Still trying to protect her, thought Roxy. Well, too bad. There was no time to pander to Annika’s mood swings now. Ignoring him, she took the portable phone and marched down the stairs and across the grass towards Annika who was almost completely hidden inside the large cloth hammock.
“Annika?” Roxy called out as she approached, but there was no movement.
For a sudden, horrific second, Roxy wondered if she was too late but then the hammock shifted and a manicured hand appeared, followed by a face, peering out at Roxy through dark sunglasses.
“You’re becoming really annoying, you know that? What do you want?
Roxy got closer and knelt down towards her. “I need to ask you a favour.”
“Roxy Parker, how many more favours do I—”
“Is Hans coming up today?”
“Huh? What?”
“Hans, is he coming to cook for you today?”
She groaned. “No, I can’t afford to feed you bludgers all the time. Told him his services are no longer required.”
“Damn it!” she said, and when Annika pulled her sunglasses off to stare at her, she said, “You need to get him back here. Fast.”
“What? Why?”
“Please, Annika. Just trust me on this. I think I know how to help Sam, but I need you to do me this one last favour.” She thrust the phone towards her. “Just call him now, he’s at the shop. Ask if he can come straight up, maybe bring some of his corn frittatas or something.”
“But why? I don’t understand.”
“I’ll explain it all later, just do it, please!”
Twenty minutes later, Roxy smiled as Hans’s dusty VW Kombi van pulled out from the parking lot of the Goddess Café. She waited a few minutes more then pulled her own car from the shade of the trees on the other side of the road and turned it towards the café and into the parking lot. Roxy quickly parked and got out. As she strode towards the shop, her eyes scanned the tables to see who was about. It was well before closing time but, apart from two of Govinda’s children still playing in the sandpit, there was no one else there. She didn’t know whether this was a good thing or not, but she didn’t have time to worry about it now. It was time to sort out the fact from the fiction, and she’d had enough of all the lies.
Govinda’s head appeared from the door of the shop and then she stepped out, her youngest child at her hip, a big smile on her lips.
“You’re back!” she called out. “Did you forget something?”
“Nope, I need to speak to you actually. Got a minute?”
Govinda looked surprised. “Not really. I’m closing up, bloody Hans just took off and left me to it, so I’m shutting up shop early. Just cleared the riffraff. Maybe come back tomorrow.”
“No can do, Govinda. This is important.” Roxy then swung around and strode across to a table and sat down.
Staring after her, blankly, Govinda shrugged then followed her across, placing the child with the others in the sandpit.
“Heavenly Rose, keep an eye on Melody, okay?”
“’Kay, Mama!” the child sang out as Govinda turned back to meet Roxy at the table. She took a seat and shook her head a few times.
“What’s going on, chookie? You look so serious suddenly.”
“This is serious, Govinda. We need to talk about Sunny.”
She groaned. “Oh God, are we still on about her? Must we really talk about that little cow again?”
Roxy tried to hold her smile but her anger was creeping up on her. “We could talk about your daughter instead, if you like.”
Govinda glared at Roxy. “My daughter? Which one?”
Roxy turned towards the sandpit where the toddler was now playing, holding the red spade close to her chest again. From a distance it could almost pass for a miniature guitar, a candy apple red Fender Strat, perhaps. “The youngest one, Melody. Want to tell me about her?”
“What’s to tell?”
“She’s Jed’s daughter, isn’t she?”
Govinda looked like she had just been slapped and she held up her hand to cover her cheeks which were quickly turning red. “What are you talking about?”
“Your daughter, Melody. She’s Jed’s, right?”
She swept her eyes to Melody and back to Roxy. “No, she bloody well is not! She’s Hans’s daughter. Hans is her papa.” Her hand went to her belly and Roxy shook her head.
“You can keep saying it until the cows come home, Govinda, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious. She gets more like her real dad every day.” Roxy glanced back to the small child who was now giggling at something her eldest sister was doing, her sunflower eyes wide with delight. “She may only be young, but she’s already got his smile and, wow, definitely his eyes.” Govinda was now staring at her daughter not saying anything, so Roxy continued on. “How long had you and Jed been seeing each other before you fell pregnant with Melody? Months? Years? A decade?”
Still Govinda stared at Melody; her own lips now clamped shut. Roxy ploughed on. “You always believed that eventually he would leave Annika for you, didn’t you? But when that didn’t happen you decided to give him an extra incentive. The one thing Annika couldn’t give him, a child.” She glanced at Melody, too. “But it didn’t work, did it? Or maybe it was about to work when that sweet little kitten came along and suddenly it was game over for you. Jed only had eyes for Sunny. And she was younger than you; blonder, more fanatical, and she could easily give the guy a child. Hell, she could give him six if he wanted. So you had to get rid of her, didn’t you? You had to kill the competition.”
Govinda leapt to her feet as though she had been stung but still she said nothing, so Roxy took another deep breath and continued.
“So you waited until big brother Sam had left the area, then you lured the poor woman to the creek. What, did you tell her Jed wanted to see her? That he would be waiting at the hutch? You hit her over the head, you drowned her and then you couldn’t help yourself. You ripped her Moody Ring off her finger and went back to her cottage and destroyed all the pictures of Jed.”
Roxy smiled wryly. “But it didn’t work, did it? He had no idea who killed Sunny, but it made him realise life was short. It made him go back to Annika. So you decided to do the one thing you always do, the only thing you know how. You lured him back and got pregnant again.” She stared now at Govinda’s swelling belly. “You told him it was a boy this time, like that would make all the difference.”
Govinda moved behind the chair and placed her hands on her belly as if for some sort of protection. But Roxy just kept going.
“And it did work didn’t it? You knew he’d never had any respect for girls, the way he used and abused them, but a son! Now that would have buttered up his ego. A son and an heir to his great fortune – it seemed perfect! Finally, after all the years, he agreed to leave his wife for you. Was he going to do it after the final reunion tour, or after the book?”
Govinda was staring hard at her now, a dark look of contempt in her eyes, but Roxy continued. “But then that nasty little rumour started to circulate, didn’t it? I don’t even know who started it, maybe Macker? Maybe Hans conjured it up to protect you, to try to turn you off Jed again? In any case, you heard that Jed was sleeping with a new woman, even younger and blonder than both you and Sunny. Asha Kidlong. You couldn’t bear it! That must have been devastating. It must have infuriated you.”
Govinda was shaking her head now and Roxy felt emboldened by her obvious discomfort. “You probably considered killing the poor girl first, but then it dawned on you. It was never going to end. You could kill a hundred Ashas and more would rise up.” She smiled at her pun. “You must have been seeing red then. After everything you had done for Jed—you had his daughter, then fell pregnant with his son, even killed a woman for him. What more did he want? How much more did you need to do to prove your devotion to him? It must have delighted you to rig up his amp and watch him fry.”
“Noooo!” Govinda finally exclaimed. She had a panicked look on her fac
e, her smug smile all gone. “How on earth would I know how to do that? You’re forgetting Sam’s the sparkie, not me.”
“Ah, but you did know your way around a soldering iron. You used to help your dad in his mechanics business. Sam told me that once and I didn’t think anything of it. You could easily have pulled it off. I spotted a soldering iron in the studio the other day. You could have slipped in and fiddled with Jed’s amplifier while that dreadful support band was on stage that night. There was a curtain up behind them, hiding the Roos’ gear. You could easily have placed the faulty equipment back and no one would have seen you in the dark. Hell, most of the crowd were half stoned, they wouldn’t have remembered it if they had. Problem was, just before Jed died, he called out to you, didn’t he? He looked straight at you in the audience and told you in his own cruel way that he was finally leaving Annika, that he was going to be with you.”
Her eyes flooded with tears.
“You screamed out ‘No!’ didn’t you? I heard it, just before he was killed. You realised then that you’d made a fatal error, but it was too late. It was you who was wailing after he died. Not because he’d been murdered, but because he’d been murdered by you.”
Govinda’s cheeks burned red again. “You are completely nuts! You know that? You are as crazy as Sam Fucking Forrest! He’s been putting all this bullshit into your head, but it’s not true, none of it!”
“Oh, but you’re wrong about Sam. He pointed the finger at lots of people, Govinda, but never at you. He thought you were his friend. You used to rock up to his house and comfort him, didn’t you? What did you do? Feed him brownies and make him feel better about his sister? Were you doing it to appease your own guilt? Or was it so you knew where he lived and could steal something to plant evidence on him, if you needed to. Evidence like his axe, perhaps?”
Roxy realised she hadn’t yet heard from Gilda, but she had a hunch it was Govinda who had identified Sam’s axe. Govinda knew where he lived, and she could have stolen it the day before while Hans was running the shop.
“But ... but why? Why would I kill Macker? That’s insane!”
Roxy sighed. “Another unnecessary death, Govinda. Yet again you jumped the gun. You thought he had incriminating pictures of you. You see, Hans was here the day Gilda and I talked about Macker’s photos. He must have overheard us and repeated the conversation to you. Were you worried those pictures showed you having sex with Jed at the hutch? Or was it worse than that? Were you terrified Macker had photographed you killing Sunny or tampering with Jed’s gear? In any case, you weren’t taking any chances. You stole Sam’s axe and snuck onto Macker’s property and killed him. Maybe he caught you going through his files first and tried to warn Gilda about you? Who knows, but I do know you killed him and did your best to erase his files. You probably went through them first and couldn’t find anything to pin it on you. Either way, you dumped all his photos, just in case. All except for the nude shots of Sunny... You needed the cops to find those, didn’t you? You needed them to look right at Sam. And, in case that didn’t work, you planted the axe there, too.”
“Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense!” Govinda shrieked, and several of her children looked up at her before returning back to their games. Only Heavenly Rose kept staring, a tiny frown crinkling across her forehead.
Roxy lowered her voice, hoping Govinda would do the same. “When did you first decide to plant it on Sam? Was that the idea all along, or did it just come to you after Hans told you about the incriminating photos?”
“Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense,” she repeated, softer this time, no longer meeting Roxy’s eyes.
“But Macker wasn’t talking about you at all, Govinda. He had incriminating pictures of Alistair and Asha, not Jed and Asha, and certainly not of you. We didn’t know it, Hans didn’t know it, and you didn’t know it either. Yet still you killed him, just in case. Another person murdered in cold blood to protect yourself.”
“My children!” she screamed again. “I was trying to protect my babies. They deserve a father!”
“You killed their father!” Roxy snapped back.
“And he deserved it, too!”
“Mama?” Heavenly Rose was standing now, looking worried.
Govinda stumbled towards her. “It’s okay, baby, go back to your play, Mama G’s okay.”
She moved away from the sandpit then, to a table at the farthest edge of the garden, just out of earshot of her children. It was still cluttered with old dishes, but she ignored them as she slumped into the chair and flung her upper body across the tabletop.
Roxy watched her for a moment, not sure whether to continue. She stood up and walked towards her slowly. Sensing her, Govinda looked up and met her eyes.
“He made me so many promises,” she said softly. “Over and over he promised me. He said he would leave that bitch, and he knew she’d been sleeping with Alistair and whoever else she could get her hands on. But then he kept changing his mind. Said it would ruin the band, would ruin everything. Like Melody and I were nothing to him!”
“So you killed him.”
“I gave him a second chance! I told him I was having another child, his son this time. He was so happy ... deliriously happy ... he promised he would leave her then. He just asked me to wait until the tour was over, he said it would be the last, but he ... he...”
Roxy shook her head. “He was going to, don’t you see? He called you ‘the love of his life’ that night, he wrote that song for you, ‘It’s time, baby, it’s time.’”
“But ... but everyone was talking about Asha ... I thought ... I thought...” Her eyes drifted away and she slumped across the table again so Roxy took another step towards her.
“He was never sleeping with Asha. You got that wrong. You kept telling me not to listen to the gossip, but you did, didn’t you? You believed that, and you killed him—all for nothing!”
“Noooo!” she screeched, leaping back to her feet, a steak knife in her hands now.
Roxy stared at it in disbelief. Then she giggled. Roxy giggled like a stupid schoolgirl. She should have been nervous, wary at least, but she couldn’t help laughing at the irony of it all.
Am I really going to get stabbed with a steak knife at a vegetarian café?
Trying to pull herself together, Roxy took a step backwards and held up her hands. “Just calm down, Govinda. I’m not the enemy here.”
Govinda lurched towards her. “Yes, you are!” she screamed. “You and that upstart yuppie copper! You’ve been poking your nose into my business from the minute you got here! Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?!”
“What? To kill more people who got in your way?”
“I would never have killed Macker if it wasn’t for you. It’s all your fault!”
Roxy felt her shock turn back to anger, red and hot. “Don’t you dare blame me for that! You think everyone else is to blame but yourself. No one told you to have an affair with a married man or drown poor Sunny in the creek that day! No one told you to electrocute Jed or smash Macker over the head to protect yourself. You pretend to be all spiritual and enlightened when really you’re just a psychopathic groupie!”
Govinda’s face contorted into a mask of rage, and any beauty she once had vanished as she lunged towards Roxy, the knife darting out in front. But before she could reach her, someone was yelling out, “Noooooo!”
Both women swung around to find Hans rushing towards them, arms out. They had not even noticed his van return.
“Stay out of it, Hans!” she screamed back at him. “This is between me and Roxy!”
“No, Govinda, it is between you and your higher self!” He yelled back. “It is time to put the knife down, my angel. It is time to stop all this killing.” He pointed to her belly. “Do it for the little one. Do it for Jed’s baby.”
Her face paled and she gulped back a sob. “You ... you know?”
He nodded. “Of course, my darling. But it’s okay. Don’t you see? It’s okay.”
He was at h
er side now and was slowly peeling the knife from her hands as she collapsed into his arms. Roxy, too, dropped down into a seat; her whole body shaking as the sound of police sirens began wailing in the distance.
As Hans held Govinda tightly in his arms, Roxy looked back towards the sandpit where the children were now standing, staring horrified and wide eyed towards their mother, clearly shocked by the outburst.
All except for Jed’s daughter, that is. Melody was staring at Roxy, watching her keenly with a wicked glint in her sunflower-coloured eyes and a wide, slouchy smile.
Chapter 43
A flash of white broke the dark night sky and Roxy looked up to see a Tawny Frogmouth sweep low across the lawn at the back of Bindi’s Hideaway. It had something in its mouth, a field mouse perhaps, and she felt a sliver of unease as she watched it swoop back up and out of sight.
“Are you okay?” Gilda asked, watching her keenly from across the pond where they both dangled their feet. Roxy nodded, then reached for the bottle of Merlot they had smuggled in earlier, and took a good long swig.
Her nerves were still rattled, but she was starting to feel calmer now that all the pieces had fallen into place. Still as she thought of that mouse, she realised that she, too, had nearly fallen prey to a predator who had been right under her nose all along.
“You were pretty lucky,” Gilda agreed. “If it wasn’t for Hans, who knows what might have happened. Good thing for the kids, too, they didn’t need to watch their mother attempt to stab you.”
Roxy shivered again and handed the bottle to Gilda. “But how did he know?”
“Hans was coming to see me when he left the shop, not heading back to Annika’s place to cook her dinner like you’d demanded. We ran into each other not far from the freeway turn off.” Gilda took a big gulp of the wine then gave Roxy an eye roll. “What were you thinking, woman?! Luring Hans away so you could be alone with that mad woman?”
“I didn’t realise I’d be all alone! I thought there’d be other people at the café, I just needed to get Hans out of there. I couldn’t be sure if he was in on it with Govinda, and I worried that he’d be the one attacking me, not her.”
Note Before Dying (Ghostwriter Mystery 6) Page 28
