Cold Valley Nightmare

by Anna Willett

  “We haven’t managed to talk to Marina yet. She wasn’t at home when my colleagues visited.” Lucy kept her eyes on her phone, pretending to check the images she’d just taken.

  “You think Mimi took Clem, don’t you?”

  The question took her by surprise, but when she looked up and met Janice’s gentle brown eyes, Lucy’s instincts told her to trust the woman.

  “I… I think so, but I have no proof.” Lucy shrugged, not sure how much to reveal. “My gut says it’s her, so that’s what I’m focusing on. The truth is I want it to be Mimi.”

  Janice’s eyes widened and the gentle look was replaced by surprise. Lucy rushed to explain herself.

  “It’s just that at least if it is Mimi there’s a chance that she’s looking after Clem and not hurting him,” she said.

  She rubbed her palm across her forehead. “If she took him out of some crazed need to be a mother, Mimi might take care of him until we can find him. I want to believe he’s still alive. I just hope I’m looking in the right direction.”

  Until she vocalised her feelings, she hadn’t really admitted them even to herself. But the truth was Mimi was the lesser of any number of evils.

  Janice’s expression softened as she put a hand on Lucy’s shoulder. It was a motherly gesture that nearly reduced Lucy to tears. After all the years that had passed, the absence of her mother still hurt. As a reporter, Lucy was good at keeping her emotions in check yet it took effort to keep her smile in place.

  “I have Mimi’s aunt’s address.” Janice pulled a scrap of paper out of her cardigan pocket as Lucy’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “She might have some idea where Mimi is.”

  “But… How did…” Lucy was still spluttering when Janice held out the paper.

  “How did I get it?” Janice lifted one eyebrow. “I’ve been a secretary at that school for a long time. I know how to track down information. After I found Mimi’s picture in the yearbook, I went into work. It’s my day off, but sometimes I pop in to finish something off, so no one takes any notice if I’m there.”

  There was a twinkle in the woman’s eyes that made Lucy wonder if this wasn’t the first time she’d done some detective work at the school.

  “Ten years ago, the filing system was updated and now everything is stored on the computer system. Earlier files were archived in the school’s under croft area,” Janice said.

  She nodded to the slip of paper in Lucy’s hand. “I had to dig through some damp and dusty boxes, but I’m the one who supervised the archiving, so I had a pretty good idea where to look.”

  “You’re amazing.” Lucy didn’t try to hide her admiration. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this.”

  Janice shook her head. “No thanks needed. Clem’s disappearance has hit everyone in this town, and hard. I’m a mother, too, but still I can’t imagine what Sadie’s going through. I just wish I could give you the aunt’s phone number, but the file was a bit degraded and the number was illegible.”

  “Thanks might not be needed,” Lucy began, “but you have mine and I’m sure Sadie’s too.”

  Before leaving, Lucy couldn’t resist thanking the woman a second time. “What I don’t understand,” she said, stopping on the doorstep, “is if Mimi has an aunt, why was she in foster care?”

  Janice wrapped her arms around herself, but Lucy suspected the chill the woman was experiencing wasn’t from the cool afternoon air.

  “I wish I could remember more about Mimi Shaw, but it was so long ago and there has been so many teenagers coming through the school,” she said. “These kids are often placed in care when their parents or guardians can’t cope with them. That might have been the case with Mimi.”

  Once in the car, Lucy checked the address Janice had given her on the navigation system and discovered that Mimi’s aunt lived less than an hour away. From what Damon told her, he wouldn’t be finished with the police for hours. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she wondered if it might not be easier for her to go straight to the aunt’s house.

  While she wanted to believe Mimi wouldn’t harm Clem, part of her knew that might not be true. If Mimi was desperate enough to fake a pregnancy and snatch a child, there was no telling what she might do. Still weighing her options, Lucy pulled the penknife out of her pocket and twisted the beads.

  Turning up at the aunt’s house was risky. The aunt might contact Mimi and tip her off that someone was looking for her. If that happened, the woman might panic and try to get rid of Clem. Or Mimi might run and any chance they had of finding Clem would go out the window.

  “Now what?” She spoke to the empty car while keeping her eyes fixed on a patch of white freesia growing wild on Janice’s verge.

  The snowy flowers made her think of Clem searching his family’s garden for grasshoppers. In her mind, the little boy was dressed in a blue woolly jumper and gum boots. If she hesitated even for a few hours, it could be too late.

  On the other hand, she could talk her way into the aunt’s house using her Media and Arts Alliance card. Come up with a bogus news story about the town where the aunt lived. She checked the address realising she didn’t know much about Narrogin other than it was in the Wheatbelt region.

  Before starting the car she considered calling Damon and letting him know what she was doing, but decided it would be less likely he’d try to talk her out of it if she was already in Narrogin when she made the call. Would he try to talk her out of following up a lead on her own? He wasn’t a controlling person, but he was always her voice of reason.

  Once she was on her way, she mulled over the idea further, trying to see her plan from Damon’s perspective. It occurred to her that Mimi could be hiding in her aunt’s place. If that was the case it would be crazy of the aunt to let a reporter into the house. The only other problem Lucy could see was that she might slip up somehow, and the aunt would become suspicious and contact Mimi. But if Lucy was careful that wouldn’t happen.

  All the what-ifs dimmed in comparison to finding Clem alive and returning him to his mother or at the very least ferreting out information on where Mimi might have gone. If the situation at the aunt’s house seemed dangerous or suspicious, she would back out of entering the house and park somewhere to keep watch until Damon arrived. Certain now she was doing the right thing, she turned onto the highway and headed inland to Narrogin.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  The TV was loud. Too loud. It made Mimi’s brain hurt. And Jake wouldn’t eat. He was starting to remind her of the pet finch she’d had when she was in grade four. It was so delicate and pretty. Holding it and feeling its tiny heart race had made her own heart beat faster, because the small bird was relying on her. She was almost like its mother.

  She pulled a box of crackers out the cupboard and poked around the fridge, looking for something to spread on them. Aunty Elaine had really gone off her rocker. There were three bottles of tomato sauce and no vegemite, and the entire fridge smelled like boiled eggs.

  Mimi grabbed a bottle of sauce and slammed the door. It wasn’t the perfect meal, but it would have to do. As she squirted the red goo on the crackers, her thoughts returned to the finch. She’d called him Tweety. It was a dumb name, but she had been a dumb kid. At least that’s what her mother used to say. It wasn’t the worst name her mum had called her, but one of the last.

  The sauce was dripping onto the table making a puddle that made her think of the last time she saw the mother she now couldn’t quite picture. Her mother’s boyfriend, Shane, stinking of sweat and engine grease, his thick hands striking her mum over and over again. In the end, the thuds didn’t sound like they were hitting flesh any more and more like a bat hitting meat. Mimi ran her hands over her cheeks, swiping at the ghost of tears she’d shed almost twenty years ago.

  Her fingers came away dry and instead of the TV echoing down the hallway she heard the sound of Shane kicking Tweety’s cage across the room.

  “You fucking animal.” The words whispered out of her through clenc
hed teeth. When she picked up the plate her hands were shaking. “It’s okay.” She spoke to the empty room. “I won’t let him hurt you, Jakey.”

  Her little boy was curled up on the couch. She noticed the peanut butter jar and felt a prickle of irritation. Here she was making something nice for him to eat, worrying about keeping him safe and all he did was hold that stupid jar and look into space.

  “I’ve made you a snack, sweetie.” She pulled the jar out of the little boy’s grip, wincing at his high-pitched whimpering. “Now, Jake, stop grizzling.” She tossed the jar onto the side table. “Mummy’s talking to you.” Jake’s lip quivered as Mimi held the crackers in front of his chin. “Just eat one, okay?” She tried to keep the anger out of her voice, but being a mother was hard and frustrating.

  A headache stabbed at the back of her eyes and she noticed the light coming in through the front window. It was too bright, stark, and blinding. Without her sunglasses, Mimi had to squint her eyes against the glare. Blaring noise from the TV jarred her brain with babbling voices, every word reminding her of the way Shane’s fists sounded when they landed on her mother’s body. Jake pulled his knees up and curled himself into a ball. She loved him. Why couldn’t he see that? Why wouldn’t he talk to her or eat the food she offered?

  “Jake.” Her voice came out brittle and dry. “Mummy’s getting cross. You’re being very naughty.” Mimi slammed the plate onto the arm of the sofa, bouncing half the crackers onto the floor. “Now look what you made me do.”

  Jake pressed his hands to the sides of his face, covering his ears. Mimi clenched her fingers and pulled them into the swell of her belly, trying to ease the tension that was building inside her head. No matter what she did, it felt like Shane’s fist was inside her skull, twisting and pushing to get out.

  “You’re not his mother.” For a second Mimi was confused. It seemed the television was speaking to her, but then she remembered Aunty Elaine.

  The old woman was staring at the TV, watching the news bulletin where the little boy’s photo filled the screen. When she turned her eyes to Mimi, they were clear and shiny. The bewildered look Elaine had worn when they’d arrived had melted away and the old Elaine was back. The watchful Elaine, always disapproving, always judging.

  Mimi opened her mouth to protest, but the saliva dried on her tongue and for a moment she was a child again caught in a lie with nowhere to run.

  Elaine pulled herself out of the chair and stood, her stained nightie billowing around her wizened frame.

  “You.” She pointed a bony finger in Mimi’s direction. “You were always bad news. I knew it right from the start. Your mother was crazy and so are you.”

  “No.” Mimi managed to get the word out, but when it broke over her lips, it sounded weak. She wasn’t crazy. Elaine was the one that didn’t know the difference between sauce and vegemite.

  “You took that boy from his home.” Elaine’s hair, now little more than a frizzy wisp, pointed upwards like horns. “The police are looking for him.” The old woman’s lips moved back and forth over her teeth like leathery flaps.

  “No.” Mimi stepped in front of Jake. “He’s mine. He’s my son.” Now that she’d found her voice, Mimi wanted to scream in Elaine’s face. “You’re the one who’s crazy. You… you old lunatic. You’re batty.”

  Elaine’s neck weaved, the tendons straining under paper thin skin. “I know what I see and I won’t have it. Not under my roof.” She slid her feet forward, the floral slippers scuffing the cheap linoleum. “I’m calling the police.” She shuffled closer. “They’ll lock you up in the loony bin where you belong. That’s where I should have sent you years ago.”

  This was the Elaine who turned her over to the authorities, the woman who abandoned her into Marina’s care. Elaine was to blame for what happened to her, for the things Marina let those men do to her. The things that messed her up inside until she became empty and trapped in a place where nothing good and innocent could grow.

  Mimi could see it now. The skinny old hag was a trick. Elaine was still inside, hiding. But now Mimi could see her.

  She was moving, the nightie flapping against her old legs as she picked up speed. “Not under my roof. Not under God’s watchful eyes.”

  Elaine was in the hall. With one hand on the wall to keep her balance, she headed for the kitchen. There was no mobile service, but Elaine didn’t need it. She had a landline, the old-fashioned kind with big buttons. Mimi remembered seeing it shortly after she arrived.

  Music blasted from the TV and Jake started to cry, but all Mimi could hear was the sound of sirens. Elaine would tell them what she’d done and they’d take her son away. Mimi’s eyes throbbed with pain; her pulse vibrated in her skull. She needed quiet and time to think.

  “I don’t want you in my house.” Elaine was still screeching, but now the old woman’s voice came from the kitchen.

  Jake was all she had and Elaine was going to call the cops and have him taken away. Mimi balled both her fists and raced down the hall into the kitchen. When she entered the room, Elaine turned to face her, the phone in her hand.

  “Put the phone down, Aunty Elaine.” Mimi’s lips were tight, her words spoken in a growl.

  The old woman’s face slackened. “Who are you?”

  It was a trick. Another act to fool Mimi into thinking Elaine was harmless, but she knew the truth. She knew what the old woman was up to. Her aunty wanted the cops to take Jake away so they could give him to someone like Marina. They were all in it together. The cops, the social workers, and especially Aunty Elaine.

  Mimi moved past her aunty and pulled open one of the drawers in the cabinet near the sink. She snatched out a knife and held it up to the dusty window. Wrinkling her nose, she dropped it back in with the mismatched collection of cutlery and grabbed a bigger blade. This one felt better in her hand. The handle was bigger and the knife itself longer.

  “What are you doing?” Elaine was pretending to be confused.

  The racket from the TV seemed to fade. Mimi could now hear everything clearly: the tap dripping into the sink and on the wall, the ticking of a clock. Mimi held the blade against her stomach and closed her eyes. Jake was the only thing in the world that mattered. She’d do anything to save him from people like Elaine and Marina. And Smiley.

  “Is that you, Mimi?” Elaine’s voice was slushy like her tongue was swollen.

  “You know it’s me.” Mimi said over her shoulder. “You’re not calling the cops.”

  Moving with sudden speed, she pushed the old woman aside, took hold of the phone and yanked it off the wall. In one chop she cut through the cable then let the phone clatter to the floor.

  Elaine, still clutching the receiver, screamed then shuffled in a circle. “You get out of my house. I won’t have it. Not under God’s watchful eyes.” She flapped her hands in the air, waving the receiver. “I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them what you’ve done.”

  Elaine’s screams grew louder. There were no close neighbours, but still Mimi couldn’t let her aunty keep screeching. She couldn’t risk someone hearing. She had Jake to think about. She had to make it stop.

  The first stab hit the old woman in the arm, catching the loose skin above the elbow and splitting it like putty. Elaine howled and dropped the receiver, but rather than shutting her up, the injury only made her cries louder and harsh.

  Mimi drew back her lips and raised the knife. When the blade hit Elaine’s chest, the impact twanged up Mimi’s arm. As she tried to pull the knife free, the old woman’s fingers clawed at her hand. Hot blood splashed onto Mimi’s face and dress.

  Elaine made a mewing noise and tried to pull away as blood dribbled over her lips, so much blood it made a slippery puddle on the floor. As Mimi struggled to free the knife, the old woman slid and hit the linoleum, pulling Mimi down with her.

  The fall drove the knife deeper and Mimi’s weight forced the old woman’s limbs to stop thrashing. Up close to her auntie’s face, Mimi could smell blood and rot, both scents
gushing out of the woman’s mouth.

  Mimi let go of the knife and sat back on her heels. It was just like it had been with Marina. The same stink. Mimi knew that smell. She knew it meant the woman was evil and she’d done the right thing. She’d stopped someone else before they could hurt another child. A sighing breath escaped her Aunty Elaine’s gaping mouth and then the old woman was finally quiet.

  Mimi swiped at her face, then noticed her hands were shaking and wet with blood. The world was so ugly. I’m ugly. Mimi fell forward onto her knees and the tears flowed out of her like the blood that had gushed from her aunt’s chest. When she finally looked up, Jake was in the doorway, his eyes huge and terrified.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Cold Valley Police Station was little more than an aging four-room house crowded between a minimart and the town civic centre. Usually manned by one officer, the building was swarming with police. Marina Plick’s house was now a crime scene, so Damon and Brock had been instructed to follow a police car for the fifteen-minute trip into town where they were then asked to wait until someone was free to interview them.

  Damon supposed they could have refused, but Bryant, the Senior Constable giving the instructions, had made it clear it would be a mistake to ignore the request. After deciding it was better to work with the police than against them, Damon and Brock waited dutifully inside the small building.

  Brock seemed satisfied to sit, his arms folded over his broad chest and his eyes locked on the wall. Damon, however, was growing increasingly impatient. It wasn’t the waiting that bothered him; it was the knowledge that until they were free to go the case might stall. Lucy was good at tracking down leads, but she couldn’t be everywhere at once. Something in his gut told him they were getting close to the truth of what was going on in Cold Valley – a truth that most likely included Clem Scott’s whereabouts.