Jackie took a deep breath. She had visions of flying to Perth to visit her own children, of long, lonely nights in an empty house, of months stretching out with only phone calls and text messages.
"Look, it's a lot to take in right now. As I said, I'm not into family law anymore. I think it might be best if I hook you up with a colleague of mine. He's very good, he'll help you." Simon reached across the table, and Jackie was vaguely aware of his hand covering hers. It brought her back to the present.
"Okay," she said. "I'm going to need somebody, I suppose. Marcus seems quite determined to make this move."
Simon's business card was still sitting on the table, and he took it back and wrote a name and number on the back. "His name is James, give him a call."
Jackie took the card and put it in her purse. She pushed her half-finished coffee out of the way and stood. "Thank you for listening, and for the information," she said, pushing her chair under the table. Simon stood as well. "I really appreciate the friendly ear."
"Any time. I mean that, you have my number. If you have any questions, before you call James, I'm only too happy to try and answer them for you." He took Jackie's hand in both of his. "It'll be a long road, I'm afraid, but try not to worry too much."
Jackie smiled, even though it was the last thing she felt like doing. She'd already lost Lachlan. Now it was possible she could lose Ethan and Emma as well. What had she done to deserve this?
24
"Where have you been?" Cooper asked as he climbed into the car Quinn took home from the pool last night. He'd been waiting on the footpath outside his house for at least twenty minutes, and was not happy. Quinn's texts that he was 'on his way' and 'nearly there' hadn't helped much.
"Sorry, boss. Late night, you know how it is."
"No, I don't. Tell me."
"You really want me to kiss and tell?" the smile on Quinn's face said he was actually quite happy to kiss and tell, but all of a sudden Cooper didn't want to hear it. He put his seatbelt on and they drove off toward the Rangers' home ground.
"So, what do we know about this football coach?" he asked.
"Not a great deal," Quinn replied. "Just what Meg and Flynn were able to find out. He's the assistant coach, does a bit of talent scouting around the local schools. That's where he's spotted both our male victims. Apparently he was looking at them for the Rangers' reserve squad next year."
"So why would he want to kill them?"
Quinn shrugged. "Beats me. But he's the only adult we've found so far with a link to all three victims."
"Right. His daughter was tutoring Michelle Medler. Okay, he's worth a look then."
Quinn pulled into a parking spot outside the Rangers' ground and was immediately waved away by a security guard.
"It's game day, sir, you can't park here." The guard came over to the driver's side window. Quinn flashed his badge.
"We won't be staying long, don't worry. You know where we can find Rod Kelsey?"
"Yeah. You can park here for now, he's just through that door and down the corridor. Jimmy'll let you in." He waved to another security guard, who nodded a response that had obviously passed between them many times.
Quinn parked and they got out and walked over to Jimmy, who, after scrutinising their badges, led them down a maze of corridors and through a room packed with benches and smelling of Deep Heat. Eventually they came out into the home team's locker room. None of the players were around, but there was one guy in a Rangers' uniform standing at an open locker.
"Rod? These detectives want a word," said Jimmy, who then turned and left without waiting for a response. Not that he was going to get one, Rod was far too interested in hiding whatever it was he had going on in his locker.
Cooper and Quinn exchanged glances before Rod Kelsey slammed the locker shut and turned to face them.
"Detectives? What's this about?"
"You tell us," said Cooper. "You trying to hide something back there, Mr Kelsey?"
"No." The answer came too fast.
"You mind if we take a look?" It was worth a shot.
"You got a warrant?"
"Not yet, but I can send my partner here to get one."
"Okay, you do that."
Cooper looked at Quinn, who wasn't sure what to do. Cooper saved him. "Nah, not today. I doubt whatever you've got in there has to do with us. But I'd get rid of it, if I were you."
Kelsey took a seat on a nearby bench, keeping himself between the detectives and the locker, just in case. "What do you want?"
"We need to ask you a few questions about three kids who've died in the past six months, Mr Kelsey."
"Three kids? I know about the two boys who killed themselves. Is that what you're talking about? What's that got to do with me?"
"Maybe something, maybe nothing. The thing is, though, you're the only adult we've come across who had ties to all three of them. You want to tell us about that?"
Kelsey shrugged. "Like I said, I knew those two boys. Damn shame about them. Both good kids, had real potential. I wanted them both for the reserve squad next year."
"Were you going to get them?" asked Quinn.
"It's early days, we're only at the start of the season. I usually approach the parents around about now, but, well you know. No point now, is there?"
Cooper was appalled at the man's callousness.
"And Michelle Medler?"
"Who?"
"Michelle. Your daughter Rachel tutors her in math."
"Oh, yeah. I've met her at the house a few times. What about her?"
"You don't know?"
"Know what? I've been on the road with the team this week." Cooper watched as the penny dropped. "You mean she's dead too? Shit. I need to call my daughter." He took out his mobile phone, but Cooper held a hand out to stop him.
"You can do that in a minute. First, I need to know whether you had anything to do with these three deaths." Sometimes you just had to ask outright.
"What? Why would I?"
"Like I said, you were the only one who knew all three of them."
"I had my eye on the two boys for our squad. They had real talent, both of them. Why would I kill them? It doesn't make any sense."
He had a point, but then Cooper had seen a number of cases in Homicide over the years where motives made no sense.
"Got anything to do with what's in your locker there? What are you trying to hide, Mr Kelsey?"
That nervous look came across the man's face again. Cooper's phone rang, but he ignored it. As soon as it stopped, Quinn's started. Cooper nodded to his partner to take the call.
"I'm not trying to hide anything from you, Detective. Look, I might have a substance or two in my locker there that I'm not supposed to have. I might be just holding something there for a friend, okay? But I've got nothing to do with your dead kids. I thought those two boys killed themselves, anyway? What's all this about?"
Before Cooper could answer, Quinn pulled him away. "We've got to go, boss. Something's happened."
Cooper nodded and turned back to Kelsey. "You're a senior figure in a sporting club. Be a shame if the drug squad suddenly decided to show a bit of interest your way. We'll show ourselves out."
Once they were back down the corridors and out of earshot, Cooper asked what the big rush was.
"Jensen Morris," said Quinn.
"Who?"
"The kid who raped Sia Longhurst. The leader of the pack, currently serving ten years for it. Or at least he was."
"What about him?"
Quinn pushed the door that opened out onto the car park, walking fast and fishing the keys out of his pocket. "He's been murdered."
25
"He was in Silverwater Gaol, wasn't he?" Cooper asked, as Quinn flung the car out the driveway and into traffic, almost knocking a pedestrian down in the process. "Slow down. If he's dead, he's not going anywhere."
Quinn looked at his partner as if only just realising the truth of the matter. "Yeah, fair enough. Sorry, boss."
<
br /> "Just get us there in one piece."
"Right. Morris was in Silverwater, yes, but he was out today on day release for Michelle Medler's funeral. She was his cousin, remember."
"They let him out for his cousin's funeral?"
"Apparently they were quite close. He'd been remorseful in gaol, good behaviour, that sort of thing, so they thought it would be good for him to go."
Cooper's eyes widened. "They thought wrong."
"Obviously. So the funeral was up at Rookwood. Apparently he was shot at long range."
"Sniper attack? Shit. Haven't seen one of those for a while." Cooper racked his brain trying to remember the last time they'd had a long-range shooting in NSW. Hell, he hadn't heard of one lately in the rest of the country, either.
"Happened just over an hour ago, according to Meg Baxter. She's the one who called us."
"Why'd she take so long?"
"They were securing the scene. She and Anderson were there when it happened, plus there were a few uniforms there because of Morris. Meg said it was chaos, a shooting in such an open space. People were running all over the place. It took them a while to get things under control. Then each one thought the other called us, you know how that is."
"Yeah, all right. What's happening now?"
"I don't know, boss. That's all she said before we jumped in the car."
"Okay, I'll call back."
Cooper made the call, and found out that they'd secured the scene reasonably quickly, but were having no luck finding the sniper's nest. He'd be long gone by now anyway. Meg said the funeral was almost over by the time the shooting occurred, meaning either the shooter was considerate of the family, or was nervous about taking the shot. Apparently Jensen Morris had been standing still in the same spot for at least ten minutes prior, so it wasn't as if the guy didn't have a shot. Why he didn't take it earlier was something Cooper shoved in the back of his mind to talk to Max about later.
"How are Michelle's parents holding up?"
"Not great, Coop," said Meg. "The mother's been taken to hospital, she's in shock all over again. And the press was here, because Morris was here, so God knows what kind of footage they have."
"Could be useful to us. Someone collecting that?"
"Flynn's on it. But you know as well as I do we can only ask them not to release anything inflammatory to the public. We can't make them."
After his interactions with the media throughout the Adultery Killer case, Cooper was all too aware.
"Just make sure he gets everything, and asks them to give us time to review it before they go all exclusive-this and first-look that on us."
"Will do, Coop. Anything else?"
"Look after yourselves out there. We'll be there shortly."
Rookwood Necropolis was the biggest burial site in the country, with acres of graveyards and many different denominational sections, but it wasn't hard to find the crime scene. The cold darkness of the day gave the red and blue lights a strong presence, and Quinn slowly guided the car toward the commotion.
They parked a good hundred metres or so away from where the funeral had obviously taken place, and walked over. Most of the guests were gone by now, replaced by a group of onlookers oblivious to the cold weather. They were always there, the people who thrived on mystery and drama, the ones who probably spent their evenings watching cop shows on TV and working out who the killer was in the first fifteen minutes of the episode. Cooper looked past them to the media circle. Those were the people who could be of use to him.
He scanned the group; some of them huddled together for warmth, others standing alone with their cameraman, practicing their 'live cross' technique, until he found the guy he was looking for. When he spotted him, he went right up and shook the guy's hand, to the amazement of the rest of the media contingent.
"Andrew Fox, how are you?" Cooper said, and Andrew smiled back.
"Bloody freezing, Cooper. And you?"
"Come on, you should be used to this kind of thing. Chasing stories in all weather, isn't that what you guys do?"
"Doesn't mean we have to like it."
Cooper lifted the crime scene tape that was holding the media back, allowing Andrew to duck under. This elicited a few moans and grumbles from the rest of the group, but it was half-hearted at best. None of them wanted to be here, they were just waiting for six-o'clock so they could do their live crosses from the scene. They had a few more hours to wait.
"Were you here for the funeral? Before the shooting?" Cooper asked once they were out of earshot. A couple of years ago Andrew Fox would have been the last person Cooper would have spoken to anywhere, let alone at a crime scene. But things change, and he'd worked out that it was a lot more useful to have one or two media folk working with you, rather than against you. Besides, Andrew Fox had turned out to be an all right guy.
"I was. The Times wants — wanted — a short piece on Morris being let out for his cousin's funeral. Word had it he was full of remorse about what he'd done, and I was supposed to see if I could get close enough to get a quote from him. After the formalities were over, of course."
"But you never got the chance."
"I was close. Got a few good pictures, and I was about six steps away from him and closing in when it happened."
"You take any crowd shots beforehand? Or just focus on Morris?"
"I got a few shots of the crowd, yeah. You're welcome to them. I'll email you everything I took, if you like. Don't think it'll help, though. Your shooter wasn't anywhere near here, was he?"
Cooper shook his head. "Doesn't look like it."
"You know where he was?"
"I just got here, haven't spoken to the rest of my team yet." Cooper looked around, noticed a few buildings overlooking this section of the cemetery. "Don't worry, we'll find him."
Andrew Fox smiled. "That's what you said last time. Took you ten years."
"You're still a prick, Fox. See ya later."
Cooper caught up with Quinn, who was busy chatting with Anderson and Baxter. Anderson had organised teams to search all the surrounding buildings and question the residents. More uniformed officers were arriving, the whole cemetery was now under a grid search. The media and onlookers were being moved back.
"What are you thinking, boss?" asked Quinn.
"Who's the one person we've spoken to lately who wanted Jensen Morris dead?"
Quinn didn't have to think very long. "Simon Longhurst."
"Right. Anderson's got things under control here. Let's go find Simon Longhurst."
* * *
"I don't think I said I wanted him dead," Simon said when they found him at home that afternoon. "I said I'd be there when he got out, watching, making sure he didn't hurt anyone else like he hurt my Sia. But I didn't want him dead. I'm not a violent man, Detective. Besides, I wouldn't put another parent through the loss of a child. No-one deserves that kind of pain."
Cooper looked him up and down. Standing in the doorway with just long pants and a t-shirt on, he must have been freezing, but he made no move to invite them in. Very different from the hospitality they'd received when interviewing him yesterday. Something about Simon Longhurst today wasn't sitting right with Cooper.
"Where were you this morning, Mr Longhurst?" asked Quinn, getting straight to the point.
"I was at a support group meeting. Relatives of suicide victims. We meet every Saturday morning. Then I had coffee with Jackie Rose. I believe you know her? She was at the meeting, too."
"What did you speak to her about?"
"I'm not sure that's any of your business."
"Mr Longhurst, we're trying to solve a series of murders," said Cooper. "Any information you could give us would be very helpful."
"I understand that, but what I spoke with Jackie about was personal. I doubt it's at all relevant to your case, but if you really want to know then you're going to have to ask her."
He went to close the door, but Cooper put his foot in the way. "Are you hiding something, Simon?"
<
br /> "What makes you say that?"
"You invited us in yesterday. Today you're making us stand out here in the cold."
Simon scratched his head and arched his back, stretching as if he didn't have a care in the world. "I'm sorry, Detectives. I'm just a bit shocked by the news you brought, that Jensen Morris has been murdered. I realise I'm the first person you think of when it comes to people who disliked the miserable little bastard, but I can't help you. As I said, I was at the meeting, then out with Jackie Rose." He turned and took two steps to a hall table, where a pen and notepad were waiting. He scribbled something down, opened his mobile phone to get a number, wrote that down also, then tore off the sheet and handed it to Cooper. "Here's the name and number of the group facilitator, she will confirm my presence at the meeting. If that's not enough, I presume she'll be able to give you the details of the other attendees. And of course you know Jackie, so you can ask her to confirm my whereabouts yourself."
Cooper studied Simon. He looked rattled, like he wanted to get back to something. Cooper wasn't ready to let him.
"Has Jackie spoken to you about the case? About her son?"
Simon sighed. "We talked about it briefly when we first went to the cafe, yes. Maybe she shouldn't have, but Jackie explained to me the significance of the toy butterfly you were asking about yesterday. She said there'd been the same toy present at each of three supposed suicides you're now treating as murder. But that wasn't anything I couldn't have figured out from your visit yesterday, Detective. Don't blame Jackie for anything, she's struggling enough at the moment."
Cooper suddenly felt protective of Jackie Rose. He wasn't sure he wanted this man anywhere near her. He gave him a final once over then removed his foot from the door.
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