Times of Trouble (38 page)

‘
I’m ok. Thanks for
everything. I just feel like sleeping now. Can you give me your
card again? I think I might have lost the other one.’

‘
Lost or threw out?’
he asked, giving me a wink.

Andy was sitting on a
chair in the foyer when I came out. He looked worried, almost like
a parent picking up a sick child.

‘
Are you ok?’ he
asked, awkwardly moving towards me as if he thought he should give
me a hug.

I took a sideways
step to avoid this, and said: ‘I’m fine, thanks. Let’s get going,
I’m desperate for some food and sleep. Also, can I borrow your
phone please?’

I called Liam to
check in, and give him Andy’s number. He was waiting at the
platform; no sign of Sophie yet. As we walked back to Andy’s car,
he tried to ask me some questions about what had happened, but I
said I was too tired to explain. He took the hint for the rest of
the trip home. I sat staring out of the window, my eyes glazed,
almost asleep. I wanted to forget about what had happened. And I
wanted Sophie to be found tonight.

Chapter 32

Andy treated me like
an invalid when we got back to his apartment. I called mum as soon
as I got there, careful not to mention that Liam had a new lead for
Sophie. If he didn’t find her, mum’s hopes would be dashed again. I
was half asleep on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, with a bowl of
soup on the coffee table, when Andy’s phone rang. I was suddenly
awake, calling for Andy to answer the phone.

‘
It could be Liam!’ I
yelled, remembering I hadn’t told Andy that Liam might have found
Sophie, and that Andy’s mobile was my only contact with him. Andy
fumbled with the phone, taking an age to pick it up and answer
it.

‘
Hello?’ I heard him
say as I unwrapped myself from the blanket, and started to get up.
Then my hopes vanished as I heard a woman’s voice through the
phone. Don’t tell me it’s mum, checking up on me again? But then
Andy said something that made me leap towards him.

‘
Sophie?’ Andy’s eyes
were suddenly wide, his mouth gaping open. He stumbled forwards,
almost throwing the phone at me. His face said it all. He had just
been speaking to Sophie. I put the phone to my ear, wanting so much
to believe it could be her.

‘
Sophie? Is that
you?’ I asked. And as soon as she replied, I knew it
was.

‘
Ellen! It’s me! You
found me! How did you find me?’ She sounded like she was about to
cry. Her voice was so filled with relief that she sounded ready to
crumple. Charlie was in the background, gurgling and giggling. Then
I heard Liam’s voice; he must have been holding Charlie.

‘
Are you there with
Liam?’ I asked, my mind suddenly muddled, knowing she must be with
Liam since she was on his phone.

‘
Yes. He was on the
platform where I was catching the train. I didn’t know what to
think when he cornered me. I was terrified. But he told me mum sent
him to find me. He said Sandra and Ellen sent him, and I freaked
out. But then he said 'Soapie', and I just knew I could trust him.’
Sophie was gushing. I was so relieved to hear Liam had managed to
convince her he wasn’t a threat that I wanted to hug
him.

‘
Liam’s going to
bring you to Andy’s. Remember uncle Andy? I’m staying with him. You
can stay with him too, then we’ll go back home. Mum is going to be
so relieved to hear you are ok.’ For the first time in my life, I
was the big sister, and I was telling Sophie that everything was
going to be alright.

‘
I can’t come home
yet Ellen. There’s stuff you don’t know about. I had to stay away
from you guys because there are some people trying to kill
me...’

‘
Don’t worry, I know
all about that,’ I said. ‘I’ll explain when you get here. The
police know who those people are. They won’t be able to get you
once they’ve been arrested. The police have found their snuff
movie. They aren’t going to get away now...’

‘
Snuff movie? What?
Who are you talking about?’ she asked, suddenly sounding frightened
and unsure.

‘
Don’t worry! I’ll
explain when you get here.’

‘
Liam said we are
coming now. So I guess we’ll see you soon.’

‘
Ok. Liam knows where
he’s going. We’ll be here when you arrive. Bye.’

It was strange to
have such a short conversation after not speaking for seven years.
But I wanted her to get off the phone so Liam could get them in the
car, and start driving to Parramatta.

I paused for a
moment. How did Sophie not understand when I said snuff movies?
Wasn’t that the whole reason she was blackmailing Holland? Because
she found out about the movies, and threatened to tell the police?
Maybe she didn’t refer to them as snuff movies? But Liam knew what
I was talking about. Strange. It didn’t matter. We had plenty of
time to talk.

‘
It was her!’ I
announced to Andy, who had already worked this out for himself and
was now grinning at me. ‘I have to call mum!’

This was the call I’d
been waiting to make. Mum took forever to answer her phone, as if
purposely delaying the moment of relief.

‘
Mum, Liam’s found
Sophie! He’s bringing her to Andy’s! I spoke to her! She’s
fine!’

Mum squeaked with
excitement. ‘Where was she?’ she asked.

‘
At Central Station.
She has Charlie with her. As soon as she gets here we’ll book
flights to come home. She’s still scared of the men, but I’ve told
her the police are going to get them.’

‘
Oh Ellen, I don’t
know what to say! I’ve never felt relief like this before! I’m so
proud of you! And Liam! You never gave up.’

I pictured mum
standing alone in our dark little house. She wouldn’t have had a
moment’s peace since Sophie emailed her all those months ago. And
now everything was going to be ok. I felt ecstatic.

‘
I’ll call you when
she gets here, and then you can speak to her. Ok?’

‘
I can’t wait! I’ve
been so worried! And I’ve missed her so much! I can’t believe she’s
coming home!’

‘
I know mum. I can’t
believe it myself. She sounds just the same as she always did. And
she’ll be here in person soon. I’m going to get off now. I’ll call
you the minute they get here.’

‘
Ok, bye
Ellen.’

‘
Bye mum.’

‘
They’re on their
way,’ I said to Andy, ‘I’m just going to shut my eyes for a sec.
Wake me when they get here.’ I lay back on the couch, the tension
in my shoulders slowly unwinding, making me feel more comfortable
and tired than I did before. And I fell asleep with a smile on my
face.

I woke up to Andy
gently prodding my shoulder. I felt like I had only been asleep for
a few seconds, though I could see it was getting dark outside. Andy
looked troubled.

‘
Can I talk to you
about this email Sophie sent to you?’ he asked.

‘
What?’ I was half
asleep and had no idea what Andy was talking about.

‘
I know you didn’t
want me to get too involved, but you left an email open on my
computer. I took a quick look to see if I could work out where she
sent it from. I couldn’t help myself’

After everything that
happened today, I had hardly had a chance to think about the email.
Why hadn’t I suggested we look into this before? Just like the
original email from her, maybe this one could be tracked. Andy had
obviously had the same thought.

‘
I’ve got software
that can pick up the ISP address of a computer, just by running the
email through its system…’

‘
And where was it
sent from?’

‘
That’s why I woke
you. I wasn’t surprised to find it was sent from an internet café.
But when I worked out the café was on King St in
Newtown…’

‘
Liam.’ I answered
his speculation. ‘You think Liam might have sent it.’ But
why?

Something else had
been niggling in my mind, and suddenly reappeared in the form of
suspicion. The email had been signed ‘Soph,’ and when I had spoken
to Liam earlier, when he was explaining which trains Sophie might
catch, he referred to her as Soph. Was that too much of a
coincidence? She had never been a ‘Soph’. Andy could see that
thoughts were forming in my mind, and he patiently waited for me to
voice them. But I wasn’t ready to accuse just yet.

‘
Why would Liam send
that email?’ I asked. Andy looked concerned. It was the first time
I realised he didn’t really trust Liam.

‘
Is there any reason
he would want you to stop looking for the men who are after Sophie?
Or stop looking for Sophie?’ he asked.

‘
I can’t think of
any...’

But was that really
true? As much as he’s wanted to find Sophie, he always got angry at
me for suggesting it was important to find the men as well. And as
for going to the police…

Andy stood up,
glancing at his watch. He seemed suddenly impatient.

‘
So where is Liam? He
left Central over an hour ago.’

That long! I hadn’t
realised how long I had been asleep.

‘
So how long does it
take to get from Central Station to here?’ Sydney’s traffic was
erratic, but suddenly an hour seemed like an incredibly long
time.

‘
It should only take
about forty minutes, even if the traffic isn’t great.’

I got off the couch,
and picked up Andy’s phone from the table.

‘
Liam’s probably got
lost. It’s ok. I’ll call him, and check where he is.’ I dialled
back Liam’s number, noticing that he had called us at 6:00 pm. His
phone was off, or out of range, and it went straight to voicemail.
I tried it again, but it still didn’t ring.

‘
Maybe his phone
died?’ I suggested uneasily, remembering that he had left his
charger here, and might not have one at Newtown.

Andy shrugged, still
not ready to take the concerned look off his face. Sophie was so
close now. Were we just feeling impatient that she hadn’t arrived
yet? Or was there good reason to be concerned?

I sat back down on
the sofa, not knowing what to do to pass the time. The seconds
seemed to be ticking past excruciatingly slowly. Andy kept looking
at his watch; it was making me nervous. Would it be rude to busy
myself tidying the flat? Probably. We sat in silence, staring at
our laps for a couple of minutes. Then I picked up the mobile
again, and redialled, hoping Liam would pick up this time, and say
he was just around the corner. Relief flowed through me when the
phone connected and started ringing. But as I waited and waited for
him to answer, I started to wonder what the hell he was doing. And
then the ringing stopped, and I was listening to his voicemail
message. I left a quick response, saying that I was just wondering
if he was lost, or stuck in traffic, and to call back with an ETA.
Couldn’t he understand how desperately I wanted to see Sophie? Why
on earth was he taking so long?

Andy heard me leave
the message, and impatiently stood up and went into his study. I
followed him, now feeling too restless to sit in silence and wait.
It didn’t take over an hour to get from Central Station to
Parramatta. So where the hell were they?

‘
Andy, I know you
don’t like using that software illegally, but it wouldn’t hurt to
do a quick check of where Liam is, would it? Could the software
tell us how close to Parramatta he is? I’m going to go nuts if I
don’t find out when they’re going to get here!’

Andy looked relieved.
I suspected he was about to suggest the same thing himself, since
he was already logging onto the computer.

‘
Yeah, it will only
take a sec, and we can find out if he’s on the right track. He
might not have been able to answer when he was driving.’

Andy was trying to
make me feel better, but in truth, he was just as worried as I was.
I watched him typing away. Then I read out Liam’s phone number; it
was still written in pen on my hand. The computer seemed to sense
the urgency in the room, and came up with the data surprisingly
quickly. I stared at it, trying to work out what it meant. But Andy
had to translate it for me, pointing at the screen as he spoke. His
tone sent my stomach plunging to the floor.

‘
Why on earth is he
going south?’

‘
What do you mean?’ I
asked. ‘He must be lost or something.’ I was trying to keep the
panic from my voice. ‘How do you know he’s going south?’ I didn’t
know Sydney well enough to be able to say what might be down south,
but I knew Parramatta was definitely west of the city. West of
Central Station. Liam should be driving west.

‘
This data shows that
when you just left that voicemail message, Liam’s phone was
connecting to the Stanwell Park phone tower. Stanwell Park is quite
a long way south of Sydney,’ Andy explained, still typing away as
the screen filled with numbers. My mind felt muddled and tired, but
I knew something was wrong. What was Liam doing?

‘
Has he made any
calls?’ I asked, ‘or sent any messages?’ Andy was one step ahead of
me and had an answer straight away.

‘
No calls. The text
messages are just loading up’.