Scared Yet? (22 page)

30

A dozen people were gathered in the middle of the lane, around the bend, about five metres down where it followed the outside of the parking station. Their faces were turned to a vehicle at the kerb. Liv couldn't see it properly. It was on the other side of a concrete support column, partially blocked by other cars. It was big. Light blue. Not a four-wheel drive. A people-mover, maybe. Oh, Christ, had someone been hit? Had Tee . . . ? Where was Tee?

She scanned the group, didn't see her. It didn't stop her running. Her high heels clacking on the tarmac, her breath uneven and jerky as her brain ran through scenarios. Had Tee come out here? She didn't have a car. There were no shops in this direction. It had to be someone else. Or some
thing
else. Because the people were looking up, not down at the ground. Not where they'd be looking if something had been hit by a car. Not up at the first floor, either. Not that high. Somewhere above the car.

She cut the corner, headed into the middle of the lane and stopped.

It was a van and Daniel Beck was on top of it. His broad back and stubbled head unmistakable as he crouched on knees over the caved-in centre of the blue top. Her first thought was that he'd leapt down from above like some kind of cartoon superhero, was about to spring from the roof and bound away. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it but dread gathered in her chest like a bird spreading its wings, preparing to take flight.

She kept her eyes on him and the vehicle as she took a wide, fearful path towards the group of onlookers. He was leaning forward as though about to crawl, toes tucked under showing the dark, rippled soles of his shoes, a hand curled around the edge of the roof supporting his weight. The road beneath him glinted with shattered glass, myriad twinkling pebbles that looked like they'd been flung from each window of the van. Something dark and rope-like hung over the edge of the roof.

As Liv came around the side, Daniel shifted his position, lifting a knee off the metal, sitting back. She saw then there was something up there with him. Something green and still.

Her breath shortened to hard gasps. She knew that green. Teagan had a coat in that green. A short trench with a turn-up collar and belt. She'd bought it on sale a couple of weeks ago, paraded it around the office. Last year's stock at seventy per cent off. Had she worn it today? It wasn't cold enough for a coat today. It wasn't Tee up there with Daniel. It wasn't . . . oh, Christ. The dark rope was hair. A long strand of dark hair hanging over the edge of the van.

‘Oh my God.'

Liv didn't recognise her own voice but Daniel must have. He looked over at her, released his hand from the edge of the roof, held his arm out taut and straight. ‘Stay there, Livia.'

She stopped where she was, a hand at her throat. ‘Is it . . . is it . . . ?'

‘It's Teagan.' He said it firmly. There was no mistake. ‘An ambulance is on its way.' As she took a step, he shook his head. ‘She's unconscious, Liv. You can't do anything here.'

It wasn't an order, it was a plea, his eyes willing her not to come closer. And it frightened her more than anything she'd seen already. It must be bad. It must be . . .

‘Did she jump?' someone asked from behind.

Liv squinted upwards. There were faces leaning out from the levels above.

‘I thought she fell,' a woman answered. ‘From the second storey.'

Liv looked from the faces on the second level to the van – and it hit her like a roundhouse punch to the gut. Teagan had fallen. Six or so metres. From the second storey of the car park onto the roof of the people-mover.

What was she doing in the parking lot? Why was she anywhere near the edge?

Oh jeez. Oh fuck. Oh no.

Her knees buckled. She stumbled against someone and saw the number of onlookers had grown. Had Kelly followed her out? She couldn't see her but recognised a face.

‘Pat, can you get Kelly? She's Teagan's aunty.'

The woman gathered a cardigan around her and took off, running awkwardly in high heels. On the van, Daniel pushed hair from Tee's face, put fingers to her throat, bent his head close and talked to her. ‘Teagan, can you hear me? Teagan, it's Daniel Beck. Can you wake up for me?'

The van rocked and Ray's head appeared from the front end. He'd climbed onto the bonnet, hauled a backpack onto the roof. ‘This it?'

Daniel glanced up, took the pack, lifted his voice. ‘Is anyone a doctor?' He unzipped the bag, called again as he reached in, a fraught edge to his voice. ‘This girl needs a doctor.'

Liv eyed the crowd. There was a medical centre at the other end of the shopping strip and a pharmacy on the main road but she didn't see anyone she knew from either. All she saw were necks craning for a better view, no one willing to get any closer.

‘The ambulance is five minutes away,' a voice yelled from above.

Ray glanced up to where the voice had come from. Daniel didn't respond, just stayed focused on his task, pulling gloves from the pack, a stethoscope, hooking it around his neck as he kept talking to Tee. There was no panic in the way he did it. His movements were decided, controlled. He'd called for a doctor but he knew what to do.

Liv walked to the van. ‘I want to help. Let me do something.'

He made a searching assessment of her face. Whatever he saw must have changed his mind about keeping her away. ‘Support her back. Make sure she doesn't roll.'

With her hands on the curve of Teagan's spine, Daniel used Ray as an assistant while he put the stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff to use. Up close, his face was taut. A muscle at the side of his jaw pulsed in and out, and there was something steely and angry in his eyes. Liv remembered what he'd said. That he'd gone four rescues too many, that he was past his use-by date. She wanted to shout that it didn't work like that, it wasn't already decided. He could keep her alive. He had to because it was Teagan.

Daniel pressed a gauze bandage to Tee's face. Liv could only see her back but she could feel her laboured breathing, smell the metallic tang of blood and tried not to think about the damage to the other side that Daniel hadn't wanted her to see.

What the hell had happened? How do you fall from a car park? It had a waist-high, concrete barrier all the way around. You'd have to lean out a long way to topple over. She must have been . . . She had to have been . . .

I'll show you AGAIN!

Oh God. Teagan was pushed.

Someone had forced her to the edge, pinned her against the barrier, hoisted her up and over.

Not someone. Not just anyone.

Liv's crazy, fucked-up stalker.

Was he still here? Was she watching?

She searched the faces leaning over the car park barriers. Four tiers of spectators. A crowd on the first floor, elbows and heads jutting out, ten or more. Half a dozen on the second level. Two couples above that. Just one at the top. A man. Was it him? How would she know? Would
he throw Teagan from the second storey and run to the top? She scanned the faces below him then the ones on the other levels. She heard a siren wail out on the street, turned to the crowd in the lane behind her and studied their faces, wanting one to click into place, make her brain say,
You, you arsehole. It's you!
But there was no smug smile or satisfied grin. Come on, you fuck. Surely I look scared enough for you now.

Then her own fear didn't matter. Kelly rounded the corner at a run, breathless, pale-faced. She stopped short of the van, covered her mouth with her hands.

‘Ray, take over from Liv,' Daniel said then looked at her. ‘I need you to keep Kelly away. Can you do that?' Maybe it was standard practice – keep the stressed relatives at a distance so the professionals could do their job – but she saw the ‘please' in his eyes, knew it was more than that. He
needed
Kelly to stay back. She hoped it was because of his own issues, not because he was losing Teagan.

Liv stepped from the van as Kelly found her feet and started running again. Liv caught her halfway and fought her to a standstill. ‘Daniel knows what he's doing.'

‘I should be with her. I can talk to her. Let her know I'm here,' Kelly cried.

‘She's unconscious, Kell.'

Kelly pushed out of her arms, paced about, sucking in gasps of air. Liv followed her back and forth, ready to catch her again if she took off. Down the lane, an ambulance appeared at the corner of their building. The siren cut off mid-wail, lights flashing silently as it manoeuvred
its way slowly into the narrow access lane. Kelly stopped suddenly.

‘How did you know something was wrong?'

‘I didn't.'

‘You knew something.'

‘She'd been gone so long.'

‘No, that's not it.'

Liv glanced away from her, guilt a wedge at the back of her throat. ‘I didn't know. I suspected.'

Kelly raised her voice. ‘What? That she was going to jump off the car park? Why would she do that? Why the fuck didn't you tell me? We could have found her. We could have stopped her.'

‘No, I didn't think that. There was nothing wrong. She was fine. She didn't . . . Oh, Christ, Kell. She didn't 
jump
.'

Kelly opened her mouth but didn't speak, just lifted her eyes to the car park, dropped them down to the van. Behind her, the ambulance rolled past then began reversing around the bend towards them.

‘She fell? How could she fall?' Kelly asked.

Liv's heart slammed against her ribs. She shouldn't have to tell her this. ‘She didn't fall. Someone pushed her. I think someone hurt her to get at me.'

Kelly reacted like she'd been zapped with an electric current. She shoved Liv in the shoulder with the flat of her palm. ‘Stop it! Just stop!'

Force and surprise made her stumble back. She took a second to process the moment, let Kelly have some space as the ambulance pulled up beside them. ‘I don't want to believe it, either. But I got another note this . . .'

‘For God's sake, Liv. Teagan is
hurt
. It's not all about you this time.' Kelly swung away, her long hair flipping up like a curtain as she made for the rear of the ambulance.

Liv watched her go, rocked by her words. Was it shock or was that what Kelly thought? That Liv had used her screwed-up life for attention?

Daniel knew the ambulance crew, called out medical information, helped them fit a neck support and move Teagan to a spinal board. Liv watched from beside the van, out of the way, helpless and horrified. As Tee was lowered to a stretcher, she saw the thick gauze bandage Daniel had applied. It covered one side of her face. There were two bright red stains where it was soaked through with blood. Liv followed the stretcher to the door of the ambulance, saw Teagan's one visible eyelid flutter.

Maybe it was a good sign, maybe it meant she was waking up, that she was going to be okay. It should have been hope that Liv felt but it wasn't. The anger that had been pacing at the edges of her shock crashed like a boulder in still water. Waves of heat locked her teeth together and curled her fingers into fists.

Kelly held Tee's hand as she was transferred to the ambulance, climbed in after her and called hurried instructions out to Liv. ‘Call Nina and tell her I'll meet her at the hospital. My phone and bag are in the office. I didn't lock the office or switch the phones over. Tell Jason . . .'

‘Don't worry, Kell. I'll sort it out. Just look after Tee.'

By the time the ambulance drove out, most of the crowd had dispersed and a police patrol car had arrived. Liv caught Daniel's eye as he spoke to an officer. She didn't
smile, didn't get one in return. The moment of connection said enough. She ran to the office, sat at reception and used Teagan's contact book to make calls, breaking the news to Teagan's mum Nina, telling Kelly's mum and Jason. Then she rang Rachel. There was no answer so Liv left a clear and simple message: ‘He pushed Teagan off the car park.'

It had to be a ‘he', didn't it? It would take strength and probably height to overpower a struggling teenager and to do it quickly enough not to attract attention. Liv was taller and stronger than most women she knew and doubted she could do it.

The phone rang and she snatched it up, hoping to hear Rachel's voice.

‘I've been trying to call you for over an hour.' It was Thomas.

31

‘Is it Cameron? Is he okay?'

‘As far as I'm aware he's in school. Unless you know otherwise,' Thomas said.

Why did he have to make it so bloody hard? Today? Now? ‘What do you want?'

‘Detective Quest came to my office today. I know you've got a stalker, Livia. I don't want Cameron staying with you.'

Anger beat a pulse in the side of her face. Cameron didn't
stay
with her. He lived with her, she was his mother. But alarm sounded a warning. Rachel had been to see Thomas today, after the note.
It could be anyone, Liv
.

‘What are you doing, Thomas?'

‘I'm trying to keep my son safe.'

‘Or just trying to keep him.'

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

‘Are you threatening me?'

He didn't answer, at least not straightaway. She could hear him breathing, knew what he was doing, containing
himself. It's what he did. He was restraint; she was detonation. ‘Is that what you told the detective?' he finally asked.

‘I answered her questions. She asked about us and I told her the truth.'

‘What truth?'

Was there more than one? ‘That you had an affair, that you left, that we fought over custody of Cameron.'

‘You were the one doing the shouting, Liv.' There it was. Restraint used as a weapon.

She reined in the urge to shout some more. Rehashing old arguments wouldn't get the answers she wanted. ‘Are you involved in this?'

‘What?'

‘The stalking.'

‘Dear God, Livia. How can you think I would do that?'

‘I have no idea what you'd do anymore. You or anyone else. I can't
trust
anyone.'

‘Well, if you're going to point the finger, you should start with that thug you've been spending your time with. He's not an appropriate person for Cameron to be around. Cameron should be with me.'

Liv hesitated. Thomas had said ‘spending your time with'. He saw Daniel at the hospital. Was he making an assumption that she'd been with him or did he know? Had he watched them? Would Thomas do that?

‘Until the police tell me my home is unsafe for my child, Cameron comes to me, as per our agreement.'

‘I'll be discussing that situation with my solicitor, Livia.'

She felt the charge go off and couldn't do anything to stop it. ‘Fuck you, Thomas. You got
everything
you wanted. You can't have any more.'

She slammed the phone down, forced herself to breathe. It wasn't Thomas. She knew it now. He didn't throw rocks and heave young girls over railings. He used solicitors and documents to hurt people. But her stalker was giving him an excuse to make a bid for full custody. ‘You prick, Thomas.'

Liv stood outside the school gate with her arms folded across her body, trying to keep her shock and anger contained while she kept her eyes on the faces in the crowd. She knew some of them, mothers of Cameron's friends and women she'd met at P & F meetings. But she kept her distance, not wanting to be distracted by school chitchat today. There were a few men there, too. A dad in a shirt and tie, another one in oil-stained clothes, a fit-looking grandfather. It didn't make sense that another parent would want to stalk her but she watched anyway, wary and tense.

Cameron's class walked to the gate in two long lines, legionnaire's caps on, backpacks like turtle shells with cartoon motifs. Liv craned her neck to see him. He was three from the end, searching the waiting parents, his face lighting up when he saw her. It made the storm of emotion inside her subside. She wanted to leap the fence and scoop him into her arms but figured he'd probably die of embarrassment in front of his classmates. She just waggled her
fingers at him instead and grinned so hard she thought her face might break.

When he was through the gate, he yelled, ‘Mu-um!' and broke ranks. As he ran towards her, she dropped to her haunches and he wrapped his arms around her neck and squeezed. She almost lost it, almost sobbed like a child. Buried her head in his sweaty, school-smelly neck and held on until he let her go.

‘Awesome bruise,' he said.

‘A little less awesome now.'

‘Can I touch it?' He held up an index finger like a pointer.

‘It's been waiting for your magic fingers.'

She watched his gorgeous, freckly face as he gently poked along the ridge of discolouring. When he was finished, he rested his forehead on hers, rolled his eyes to meet hers.

‘Hey, Mum.'

‘Hey, Cameron.'

It was their thing. They'd done it since he was a toddler. A silent love-you-lots and hey-missed-you and it'll-be-okay and I'm-here-for-you. They'd done it more since Thomas left. Man, she'd missed it last week. And she loved him for doing it while his friends were shouting goodbyes all around them.

She just loved him.

She carried his bag as he skipped ahead of her along the footpath to the car, slapped it and skipped back.

‘Hey, Mum, are we going to Lenny's for afternoon tea?'

‘Not today.'

He ran, lifting his knees high, tipped the car and ran back again.

‘Can we have spaghetti for tea?'

‘You bet.'

He turned sideways, one leg crossing in front of the other there and back.

‘Do I have to do my homework tonight?'

‘What do you think?'

‘Just checking.'

‘Nice try.'

He ran backwards, twisting his head around to see where he was going, tipped the front passenger door. ‘Beat ya!'

‘I think someone forgot to say ready, set, go.' She dropped his pack beside the boot, lifted the flap of her handbag, reached in for her keys and found an envelope instead. For a moment, for half a second, she thought she'd forgotten to post some mail. Then she saw her name on the front in the familiar scrawl.

She was moving before her brain completed the thought, holding Cameron to her belly, putting him between the car and her body. Over the dark blue of the roof, she scanned left then right. Both kerbs were lined with vehicles, the three-pm traffic jam moving slowly in both directions. There were adults and kids, prams and dogs, the guy who supervised the crossing in his fluoro vest, a bus driver watching students file through his doors.

‘Hey, Mum! What are you doing?'

Cameron was pressed against the passenger door, wriggling about, trying to squeeze out. She eased back a
little. ‘Cameron, honey, no more running around, okay? I need you to get straight in the car.'

‘Ooh but . . .'

‘No buts, okay?' She held onto his shoulder, retrieved her keys and hit the unlock button. ‘Hop in and lock the door.' She waited until she heard the thunk, tossed his pack in the boot and stood by the driver's door, anger and fear pounding in her chest as she checked the street again. No one was watching, no one was loitering, there were no faces at the windows of the houses in the street. How the fuck did the envelope get in her handbag?

‘Where are we going?' Cameron asked.

Liv had passed the turn-off to their street and was watching the traffic behind. ‘Just for a drive.'

‘Can we get a milkshake?'

‘We'll see.'

Had someone slipped the envelope in her bag while she'd been waiting at the school gate? While it'd been on her shoulder? No, it wasn't possible. It must have been there when she left work and her bag hadn't left her desk drawer since she'd arrived in the morning. Which meant the bastard had been in her office in broad daylight.

‘What, Mum?'

‘What what?'

‘You went . . .' Cameron gasped.

‘Oh, did I?'

‘Hey, look, there's the ice-cream shop.' He leaned forward, waved his arms around and shouted, ‘
Zack!
'

A boy from his class was out front, his mother inside at the counter with a smaller child. A stab of envy made Liv's
face harden. She wanted to pull over and join them, buy her son an ice-cream but she couldn't because an angry man might see her and decide she wasn't scared enough. ‘Another day, Cameron. I promise.'

Her phone rang and she hit the receive button on her dash.

‘Liv, it's Rachel Quest. Where are you?' There was an urgency in her voice.

‘I'm in the car with my son so choose your words carefully.'

‘Are you okay?'

‘I don't know what I am but I'm not hurt. Do you know the details?'

‘I'm still at the scene. I heard the address go out over the radio and drove over. Daniel said you'd gone to make phone calls but you weren't in your office. I was about to put an all stations alert out for you.' She laughed a little, it sounded more like relief than humour. ‘We need to talk.'

‘You need to see what else I got today.'

Rachel arrived as Cameron was scoffing down a milkshake as though he thought it'd be taken away if he didn't drink it in one go. Liv signalled her over to the table she'd shared with Daniel two days ago, introduced her to Cameron as someone she worked with. He waved a hand without interruption to his straw action. Rachel was wearing a gun in a holster on the belt of her trousers today. Liv figured that made them safe.

Rachel ordered coffee at the counter and sat down. ‘I just spoke to the hospital. Teagan's listed as critical.'

Liv closed her eyes. Beside her, Cameron was slurping the remains of his drink. She slid fingers through his soft curls and thought about what Teagan's family was going through right now.

‘I'm sorry about that news, Liv.'

She shook her head. ‘You finished, sweetie?'

‘Yup.'

‘Have you got some homework you can start on?'

‘Aww, Mum. Can't I play with Mitch?'

‘Who?'

Cameron pointed to a boy in the same grey uniform at a nearby table, swinging his legs and looking bored while his mother tapped on a laptop.

‘Okay but stay in the play area where I can see you.' She nodded at the sectioned-off space on the opposite side of the cafe. As the other boy joined him, his mother shot a grateful smile over the top of her screen. Liv reached into her bag, took out the two notes and laid them on the table. She pushed a fingertip onto the one in the plastic sleeve, heard the edge in her voice. ‘This morning.' She moved her finger to the one still in its unopened envelope. ‘This afternoon.'

She folded her arms on the table and looked at Rachel. ‘Someone sent me a warning, pushed my seventeen-year-old staff member off the second floor of the car park then came to my office in the middle of the afternoon, opened the bottom drawer of my desk and put a note inside my handbag. My business partner told me this afternoon it
wasn't all about me. I want to agree with her. I want to think I'm not responsible for what happened to Teagan. That someone didn't hurt a gorgeous young girl and her family to send some kind of sick, screwed-up message to me. But if it's not about me, what the hell is it about?'