Silent Fear (32 page)

Ella watched Trent Bligh go back inside, then Dennis got into the front seat and started the van.

He drove out of the car park to their pre-arranged meeting place in a quiet street in Sydenham, where Ella scrambled out of the van and into the passenger seat of Holly’s car.

‘I told you not to do anything dangerous,’ she said. ‘I told you –’

Holly cut in. ‘Did you pick up what he was saying on the phone? And you got some photos, right? And listen, that woman called Violet is definitely the one from the park.’

Ella’s heart skipped a beat. ‘I didn’t recognise her voice.’

‘It’s her,’ Holly said.

‘Did she know you?’

‘I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure. She was staring at me but she might’ve just been checking me out, seeing how appealing I’d be working there.’

‘Wait here.’ Ella jumped out and ran back to the van. ‘The female bystander’s back there. She’s the one Holly was talking to about the work.’

She couldn’t believe she hadn’t been able to recognise her voice.
I should’ve been kicking doors straightaway.

Dennis grabbed his radio and called Murray.

‘Nobody’s been in or out,’ Murray replied.

‘There’s a back door too,’ Ella said. ‘There has to be, for Bligh to get out without us seeing. Can he see that?’

‘I can see a car parked back there,’ Murray said.

‘There was more than one when I was out there,’ Holly said. She’d come up behind Ella. ‘I think there was another exit to the street there too.’

‘Drive over and look,’ Dennis told Murray.

‘Stand by.’

Ella motioned Holly to get in the van and said to Dennis, ‘Let’s go.’

The tech smiled at Holly. ‘Nice job.’

She smiled back and said nothing.

Murray called up as they got back onto Marrickville Road.

‘There is another exit from the car park here. I couldn’t see it from where I was.’

‘I bet they’ve gone,’ Ella said. If the bystander had even an inkling of who Holly really was, and Trent Bligh had mentioned their mysterious meeting out the back, they would’ve been suspicious enough to get out of there while they could. ‘I bet they’ve fucking gone.’

Holly described the layout while Dennis sped back to the scene. When they pulled up to the green door Murray was parked near the side of the building so he could see both front and back.

‘Nobody left while I was there,’ he said as he jogged to meet them.

‘Take the back,’ Dennis told him.

‘You stay here,’ Ella said to Holly and the tech, and slid the side door shut on them.

‘Ready,’ Murray said into his radio, and Ella took out her gun, opened the door and stepped inside with Dennis right on her heels.

A young woman in a white coat looked up from behind a counter. ‘Good evening.’

Ella held out her badge. ‘Where’s Trent Bligh?’

‘Who?’

Ella went past her and shoved open the door into the corridor Holly had described. Murray opened the door at the back and stood there while she and Dennis went into the rooms one by one, starting with the now-empty office where Holly had spoken with the bystander, then checking the other rooms. Each had a well-cushioned massage table, elaborately folded stacks of towels, bottles of baby oil, and pan-pipe music coming from speakers in the ceiling. There was nobody in any of them.

Ella looked out the back door and swore.

‘Where’s Trent Bligh?’ Dennis asked the receptionist.

‘I don’t know who that is.’ Her face was blank.

‘Where’s Violet?’ Ella said.

‘Sorry, but I don’t know who that is either,’ the girl said.

‘What about the other woman, who was working here and got hurt?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ the girl said. ‘Is this a workplace health and safety thing?’

Ella holstered her gun, and thought of the bystander’s tears at the scene.
One day I will get you.

TWENTY-NINE

E
lla drove Holly home after she’d showered at the Homicide office. At a red light Ella glanced over at her, hair still wet, dressed in the jeans and pink T-shirt she’d worn in before the operation. ‘That was some job you did there.’

Holly propped her head in her hand and looked out the window. ‘Do you guys debrief like that after everything?’

‘There’s always that kind of meeting,’ Ella said. ‘A rehash. Don’t you do the same?’

‘Not unless it’s major, like a train crash with multiple dead or something similar, and they only happen once in a blue moon.’ She breathed into her hand and inhaled. Ella could smell the toothpaste from the driver’s seat. ‘What were they saying about why would he use a mobile when before he’d used a public phone?’

Ella explained how Bligh’s conversation about Paul Fowler had been picked up by the Drug Squad. ‘I think he used it then because he knew he’d be speaking about the murder, and felt fine to use his mobile today because he feels secure and wasn’t mentioning it.’

Holly nodded. ‘I hate meetings. I couldn’t stand your job.’

‘I can only tolerate them because then I get to do the other fun stuff,’ Ella said. ‘Like throw shitbags in jail.’

‘You think you’ll be able to catch them?’

‘We have a much better chance now.’

They drove in silence for a while, then Ella said, ‘You still shouldn’t have done what you did though.’

‘I had to,’ Holly said.

‘No, you didn’t. You put yourself in so much danger. What if Trent Bligh hadn’t accepted your story about the radiator? What if he worked out that you really were eavesdropping?’

‘But he didn’t,’ Holly said.

‘But he could have.’ Ella looked over at her again. ‘Seeing you head off around the corner made me really angry and scared me half to death.’

‘Worried about the debrief you would’ve faced if I’d been hurt?’

Ella was stung by her tone. ‘It’s not about that.’

‘I had to do it.’ Holly faced her. ‘Look what Norris did, maybe with a gun at his head – left me a message saying he loved me and he was sorry. You think I didn’t owe him a simple walk around the corner looking for a tap?’

‘And if you died doing so you could’ve told him in person what that message meant to you.’ Ella regretted the words as soon as she’d said them. ‘I’m sorry.’

Holly’s jaw was tight, her eyes dry. ‘If I’d died doing so then I would’ve been a happy woman.’

They arrived at Holly’s place five minutes later, neither of them having spoken again. Ella turned into the driveway. All the lights were on.

Holly nodded at them. ‘Lacey’s staying for a bit.’

‘I’m really sorry for what I said,’ Ella said. ‘I didn’t mean it. I was just so frightened.’

‘I know,’ Holly said. ‘I had to do it anyway. I had to do whatever I could.’ She looked at her. ‘If you catch them, it makes it worth every second.’

The front door flew open and Lacey appeared wearing a pink apron over shorts and T-shirt and waving a spatula. ‘Just in time for a late dinner!’

‘You want to come in?’ Holly said.

Ella shook her head. ‘I’ve got some bad guys to chase.’

Holly looked at Lacey, posing in the doorway. She smiled but Ella could see her eyes were full of tears. ‘Let me know when you’ve got them.’

‘I will,’ Ella said.

*

Ella drove around the corner, then pulled over, sat for a moment, then called Dennis.

‘How’s it going?’ she said.

‘Didn’t I tell you to clock off?’

‘Just tell me.’

‘We’re watching the back and the front of Joylin’s, but the place looks closed and nobody’s been in or out,’ he said. ‘We have people sitting on the brothel in Tempe, ready for when Bligh and his mates come past, but so far all is quiet there too. We still have people on Trina and on Sutton. Nobody’s moving or talking.’

‘Going in to try to grab Bligh and the woman might’ve blown things,’ she said. ‘That receptionist was probably on the phone the second we left. If they were suspicious enough to take the injured woman and go out the back door, us busting in has probably made them shut down operations completely.’

‘While there was a chance the bystander and Bligh were there, we had to try it,’ he said.

‘I know. So Trina and Sutton still haven’t spoken to each other? At all?’

‘Nope.’

‘I can’t believe it,’ she said. ‘They spent all that time together in the first two days and then nothing?’ A thought struck her. ‘What if they’re using email?’

‘Hm,’ Dennis said. ‘I better call Telstra, see if they have ADSL.’

‘See if you can interrupt their service,’ Ella said. ‘Force them onto the phone. I’ll come in and help.’

‘You’ll go home,’ he said. ‘You’ve been on for hours.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘Listen to my voice. You know I mean it.’

She sighed. ‘Promise you’ll call if anything kicks off.’

‘Go. Home.’

She hung up and yawned, then turned the car for home.

*

The next morning she was in the building at seven. Dennis’s office was empty. Nightshift detectives stretched at their computers and the air already smelled of coffee.

‘What happened at the Tempe brothel?’ she asked.

‘Nothing,’ the detective said. ‘We sat on it all night and nobody showed. Place’s been shut down by the looks of it.’

‘How about at Joylin’s at Marrickville?’

‘Same. Closed.’

‘How about the phone intercept? Anything there?’

‘Not so far.’

Ella sat at her desk and tried to think it all through. Bligh had said the name Carl. He might have been referring to any Carl in Sydney, but given the phone conversation they’d caught him in where he alluded to the shooting, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was Carl Sutton. What had they heard him say via Holly’s transmitter? She checked her notebook.
I told Carl that was it, and he said it was done
. If Trent Bligh and Carl Sutton were in touch, and in a manner that seemed fairly amiable, why were Sutton’s friends getting killed?

Unless he didn’t really see them as his friends.

And in Fowler’s case, it might well suit Sutton to have him out of the way.

*

She found Dennis in his office shortly before eight. ‘We need to bring in Sutton and Trina.’

He sat back from his computer. ‘We need more evidence.’

‘What Holly overheard Bligh say about talking to Carl is evidence.’

‘He didn’t use a last name. Plus nothing happened last night at the Tempe place.’

‘Because they were all warned off by us rushing in there,’ she said. ‘We already know Bligh’s involved in the shooting because of the phone call.’

‘Which referred to a dog.’

She waved a hand. ‘If Sutton arranged for Fowler to be killed, he was then free to go after Trina.’

‘Weren’t they already together?’ Dennis said. ‘What would killing him do?’

‘Score Trina the life insurance money?’ She wanted to pace out of frustration. ‘Doesn’t this all look really obvious to you?’

‘It’s not about that.’ He rubbed his eyes. ‘We haul them in now, what evidence do we have? Fragments of overheard conversations, things we think refer to murders but can’t be completely sure, and then in the wider sphere a woman who did bad CPR which even the pathologist can’t say for sure was intended to kill. We have Trent Bligh on a recording and on tape but we have no idea who the shooter is.’ He placed his palms flat on the desk and looked up at her.

‘Then we’ll get the friends in,’ she said. ‘Roberts-Brice and Kelly. Drop some hints about the dwindling population among Sutton’s mates and see what they say.’

Even as she said it she knew it was a risk. If they didn’t talk, the detectives had nothing to hold them on, and once they were on the street again they’d probably call Sutton and then he’d be aware that he was the focus of their attention.

‘Let’s see what the day brings.’ Dennis smiled. ‘Particularly now that Telstra has very helpfully shut down Trina’s internet and email accounts.’

*

After the morning meeting Ella went upstairs to the telephone intercept room. Marion Pilsiger sat in the chair flipping through the newspaper.

‘Anything?’ Ella asked.

‘She called Telstra a while ago to complain about the internet and why she couldn’t email on her phone,’ Marion said. ‘They told her they’d look into it. She did not sound happy.’

‘That’s what I like to hear.’

Ella leaned against the windowsill and looked down at the street. She thought of Fowler’s parents, how they’d claimed that, rather than him leaving, Trina had kicked him out. She liked to think that if she could get Trina into an interview room she could apply the pressure and break her down, but she knew Trina’s ability to tell so many lies so convincingly meant she was tougher than she looked.
We need something to make her crack.

The phone on the desk rang. Marion grabbed it up. ‘Pilsiger.’ She listened, said, ‘Thanks,’ then hung up.

‘Surveillance called in to say Sam Roberts-Brice just knocked on Trina’s door. She hasn’t let him in. They’re talking but it doesn’t look entirely friendly.’ She folded the newspaper and pulled her chair close to the desk. ‘Let’s hope she calls someone to talk about it when he goes.’

Ella settled herself on the sill. They waited in silence for ten minutes, then Ella said, ‘Shit. What if she texts him?’

The computer dinged and numbers appeared on the screen.

‘This is it,’ Marion said. ‘She’s calling Sutton.’

Ella stood up.

‘I told you to email,’ Sutton said.

‘It’s not working,’ Trina said. ‘And I need to talk to you, and my arm makes it hurt to text long messages.’

‘It’s not safe.’

‘Sam was just here,’ Trina said, heat in her voice. ‘He’s angry and upset. He said you need to sort things out.’

‘Sweetheart, not on the phone –’

‘He said none of this was meant to happen and I should know that,’ she went on, as if he hadn’t spoken. ‘I asked him what that was supposed to mean and he said to ask you.’

‘It means nothing,’ Sutton said.

‘Did you have something to do with –’

‘Not on the fucking phone,’ he said. ‘How many times do I have to say it?’

Silence, then Ella heard sniffing.
He made her cry. Is this the crack we need?

‘Listen to me,’ he said, sounding as if he was trying hard to make his voice gentle. ‘Sam’s scared, I know that. And he’s right, none of this was supposed to happen. And I am going to sort it out.’

She still didn’t speak.

‘I’m going to sort it out today, all right? I’ll fix it all,’ he said. ‘Okay? Trine?’

‘Okay,’ she said, not sounding entirely convinced or happy.

‘And I’m sorry for snapping before, but we need to hang up now. Better safe than sorry.’

The call ended, and Ella and Marion looked at each other with glee.

*

Ella was halfway through telling Dennis about the call when her mobile rang. ‘Marconi.’

‘Mary here,’ came a quavery voice. ‘You said to call if I ever saw something? One of those young men is out on the field there, kneeling in the dirt and crying.’