CHAPTER 14

Seb parked on the side of the road and walked up Tom’s steep driveway. Tom lived in a plain single-storey house with water glimpses. In his carport was his work van, which Seb had seen drive past the station a few minutes before. He knocked. Instantly a dog barked, like a novelty doorbell.

Tom opened the door, his excited labrador jumping beside him. Both were big, strong and blond, but only the dog was nude. Tom wore shorts and a black Nirvana T-shirt.

‘Calm down, Lenny,’ said Tom.

Seb cautiously lowered a hand. Lenny sniffed it, immediately lost interest and padded off.

‘What’s up?’ asked Tom.

‘Just wanted to see how’re you going with … things.’

Tom stared at him.

‘It’s called community policing,’ said Seb. ‘If something bad happens to someone, like Karen getting … you know … Priests used to do it. Call around and see how people are doing. Part of my job.’

Seb had never been a fan of the idea of the local cop as a quasi-parental figure who anyone with a problem could turn to for advice. In fact, he had actively tried to discourage it, but if he wanted information from Tom it seemed the best approach.

Tom made no move to invite him in.

Seb pushed through his discomfort. ‘So, it must have been a difficult time for you lately.’

‘Not the best.’

‘How are you coping?’ Seb really hated this.

‘Fine, Seb.’

Tom appeared to, as well.

‘I mean, you know, mental health and all that,’ Seb went on.

‘Fuck me.’

‘It’s important. Especially for men. We don’t talk about it.’

‘How about we keep doing that, then.’

‘Look, sorry, but I have to do this, then I have to fill out a form, and if I don’t I’ll get in trouble. So if I could just come in and sit down and ask you some nosy questions, then I can fuck off and leave you alone.’

Tom sighed. ‘Fine. Beer? You allowed?’

Seb checked his watch. ‘It’s nearly four twenty, which is nearly four thirty, which is nearly five, so yeah.’

Tom headed inside toward the kitchen. Seb followed him halfway and plopped onto a couch in a tidy, functional lounge room orientated around the shrine of television. Tom returned, passed him a can of VB and sat in an armchair.

‘So … how have you been?’ Seb began.

‘Work. Home. Out with the boys. You know.’

‘Feeling …?’

‘Fine. Ish. I lived alone for a few years before Karen. She came, it was great for a few weeks, shit for a few more, then she vanished. I reported her missing and you told me to piss off.’

‘Well … yeah, sorry about that. We’re actually not allowed to classify someone missing unless … anyway, sorry. You were right. Umm … you knew she was having an affair with Joe before she died?’

‘Yep.’

‘How?’

‘Got suss, looked at her phone. Text messages.’

‘You would have been pissed off at Joe.’

‘Wanted to smash him. Shouldn’t say that to a cop, I spose. But then a bit later I kinda thought, it takes two to tango. Like, I can’t just blame him, can I? She was going off me, fuckin’ obvious now I look back on it, but you don’t want to see it at the time. If it wasn’t Joe, woulda been someone else.’

‘Do you think he killed her?’

‘You’re the cop.’

‘Just wanted your opinion.’

He shrugged. ‘Dunno. The other cop I spoke to seemed to think so.’

‘Simmonds? From Homicide?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Was there anyone Karen confided in? Talked to?’

‘Up here? Hadn’t really made friends yet. She worked in the shop with Sue, but they didn’t get on that well.’

‘Sydney friends?’

‘Yeah, she wrote a couple of letters to … what was her name? Naomi.’

‘Letters or emails?’

‘Letters. Said she was on some digital detox.’

Homicide would have looked at Karen’s emails and texts, but were less likely to have seen her letters.

‘Did you tell the other police about the letters?’

‘Don’t think so. They were asking me what I was doing the night she disappeared, which was a bit scary. Lucky I was with people. Then they asked me a hundred questions about Joe.’

‘Know Naomi’s last name?’

‘Nah, sorry.’

‘Phone number? Do you have Karen’s phone?’

‘I thought you said you came here cos you were worried about me?’

‘I am. But if she’s Karen’s friend, I should make sure she knows Karen’s dead. Homicide never do any of that.’

‘Right. Yeah, I’ve got her phone. Know her passcode. I’ll send you the number.’

‘Thanks.’ Seb got up. ‘Sorry to intrude. Anything you need, just call me.’

‘There is something else I didn’t tell them other cops.’

Seb sat back down.

‘Bit embarrassing. The night Karen disappeared, I umm … I was at Joe’s house. Not inside.’

‘What? You were watching his house?’

‘After dinner, she said she was going for a walk. I was going to tennis, but I followed her, cos I was suss. She walked down the hill. I saw her knock on Joe’s door, kiss him and go inside.’

‘That can’t have been much fun.’

‘Wasn’t fun, no.’

‘And after she went in …’

‘I hid in that clump of bushes between Joe’s house and the jetty. Just stayed there. Felt kind of frozen.’

‘Wow.’

‘Yeah. After a while I left, which was pretty smart for me, cos if I’d been there when she came out, I would have done something stupid. Only missed like the first fifteen minutes of tennis, told the boys I got a flat tyre.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me when you came in and reported her missing?’

‘Cos I didn’t want to say I’d been hiding there, did I? Isn’t that stalking or something?’

‘And when Homicide questioned you, you didn’t tell them?’

‘They suspected me of killing her. I was shitting meself, so no.’

‘Okay. Thanks, Tom.’

‘Wait. Here’s why I’m telling you. I reckon there could have been someone else there, too. Outside Joe’s.’

‘You saw someone?’

‘Not saw exactly. More kind of sensed. Like, it was dark and there’s plenty of places to hide. Trees, the bus stop, bushes. I don’t know. I just reckon there was. And then when I left, if they were still there …’

‘But you didn’t see anyone?’

‘Not specifically. But I just reckon … there could have been.’

*

Driving back to the station, Seb wondered if there was anything in what Tom reckoned he might have not seen exactly, but kind of sensed. Unlikely. He would have been upset and agitated at the time, and probably imagined it.

As Seb pulled into his driveway his phone pinged. Tom, sending him the number of Karen’s friend, Naomi. Perhaps she’d know something useful.