No One Can Hear You

by Nikki Crutchley

  ‘Oh, no, I don’t—’ Megan began.

  Donna stalked back to Megan’s mattress and grabbed her arm. ‘It wasn’t a question, Rose. And believe me, you’ll be begging for it in the next couple of days. Won’t she girls?’

  The girls nodded and smiled.

  ‘It’s going to be a busy night tonight so if you’re good, you’ll get a double dose.’

  One girl next to Megan clapped at this news.

  ‘A busy night?’ Megan asked Lily as she turned from what Donna was doing to her.

  ‘Lots of bookings. You’ll be on your back for the next six hours. Maybe more.’

  Megan winced as the needle broke her skin. She was no stranger to drugs. Meth, on a bad day, made her feel as though she could grab Garth by the shoulders and hurl him through a brick wall and on a good day she felt she could run five marathons. But the heroin, it was something else entirely. It coursed through her veins, wrapped its arms around her as she sank into the mattress that felt like feathers. She felt at peace: all the worries that had consumed her for the last few months fell to the side and were taken away, sliding under the door. She smiled. Lifting a hand to farewell them.

  ‘Good girl,’ said Donna, and Megan watched her float away.

  When one of the men led her upstairs an hour later, half-carrying her, she passed the door she and Tai had come through. A spark inside her told her to move her arm. She obeyed and reached for the door. It brushed against the steel and fell to her side. She felt the odd sensation of failing. She wasn’t sure why. But it made her sad, and she brushed the tears from her face as the man carried her into her room and laid her on the bed.

  Chapter 51

  Zoe was still constantly checking her phone just in case she’d missed a call from Emma or Detective Abernathy. She knew these things took time. She knew that just by giving the detective a few names the women weren’t going to magically appear. She was worried about Aroha. The Crawton Chronicle had featured a front-page story on the teen who had now been missing for four days. Aroha’s aunty was quoted as saying it was unlike her to stay away for so long, and that police had told her that even though her wallet, mobile and some clothes were missing, her debit card hadn’t been used or her savings account touched. Emma had confirmed that was all true.

  Faith was still in Crawton, feeling the need to hang around even when nothing was being done. They both felt they’d been given the pieces of three different jigsaw puzzles and asked to make a picture out of it. But as Emma reminded her, it was no longer Zoe’s jigsaw to put together. But she couldn't help it. Lillian had unwittingly made her a part of this and she wanted to see it through — had to.

  Zoe sat on a bench behind the science block on Friday at lunchtime, trying to remove herself from the gossip about Aroha that had managed to infiltrate the staffroom.

  ‘Hey.’ Alex appeared around the corner. ‘Can I join you?’

  ‘Of course.’ She moved along the seat. ‘Trying to get away from the gossip too?’ she asked as she took a bite from her salad sandwich.

  ‘Yeah. Some of the teachers in there are enjoying it a bit too much, I think.’ He looked at his sandwich then threw it in the bin next to him. ‘She was a good kid. Sure, she cut class a lot but she was clever. I’d seen her a couple of times and I think I was getting through to her. I hope she’s OK. That article in the paper this morning made it sound like she didn’t run off.’

  Zoe nodded, understanding his worry, but choosing not to say anything. A group of girls walked past, ignoring Alex and Zoe, the name ‘Aroha’ on their lips, deep in discussion, and took a seat around the corner. Zoe got up and stood by the wall, unashamedly listening in.

  ‘Zo,’ Alex frowned. Zoe waved his comment away and he joined her.

  ‘You know she was going out with an older guy, don’t you?’

  ‘What? Really? Gross!’ There were a few giggles.

  ‘I know! She used to go on and on about him. How mature he was, and he bought her lots of stuff. She never said who he was, though.’

  ‘Was it that guy, you know the one, dreads, from the Crawton Tavern?’

  ‘Tai Ngata?’ one of them said. ‘I heard the cops think he kidnapped her or something.’

  ‘Really?’ another responded. ‘Shit, maybe they just ran off together. I know for sure if I was seeing a thirty-something-year-old my parents would freak.’

  Zoe felt the coffee in her stomach threaten to come back up again. She turned to Alex, questioning. ‘Tai Ngata,’ she whispered.

  Alex’s face was blank. He shrugged, obviously lost for words.

  ‘I’ve got to go,’ she said. She walked through the quad and out to the staff car park. What if Gus hadn’t seen what he thought he’d seen? Could a passionate embrace be taken for a struggle?

  She leaned against her car and rang Emma. ‘Look, granted, it’s just schoolgirl gossip but sometimes kids know a lot more about their peers than the grown-ups do.’

  ‘Tai and Aroha?’ Emma said, obviously shocked. ‘God, he’d be in his thirties, wouldn’t he?’

  ‘Yeah. Around the same age as me. But it can’t be right, can it?’

  ‘It’s a possibility. They both disappeared around the same time. Maybe she got spooked after she told you what she saw at the old hotel and they ran off together.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Zoe said, unconvinced, but realised she didn’t really know Aroha at all.

  Chapter 52

  Has it been two nights, or three, or maybe even four? Megan couldn’t remember. She could count by the pinpricks in her arms that Donna had injected her a total of ten times. Small pale blue bruises surrounding the pinpricks made each one look like a small flower.

  ‘They’ll start between your toes soon, or your legs. Sometimes even in your neck,’ Lily had told her when she saw Megan inspecting her arms. ‘They don’t like your arms getting too messy. Not a good look.’

  Memories of the past days came to her only in snapshots. Kind of like an old projector showing one slide at a time. Click.

  She drank deeply from the water bottle on her bed, desperate for the fog to descend so she could have a few hours of nothingness. A dreamless sleep. The only thing that would turn off the projector playing in her head.

  Her room upstairs. Rose’s room. Click. Pretty. Wallpaper with a cream background covered in a tangle of red roses.

  Click. The king-sized bed that took up the whole room. There was no need for anything else. The plush carpet, smoky black, soft under her bare feet.

  Click. One of Donna’s henchmen bringing in her outfit and laying it on the bed. Getting changed in front of him, out of her jeans and sweatshirt into a lace-and-satin teddy the same colour as the roses on the wallpaper.

  Click. ‘Underwear off.’ She’d done so with shaking hands.

  Click. Lying on the bed. So tired.

  Click. The door opening. A man. He looked at her, smiled, not unkindly, and started undressing. She tried to open her eyes wider but they kept closing.

  Click. The man on top of her, groaning.

  Click. Another man, smelling of cigarettes.

  Click. Another man licking her face.

  Click. Another man wrapping his hands around her neck and squeezing.

  They kept on coming. One by one.

  Click. Donna with a syringe again.

  Click. Oblivion. And then half-wakefulness where it all started again.

  She shook her head and tossed the drink bottle aside.

  Tania was asleep beside her, her breathing ragged. A sore had appeared at the corner of her mouth.

  ‘How are you?’ Lily asked. Lily spoke to Megan when she felt like it. Megan had tried questioning her at the start but couldn’t be bothered anymore. She was always too tired. ‘Is it everything you dreamed?’ she clasped her hands to her chest like a little girl, then rolled her eyes.

 
Megan had no answer, just the flashes of memories that replayed in her head, a movie she wanted to leave but couldn’t.

  ‘The drugs. The heroin,’ Lily said. ‘A piece of advice. Take it when it’s offered. It makes this nightmare a whole lot more bearable.’

  Megan nodded.

  ‘You’re going to be here for a while. There’s no doubt you’re going to become addicted. That’s what they want, you know? They want you to become addicted. That becomes your reason to stay. The idea of getting out of here disappears. In the next week or so, probably sooner, you’ll do anything for a hit.’

  Megan nodded dumbly again and lay her head on her pillow, trying to ignore the bruised ache between her legs. She drank half a bottle of water and let the numbness overtake her.

  This was where she belonged now. She understood that.

  Chapter 53

  Zoe sat in her car out at the lake waiting for Dan. He’d caught her in her classroom just after the final bell. ‘I haven’t seen you for a while. How are you?’

  If only you knew. ‘I’m … I don’t know how to answer that. I’m worried about Aroha.’

  His jaw clenched. ‘I didn’t realise you were so close to her. I’ve seen the Chronicle and talked to some of the staff. I heard a rumour this afternoon that she was seeing Tai Ngata. Do you remember him?’

  Zoe nodded. ‘News travels fast.’

  ‘Come to the lake with me this evening. I’m going rowing.’

  ‘Sure. I’d love to.’ She was keen to spend some time with Dan and, if she was being honest with herself, she wanted to take her mind off the missing women.

  Now, out at Lake Waitapu, the air held the promise of summer and gave Zoe some hope. Her mobile rang on the seat beside her and she picked up, hoping it wasn’t Dan cancelling.

  ‘Zoe? Detective Abernathy here.’

  ‘Hi.’ Zoe sat up in her seat. ‘Do you have news?’

  ‘A few leads. I just want to keep you up to date. I’ve been to check out The Secret Garden.’

  ‘And?’ Zoe said, not caring if she sounded impatient.

  ‘Talked to the manager.’ He paused, as if checking notes. ‘Donna Marsh. She told us she leases the building off Phoenix Holdings. Big company, owns a huge amount of properties in Auckland. Rest of the country too, for that matter.’

  Richard Bailey. ‘Do you know who runs or owns Phoenix?’

  ‘It looks like it’s made up of a board, a whole heap of shareholders. CEO is Marcus Fitzpatrick who seems to spend most of his time overseas. Apparently, he’s in Europe at the moment. Anyway, as well as the manager I talked to a couple of women behind the bar. They would’ve been late thirties, early forties. Enjoyed working there, good pay, Donna was a good manager etcetera.’

  ‘So where the hell are they?’ Zoe said abruptly. He’s a detective, he’s supposed to have more than this.

  ‘Look I haven’t written off The Secret Garden yet. I’ve looked at NIA and Donna Marsh shows up a few times. So does Tai Ngata. Let’s just say neither are unknown to us. I’m thinking The Secret Garden could be a cover for something else, drug trafficking’s a possibility, but the fact that it advertises itself as a gentleman’s club, plus it’s members-only, there’s a chance something’s going on in there that’s only known to a few. I’ve got to wonder about prostitution and the possibility they’ve got women working for them who don’t want to be or are being coerced. It’s all just thoughts at the moment, though. Surveillance is going to start on Donna tonight and we’ll see what comes up. It’s going to take some time. I just wanted to keep you in the loop. I know you’re worried.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Zoe said, guilty about her outburst. ‘Anything on Aroha?’

  ‘Nothing yet. But as I said, early days. Look, I’ve got to go. Talk later.’

  Zoe left her phone in the car and headed down to the wooden jetty to wait for Dan. She sat stewing over the call.

  ‘Beautiful evening,’ Dan said, coming up behind her ten minutes later, his bare feet on the wood enabling his silent approach.

  ‘It really is.’

  He sat down beside her, and they both stared out at the lake in companionable silence. There was no one else on the lake, a miracle at this time of year and with this weather.

  ‘Do you enjoy coaching the kids?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘Love it. The best part of my job being out here. Even if it is a 5 a.m. start most mornings.’

  Zoe winced, remembering the early mornings.

  ‘Come on, let’s get you in the water.’

  They readied the boats, and Zoe, afraid at first she’d remember nothing, slowly found her rhythm. Dan stayed alongside her and soon they were flying through the water. Muscles she forgot she had ached and burned and she pushed herself harder and faster, raking through the still water. She had missed this. She needed to do it more.

  ‘You still got it,’ Dan grinned at her as they carried the boats back to the shed.

  Zoe grinned at the compliment.

  ‘As much as I’d love to spend the rest of the evening with you I need to get going.’

  Zoe was taken aback by how disappointed she felt. For the last hour she’d almost managed to forget the craziness of the last couple of weeks. She’d felt normal. Happy.

  ‘Papers to grade that I’ve put off for the last week,’ Dan said, looking equally disappointed. ‘But let’s have dinner. Sunday night? My place? I’ll cook.’

  ‘Perfect,’ Zoe said.

  He hesitated then kissed her on the cheek. ‘See you then.’ Zoe tried not to feel disappointed.

  The day was gradually disappearing behind the hills. Alone in the gravel car park she checked her phone. There was one message from Barbara Keegan asking her to work on Monday. She made a quick call back confirming it was fine.

  ‘Thanks, Zoe. You’ve really saved me over the last couple of weeks.’

  ‘Happy to do it,’ Zoe said, surprising herself that she actually meant it. Teaching at Crawton High had been a real pleasure.

  ‘I was just wondering if you had any plans? If you were staying on in Crawton.’

  ‘I don’t really know,’ Zoe said, thinking of the missing women, of Dan.

  ‘No problem, it’s just we’ll be looking for new staff for next year and I’d love to have you on my team.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Zoe said. ‘I’ll definitely think about it.’

  She pulled out onto the main road for the trip back into town. Almost immediately a car appeared in her rear-vision mirror, lights on full. They got closer and closer until she was sure it was going to nudge her. She didn’t want to brake in case she got rear-ended. The car backed off a bit and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was a black SUV with tinted windows and she could only see the outline of a person in the driver’s seat.

  She rounded a corner and the car pulled out to overtake her. She braked, willing for it to pass her and be on its way. But instead of passing her it matched her speed, travelling alongside her. Zoe kept her eyes on the road in front, her hands sweaty on the wheel. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’ She had no idea what to do.

  Just as she decided to brake hard and let the idiot pass her the SUV careened into the side of her car. She’d slowed down enough so that the impact wasn’t too bad, but she still ended up skidding onto the side of the road. She lost control and smashed into the roadside barrier. Her head made contact with her window and for just a second she saw stars.

  After the screech of tyres and the painful crunch into the barrier, the SUV sped off into the darkening night. Zoe looked at the number plate, but it was too far away and her eyes refused to focus. She sat in her car taking deep breaths between body-shaking sobs.

  She had been scared before, but this was the first time she’d feared for her life. Her visit to the Crawton Tavern and talking to Garth and Tai at the start of it all had made her curious. Meeting Tai at the old hotel
had been concerning and an eye-opener to what could possibly be happening. The break-in and smashed windows had angered her and made her more determined to find out what was happening. But this shook her.

  She didn’t want to go home. She could call Faith, but she wasn’t the best in these situations; she’d over-react and Zoe needed calm. She could call Dan but again she didn’t want to drag him into this drama she seemed to have created.

  No, she reminded herself, she hadn’t created this. Lillian had stumbled upon something she shouldn’t have and now with Lillian taken care of, her own life was in danger. She reversed the car, ignoring the scraping sound as it eased itself away from the roadside barrier. She would go to Alex’s. She’d tell him what had happened and then she’d ring Emma.

  Chapter 54

  Megan lay on her mattress and squinted at the clock in the corner of the basement. Only 5 p.m. Donna wasn’t due for another two hours. She frowned, annoyed, unwilling to admit her reliance on the drug. It had been less than a week, of that she was sure, but it felt like a lifetime. She had come to depend on it, like a child depends on its mother. It made her feel good, took away any pain she was feeling. Simple as that. It blocked out everything that was going on around her. Screams from the other women in the middle of the night, having nightmares that were worse than the one they were already in. Muffled cries all day from those who chose to remember what life was like before. Constant arguing in the basement over space, and the need to be alone, find some peace, even if just for a few moments. And most of all it took the edge off her working nights. When man after faceless man entered her room, most didn’t talk, which was fine with her. The ones who did, who thought what they were doing was OK, disturbed her the most. Didn’t they realise what they were doing was wrong? Or did they know and not care? Thinking hurt, it dredged up old memories, people she once knew, people like Lillian, who she had relied on. The drug that entered her veins prevented her from thinking what had been and what was about to happen. And she was fine with that too.