Tangled

by Uc Amalu, Jr

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Ben studied the old timber home. It was in serious need

  of some repair and looked as though it had seen it’s glory

  days many years ago. The cream paint on the

  weatherboards was peeling in chunks, the verandah

  railing was bowing outwards away from the house and

  the old louvres encasing the face of the home were

  chipped and covered thickly with dust. It was far from what

  he had imagined it would be. When he thought of youth

  hostels, a picture of a neat brick premises sprang to

  mind. Or at least something a bit tidier, anyhow.

  He read the sheet of paper Anna had given him last night

  and memorised the young girl’s description before

  folding the paper into a small neat square and sliding it

  back into his pocket. He had slept terribly last night. He

  tossed and turned and couldn’t shake the fear that this

  young Sarah Robertson may have fallen prey to the

  monster that murdered Tessa, Kylie-Anne and Marla. Not

  that there was concrete evidence to support their theory of

  one murderer, it was just a fairly loose assumption that

  he and Jay were working with. Anna’s lies or omissions

  had played on his mind all night. No matter how he tried

  to explain her actions away, she was looking guilty as hell

  of something. He was certain she was not the murderer.

  He knew she had issues, but a murderer? No, she was

  capable of many things, he was aware of that, but getting

  her hands dirty with something such as the nature of

  these crimes didn’t sound like her. However time was

  ticking away and he was running out of approaches with

  her. She needed to start telling him the truth about

  anything, everything she knew. Even though she had

  given him a small piece of information to go on last

  night, he still had the feeling that she was sitting on a

  volcano of knowledge and pretty soon, that volcano was

  going to erupt. He just needed it to happen soon.

  He stood at the front door of the hostel. His eyes scanned

  the verandah on his left and on his right. There was

  nothing odd or out of place that he could see. The fly

  screen door squealed and screeched under the pressure

  of his hand prying it open, the high pitched noise

  reminded him of fingernails being drawn across a black-

  board. A shiver ran down his spine. With his other hand,

  Ben wrapped loudly on the heavy white door. He heard the

  sound of voices from inside, laughing, talking and some

  bickering, everything one would expect when a handful of

  teens were picked from the street and crammed into a

  halfway house together.

  Just when he was about to knock again, the door flew

  open and a young girl barged through, her head turned

  back towards the inside of the house. She was still yelling

  obscenities and abuse when she ran right into Ben, nearly

  knocking them both to the ground.

  “Watch what you’re doing. Couldn’t ya see I was trying to

  get through?” She snapped at him after regaining her

  balance. Her eyes bored into him. Ben was struck with

  how much hatred appeared to be present in her face.

  Clearly her time on the unforgiving streets of Showsdale

  had put its stamp on her.

  “Excuse me,” he replied, opting to let her harshness slide

  off his back.

  “Yeah, well get outta the way next time, will ya?”

  “I said I was sorry,” he answered, standing his ground a

  little firmer now.

  “Yeah, well sorry don’t do jack for me, buddy.” The girl

  stormed past him and contin-ued on her way out of the

  hostel.

  Ben followed her path for a few seconds before returning

  his attentions to the open front door. Inside on the left he

  could see a small office window with a buzzer mounted on

  the wall next to it. He stepped inside and pressed it. Then

  turned, waiting for someone to greet him. The music and

  conversation deeper inside the house grew louder, he saw

  a young girl with black hair poke her head out from

  behind a wall, looking down the hallway at him. She

  disappeared and then he heard a voice yell, “There’s some

  guy at the front door.”

  Within seconds a group of three or four teens gathered in

  the doorway, all whispering and giggling with each other,

  staring at Ben before turning back to each other and

  whispering and giggling some more. They reminded him

  of the girls who hung out in the hallways when he was at

  school. They’d all stand in the hallways leading into the

  classrooms chatting about boys and the latest hot topics

  and rate each boy as he walked past them and into the

  class. He recalled how he often heard them rate him as a

  ‘hottie with a cute smile’. The memory brought a

  reminiscent smile to his face.

  “Can I help you?” a woman of about thirty or so

  approached from the end of the hall.

  “I hope so. I am looking for someone and I’m hoping she

  might be staying here.” He produced his I.D. from his

  pocket and held it out to her.

  The woman read the credentials quickly before saying,

  “Please come with me, Detective Payne.”

  “Call me Ben,” he replied, following her into the tiny office

  on his left.

  The office was only about six feet square, barely big

  enough to swing a mouse, let alone a cat. The walls were

  freshly painted a light shade of lemon but obviously the

  budget hadn’t allowed for the ceiling to be included in the

  makeover. Chips of paint were lifting on the corners and

  around the light fitting. Although the rest of the paint was

  still stuck, it was cracking terribly and reminded him of

  the pattern on Easter eggs.

  “Take a seat, Ben. I’m Julie Allistaire.” she paused while

  she pulled her chair out and sat down. “I’m the keeper of

  this fine establishment.” She held her arms up the way

  one does when they are showcasing their finest assets. A

  broad smile of sarcasm on her plain face.

  Ben sat opposite her and made himself as comfortable as

  was possible in the hard stu-dent’s chair he was offered.

  “I’m looking for a young girl by the name of Sarah

  Robertson, I was told she was staying here.”

  Julie’s head bowed down and a deep sigh escaped her.

  “What has she done this time, Detective? I should have

  known that girl couldn’t keep out of trouble for more than

  a week!” She ran her hands through her thick red hair and

  looked at him. “We have a strike system here and it’s not

  too well received by some of our girls, Sarah in particular.”

  “So Sarah is still residing here with you?”

  “Oh yes, she’s here.”

  Relief washed over Ben, one less young woman to turn up

  in a wooded grave. He slumped back into the unyielding

  chair and returned to their previous discussion.

  “You were saying something about a strike system?” Ben

  enquired.

  “Yes, each girl is given three chances to ke
ep their noses

  clean and stay out of trouble. If they stick to the rules they

  stay, if they don’t they get a strike against their name and

  when they have three of them, well…”

  “They’re out?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Seems a bit harsh.”

  “It is harsh, we need to be harsh. These girls end up here

  after being plucked from the streets, Ben. They’re usually

  hooked on drugs, starving, emotionally unbalanced and

  most are quite aggressive. If we didn’t display some

  expectation of behaviour on them, well, they would quite

  simply bring their street lives into our life. We simply

  don’t allow that.”

  Ben stared at her, considering the logic behind her

  expectations and rules.

  “I guess that’s fair,” he answered her.

  “Sarah is on strike number two at the moment, so your

  little visit today could be unwelcome news for her.” Julie

  slid her chair back, stood up and walked to the office

  door. She poked her head out and yelled, “Nat… Natalie.”

  A young blonde girl came rushing down the hallway to

  Julie. “Yeah?”

  “Tell Sarah to come here will you please?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks.” Julie returned to her chair and sat down again.

  “So what has she done this time?”

  Ben shook his head at her and was about to answer when

  a girl with short, light brown hair knocked at the door.

  “Come on in, Sarah,” Julie told her. Sarah smiled broadly

  and did what she was told. Ben noted her missing front

  tooth. This was definitely his girl.

  “This is Detective Ben Payne, he’s here to see you.” Julie

  motioned to Ben.

  Sarah’s smile soon turned to a scowl and she began to

  rant. “That dirty, skanky bitch! She told me she wouldn’t

  rat me out…”

  A grin ran across Ben’s face. He rose from his chair and

  said, “Take a seat Sarah.” He then turned to Julie and said,

  “May I speak with her in private?”

  Julie stared at him for a moment. “We usually like to

  accompany our girls when there are police matters

  involved, Ben.”

  “I assure you that this is not an official police matter and

  she has done nothing wrong. It is however, a private

  matter and I’d really appreciate a few minutes alone with

  her.”

  Julie reluctantly nodded at him and made her way to the

  door. “I’ll be right out here if you need me, Sarah.”

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  Ben closed the door and walked over to where Julie had

  been sitting. He made himself comfortable in her chair

  and then looked at Sarah.

  “So I wasn’t ratted out then?”

  A smile tugged at his lips, “No, you weren’t.”

  “Well good, cause I can tell ya now that it was that other

  ho’ who stole them cigarettes. Not me!”

  “Sarah,” Ben began, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re

  talking about and maybe we should keep it that way,

  hey?” He could barely contain the laughter that was

  building inside him. He had forgotten what it was like to

  be young, when every little thing was always someone

  else’s fault. It was refreshing.

  Sarah relaxed somewhat. “I can live with that. So what do

  ya want?”

  His expression turned more serious and he moved his

  chair a little closer to her. “This is a delicate matter, Sarah,

  and I don’t quite know how to broach it, so I’ll just let the

  words find their own way out, ok?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Yeah, right-o

  then.”

  “Sarah, some people have been worried about you and

  I’m just here to find out that you are ok.”

  “What people?”

  “Do you recall visiting a Wellness Clinic some time ago?”

  “Those sleazy slags.” she turned her head toward the

  office door, then leaned in towards Ben. “They promised

  me that all that stuff was confidential and that no-one

  would find out.” Her voice was a whisper.

  “It’s ok Sarah, Julie doesn’t know and I won’t tell her. This

  is between you and me, alright?”

  She loosened her shoulders and nodded her head in

  agreement. “So what about it anyway?”

  “They were concerned about you, when you didn’t show for

  your procedure and didn’t notify them that you were okay.

  They have your best interest at heart, they weren’t

  deliberately dobbing on you.”

  “Well, as you can see, I am fine. So they can stop worrying

  about me.”

  “Why didn’t you turn up for your procedure Sarah?” Ben

  asked.

  “Turns out I didn’t need to,” she casually replied. “After I

  saw some counselling chick the day before I was gonna

  get done, I came home and started bleeding real bad.”

  “You had a miscarriage?”

  “Yep.”

  “Did you go and see a doctor?”

  “Yeah, yeah… I’m not dumb you know. I went to the

  hospital and they kept me there for a night or two and

  sorted everything out. Julie was mad as hell when I turned

  up again though.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Stupid rules. Am supposed to report in every night so

  they know we’re here, y’know? And cause I’d been gone a

  couple of nights, she freaked and gave me a bloody strike!

  Nearly lost my spot here cause of all that mess.”

  “It looks as though you have it sorted out now though?”

  he smiled at her.

  “Yeah. You ain't gonna tell her what happened though are

  ya? I’ll get another strike and get booted out. It’s no great

  castle here, but is sure beats the street.”

  “Of course not, this is strictly between you and me Sarah. I

  won’t say a word.” He moved his hand over his lips,

  pretending to be pulling a zip across his mouth.

  She eyed him suspiciously and then said, “Thanks.”

  “I think we’re done,” Ben slapped his hands on his knees

  and got out of his chair. “Thanks for all your help Sarah,

  you can go now.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it,” he answered with a smile.

  “What about Julie? What are ya gonna tell her?”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll square it away with her for you.

  You won’t be getting any strikes from her.” He thought for

  a second before adding, “At least not from this incident

  anyhow.”

  Sarah laughed at him. “You’re pretty okay for a cop…” She

  left her chair and opened the door. A cheeky grin unfolded

  across her lips, “You got a cute smile, too!” With that she

  ran from the office and down the hall. Ben let out a small

  laugh and shook his head.

  “Everything okay?” Julie poked her head through the door.

  “Everything is just great,” he beamed at her. “Sarah just

  helped me out with a couple of enquiries I had. She’s not

  such a bad kid.”

  Yeah, tell that to me when she gets collared for

  shoplifting again, will
you?” Julie smiled at him weakly.