Violent Exposure (5 page)

‘I didn’t do anything wrong, you know.’

Ella smiled at him. ‘Sit tight. We won’t be long.’

*

Mick waited in the ambulance on the street. Carly’s car was parked behind him and he wasn’t going to call Control until he got a chance to talk to her.

When the copper brought him back to the waiting room after giving his statement she’d been sitting there, and she’d jumped up and grabbed
his arm, saying, ‘Are you okay? You’re sure? You’re sure?’, but the next second the cop took her inside to do her own statement and Mick found himself alone.

The spring night was chilly but his anger made him hot. He stared out the windscreen fuming, ignoring the drunks who staggered past, until at last she appeared. He bumped the horn with his fist.

She climbed in the passenger seat. ‘What
kind of pipsqueak idiot arsehole have they got us working with?’

‘You should’ve seen him, bragging about it before we got called there,’ Mick said. ‘Holland almost ruptured a nut when I rang him.’

‘I bet.’

‘Shitty little bastard.’ Mick’s anger rose higher. ‘I can’t believe him.’

‘I can,’ Carly said. ‘Some days he does nothing but check out chicks.’

‘But to do this?’

‘Guys like him can’t
keep it in their pants,’ Carly said. ‘This is it, Micko. If this doesn’t get him sacked, nothing will.’

‘I guess.’

‘Start your next letter,’ she said. ‘No – go in and see them in Rozelle. They can’t have someone like this in the job. And if they sack him, they might put you on full-time to fill the hole in the roster.’

‘You think?’

‘Why not?’ she said. ‘What’d Jo say? No, wait – I bet you
still haven’t told her.’

‘We got busy.’

Carly went quiet. He knew she felt for him and that, despite their joking around, she understood what it meant to him and Jo.

‘I’d better let you get on home,’ he said.

‘I s’pose.’ She smiled at him. ‘So. How do I look?’

‘Another audition?’

‘Cat food ad. Tampon people said no.’

‘Shoo-in.’

She popped two thumbs up at him. ‘You’re a good man.’

*

Ella had just enough time before the briefing to phone the duty officer at the scene. He told her what else had been found and she jotted notes, then hung up and repeated the news to Dennis.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘I wonder if Bridges will magically remember that when we speak to him again.’

‘He’d better,’ she said.

In the briefing, they stood together at the top of the room just like the first
time she’d headed an investigation with him – the Lachlan Phillips kidnapping. She felt calmer this time around, the whole room felt calmer, but of course there was no shot cop on their minds now. She was pleased to still feel the thrill in her blood, the exhilaration of being on a case that mattered. It wasn’t like she wanted people to die; it was just that as it was always going to happen,
it was best it happened while she was on duty.

She glanced at her watch. It was almost 2 am. Detectives passed copies of the photo of Connor and Suzanne around the room and opened their notebooks. They looked alert and interested, excited even. She’d met them all before and worked with some, including two – Daniel Farley and Laurel Macy – who’d been on the Phillips case as well. Daniel was already
writing but Laurel smiled at her, and Ella thought how ironic it was that they were together again right at the time that Sophie Phillips was on trial.

‘Victim is Suzanne Crawford, aged thirty-one,’ Dennis said. He told the group about Stewart Bridges’ claims regarding finding her body and getting blood on his shoes. He described the scene, the position of the body, the bloodstains in and outside
the house, the broken ivy and pots, and the missing knife.

‘A red Honda hatch, rego SCI 667, is registered in Suzanne’s name,’ he said. ‘Her husband Connor Crawford doesn’t have a driver’s licence but both he and the car are missing. His DOB is eight eleven seventy. He’s described as being about a metre eighty-five, average build, with brown eyes and short brown hair as you can see in this photo.
What you can’t see there is a figure-eight-shaped birthmark on the left side of his neck just here.’ Dennis touched the spot Bridges had indicated on his own neck.

‘Police and ambos went to the house on the night before last for a possible domestic violence call. Records show no previous calls of that or any other kind, and no criminal record on either Suzanne or Connor, but one of the paramedics
who attended that case allegedly slept with Suzanne yesterday.’

Detectives glanced at each other.

‘He was part of the crew called to the homicide scene tonight as well,’ Dennis went on. ‘There’s no suspicion that he was involved in the attack – he was working, so has an alibi – but we have him in for interview.’ He looked at Ella.

‘Latest news is this,’ she said. ‘Stewart Bridges gave the first
officers on scene the names of two friends, Katie Notts and Peta Davies. Uniform talked to Katie Notts, who said her partner Davies is on her way back from overseas and she herself hadn’t seen or spoken to the Crawfords tonight. She gave the names of some more friends who are being checked out by uniform now.

‘Initial canvass of the closest neighbours turned up a report of a cry at about 2300.
The witness, one Margo Landsbury who lives across the street, heard nothing more, thought it was a cat and didn’t go to her window.’

Detectives scribbled as she spoke.

‘Another neighbour said he heard two men arguing in hushed voices about 2345,’ she said. ‘He did look out his window, and saw a dark sedan parked on the street and one man walking hurriedly away from it. Soon after that he saw
police and ambulance arrive. He said he didn’t come out straightaway to tell the officers because he both didn’t want to get involved and thought it was irrelevant. He has identified the car though as still being on scene. It’s the one Stewart Bridges was driving, so it seems that either Bridges’ claim that he was alone when he arrived at the Crawfords’ isn’t true, or he spoke to somebody passing
or leaving the scene.’

The detectives murmured.

‘Scene’s not complete yet and the body’s still in situ. That’s all we have so far,’ she finished.

‘So – tasking,’ Dennis said. ‘Catt, Ernest, Mitchell, Watkins, Kent, Glenroy, Collins and Hastings, you’re on canvass. Take some uniforms with you. Macy and Farley, speak to the uniforms who responded to the domestic violence call then start tracing
last-known whereabouts of both the Crawfords. Hepburn, you’re on the computer and media for now. Katzen and Murphy, get onto VKG and have them broadcast that rego. We need to know if the Crawfords’ car was seen tonight at all, if it could be in a garage somewhere getting repaired, if it was driven away after the murder. Find out if they had a toll pass, if it’s been through any toll points. Everyone
good? Call in if necessary, otherwise we’ll meet at seven.’

The detectives got moving, keen to start work.

Ella turned to Dennis. ‘Let me at this weasel.’

S
tewart Bridges was biting his fingernails when they walked into the room. ‘Are we done now? Can I go?’

‘Just a few more questions,’ Ella said. ‘Are you injured?’

‘Am I what?’

‘Injured,’ she said. ‘Any cuts, scrapes, wounds?’

He shook his head. ‘Why?’

‘Show us your arms and hands, please.’

He pulled up his sleeves and held out his hands.

‘Turn them over,’ Dennis said.

He did so.
His skin was smooth and unmarked.

Ella said, ‘Have you ever seen Connor Crawford lose his temper?’

‘No. Can I pull these down now?’

‘Go ahead. Did the Crawfords seem a happy couple?’

‘Happy enough.’

‘Ever see them argue? Fight?’

‘Not so much,’ he said. ‘Bickering, maybe.’

‘Over what?’

He shrugged. ‘Whether to have another glass of wine, who was driving home, that sort of thing.’

Ella
nodded. ‘Tell us about tonight.’

‘I already told you.’

‘Start earlier,’ Dennis said. ‘Where did you go?’

‘I was all over the place, in the Cross, at different pubs and clubs.’

‘Which ones?’

He screwed up his face. ‘Can’t remember the names. I could probably show you.’

‘Who were you with?’

‘I was alone.’

‘Didn’t talk to anyone?’

‘Nope.’

‘And then what?’

‘I told you. I drove to the Crawfords’,
saw the door was open, went in and turned on the lights, and found her.’

‘Who did you speak to on the street?’

‘What?’

‘Who did you speak to,’ Ella said, slowly, clearly, ‘on the street?’

‘Nobody.’

‘We have a witness who says otherwise.’

‘I don’t see how.’

‘They described you and your car.’

Bridges stared at them. ‘Oh.’

Ella could practically see the wheels turning in his head. ‘Coming
back to you now, is it?’

‘Yeah, a bit. I must’ve had a memory lapse thing from the trauma.’ He tore off a hangnail. ‘Yeah, there was a guy on the street. I walked into him on the footpath there. We had words about it then he kept going.’

‘What did he look like?’

‘Um, average height, about as tall as me maybe; clothes – hard to say, I guess jeans, dark shirt. Dark hair, I think. Kind of just
an average guy, I’d have to say. It happened so quick.’

‘What did he say exactly?’

‘Swore at me for being in his way. I swore back. I think he might have been drunk.’

‘And was this before or after you found Suzanne?’

He frowned. ‘Um, before, I think.’

‘You’re not sure?’

‘It’s hard to remember.’

‘But you said earlier that you stayed inside with Suzanne’s body until the police officer made
you leave.’

‘Yeah, yeah, I did,’ he said. ‘Yeah, that means it was definitely before.’

‘I’d have thought you’d remember that clearly,’ Ella said. ‘Either you were completely grief-stricken at the time or you weren’t.’

‘Yeah,’ Bridges said. ‘It must’ve been before I went into the house then.’

Dennis said, ‘Which way did this man go?’

‘Down the street, the way I’d come. South.’

‘What was his
name again?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Was it Connor?’

‘No!’

‘Who did you hang out with in the city?’ Ella said.

‘I told you, nobody.’

‘Which clubs and pubs were you in?’

‘Like I said, I can’t remember the names.’

Ella turned to Dennis. ‘They should all have security tapes. We’ll be able to see on there.’

‘Yep,’ Dennis said.

‘You might not,’ Bridges said.

‘I beg your pardon?’ Ella said.

‘The
quality on those things isn’t great, and it’s dark in the clubs. You need light for good images.’

‘That’s the voice of experience there,’ Dennis said to Ella.

‘I’m just saying,’ Bridges said.

Ella made a show of checking her watch. ‘Guess we’d better get your description of the man out there in case he’s the killer.’

‘So I can go?’

‘Wait just a bit longer,’ Dennis said. ‘In case we find some
CCTV of him for you to look at.’

Ella smiled. ‘We really need your help to find who killed your friend.’

He looked like he might get to his feet, then slumped back on the chair. ‘Any chance of a coffee?’

In the corridor Ella said, ‘I thought he might’ve walked by now. Or demanded a lawyer.’

‘Maybe he thinks he can throw us off by being all helpful.’ Dennis stretched. ‘If the guy he supposedly
bumped into was a stranger I reckon he would’ve told us upfront, maybe even said it could’ve been the killer.’

‘So why did he lie? Was it Connor and he’s protecting him?’

‘If we can find some CCTV or somebody else who saw the guy walking south, maybe we’ll be able to work out who it was,’ Dennis said.

Ella phoned the canvass team and passed on the description while Dennis told Detective Peter
Hepburn, who entered it into the system and called VKG. Then they met again outside the second interview room.

The trainee paramedic was sitting with his head resting on his folded arms when they walked in.

‘Aidan.’

He didn’t respond.

Ella looked at Dennis, then kicked the table leg hard.

He stirred then sat up and rubbed his eyes. ‘Sorry. I’m really tired.’

‘Yeah, all shagged out.’ She
took the chair opposite him and Dennis started the tape.

‘Done an interview like this before?’ she said.

He shook his head. ‘Start with your full name, date of birth, address and occupation.’

‘Aidan James Simpson,’ he said. ‘Twelfth of March, 1987. Unit 6 of 7 Westwood Street, Marrickville. I’m a paramedic.’

‘Trainee,’ Ella said.

‘Yes.’

‘Tell us how you met Suzanne Crawford.’

‘We were called
–’

‘Who’s we?’

‘Carly Martens, my other training officer, and I.’

‘Okay.’

‘We were called to the Crawfords’ house for a domestic argument the night before last, just after six,’ he said. ‘Suzanne opened the door and said they didn’t need help, but we could see her ear was bleeding and we said now that we were there we may as well have a look. I was the treating officer so it was my job to
look after Suzanne while Carly talked to the husband. The light in the kitchen wasn’t very good so Suzanne and I went into the bathroom so I could see her ear properly. While I was cleaning her ear to see how bad the cut was, she put her hands on my hips.’

Ella frowned. ‘How do you mean?’

‘She was sitting on the edge of the bath with her head to one side so I could see, and I was standing in
front of her, and she just reached up.’

Hmm.
‘Go on,’ she said.

‘I tried to move back but she held on. She said I had a nice body.’ He almost smiled.

‘Really.’

‘Yes. And then she asked for my phone number, and if she could ring me sometime.’

‘And did you give it to her?’

‘Yes, but I thought she was kidding. I mean, I told her, but she didn’t write it down or anything. Then we heard Carly
coming and we both pretended nothing had happened.’