Times of Trouble (36 page)

This was a fucking
disaster. The things the police would find in the apartment were
bad. Very bad. He’d definitely have to stop production for a while.
And what would that fucker Keith say to the cops? He was up to his
balls in it. Surely he wouldn’t be thick enough to give anything
away? Keith had Jared's name, but not his. In the past they had
been incredibly careful to keep the film side of the business
separate from everything else. But with Bill out of it, and with
trying to set up in Australia, there hadn’t been too many people he
could rely on. So Jared had got more involved. Too involved
maybe?

But, thought Vince
bitterly, the thing that really destroyed all his hard work was
Molly. And now the police had her too. God knows how Bill ever let
her find out what his business activities were. But somehow he did.
And her dumb boyfriend tried to capitalise on this knowledge.
Fucking idiots. Why couldn’t they just leave well enough alone?
Bill was too easily linked to him. That was always the problem. He
wanted someone he trusted working the production side, but Bill
turned out to be a massive mistake. Jared had warned him Bill was
incapable of discretion. And he’d thought this was just Jared being
jealous that he hadn’t been given more responsibility himself.
Well, it was coming back to bite them. It was Jared’s fault. He
should have insisted. The best he could hope for was that if Molly
did talk, Bill would never be found. That way the connection with
him couldn't be made, and the rest of their business could continue
as before.

Chapter 31

As I sat in the back
of the police car, I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t stop crying.
The police woman in the front seat was very patient, and told me to
take my time before giving a statement. She had tried to insist we
go to the hospital, to make sure I wasn’t in shock, but I refused.
I was fine. Just upset, and a doctor couldn’t help me with that. I
dabbed at my face with a tissue, and explained that I wanted to
give a statement as soon as possible. I needed to give as much
information as I could to help the police find my attackers. After
they had given me some clothes to wear, I had asked if Detective
Inspector Williamson would be able to see me at the station. He had
been called in, and was on his way. I knew it would save time
explaining what had happened, since he already knew most of the
story I had to tell.

As the car pulled up at the
station, the policewoman told me that Williamson wasn’t there yet,
but I could wait for him in a private interview room. I asked if I
could make a phone call, and she showed me to a phone, standing
close to me as if worried I might break down and collapse if
someone wasn’t there to catch me. I needed to speak to mum. I typed
in her home number because I didn’t know her mobile number by
heart. My phone was either in that fat oaf's pocket, or still in
the apartment.

‘
Hello?’ mum sounded
worried as she answered, as if she intuitively knew something was
wrong. I thought I could be strong, but hearing her voice made me
feel so scared and alone. I sobbed harder than ever.

‘
Mum, I’m so sorry. I
shouldn’t have gone off alone...’

‘
What’s wrong Ellen?
What’s happened?’ mum’s voice was panicked, waiting to hear the
worst.

‘
I went to the hotel
where I thought the men were, and they were there, and they got me
and tried to kill me. It was...horrible...’ The tears were choking
my throat. I couldn’t get any more words out.

‘
Where are you? What
did they do to you? Are you there Ellen?’ The policewoman passed me
a tissue and I blew my nose hard, trying to gather some sort of
composure.

‘
They didn’t do
anything. I got away, I... I’m with the police... they thought I
was Sophie, mum. They wanted to kill Sophie so they were going to
kill me...’

‘
Where is Sophie?’
The alarm in her voice heightened. I could barely recognise her in
this state.

‘
I don’t know mum.
She’s fine, she wasn’t there. They don’t have any idea where she is
either.’ I heard her breath in and out a couple of times. She
didn’t know what to say next.

‘
Mum, I just called
to let you know I’m ok. I’m scared but I’m ok. I need to speak to
the police now. Can you please give me Liam’s number so I can call
him? I’ve lost my phone.’

‘
Oh, ok.’

I heard mum’s feet
click quickly across the kitchen, trying to find the number. After
a few seconds, she was back, and I jotted Liam’s number on my hand
with the policewoman’s pen. Mum sounded stronger all of a sudden,
as if she had come to terms with the fact I was ok.

‘
I’m calling Andy to
come and get you. Where are you?’

‘
I’m at the City
Central police station in the city. It’s next to Town Hall
station.’

‘
Ok, I’m sure he’ll
be there as quickly as he can.’

Mum sounded like she
felt helpless. Never before had I needed a hug from her like I did
now. But she was too far away to comfort me, so she was sending me
the only person she could think of who might make me feel a bit
safer.

‘
Mum, they’re going
to get these people now. They’ll know who they are, and they’ll get
them. Then they can’t hurt Sophie... or me. I know it was
dangerous, but I got away. I’ll call you from Andy’s when we get
back there. Promise.’

I felt slightly
stronger as I put down the phone. I turned, and I saw Detective
Inspector Williamson walk through the door. He looked brisk and
important as he strode towards me, staring at me up and down as if
asking what happened to me, without words.

‘
Do you feel ok to be
interviewed now?’ he asked, obviously having been briefed on what
had happened. I nodded and followed him into the same room we had
been in yesterday morning. Part of me wanted to go back to that
interview, and then live the last day again, avoiding my impulse to
hunt down Bill Holland’s associates at the hotel. But then I
reminded myself of the same thing I told mum; we were going to get
them.

Detective Williamson
looked genuinely concerned as he sat down and asked if I was ok. I
didn’t want to waste time with his sympathy, so I told him I was
fine.

‘
Can you tell me what
happened?’ he asked, getting down to business, taking out his
notepad and pen. The sooner this was over the better.

‘
I don’t know how,
but these men who are after Sophie thought I was her, and tried to
force me to be in some sort of movie. They were going to kill me.
But I managed to get away...’

‘
How did you get
away?’ he asked.

‘
One of them was
forcing me to put on some lingerie in the bathroom. He had a knife.
I had a piano wire in my pocket. It’s like a good luck charm. I
managed to put it round his neck and... sort of strangle him with
it until I could get away. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just needed
to get out of there! The other guy came at me, but I had the knife
by then, so I cut his arm. I don’t think the cut was very bad. He
still managed to chase after me. But I got down to the ground floor
before he caught me.’

The detective stared
at me, looking surprised to hear me be so frank about it. ‘Why were
you at the hotel?’ he asked.

‘
I’ve been doing some
investigating into who might be trying to hurt my sister, and I had
a suspicion about some men who I found were filming a movie at the
hotel... the Quay Suites at Circular Quay.’

Williamson put his
hands up as if to stop traffic and said: ‘Slow down. How did you
decide these men were suspicious? You need to give me more
detail....’

There was no way I
was going back over everything I had done in the last day,
especially the bit where I impersonated a policewoman...and the bit
where Andy and I used secret government software...

‘
I found some things
after contacting a friend of Sophie’s...’ When in doubt, white lies
were always a good idea.

‘
Have you had any
contact with Sophie?’ he asked.

‘
No, I wish. Liam saw
her at the hospital, just as some police took him in for
questioning. They thought he had something to do with the
blackmail, which is ridiculous.’

‘
About this Liam
Kingsley, how much do you know about him?’

‘
What do you
mean?’

‘
Well, you told me
your mum hired him as a private investigator. Did you know he used
to be a lawyer?’

‘
Yes, so
what?’

‘
And he was disbarred
for having an inappropriate relationship with one of his clients?
His client was a murder suspect, Abigail Marks. She was eventually
convicted of murdering her ex-husband.’

What? What did this
have to do with anything? Is that why the police had swooped in and
arrested Liam, right when he was about to make contact with Sophie?
So Liam had fallen for a client? I was amazed how unsurprised I
was. It seemed just like Liam to fall for someone he shouldn’t.
Like Sophie, for instance... It was time to get the detective back
on track.

‘
Look, that email to
the politician was sent by me. Liam had nothing to do with
it...’

‘
Thought as
much...’

‘
But we’re wasting
time even discussing that. The men who attacked me thought I was
Sophie. That’s what worries me. I found out what they were planning
to do to her if they found her...’

‘
What do you think
they were planning to do?’

‘
Kill her. But film
her first. And maybe film her while they killed her.’ A shiver ran
down my spine.

Williamson could
sense my fear. ‘What made you think that?’

‘
From what they said
when they tied me up. When they made me put on lingerie, and
makeup, and then said something about me having to perform. There
was a camera set up in another room. And there was a girl there
too. I couldn’t see because the door was closed, but I heard them
talking about it.’ I started to sound whiny and frantic as I retold
just a bit of what had happened. I needed to calm down and
focus.

Williamson was
writing something on his notepad. ‘Another girl was taken away from
the scene. She’s in hospital. So you are saying you think they were
making a snuff movie, and they wanted to use you in it, but they
thought you were Sophie?’

‘
A snuff movie?’ I
suddenly realised what he meant by that. I’d seen it in a horror
movie years ago, but I never realised people actually made them in
real life.

Williamson explained
what it was, giving a surprisingly frank explanation. ‘People have
been known to make pornographic movies where the viewer is able to
watch as someone is killed, in real life, on camera. There must be
a market for this type of film, as we do hear that they are sold.
I’ve never heard of them being made in Australia, but I assume it
must be possible.’

Unbelievable. How
could people want to watch someone being killed? This was exactly
the sort of film I had escaped from appearing in.

‘
Why would they want
to put Sophie in one of those films?’ I asked, suddenly impatient
to get out and find her, before the man who escaped the hotel did.
‘I can’t believe one of the men got away. You guys were there so
fast. Do you think they will find him?’ I pictured the man who I
had stabbed running through the streets of Sydney, getting further
away and harder to find with every second that passed.

‘
We’ve got plenty of
officers out there looking for him. The other suspect is under
guard in hospital. He was still unconscious when they found him.
Now, the more you can tell me about what happened, the better. And
we will get you to sit with our sketch artist so we can get an
identikit put together.’

This all sounded like
it was going to take forever. And I hadn’t even called Liam yet, to
let him know what happened. He would probably be relieved I was
attacked instead of Sophie. He wouldn’t want anything to happen to
his beloved.

‘
Look, I think I can
give you a pretty good description, but there are other things you
need to know that will help you to find who these people are. I
don’t have time to explain how I know all this, but can you just
trust me for now and I’ll explain everything later?’

Williamson looked at
me sceptically, he was obviously curious to find out what I knew,
but he also wanted to know how I knew it. ‘Ok, what do you
know?’

‘
When I was here
yesterday, you told me you were looking for Sophie because you
thought she was blackmailing someone.’ Williamson nodded. ‘I think
Sophie was going to be killed because she knew what these men were
doing –or at least they thought she knew.’ Surely if she had really
known she would have gone to the police, not tried to blackmail
them. How could she risk people's lives just to make some extra
cash?

‘
That thought had
crossed my mind.’

‘
I don’t know if she
knew about the... snuff... movies, but she used to hang out with a
man called Bill Holland, and I think he had something to do with
it.’

‘
Where did you get
that name?’ he asked. From the look on his face it meant nothing to
him.