by Grace York
That brought her to Ivy. As far as she could see Ivy and Patrick had been getting on quite well before his murder. She noticed them sitting in the back garden a couple of times, where they seemed deep in discussion. They'd only known each other for two weeks, and Addison couldn't think of any possible motive for Ivy to want Patrick dead.
The other person present at the time of the murder was Ivy's brother, Dan. He should be considered as well. A cyber security expert in town on business, he'd brought his family with him and took time out to visit his sister. He didn't strike Addison as a murderer, either. What possible motive could he have? Unless Addison had been mistaken about Ivy and Patrick getting on so well. Patrick could be abrupt and even rude when he didn't like someone – maybe he and Dan had got off on the wrong foot and Dan was protecting his sister?
It sounded ridiculous even as Addison wrote it, but she couldn't discount anything. This case was indeed baffling.
There were the other facts to consider, too. How did the killer get out of the room when both doors were locked from the inside? And what was the secret project Patrick had appeared to be working on before he died? Did it have something to do with his death? Was that why his laptop was stolen? Addison wished Senior Constable Short had been able to take a closer look at that computer while they still had it.
She finished her coffee and realised she hadn't touched her slice of cake. She closed the notebook for now and picked up her fork, sliding it through the icing and into the cake. It looked good and tasted even better. The coconut milk gave it an interesting twist. She hoped it hit the spot with Hazel's vegan tourist crowd.
She was wondering what to do next to take her mind off Patrick's murder when Olivia called.
"Hi, sweetheart," she said, answering her mobile phone. "Don't you have classes this morning?"
"Hi, Mum. I just finished, now I have a break until after lunch. I thought I'd call and see how you were doing. Is there any news?"
Addison filled her daughter in on Louie's arrest, as well as her own suspicions and difficulties understanding the case.
"There are just too many loose ends," she said once she'd brought Olivia up to date.
"The stalker sounds promising," said Olivia. "Did you say the police couldn't find her?"
"Isaac said they did, and she was in London like Patrick's sister said. So that's a dead end."
"Oh, right. So nothing on her website then."
"No. Well we couldn't find anything like the website Marilyn described. All we found was a really plain-looking site that we figured Patrick must have set up himself. It just has his books listed, and a short bio. Nothing helpful."
"Okay. Send me a link to that and I'll take a look. Just to be sure."
"Don't you have that assignment to work on?"
"Finished it last night," said Olivia. Addison could hear the smile in her voice.
"Oh, well done. Okay, I'll email you as soon as I get off the phone. How's everything else going?"
Olivia chatted for a while about the various happenings at uni, including her courses, the friends she'd made, and who was dating who. There was no mention of a love interest in her own life, and Addison didn't ask. Olivia had plenty of time for that.
"I'd better go, Mum. I'm meeting Jayne for coffee. I'll see you this weekend. Send me that link."
"Will do. Bye, love."
Addison ended the call with a smile on her face. Talking to Olivia always made her happy. She looked forward to seeing her daughter when she came home at the weekend. For now, though, she'd better get moving. The kitchen was still a mess from this morning's baking, and Jason would be back any minute to fix the door. Plus, she had to send that link to Olivia. Maybe her daughter could see something the rest of them were missing.
26
Addison was in the middle of cleaning the kitchen when Jason returned from the hardware store in Riverwood.
"Did you get everything you need?" she asked, wiping her hands on a tea towel.
"Yep. I should have it as good as new in no time. Has there been any word from Wilcox?"
"No, not yet. They were searching Louie's house, and then he was going to interview him again once the lawyer arrived. I expect that will keep him busy for most of the day."
Jason nodded, and Addison could tell he was still troubled by his friend's arrest. So was she, to be honest. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that Louie was innocent. Well, innocent of murder, at least.
"Do you think we're missing something?" Jason asked, pausing at the base of the stairs.
"I think a lot of things don't add up," said Addison. She explained all the notes she'd made this morning while he'd been gone.
"Yeah. I can't get past the fact that Louie barely even knew Patrick. And I don't buy the cocaine thing. No way would Louie touch that stuff."
"Well if that's the case, he should have nothing to worry about. If he didn't do it, he needs to tell Isaac where he was for those five minutes, then he'll be off the hook."
Jason sighed. "Let's hope he realises that. He can be a bit pig-headed at times. I'm going to get to work."
He headed off up the stairs with his toolbox and bag of supplies, leaving Addison to her work in the kitchen. She was wiping down the bench when she realised she'd forgotten to email Olivia.
She opened the door to her office, but her laptop wasn't on her desk. She could have sworn that's where she'd left it. Maybe she'd taken it up to her room last night.
It wasn't there either. Addison started to panic. She checked all over her bedroom, on the floor, even under the bed, although she knew she wouldn't have put it there. Where could it be?
She went up the second flight of stairs and knocked on Adam's door.
"Come in," he called.
"Hi," she said, recoiling a little at the mess in his room. She was glad she'd stipulated that they cleaned their own rooms when she took on her boarders. "Have you seen my laptop?" she asked.
Adam shook his head. "Not since we were all working downstairs last night. Where did you leave it?"
"I was sure I put it away in my office, but it's not there now."
"And it's not in your bedroom?"
"No."
"Did you lock your office door?"
"N…No." Addison realised she should have, after everything that had happened. She'd started locking her bedroom door, which contained the master key to all the rooms, but she hadn't even thought about locking her office. She felt stupid.
"Okay, let's not panic," said Adam. "It has to be here somewhere. We'll ask Amelie."
They did so, and Amelie asked the same questions Adam had. Where did she leave it, has she looked everywhere, and so on. Together they searched the house but came up with nothing. Even Jason got roped in once he'd finished fixing the door.
"It's not here," said Addison. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Me too," said Adam. "Maybe you should call Detective Wilcox."
Addison nodded, but before she could make the call her phone rang. "Speak of the devil," she said, and answered it.
"We've let him go," said Isaac before Addison could get a word in.
"Oh, what happened?" She put him on speaker so the others could listen in.
"Long story. But basically we found a small amount of marijuana at Louie's house. No cocaine, no money, nothing to indicate any sort of drug operation. His lawyer arrived, and advised him to tell us what he knew."
"Which was?" Addison asked. She could hear traffic noise in the background. It sounded like he was driving.
"Turns out he did hear Ivy scream. He was smoking pot behind the shed out in the back garden. He took his time getting into the house because he was busy hiding the evidence."
Addison watched Jason's face as he first sighed with relief, then got cross. She figured Louie might be off the hook for murder, but he'd lost his boss's trust.
"He also has an alibi for the night the laptop was stolen from the police station," Wilcox added.
"You're sure it's missing? You haven't just misplaced it?"
"We've looked everywhere," said Addison. "It's not here."
Wilcox sighed. "All right. I'm on my way."
Addison thanked him and ended the call. "Who's hungry?" she said. “It’s lunch time, we might as well eat while we wait.”
Before she got the chance to start making sandwiches Addison's phone rang again. This time it was Olivia.
"Hi sweetheart," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't send you that link—"
"It's okay, Mum," Olivia cut her off. "I found it myself. That's why I'm calling, actually. I found something you're going to want to take a look at. I've sent you an email. Can you open your computer?"
"Well that's the reason I didn't send you the link." Addison explained her missing laptop. Olivia said a word Addison couldn't repeat.
"You really need to take a look at what I found," she added.
Addison looked at the others. Adam, Amelie, and Jason were all staring at her. She had an idea. "Can you email the link to Adam?"
"Sure. Give me his email address."
Addison did so, and Adam raced upstairs to get his laptop. By the time he returned and set it up on the kitchen counter the email from Olivia had come through. He clicked on the link she'd sent, and a page came up that looked similar to the website they'd found last night. This one had a lot more words, though.
Addison asked Olivia to explain.
"From what I can make out it's a secret blog Patrick had been keeping. He hid it pretty well, he obviously didn't want anyone to find it yet. There are almost two weeks' worth of entries. You need to read them, Mum. It's about something from his past. A woman had conned some money from him years ago, and by the looks of it he'd found her."
Addison looked at Amelie, who appeared as confused as she was. She turned her attention back to Adam's screen. He was flicking through the entries, reading too fast for Addison to keep up.
"Holy cow," he said, pointing to the screen. "Read that."
Addison did so. A chill ran down her spine as the events of the last few days combined with this new information to paint a new picture.
A con artist. Stolen money. Missing laptop. Conversations in the garden. Suddenly everything made sense.
Addison took the stairs two at a time. She tried the door to Ivy's room, but it was locked. She crossed the hall to her own room, got the master key out of her jewellery box, and unlocked Ivy's door. The others crowded behind her as she flung the door open.
The room was empty.
27
"Mum! Mum, what's happening?"
Addison had forgotten about Olivia, who was clearly still on the other end of the phone clutched in her hand. She lifted it to her ear.
"It's all right, sweetheart. We'll figure it out. I have to go. I'll call you back as soon as I can."
Addison ended the call before Olivia could protest. She felt bad for cutting her daughter off, but she needed to think.
"It was Ivy?" said Amelie, confusion written across her face.
"Didn't you read Patrick's blog?" said Adam. "He recognised her. She was the one who stole his parents' money fifteen years ago. She'd just used a different name then."
"I thought that was a lie?"
"Evidently not," said Adam. He stepped into Ivy's bedroom, and Addison followed. It was as empty as the day she'd let it to the woman three weeks ago. Not a single personal item remained. Ivy was gone.
Addison's mind raced. How could Ivy have killed Patrick, then posed his body to make it look like suicide? She didn't look strong enough. Unless…
The vision of Ivy trying to get into the locked room came sharply into Addison's focus, followed by her brother pushing her aside and breaking down the door. Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
"It was both of them," she said. She left Ivy's room and walked down the corridor to Patrick's. The door was now closed. Addison turned the fresh handle Jason had just installed and pushed it open.
"What do you mean, both of them?" asked Jason.
"Ivy and Dan. They did it together. That's why we couldn't figure out how they got out of the locked room. They didn't."
"Yes they did," said Amelie. "They were outside with us. Weren't they?"
"I know what she means," said Adam. "They didn't get out of the locked room because the room wasn't locked."
"But… oh, right," said Amelie, finally catching on. "Ivy was the one who came upstairs to find him. She and Dan were the only ones who tried the door."
"That's right," said Addison. "They told us it was locked, and in the panic we believed them. Then Dan broke the door down before anyone else could try it." She bent down to look at the door knob. It had a lock that you turn on the inside, which released a small bolt into the catch on the door frame. It then required a key to open from the outside. "Is this the same kind of lock that was on the old handle?" she asked Jason.
"Yes."
Addison flicked the lock back and forward, which pushed the bolt in and out.
"What are you thinking?" asked Adam.
"Dan kicked the door in with a lot of force," she said. "I think he did that deliberately to make as much mess as possible, so we wouldn't notice it hadn't been locked. And when we all rushed in to check on Patrick, Ivy could have easily just clicked the lock on the knob like this to make it look like it had been locked. The rest of us were too focused on Patrick's body to notice her do it."
"Wow," said Adam. "That makes sense. So no need to hide in the wardrobe, then. They were right here with us the whole time."
"We'd better call Wilcox," said Addison.
"No," said Amelie. "He's already on his way here. You've got a more important call to make."
"To who?" asked Addison.
"Your bank. Dan accessed your laptop the other day, remember? They made you log into your bank account. And now your laptop is missing. Call the bank fast, Addison, and freeze your accounts. If Ivy and Dan are con artists, you could lose everything."
28
Addison was on the phone to the bank when Isaac arrived. She half listened as Adam, Jason, and Amelie hurriedly explained their theory about Ivy and Dan. Adam showed him the secret blog Olivia had uncovered.
By the time she'd finished speaking to the bank he'd called Short and every police vehicle in Queensland was looking for Ivy and Dan.
"How did you go?" asked Adam when she finally put down the phone.
"They'd made a transfer out of my account this morning," she said. "Ten thousand dollars."
"What? Oh no."
Addison held up a hand. "It's okay. The bank was able to reverse it, and they've frozen my accounts now too. But there's something else."
"What?" asked Isaac. They were all staring at her.
"It looks like they were trying to steal my identity to take out credit cards and a loan. They were about to put me into some serious debt."
"But the bank shut it down, right?" asked Adam.
"Yes, it's all okay. I called them in time. Thanks, Amelie. Your quick thinking just saved me a lot of money."
Amelie smiled. "I'm glad." She turned to Isaac. "You can't let them get away with Patrick's murder."
"They won't get far, don't worry," he said. "I'm sorry this has happened," he said to Addison. "I was on the wrong track with Louie."
"You were just doing your job," said Addison. "You have to follow the evidence. I understand why you thought it was Louie. He did do something wrong."
"Are you charging him?" Jason asked Wilcox.
The detective shook his head. "I've got better things to do. I suspect having to answer to you will be punishment enough for him."
"Too right," said Jason.
"I've got to go," said Isaac. "Short has started the ball rolling to find them, but…"
"We understand," said Addison. "Is there anything we can do?"
Isaac sh
ook his head. "No. It's up to me now. I should have looked closer at them before. I'm sorry it almost cost you so much."
"Almost, but not quite." She touched his shoulder. "Go find them, Isaac. Make sure they don't get away with murder."
When he'd gone, Addison and the others stood around the kitchen at a loose end.
"I feel like we should be doing something," said Amelie.
"Is it too early for a beer?" said Adam. He had half a smile on his face, and Addison realised he was only half joking. It felt a bit like that.
“Let’s have another go at lunch," said Addison. "Amelie, help me to make some sandwiches, will you?"
"Not for me, thanks," said Jason. "I'm going to go find Louie. We need to have a little chat."
Addison was about to tell him not to be too hard on Louie, but stopped herself. Louie had done the wrong thing, and then kept quiet about it. If he'd been upfront about smoking marijuana on the job in the first place, Isaac wouldn't have wasted so much time.
"Thanks for fixing the door," Addison said, and waved Jason goodbye.
That left the three of them. Amelie started pulling sandwich fillings out of the fridge, while Adam went back to his laptop. Addison watched them for a minute. A week ago she'd had a houseful of happy boarders. Or at least she thought she had. Now one was dead, and another was on the run for murder.
Maybe she wasn't cut out for this.
"It's not your fault," said Adam, peering at her over the top of his computer screen. "Get that sad look off your face, Addison. You didn't ask for this."
"No, I didn't. I can't help but feel responsible, though. One of my boarders actually murdered another one."
"Ivy was never one of your boarders though," said Amelie. "Not really. We all came here because you advertised a happy house by the beach where we could live and work creatively. That's what you offer, and that's what we came for. But Ivy didn't come for that. She was obviously only here to steal your identity. That's not your fault."
