The Grotesques (9 page)

“Hey,” he said, seemingly noticing Ella for the first time. “Don’t ya write for the
Informer
?”

Ella rolled her eyes.

“She’s here as a friend, just offering moral support,” Adam supplied.

“You wanna quote or sometin’, for the paper?” he said, ignoring Adam. Eagerness had cleared his face of sleep.

“Perfect,” Ella jumped in.

“Sure. Do I get my photo published, too?”

Ella sighed. “You understand my editor has final say on the article. I can’t guarantee that everything you tell us will make it into print.”

“No worries. This is so cool, me quoted in the
Informer
. Wait till I tell me mates. But how come you’re here?”

“Sorry?” Confused, Ella extended her neck a little.

“Yeah. I mean you don’t write no good stuff, only celebrity gossip, no aliens or monsters or nothin’. Them other reporters do the big stuff.”

“Right,” Ella said, taken aback. “Well, I’m writing quality goods now. I’m possibly even going to include vampire bats.”

“Fair dinkum!”

It was Adam’s turn to roll his eyes. He clapped a hand over his forehead and eyes and shook his head before rubbing his hand down his face and dropping it to his side.

“And you needed me because?” he whispered to her.

She thrust the DVD at him, making sure she hit him in the process. Matt flopped onto the bean bag. Following suit, she and Adam sat on the sofa.

“I’d really appreciate your honest account of the night Bekka disappeared,” she continued, retrieving a paper and DVD wedged between the seat and back of the couch. Matt plucked the folded paper from her hands, stuffed it into the cabinet, and clicked the door shut. She sat the DVD in her lap and eyed the compartment, in part to avoid looking at the horrific face on the cover but mostly because when someone was dead keen to stash an item her suspicions rose.

“I already told the police I left ’er at the shopping centre. Ain’t no more to tell.”

“You understand I can only print new information. the
Informer
can’t go copying what’s already stated in the
Nationwide Daily
.”

“But the murderer, the police ain’t caught him yet, ’ave they?” He was looking between them, his mouth slightly open, bloodshot eyes wide.

Ella attempted to soothe him. “Not yet, but my article’s only going to run after they do, the complete story so to speak. You could provide the vital clue that identifies him. the
Informer
would hail you as a hero.”

“Laying it on a bit thick,” Adam muttered so only she would hear.

“Um. Don’t really know what I can tell you.” Matt scratched behind his ear.

The truth for a start
, Ella thought. His nervous scratching had moved to his head. In Ella’s experience, nerves indicated a person was hiding something. “Were you close?”

“We were tight. I wasn’t about to marry her or nothin’, but she was a good chick.”

“I’m sure she was,” Ella said dryly, noticing there wasn’t a single article of hers in the room.

“We’re very sorry for your loss,” Adam said.

“Yeah. Me too, ’bout your cousin.”

“Well,” said Ella, rising, the video still in her hand. “If you can’t add anything, we’ll be on our way to Alicia Moffat’s family.”

“You mean you ain’t gonna quote me?”

“Have you got new information, Matt? We’re clear she was a great girlfriend. We know you’re devastated by her loss.”

“Yeah. Sit down, yeah, maybe. I mean, you ain’t goin’ to the police with this or nothin’?”

“You have my word,” Ella said, dropping back onto the sofa. “The police don’t hear of this until after the murderer is caught.”

“Yeah, it’s just, well, we had a fight that night.”

“What about?”

“She, Bekka, she wanted to buy these shoes. Ninety bucks they cost. I told her they were too expensive. Then she made a big fuss coz I’d bought this new DVD,
Alien Menace
. The chick didn’t understand it was only thirty bucks.”

At a quick glance, Ella estimated several hundred dollars worth of movies to be lying around the room. “So what happened?”

“She stormed off.”

“You mean she didn’t go into the shopping centre.”

“Nah. She went across the car park and crossed the road.”

“Toward the church?”

“The Old Port Canal Park.”

Right
, Ella thought, establishing the connection. The church was at the other end of that reserve, just across a street with the curious name of The Minories. “You just let her go?” Adam placed a hand on her tense wrist.

“It ain’t far from here. I was mad, hey, and I really wanted to watch
Alien Menace.
”

“Why didn’t you tell the police about this?” Ella asked.

“’Cause they’d think I did it. You know, us fighting and me being the boyfriend. They always pin it on the boyfriend.”

“I quite understand,” Ella said, wanting to hit the good-for-nothing jackass. “You’ve been a tremendous help. I’ll make sure you get a good write-up, but remember it may not be for a while yet.”

“Sweet. You ever watched it?” He waved at the video in her lap.

“Eh . . . No.”

“You can have that. It could help you find some aliens, help you know what to look for, ay, give you a break with the paper.”

Ella gave a couple of long slow nods. “Thank you,” she said, trying to sound sincere.

Beside her, Adam covered his mouth and pretended to cough to cover his laugh.

UNFORTUNATELY, ALICIA MOFFAT’S
best friend, Jane Browning, was less forthcoming. Her pain manifested itself as open hostility toward Ella. Immediately recognising her, Jane slammed the door in their faces and refused to answer their second ring.

“Jane, I’m Cecily Williams’ cousin,” Adam called, giving Ella a defeated look. In the face of grieving friends and relatives, his own pain seemed to have intensified. The spark she had seen when he laughed at Matt had died. “I’ve talked to the other missing girls’ families, and I think I’ve found a connection.” He winced at his lie. Ella nodded encouragement. “I’d like you to confirm something.”

The door opened just enough to accommodate Jane’s body between it and the jamb. “Yeah, well Alicia’s not missing, she’s dead.” She threw her angular chin up. She was slim but definitely not frail and seemed to be bearing up well.

“I’ve reason to believe the murders and disappearances are related,” Ella said.

Jane thrust her jaw to the side, considering. “What did you bring her for?”

“Reassurance.”

She scoffed.

“Girls are dying. You don’t want to entertain a stranger alone no matter who he says he is.”

Her eyes widened slightly. She drew herself taller, oozing false confidence. “I’ve already talked to the police.”

“Ella is a personal friend. Despite what you might have heard, she has a lot of integrity.”

“How do I know anything I say won’t end up in the
Informer
?”

“You have my word,” Ella said, “and you can sue for slander if it does.”

Jane opened the door. The place was messy but not unclean. From the variety of objects scattered around, Ella guessed Jane was sharing with other female students. Her eye landed on a French textbook sitting on a chair over which a pink cardigan hung.

“Are you studying the language?”

“No. Biology.” She crossed her arms to reinforce her reticence.

Ella spied a physiology book next to a compact on the worn floral couch. While Adam took that opening to break the ice, she wandered to the laminate shelving at the back of the room. Apart from books and cheap knickknacks, several photographs adorned the shelves, most of a group of girls. Recognising Alicia in one, she picked it up. Chubby and plain, Alicia did not smile enough to part her lips.

“Is this the most recent photo you have of Alicia?”

“No.” Jane came over, took the photo from her, and replaced it on the shelf.

Adam removed a photo from his wallet and showed it to her. “Cecily,” he said. “I used it to ask around the neighbourhood. I covered far more area than the police did.”

Ella felt a wave of sympathy. Adam had not mentioned he’d done that. His honesty struck a chord with Jane, who picked up another photo.

“This is Alicia about a week before she disappeared.”

The difference was remarkable. Where the girl had seemed self-conscious in the first, in this photo she oozed life. Only one thing could change a girl so quickly. “Her boyfriend must have been special, to bring her out of her shell that way,” Ella said.

Jane abruptly set the photo down.

Adam moved his head until he caught her eye. “Please. I really am doing my best to find out what happened.”

Jane sighed. “She wouldn’t admit it. Alicia never felt good enough, with her weight and looks, but I’m sure she was seeing someone. She had that look about her, you know? She even asked Marie to teach her ‘I love you’ in French.”

“Do you have any idea who it was?”

“No. Alicia always gave news in her own time. I think she was afraid it wouldn’t last. But she changed after she started going to service at the Church of the Resurrection. I think she met him there.”

“Did you tell the police?”

“Sure, though her mother insists she would’ve known if Alicia was seeing someone.” She shrugged. “Maybe she’s right. Apparently, there weren’t any unaccounted calls to Alicia’s mobile.” As Jane’s confidence wavered, so did her voice.

“But there are other ways to communicate,” Ella prompted.

The young woman moved her jaw again. She made a decision to speak. “You say you’re studying bats?” she said to Adam. He nodded. “Can they be trained to deliver messages, like pigeons do?”

The question caught him by surprise. “I’ve never heard of it.”

Ella could tell by the way he frowned that he thought it impossible. She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

Jane spoke to the photo. “The night Alicia disappeared, Marie said goodbye and closed the door while I was on the phone. I hung up a few seconds later and didn’t think Alicia had driven off yet, so I opened it again to wave goodbye.” She shifted her gaze to Adam. “A note drifted onto her head as she was about to get in the car. I saw her smile as she read it, but she stuffed it into her pocket and hurried to leave as soon as she saw me.”

“And the bat?”

“I think it was fluttering around the sensor light. I mean, it was too big to be a moth and it didn’t quite look like a bird. I told the police about the note. I even said it seemed to drop from the air. They checked the roof but,” she gave a light shrug, “there was nothing there.”

The girl’s reluctance was a giveaway that she was holding back. “You have an idea, though,” Ella prompted.

Jane looked horror-stricken until Adam told her even the most bizarre story might help with his research. “I thought I saw the bat turn into the letter.” She gave a tentative laugh. “Not possible, right? Just the shadows in the night.”

Ella sure hoped it was not possible. They thanked Jane and walked down the drive. She mulled over the information she had uncovered. One detail was bothering her. She was about to ask Adam a question when a form whizzed past her face and caught in her hair. She twirled, biting off a strangled cry as it fluttered, tugging at strands until it plucked a few from her scalp. Although she had finished turning, the street and house had not. A whirlwind tossed her perspective into a revolving bird’s eye view of Adam gently taking her arms. Then the suburban scene faded and she was dumped near a river where two boys in rough spun clothes tussled as they waited for a fishing boat to bump the muddy shore.

She staggered sideways, disoriented.

“Are you all right?” Adam’s blue eyes were all concern as she took a couple of deep breaths to steady herself. “It looked like you were having a panic attack.”

She had suffered from panic attacks after her humiliation in court. Thinking the whole of Adelaide was looking at you every time you emerged from your house tended to rattle the nerves. This had been nothing like those. The scene played out before her eyes had been too vivid, too encompassing. She reminded herself it was past one and she’d had nothing to eat today. She was willing to put the episode down to low blood sugar. She certainly felt like she needed some chocolate.

“What was that?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

“A bat. A bent-wing, I think. It’s okay, it’s harmless.”

“What’s it doing out at this time of day?” It sounded like she was blaming him, but her irritation covered her jitters.

“I have no idea. Maybe it thought there was a moth in your hair.” He smiled. “You know, you really should consider yourself lucky. Two close encounters with bats in one lifetime. That’s almost as many as your friendly expert here has had.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Ella forced herself to walk. Adam kept close. She resented her overreaction. A touch embarrassed, she thought it best to change the subject and remembered she had been going to ask a question. “Adam, when you said you thought the church was involved, what did you mean?”