by Pen Avram
"Is there anything else I should know about Miss Baldwin?"
"No, I don't think so. But please, find her and return her to me. I would love to somehow replace her poor mother."
"I’ll do what I can. Thank you very much for your help."
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Sara was happy to be in the fresh air and happily scuttled between her master and Hendrych. She was wondering why he hadn't talked the whole time they were visiting the gloomy school. Her pitter-patter brought a smile to Hendrych's face. They both speculated where Kroupa was heading now. When they were sitting comfortably in the Spider, Kroupa said: "The Births and Deaths Registry, PLEASE."
"What's there?" Hendrych wondered.
"The births register."
Kroupa spent an hour in the stone building, achieving nothing significant, while Hendrych and Sara walked the boring corridors. Hendrych sometimes turned his head to follow a young clerk, usually female, who passed stealthily by. They all looked the same, with their important walks and unsmiling. For a moment Hendrych wondered if he also projected the same image at his office, and he asked Sara. She whined, giving her negative answer. She was bored, contemplating how people could work there. They were both very happy when Kroupa reappeared.
"There are still some things I have to check. You and Sara had better go back to the hotel and I’ll take the train when I’m finished. You need fresh air.”
“Okay then. See you tomorrow?"
"Yes, and drive carefully."
Kroupa waited till the roof of the Spider was retracted and the two travellers were on their way, and he headed to another stone building. Then, on the way to his hotel, he made an important visit to Miss Whiteford. Then he was satisfied that he’d finally found what he was looking for.
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"Les, I have a case for you. The charge is two counts of felony, the defendant is indigent and will require counsel. We will need an arrest warrant and two police for the arrest. When can I talk to you? The sooner the better. I don't want a third felony. When can we proceed? There needs to be a preliminary hearing. I’m ready. Tomorrow at ten at the police station? That's fine. See you tomorrow."
Kroupa put the phone down and faced Hendrych, who had the bewildering look of an imbecile. "So, what’s going on? I'm listening, eagerly waiting for my exclusive."
"Don't you want to wait for the preliminary examination? It’ll be official. If you publish anything before, it could be viewed as contempt of court," Kroupa bluffed.
"What do you mean?"
"If you publish anything that can influence the jury, it would be very hard to find anybody who doesn't read your articles. So you'd better wait. People trust your opinion."
"I don't have an opinion. I report the facts." Hendrych said annoyed. "At least let me write a draft for myself, and that way I'll have it ready and I’ll be able to get it into the press before anybody else."
Kroupa thought for a moment and agreed. He valued these 'walk-throughs' with Hendrych. He asked a lot of questions and thus occasionally discovered the weak links in Kroupa's hypotheses. A thorough rehearsal before his meeting with the DPP Les Lee was a good idea, after all. He opened a can of Guinness, waited for Hendrych to prepare his Martini, sat in the most comfortable chair in the hotel room, took a deep breath and began:
"What we are looking at here is a premeditated and vicious crime. The accused committed two murders, not for profit, but in vengeance. Young Miss Gertrude Winterbottom was attending a high school in Armidale, when she fell in love with a middle-aged man named Stanley Lackey. They had no intention of getting married, but she fell pregnant by the man and he asked her to go to The New England Private Hospital, the only hospital in Armidale, to have an abortion. There was a nurse at the hospital by the name of Sandra Whiteford. She talked to young Gertrude and offered her asylum at her house, if she would carry the pregnancy through. When the baby was born, Gertrude gave Angelina up for adoption, as soon as she was weaned. The adoptive parents, Edward and Emma Baldwin lived in Coogee, an affluent suburb in Eastern Sydney. Angelina Baldwin grew up in an affectionate family. Perhaps too affectionate. She grew into a very handsome young woman. Her biological mother, Gertrude Winterbottom stayed with Miss Whiteford for several years and when two adjacent houses in Medlow Bath went up for sale, they purchased them and moved in. They maintained a very peculiar friendship; they argued together. It was a game that started in Armidale and continued every day in Medlow Bath. Miss Winterbottom and Emma Baldwin had no contact.
When Angelina was sixteen years old and attending St Ignatius Ladies College, Ted Baldwin, her adoptive father, went to her while she was asleep and raped her. When she began to scream, he told her that it was alright, that she was adopted and that he wasn’t her biological father, thus it wasn’t incest. He disclosed to her the events of her birth and the subsequent adoption.
Angelina was broken, left her school and began planning her revenge. She moved into a women's refuge house, and illegally purchased a handgun. Then she went to kill Ted Baldwin. When she was going to press the trigger, Mrs Baldwin jumped in front of her husband and was killed instead of him. Angelina correctly believed that nobody saw her, and moved to Katoomba, where she got a job at Coles. One day, she was asked for assistance by an elderly woman. Both had a very strange feeling of closeness, as if they’d known each other previously. Miss Gertrude Winterbottom was overcome and Angelina asked the woman for her name and realised that she was talking to her natural mother. This discovery, instead of making her happy, turned to hatred. At Coles, Mark Cotton made advances to her, which she refused, because of her experience with her adoptive father, and subsequent hatred of men in general. He and his friend George Hurst invited her to a party, made her drink a number of 'black rats' and, when she was drunk, they repeatedly raped her. This act has been recorded on camera and was found amongst the pornographic collection of Mr George Cotton, Mark's father.
Angelina, after realising what had happened, decided on revenge. The next day at Coles, she dropped a carton of Cokes, close to where the two boys were standing. Feeling guilty because of the previous night, they picked up the scattered cans in gentlemanly fashion. Angelina then carefully took them and kept them. In the evening, she waited until Miss Whiteford left, walked into Miss Winterbottom's house, brutally killed her and left a can of Coke with the fingerprints of one of the boys on the windowsill. The boys were hiding in the bush, until they tried to jump you and your masterly martial arts skills got the better of them.
Yes, quite tragically, Miss Angelina Baldwin was a victim of circumstance. Adopted, and twice raped, one could feel sympathy for the young lady. The system failed her, as it so often does, and with tragic consequences. However, nothing can permit us to take the law into our own hands. She could have sought help. But instead she is now guilty of two counts of cold-blooded murder."
Hendrych was dumfounded and after a while he clapped his hands. Sara barked simultaneously, yet again proud of her master.
“So in fact the two old ladies really were friends. Poor Miss Whiteford.”
“Indeed. For a moment there, it looked like it could have been a real-life case of ‘Whatever happened to Baby Jane’. But that’s just what Angelina Baldwin wanted us to think.”
“Well, we just have to hope that Ms Brunt is prepared to start sharing her ANZAC biscuits with Miss Whiteford”.
“Are you kidding! Now that would be just like the film!”
And with that they laughed as the sun went down over the Blue Mountains.
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