Times of Trouble (19 page)

The memory of the
last fight I had with Sophie suddenly flooded into my mind. I’d
avoided thinking about it, because of the feeling of guilt that
came with it. Mum and I had been fighting with her so much, we
hardly ever saw her. She had dropped out of university at the
beginning of her second year, and was working in a bar. She said
she felt a drama degree wasn't going to help her get acting work; I
remember mum asking her how bar work was going to contribute. She
moved out as soon as she finished school, living with four friends,
and hardly ever coming home to visit. She dropped in occasionally,
usually when she needed something. Like to borrow money off
mum.

I remembered that
this particular time, she came in to do her washing. I was
particularly annoyed with her because she hadn't bothered to come
to my latest concert; it had been a really important night for me.
I was doing some washing, so she asked me to do hers as well. I
said I would, to avoid a fight. But I was really pissed off because
she had literally three loads of washing in a huge suitcase. I
angrily shoved the first load in the machine, checking pockets for
tissues. But instead of tissues, I found something in her jeans
pocket that made me angrier than ever before with her. It was a
tiny zip lock bag, with what I assumed was dope in it. The smell
was unfamiliar, but pungent enough to make me fairly sure I was
right. I didn't hide what I’d found. I took it straight to mum, and
told her what I thought it was. What a self righteous little goody
two-shoes I was! Mum was furious. She went over to Sophie's house,
and yelled at her in front of her friends. The next day, Sophie
woke me up by barging into my room, screaming that I was a little
snitch. She looked like she wanted to strangle me.

The next time we saw
her, she announced she was moving to London, having booked her
flight with the entirety of her life’s savings. Mum and I dropped
her at the airport, and we managed to be quite civil with each
other. Sophie was too excited to leave us angry. And when we got
the post card, with the loving message from her, it made us feel
like the fighting was forgotten. But I always thought that was the
final straw for our relationship, when I dobbed on her to mum. If
I’d known she would disappear from my life as a result of it, I
would neve
r have said a
thing. The article about Danny's murder had said that drugs were
found in the apartment. Had Sophie graduated from marijuana to
cocaine? I desperately hoped not.

The traffic became
clearer as we got further from the bridge, and eventually Liam said
he thought we were only a few minutes from Dee Why. As we drove up
the main road along the coast, I noticed there were literally
hundreds of different apartment buildings on every street coming
off the main road. Was it possible Sophie was living in a flat? And
if so, how on earth would we work out which one? An address would
really help...

‘
Can you look out
your side for something that could be a medical centre? I thought
it would be obvious, but this place is bigger than I thought,’ Liam
conceded.

Maybe I should have
asked Kylie for a street number. I lurched forward suddenly as Liam
screeched on the brakes.

‘
There it is! We just
went past it!’

I looked behind us,
and saw the distinctive blue cross on the sign above a big white
building. Liam parked on the road, and we both jumped out, almost
running towards the front doors. As we entered the waiting room,
forty eyes turned and stared at us, trying to see what the
emergency was. But as they all registered that we looked completely
healthy, they went back to their magazines. Liam got to the desk
first, and before he could say anything, the woman sitting behind
it said: ‘Are you the people looking for their sister?’

God bless Kylie! She
had called as she promised.

‘
Yes,’ we both said
in unison.

‘
Did she leave an
address?’ Liam wasted no time asking the question.

The nurse was already
rifling through a pile of paperwork as she explained: ‘When Kylie
called, I had a look through the new patient forms. I remember your
sister. She was very worried about her baby. What a gorgeous child
he is, such beautiful coloured skin. But there was something else
as well. She just seemed really on edge...’

‘
Yeah, she would be.’
I didn’t offer any other explanation. It had to be
Sophie.

‘
I remember
approximately what time she was here. I was about to finish. So
this must be her... is her name Grace Patterson?’

Liam and I both
looked at each other, and shook our heads. Why would she use that
name? Unless it was totally randomly made up. Before we could
answer, a man who must have been a doctor came through a door from
behind the reception area, and asked the nurse for a patient’s
file. As the nurse went to the filing cabinet, I picked up the
sheet that she had been looking at.

‘
I think it’s her
handwriting,’ I said.

Liam looked at me
with eyebrows raised, as if to ask whether I would remember her
handwriting after all this time. Why wouldn’t I? Hand writing
doesn’t change that much. But then I saw the address section filled
in, and knew it was definitely Sophie. Back to her old Beatles
code, she had written 15 Jude St, Peppers Hill, NSW. Didn’t anyone
notice that this suburb doesn’t exist? Liam noticed...

‘
Peppers Hill, is
there such place? Doubt it...’

‘
No, it’s her Beatles
code again. That’s a fake address...Hey Jude and Sergeant
Pepper.’

The nurse could see
the disappointment on our faces.

‘
Did she put a fake
address? I haven’t entered these in the computer yet. I probably
would have noticed once I did...’

‘
Back to the drawing
board,’ I said, feeling like a deflated balloon.

Liam wasn’t ready to
let the wind go out of his sails yet. ‘Do you keep a file, even if
the information isn’t put in the computer?’ he asked. ‘Would there
be a record of her appointment with a doctor?’

The nurse didn’t say
anything, but she kept her head still, and directed her eyes at the
doctor, who was flicking through the file she had given him. Then
she put her finger to her lips, and we both understood. She wasn’t
allowed to show us someone’s file, as medical records were private.
Of course they were. We should have thought of that. None of us
said anything as we stood and watched the doctor reading. After
what seemed like minutes, he finally put the file back in the
cabinet, and left through the door he had come in by.

The nurse seemed to
exhale as he disappeared, and then said conspiratorially, in as
quiet a voice as could be heard: ‘I can’t show you the file, but I
can look at it for you. Just don’t ever tell anyone.
Ok?’

We nodded, again in
unison. She opened the file on her lap, and quickly looked through
it. She then grabbed a post-it note from the desk, and scribbled
some words on it. Closing the file, she didn’t look up from her
desk as she handed the note to me. It said: ‘Referral: Dr Cheng,
Paediatrics Department, Royal North Shore Hospital’. Charlie was
sent to a specialist! Hooray! Another lead! I was sure Sophie would
have kept the specialist’s appointment. If Charlie was that sick
she would have done what the doctor advised. Liam and I smiled at
the nurse, hoping she understood our gratitude, knowing words might
get her in trouble.

We raced back to the
car, and Liam asked me to look up the hospital in the street
directory. It was back where we’d just been, not far from the
harbour. Liam’s foot hit the accelerator hard as I told him where
to go. Was it possible we were actually getting somewhere? I wanted
to believe we were. I didn’t have to ask how Liam felt. His look of
determination told me he wanted to believe this too.

Chapter 17

As Vince swam closer
in to the shoreline, he could see Melissa standing on the deck. She
looked like she was waving his phone. Did she want him to speak to
someone? Why didn’t she bring it down onto the beach for him? There
was plenty of coverage. He clenched his fists in anger, assuming
she was too lazy to cross the sand dunes, or that she would say the
dinner was going to burn, or offer some other equally pathetic
excuse. She knew his evening swim was his favourite time to have a
break, to get away from the laptop and the phone. What could be so
important that it needed his attention now? It better be an
emergency, or there would be hell to pay. Even good news wouldn’t
be worth the interruption. He grabbed his towel and moved slowly
towards the house, his steps sinking heavily into the soft sand,
making his calves strain under his huge frame.

She still had the
phone in her hand as he stepped onto the deck. She looked
frightened as he glared at her, snatching the mobile from
her.

‘
What is it?’ he
asked as she flinched, stepping away from his mood.

‘
I was going to bring
it down onto the beach, but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to talk to
him down there. It’s Jared. He said he needs to speak to you
urgently.’ She stepped back inside, eager to avoid his
irritation.

He put the phone to
his ear. ‘What is it Jared? I was having a swim.’

‘
Sorry, but you need
to hear this. I’ve got some good news and some bad. I’ll start with
the bad’. Jared knew how to communicate with his boss. Quickly and
concisely. Without opinion, without assumptions. Just the bare
facts, then wait for instructions. Vince grunted, waiting for him
to go ahead.

‘
The bad news is that
our little accountant friend has been talking to the cops. We got a
tip off that he’s been arrested.’

‘
What
for?’

‘
God knows, but the
cops are definitely interested in him.’

This was bad news.
Extremely bad news. It had obviously been a mistake not to get rid
of
him. He didn’t know much,
but anything he did know was too much. The boys had got some of the
information they needed from him, but had left him alive in case he
came up with anything else. The last thing they needed was police
sniffing around. Even so, there was no way to link anything the
accountant knew with any of his activities.

‘
And the good
news?’

Jared was keen to
start talking again. ‘Our men in Sydney believe they have sighted
Molly. They were hanging around the hotel where the other girl was
staying, and she walked into the reception. She didn’t book a room.
Just spoke to the man behind the desk. They are sure it was her.
She’s lost a bit of the glam, but that’s no surprise. After she
left the hotel, she got into a car. A man was driving. They didn’t
get a good look at him, and they weren’t able to follow. But they
got the licence plate of the car, and it’s registered to a Grant
Morley at 47 Victoria St, Newtown. They’ve just been there now, but
no one’s home.’

‘
Did they go
in?’

‘
No. There were
neighbours in the front yard next door, and no back access. They‘re
going to keep an eye on the place, wait for her to come back. I
think we’ve got her boss. I’ll call back with an update as soon as
I hear from them.’

This was good news.
Extremely good news. And if he did ring back tonight with a report
that they had been successful, the police wouldn’t be a problem
after all. It would be nice not to have to pay to find her too.
This whole mess could be put to bed and never thought of
again.

‘
Don’t forget to
remind them of their instructions. She is to be taken without
injury, and handed over to the crew that is set up to go.
Unfinished business. I want to make the most of her.’

Jared confirmed he
understood, and promised to make this clear to his men.

‘
And one more thing,
I’m trashing this sim card. My new number will be messaged to you.
Keep me updated.’

He hung up, and
stared out at the final moments of the sunset. Then he opened the
clip on the back of his phone, and took out the sim card. He
crunched it between his teeth for a few moments, and then spat it
into the sand, burying it with his foot. He could smell his dinner
cooking, so he went inside.

‘
Babe, come here will
you. We need to go back over the procedure for answering my
phone.’

Chapter 18

The roads were nearly
free of traffic as I carefully directed Liam towards the hospital.
He was still speeding, making navigation a challenge. We finally
pulled into the car park, after missing the entrance, and having to
circle the block. There was a chance that the hospital could be a
dead end, but we were both high on adrenalin.

‘
Do you want me to
run in, while you to find a park?’

‘
No, we’ll go in
together. There’s no point separating now.’

The car park lift was
frustratingly slow, and brought us out into a reception area with
arrows pointing to what seemed like hundreds of different
departments and wards. Liam glanced at the note Kylie had given us,
and scanned the list for the Paediatrics department.

‘
Level 4…’

Just as we were about
to run towards the lift, a nurse stepped in front of us, and asked
if we needed any help.