It was the Monday after the wedding of Vic and Jane. Anne and David had decided to treat themselves to a couple days in Alice Springs, before flying to Darwin for the rest of the week to ensure that all the legal issues about Susan and Vic were properly tidied away. Despite the minor hiccough of the arrival of that uninvited journalist on the Saturday, which they had only glimpsed and not spoken of since, it had been a wonderful few days.
The bride, still Susan, in Anne’s mind, looked radiant and spectacularly beautiful in her dress of fine pale turquoise flowers set into delicate lace. Anne, as a bridesmaid, had a soft turquoise toned dress. It matched perfectly with both her auburn hair and the rich brown skin of Jillie, similarly attired.
She had found Jillie and all Vic’s family to be delightful people, so warm and welcoming to her and Susan, who of course they called Janie now. It was funny how names rolled off the tongue in this place, Annie, Jillie and Janie as the bride group, little Annie and Davie as the flower and ring carriers, she dark haired and cheeky, him blondish and serious.
She felt incredibly connected to these children, perhaps because from she and David had come their names and also that they were the nominal godparents, even though missing at the baptism. But they had both taken seriously the promises given to ensure these kids were OK, whatever happened to the mother.
Anne felt so blessed that her prayers were answered with her friend returned to her. Even though the damage to her was still writ large in the vacant parts of her mind and in her simplicity, she was there again and that was infinitely precious.
Today they had all waved their farewells at the airport as the Cairns jet departed, and then had come back to town, each couple or group to enjoy their own private time before they went their separate ways in a day or two.
Tonight they were having a group private dinner of all the remaining family and friends as a way to both say goodbye and give thanks for this wondrous time. Now she and David had decided to lunch in the Mall and do the local sights and shopping before a quiet afternoon by the pool. Tomorrow they would do a tourist trip out along the McDonnel Ranges to the gorges.
They settled into a simple salad lunch after a surfeit of rich food, she reading a magazine and David the newspaper.
A woman came to their table, not a waitress, clearly seeking Anne out. She must be older as her hair was grey. Something about her was familiar, though Anne could not recollect from where. She was softly spoken and polite and her voice was young. Anne looked at her intently, trying to recognize the familiarity. She realized she had glimpsed her at the wedding, walking away, leading the journalist in a kindly manner. But that was not the familiarity, it was in the face and on that day she had only had a back view.
The woman said, “You are probably wondering who I am and why I have come to you. My name is Cathy, once Cathy Rodgers, though I use a different surname now.”
With the words, it all came clear in Anne’s mind. “Oh my God,” was all she could say, no other words would come.
David looked up, he had been impervious until now, but his brain was working fast, replaying the words and joining the dots, “That Cathy. The one we have sought for over two years now.”
Standing a few steps behind, as if awaiting the outcome was the black man who Vic had punched. David felt his gut tighten with anger at what this man had written, cause of so many problems. But this girl was so polite that his anger stayed contained. He invited her to join them, and then asked her, forcing politeness into his voice, “Is the man behind with you?”
She looked at Jacob and nodded. “He has come to make an apology for the harm he has done. I thought he should begin with you, her best friends. But that is not why I came. I came to seek your help for myself. I realize I cannot hide away any longer but I do not know how to rejoin the world. I have disguised myself and led a simple life for over three years now.
“I suppose I should just ring my parents and ask them to come to me, but I find myself unable. Too much has passed, with too much pain, to just go home again. But I am tired of running and I am tired of hiding and I don’t want my parents suffering to continue. I have asked Jacob to help me to tell my story, perhaps in public and he has said he will. He will write no more of Susan, she has earned her right to a new life.
“So now I ask that you hear what he has to say first, then allow me to tell you of me and what has brought me here.”
David and Anne both nodded and Cathy invited the man to join them. His words were simple, “I have done your friend great wrong, in what I wrote and spoke. One day I will apologize to her myself. But today my apology is for you, her friend who has walked in her shoes and suffered along with her.”
Anne took his hand, “I thank you, I cannot speak for her but what you have said is enough for me, the past is the past and cannot be undone. The future is what we can change.”
He nodded and said, “Thank you.”
David held out his hand to shake, “She speaks for me too.”
So they sat and shared their stories.
Cathy told the story of her three years of living a simple hidden life as an old woman who cleaned around the town and how she had befriended Vic’s mother, thus hearing of the wedding.
Anne told the story of the diary, the parts in it that Mark had written about Cathy, telling of her early life and its pain, parts that the inquest had deliberately withheld, even from her parents lest they cause further harm.
She said, “I know what your uncle did to you as a child and why you fled. I also know your uncle has been missing for nearly three years now. It is not known if he has gone into hiding or if it is something else. But he is missing too. Because of what he has done we chose not to tell that part of the story.”
Anne asked if she could ring Cathy’s parents to tell them of meeting her.
Cathy shook her head. “Soon I hope, but not now. I need to know fully about my Uncle first. I cannot see my parents and tell them this until I know the truth about him, whether he is hiding or he is dead.
“Before I knew what you have told me about him being missing I had decided to confront him with Jacob present. I would have asked him to admit to what he had done, to give him the choice to go and tell it to my parents and the police or I would do if for him.
“Now it seems we cannot do that. So now we must try to find him for ourselves. If he is out there I may be able to reach him when others cannot. Jacob has the skills and contacts of an investigative journalist to help in this.
“If we locate him it will be as I have said. We will give him a choice to turn himself in and admit publicly to what he has done. If he does not then Jacob will write and publish his story for the whole world to read. That is the only way I can see for real justice to be done.”
So David and Anne agreed to help in this quest. They offered money, but Cathy said she had more than enough. Instead they arranged an introduction to Alan who was dealing with the English Police in the search for this man.
Cathy said that armed with this information they would conduct their own search for him. If he was hiding somewhere there must be others that knew, and she would try and find a way to reach him through people who knew. It may take some months but that is what she and Jacob would do. She said she would give it six months and then, if no trace was found, she would contact her parents.
Two days later Anne and David met with Cathy and Jacob in Darwin at the police station. Information was exchanged along with the promise that should anything be found Jacob and Cathy would let both the English and Australian police know.
Two days later they were on a plane bound for Iraq.