Silent Fear (18 page)

FOURTEEN

C
alls to Davis Henreid’s mobile phone went straight to voicemail. Ella left a message asking him to ring her urgently and hung up.

Murray closed his phone too. ‘He’s not appeared back at the shop and they don’t know where else he might be.’

‘Phone Dennis,’ Ella said. ‘I’ll see if the neighbours are home.’

She went down the path to the street, up the next identical path and knocked on the navy blue door. The woman who opened it was in her mid-fifties. She had dark hair with grey roots and looked at Ella through round glasses. ‘Yes?’

‘Detective Ella Marconi, New South Wales Police.’ Ella held up her badge. ‘May I speak with you for a moment, please?’

Behind the woman a man came out of a doorway with a newspaper in his hand. The woman turned. ‘It’s the police.’

‘Has something happened?’

‘I need to ask you a few questions about your neighbour, Davis Henreid,’ Ella said.

‘We’ll help if we can,’ the woman said. ‘Would you like to come in?’

‘Here’s fine. It won’t take too long.’ Ella opened her notebook. ‘Can I start with your names?’

‘Bill and Lydia Maggiotto,’ the man said.

Ella wrote that down. She could hear Murray on Henreid’s verandah still talking to Dennis. ‘When did you last see Mr Henreid?’

‘This morning as we were leaving for church,’ Lydia said. ‘About twenty-five to nine. He was coming out his door as we were getting in the car.’

‘Did you speak to him?’

‘I said hello and he said hello back,’ Bill said.

‘How did he seem?’

‘All right, as far as I could tell,’ Bill said. ‘He’s not the most cheerful soul around.’

‘What did he do?’ Ella asked.

‘Got into his car.’

‘The Camry?’

Lydia nodded. ‘Bill turned our car around and as we came back Davis was pulling out.’

‘Does he usually head out at that time on a Sunday?’

‘Sometimes,’ Lydia said. ‘Heads off to work.’

‘That’s the only place he ever goes, it seems like,’ Bill said.

‘Why do you say that?’ Ella asked as Murray came up the path behind her.

‘That shop is his life,’ Lydia said. ‘He lived here when we moved in two years ago, and we’ve invited him over for drinks a few times but he only actually turned up once, and his shop was all he’d talk about.’

‘It’s the same thing if I say hello when I’m fiddling about in there.’ Bill pointed to their garden between the verandah and the front fence. ‘I’ve tried chatting about the weather, the roses, that sort of thing, but he always brings it back to how well the shop is doing.’

Ella nodded. ‘Does he have any family?’

They looked at each other. ‘He has a sort of girlfriend,’ Lydia said. ‘This woman turns up now and again of a weekend. Hard-faced woman, never smiles. I said hello once and she cut me dead.’

‘I’ve been in the garden there when she arrived and could tell she was pretending not to see me,’ Bill said.

‘Any idea of her name?’ Murray asked.

‘Sorry.’

‘Can you give us a description?’

‘She’s about forty,’ Bill said. ‘Blonde hair, shoulder-length. Hard face, as Lydia said. A great deal of make-up.’

‘Did you ever see the two of them together?’ Ella said.

They shook their heads.

‘How about yesterday?’ Ella said. ‘Did you see Davis at all?’

‘I think he was at the shop all day,’ Bill said. ‘I heard his car go in the morning and saw him get home about six.’

‘How did he seem?’

‘His usual jolly self.’

Lydia said, ‘Is he okay?’

‘Did you see anyone else around his house this morning?’ Ella said.

‘No, but we only got home from church fifteen minutes ago,’ Bill said.

‘He had a visitor last night though,’ Lydia said. ‘He argued with someone at about ten. I was getting ready for bed and the windows were open and the sound came straight in.’

‘Male or female?’ Ella asked.

‘Male,’ Bill said. ‘It went on for about ten minutes, slowly getting louder, then the front door slammed. I looked out the window and saw a young man run down the path and across the street and get into one of those new Minis.’

‘How young?’ Murray said.

‘Hard to say,’ Bill said. ‘Late teens? Early twenties?’

‘Tall, short, skinny, fat?’ Murray said.

Bill made a face. ‘Best I could say is average, sorry.’

‘Clothes?’

‘T-shirt and shorts, both dark.’

‘Could you see what colour the car was?’

‘Red. I could see that from the streetlight.’

‘Have you seen that car around before?’ Ella asked.

‘Not that I’ve noticed,’ Bill said.

‘How much of the conversation could you hear?’

‘Not much,’ Lydia said. ‘I did catch something about money at one point, a sentence along the lines of “It’s always about money”.’

‘Could you tell which one said that?’ Ella asked.

‘I think it was Davis but I couldn’t be sure,’ Lydia said.

‘Do you often hear arguments from his place?’

‘Never,’ Bill said, ‘which is why we noticed last night.’

Ella checked her watch. It was ten to eleven and they had to get going to the morgue. She glanced at Murray, then at the street where a marked police car was pulling up.

‘Dennis is sending people from the team too,’ Murray murmured.

She looked at the Maggiottos. ‘We have to go, but some other police might come and speak to you in a little while.’

‘Is Davis all right?’ Lydia asked again.

‘We don’t really know,’ Ella said.

*

Kyle stayed outside until the backup crew arrived, then was all business when they came in and rolled Tony Cook onto the carry sheet, even taking care to keep the oxygen mask on and protect the IV cannula Holly’d inserted while she was waiting.

One of the second crew was Joel Holden, a skilled paramedic famous in the job for the high-profile rescues he’d been involved in and who often crewed the helicopter. Holly had worked with him years ago at Mascot. She packed up the gear and listened as Kyle summarised the case to him.

‘I was wondering, Joel, what would you do?’ Kylie finished.

‘Exactly what Holly’s done,’ Joel said.

Kyle nodded. ‘Sure, good. That’s what I thought.’

They carried Tony out into the lounge and placed him on the lowered stretcher, and Joel rolled his eyes at Holly over Kyle’s head. She made a looping gesture by her temple and was almost caught when Kyle turned to say, ‘We’ll lift on your say-so, Holly, okay?’

Oh, the two-facedness
.

They raised the stretcher to its full height. Krista laid Tony’s clothes and wallet on the pillow by his head and touched his hair gently. Kyle was silent. Joel said thanks to her, then wheeled the stretcher out of the building. They loaded Tony into the ambulance, then Joel and his colleague stepped back as Holly scrambled in.

‘You want a hand en route?’ Joel said.

‘Nah, it’s fine. Thanks for your help.’

He checked that Kyle had gone back inside to collect the kits and said, ‘Good luck.’

‘He needs it more than I do.’

They grinned at each other, then he slapped the door with his hand as Kyle came back. ‘Catch you around, okay?’

They took Tony to Auburn Hospital. He’d woken up a little by the time they arrived, and mumbled at the doctor when she shook his shoulder and loudly asked his name. Holly completed the paperwork and headed back outside, thinking that if Kyle hadn’t finished cleaning and restocking she’d find a quiet corner and update Lacey, but there he was, locking the stretcher into position in the back of the ambulance.

She went to walk past him to the passenger door but he said, ‘You get tested after your do-gooder act yesterday?’

‘This is your business how?’

‘It’s not scary – just a needle, just a blood test,’ he went on, as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘But I’m sure you know that, right?’

‘Having worked in pathology, yes, I do.’

‘Yes, exactly.’ That smile again. ‘That’s what I’m saying. Exactly that.’

She stared at him, his flat grey eyes, his big pointy teeth. She couldn’t let him see that he was getting under her skin, that he was making her worry.

She shook her head. ‘Not scary at all. Oh – unless it was going to be you taking the blood.’ She folded her arms. ‘Wow, I can feel my veins constricting at the mere thought.’

The muscle popped on the side of his jaw again. ‘Which hospital in Melbourne did you work at again?’

‘A number,’ she said, her skin prickling. ‘I’m going to call Control, tell him we’re clear. I hope you’re all done.’

‘Which one mostly?’

‘Which what?’

‘Hospital, of course.’

‘Jesus, what d’you want, a list?’ She could feel sweat popping out on the small of her back.

‘Which one?’

‘How is this relevant to anything?’

‘I’m curious,’ he said. ‘I’m making conversation. And I’m wondering why you don’t want to tell me.’

‘It was years ago so what’s it matter?’

His eyes flicked to her wrist, where the infinity symbol was still safely hidden by the white pad of the waterproof dressing. ‘Did you suffer the dermatitis when you worked there too?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It’s a chronic problem. Now I’m going to the bathroom, and when I get back I’m telling Control that we’re clear whether you’ve finished cleaning up the back or not.’

In a corner of the empty staff women’s bathroom she called Lacey. ‘This is not good.’

‘Explain,’ Lacey said.

Holly told her about covering up the infinity symbol, about the case and Kyle’s behaviour. ‘I’m thinking he still doesn’t know, or isn’t sure at least, because wouldn’t he come straight out and say something?’

‘Or he’s frightened of you,’ Lacey said. ‘I am.’

‘I’m serious. He’s not frightened. If he was, he wouldn’t be acting like he is, almost mocking.’

‘P’raps he’s testing you, seeing if you’ll crack. If he doesn’t know for sure then he has to do it this way.’

Holly glanced at herself in the mirror. She looked pale and unnerved. ‘I feel like I should’ve just given him the name. Maybe not telling him told him what he needed to know.’

‘Maybe,’ Lacey said. ‘Where did you say he worked?’

‘The Alfred, but that was years ago. He could’ve been anywhere since then.’

‘Meh,’ Lacey said. ‘Even with the fake reference, if you tell him Royal Melbourne and it turns out he did later work there too, how can he prove you really didn’t?’

‘But if he somehow could, I’m screwed and so is Lissa.’ Holly’s heart was racing. ‘It’d all come out, I’d get the sack, Norris would know –’

‘But honey, none of that’s happened. And don’t forget you still hold the romance-with-deadies thing over him.’

‘But if he can prove I lied on my application, who the fuck’s going to believe me when I say that?’

‘Sweetie,’ Lacey said, ‘it’ll be okay.’

Holly felt sick. ‘I better go.’

The longer she avoided him, the more attention she felt she was drawing to herself.
As if that’s even remotely possible.

‘Keep calm and carry on,’ Lacey said.

Outside, Kyle was waiting at the back of the ambulance. ‘Toileting issues?’

She went straight to the passenger side without answering and got in. Kyle took his time walking around to the driver’s door and she watched him in the mirror. She found she was holding her breath as he climbed behind the wheel. He looked at her with a smile on his face, and the snake around her heart squeezed a little tighter.

Do it anyway.

‘Royal Melbourne,’ she said.

‘Sorry?’

‘I spent most of my time in pathology working in Royal Melbourne.’

‘Oh, I know,’ he said. ‘Roberto told me yesterday.’

She stared at him.

‘Funny old world,’ he said. ‘Or should I say small world? I worked there too.’

Holly couldn’t breathe.

He grinned. ‘Aren’t you going to call Control?’

*

The aircon in Glebe morgue was icy cold after the heat outside and Ella broke out in goose bumps. They’d left two uniformed officers at Davis Henreid’s house to wait for Crime Scene and a couple of detectives that Dennis was sending over to canvass more of the neighbours to see if they could get a numberplate for the red Mini or a better description of the young man who’d argued with Henreid. Ella knew it wasn’t certain that the damage to his home and his disappearance were linked to Paul Fowler’s death, but she felt the tingle in her spine that meant things were hotting up.

Paul Fowler waited for them on the stainless-steel table. Ella breathed in the cold meat and disinfectant smell and thought about little Darcy, and about how you could be enjoying mucking about in a park on a summer’s day when someone ended everything for you, and about justice.

‘ID?’ the doctor said, tools at the ready, gloves and protective gown and shield in place.

‘Paul David Fowler,’ Ella said, ‘identified to us by both a friend, Seth Garland, and Fowler’s ex-wife, Trina.’

‘Ah.’ The doctor smiled wryly into his trimmed beard. ‘She of the tough right hand.’

‘Not so tough,’ Ella said. ‘She fractured something.’

The doctor motioned to X-rays of Fowler’s head clipped to light boxes on the wall. ‘Well, she caused none to him.’

Ella could see the projectile, which had broken into misshapen white lumps scattered throughout Fowler’s head, and the hole it made when it went in, right down low at the back of his skull.

The doctor stood behind her. ‘Small entry like that but no exit, fragmentation to this degree – I’m no expert but I’ve seen this type of thing before. The gun was likely a .22 magnum, using subsonic ammo.’

It made sense, Ella thought. That type could be fitted with a silencer and was effective over a range of a couple of hundred metres, which matched the theory that the shooter may have been in the trees next to the park.

‘Did anything else show up?’ she asked.

‘Because of the bystanders? They caused no damage that showed up on the X-ray, but we’ll find out more once we get inside.’

They faced the body, pale and still and naked on the cold steel table, the motionless chest waiting for the knife.

*

‘Ah,’ the doctor said some time later.