The Dark Series

by Catherine Lee

  “This is ridiculous,” she heard her mother say after a while.

  Eva ignored her, and continued her efforts. But how do you try and make a nightmare come back? Eventually, she opened her eyes and looked at Georgie. “I don’t think it’s going to happen today. Maybe it’s gone? Now that Amanda has been found? Maybe it just took a couple of days to work its way out of my head?”

  Georgie considered this. “Maybe,” she replied. “Or maybe there are too many negative vibes in the room.” She stared at Brenda.

  “I can’t help how I feel,” Brenda retaliated. “I don’t believe in all this mumbo jumbo. It’s just a heart, for God’s sake. Hearts don’t remember!” She grabbed her bag and stormed out of the room, but not before Eva noticed the glisten of tears forming in her mother’s eyes.

  “We’d better give it a rest,” she said to Georgie.

  “Okay, if that’s what you want. I’ll go, but call me if you need to, Eva. Anytime.”

  Eva nodded. Georgie offered a hand and Eva squeezed it, as much as her dwindling strength would allow.

  49

  Back at the station Cooper headed straight for Munro’s office, Quinn close behind. They spent ten minutes going over what they’d found before Munro agreed the hospital was the next logical step.

  “See what the doctor who performed the transplant has to say,” Munro suggested. “And didn’t you tell me your reporter mate was spending time with this heart patient? Find out how he’s mixed up in all this, too.”

  “Righto.” Cooper had forgotten about Andrew Fox’s connection to Eva Matthews. What exactly was going on there? It was time he found out. They left for St Vincent’s hospital.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, kid,” Cooper confided once they were on the road.

  “It’s pretty bloody confusing, that’s for sure. You really think Fraser’s death has something to do with the transplant?”

  “I don’t know, but what else have we got to go on? We’re getting nowhere looking for the original Sylvia.”

  “About that, boss. I was giving it some thought over the weekend. Is there any chance Sylvia could be Renee Vale, the first victim? The one he went to prison for?”

  Cooper considered Quinn’s theory.

  “Could be. Max told me once that with serial killers the first victim is often someone known to them. They kill close to home first, getting a taste for it. It’s possible Renee could have been someone in his life, yeah. And the timing fits.”

  “That’s what I thought. The only photo we have on file of Renee is very grainy, so it’s difficult to tell for sure, but she does have similar features to the Sylvia photo from Grant’s wallet.”

  “It’s worth checking out, Joe. You can get onto that once we’re done here.” Cooper pulled the car into the short-term car park at the hospital and displayed the police identification on the dashboard.

  “I want to talk to the doctor first, before we confront the girl,” he said as they followed the signs to the transplant unit. After a few enquiries they were directed to a small staff room. They didn’t have to wait long for the doctor to appear.

  “Detectives, I’m Dr Roland Graham. Can we make this quick? I’m due in surgery.”

  Cooper shook the doctor’s hand, introducing himself and Quinn.

  “I’ll get straight to the point then, Doctor. We need to ask about Eva Matthews. Specifically, we’d like to know about the hours before her transplant, when the heart became available. Can you talk us through what happened once the donor heart was found?”

  Doctor Graham looked around the room, not making eye contact.

  “I’m not sure I know what you mean. It was like any other transplant. We got the word from the co-ordinator that a heart was available, and Eva was immediately prepped for surgery. Once we got the go ahead — that means the organ was harvested and deemed viable — Eva was taken into theatre and the surgery began. The heart came over from RPA and I performed the transplant.”

  “The co-ordinator?” asked Quinn.

  “Transplant co-ordinator. They act as the go-between, matching donor hearts to recipients. They are vital to ensuring the whole process remains anonymous.”

  “But it didn’t remain anonymous in Eva’s case, did it? She knows full well who her donor was.”

  “That was through no fault of this hospital or the donor program, I can assure you. Is that what this is about? Confidentiality?”

  “No, Doctor. Not even close. This is about murder.” It was time to get serious.

  Doctor Graham lowered himself into a chair at the small table in the room. He looked quite pale all of a sudden.

  “There’s something you’re not telling us, isn’t there?” Cooper questioned as he and Quinn also sat.

  “Look, I could get into serious trouble for revealing this,” Dr Graham began. Cooper sensed he was about to get some answers so he kept quiet, giving Quinn a look to make sure he did the same. The two of them waited while the doctor summoned the courage to talk.

  “It’s not just my career on the line, you understand. The co-ordinator stuck her neck out too. The whole program could be jeopardised if this gets out.” He was clearly very nervous.

  “Doctor, you need to tell us what’s going on. You could lose more than just your job if you stand in the way of a police investigation.” Cooper tried to be gentle but firm. He sensed the man knew he was in a compromising position and had sweated over it for a while.

  “Before the transplant, the father came to see me.”

  “Eva’s father?”

  “No. The father of the donor.”

  “You mean Jack Simpson?”

  “Yes, I think that was his name. He had with him a picture of Eva, the one from last weekend’s paper. I guess that’s how he knew I was her surgeon. He said he would agree to organ donation only if Eva received the heart. I tried to explain that it didn’t work that way, that there was a list and a process that must be followed. But the guy was adamant. If Eva couldn’t have the heart, then none of the organs would be donated. I knew Eva was close to the top of the list, if not at the top. I told him I’d see what I could do, and I called the co-ordinator over at RPA. I know her, you see. I told her what was going on, and she checked. Eva wasn’t top of the list, she was next in line, but preliminary blood tests showed Eva was a much better match to the donor than the person at the top of the list. It was the co-ordinator’s call.”

  “So you agreed to Jack’s demands,” said Cooper.

  “We didn’t like it, Detective, but we felt it was the best call given the circumstances. Chances are that even without Jack’s interference Eva would have got the heart based on compatibility tests. It was one of the closest matches we’ve had. And if we didn’t agree, six viable organs would have gone to waste. I’m not proud of the way it happened, but I’m not sorry for the decision we made. Eva wouldn’t have lasted much longer without that heart.”

  “Does she know?” asked Quinn.

  “Does Eva know Jack insisted she get the heart? No, I don’t think so. I’m not aware she’s ever met him, and I certainly haven’t told her. She’s having enough trouble dealing with the fact that she has the heart of such a person. You can’t tell her. She’s not strong enough to handle news like that right now.”

  “We will keep her health in mind, Doctor, but we do need to get to the bottom of this. Did Jack give you any indication why he insisted Eva must be the one to receive the heart?” asked Cooper.

  Dr Graham scratched his head and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose after sweat had caused them to slide.

  “No, he didn’t. I thought he must have read the article and felt sorry for her, to be honest. You have to remember that at the time we didn’t know who he was. Fraser Grant, that is. We didn’t know he was a murderer, I mean.”

  “Would it have made any difference to your decision if you did?”

  Dr Graham shrugged. “No, I don’t suppose it would. A heart is a heart, to us. I don’t believe i
n this cellular memory business that journalist has been getting Eva worked up about.”

  “Cellular memory?” Cooper had not heard the term before. Dr Graham gave them a brief summary of the concept before totally discounting it as non-scientific.

  “There’s no proof, no studies have been conclusive. It can all be explained by the natural healing process, the changes the body goes through after a transplant. Of course, try telling Eva that. She’s convinced now that she has an ‘evil’ heart. Still, now that his wife has been found the journalist seems to be out of the picture, so maybe she’ll snap out of it.”

  So that’s why Andrew Fox has been hanging around, thought Cooper.

  “Are we finished here?” asked the doctor. “I still need to get to surgery.”

  “Sure,” Cooper replied. “Listen, thanks for being upfront with us, Doc. I can’t make any promises, but we’ll do our best to make sure this stays quiet. For everyone’s sake.”

  “I appreciate that, Detective.” Doctor Graham closed the door on his way out, leaving Cooper and Quinn sitting in silence at the little staff table. Eventually, Cooper spoke.

  “What do you make of all that, then?”

  “Geez, boss, this just gets weirder and weirder. So much for case closed once we found Amanda, that’s for sure. Where do we go now? We can’t really question the girl without letting her know about Jack’s little visit to the doctor, can we?”

  “No.” Cooper closed his eyes, trying to think. He pulled his notebook out of his pocket. Quinn had been taking notes while the doctor spoke, but Cooper always thought better when he wrote stuff down later. As he opened the notebook a small photo fell out. It was a copy of the thirty-year-old photo of Sylvia from Fraser Grant’s wallet, the only clue they had to the mystery woman. Cooper stared at the picture.

  “What is it?” asked Quinn.

  Cooper’s eyes widened. “Do you still have that photocopy from the paper?”

  “Sure.” Quinn pulled out the copy and handed it over. Cooper lay it on the table next to the photo. Even with the thirty-year time difference the resemblance was unmistakable.

  “Jesus,” Quinn whistled under his breath.

  “Yep,” nodded Cooper. “I think we just found Sylvia.”

  50

  After Georgie left, Eva closed her eyes, not intending to sleep but just needing to rest. Fortunately, her parents took the hint and sat quietly, Brenda leafing through a magazine she’d brought back from the gift shop, Alan playing with his phone. Before long, voices filled the room. For a minute, Eva thought she’d fallen asleep and was dreaming again, but this was different. She opened her eyes to find the detectives from the other day in her room.

  “Hello again, Eva,” said the smaller, older one of the two. “Detective Sergeant Charlie Cooper, we met on Friday. This is my partner, Detective Senior Constable Quinn.” Quinn nodded hello.

  “Yes, of course, I remember. Hi, how are you? Is there something wrong? Is Amanda okay?” Eva still hadn’t seen or heard anything from Andrew since Friday.

  “As far as we know, Mrs Fox is fine. I believe she was discharged from the hospital yesterday.”

  “Oh,” said Eva. “So what can I do for you, then?”

  “Actually, we’d like to have a few words with your mother.” The detective turned to face Brenda. “Mrs Matthews, would you mind stepping outside for a minute? There’s something we need to discuss.”

  Before she could respond, Alan spoke. “What’s all this about, Detective?”

  “Sir, we need to speak to Mrs Matthews regarding an ongoing investigation.”

  “Well why can’t you do that here? We have no secrets in this family.”

  Detective Cooper looked momentarily unsure of himself. His partner kept quiet, standing by the door as if on guard.

  “It’s okay, Detective. You know, don’t you?” Brenda’s voice was barely audible.

  “We are aware of your association with Fraser Grant, yes,” replied Cooper.

  “What association?” Eva was confused. “What are you talking about? Mum had nothing to do with that man. That’s crazy. Tell them, Mum. Mum?” Brenda had started to cry. “Mum, what the hell is going on?” she demanded.

  “I really think we should discuss this elsewhere, Mrs Matthews.”

  “No.” Brenda took a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes. “No, this has to end now. They have a right to know.”

  Alan took his daughter’s hand. They both looked wide-eyed at Brenda, who sat silent, eyes downcast. Finally, Detective Cooper took a photograph from his pocket and handed it to her.

  “That’s you, isn’t it, Mrs Matthews?”

  Tears welled in her eyes again. “Yes. Yes, that’s me, thirty years ago.” She turned to face Alan. “I didn’t know what to do. You have to believe me, I did what I thought was best for both of us. For all of us.”

  Alan knelt by her side, taking her hands in his.

  “I don’t understand, Bren. Look, whatever this is, whatever’s going on, we’ll sort it out, okay?”

  Brenda sniffed back more tears and nodded. Then she turned to the detectives and told her story.

  “Thirty years ago I worked as a secretary in a real estate office. Fraser Grant worked there too, although that wasn’t his name back then. It was James, James Simpson, and he was a few years younger than me. We flirted for a while, nothing serious at first, but it became more.” She looked at Alan. “You were away a lot, always travelling. It’s no excuse, I know.” Brenda cast her eyes down to her lap. “One thing led to another, and, well—”

  “You had an affair?” asked Eva.

  Brenda avoided her daughter’s gaze and continued.

  “It lasted about three months. I knew it was wrong, I tried to break it up. But James, he got really mad. He wanted me to leave my marriage, give up everything to be with him. I said no, I tried to end it. Alan and I had just bought a new house. We were making a real start in our lives. I couldn’t throw all that away on a stupid fling. I tried ignoring him, I tried telling him that I didn’t care about him, I tried everything to get him to leave me alone. It was no use, he was infatuated. He started calling me at home, threatening to tell everyone about us. So, I arranged to meet him one last time. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I had to convince him to leave me alone.

  “We met at the new house. It was still empty, but I had the keys. I’m not sure why I chose the house. I guess I thought it being empty meant there was nothing there he could hurt me with. He turned up with a sunflower, he knew they were my favourite. But as he walked toward me something changed in him. At first I was relieved, because it was like he finally got it. He finally understood that we could never be together, he was going to let it go. But then I was scared. His eyes, they were vacant. I’ll never forget those eyes. Something snapped in him that day.”

  Eva stared at her mother, horrified.

  “It’s you, isn’t it?”

  Tears had started to fall again from the corners of Brenda’s eyes, and she pulled another tissue from her pocket. She wiped her face and looked at Eva.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

  “He raped you that day.”

  Brenda nodded.

  “It was never Amanda in my nightmares. It was you. Oh my God, it’s you. That’s why it’s in that house. It wasn’t my brain mixing my own memories with his. This is all his memory. His memory of raping my mother. I’ve been having dreams about raping my own mother.” Eva felt contaminated. Her breathing became laboured and she reached for the oxygen mask. This was too much. It was all too much. She wanted everyone out of her room, out of her life. What was her father doing? Why was he just sitting there? He should be yelling at her mother, or storming off, or something. Do something, Dad. Don’t just sit there. But he did nothing, except reach out automatically to help her with her oxygen mask.

  Detective Cooper broke the silence.

  “I think it’s time Eva got some rest. Why don’t you both come outside with us.”<
br />
  Brenda looked up at him. “Of course,” she said.

  Alan made no attempt to leave the room. Eva saw the look that passed between her parents and in that moment she knew all their worlds would never be the same again.

  “She’s his, isn’t she?” Alan asked his wife.

  Detective Cooper tried to intervene. “Mr Matthews, please. This is not helping your daughter.”

  They ignored him, holding each other’s gaze. Brenda finally nodded, and it was Alan’s turn to weep. Eva had never seen her father get emotional before, let alone cry. He was always the strong one, the rational one. He was the parent she took after.

  “Dad? What are you talking about?”

  Alan slowly turned toward his daughter, and Eva saw defeat in his face. This was not the father she knew. What the hell was happening?

  “Eva, your mother and I tried for years to have a second child. Eventually, I realised something must be wrong, and I had myself tested. I’m sterile, Evie. Always have been. I’m not your biological father. I never knew who was. It was a question I couldn’t bring myself to ask. Your mother and I were happy and I didn’t want to upset things. As far as I was concerned, you were mine. You still are.”

  Eva could take no more. Her heart monitor went crazy, people called her name, others shouted and ran from the room, but she barely registered any of it as light faded to dark.

  51

  It was three days since he’d seen her. Three days too many, Andrew decided.

  With everything going on with Amanda, he had felt his place was with his wife, but the entire time he couldn’t get Eva out of his head. He was still amazed by her tenacity, her fight for life, and her willingness to help others at a time when she had serious problems of her own. He’d never met a woman like her, he was drawn to her, and he suspected she was fond of him as well. But where was she?

  As he stood in the doorway to her room, Rob, the nurse, pushed him gently aside. “She’s back up in ICU,” he said as he began changing the bed.