The Baby Jane Murders (8 page)

"I bet it's peaceful. With two neighbours six feet under
and the other one in the cooler, who could make
a noise?" Hendrych
commented.

"Hush," Kroupa
gave him a dirty look. "Which school did the child attend?"

"Did you say two people dead? Don't tell me that
t
here was
another shooting! What is the world coming to. Poor lass, and she
was so pretty."

"She's still
kicking alright, it's the old man who got shot," Hendrych provided
the necessary information.

"Thank God she’
s okay. It would be a shame, so young and already
shot. So, it was the old man, was it? Serves him right, that dirty
old man."

Kroupa
interrupted the flurry of words, "You still owe me an answer. What
school did the lass attend?"

"That's obvious,
the one around the corner. Where else? St
Ignatius, of course. St Ignatius, around the corner." The sonorous
voice thundered. Sara was agitated and jumped up at the sound.
Kroupa decided that he’d got what he wanted, nodded to Hendrych and
whistled to Sara.

"What a
voice!" Hendrych shook his head.

"The more in voice
, the less in brain," Kroupa added.

"Do you think
she did it?" Hendrych ask insecure.

"Did what?
Who?"

"The lass, as
the old man called her?"

"Two thousand years ago a man called Plutarch said
'
Decide no suit until you have heard both
sides speak
'. Always remember that. It is still valid
today."

"Who are the
both sides?" Hendrych looked confused.

"That
I don't know as yet," Kroupa admitted. "Time will tell. We
are going to find out more."

-------------

At
Katoomba police station, George Hurst and Mark Cotton were
sitting side by side at the long table, facing a beaming
Senior Constable
Milton and a young stenographer
.
"So, young men,
what did you do in the car park last month?" Milton asked
directly.

"What do you mean? We weren't never in a
ny car park. We don't have no
wheels, man," said a nervous George.

"Then I have to refresh your memory. You two and Ms Baldwin
had a party in the Coles' car park, starting at about nine
pm.
You do
you remember that, don't you?"

"She promised she wouldn
't tell nobody. Yes, we were there, so
what?"

"What were you drinking?"
the superintendent wanted to
know.

"Black rats," Mark
said quietly. "Bundy and coke, if you must know,"
he readily explained.

"How many
black rats did you have?"

"We bought a
carton, that's all." The talk turned to George, who was more
co-operative.

"That's
twenty-four cans, isn't it? How much did Ms Baldwin drink? How many
cans - of those black rats?"

"Maybe six? I
had just two or three and Mark didn't drink much, did you,
Mark?"

"I take it that Ms Baldwin was quite intoxicated?"
Milton
suggested.

"That's for sure,
man. She was absolutely pissed."

"
And
that was when you raped her?"

The
stenographer sighed.

"We didn't rape nobody, man. The slut was willing.
She
was
begging for it." George claimed and Mark nodded in
agreement.

"
So,
why did you shoot the arrow at Mr Kroupa?"

"We didn't.
That's a lie. Who saw us, tell me, I challenge you and him."

"We
’ll leave it at that, for the moment. And what about Mr
Hendrych?"

"We needed
some dough, but for that we suffered enough. My nuts still hurt,
bloody idiot."

"Serves you
right. So, boys, I will have to keep you here for now. Rape is a
serious charge. I have to talk to Ms Baldwin."

-----------

Meantime,
Miss Hardy, the mistress of St Ignatius Ladies' College,
was wondering why she had receive two decent looking gentlemen. It
was a ladies' college by a name, but the teenage students were
anything but ladies. She was used to complaints about her wards.
Kroupa assured her in his opening sentence that a complaint was the
last thing on his mind. "Miss Hardy, you had a student, a Miss
Baldwin. What can you tell me about her?"

"I hope she is not in any trouble, poor soul. I have been
worrying about her
a lot lately. I don't know why. We are not related, but all
the girls here are like my daughters and I have to look after them.
God forgive me, I failed
Angelina
. She was such a lovely, likeable creature, and then
something happened, I’ve never found out what it was. She suddenly
changed, became very quiet, sometimes she went in the corner and
cried, but she always did her homework diligently, and one day she
didn't turn up for her lessons. Her father came to look for her,
but we never found her. Later, after her mother's death, her father
was gone for few weeks. I presumed he was looking for
Angelina
. Then he came back, packed up and was gone. The
police came asking about Mrs Baldwin's death, but I couldn’t say
anything - I didn’t know anything, and the people had various
stories. Apparently nobody saw anything, but many heard the
shot."

"How close was
she to her parents?"

"
Overly so. There was something of the Oedipus complex about
her relationship with her father, and between the son and his
mother. That's quite normal, I know. I know more fathers than the
mothers. Fathers seem to care for and protect their daughters. They
seem to be closer to my students - you understand, we are a ladies'
college."

"Certainly,
” confirmed Kroupa. “I've heard, but cannot comment from
personal experience. I’m a bachelor, you understand, don't
you?"

"
Of
course. I myself have never married, but I have my children here,
every day. Chattering young girls, laughing, singing, also arguing
and sometimes fighting, pulling at their plats; just normal young
ladies. I wouldn’t like to work at a university. There, they’re
real women. No, I don't like women with their schemes, tricks,
declaring their hatred for all men and at the same time fighting
for them, forming their own women's societies and closed clubs; no,
I prefer my young ladies, if you understand what I mean. They are
still innocent creatures."

"I couldn't agree with you more. I have one more parting
question.
Was Miss Baldwin a good student?" Kroupa
enquired.

"I couldn’
t have had a more diligent student. She worked so hard and
was very inquisitive. If she wanted something, she wouldn’t give up
until she'd achieved it. I remember an instance when I presented
the class with an obscure mathematical problem, one that we had not
covered previously, to challenge them. She was the only one who
solved it. She searched painstakingly on the Internet and in the
library until she had the answer. Some girls didn't like her
because she was so hard working."

"Is there
anything else I should know about Miss Baldwin?"

"No, I don't think so
. But please, find her and return her to me. I
would love to somehow replace her poor mother."

"I
’ll do what I can. Thank you very much for your
help."

----------------

Sara was happy to be
in the fresh air and happily scuttled between her
master and Hendrych. She was wondering why he hadn't talked the
whole time they were visiting the gloomy school. Her pitter-patter
brought a smile to Hendrych's face. They both speculated where
Kroupa was heading now. When they were sitting comfortably in the
Spider, Kroupa said: "The Births and Deaths Registry,
PLEASE."

"What's
there?" Hendrych wondered.

"The births register.
"

Kroupa spent an hour in the stone building, achieving
nothing significant, while Hendrych
and Sara walked the boring corridors.
Hendrych sometimes turned his head to follow a young clerk, usually
female, who passed stealthily by. They all looked the same, with
their important walks and unsmiling. For a moment Hendrych wondered
if he also projected the same image at his office, and he asked
Sara. She whined, giving her negative answer. She was bored,
contemplating how people could work there. They were both very
happy when Kroupa reappeared.

"There are still some things I have to check. You and
Sara
had
better go back to the hotel and I’ll take the train when I’m
finished. You need fresh air.”

“Okay then. S
ee you tomorrow?"

"Yes, and
drive carefully."

Kroupa waited till the roof of the Spider was retracted and
the two travellers were on their way, and he headed to another
stone building. Then, on the way to his hotel, he made an important
visit
to
Miss Whiteford. Then he was satisfied that he’d finally found what
he was looking for.

--------------

"Les, I have a case for you. The charge is two counts of
felony, the defendant is indigent and will require
counsel. We will
need an arrest warrant and two police for the arrest. When can I
talk to you? The sooner the better. I don't want a third felony.
When can we proceed? There needs to be a preliminary hearing. I’m
ready. Tomorrow at ten at the police station? That's fine. See you
tomorrow."

Kroupa put the phone down
and faced Hendrych, who had the
bewildering look of an imbecile. "So, what’s going on? I'm
listening, eagerly waiting for my exclusive."

"Don't you want to wait for th
e preliminary examination? It’ll be
official. If you publish anything before, it could be viewed as
contempt of court," Kroupa bluffed.

"What do you
mean?"

"If you publish anything
that can influence the jury, it would be
very hard to find anybody who doesn't read your articles. So you'd
better wait. People trust your opinion."

"I don't have an opinion. I report
the facts." Hendrych said annoyed.
"At least let me write a draft for myself, and that way I'll have
it ready and I’ll be able to get it into the press before anybody
else."

Kroupa thought for a moment and agreed. He valued these
'walk-throughs' with Hendrych. He asked a lot
of questions and thus
occasionally discovered the weak links in Kroupa's hypotheses. A
thorough rehearsal before his meeting with the DPP Les Lee was a
good idea, after all. He opened a can of Guinness, waited for
Hendrych to prepare his Martini, sat in the most comfortable chair
in the hotel room, took a deep breath and began:

"
What we are looking at here is a premeditated and vicious
crime. The accused committed two murders, not for profit, but in
vengeance. Young Miss Gertrude Winterbottom was attending a high
school in Armidale, when she fell in love with a middle-aged man
named Stanley Lackey. They had no intention of getting married, but
she fell pregnant by the man and he asked her to go to The New
England Private Hospital, the only hospital in Armidale, to have an
abortion. There was a nurse at the hospital by the name of Sandra
Whiteford. She talked to young Gertrude and offered her asylum at
her house, if she would carry the pregnancy through. When the baby
was born, Gertrude gave
Angelina
up
for adoption,
as soon as she was weaned. The adoptive
parents, Edward and Emma Baldwin lived in Coogee, an affluent
suburb in Eastern Sydney.
Angelina
Baldwin grew up in
an affectionate family. Perhaps too affectionate. She grew into a
very handsome young woman. Her biological mother, Gertrude
Winterbottom stayed with Miss Whiteford for several years and when
two adjacent houses in Medlow Bath went up for sale, they purchased
them and moved in. They maintained a very peculiar friendship; they
argued together. It was a game that started in Armidale and
continued every day in Medlow Bath. Miss Winterbottom and Emma
Baldwin had no contact.

When
Angelina
was sixteen years old and
attending St Ignatius Ladies College, Ted Baldwin, her adoptive
father, went to her while she was asleep and raped her. When she
began to scream, he told her that it was alright, that she was
adopted and that he wasn’t her biological father, thus it wasn’t
incest. He disclosed to her the events of her birth and the
subsequent adoption.

Angelina
was broken, left
her school and began planning her revenge. She moved into a women's
refuge house, and illegally purchased a handgun. Then she went to
kill Ted Baldwin. When she was going to press the trigger, Mrs
Baldwin jumped in front of her husband and was killed instead of
him.
Angelina
correctly believed that nobody saw
her, and moved to Katoomba, where she got a job at Coles. One day,
she was asked for assistance by an elderly woman. Both had a very
strange feeling of closeness, as if they’d known each other
previously. Miss Gertrude Winterbottom was overcome and
Angelina
asked the woman for her name and realised that she
was talking to her natural mother. This discovery, instead of
making her happy, turned to hatred. At Coles, Mark Cotton made
advances to her, which she refused, because of her experience with
her adoptive father, and subsequent hatred of men in general. He
and his friend George Hurst invited her to a party, made her drink
a number of 'black rats' and, when she was drunk, they repeatedly
raped her. This act has been recorded on camera and was found
amongst the pornographic collection of Mr George Cotton, Mark's
father.