess it’ll have to be.” Royce stood and looked at Stocky. “There’s more beer in the shed if you want to join me.”

  Stocky raised his eyebrows at Cooper, who signalled back that he could handle things here. Stocky followed Royce out the back door.

  “Ashley, do you mind giving your brother and me a minute?” asked Cooper. He noticed she hadn’t progressed very far with whatever she was making for dinner. She left the room without a word, and Cooper waited until he heard footsteps on the stairs before he said anything to Josh.

  “I’ve had a chat with Luke outside,” he began. “He doesn’t want to press charges or anything, so no need to worry there.”

  “Not what I was worried about.”

  “If it makes you feel better, I don’t think there was anything going on between him and your mum.”

  “He would say that. But I saw the way he looked at her, and then Ashley told me Mum was having an affair…”

  The last piece of the puzzle clicked into place for Cooper. It had been bothering him how Josh had gone from noticing his friend liked his mum, to presuming they were having an intimate relationship. But if Ashley had told him she suspected their mother of having an affair, but didn’t tell him who with, and Josh already had reservations about Luke, well, he could see how a nineteen year old would jump to the wrong conclusion.

  “Josh, we know who your mother was seeing, and I can assure you it wasn’t Luke. It was a man her own age. Your mum was just being nice to your friend, that’s all. Luke showed an interest because your mum provided him with genuine care and kindness it seems he doesn’t get much of in his own home. But they weren’t intimate. You can get that image out of your head now, because it’s not true.”

  Josh’s face brightened momentarily, and Cooper realised he’d gotten through. But the darkness was back soon enough. “So you’ve confirmed she was seeing someone behind my dad’s back, then? If it wasn’t Luke, then who?”

  “Why don’t you let us deal with that?” the last thing he needed was a pissed off teenager attacking Jack Payne.

  Josh took a swig of the beer and thought about it. Fortunately for Cooper, he must have realised he’d caused the police enough trouble for now. He nodded, and Cooper understood that to mean that he’d let them handle it.

  “Good man. Listen, Luke is still outside. I’ve just got to get a final statement from him, so we can confirm your story about dropping him and your other friends off on Friday night, but that will only take a minute. Then I think the two of you need to talk.” Cooper pointed to the beer. “Maybe take him one of those as a peace offering.”

  “Sure.” They both stood. “Thanks for not telling my dad.”

  Cooper smiled. “No problem. I was a teenager once myself, you know.”

  * * *

  Once they were in the car, Cooper told Stocky what had transpired between the boys.

  “Shit, he really thought his mate was sleeping with his mother?”

  “He really did. It’s not so out there, you know. It happens. I’ve seen it before.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”r />
  “So what now?” It was getting late, and Cooper was keen to get home and see the boys before bedtime.

  “You still offering that beer?”

  So much for home. “Sure.”

  Stocky pointed the car towards the city, and Cooper sat back and wondered if his wife would speak to him at all this week.

  “All right then, what’s the beef between you and Saunders?” Cooper asked once they were settled at a corner table of his favourite pub near home in Annandale, beers in front of them. Light for Cooper, he’d decided already he wasn’t going to go home drunk tonight. Stocky had ordered full strength though, and Cooper was worried about his partner and best mate.

  “We were partners, back in the day. Back when we were in uniform, we used to patrol in the city together. Had some good times, too. We stayed friends for a lot of years, family barbecues, watched each other’s kids grow up. You know how it is.”

  Cooper had known Stocky for ten years, knew what a loyal friend he could be. He’d never heard him mention Saunders, though. Not recently, anyway.

  “What happened?”

  Stocky took a long swig of his beer, and signalled to the barman to pour him another. “You want one?”

  “Nah, I’m good.”

  Stocky walked over to the bar, put down some money and picked up his drink. “It was four or five years ago now,” he said, resuming his bar stool. “I called in at Des’s place after work one day, wanted to borrow a drill or something, I can’t exactly remember the reason. But I was unannounced, and I walked in on Saunders giving his wife a beating. Not just a slap around, not that that’s okay either, but he was really laying into her. He was drunk, I mean really drunk, and it took everything I had to pull him off her.”

  “Shit. Then what’d you do?”

  “I threw him on his bed, where he promptly fell asleep. Then I took Jenny and their two girls back to my house. Anthea set up beds for the girls, who were thankfully oblivious to what their father had done, while I helped Jenny get cleaned up. He really messed her up good, and from the way she was I got the feeling it wasn’t the first time.”