Chapter 31

Harry felt strangely awkward when he ushered Jess into his house. Despite all that they shared. Despite feeling as though he knew her in ways he had never known a woman, including Bec. He felt suddenly coy.

‘Take a seat,’ he said, clearing some clothes off the lounge to make a space for them both. ‘I’ll get some wine.’

In the kitchen he poured two glasses, drank half of one, refilled. Stared out the kitchen window, into the back garden. Thunder boomed, the wind picked up. He closed his eyes, centring himself. Shook his head. He wanted to make love to her. Fuck the wine. He wanted to walk back in there, take her head in his hands and kiss her deeply. Run his hands down her body. He wanted to kiss every tattoo. Take the pain away and…

Harry opened his eyes. Is that what he wanted? Or what Rob wanted? And did Rob want Jess, or Kyla? Did it even matter any more?

He carried the drinks back to the lounge room. Jess was going through his CD collection. She held up an Eminem CD, raised her eyebrows.

‘It was a phase,’ Harry said. Smiled.

She took her glass and they sat down together. He was all too aware of her perfume, and the scent of her body. She slipped off her shoes and pulled her legs up under her. Their knees touched.

Harry sipped his wine.

‘So…there’s more to Kyla’s story,’ Jess said. ‘And I know I have to tell you. But I couldn’t back there.’

She gulped down some wine.

‘Okay. So, Kyla got the tattoo. But just as they were finishing up, a bunch of Dreadnorts piled into the place. She thought someone had tipped them off.

‘They grabbed her, dragged her outside. Bundled her into the back of a van. She expected Rob to be in there, but he wasn’t. And that was the worst thing for her. She thought that must mean he was dead. Turns out, it was much worse than that.

‘They…they brought her back to Brisbane. Through Brisbane. Up north. Well, you know where they took her, right?

‘Dumped her in that field. Cardinal was waiting. No-one else. Just Cardinal. They dumped her on the ground and drove off. Her wrists and ankles were bound with cable ties. She lay there in the dirt, trying to sit up. She could hear traffic barrelling past on the highway but it may as well have been on the surface of the moon for all the good it would do her.

‘He was on the phone. That was the thing that really blew her away. He was on the fucking phone.’

Jess shook her head, pressed her free hand against one of her eyes. Drank some more wine. Her hands were badly shaking now. Harry moved in, held her. He rested his head on the top of hers, breathing her in. She sniffed. Pushed him away gently.

‘No, Harry. You need to hear this. He was on the phone to Rob. Well, to Crow and Heathy. They had Rob strapped to a chair, in that old skate rink at Paddington.’

Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, thinking about the feeling he had, driving past it.

‘They were trying to find out where he’d hidden the dossier. They were torturing him. Cardinal was…he was…it was as though he was on the phone to a friend, or a business colleague or something. Just stone cold. Calm. He smiled, looking at Kyla on the ground like that.

‘And then he moved in.’

Jess finished the rest of her wine. She played with the empty glass. Stared into its depths.

‘Jess, you don’t have to…’ Harry said.

‘Yeah, I do. He put the phone on speaker, asked Crow to do the same. He…he had a knife. He cut Kyla’s clothes off.

‘Cardinal said, “Rob, I know you’ve got a stash of documents somewhere because I’ve heard the stories about what your slut here did to get them. So either she’s going to tell me where they are, or you are.”

‘Then Cardinal laughed. “I’m going to enjoy this,” he said.

‘Kyla screamed. In spite of what she told herself she would do, she screamed. The pain was too much. And then, from the other end of the line, Crow said Rob wanted to say something. So Cardinal stopped.

‘Rob was panting, hissing into the phone. When he spoke, his voice was thick, he could barely pronounce the words. They must’ve done a fair bit of work on him. He said, “Wait! Please, stop! Let her go. It’s…it’s somewhere special. Somewhere…”

‘Kyla screamed again but not in pain, in anger. “Shut up! Rob, shut up! Don’t! Or it’s all for nothing…”

‘Cardinal chuckled. “Touching,” he said. “But I’m only just getting started.”

‘There was a loud noise, like splintering wood. Crow cursed. The sounds of a scuffle. Crow yelled out something about petrol, yelled at Heathy to put the fucking gun down. Then a noise, so loud the speaker distorted. And a moment of silence. Kyla screamed. She knew what the noise was. She remembered that Ahmed had been taken out with a shotgun.

‘The line went dead. Cardinal was still smiling. “Looks like it’s down to you,” he said. “Where’s the fucking dossier?” ’

Harry was numb. He felt a pulsating sensation all over his body. His vision turned red.

‘Fuck the article,’ Harry said. ‘I’m going to kill him. Kill all of those fuckers.’

Jess grabbed his arm. ‘What!’

‘Well, what do you want me to say, Jess? Afsoon said she thought it would require blood…’

‘She said “maybe”, Harry, “maybe.” ’

‘Blood, Jess. This story I’m working on, I’m a fucking com­munity journo. We’re talking about the next prime minister of Australia. Jesus. Rob knows how to fix this. Rob knows.’

She squeezed his arm. ‘I’m not finished, Harry. Don’t you want to know what happens next?’

‘No!’

‘He raped her, Harry. He told her she could make it stop, by telling him where the dossier was. She told him that she didn’t know. And by that point, she was too traumatised to lie. She really didn’t know. He didn’t care. He raped her, over and over again. And then he cut her. Told her he’d keep cutting until she told him what he wanted to know. She told him to fuck off. As the last drops of blood drained from her body, he raped her again.’

‘Jess…’

‘No! Get the fuck away from me, Harry. It didn’t end there. Because of this fucking thing…’ – she slapped the back of her neck – ‘…she was dead but still aware of everything. He slit her throat. He fucking cut her to pieces, Harry, and then he buried her. And I remember every fucking last moment.’

Jess sat there, panting. In one of the houses nearby, someone was watching a horror movie. Stage screams drifted across the gully.

‘So don’t tell me about rage, Harry. Don’t tell me about what Rob’s feeling. I know. A thousand times over. If I let Kyla do what she wanted, she’d take that knife to Cardinal and wouldn’t stop until he was mincemeat.

‘But I’ll be damned if I’ll give in to her, Harry. Because if we do, if we seek vengeance in that way, Andrew Cardinal wins. All the Andrew Cardinals out there win.

‘We’re better than that, Harry.’

‘Are we?’ Harry said. ‘Have you seen the news lately?’

Jess hissed in frustration. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

‘Jess. Don’t leave like this, please.’

He followed, took her hand. She shook him away.

‘Bye, Harry.’