Out in Nowhere, page 21
Tom looked surprised. ‘Sure, now?’
‘That would be ideal.’ She didn’t wait for him to say yes, before Mia headed towards the police station, not turning in Mrs Granger’s direction.
‘Better get a move on before we get accosted in the street,’ Dave said with a small laugh.
By the time Dave had shepherded Tom back to the station, Mia had the door to the interview room open.
‘Just in here, thanks, Tom. I’ll be right back.’
Following her back to their offices, Dave whispered urgently.
‘What are you going to ask him about? Charlie?’
‘Yes, but I’m going back further. I want to know about the night Charlie raped that woman.’
Dave gaped at her. ‘Mia, you can’t go at this like a bull at a gate. I’ve explained this to you over and over again. Gently always gets the best results. What are you thinking?’
‘I’ll be gentle, I promise. I’m following a hunch. You’ve always told me to trust my gut. I don’t usually get feelings, but this time I have.’
‘You’ve got a bad case of Bali Belly from what I can see. You had a feeling about Rod and Nicole, too.’
‘And you said I was right in some way, didn’t you?’
‘Jesus!’ Dave swore under his breath. ‘Mia, I hope you know what you’re doing, these are powerful men you’re dealing with here. One wrong step and they’ll go to the media and your career will be over. ‘Gently does it, okay? No accusations.’
Mia knew he was feeling edgy. ‘Can you trust me?’
Dave dropped his head. Of all the questions to ask. He wanted to for sure, but Mia’s track record wasn’t the best. She was always rushing off half-cocked or reacting to something someone had said. This request needed a solid weighing up as it could affect their reputation as police. The way they were regarded in Barker. Not to mention the possible fallout from the families.
‘Let’s talk to Tom and see what comes of that,’ Dave conceded. ‘I have to tell you, this isn’t sitting well with me.’
Mia got up. ‘Thank you,’ she said quietly.
CHAPTER 24
‘What else do you think I can help you with?’ Tom asked. ‘All I know is that it’s beyond belief we could lose two friends so close together and in such tragic accidents.’
‘Actually, I’m going to go back a little further here, Tom, if you can bear with me. Like I said to Nicole and Rod previously, we want to do the best by both Alex and Danny, and getting as much information as possible will help that.’
‘Sure, I’ll do anything you need.’
‘Do you know if Alex and Danny were in any type of business arrangement together?’
‘Ah, um, no I don’t. That’s out of the blue!’ He smiled and took another sip of his coffee. ‘I hadn’t heard they were cooking up any schemes, so I’d say not. In the business I’m in, sometimes Alex would send a message and ask for a bit of advice, but I hadn’t heard anything about them going into a venture together.’ Then he gave a shout of laughter. ‘Neither of them had any spare time. They were chained to both their family stations. It was always a bit hard for them to take a break, so to have headspace to start up a new enterprise? I’d be very suspect that was the case.’
‘Right.’ Mia made a note. ‘Can you tell me about the night that Charlie was charged with rape?’ she asked.
‘What the hell?’ Tom gaped at her, but Mia was getting used to that reaction. ‘That was years ago.’
‘I know.’ Mia didn’t say anything more, just waited.
‘It was 2017,’ Dave said. He was sitting in a chair that was against the wall, his leg jiggling up and down, letting Mia take the lead.
‘Geez.’ Tom ran his fingers through his hair and raised his eyebrows, clearly trying to gather his thoughts. ‘Guess my memories might be a bit sketchy. Not something any of us ever wanted to dwell on.’
‘We understand.’
‘There was a party at the college. We’d all had a bit to drink as usual. I’d been trying to get the attention of another girl there but wasn’t having a lot of luck. You know how it is.’ He looked at Dave rather than Mia.
She kept her face impassive. Already she could feel the uncurling of anger inside.
‘Um, anyway, it wasn’t really until the next morning I knew something was up. I’d heard the girl had run in front of a car, but by the time that happened I think I’d passed out, so I don’t remember anything about that part of the night.’
‘Who put the party on?’ Mia asked.
Tom shrugged. ‘No one, really. It was just a normal party like we always had at the college. Lots of booze and bad behaviour.’
‘Bad behaviour?’
‘Okay, not a great choice of words. We used to get pissed, and sometimes when that happened, things would get out of control.’
‘Like Charlie raping someone?’
Dave stopped jiggling and opened his mouth for damage control, but Tom got in first.
‘No, not like that. Sometimes we dressed up, ah, inappropriately. You know, pretended we were females or our Indigenous cousins. That sort of thing. Politically incorrect, of course, but we were kids. Sometimes we bought cheap cars and had races, wrote them off. All sorts of things.’
‘And who came?’
‘Anyone, really. We could invite whom we wanted and sometimes, well … See, there was a pub next door to the college and sometimes towards the end of the night the people there would come over.’
‘Did you know the girl Charlie raped?’
‘Not really. I’d seen her around. I think she’d had her eye on Mick, because I’d seen them dancing together earlier in the night.’ He looked sheepish now. ‘Back when I could still remember.’
‘Do you have any idea how much alcohol you consumed that night?’
‘Wouldn’t have a clue. Lots.’ Tom looked down at the table. ‘Look, I’m not proud of the way we behaved back then, but we were young blokes, you know. We were all blowing off steam, sowing our wild oats, whatever you want to call it. We weren’t doing anything that other young fellas weren’t doing.’
‘Did you do any drugs?’
‘Of course.’ Defiant now, Tom brought his head up and looked Dave then Mia in the eye.
‘What types?’
‘Anything we could get our hands on. Weed, speed. Opioids, if we could. They were a bit harder to get.’
‘Would your drug use be a reason you can’t remember much about the night?’
‘I’m sure it is. Along with the booze. I’m not hiding the fact that we did that sort of thing. Back then. Not now.’
‘When did you last have any contact with Charlie?’
‘Now that I can tell you exactly. He was charged with rape the day after the party, which was on the eighteenth of August 2017. That poor woman died the next day—nineteenth of August. That was the last time.’
‘Why? Didn’t you want to support your mate?’
Tom looked appalled. ‘Would you? His actions ended up killing someone. We didn’t want any part of that. No, he was on his own.’
Mia watched Tom carefully. He pulled away, leaning his back against the chair.
‘Tom, was that the first time Charlie had done something like this?’
The silence was deafening.
‘Tom? Were there other women who Charlie raped?’
‘Look, there was always talk,’ Tom said, finally, ‘that he slipped them drugs and then slept with them.’
‘While they were passed out?’ Dave asked.
‘Apparently. But there were never any other charges brought against him. No other women came forward when the media got hold of the story, so I don’t think that gossip was correct. From what I’ve seen over the years, when someone is charged with this type of offence, other women come out of the woodwork pretty quickly. There was no one who did that with Charlie.’
Mia started to form a question, but then stopped and glanced over at Dave. Could she ask it? Would Dave approve? Didn’t matter, she decided. ‘Did you all have a go at slipping girls drugs and then “sleeping” with them?’
‘Like Charlie did?’ Tom’s voice was steel. ‘Are you accusing me of something, constable? Should I engage a lawyer?’
Dave stood and shifted his chair to the table, which told Mia she was on shaky ground.
‘Not at all, just seems to me that if one mate was doing something like that, he’d be encouraging the rest of you to have a go, as well. Or at least be talking about it. But, hey, I’m not a bloke, so I might have that wrong.’
‘Well, no.’ Tom’s face had flamed red. ‘I’ve found it relatively easy to get women into my bed without having to drug them.’
‘What about the rest of your group?’
‘I think,’ Tom said carefully, ‘you’d need to ask them.’
‘Don’t worry, we will,’ Mia said. ‘Now, I’d like to circle back to when you last had anything to do with Charlie. You said it was 2017. You haven’t heard from him since Alex and Danny died?’
‘Sorry, that’s incorrect. Charlie did get in contact with me,’ said Tom. ‘We talked about this the other day when you were at the caravan park.’
‘I’m clarifying the information.’
‘You weren’t happy with the contact?’ asked Dave.
Tom linked his fingers together and glanced from Mia to Dave and back again. He seemed to want to speak to Dave, but understood Mia was leading the charge.
‘Not really. Even less that he wants to come to the funerals. It’s been too long and none of us have any interest in catching up with him. We’ve all got our own lives and he has his.’
‘Do you know if he is in town and still plans to go?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘Shame,’ Mia said. ‘As a police officer, I have a problem with a rapist being in my town. I’d like to have a chat with him before the funerals. You sure you don’t know where he is?’
‘Sorry, I can’t help you.’
Mia looked for more questions, but came up short, so she turned to Dave. ‘Do you have anything else, Detective?’
Dave seemed indecisive, but then he leaned forward and looked Tom in the eye. ‘Tom, if I pulled the police report on that night and checked the rape report, am I only going to find one lot of DNA?’
‘Geez, where the hell did that come from?’ Mia asked as they stood on the street watching Tom walk back to the caravan park.
‘It wouldn’t be the first time a gang of blokes has drugged a woman and taken turns.’
‘God, I feel sick.’ Mia put her hand to her forehead and wiped sweat away. The sun had risen with fire and continued to create a furnace. In a couple of days’ time, both funerals were going to be held on the stations, out in the open. What a terrible heat to have for the ceremonies. She hoped there were fans and lots of cold water. Or even a cool change. Maybe Hamish should head out there, too, in case anyone experienced heat stroke.
‘Pull that file and see what forensics said. They should have taken a rape kit. Come on, we’ve got work to do.’ Dave strode back into the station and picked up the phone. ‘Mick, yeah, Detective Dave Burrows. Mate, could you come into the station, please?’
Pause.
‘Yes, that would be ideal.’ He put the phone down. ‘He’s coming now.’
‘Tom would have rung him straightaway.’
‘Of course he would have. They’ve had time to get their stories straight, so you make sure you’ve got enough information that puts them there at the time of the rape.’ He shook his head. ‘But, Mia, I’m not sure how you plan on linking Alex’s and Danny’s deaths back to this incident in 2017. You’re right, though. I think there’s more to this than meets the eye.’
‘I don’t know either,’ Mia said honestly. ‘I only know that those boot prints don’t match, so perhaps someone else was there when Alex died.’ She turned to Dave. ‘If Alex was up the windmill, how could someone have made him fall?’
Dave stared at her. ‘The footage from the computers, did you ever ask Hallie to send it through?’
‘Shit, I got busy and forgot to check that. I don’t think so.’
‘Okay, ring Hallie and ask her if she can email the files from the bore that day. Let’s go through frame by frame and see what we can find.’
Mia had picked up the phone before Dave had finished talking. ‘Do you want me to tell Hallie?’
‘Yeah, I’ll ring Maggie and see if there were any business interests between the two.’
Mia keyed in the numbers. ‘Hallie? It’s Mia Worth,’ she said as Hallie answered her mobile.
‘Hi, how are you?’ Her voice sounded strained and far away.
‘Fine, thanks. How about you and Ruby?’ Mia made her tone kind.
‘Packing. That’s all. Actually I was going to ring you. I’ve got something I want to bring in to you.’
Mia took a breath, not really hearing what Hallie had said to her. Her mind was too busy still rehearsing the questions she needed to ask. ‘Hallie, there’s been some information come to light that we need to clear up before the funeral. I really need you to send me the camera footage from Red Dirt Bore on the day that Alex died. Have you sent that through yet?’
‘Bugger, sorry, I forgot to do that. My mind isn’t working that well.’
‘No trouble at all. And another question. Were Danny and Alex involved in any business dealings together? As partners?’
‘Not a chance. Rod wouldn’t have approved of that.’ There was a long pause, then Hallie said, ‘So I found something I think you should look at.’
‘Sure, what’s that?’
‘This morning I was taking everything out of the bedside drawers, on Alex’s side. His wedding ring was kept in a box there, and I couldn’t find it, so I decided to pack everything up and look at the same time.’
‘Okay.’ Mia stuck her finger in her ear, blocking out Dave’s conversation with Maggie.
‘It’s a phone I’ve never seen before. It’s flat and I’m now charging it. I don’t want to see what’s on there; I’ll just give it to you and you can do whatever you have to do.’
‘You haven’t tried to turn on the phone since you’ve had it on charge?’
There was silence. ‘No, Mia. I can’t. I thought Alex and I didn’t have any secrets, but this phone … well, I certainly didn’t know about it.’
‘How do you know there’s anything bad on it?’ Mia asked. ‘Perhaps it’s an old one of his?’
‘You might be right but I don’t think so. I’ve got a feeling … Anyhow, I’m not risking it. If you want to have a look, that’s fine, if you don’t, that’s okay, too. I did think you’d want to know.’
‘We absolutely want to see the phone,’ Mia said. ‘I’m just trying to work out how I can get it. When’s your mail run?’
‘That’s already gone for this week.’
‘Did you find Alex’s wedding ring?’ Mia was stalling for time.
‘Yeah, I did, thankfully. Hadn’t looked properly in my haste, it was tucked in between some folded old jocks. Think he was hiding it, actually.’ There was a slight amount of humour in her voice.
Dave had hung up by now and Mia asked Hallie to wait, while she spoke to him.
‘What did you find?’ he asked.
‘She’s found a phone that she doesn’t recognise. How are we going to pick it up?’
Dave ran his fingers through his hair. ‘Shit, we haven’t got time to get out there.’ He drummed his fingers on the table. ‘Hamish might have to help out. He’s been trained enough to go out there and pick it up. And Alex’s normal phone—we need that as well. Ask if Hallie would be happy for us to have a look at their computer and, if she is, Hamish can bring them all in. But make sure that footage gets to us, like, yesterday.’
Mia put the phone back to her mouth. ‘Hallie, if we send Hamish out to pick it up would you be able to meet him on the road somewhere?’
‘Yep, I can do that.’
‘Would you feel comfortable handing over Alex’s normal phone and computer as well?’
‘I’ll package all of that up, plus the clippings he’d kept about Charlie. I don’t know if they’ll be useful, but there’s something about the way he held on to what happened to Charlie that makes me wonder, you know?’
Mia stopped clicking the pen she was holding and thought carefully before she answered. ‘What’s on there that’s concerning you?’
There was a silence and, in the background, Mia heard pinging of WhatsApp messages.
‘Ha.’ Hallie’s tone was dry. ‘I’m sending you some screenshots. The boys have obviously not thought that anyone is reading Alex’s messages.’
‘From Tom and Mick?’ Mia motioned for Dave to come back over and put the phone on open speaker. ‘Hallie, Dave Burrows is in the room and I’ve put you on open speaker.’
‘Hi, Hallie,’ Dave said, sitting at the desk and leaning towards the phone.
‘Hello.’
‘Now, what were you saying about the messages?’
‘Yeah, between Tom and Mick. They’re talking about Charlie. Umm, starts off with Tom.
‘Tom: Cops calling. Asking about Charlie.
‘Then Mick: So what? There’s nothing to tell them? I’ve been asked to go in and speak to them, too.
‘Tom: Isn’t there?
‘I don’t know if Maggie is getting the same messages as I am, but I would assume so. I was going to ring her and talk to her about them, but now I’ve told you.’
‘No, she wouldn’t be,’ Mia said. ‘Even if Danny was still in the group chat, his phone was smashed when the ute fell onto him. He had it in his shirt pocket. It’s been sent to forensics but they’ve got a backlog and I don’t expect to get any information from that for a couple of weeks.’
‘Is there anything else, Hallie?’ Dave asked. ‘They’re not still talking?’
‘No, nothing. I’ll screenshot the conversation for you.’
‘Great, thanks,’ Mia said. ‘I’ll pass your number onto Hamish and he’ll ring you to organise a place and time to meet. And make sure you send me that footage. Hopefully, I’ll have something for you by the end of today.’
