Lyndall was nice. Not at all scary like Grandad said. She had wrinkly smiley eyes and interesting lines on her face, and she liked drawing.
Melanie loved to draw and hoped Grandad would bring her art book from home. Lyndall had brought one with her and coloured pencils and they’d taken turns drawing different things.
Flowers in the jar which Lyndall said were from her own garden.
One of Grandad’s wooden birds he carved.
A drawing of each other.
And then some from imagination.
When Grandad came home he looked sad again. But he put the suitcase on her bed and said to look inside and there was Raymond Bear. And after she cuddled Raymond she cuddled Grandad and then he smiled.
One of her art books was there but no pencils.
‘What’s up, darlin’? Lyndall was putting on her coat to leave.
She didn’t want Grandad to look sad again in case he felt bad about forgetting the pencils. ‘Oh, nothing really.’
‘You know, I’d like you to hang on to those pencils and sketch book until we have another drawing session. And use them in the meantime if you feel like it. Okay?’
It was! Melanie set to work on a new drawing. She’d use her imagination again.
‘Mind if I walk to the fence with Lyndall?’ Grandad asked. ‘Won’t be long.’
‘Hm mm.’
She was going to create something beautiful.
‘Sorry I was a bit longer than expected.’
Vince and Lyndall wandered from the cottage in the direction of her driveway.
‘Melanie is very special. She’s a bit quiet which is to be expected but that bubbly little personality I remember is just under the surface, waiting for the sun to shine again.’
Arriving home to colourful sketches all over the living room floor wasn’t what he’d expected. And there’d even been a couple of smiles from Mel.
‘She’s taken to you, Lyndall. Thank you.’
‘I like her too. You looked glum when you got back. Bad news?’
‘I found Bradley Pickering going through things in David’s home office.’
‘Threw him out on his ear, I hope?’
He smiled. It was a pleasant thought.
‘Didn’t come to that but I’ve taken his set of keys. Carla had them when she used to help out with Melanie.’
‘Worth telling the police?’
‘Thinking about it.’
They stopped at the fence and Lyndall had an odd expression. Odd, even for her.
‘What?’ Vince would rather know.
‘Mel mentioned she misses Carla.’
This was a problem for another day. He glanced at the fence. ‘Why are we here and not near my car? I can drive you back up.’
She rolled her eyes and in one fluid motion climbed the rails and was on the other side. ‘Not bad for an old bird. What did the solicitor say?’
He gazed back at the cottage. ‘Susie and David have a will but it’s old, from just after Mel was born. Since then David bought into the business with Bradley and there is nothing about how to manage his share. While it should go to Melanie, there are always complications and Bradley might have some agreement in place which impacts it. They owned their house outright and I have to say Lyndall,’ he turned back to her, she hadn’t moved, her eyes were on him, ‘that surprised me. They’re young… they were young… to have paid off a mortgage so soon.’
It had him stumped. Susie hadn’t worked in a couple of years although involved in charity organisations. The income, as far as he knew, was from David’s business. Must be doing better than the impression the badly maintained warehouse gave out.
And that was a dumpster fire.
‘They never changed the will about Melanie… where they wished her to go in such circumstances?’ Her voice was the gentlest he’d ever heard.
‘Never changed. It was always understood she’d come to me. But the solicitor warned me it won’t happen automatically—legal custody. I have some hoops to jump through.’
With a grin, Lyndall patted his shoulder. ‘Better start getting fit then. You just saw a sixty-five-year-old climb a fence in half a second. Imagine what you could do if you tried.’ Before he could answer she was off at a jog. Then she raised her arm to wave without a backward glance.
‘Show-off,’ he muttered.
‘Hearing is still good, Vincent,’ she called.
He patted his gut. Losing a bit of weight wouldn’t hurt. Hoops or no hoops.
Carla stood near the living room window; curtain held aside as she stared out at the street.
Bradley tapped on a laptop from the sofa, glancing at her every so often. It worried him seeing her so hopeful. She needed to keep her expectations low. At least for now. ‘Baby, I’m not sure this is the best move.’
She didn’t turn. ‘She needs to know the truth. How can Child Services make proper decisions without it? Oh, she’s here!’
Bradley closed the laptop. He’d made the mistake of telling Carla too much about his encounter with Vince and she’d been straight on the phone. The odd thing was that she’d liked Vince well enough until Susie excommunicated him. Loyalty for Susie ran deep in his wife.
Carla hurried to the front door and a moment later returned with the other woman, a frumpy female public servant with a briefcase. He stood and extended his hand to shake. ‘I’m Bradley.’
‘Dawn Burrows. Nice to meet you both.’
‘Coffee?’ Carla asked.
‘No, thank you. I’m a bit short on time but your call sounded urgent.’
‘Please take a seat.’ Bradley gestured to an armchair opposite the sofa, where he and Carla then sat.
‘Ms Burrows, this is concerning Melanie Weaver.’ Carla started. ‘She’s our godchild and we love her very much. We’ve been in her life since she was born, and she has spent a lot of time with us. Susie was my best friend. From our university days.’
‘I’m very sorry for your loss, Mrs Pickering.’
‘Thank you. It is hard to imagine Susie is gone. And just as hard not knowing what is to become of Melanie.’
‘I don’t quite understand.’
Not the brightest spark, are you?
‘We’re worried about Melanie,’ Bradley said. ‘We’ve asked Vince Carter to let us see her, but he flatly refused.’
‘It is still early days. She’s just out of hospital and he and Melanie have a lot to work though. A lot of adjusting. I’m sure she is in good hands.’
Carla glanced at Bradley then back at the other woman. ‘The thing is that Vince and Susie had a big falling out a while ago and he pretty much cut all ties with her. And with his own grandchild. But our house is like a second home to her. She feels safe here. Ideally, we’d love Melanie to live with us.’
The social worker frowned. ‘Visits are one thing. Custody is quite another.’
‘Even if the custodian is unsuitable?’ The panic in Carla’s voice tugged at Bradley’s heart.
‘How is Vince Carter unsuitable?’ Dawn narrowed her eyes.
‘He had something against David. Accused him more than once of being a criminal and it just broke Susie’s heart. She told him he wasn’t welcome until he got help.’
‘What kind of help, Mrs Pickering? Do you know?’
Carla nodded. ‘He has anger issues. And the violence. He’s a killer.’
That seemed to shock Ms Burrows, who touched the handle of her briefcase as if about to pick it up, then crossed her hands on her lap. ‘I’m aware he took a life in the line of duty. And potentially saved several at the same time. Is that what you mean?’
There were tears forming in Carla’s eyes. She was getting frustrated. Bradley took her hand and squeezed it and her shoulders seemed to relax a little. He’d speak for her. Take the pressure away.
‘Everyone knows Vince saved lives that day but what most people don’t know is that he never dealt with the fallout. I mean, his own wife passed away that day because he couldn’t be in two places at one time, and it messed with his head. Carla and I are genuinely worried about Melanie’s long-term welfare if she stays with him. It was hard enough for Susie being raised out there, all alone except a bitter old man.’
‘And Susie said she wanted me to always be part of Melanie’s life,’ Carla whispered as a single tear slid down her cheek.
After checking her watch, Ms Burrows picked up her briefcase and stood. ‘I can assure you all aspects will be considered before any recommendations are made. Until the will is read and other factors taken into account, the status quo remains. Now, please excuse me.’
Bradley led her out of the living room, but she stopped in the doorway with what might have been an attempted smile at Carla. ‘Let me speak to Mr Carter about a visit. I’ll be in touch.’
Carla nodded but when Bradley returned a minute later, she was wiping more tears away.
‘She said she’ll talk to him. Focus on that.’
‘We need to do something, Brad. She’s going to miss out on all the things Susie wanted. And I miss her.’ Her lips quivered. ‘I really miss her.’
‘Me too. Let’s see if this Burrows person gets anywhere and if not, we might have to step things up a bit.’ There were more ways to win this war than Dawn Burrows could even dream about.
While Melanie watched television in the living room, Vince opened his laptop in the kitchen. Weeks usually went by without him using it, but it booted up okay. He ignored its request for an update.
Pen and notebook close by, Vince searched for the business registration.
PickerPack Holdings Pty Ltd.
He wrote down the Australian Business Number and registered address, which was Bradley’s. It was originally set up as a private company close to ten years ago. Going through the historical record of its existence, he found when David bought in and became a co-director. Four years ago.
It was a surprise at the time, to Vince anyway. David was a senior manager at a leading logistics company on the other side of the city. He’d complained often enough about the daily commute, but Susie didn’t want to move to the Eastern suburbs. His job was secure, well-paying, and offered him potential to advance his career, whereas buying into a struggling business sent alarm bells ringing.
And Susie was worried.
Vince opened his emails and mumbled a swear word as ding after ding heralded the arrival of several weeks’ worth of correspondence. Much of it was rubbish. Junk from cold-callers and accounts he’d already paid. He got up to check Melanie.
She was cuddled up with both Raymond and Topsy on the sofa, a throw blanket covering her back and shoulders. The fire was going but she was accustomed to central heating, and he’d need to consider how to do a better job of keeping her warm. She didn’t notice him, and he left before he could disturb her.
The emails had all loaded and he typed in ‘Susie’ to begin a search.
The most recent ones were commiserations for her death from old colleagues and he changed his search to her actual email address. This brought up hundreds of emails from her over a long period, right back to her university days when she’d lived on campus.
His heart thumped uncomfortably.
He scrolled back four years and found the one he remembered. David was about to leave his old job.
I trust him completely, of course. David doesn’t make decisions lightly, but I guess he really has had enough of driving across town five days a week and working for someone else. He and Bradley are such good friends and they’ll be partners. David is brimming with ideas to use his logistics background to bring in more clients. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.
‘And yet, he didn’t.’
There was another, a couple of months further on.
David’s a bit disappointed in Bradley who wants any changes to come slowly. He doesn’t want to move the warehouse to facilitate more clients so for now, David is trying to learn all aspects of the business so he has a stronger case for development. He mentioned there was some kind of issue with an employee. Something about their immigration status. But otherwise, all is well. I’ll come up on the weekend with Melly-belly if you like?
She had visited and they’d argued. It was the beginning of the real decline of their relationship, and she’d only brought Melanie out a couple more times. Vince had done some quiet checking and was less than impressed that Bradley was being investigated for hiring illegal immigrants. Not only that, but underpaying them for long hours of work. Susie denied that David knew anything of it but refused to accept Vince’s opinion that Bradley’s poor practices would reflect on his new partner.
He copied both emails to a file. Then added the link to the business registration.
Sitting on his hands was impossible. Someone had targeted David and his gut screamed it was related to the business. But why that someone decided to murder an innocent woman and injure a child wasn’t something his brain could get around. Being a police officer had exposed him to the worst of human nature and this was right up there with the most evil actions he’d come across. If he couldn’t investigate it as a member of the force, and if they wouldn’t investigate it, then he’d take matters into his own hands. And heaven help who he found at the end of this.