Medea's Curse (8 page)

‘When was this room booked?’

‘Last Wednesday.’

Two days before he had even told her the time and date. Liam’s confidence was irritating
but predictable. ‘In my name?’

He nodded. ‘Yes Dr King. Here for the missing child case are you?’

Mystery solved. Natalie nodded. Small towns really were small. The rumour mill hadn’t
taken too many turns before it got to Kay.

The police station was a short ride from their guesthouse, past homes with a dilapidated
air of unpaid rent and neglect, wide streets with angle parking and a string of takeaways.
Recent droughts, floods, bushfires and an influx of welfare recipients meant the
town was busy, but troubled.

‘McBride’s expecting us,’ Liam said. ‘He’s been a detective in the region for a few
years and is back in uniform waiting for a promotion into Melbourne. He’s been called
in on this because he’s more experienced than anyone else here.’

A uniformed policeman wearing the crown stripes of a senior sergeant opened the door
from the foyer and nodded at Liam. He extended his hand to Natalie. ‘Damian McBride.’
Damian’s cool look at the prosecutor suggested Liam’s ambivalence was reciprocated.
Taller than Liam, early thirties with the good looks of an aging schoolboy, he came
across as solid and serious. Probably a good thing for a cop; too steady for her
tastes. His bland expression was hard to read.

‘He’s out the back,’ Damian said, holding the door open to the inner sanctum. His
eyes flickered over Liam’s hand lingering on Natalie’s back. ‘Do you want her to
do the interview?’

Natalie bristled. She’d deal with the cop referring to her in the third person later.
She turned to Liam. ‘I told you…’

Liam smiled over her head. ‘I’m suggesting observer only.’

‘Not suggesting. I
will
be observing. Travis won’t talk to me.’ She moved towards
Damian as she spoke. ‘I treated his first wife.’ She saw the edge of the sergeant’s
mouth tighten; he still wasn’t looking at her. With some effort, she dialled back
the assertiveness. ‘I might be able to help.’

Damian hesitated before indicating behind him with a jerk of the head. ‘Go through
and I’ll change interview rooms.’

Natalie walked past him and turned, waiting for Liam to follow her. He didn’t move.

‘I’ll be meeting with Senior Sergeant McBride’s boss,’ said Liam. ‘We’re developing
a strategy to deal with the media.’ He tilted his head. ‘I’m sure you’ll be in capable
hands. Catch you this evening.’

Damn the man. He could have warned her. The door closed with Liam on the other side,
leaving Natalie to follow a silent Damian to a small room with a one-way screen.
It must have been at least twenty minutes before he returned. She suspected he wasn’t
hurrying on her account.

‘Instructions?’ The tone was just polite enough.

‘Look,’ said Natalie, ‘I guess you don’t want me here but since I am, and as the
State’s paying, why don’t you see if I can help you?’

‘Me or the O.P.P.?’

‘Don’t you guys work together?’

‘We interview the witnesses. It’s not the prosecutors’ job.’

Not their stooges’ job either. He didn’t say it but he may as well have.

Natalie waited. When the silence eventually forced him to look her in the eyes, she
said, ‘Do you think Travis might be responsible for Chloe’s disappearance?’

The policeman hesitated. ‘It’s a line of enquiry we’ll be pursuing.’

‘Good. Then let’s pursue it, shall we?’ She pulled out a list of questions. ‘You
may have already asked them which is fine, but the ones with the asterisks…’ She
waited while Damian glanced over the two pages. ‘They’re the ones I really want put
to him while I watch.’

The corner of his mouth twitched; she thought it was an
upward one but he was working
hard on not giving anything away.

‘No other instructions?’

‘No, but come and check in with me before you let him go.’ Same indecipherable expression.
‘Please,’ she added.

Damian moved to sit in a nondescript adjoining room with just a basic table and a
few chairs. Natalie settled down to watch via the one-way screen that divided the
rooms.

A female plainclothes officer with cropped hair led Travis in. There were several
minutes of formalities for the video recording.

Travis hadn’t changed as much as the press photo suggested: brown overly long hair,
wide set eyes, a generous mouth. He’d shaved the goatee to reveal a weak chin. A
smile that made him look trustworthy. As if. He was a little heavier than when Natalie
had first met him. His fingers were nicotine stained. He was wearing a muscle shirt
that showed wiry arms tattooed with
Bella-Kaye
in a heart on one arm and
Chloe
in
a heart on the other. Natalie had to fight a feeling of nausea. Being inked into
this man’s arms was a death sentence.

‘Seems like you’re not holding your drink too well these days, Travis,’ said Damian,
consulting a wad of notes that included hers.

‘Wasn’t doing nothing.’

‘Let me see; you drank at least ten stubbies that the barman admitted to or could
remember,’ replied Damian. ‘Reported as saying “Cops are fucking useless, they’ll
never get anything on me.”’

‘Just bullshittin’,’ said Travis, unperturbed. ‘Anyway, it’s true. What have you
got on Chloe? Fuck all.’

The woman intervened. ‘On that matter, we would like
to ask you some more questions.’

‘I’ve already told you everything a million times.’

‘Yes,’ said Damian, ‘I’m sure you want to find Chloe. Sometimes going over it again
to fresh ears can help. We appreciate your time.’

Travis looked partly mollified.

‘So, the day Chloe disappeared. Let’s start there.’

‘Same as any other day. Tiph and Chloe were still in bed when I got up.’

‘Did you see Chloe?’

‘No.’ Travis leaned back in the chair. ‘She was asleep in her own room. This was
like six in the morning.’

Damian nodded. ‘Did she wake the night before?’

‘No she’s good like that. Sleeps right through.’

Unlike Bella-Kaye, who had woken frequently.

‘So when did you last see her?’

‘I already told you. Before I went out to my mate’s the previous night. Tiph put
her down and they were like, both asleep when I got home.’

‘How was she that night?’

Travis shrugged. ‘Like she always is. Happy kid. Had dinner and a bath.’

‘A bath?’

Travis scowled. ‘Kids have baths, okay? Chloe wasn’t little like Bella-Kaye. She
could sit up, play with her rubber duck.’

She could easily drown nevertheless.

‘How was it for you having a kid after Bella-Kaye?’ asked Damian, moving into the
next stage with one of Natalie’s questions. Maybe a bit soon, but then Travis’s concentration
span wasn’t great. At least he wasn’t overtly irritable. Natalie leaned forward and
watched him closely.

‘Great,’ Travis replied. ‘Always wanted kids.’

Liar.
He did it.
Kay’s words rang in her ears.

‘Tiph did a great job and Chloe was cute, you know?’

‘Was?’ The female officer playing bad cop.

‘Look mate, this is your chance to be as open as possible.’ Damian as good cop.

‘I was talking about like when she was born and what it was like.’ Irritable but
not really defensive. Meaning what? That the ‘was’ meant nothing or that he knew
he wasn’t going to get caught? ‘She’s still cute, more so, I mean she’s my kid.’

‘More than Bella-Kaye?’ Damian spoke so softly Natalie had to strain to hear. But
Travis had caught every word.

‘She’s older. It’s easier.’

‘Did you worry about how Tiphanie would cope?’

‘Nah,’ said Travis. ‘She isn’t anything like Amber.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Not nuts.’

‘Do you fight with her like you did Amber?’ Damian’s delivery of another of Natalie’s
questions was impeccably timed.

For a moment Travis’s smirk wavered. Only for a moment. ‘Everyone fights sometimes.’

Natalie felt herself tense. Arguments with Amber had meant more than just a brief
retort. Holes in walls, broken plates. He threw the television at her once.

‘Ever feel like hitting her?’ the woman asked.

‘
Feel
like it?’ The smirk again. ‘Maybe, but I just walk off, ask Tiph.’ Who might
well be too scared to say any different. Natalie sensed they’d lost him.

Damian asked a few more questions about their relationship and got no further. He
went back to Chloe.

‘What do you think happened?’

Travis shrugged. ‘Fucked if I know. She’s a smart kid; she wandered off.’

‘And?’

‘She’s cute. Maybe got nicked.’

‘So you think she’s alive?’

Natalie picked the flicker of a real expression on Travis’s face before he shut it
down. Sorrow? Guilt? Remorse? She couldn’t be sure. ‘Yeah,’ he said unconvincingly.

Damian asked a few more questions then called a break. Travis took the chance for
a cigarette. Damian squeezed into the viewing room with the woman cop and introduced
her as Detective Constable Andie Grimbank.

‘Nothing much to go on. Thoughts?’

‘He’s understandably defensive,’ said Natalie. ‘You might want to try and rattle
him a little more. Particularly on his competence—or rather incompetence—as a father.
See how much narcissism is there and how fragile it is, or if he’s just pure antisocial.’

‘Does it matter?’ Damian watched her closely but she couldn’t work out what he was
thinking.

Natalie shrugged. ‘Maybe not, but he isn’t that smart and he might give more away
if he’s on the back foot. Remember he’s already had the bad father tag hung on him
once.’

Would he still be feeling guilty about Bella-Kaye, if indeed he had killed her? More
likely to be concentrating on not being charged with murder. He had perhaps convinced
Tiphanie to lie for him, but not to take the blame.

‘Pretty bad effort losing two kids,’ Damian greeted Travis, deadpan, as soon as they
sat down again. He was good at this.

Travis looked startled. ‘It wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t there either time.’

‘So how do you account for it then?’

‘Amber was nuts, court said so.’ Travis folded his arms and looked defiantly at Damian.

‘What about Chloe?’

Travis looked conflicted. How much to blame Tiphanie? ‘I don’t know,’ he said. He
looked to Andie for support then seemed to remember that she had been playing bad
cop as well. ‘Kids do things off their own bat. She was a smart kid. She
is
a smart
kid.’ He hit the table with his fist. Neither Andie nor Damian reacted. ‘We want
her back. Why aren’t you bastards out there looking for her instead of wasting your
time with me? I didn’t do anything. Tiph is a mess. This is wrecking everything.’

‘Sounds to me like you’re more pissed off about the inconvenience,’ said Damian.

‘More sorry for yourself than anyone else,’ added Andie.

Damian leaned in, face close to Travis’s. ‘Not much of a father or husband, are you
Travis?’

Travis flinched and edged backwards slightly. Natalie wished she could tell one of
them to ease up. She wanted him rattled, yes. Too much and he’d close down completely.

‘Chloe cry a lot, did she? Must have got irritating,’ Andie said.

‘She was a good kid,’ said Travis. ‘Don’t think you can hang this on me!’

‘Now why would we try to do that to an upstanding citizen like yourself?’ Damian
wasn’t letting up. ‘Wasn’t your fault last time at all was it Travis?’

‘Or was it?’

Damian was so busy swinging his dick he’d lost sight
of the objective; Andie probably
felt she had to compete. Natalie knew they’d gone too far an instant before Travis
stood up, knocking his chair to the ground behind him. ‘I don’t have to put up with
this shit. Just find Chloe.’

Natalie watched Travis leave. Being a self-centred jerk didn’t mean he’d killed Chloe.
Didn’t mean he hadn’t. Natalie knew he wasn’t all that smart, but he only needed
a low to average IQ to keep repeating the same mantra, and no one was suggesting
if he did kill Chloe that it was premeditated. He didn’t look away as some people
did when they lied, but then he had probably convinced himself of the truth as he
wanted to believe it. He looked irritated, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Had he really killed Bella-Kaye? There would be no reason for Kay to lie now; but
maybe Travis, in a moment of guilt about the domestic violence, had felt sorry for
Glen and thought it was no skin off his nose to send the man to God feeling better.
Maybe. It was hard to picture Travis as caring about anyone other than himself. He
wasn’t a psychopath though, and the guilty liked to offload their secrets.
If you
are involved in any way, I want you to remember what I’ve told you.
Okay, but what
the hell could she do with Kay’s information?

After Travis left, Natalie walked to the window across the corridor. Outside the
police station a young girl was waiting for him. This must be Tiphanie. She looked,
as Travis had suggested, a mess, with dark circles under her eyes. She gave him a
guarded smile, offering him a cigarette from a packet that had been tucked into the
cuff of her jacket. She was very different from Amber in how she held herself; but
then she hadn’t been charged with killing her daughter.

Natalie stepped outside to watch them more closely and Travis caught sight of her.
His eyes narrowed: he recognised her, his face twisting into a grimace of fury. Less
surprise than she would have expected. She wondered whether Travis had heard the
same gossip as Kay. Tiphanie turned to look at her and she caught a glimpse of an
expression she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Shame? Guilt, maybe?

Travis grabbed Tiphanie’s arm and yanked her away. She went without protest; perhaps
not so different from Amber after all. As they stood on the kerb edge, about to cross
the road, a car accelerated and headed towards them. A guy and girl hanging out of
windows holding beer cans jeered at them as the car swerved, narrowly missing them.
Travis yelled obscenities back at them, barely aware that one of the cans had hit
its mark, covering Tiphanie in beer foam. If losing a child wasn’t bad enough, it
seemed that she was also having to deal with hostility from the local parenting standards
lobby.