The Dark Series

by Catherine Lee

  "Did you lose someone?" It was the reality of working in a hospital, but that didn't make it easy.

  "No, nothing like that. It's just… I'm under a bit of pressure right now."

  Jackie guided her friend to a nearby bench. "What kind of pressure? No offence, Liz, but you look like shit. You're all jumpy, and you've obviously been crying. I've never seen you this upset at work before. What is it?"

  "It's nothing, really."

  "Bullshit. Talk to me," Jackie persisted.

  Liz brought fists to her eyes and rubbed vigorously. "All right," she finally said. "Hang on a sec." She pulled her phone out of a pocket and called someone, letting them know she'd be back in fifteen minutes. Then she searched through the rest of her pockets, but came up empty. "Can you shout me a coffee?"

  "Of course."

  They went to the coffee cart, which by some minor miracle had no queue at all, and ordered. Coffee procured, they found a different bench away from the flow of foot traffic and Jackie stared at Liz until she finally gave up what was bothering her.

  "Some medication has gone missing from the surgical ward," she began. "They've just done an audit, and come up short."

  Jackie didn't understand. "Why has that got you so upset?"

  "They think I took it. Jerry's all but accused me."

  "Are you serious?" Jackie still didn't understand. Jerry Robertson, the Chief of Surgery, was one of the nicest and fairest bosses she had ever come across. She remembered Liz saying not long ago that she and Charlie had been invited over to his house for dinner. She thought Liz and Jerry got on really well. Why would he accuse her of such a thing?

  "Well he seems pretty serious. I've accessed the strong room the most over the last month, apparently. I've signed out a lot of narcotics, and that's what's missing. Specifically, there're a number of packets of Endone unaccounted for."

  "And just because you've signed out the most, that means you're responsible for the missing ones? That's bullshit."

  "I know. I don't know where he's getting his numbers from. Everything I've signed out can be accounted for on my patients' charts."

  "You've told him that?"

  "Of course I have. He says he's having Linda check into it. But for some reason he doesn't trust me, all of a sudden." Liz shook her head. "I can't tell you how that makes me feel."

  Jackie took a sip of her coffee. It would be awful to lose the trust of your boss like that, especially for no good reason.

  "Can you think of anything that might make him behave this way?" she asked.

  "I've racked my brain, Jack. I've no idea. Honestly."

  They sat in silence for a while, and for a minute Jackie thought Liz was going to burst into tears again. But the doctor pulled herself together, and Jackie took confidence from her friend's strength.

  "If Linda's checking the figures and the charts, then that'll clear you soon enough. Don't let it get to you, okay? This hospital needs you at your best. Shit, I need you."

  Half a smile crept onto Liz's face; she looked at Jackie. "How are you holding up today?"

  "I'm okay. The day is dragging like you wouldn't believe, but I'm hanging in there. I don't suppose you've heard anything from Charlie?"

  "No. But then, he very rarely calls me at work. You're just going to have to wait until he gets in touch with you, I'm afraid. Don't worry. If there's anything to find, Coop will find it for you."

  They finished their drinks and walked back into the hospital together until Liz's phone went off, calling her to another emergency. "Take care," Jackie called after her, then threw her paper cup into a nearby bin.

  Back at the triage nurses station things had gotten busy, and the rest of the day flew by in comparison to the first five hours. As she worked, though, Jackie couldn't get Liz's problem out of her head. The second audit would clear her, no doubt. But why would Jerry Robertson accuse her of such a crime if he didn't have any evidence?

  * * *

  Jackie pulled up at the school just as the bell went, so she had to park a fair way away. She just made it to the school gate in time to catch Emma saying goodbye to one of her friends.

  "Hi, sweetheart," she said, bending down to receive the little girl's hug.

  "Hi Mum. Look what we did today!" Emma handed her a painting that had feathers and glitter glued to it.

  "It's very colourful. Will we put it on the fridge?"

  "Sure, whatever." Jackie grimaced at the 'whatever'. She got enough of that from Ethan without her six-year-old daughter following his lead.

  "C'mon, let's go. We have to get your overnight bag from the office."

  "No we don't. Dad said he'd take it to your house when he dropped me off this morning."

  Jackie's eyebrows raised involuntarily. "Oh he did, did he?" They'd agreed that the bag would go to the school office on changeover days so Marcus wouldn't have to go to the house. But, typical of Marcus, he'd obviously wanted to check up on her and have a sticky beak at the state of the house after their last encounter. Well he wouldn't find anything incriminating, so bully for him.

  "All right then, we'll just wait here for Ethan, shall we?"

  "Yep." Emma kicked at her shoes for a bit then looked up. "There he is!" She ran to greet him, which he obviously found embarrassing because he was with a friend. He tried to push her away, then, realising it wasn't going to work, picked her up and gave her an over-enthusiastic hug.

  "How are you, squirt?" Jackie heard him say as they made their way towards her.

  "I'm not a squirt anymore. I'm almost up to here on you." Emma pointed straight to Ethan's heart.

  "Yeah, almost. Hi Mum. This is Oscar."

  "Hello, Mrs Rose." Oscar held out a hand, and a surprised Jackie shook it.

  "Hi, Oscar. It's nice to finally meet you. Ethan tells me you moved here at the end of last year?"

  "Yes, my dad got a job in Sydney, so we came up just before Christmas. It's nice to meet you, too."

  "And me?" Emma wasn't going to be left out.

  "I've already met you, Miss Emma. We've walked home tons of times, haven't we?"

  "Oh, yeah. Are you driving us today, Mum?"

  "I am. But first we're going to Scarletti's for some afternoon tea," Jackie replied, knowing that would meet with approval from her kids. Scarletti's was their favourite local cafe. "Oscar, would you like to join us?"

  "Yeah, come on," said Emma. "They have the best cupcakes."

  "They have other stuff, too," added Ethan.

  Oscar looked hesitant. "It's my treat," Jackie added, to put him at ease. She wanted to get to know this kid her son had become such good friends with.

  "Okay, thanks."

  They all piled into the car for the short trip to Scarletti's, and Jackie noticed how much more engaged Ethan was having his friend around. Normally all she got were grunts and one word answers, but today he was animated and happy, even including Emma in on the conversations without picking on her.

  After they'd chosen their treats and taken a seat at a table, Jackie tried to find out a bit more from Oscar.

  "So how are you finding Sydney compared to Melbourne, Oscar? Did you live in Melbourne your whole life before here?"

  "Yeah. I've visited some family in Queensland a few times, but I've only ever lived in Melbourne. I can't say I've really formed much of an opinion about Sydney yet, Mrs Rose. We've been to the city a few times, and I think the Harbour Bridge is pretty cool. But Dad works in the city, and Mum goes there a lot for meetings, so they don't really want to go there on the weekend."

  "What about school? Are you enjoying the change, or do you miss your old friends?"

  The waitress arrived with their food and drinks, and Oscar spooned mouthfuls of cream from the top of his milkshake into his mouth before he finally answered.

  "I don't miss much about my old school, to be honest. I can keep in touch with my friends back there pretty well online. I like it here, Ethan's been a good mate." He went back to his milkshake, and Jackie sensed that was
all she was going to get out of him. She turned her attention to Emma, and kept one ear on the boys as they got involved in their own conversation. It was good to hear Ethan so animated for a change.

  "You should invite him over more often," Jackie said to Ethan, once they'd dropped Oscar at home. "What do his parents do?"

  "I don't know, Mum. His dad works in the city, like he said, some corporate type job. Not sure about his mum, but she works full time too."

  "Have you met them?"

  "No. They get home pretty late, I think."

  Jackie parked in the driveway. "All the more reason to invite him over, then."

  "Okay." Ethan shrugged as he got his and Emma's bags out of the car.

  Jackie unlocked the house and Emma raced inside, no doubt headed for her bedroom and her Barbie dolls — the latest favourite toys. Ethan was still at the back of the car, just standing there.

  "Are you coming?" Jackie asked.

  "Dad says we're moving to Perth," he said, as he closed the boot of the car and walked slowly towards her.

  "Dad says a lot of things, mate. It doesn't make it so."

  "I don't want to move. Oscar says moving sucks." He dumped the bags in the hallway.

  "I thought he was doing okay? He said he didn't miss his friends."

  "He didn't have any friends down there, not from what I can tell. There's a lot you don't know about Oscar, Mum."

  "Like what? No, actually, Oscar's not my problem right now. Listen, I don't care what Dad says. You and Emma are staying right here, okay? Don't let him fill your head with his crazy ideas."

  "It doesn't sound crazy, Mum. He says he's getting a transfer over there for work. He says it'll be a great place for him and Charlotte and the new baby, and he wants us all to be a family."

  It was all Jackie could do to contain her rage. How dare Marcus go ahead and tell the kids all this as if it were a done deal already?

  "Come here," she said, and was almost surprised when her son let her embrace him. "You're not going anywhere. Your dad and I have some stuff to work out, but I can assure you it will not end with you and Emma moving to Perth. I simply will not let that happen. Got it?"

  Ethan gave her a final squeeze then let go. "Got it." He grabbed his school bag and meandered off up the hall, leaving Jackie to wonder exactly how she was going to make sure she kept her kids.

  10

  The house was a nondescript one in the suburb of Ashfield, close to where Cooper himself lived. Too close, actually. It always unnerved him to investigate a case in his local area. It looked like a normal family home, but he knew the family inside would never be the same again. He parked the car next to the forensic services station wagon and he and Quinn put on their jackets to bring an air of formality to their grim task.

  The garage door was open, and a swarm of people in forensic overalls were going about their business in relative silence. Cooper nodded towards Dr Garrett Byrnes; the forensic pathologist was standing over a body bag writing up notes. The victim had been cut down from the beam from which she had been found hanging hours earlier by one or both of her parents. Cooper wasn't sure; that would be one of the first questions to ask.

  The local detective on the scene was Sergeant Harry Dawson, who would have been his colleague had Cooper gone through with the transfer to Burwood Local Area Command he'd been approved for a year ago.

  "What can you tell us, Harry?" asked Cooper, shaking Dawson's hand. The local detective had removed his latex gloves and was making some notes of his own.

  "Victim's name is Michelle Medler, sixteen years old. Looks like a pretty straight-forward suicide. Parents went out for dinner with friends last night, leaving Michelle home alone to study for an upcoming exam. They got home relatively late—" Dawson paused to check his notes "—about eleven, and assumed their daughter was already in bed. When she didn't surface for breakfast this morning they searched the house, and the father found her here."

  "At what time?"

  "Approximately ten past seven. He normally leaves for work at seven. They panicked when they saw her bed hadn't been slept in, searched the whole house but obviously couldn't find her. The mother was on the phone to the mother of Michelle's best friend when the father thought to check in here."

  Cooper looked around. Like a lot of houses in the inner west area, the single garage was used for general storage rather than parking a car. There was an assortment of boxes, bikes, garden tools and other garage-type items, but the space was by no means full. Plenty of room for a chair under the middle supporting beam.

  "Why did it take so long to call us?" Cooper asked. "The body was found early this morning, it's now mid-afternoon."

  "Like I said, looks like a straight-forward suicide. Bringing Homicide in's just a formality, ain't it?"

  Cooper shrugged. "Maybe. Are the parents inside?"

  "The father is. Mother's been taken to RPA, she's in shock. Understandable. The friend's mother she called this morning came over and went with her. I've sent a uniform as well."

  "Okay, thanks, Harry. We'll take a look around."

  Dawson nodded and went out onto the front lawn to continue writing up his notes, leaving Cooper and Quinn standing in the doorway of the garage.

  "Where do you want to start, boss?"

  "I want you to have a good look at the whole scene, Joe. Don't assume anything. This is a death investigation. If we assume it's a suicide from the beginning, that's how we'll look at it. Ditto if we assume it's a homicide. We might miss something. Gather the evidence and work the case on what you find, no matter where it leads."

  "Got it." Quinn pulled out his notebook and moved off to examine the remains of the rope still hanging from the beam.

  Cooper caught up with the forensic pathologist, who was helping his assistant load the body into the morgue van. "Good afternoon, Garrett."

  "Not for our unfortunate victim, it isn't," replied the doctor, looking downcast. "Sixteen years old, Coop. She's not the first I've seen and she won't be the last. What possesses them? Everything to live for, but they can't see it."

  "So you're thinking suicide too, then?"

  "I almost wish I wasn't, that there was some other explanation for this tragedy. But at this stage everything points to suicide, yes. I'll know more after the autopsy, of course." Garrett closed the back of the van and peeled off his gloves. "You coming to watch?"

  "We'll be there. Do you have any time of death information you can give us?"

  "Rigor mortis is well underway. Taking that and the body temperature into account, I'd say you're looking at a window of between eight pm and midnight last night."

  "Thanks. Have your office let us know when the autopsy will be, okay?"

  "Sure, Coop." The men shook hands, and Cooper left Garrett and his assistant to transport Michelle's body to the morgue. He rejoined his partner in the garage.

  "What can you tell me?"

  "I spoke to Constable Silva over there, he and his partner were the first on scene." Quinn nodded towards a young looking officer sitting on the wall surrounding the front lawn of the property. The guy had both arms locked at the elbows, hands pressed into his thighs, as if he was trying to hold his torso up. Cooper could imagine how he felt. "Silva said the chair was upright underneath the rope, and the father had tried to untie the knot and get his daughter down. When he couldn't untie it he got a knife from a nearby toolbox and cut it. The girl was obviously dead, she'd been there all night, but the father still loosened the rope and attempted CPR. He was still doing it when Silva and his partner arrived. It took both of them to pull him away."

  "Where was the wife?"

  "Screaming hysterically." Quinn checked his notes. "Connie Hayes, the woman Mrs Medler had been on the phone to, lives a couple of houses away. She came running, and helped Mr Medler cut Michelle down. She was also the one who called triple-0."

  "And she's gone with the mother to the hospital?"

  "That's right. Silva took her statement. He'll send us a
copy, along with what he was able to get out of both parents."

  "Okay." Cooper looked over to the two forensic scene of crime officers still photographing the garage — Zach Ryan and Nora Reynolds, two good officers he'd worked with before. "When Zach's finished out here, get him to photograph the girl's bedroom. I'll see him in there."

  He left them to it and went into the house in search of the girl's father. He found him seated at the kitchen table, an untouched cup of tea in front of him.

  "Mr Medler?"

  The man looked up. "Ross."

  "Ross, hi." Cooper extended a hand. "I'm Detective Sergeant Charlie Cooper, with the Homicide Squad. I'm here to find out what happened to your daughter."

  "Homicide?"

  "We investigate all suspicious deaths, Ross, suicide or not. It's important to find out why this has happened. Do you feel up to talking to me?"

  "Where's my wife?"

  "She's been taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The ambulance officers determined that she was in shock, so they've taken her to be treated. Would you like to go and see her?" Cooper watched him, not entirely sure that Ross wasn't in shock himself. The man shook his head.

  "I need to stay here until you people are finished. I can't leave you alone in my house."

  "Okay, Ross. Fair enough." This was a reasonably normal reaction. No matter what the reason for the intrusion, some homeowners felt the need to stay put when emergency services were all over their home. "Can you tell me, in your own time, what happened?"

  "She… she was just hanging there. Why? Michelle was a good girl, Detective. A smart girl. Smart girls don't kill themselves. Why would she do that?"

  Cooper took the seat opposite Ross at the kitchen table. He signalled to the uniformed officer to leave the room, so they were alone. Or as alone as they could be with the number of police and forensics officers on the scene. "Ross, look at me."

  Ross Medler's eyes moved from his cup of tea to Cooper, but the look was vacant.

  "Come on, Ross. I need you to concentrate for me. The best way to help Michelle now is for us to find out the truth. We may never know why this has happened, but if we can put together Michelle's last moments, it might help. I'm told you and your wife went out for dinner last night, is that right?"