Challis - 05 - Blood Moon (19 page)

Youve found her.

Lets go inside, Ellen said,
Challis admiring the ease and effectiveness of her ways. It was a combination
of her voice, level gaze and decisiveness. It worked on bullies, drunks, the
grieving, the hostile and the disturbed.

The door opened onto a short
hallway, rooms on either side, one of them a working studio with drafting
tables, pens, rulers, angle-poise lights and coiled blueprints. At the end of
the hallway was a vast room with thick beams, a fireplace, wall-to-ceiling
bookcases, island benches and discrete sitting, dining and TV watching areas.
Four huge sofas, shaggy rugs on wooden floors. Framed architectural drawings
shared wall space with avant-garde photographs, watercolour paintings and a
couple of Central Australia dot paintings.

I dont know what Im supposed to
do, said Wishart peevishly. Do I offer you tea or coffee?

Ellen took his elbow and led him
through an archway to a kitchen alcove. Here there was a plain wooden table
with a scuffed surface, a table for the morning cereal, newspaper and coffee, a
table for visitors who might drop in. Challis followed, recognising that Ellens
instincts had been right again: the sitting areas were too vast and open, the
kitchen was intimate. She sat Wishart on a chair at the table, took the
adjacent chair and said, Im very sorry, Mr Wishart, but a body has

A wail broke from Wishart. No,
please, please dont say it.

We have reason to believe its your
wife, said Ellen gently.

I should see her. I should be with
her, Wishart said, pushing back his chair.

Ellen stopped him. Soon enough, Mr
Wishart. Meanwhile, is there anyone we can call on your behalf? Family member?
Friend?

The wind went out of Wisharts sails
and he slumped at the table. Then he sprang up again. Tea? Coffee?

Ill do that, Challis said. Hed
watch and listen now as Ellen went to work.

How did she die? asked Wishart.

Ellen told him.

Challis watched Wishart swallow and
ask, Where?

Ellen told him, adding, Do you know
why she was there?

Wishart had almost no energy. The
question seemed to defeat him. No idea. Then he rallied a little. Sorry,
where did you say?

Ellen told him again. Do you know
why she was there?

Her jobshes the planning
infringements officer, Wishart said. If its the place Im thinking of, it
belongs to Jamie Furneaux. Hes some cousin of the Premier. Anyway, he cut down
a heap of trees and burned them. Someone called the fire brigade, and he tried
to shut them up with a big donation, but it was too late, someone dobbed him
in.

He didnt have permission to remove
the trees?

No.

She was there to serve him with an
infringement notice?

Wishart shook his head. To check
that hed carried out reclamation work, you know, planted new trees.

The job made her unpopular?

Hell, yes.

Adrian Wisharts indignation seemed
to swell into fury, and he rose from his seat, stabbing his ringer at Challis,
who was beside the bubbling kettle. I told you something was wrong last night.
If youd done something about it instead of, of...

Ellen said firmly, Please, Mr
Wishart. We believe that Ludmilla was already dead when you contacted the
station.

He sat, all at sea. His neat, narrow
head shaking in big, doubting sweeps he said, Are you sure she didnt fall and
hit her head?

We dont believe so.

He looked up. Will I have to
identify her?

Well take you there and bring you
home again.

Now?

The sooner the better.

But your tea, your coffee.

After that, said Ellen gently.

Challis poured the tea. He disliked
tea, but the only alternative was instant coffee. He delivered the mugs of tea
to the table with a bowl of sugar and a bottle of milk, and sat to one side,
trying to be unobtrusive but sensing that the husband was powerfully aware of
him.

Is there anyone we can contact, Mr
Wishart? said Ellen.

Ill be okay.

What about your wifes family?
Would you like us to inform them?

Theres only her mother, and she
lives in Sydney.

Friends. Her friends, or friends
you have in common?

Here Wishart pitched about in his
seat briefly. Eventually he said, Theres Carmen. She and Mill are very close.
Were very close, he added with a little gasp.

Ellen scribbled the womans address
and phone number onto a page of her notebook. Wishart watched her moving hand
alertly, Challis watched Wishart. Wishart said, Speak to her workmates if you
want the names of anyone who had a grudge against her.

We will, Ellen said.

Her workmates, Wishart repeated, not
her boss.

Ellen cocked her head at him. Why
not?

Wishart waved a hand about vaguely
as if he regretted the clarification. Nothing in particular. Apparently he
doesnt spend much time in the office, and when he is there he likes to look
over everyones shoulder.

Your wife didnt like him?

Wishart tried to find the right
words. He could be demanding, he said finally.

Demanding, said Ellen.

Yes.

She took an exploratory sip of tea,
and said casually, Perhaps you could tell us about what kind of day you had
yesterday, Mr Wishart.

What kind of day? It was all right.
Went to visit my uncle Terry. Tears spilled as he said, Then Mill didnt come
home and I got worried.

You work from home, I believe?

Wisharts gaze was jumping between
Ellen and Challis. Yes.

Youre a draftsman?

Challis had told her the man was an
architect. The insult was deliberate. Certainly not, Wishart said. Im an
architect.

You were working on a project
yesterday?

Wishart said airily, Oh, theres
always a project.

Did you go out, perhaps to confer
with a client?

I know what youre doing. You think
I killed her, my own wife.

We dont think that, Mr Wishart.
The sooner we eliminate you from our inquiries, the sooner we can start looking
for the real killer. Its standard procedure to check with those closest to the
victim first.

Wishart began weeping angrily. This
is awful. Mill and I... were not the kind of people to come to the attention
of the police.

May I ask why you went to see your
uncle?

He had a present for Mill. It was
her birthday yesterday, her thirtieth.

He couldnt give it to her himself?

He has a shop to run, up in the
city. He cant get away, whereas Im more flexible.

Ellen added the uncles details to
her notebook. What time did you see him?

All afternoon. I havent seen him
for a few weeks. I got home about six, expecting to see Mill, waited for a
while, then made phone calls and went looking for her before reporting her
missing.

So it wasnt a sure-fire alibi. Then
again, Challis mistrusted those.

Wishart swallowed visibly. Was
Mill.. .was my wife...

Ellen said, She wasnt interfered
with.

Her face?

Untouched.

Wishart flopped in relief. They were
all silent for a while, Challis and Destry watching Wishart closely. Eventually
Challis said, Im afraid well need to search the house, Mr Wishart, paying
particular attention to your wifes papers and computer.

He looked up at them. But

Standard procedure, said Ellen
smoothly.

It wasnt until they were guiding
him out to the car that he said, Theres something I need to tell you.

Challis felt that old tingle,
expecting a confession, but Wishart said, When I reported her missing last
night I told you she wasnt having an affair. But I think she was.

* * * *

26

Pam
Murphy was in Waterloo, the hospital carpark, waiting for Josh Brownlee. When
he emerged she fell into step with him and said, So, Josh, want to tell me
about it?

Josh blinked against the morning
light. He was wearing jeans, T-shirt and sandals, clothing that Pam had bundled
together from his motel room last night, after delivering him to the hospital.
Shed searched the beach and foreshore but hadnt found what hed been wearing
when he was ambushed.

And how had he been ambushed?
Josh!
she snapped, to get his attention, I saved your life last night. Now, tell
me what happened.

Hed showered but hadnt shaved and
the whiskers stood out like prickles. His eyes were red and his dazed air said
that he still had drugs in his system. But what drugs, and had he taken them
willingly? Last night shed waited while the Casualty nurse took blood and
urine samples and this morning shed sent them to the lab for analysis. She
suspected theyd find one of the date-rape drugs, like GHB, meaning he wouldnt
remember anything.

Shed also asked the lab to
fast-track Brownlees DNA analysis. When the manager demurred, she lied and
said it was related to the Lachlan Roe case, remembering that Inspector Challis
had asked Ollie Hindmarsh to put pressure on the lab as a favour to him.

Mr Hindmarsh is keen for a result,
she said.

That prick, said the lab guy.

You got it, said Pam.

She was hoping,
betting,
that
Joshs DNA would match the DNA found on the young woman whod been sexually
assaulted on Saturday night.

My cars over here, Josh, she said
now.

He followed her dumbly along the
root-erupted bitumen paths. The air was heavily scented with eucalyptus from
the young gum trees that surrounded the potholed carpark. Hop in, she said, and
Ill take you to your motel.

Ensuring that he was strapped in,
she started the car. We havent been able to find the clothes you were wearing
last night. Pity: they might have given us some evidence about what happened to
you.

His mouth hung open. That was pretty
normal, Pam reflected. Shed been in close contact with eighteen-year-olds all
week and they were all mouth-breathers. It made them look dumb. Many of them
were
dumb. She shook off this train of thought and said, Who did you meet with
last night, can you remember?

His face twisted comically in
concentration.

Friends? Pam prompted. A
girlfriend, maybe?

I think so, he croaked.

Well, who? You said, when I found
you, The bitch poisoned me. Who were you talking about, Josh?

Dont remember.

Were you on anything, Josh? Ice?
Ecstasy? Its all right, Im not from the Drug Squad.

Nothing. Beer. Couple of vodkas.

So its just a hangover youre
feeling?

Yeah.

Josh, someone took you to a lonely
spot in the mangroves, stole your clothes and painted your balls with lipstick.

He twisted in his seat, a twist that
reached all the way through him. Not revealing her general glee, Pam said in a
businesslike voice, You dont remember any of that?

No.

Sounds like revenge to me, Josh.

No.

Someone had it in for you.

No.

The voice and manner were sulky,
Josh leaning against his door, wanting to get away from her.

Maybeindulge me here, Joshmaybe
you had an encounter with someone at Schoolies Week last year, or this year,
and it got a bit out of hand, mistaken signals, she said no and you thought she
was really saying yes.

Didnt happen.

And she wanted to get back at you.

No.

Or it didnt happen to her but to
her friend.

Dont know what youre talking
about.

Or maybe she was drugged
unconscious, which makes it academic whether she said yes or no or gave mixed
signals.

Why dont you leave me alone?

Pam reached the roundabout by the
post office and turned left, down to the bay and the holiday flats, motels and
bed-and-breakfasts. It would take a pretty special person to take that kind of
revenge, she mused. I can see her in my minds eye: clever, patient,
determined, very, very brave. She turned her head. How brave are you, Josh?
Not very, Id say.

I want to go home.

Theres nothing stopping you, Josh.
And heaven knows, I wouldnt want to hang around here much longer, not when
theres a vengeful female on the loose.

Not, said Josh, not knowing what
it was he wanted to say.

Someone like Caz Moon. You remember
Caz, dont you? Works in HangTen?

Josh went rigid in the passenger
seat, pointing agitatedly through the windscreen ahead. Thats my motel.