Evidence of Love

by Elisabeth Rose

  He had a very attractive mouth. What would his kiss be like? She hadn’t been kissed for a long time. Not with love. She’d thought Cam loved her. How could she tell what true love was with no example to follow? She turned over, roughly adjusted the sheet and punched her pillow into shape. It was so hot. Airless tonight, even with her windows wide open no breeze stirred the curtains.

  Then Brooke screamed.

  In an instant Lara switched on the bed light, tossed aside the tangle of bedding, paused to peep in at still sleeping Petey then dashed up the stairs. Brooke sat up in bed, back pressed to the backboard, hands over her face and huge gasping sobs shaking her body. Lara turned on the bedside light and held the shuddering girl in her arms, mindful of the still painful ribs.

  ‘Sshh, you had a nightmare. It’s over now. You’re safe.’

  The sobbing decreased gradually as Brooke relaxed and took in her surroundings. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she managed to gasp.

  ‘It’s okay. The doctor said you might have bad dreams.’

  ‘Did I wake Petey?’

  ‘No and you didn’t wake me either. I was awake. Too hot to sleep.’

  ‘I didn’t think I’d sleep either but I…I must have.’

  ‘What did you dream about?’

  ‘Someone was holding me down. I wanted to get up but they wouldn’t let me and then…then…’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t remember.’

  ‘Was it a man?’

  ‘I don’t…yes. His hands were big…massive and strong. He forced me onto the ground.’

  ‘The ground? Outside?’

  ‘Yes there were trees. Big dark trees closing in on me.’ She shuddered. ‘That’s all I can remember.’

  Lara smoothed the hair from Brooke’s damp cheeks. ‘We can leave the light on.’ She turned the lampshade so the light fell away from the bed.

  ‘Will you stay with me for a little while, Lara?’

  ‘Sure.’ Lara pulled up the cane chair from the corner of the room and sat down. Why not? She’d been up often enough with Petey in the middle of the night. Now it was as if she had two children to care for.

  Chapter 9

  Lara lied. Straight to his face without blinking an eye. Smooth and practised. The realisation was like a punch in the stomach. Nick had thought, hoped, they had something better between them, a measure of trust despite the fact she hadn’t confided in him about that unpleasant friend of hers. Branko. He was the link to the other one. The man who’d visited Brooke.

  Lara’s brother.

  Why hadn’t she told him? The gap between them had been slowly closing. She was softening, opening up and then suddenly ‘wham’. Down came the portcullis and she was locked away secure behind her fortifications again, alluring and tantalising as ever but this time with a ragged edge of something nasty in her past. Not just the abusive husband or the unsavoury friend, something more.

  He needed to track down that brother. He may even still be in hospital. Nick strode down the corridor and swung into the office. He stopped at Rob’s desk. Rob was eating an apricot Danish, spreading sticky crumbs and slurping coffee.

  ‘Someone visited Brooke while she was in hospital. Another patient. Male, late twenties, dark hair, good-looking. Said he was Lara Moore’s brother. John. Check him out. He might still be in hospital.’

  ‘How the hell did he know she was there?’

  ‘Lara ran into a mutual friend who told this bloke she was the person who found Brooke.’

  ‘What? How do you know?’ Rob stopped mid chew. Crumbs dropped down his shirt and he picked them off absently.

  ‘I was with her at the hospital after seeing Brooke the second time. It was in the foyer. Shifty looking bloke. Said he was an old friend. Branko something. He must have told the brother who decided to check out Brooke.’

  Marie was listening now. ‘Do we think any of them are involved in the attack?’

  ‘Doubt it but I don’t think either of them are particularly clean living types. Won’t hurt to find out what we can.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll go to the hospital. John Moore.’ Rob binned the wrapping from the Danish and stood up.

  ‘No not Moore. She was married, remember? But she changed her name, anyway. Had an abusive husband.’ He left it at that.

  ‘So Lara Moore isn’t what she seems,’ said Marie.

  ‘Doesn’t appear to be.’

  ‘Is Brooke safe with her?’

  ‘There’s no reason to think otherwise. They get on well together. Brooke’s as happy as can be expected. And there’s the little boy. Moore won’t jeopardise his safety.’

  ‘So who am I looking for? John, in hospital?’ Rob groaned.

  ‘You’re a detective, narrow it down. He didn’t have a leg in plaster or visible bandages so he could have had an operation and he can’t have been too far from Brooke’s ward or he wouldn’t have managed to get there.’

  Nick sat down at his desk. Lara may not be the problem. Her family might be. She was obviously trying to make a clean break from her past. But why? And why was she so afraid they’d find her? What was she really hiding from?

  ‘Can we afford to spend the time chasing this guy up?’ asked Rob. ‘Don’t we have more pressing things to do? What’s he done anyway?’

  ‘Nothing as far as I know. But he went to a lot of trouble to find Brooke and I want to know why.’

  ‘Maybe he’s just a nice guy,’ said Rob but took one look at Nick’s face and made a quick exit muttering about wasting time.

  ‘I don’t see the connection between Brooke and this person,’ said Marie. ‘She didn’t even know Lara Moore until a week ago.’

  Nick sighed. ‘I know. Something’s not right though.’ And that something was connected to Lara. Always Lara.

  ‘At least you can easily find out what she changed her name from.’ Marie turned back to her computer and began typing furiously.

  ‘I already know!’ Nick smacked himself on the forehead. ‘Djokovic.’ He reconsidered. ‘It could be her married name, in which case the brother’s won’t be the same. Worth a chance.’

  He snatched up the phone and called Rob.

  ‘As in Novak of tennis fame,’ Marie murmured as he told Rob. ‘So that’s why the sudden interest in sport. Lara Djokovic.’

  ‘Maja,’ Nick said in another spurt of memory. ‘The friend called her Maja.’

  ‘Pretty name.’ Marie didn’t even bother hiding the grin. ‘You can always call her and ask what her brother’s name is. Did you think of that?’

  ‘I did but he hasn’t done anything wrong as far as we know and I don’t want her to know we’re checking into him. She’s touchy about her family.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Something to do with her marriage to a man who abused her. I got the impression they didn’t lift a finger to help her so when he died she moved cities, changed her name and started a new life.’

  ‘Which has now caught up with her again. Bummer. Poor woman. Must have been a shock for her to see that guy at the hospital.’

  ‘It was and you know what?’ Nick folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. ‘She wasn’t just surprised, she was scared.’

  ‘Scared he’d tell her family where she was?’

  ‘Yep and let’s hope he hasn’t.’

  ‘Does he know where she lives?’

  Nick shook his head. ‘And neither did Brooke until Lara took her home with her.’

  Marie shrugged. ‘No problem then. Anyway the brother’s hardly going to attack his sister, is he? It was the husband who beat up on her, not the family. Miserable cowards though they may be. Nothing we can do unless someone complains or asks for assistance.’

  ‘I still think something’s not right.’

  ‘And you’re taking a very personal interest in this woman.’ The smile was back.

  ‘Brooke’s vulnerable and frightened,’ Nick said. ‘She’s all alone. Of course I’m taking a personal interest and so are you.’

  Marie laughed. ‘Absolutely, bu
t I’m not talking about Brooke.’

  Nick sat up straight and pulled a file towards him, frowning as he opened it to cover the telltale confusion her insightful comment had plastered all over his face. Marie chuckled for a good few minutes after there was no reason to be laughing at all.

  ***

  Lara picked up the phone glancing at the display screen as she did so. Private Caller. Probably Nick. She gripped the phone tighter, steeling herself against his voice and the way it wormed its way into her heart despite all her best intentions. He’d want to speak to Brooke, not her.

  ‘Hello.’

  ‘Hello, Maja. How are you?’

  Her mouth opened and closed as she gasped for air, standing rigid, snap frozen. Ivan?

  ‘How did you get my number?’

  ‘You know me, I’m resourceful. Aren’t you pleased to hear from me? You could at least ask how I am. You know I’ve been in hospital.’ The same smooth delivery, the same ignoring of anyone else’s situation. The same gigantic ego.

  ‘I don’t remember you ever caring how I was when Tony broke my arm. And cracked my cheekbone.’

  He didn’t reply for a moment or two, which was mildly surprising. He’d never been at a loss for words that she could remember. Maybe he was still on some sort of sedation from his operation.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘What?’ She almost laughed at the incongruity of an apology from Ivan, a man who never admitted he’d made a mistake. Ever. Even as a boy he was always right. ‘Are you on drugs?’

  ‘Painkillers,’ he admitted. ‘But that’s not it, Maja. I truly am sorry for what you went through.’

  ‘A bit late for that. But…thank you.’ Whether he meant it or not she had no idea but Tony was dead so there was no danger of reprisal from that quarter. People became braver after Tony died, she discovered. Herself included.

  ‘I had my appendix out,’ he said into the silence, less confident than she remembered.

  ‘Are you still in hospital?’

  ‘No. They let me out.’

  ‘Do you live with Branko?’

  ‘No way! I try to have as little to do with him as possible.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Maja, I moved to Sydney for the same reason you did. To get away from that life.’

  ‘Sure you did. And I’m Lara now, not Maja.’

  ‘It’s the truth. I don’t want to live like that anymore. I’m married and I don’t want my kids involved in that stuff.’

  ‘Married? Who to?’ Which of the many trashy women he’d dated over the years? And kids?

  ‘You don’t know her. Susanna. She’s a nurse.’ The love in his voice was palpable. Extraordinary.

  ‘And does she know about you?’

  ‘Yes, she nursed Dad. You know he died?’

  ‘No. I made a point of not knowing anything about any of you. When was it?’ She couldn’t say she was sorry, could honestly say she felt nothing. He might have been telling her of an acquaintance of his, some friend she didn’t know at all. Her father had been dead to her for years before he actually died.

  ‘About three or four months after you left town. He was hit by a car. Hit and run. You know.’

  Lara sighed. ‘Yes.’ An organised hit and run, nothing random about it and the car would be stolen. Part of the bloody aftermath of Tony’s demise. ‘And Mum?’

  ‘She’s still at home. Still drinking. She’s got all sorts of health problems — diabetes, liver’s shot, you name it. Leon and Gyorgy are there too, when they’re not locked up.’ Her other brothers; one older, one younger. ‘I tried to get them out of that life after Tony died and then Dad, but they’re as deep in as they can get. Didn’t want to listen.’ Spoken like a true convert.

  ‘How did you get this number, Ivan? Hardly anyone knows it.’

  ‘I rang the café where that girl Brooke works and asked to speak to her. Said I was a friend from the hospital, which is true. They gave me your number.’

  Lara exhaled long and slow. That café had been in the news, easy to find. Brooke had rung her work to tell them she’d like to start back next week when the bruising had faded and wouldn’t frighten the customers. They’d obviously asked for a contact number. What if Ivan wasn’t the only person who rang and asked for her? Silly girl. Had she told them the address, too?

  ‘Ivan, someone beat her up and dumped her in the park. What if that café gives out my number to the guy who did that?’

  ‘Better tell her boss to keep it secret. But he doesn’t know the address. I asked for that, too.’

  ‘Dammit!’

  ‘She seemed like a nice kid. If you have any trouble let me know. Got a pen?’ That sounded like the familiar Ivan. He recited a phone number. Lara wrote it down. She wouldn’t mind having him as back-up if that creep bothered Brooke. ‘Susanna really wants to meet you.’

  ‘I’m not sure, Ivan.’

  ‘Trust me Maja...uh, Lara. I’m through with that life for good. Just like you.’

  ‘Branko doesn’t think so.’

  ‘Branko is trouble. Keep away from him.’ Shades of the old Ivan again but in this case she agreed.

  ‘Are you kidding? Of course I’ll keep away from him. I never liked him and he scared me when I ran into him. I just hope he keeps away from me.’

  ‘He said you were with a cop who acted all protective.’

  ‘He didn’t like Branko either. Can’t blame him for that.’

  ‘You can’t trust cops. Keep away from them, too.’ Somehow, coming from a member of her family that statement rankled. He didn’t know Nick, didn’t know how kind he’d been to Brooke and how considerate to both of them. What was she supposed to do? Leave Brooke under the bushes and call in anonymously?

  ‘I don’t get involved with the police as a rule. I don’t break any laws.’

  ‘Just remember what happened last time a cop sweet-talked you into his bed.’

  ‘None of you said he was a cop. How was I supposed to know? I was young and he had an agenda. And I didn’t sleep with him.’

  Silence for a moment then, ‘Okay, I didn’t ring you to fight about the past, Lara.’

  ‘Why did you ring me?’

  ‘You’re family. You’re my little sister. My only sister. We neither of us have much family left. None that either of us wants to claim. I want you to meet my wife and I want her to meet you and your boy.’

  ‘Petey,’ she reminded him.

  ‘I knew that.’

  ‘Liar.’ But she wasn’t angry, not now. Ivan was her brother and she missed the closeness that siblings have, the common experience children share regardless of the age gap. A gap which had closed in the last few years it seemed. She was twenty six, Ivan would be thirty two next month, Gyorgy between them at twenty nine and Leon the twenty four year old baby.

  ‘How is he?’

  ‘Fine. He’s two and a half. Do you have kids?’

  ‘Not yet. Can we get together? Dinner or something?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’

  ‘What about coffee? There’s a nice place we go near where we live in Bondi.’

  ‘Bondi.’

  ‘Yeah, where are you living?’

  ‘Not in Bondi.’

  ‘Trust me, Lara.’ She couldn’t, not yet.

  ‘Tell me the name of the place and the time.’

  ‘Give me a week to recover a bit better. I get tired easily. What about the fifteenth at eleven? Harry’s Cafe, Bondi. I’ll call again next week to confirm.’

  ‘All right.’

  When she hung up Brooke was standing in the doorway. ‘Got a date with Nick?’

  Lara shook her head. ‘That was my brother. The one you met.’

  ‘Oh good! John. He’s nice.’

  Nice wasn’t a word anyone used in connection with her big brother but he had been nice on the phone. Had he really changed or was he up to something? ‘Trust me,’ he kept saying, but on balance she trusted him less than she trusted Nick. And that was saying something!<
br />
  Chapter 10

  ‘We’ve got him!’ Nick slammed the phone down. ‘Uniforms nabbed a guy called Keith Garrett. He tried it on a new girl in the same place he picked up Brooke and the barman busted him spiking her drink. He’s downstairs waiting for us to question him.’

  ‘What a stupid idiot.’ Marie snorted her disdain as she stood up.

  ‘Aren’t they all? Brooke might be able to ID him. We’ll talk to him first then get her to come in. With any luck the DNA forensics lifted from her will be a perfect match.’

  ‘But not the perfect match he was after.’ Marie’s smile was pure, gloating malice and he wouldn’t mind a bet that his was the same.

  ***

  ‘Will you come with me, Lara?’

  ‘You don’t need me, you’ll be fine.’

  ‘I know but...well, I’d like it if you were there.’

  The expression was so full of pleading Lara couldn’t refuse. Poor girl. This was where her mum or dad should step in but that wasn’t going to happen. ‘Okay. But it’ll depend on whether Ellie can mind Petey. We don’t want to take him.’

  ‘No, of course not. Shall I run next door and ask her? They’re sending a car right away.’ Relief fell from her in waves. It would be an ordeal regardless of whether she remembered the man or not, or if they’d caught the right person. Surely they must be fairly certain to bother organising an identity parade.

  Lara nodded. ‘Ask if she can come here. Petey’s just gone down for his nap.’ She knew what the answer to that would be. If she could, Ellie would be over in a flash, not wanting to miss out on the latest instalment.

  ‘If Ellie can’t come you’ll have to go on your own,’ Lara called as Brooke raced for the front door.

  But within minutes they were back, Brooke pale-faced around her bruises but determined, and Ellie flushed and excited.

  ‘I knew they’d catch that miserable worm,’ she exclaimed. ‘What sort of man has to drug his girls?’

  ‘A psycho,’ said Lara. ‘Thanks Ellie. I don’t know what we’d do without you. We shouldn’t be long. Petey’s just gone down so he may not even wake up before we’re back.’