by Amos, Gina
Brennan opened her eyes but closed them again. He heard her shallow breathing. He cradled her head. ‘Jill, for God’s sake, say something.’ He called her name again and brushed her hair back from her face.
‘Nick?’
‘It’s okay, it’s okay. Don't talk. An ambulance is on its way.’
She struggled to sit up.
‘Take it easy.’ He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her.
‘Where’s William?
‘Gone.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
He walked out of the drab hospital building, blinked and looked up at the clear, morning sky. It was quiet and warm and only a few people were about. The hospital’s cafe had just opened its doors. He could do with a coffee, but decided not to linger, he had work to do.
Jill was wearing a blue hospital gown. She opened her eyes and touched her cheek. Her face felt like it had been rammed against a brick wall. A nurse walked into the room with a clipboard.
‘Am I dead?’ Jill asked.
‘No, you’re not dead,’ the nurse laughed. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Had better days.’
The memory of last night came to her in fragments. The nurse felt Jill’s pulse and took her blood pressure.
‘I’ve just started my shift, but one of the nurses on duty last night told me your boyfriend insisted on staying with you last night. He only left when he was satisfied you were going to be okay. Where do you find guys like that?’
Jill didn’t know what to make of William and was surprised by the depth of feeling he obviously had for her. She felt guilty. She had treated him badly. She squinted from a slit in her eye and looked out the window across to the multi-decked car park of Royal North Shore Hospital. The day outside was bright; the sky was blue, cloudless. She would rather be anywhere, but here.
Five days later and every inch of her body still hurt like hell. Jill returned to the station and all eyes were on her. She was on her way down to the canteen when she passed Rimis in the hall.
‘You sure you should be back at work? You know you don’t have to be here.’
‘Yes, boss, I’m fine,’ she lied. Her head ached and her ribs hurt. Luckily her nose wasn’t broken. She didn’t know what she would do if she sneezed.
‘I’m on my way out now, but come and see me later.’ He walked on but turned around and called out to her. ‘Sure you’re okay?’
She smiled but she didn’t turn around for him to see it. ‘Sure.’
She walked into the canteen and searched her pockets for a couple of coins. She grabbed a can of soft drink from the vending machine and took a seat in the corner.
Luke Rawlings pushed his chair back from the next table, walked over and sat down across from her.
‘You sure you should be back at work so soon? You’ve got a real shiner there.’
Her face was covered in purple, yellow and green bruises. She was aware of how she must look. ‘I’m on desk duties until further notice.’
‘Want to talk?’
Jill looked at him. ‘I can’t believe what Kevin did. He’s not the first person to have a bad start in life.’
‘Maybe it was about the power. After all those years of beatings and being treated the way he was, maybe he wanted to know what it felt like to be in control, to inflict some suffering on someone else.’
‘His neighbours must have known what was going on. They would have heard the screams, seen the bruises.’
‘Different times. Back then, kids were always getting a hiding.’
‘I wonder if Nora ever felt guilty.’
‘Who knows, maybe she did in the end.’
Jill didn’t know what to do with herself. She felt like she had been run over by a bus. She should have taken extra time off. All she could think of doing right now was going for a swim, tasting the ocean, throwing herself beneath the waves like she used to do with her father. Her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. ‘Sorry, Luke. I have to take this.’ It was William. She waited for Luke to walk away before she answered the call.
‘How are you?’ William asked.
‘I’m okay. I’m back at work.’
‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’
Why does everyone keep asking me that? ‘I’d rather be working than sitting around at home feeling sorry for myself. There’s not much you can do for a few bruises and some broken ribs, apart from taking paracetamol.’ She tried to laugh.
‘Look Jill, I wanted to apologise for not hanging around the other night. With all the commotion, I couldn’t handle it. I waited downstairs for the paramedics to arrive and I knew Nick was with you, so I went home.’
Rimis? He must have been the one at her bedside. ‘Look William, I know this has all been a bit crazy but —’
‘Don’t say anything. We both know it would never have worked. What you went through with Kevin, I don’t think I could handle knowing every day you went to work you might not come home.’
‘It’s the job. It’s what I do.’
Jill knocked on Rimis’s office door and walked in. She was on her way home. Her shift had just finished. Rimis was at the window with his back to her and his hands in his pockets.
He turned around and looked at her. ‘Sit down, Brennan. Anyone told you, you look like shit?’
She smiled for the first time in days. ‘Thanks, boss. You really know how to make a girl feel good about herself.’ She sat down and crossed her arms against her chest.
‘How are the ribs? Want to take some more time off?’ Rimis sat down in his high-backed office chair.
‘No, they’re fine, it just hurts now and again if I move the wrong way, or if I laugh.’
‘You should take things easy until you’re fully recovered.’
‘The pain killers are kicking in nicely.’
Rimis studied her for a moment. ‘If you harden yourself against it, it’ll go away,’ he said.
‘The pain you mean?’
‘No, thinking about Kevin Taggart.’
Jill looked at him. She was surprised and embarrassed by what he could see in her, but she was also surprised by what she saw in him. If she didn’t know any better, she would say he was actually worried about her. ‘You were right about Kevin. I should have listened to you.’
‘If you are going to make a good detective, you have to learn to trust your instincts.’
‘How did Kevin slip through the cracks when he was a child? The Blake sisters must have known about the abuse.’
‘It might explain why they were so kind to him,’ Rimis said.
‘Might also explain why he killed them.’
Instead of going home after her shift ended, Jill drove to the Dunworth. She felt guilty she had used Bea’s friendship to get a job at the gallery. She tried not to think what would have happened if Kevin Taggart hadn’t agreed to exhibit his paintings. Would Freddie and Paloma still be alive? Would Kevin be a free man now, going unpunished for the women he’d murdered?
‘What are you doing here?’ Bea walked out from the office and wrapped her arms around Jill. After she released her, she stood back and took a good look at her. ‘You look like a prize fighter with that black eye.’
A flash of pain shot across her ribs and Jill held her chest. ‘I’m fine, just a few bruises.’ She shut her eyes to stop the tears. ‘If you really want to know, I’ve had better days.’
‘What’s happened now?’
Jill bit down on her lip and looked around at the paintings on the wall. It was the opening of the Byron Willis exhibition tomorrow. She swallowed hard and sat down on the timber floor. ‘It’s all got a bit much. I’m such a mess Bea, I don’t think I can go back.’
‘What do you mean, you can’t go back?’ Bea sat down on the floor beside her and held her hands.
‘It’s no use, Dad was right, I haven’t got what it takes.’ Jill could feel her eyes welling up again. ‘On the way over here, I tried to kid myself it was all part of the job, but what happe
ned with Kevin… It was just horrible. I haven’t been sleeping,’ she said. ‘I’ve been having these terrible nightmares.’
‘What about counselling? Have they offered it to you?’
‘Yes, of course, it’s policy, but I said no.’ Jill wondered if she should tell her about Morrissey’s claims that her father was corrupt?
‘Are you crazy? After what you’ve been through? And why the hell are you back at work? You should be on sick leave. What about that boss of yours, Nick Rimis? What does he say about all of this?’
Jill stared at the wall.
‘Jill?’
‘He’s been supportive. I’m on light duties, but —’
‘What is it?’
‘Maybe I should come to work here at the Gallery, opt out for a quieter life, surround myself with beautiful things and leave the ugly side of life to those who can handle it.’
Bea grabbed hold of her friend’s shoulders. ‘For as long as I’ve known you, all you’ve ever wanted was to become a detective. Are you listening to me? When you first told me you’d resigned and you came to work here, I couldn’t believe it.’
‘I’m not cut out for the job. Look at me, I’m twenty-eight years old, no family, no friends.’
‘What are you talking about no family, no friends. Isn’t that what I am? What Harry and Callum are? Remember the day we first met?’ Bea asked. ‘You were the new girl at Maroubra Public. You told me you were Jillian Eleanor Brennan, you were ten years old, and you were going to be a policeman when you grew up. And I said, you were a girl, so you had to be a policewoman.’
Jill wiped away the tears with the back of her hand.
‘I wanted to be an air hostess, remember?’ Bea said.
‘Yeah, I remember.’ Jill laughed.
Bea helped Jill to her feet. ‘You’ll get through this; you’ve got through worse. Look, I’m about to close up here. Let’s go next door to the Tapas bar and have a drink.’
Jill looked at her friend. ‘Sounds good,’ she said, ‘and Bea —’
‘What?’ Bea stared at Jill.
‘I want you to know, I forgive you for trying to set me up with Scott Carver. But next time you try something like that, I’m going to have to kill you.’
They both laughed and headed out through the front door.
CHAPTER THIRTY
It was early evening, the tide was out. Jill walked down the stairs to the stretch of sand and the first thing she saw were the plastic red roses tied to a steel post. Taped to the wrapping was a photo of Paloma Browne.
It felt good to be away from the Station. She sat down, removed her shoes and dug her feet into the sand. Out on the river, she heard the ruffle and snap of a sail. She looked up and saw a small boat turning its prow into the wind. It sailed past. The wind dropped and there was silence again. She concentrated on her breathing, closed her eyes and tried to conjure up a pleasant memory. She would have liked to have had her father here with her now, to tell him about the Blake murders, about Kevin Taggart, Freddie Winfred, about Morrissey and of what he had been prepared to do, to cover his back. Her father would have been proud to know her art qualifications had given her the confidence to take on the undercover assignment.
‘You’ve chosen a strange place to meet,’ Rimis said.
Jill jumped. She hadn’t heard him approach. She pushed her shoes aside with her bare feet.
He sat down beside her and looked out at the river. ‘You can’t imagine anything terrible happening here, can you? It’s so peaceful.’ Rimis said.
He stretched his legs out in front of him and looked over to where Paloma’s body had washed up. A stray dog approached. It lifted his head and barked. Rimis patted it, then pushed it away.
‘What worries me is that if Vladu did kill Paloma Browne, he’ll probably get away with it,’ Jill said.
‘Interpol is involved now. If I know anything about small-time criminals like Nicolae Vladu, he’ll probably latch onto someone else. He might even get involved with the Romanian Mafia. If he does, he could end up being a liability to them. His days are numbered, no matter which way you look at it.’
Jill pulled her hair out from her ponytail and shook her head. She dug her feet deeper into the sand.
‘Find anything out from the solicitor?’ He loosened his tie, drew his knees up to his chest.
‘Max West wasn’t going to tell me, he’d promised my father. I had to practically drag it out of him. Morrissey lied to me. Dad wasn’t on the take. The money for my schooling came from some family heirlooms. The jewellery was to have been handed down from mother to daughter, from one generation to the next. Dad sold them to pay off the loan he had for my school fees and to pay for my university fees. I never knew he was ashamed that he couldn’t provide for me in the way he wanted to, but Dad was always practical. I’m sure he thought my mother wouldn’t have minded.’ She picked up a handful of sand and watched it run through her fingers. ‘It’s my biggest regret, you know.’
‘What? That you didn’t get to see the family jewels?’ Rimis asked.
‘No, that I can’t remember my mother. You’d think I could remember something, wouldn’t you?’
‘With memories, it’s usually the worst ones that stick around; the pleasant ones drift away,’ Rimis said.
Jill looked at him and wondered if he was referring to Kevin Taggart or to himself. ‘The solicitor couldn’t explain the fifty-thousand dollars. It was a cash deposit, banked at the Commonwealth Bank in George Street in the city.’
‘I can help you there,’ Rimis said. ‘Morrissey confessed to everything. He banked the money into Mickey’s account. It was a form of insurance, in case Mickey was ever tempted to report him. I don’t know whether Mickey knew anything about the theft, but Col thought he did. The only problem was, once the money was in his account, Morrissey couldn’t get his hands on it again. He could never have predicted Mickey would be shot two days after he’d banked the money.
‘Funny about people, isn't it? You think you know them, but you don't really. I would never have thought Morrissey capable of half the things he's admitted to.’
‘So why did he even bother to tell me about what he was up to?’
‘You were a threat to him. You were getting too close to Chisca and he was worried he might let you in on a few secrets.’
They sat together in silence for the next five minutes.
‘You and I, we’re alike, you know,’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘We’re both loners.’
‘So, you heard my wife left me?’
‘Not that. Not even because I know you live on your own. I think it’s in your nature. I think that’s why the job suits us both.’
It was Rimis who broke the silence. ‘There’s a pub down the road. Want to get something to eat?’
The next morning, Jill walked into the station. Waiting to hear the results of the Bull Ring interview was killing her, but at least life was getting back to normal. Though she wasn’t sure what normal was anymore. Her black eye was fading and her ribs weren’t hurting as much thanks to the painkillers she was taking.
When she overtook Luke Rawlings on the stairs, he looked at her and winked. Jenny Choi rushed past her with files under her arm in the corridor and grinned at her on her way out to a call. It seemed everyone, including the duty sergeant, was in a good mood this morning. When she passed Rimis’s office, the door was open and he called out to her.
‘Brennan, I’ve got a letter here for you. But maybe it’s not for you.’
She looked at him, puzzled. Rimis got to his feet and walked out from his office. He waved the envelope in front of her.
‘It’s addressed to Plain Clothes Constable Brennan.’
‘What did you say?’ Her eyes widened and her face broke into a large smile.
‘And, you’ve been fast tracked. You start the detective’s education programme next month.’
Jill hugged him, kissed him on the cheek. Rimis blushed.
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br /> ‘I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it,’ she said. She walked away, almost running, but she wasn’t sure where she was going. Halfway down the corridor, she remembered the letter and ran back to him and grabbed it from his hand.
‘You’ll make a great detective one day, Brennan. You’ve got the nose for it, you know what I mean?’
Jill smiled. She knew exactly what Nick Rimis meant.
END
