The Dark Series

by Catherine Lee

"Just finishing up some homework for chemistry tomorrow. I'm going to bed soon, I promise."

  "That's okay. Do you mind if I sit and talk to you for a minute?"

  "Sure. What's up?"

  "It's about Oscar." She sat on the bed, and as soon as she said Oscar's name Ethan turned away from her. "Have you two had a fight or something?"

  Ethan shrugged. "Not really."

  "But there is something wrong? You don't seem as close as you used to."

  "I don't think I want to be friends with him anymore. He's a bit weird, Mum."

  "Yeah, I get that. But he doesn't really have any other friends, does he?"

  "That's not my problem."

  "I know it's not, but still, I liked that you made friends with him when he came to live here. It was kind of you. You're a kind person, Ethan, beneath all your teenage gruffness."

  Ethan turned back and smiled at her then. He'd smiled so rarely these past few months, it made her heart jump. Was she really about to ask him to stay friends with a pedophile? She had to stop calling Oscar that, even if it was only in her head. She was the one who was trying to understand him, trying to help him. If she labeled him, what hope did he have?

  "Ethan, has Oscar tried to tell you anything lately? Something important to him, about his feelings?"

  Ethan shrugged, turned back towards his computer and stared at the closed lid. "Kind of."

  "Do you want to talk about it?"

  "No."

  It wasn't a final sounding no, so Jackie pressed on. "He talked to me yesterday, mate. He told me he was really struggling with some feelings that didn't make sense to him. Did he try and talk to you about it?"

  Jackie watched as red blotches formed on her son's neck, a sure sign he was very nervous.

  "He tried, but I shut him down. I'm sorry, Mum. If he's gay, that's okay, but I couldn't handle it if he said he was interested in me. I like girls. Oscar's a mate, that's all."

  This is what she'd been afraid of, that he'd got it wrong like this. How was she going to tell him the truth? Should she even tell him? If Oscar had tried, then he wanted his friend to know. Best to come straight out with it and hope her son could handle it.

  "Oscar isn't gay, Ethan. He's attracted to small children."

  "He's what?" Ethan's head snapped up. "He's a pedo? Are you serious?" Ethan's whole face was red now, nerves had turned first to confusion but were fast becoming anger. She watched the realisation dawn across his face. "He's been hanging out with Emma. Jesus, Mum, what's he done to Emma?"

  "Nothing, mate. Calm down. He hasn't touched Emma, he's done nothing to her or any other child."

  "How do you know?"

  "He told me, and I believe him. Listen, I know this is a shock, but Oscar can't help the way he feels. He's confused, he's scared, and he's come to me for help. He's done the right thing, and I'm going to try and help him."

  "You can't seriously expect me to be friends with him now, can you?"

  "No, you're right. I can't expect that of you. I can hope you will consider it, though. You're his only friend. If you abandon him now, he's going to find coping with this problem a lot harder."

  Ethan shook his head. "What about me, Mum? How am I supposed to cope with it? What if it gets out at school, and I'm friends with him? I'll be a laughing stock, and worse. I'll get picked on just as much as he does. They'll think I'm one too. Jesus, Mum, how am I supposed to deal with this?"

  He was right, Jackie realised. She was asking way too much of her son. He'd already lost his brother, and now she was asking him to be friends with someone who could end up being ostracised by the community, by his peers, even by his own family. She was asking her son to be the only friend this boy had. Whatever Ethan did, it had to be his decision.

  "You're right. I can't ask you to do this. Why don't you sleep on it tonight? Just try and remember that you were friends before you found this out about him. Try and put yourself in his shoes, wonder what he must be going through. However wrong it is, he can't help the way he feels. And remember he hasn't done anything wrong. He's asking for help so he doesn't do anything wrong."

  "Can he get help? I mean, is there help out there? Professionals and stuff?"

  "Yes, we think so. My friend at the hospital is trying to get him some professional help. But he needs to tell his parents, which as you can imagine is going to be really tough for him. He needs some support. I'm going to give it to him. I don't expect you to do the same, I know that's a very big ask. But I'd like to think that you might." She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the forehead, and for once he didn't shy away. Instead, he stood and gave her a hug.

  "What about Emma, Mum?"

  "He won't hurt Emma. But it would be easier on him if we didn't give him the opportunity, don't you think?"

  Ethan nodded.

  "Oh, I almost forgot. Detective Cooper wants to come back and have another chat with you tomorrow after school. Is that okay?"

  "What does he want?"

  "He just wants to ask you some more questions about Lachlan. I don't think there's anything to worry about." Jackie felt sick in the stomach. Straight after having one of the most honest conversations of their lives, she was lying to her son. There was something to worry about; Charlie thought Ethan was hiding something. But she couldn't tell him that, could she? If he was hiding something, he'd be prepared and Charlie would have less chance of getting it out of him. She had to trust him, to believe that Charlie was wrong. In that case, there really was nothing to worry about.

  Jackie said goodnight to Ethan and closed the door behind her. It was late; she should go straight to bed. But there was no way she'd be able to sleep yet, not after that. She headed for the kitchen, and reached for the half empty bottle of red on the counter.

  39

  "Boss, Zach needs us down in the computer lab." Quinn stood, picked up his notebook and pen, and looked expectantly at Cooper.

  "How do you know?"

  "He just sent me an instant message. He sent you one, too. Look." Quinn pointed to an icon that was jumping up and down at the bottom of Cooper's computer screen. He was so engrossed in the research he'd been doing, he'd not noticed it. "What are you doing looking at stuff on pedophiles, anyway?" asked Quinn.

  "Just some research for another case." Cooper shut down the screen and stood. Quinn looked at him for a second, and Cooper cut him off before he could ask any more questions. "Computer lab?"

  "Yeah, right."

  "Any idea what he's got?" Cooper asked as they jogged down the four flights of stairs that led to the area of the building where Zach Ryan and his team worked.

  "Didn't say."

  Cooper swiped his keycard to gain entry to the computer lab, and they found Zach in his usual spot in front of three screens.

  "I found something," he began before either of them could speak. He must have heard them coming, or seen their reflections, or something, because he didn't take his eyes off the main screen directly in front of him.

  Cooper leaned in for a closer look, but the stuff scrolling past meant nothing to him. "You're going to have to explain," he said.

  Zach turned around then. "Not this," he said, indicating the main screen. "This isn't your case. You need to look over here." He pushed his chair sideways and wheeled over to yet another computer, one which Cooper recognised as Lachlan Rose's laptop. "It didn't make sense that two of your three victims had a history of bullying, including cyberbullying, and this guy didn't. So I kept digging, and I finally found something." He navigated to a blue page, some sort of social media from what Cooper could gather, and scrolled to a certain point. "Read these entries," he said, pointing to a spot on the screen.

  Cooper and Quinn both leaned in to read, and Zach slowly scrolled down as they did so. Cooper couldn't believe his eyes. Messages of hatred and cruelty flew up the screen. There were only half a dozen of them, but they were some of the nastiest words Cooper had read.

  "Who were these comments aimed at?" he asked.

 
"Sia Longhurst. The girl who killed herself after she was gang raped by those arseholes." Zach pointed to the screen. "I had to go back pretty far to find these. Thing is, the comments are out of character for Lachlan. There's only these six, in quick succession. The rest of his posts, across all social media, are pretty bland. He's never done anything else like this before or since."

  "So you think someone put him up to it?"

  "That's not for me to say," said Zach. "I've printed them out for you." He pointed to a printer in the far corner of the room, and Quinn strode over and retrieved the pages.

  "Maybe he just jumped on a bandwagon," Quinn suggested. He handed the pages to Cooper. "I mean, when the boys responsible for raping Sia were given their sentences, there was a lot of backlash against the poor girl. Remember her father said that was what drove her to suicide? Maybe Lachlan just joined in."

  "Didn't really seem the kind of kid to do so though, did he?"

  "No, but maybe that's why he stopped. Maybe he sent those few messages because everyone else did, or like you said, maybe someone put him up to it. Then he felt bad, so he didn't do it again." Quinn looked at Zach. "What took you so long to find these?"

  "He'd deleted them. And like I said, they were the only ones, so I wasn't even sure if I was looking for anything in the first place."

  "He deleted them himself?"

  "Well they were deleted from this computer, the same one they were created on. That's all I can tell you. I don't know for sure whose fingers were on the keys, of course."

  "Of course. Thanks, Zach." Cooper reread the posts. Jackie would be horrified to think that Lachlan had been their author. He looked at his watch. School would be out soon. "Come on," he said to Quinn. "Let's go talk to Ethan Rose."

  * * *

  Ethan was in the backyard kicking a soccer ball around when they arrived at the house. Jackie let them in.

  "You're sure you need to do this?" she asked as they stood watching him through the glass sliding door. "He's been through a lot."

  "I'm sure, Jackie. I've dealt with a lot of kids his age. I know when they're not telling me something. Look, it's probably not even important. It's probably just something he was too embarrassed to tell me in front of you. The sooner I get him alone, the sooner he spills whatever it is and we can get on with the investigation." He needed her cooperation on this one, but Jackie was a protective mother. She needed to know her son would be alright. Eventually she relented and opened the back door.

  "I'll be watching," she said, and took a seat at the nearby dining table. Emma came running out of her room and sat down next to her.

  "You keep Mummy company while we talk to Ethan?" Cooper asked her.

  "Okay."

  That was easy enough. Cooper and Quinn ventured out into the backyard, clearly Ethan's territory by all the soccer paraphernalia littered about the place, Quinn closing the door behind them. It was cold enough for Cooper to shove his hands in his pockets.

  "I think winter might be finally kicking in," he said. Ethan was kicking the ball so it bounced back at him off the brick wall at the side of the house. He kept kicking it, obviously not interested in talking about the weather. "You mind if I join you?" Cooper asked.

  Ethan stopped the ball with his foot and gave Cooper a nonchalant shrug, the kind all teenage boys seemed to have perfected. It was the best invitation Cooper was going to get. Quinn took a seat at the nearby outdoor setting, and Cooper caught the smirk on his partner's face.

  He pulled off his jacket, threw it over a chair, and immediately regretted it. The wind bit into him and he rubbed his hands together before descending the two steps to join Ethan in the little concrete courtyard. Ethan kicked the ball against the wall, and when it bounced back he left it for Cooper. Cooper did his best, pleased that he was able to connect with the ball at all, and they soon got into a rhythm of taking turns to kick the ball. It was a simple game, but Cooper was surprised to find how relaxing it was. He made a mental note to get a soccer ball for his boys.

  "You've got some decent skills," he told Ethan. "You play for a local team?"

  "Haberfield. I'm in the reserve grade."

  "You're what? Fifteen? You looked into playing professionally?"

  "Lachy was the sportsman of the family. I just enjoy a kick around."

  "I have a friend who's associated with the Wanderers. Could ask him to come see you, if you like. Have a chat about their opportunities for juniors."

  Ethan continued kicking, not looking at Cooper. Eventually he spoke. "Thanks, but nah. I'm not that good. Like I said, Lachy was our sports guy."

  "Fair enough. Speaking of Lachy, I got the feeling there was something you weren't telling me the other day. Am I right?"

  Ethan's next kick slammed harder against the wall. He said nothing. Cooper stopped the ball with his foot. "Can we sit down for a minute?"

  With another teenage boy shrug, Ethan went up and sat opposite Quinn. Cooper took the seat next to his partner, so they were both facing the boy.

  "Look, Ethan, I know you know something. You had that look about you when I spoke to you the other day."

  "What look?"

  "The look that said I'm not talking about this in front of my mother."

  Ethan's eyes widened.

  "Yes, that's it. That's the look," said Cooper. He turned to Quinn. "That's the look, isn't it?"

  "Certainly is, boss. Seen it a thousand times."

  Cooper put on his best sympathetic smile. "I get it. You're fifteen. There were so many things I didn't want my mum knowing when I was fifteen. And usually that's okay. Life goes on, mums don't need to know stuff. But here it's a little different. We're investigating your brother's murder, Ethan. We need to know everything, no matter how small or how odd or how embarrassing you might think it is. We need to know, if we're going to find out who did this to your brother, and those other kids."

  "Those other two were bullies. They deserved what they got."

  "You don't mean that," said Quinn.

  "Don't I? Do you know what it's like to be picked on because you don't wear the right shoes, or have the right haircut, or say the right things? To be harassed every day because you're just a bit different to the other kids? Do you know how many kids kill themselves because they've been bullied?"

  "We're well aware of that statistic, yes. Ethan, are you being bullied?"

  Ethan shoved his hands as far into his pockets as he could get them. He looked through the glass at his mother, who stood and was going to come outside until Cooper shook his head. He didn't need her interrupting now, not when he was finally getting somewhere. He asked the question again.

  "Are you being bullied? We can help, if you are."

  "No, I'm not, and no, you can't. It's rife, not just at school. It's happening all the time, to loads of kids. All this stuff on the TV, campaigns against bullying, it's all bullshit. The kids who do it think it's a big joke. They have no idea the effect…"

  Cooper was glad the kid was finally talking, but he didn't know what to make of Ethan's outburst. They'd suspected for a while that bullying played a part in these murders, but what was Ethan saying? That Jamie and Michelle were killed because they were bullies, but Lachlan was killed because he wasn't? It didn't make sense.

  "Ethan, you mentioned that the other kids who died were bullies. Was Lachlan ever a bully? I need you to tell me the truth, it's really important."

  "No. I told you that the other day. Lachy never hurt anybody. He stood up for the other kids, the ones who were being picked on. He just wanted everyone to get along."

  "Okay. I believe you. But I have to tell you, we found some pretty incriminating evidence today. Evidence that suggests that at one point Lachlan may have sent some cruel messages on the Internet. Do you remember Sia Longhurst?"

  Ethan folded his arms across his chest. His eyes darted about, looking anywhere but at the two detectives, and Cooper noticed that he was ever so slightly rocking backwards and forwards. He waited, and was eventual
ly rewarded with the breakthrough he'd been looking for.

  "That wasn't Lachy. It was me."

  Cooper looked at Quinn, who pulled out a printout of the six brutal messages sent from Lachlan's account to Sia's. He slid the paper across the table in front of the boy.

  "You wrote these?" Cooper asked, his voice gentle.

  Ethan glanced at the paper and nodded. "Me and Oscar. Oscar said Lachy was such a goodie-goodie, he wanted to get him into trouble. I didn't get it, Lachy stood up for Oscar twice at school when that dickhead Luke Breslen was after him. But one time when Lachy was being a dick to both of us at home, Oscar said we should get his password and stitch him up."

  "So you stole his password, logged on as him and wrote these messages?" Cooper asked. He pulled the sheet of paper back and put it in his pocket. No need for Jackie to see it.

  Ethan nodded. "It wasn't hard, I just watched him put his passcode into his iPhone. He used the same number as his password for everything else. I told him he shouldn't do that, but Lachy was a dumb jock sometimes. The next time Oscar came over and Lachy was out with his mates, we did it."

  "You both did it? Or did Oscar do it and you watched?"

  "We both did it. You can't pin this just on Oscar. It was his idea, but I was in on it. I could have stopped him, but I didn't. I don't know why I didn't."

  "What made you target Sia Longhurst?" asked Quinn.

  Another shrug. "Everyone else was messaging her. She was an easy target. I don't know, it was just something we did to get back at Lachy. It had nothing to do with Sia, not really."

  Cooper couldn't believe his ears. This kid needed a wake-up call. But Quinn was in there before Cooper had a chance.

  "Nothing to do with Sia? Are you kidding? You know she killed herself because of all those messages, all that crap she got dealt online. Why would you do something like that? You've just told us how much you hate bullies. Why would you become one?"

  Ethan started to cry, and Cooper thought Quinn had pushed him too far. But then the kid really opened up.

  "I'm sorry. It was stupid, I know it was. We fought about it ever since, Oscar and me. I don't know why he wanted to do it. I think he just got sick of seeing how perfect Lachlan was, how popular he was, even how nice he was. He wanted to bring him down, and at the time so did I. But he was my brother, I never should have done that to him. And Sia, Jesus. She didn't deserve it. Not from us, not from anyone."