Point Frederick is on the Brisbane Waters just outside of Gosford. It’s a curious area: the original fibro houses are rapidly being replaced by waterfront mansions complete with private wharves, and medium-density townhouses and McMansions are taking over the back streets. I suppose it’s where you want to live if you grew up in East Gosford, which is just round the corner.
We were early for our interview with Vanessa Blake, so we took the opportunity to walk around the foreshores near the footy stadium. According to Boo, Jimbo had met the Pole-Dancer at The Thirsty Crow, a waterfront restaurant opposite the footy stadium that morphs into a nightclub after 9pm.
But the sky was clear and the sun just warm enough and the clean salty air was a change from the city, and it was hard to tear ourselves away from the pelicans.
Vanessa lived in a waterfront apartment block right on the point. Ground floor, private garden. The block was white with lots of glass, and there was a waterfall next to the security intercom. Pole-dancing must pay well, or perhaps the tips are very good if you’re very bad.
We were welcomed into a sunny, airy living room that was actually lived in. There were books scattered around a laptop on a coffee table, books on the floor, books stacked on side tables. A child’s scooter was propped against the kitchen wall, next to a single sneaker, and a My Littlest Pet Shop was set up on the kitchen table. The fridge was covered in stickers, magnets, tuck-shop lists and paintings.
“Please, come on through. I’m Vanessa, but call me Vinnie. Inn’t it a beautiful day? I’ve just made some tea – would ya like some? Or would ya prefer coffee? Let’s sit outside.” She kicked the sneaker out of the way, and walked out onto a paved terrace that led to a small lawn edged by a glass fence. Three pelicans looked up expectantly and waddled along the wharf towards us. If this is heaven, I’m ready to die, I thought.
Vanessa Blake was bleached blonde with dark roots. Very thin. Huge boobs. Trout pout. Yesterday’s make-up running down her cheeks. Not a good look, but the tits were amazing. “Please, sit down while I get ya somefink to drink.” Jack might have been enjoying the view, but her voice was nasally strident.
We sat around a weathered teak table until Vanessa brought out a tray holding three mugs, a plate of Double-Dipped Tim Tams, a box of Kleenex and a bowl of grey slush. “Ya must excuse me. I look terrible, but I jest can’t stop cryin’ and I haven’t ’ad much sleep.” She reached into her blouse, fished around, and produced a tiny something with huge eyes and a pink nose and a tail. “This is me new baby. He’s hungry. Correction. He’s always hungry when ’e’s not sleepin’ or poopin’. But isn’t he precious?” I fell in love instantly. “What is he?” I asked.
“This is Poss. He’s a baby ring-tailed possum and ’e’s lost ’is mum. I’m with WIRES, and I’ll be lookin’ after him until he’s a bit older. He’s lonely, and it’s just easier to carry ’im around in me bra. So do youse mind if I feed him while we talk?”
I could almost see Constable Jack’s heart thumping, but he was out of luck. Little Poss was an eye-dropper baby.
“So how can I help youse? What happened to Jim? No-one will tell me. The people at the office won’t return me calls and I’m losin’ me mind. Please, what happened?” She reached for the Kleenex and gave it a most unladylike trumpeting blow. She didn’t weigh much, but there was nothing delicate about Miss Vanessa Blake.
“When was the last time you saw him? Can you think of anyone who would want to kill him?” I asked.
Unfortunately, blowing her nose hadn’t helped her voice. “He left here last Friday morning ta go to a meetin’ in the city and ’e said ’e might stay there because there was a footy thing on Sat’dy arvo and he had to see some people. I didn’t go because me little girl ’ad a birthday party on Saturday and Poss came to me on Thursday an’ I ’ad to look after him.” She stroked the little possum with purple acrylic talons. “I got a call on Fridy arvo from that bastard Sam Bradley and ’e told me that Jim was dead but as usual he was ’orrible and jest kept yellin’ at me not to talk to no-one and not to touch any of Jim’s stuff because he was comin’ back from Jakarta and would see me in the mornin’. He’s so fucking rude. He jest kept shoutin’ at me.”
She wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, and continued. “Then the newspapers an’ everyone started to call and I didn’t know what to do an’ they camped outside all night an’ the police wouldn’t do nuffink to make ’em piss off. At least when Bradley turned up they went away, but he wouldn’t tell me what was happening. He just took all of Jim’s stuff, well, all his papers and his laptop, and said ‘Don’t say anything to anybody’ an’ disappeared. He looked really terrible, but.”
“What was in the papers? Do you know? Why did he remove them?” I asked.
“I dunno. I’m not interested in all that stuff, and Jim really didn’t bring anyfink home. That’s just Bradley being Bradley. He makes a big deal out of everyfink.
“I do know that Jim had some big deal coming up because Bradley would phone at all times of the night an’ Jim said that ’e had a surprise for me for me birthday. That’s next week, but I dunno what ’e was planning and I just miss ’im so much an’ I want to know what’s happening and no-one will tell me. I mean, am I going to be paid this month?” Another sniffle. Another honk.
She’s just a simple soul, I thought. But then, she was probably a welcome relief after the other women in Jimbo’s life. But how had he coped with listening to that voice for more than ten minutes? Was he deaf?
“We’re working on exactly what happened,” I said. “How long were you with him? How did you meet?”
“Oh gosh, I’d known him for ages. I used ta work at The Crow and he used ta come in on Fridays with his son, Jace, who played tennis sometimes with me brother, who was Jimbo’s driver at that time. Anyway, one day I ’ad a flat battery and ’im and Jace gave me a jump start, and that’s really how I met ’im. He was just so nice and ’e was so tired, and then ’e started to come in to The Crow for drinks jest about every day an’ we just talked an’ talked. That’s all. Then he asked me to help out wiv trainin’ the cheerleaders, and then one night I invited him back to my place for somefink to eat. And that was it. Me daughter loved ’im and ’e bought us this place so that we could be together. I didn’t care who ’e was. I wasn’t interested in the chopper and the jet and ’is money. I just loved ’im. And now he’s gone an’ no-one will tell me wot’s happening and wot’s gunna happen to me.” She burst into tears again.
“Yeah, I know that ’e was married, and I know that a lot of people think I’m a moneyhungry slut an’ I know that it sounds stupid when I say that ’e was gunna leave his wife for me, but ’e was. He hadn’t lived with Jacqueline for over two years and he’d been tryin’ to get her to sign a property settlement so ’e could get a divorce. But she wouldn’t accept this and would just rip up the papers and throw ’em at him. You check with his lawyers – they’ll tell you what was going on. She said that she was going to take ’im for every cent ’e ’ad and I know that she was behind all the ’orrible things that have been written about me. Well, it was either her or that stuck up West Australian bitch. Or it might of been Lynnette.
“Anyway, we’ve been together for two years and I know what people say, but I really loved ’im and ’e was happy for the first time in ’is life. He used ta sit out on the wharf and catch fish for tea,” she looked towards a fishing basket in the corner, “and when ’e was ’ere he was happy. I’m not stupid. I know that there were other women, but when ’e was ’ere ’e was moin and I didn’t care about nuffink else.”
I was starting to feel sorry for the woman. “I’m sorry, Vanessa, but I have to ask you some more questions. Do you know what drugs he was taking? There was a quantity of cocaine in the room and in his bloodstream. He had also taken Viagra, and there was a bottle of Rohypnol in his briefcase.” She looked down at the possum in her hand and tickled his belly. “Do you know the name of his doctor? Do you know what prescription medicines he was taking? Do you know who would supply him with the coke or with other drugs?” I asked.
She burst into tears again and Jack pushed the box of Kleenex closer to her. “Please don’t ask me that. I pleaded with ’im to stop, but ’e couldn’t. And I didn’t think the Viagra would hurt – I mean, everyone takes it – but I don’t know who got ’im the other stuff. He had terrible insomnia, and he used ta take the roofies ta sleep. I remember once we went to Hayman Island and ’e forgot the pills and all ’ell breaked loose.
“Last Sat’dy mornin’ Bradley went into the bedroom and went through his drawers and took some stuff away in ’is bag. I knew that Jim was using blow, but ’e didn’t do it in front of me ’cause ’e knew how hard it had been for me to get off it. I didn’t know anyone who would really kill him. I mean, Lynnette didn’t shoot him on purpose and anyway that was a long time ago, and ’e stopped using a bodyguard years ago. Please, I really can’t help youse. I don’t know how I can help youse. I loved him so much and this isn’t fair. What am I going to do now? Jacqueline will come after me. She ’ates me. What am I going to do?” She looked up at me, and I believed her. She was just a simple country girl who had fallen for the wrong man and now her life would never be the same.
It was time to get back to Sydney.