by C. A. Larmer
“Small, itty bitty problem with your theory,” said Alicia.
“I know. Her hands are tiny; they don’t fit the contusion marks around Kat’s neck. But then she wasn’t on her own, was she? She was with a man who—shock horror—vanished into the night.”
“The mystery man with the mo!”
“Exactly. Who is this bloke? Maybe he’s a mate of Brian’s. Maybe he did the deed for her and then slipped away.”
She sat back in her seat. “Wow, that’s quite a theory.”
“I know, right?”
“So how do you prove it?”
He scowled. “That’s the tough part.”
“The first thing you’ve got to prove is that Maz knew Eliot and Kat, otherwise how could she identify them at the park?”
“Kat was all over YouTube, remember?”
“Yes, but Eliot wasn’t, and nobody ever recalls him mentioning Kat by name. How would Maz even know that Kat was his wife? Unless they met outside AA, of course! They must have crossed paths at the beginning or end of a session.”
“Eliot insists he never met Maz. Maz insists she never met Eliot.”
“Maybe Maz is lying. Maybe Brian pointed out Eliot and Kat one evening after a meeting, and she took it from there.”
“But how do I prove that? How do I prove that Maz knew Eliot and Kat or could spot either of them in a busy park?” He groaned. “To be honest, I’m not even sure I should be trying to prove this. Singho thinks I’m wasting precious time and wants me to focus on other suspects, but I can’t seem to let this one go.”
“I know a way we can find out.”
“We?” He held up an open palm. “Babe, this is the part where I remind you to stay out of it.”
She just stared at him, waiting for him to come to his senses.
Jackson sat back and shook his head at her again. “Alicia, you cannot hassle Zara again! She’s been interrogated enough.”
Alicia smiled wider. “Oh it’s not Zara I’m thinking of this time. And I won’t be doing the interrogating, I can promise you that.”
Chapter 37
Perry straightened his silk tie and smoothed his goatee into place, then strode swiftly across the rain-splattered street towards the older man with the receding hairline. Timothy Iles glanced up and away then back again, this time with a frown.
“What the hell do you want?” he growled.
“Just five minutes of your time, that’s all I ask,” Perry said.
Timothy kept walking. “I’ve got an AA meeting to attend.” Then he stopped and swept around. “And don’t you dare try to follow me in.”
“Please,” Perry persisted. “I’m begging you, for Kat’s sake, just give me five minutes and I’ll explain everything.”
Timothy’s gait slowed just slightly, so Perry added, “I’m trying to find who killed Kat. This is extremely important. There’s a brutal killer out there. We need to stop him.”
The man picked up his pace again and kept walking towards the Rozelle Neighbourhood Centre, so Perry sighed sadly and was just turning away when he noticed Timothy continue past the Centre and down another block. He was heading towards the Tulip Café, the same café where Alicia had previously questioned Zara.
Perry smiled with relief as he followed him down the road and then inside.
“Can I get you guys anything?” a waitress asked breezily after they had chosen a table near the back. “We have a range of coffee, tea, a bar menu if you’d like to see one.”
“I’ll just have a latte, thanks,” Perry said, and Timothy scoffed.
“Don’t bother with the charade. I know you’re a fraud. You might as well order a beer; it’d be more honest.”
The waitress’s smile slipped a little as she looked from Timothy back to Perry, who said, “I’ll still have that coffee, thank you.”
The waitress looked at Tim, her smile strained.
“Nothing thanks. I’m not staying.”
“Oh, er, okay then.” She glanced nervously between the men before dashing away.
Timothy stared at Perry. Hard.
“Zara told us everything, so you can drop the bullshit, mate. She told us to steer clear of you and Alicia. Is that even her real name? Are you really Perry?”
“Yes, we did use real names, and we’re both very sorry that we lied to you all. But we did it for a good cause. We are trying to find out who killed Kat Mumford. Eliot’s wife.”
“Why not just ask us? Why all the subterfuge?”
“Good question, maybe we should have. I apologise profusely. Did Zara also tell you about Brian?”
“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke.”
Perry nodded. “That seems to be the general consensus.” He waited a beat. “Look, I appreciate your talking to me.”
“I’m only here because I feel sorry for that poor woman. Kat. That’s all.” He folded his arms. “You’ve got five minutes, and then I’m history.”
“Good. Thank you. That’s all I need.” Perry took a breath. “Can I ask, did you ever meet Brian’s fiancée, a woman called Maz Olden?”
He looked confused by the change of tack but then shook his head. “Next question?”
“Do you know if Eliot Mumford or his wife knew Maz?”
“Again, no clue. Why don’t you just ask your mate?”
“Mate?”
“Eliot.”
Perry accepted the latte he was being handed and said, “Oh we don’t know Eliot. Or Kat for that matter.”
Timothy looked incredulous. “Then what the hell has all this been about?”
He held up a placatory palm. “We were sitting close by, the night Kat was murdered. It unfolded right in front of our eyes. Can you imagine how upsetting that would be? We’ve struggled to just look the other way, pretend like it didn’t happen. Alicia’s boyfriend is a detective, and they don’t seem to have a clue. We’re just trying to help. That’s all.”
Timothy rubbed his head. “Eliot sure doesn’t deserve you guys. Pity it wasn’t him who got strangled at the movie instead of his wife.”
“You don’t like him much, do you?”
He shrugged. “Like I told you, he’s an ungrateful hypocrite with a god complex.”
Perry sat up straight. “Hang on, that was Eliot you were referring to? You were Eliot’s sponsor?”
“For a few months. Until I learned he’d beaten Brian up. I know Brian was a loser, but he was a skinny loser. Eliot is the size of Thor. Hardly an even contest. You ask me, Eliot was as bad as Brian. Came in, boasting about it at AA, acting like some kind of saviour, riding in on his white horse and protecting the little pregnant fiancée. All the women at AA oohed and ahhed, like he really was some Nordic god.”
“So why’d you call him a hypocrite?”
“He might not beat up his wife, but he’s as bad as Brian, if you ask me. Called Kat his little kitten but treated her like a dog.”
Perry’s ears pricked up. “How so?”
“Look, I never met Kat, right? But he showed me her stuff online once, soon after I caught him drinking at a pub just down from here. She looked beautiful to me. She clearly worked hard. And she obviously adored him. If I had a woman like that waiting for me at home, I’d never look into a bottle of gin again. But there he was getting smashed, bitching and moaning about her, how she used to be such a party animal and how she’d turned into a bore.”
“She was a party animal the night she got killed,” Perry pointed out.
“I know, and that surprised the hell out of me. I kept thinking, but she’s not the big drinker, he is. She’s the reason he’s at AA. Pity it wasn’t him that—”
Perry’s shocked expression finally must have registered because Timothy stopped talking for a moment and looked worried.
“Didn’t Eliot tell your cop friend all this?”
“Tell him what?”
“He was only at AA on Kat’s behest. All he had to do was attend meetings and try to give up the grog. That’s all she ever ask
ed from him. But he found that unreasonable. Every time we spoke, every bloody cigarette break, he bitched and moaned about how demanding Kat was, how it wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t he have his cake and eat it too? He was a churlish child.”
Perry was stunned. “Did Eliot ever say what would happen if he dropped out of AA? If he didn’t stay off the alcohol?”
“Sure. He said the ‘silly bitch’ would leave him, and he didn’t want that.”
“Why not?”
He rubbed his fingers together, indicating cash.
“But he’s got a job; he’s a carpenter isn’t he?”
“Only when she drags him into one of her projects. Otherwise, no, Eliot’s a man of leisure, haven’t you worked that out yet? Spends most of his time at his mates’ bars and cafés, supping lattes and stroking his stupid beard.”
Timothy was watching Perry’s expression closely. “Why does this excite you? I mean, no one wants to pin Kat’s murder on Eliot more than me, mate, but he couldn’t’ve done it. I heard he wasn’t even close by when it happened. He doesn’t have what the cops call ‘opportunity.’”
“That’s true,” said Perry.
But he has motive in spades.
“Anyway.” Timothy was getting to his feet. “I’ve said enough. Have broken every single commandment in the AA bible.”
“Sorry,” Perry said, “but just one more thing, please. Just before, you said Brian’s fiancée was pregnant. How did you know that? Did Brian mention it in the sessions?”
Timothy thought about that. “Probably.” Then he stopped. “No, that’s right. Eliot told me that’s how he justified beating Brian up. Said he was doing it to protect Brian’s unborn son.”
“Unborn son?”
“That’s what he said.”
“But how did Eliot know Maz was pregnant—and with a boy—if he never met her?”
“Good question. I guess you’ll have to ask him that.”
Perry tried to hide his excitement. Not only had he just discovered a good motive for murder, it sounded like Eliot had lied to the police about knowing Maz Olden.
To Perry that was more intriguing than anything else. Why would Eliot feel the need to lie about that?
As the older man turned to leave, Perry said, “Thank you so much, Timothy. I don’t know what to say.”
Timothy didn’t turn around as he called back, “The truth next time would be a good place to start.”
**********
Detective Indira Singh was saying something along the same lines to Perry and Alicia as the two friends sat stoically in front of her desk again, this time with Jackson standing behind them, one hand on the back of each of their chairs.
“I don’t even know where to start with you two—interrogating witnesses, hindering my investigation…” She let that drop, took a breath, plastered a smile to her face. “But! Jacko here has insisted I be a bit more polite, so I’m going to try very hard to bite my tongue this time.”
She inhaled deeply through her nose. Then exhaled through her lips. “You two are just lucky your guesses have panned out.” She looked up just as Pauly walked in. “What did you find?”
“Apartment in Rose Bay,” he said. “Purchased four months ago through a different agent. Lease is under her maiden name.”
“That explains it. Thanks, Pauly.”
As he walked out again, she smiled. It was a rare sight for Alicia, and she couldn’t help smiling along.
“So it looks like Timothy Iles was right, and Kat was planning to leave her husband,” Indira explained. “We already suspected she wasn’t a happy camper—Kat’s mum indicated there were problems in the marriage, but we couldn’t find any actual evidence of that. For the past fortnight, Jarrod’s been interrogating their friends, work colleagues, inner circle, but by all other accounts they were madly in love. It was almost nauseating, to be honest.”
“It was obviously an act,” said Perry. “Eliot’s sponsor will attest to that.”
“Except it’s one man’s word against everyone else. At least now we have proof that Kat was moving out. It’s not quite divorce papers, but it’s close.” She turned to Jackson, who was pulling up a seat beside Alicia. “I kept wondering why the Mumford’s house looked different to the one I’d seen online, and now I get it. I bet the all-white kitchen she posted on Instagram belongs to the new apartment, not the one they were living in. That has a black-and-white benchtop, yes?”
“Maybe Eliot saw those clips, too, and worked it out for himself,” said Jackson. “That’s extra motive to act.”
“It sure is. Better to kill his wife and get everything now than have her skip off to a new life and get written out of the will. We’re checking Eliot’s business too, seeing what kind of financial situation he was in. If it’s dire, it’ll strengthen his motive, but it still doesn’t solve the question of opportunity.” She looked back at Alicia and Perry. “You said yourselves, there was no way he could have done it. He stayed beside you lot the entire second half.”
“Could he have hired someone?” suggested Perry. “Contract killing?”
“Except nobody noticed this killer for hire come out of nowhere, bend down and do the deed,” said Indira.
“Which brings us back to Mo Man,” said Jackson. “He had access, he had opportunity.”
“Hang on,” said Indira. “I thought you said Mo Man was working with Maz, not Eliot.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”
Alicia cleared her throat and said, “Maybe they’re in on it together? Have you thought of that?”
All eyes were now upon her, at least one set glinting irritably, so she quickly added, “Maybe Eliot and Maz planned the whole thing.”
Indira frowned. “Why? How?”
She swished her lips to one side. “I don’t know exactly, but maybe it happened just as Timothy said—Eliot saw Maz getting slammed about after AA one night and hatched a plan. What if he got in touch with her and agreed to take out her partner if she took out his?”
“I saw a fabulous film like that once!” said Perry.
Jackson was already clicking his fingers. “Yes, um, a Hitchcock one. What’s it called…?”
“Strangers on a Train and it won’t work,” snapped Indira. “Sure, Eliot might have somehow given Brian the hot shot, then raced to the film with a very drunken Kat—they did get there late; we could probably make those times work. But there is no way that tiny, pregnant Maz could have strangled Kat. Not physically possible, remember?”
“Which brings us back to Mo Man,” said Jackson.
Indira growled. “I haven’t got time to track down the elusive bloody man with the moustache!”
“Maybe you don’t have to,” said Alicia, sitting forward more confidently this time. “It could just be the two of them. I’ve been thinking about this since Grease the other night, when I didn’t recognise Missy in the crowd even though she usually stands out like a sore thumb. And then when I sat down on the rug that wasn’t actually mine, that’s when it began to dawn on me how easy it is to get your rugs mixed up…”
Now all three of them were staring at her with irritated expressions.
“Sorry,” Alicia said, laughing despite herself. “I’m just trying to get it clear in my head.”
She took a deep breath.
“I think I know how Eliot and Maz pulled it off right under all our noses.” Her eyes lit up as she glanced at Indira. “I know you’re not a fan of wild theories, but I’ve got a theory that might not be as wild as it sounds.” Now her eyes darted back to Perry and Jackson. “But first we’re going to need to pack our picnic blankets and head off to another moonlit cinema.”
Chapter 38
Centennial Park is a sprawling urban green space, not far from the centre of Sydney and as different from the cosy little park in Balmain as a sci-fi thriller is to Evil Under the Sun. But as far as Alicia was concerned, they would both do the job nicely.
Centennial Park’s monthly Moonlig
ht Cinema was screening the film Gravity the very next night, and she was keen to get the club back together to test out her theory and put her plan into place, and this time DI Singh would be the guest of honour.
On paper it sounded implausible, ridiculous in fact, but she remembered the words of Hercule Poirot, and it gave her courage as she watched Indira plucking her way through the crowd now, towards her blanket in the waning sunset.
It was Poirot who talked about “suntanned bodies lying like meat upon a slab” and how, to the casual observer, there was little difference between one body and another lying out in the sun. Well, it was not just on a beach where bodies looked similar but lying on rugs wedged in together at an outdoor cinema, under a blanket of darkness.
That wasn’t the only thing Alicia was borrowing from the great Agatha Christie tonight. She suspected the answer to the puzzle lay in the plot line of Evil Under the Sun as well and wondered whether any of the players even realised that when they put their macabre piece of theatre into play.
Perry, who like the rest of the book club was privy to Alicia’s plan, was less circumspect. “I think Eliot’s been dreaming of this for a while, but when he heard about the movie choice, it got his creative juices flowing.”
“For the sake of grand theatre, I’d like to think so,” said Alicia, “but I doubt it.”