‘Let’s just call the barracks and see if there’s any news,’ said Florry. ‘Otherwise we’re going to miss the last bus and be stuck here all night. As lovely as Victoria Point is, I don’t want to sleep in a park.’
‘But—’
‘Ellie.’
‘Fine.’
They walked two blocks to a phone booth and Florry made the call. She eventually hung up and said, ‘The MPs and Central Bureau are still posted at the bus and train stations and the girls have been combing the city. No sign of Viv or Nigel.’
‘Nigel’s probably long gone and Viv would be laying low. She’d be crazy to attempt to leave the city right now.’
‘Commanding Officer Buckley wants to see you as soon as we get back.’
Ellie’s stomach flipped. ‘Shit.’
‘It might not be bad.’
‘It could be very, very bad.’ She rested her hand on her stomach. ‘I feel ill.’
Florry checked her watch. ‘We’ve got a day off tomorrow. Why don’t we come back then.’
‘No.’
‘Ellie, the commanding officer wants to see you.’
‘When I get back, right? So, if I don’t go back then …’
‘Don’t make me pull rank.’
‘We’re not on the clock,’ said Ellie.
‘You know we’re always on the clock.’ Florry took a few steps in the direction of the bus stop. ‘Don’t be stubborn.’
‘Don’t you want to find Viv?’
‘Of course I do. I want to wring her neck but when the commanding officer wants to see you then you have to go straight away.’ Florry walked back to Ellie. ‘I know you’re scared and I’m scared for you.’
‘I have to fix this.’
‘Some things can’t be fixed.’
‘I can’t give up.’ All the tension, worry and fear bubbled to the surface but she managed to hold the hot tears at bay.
‘If you don’t go and see the commanding officer now, you’ll be in more strife.’ Florry fixed her gaze on Ellie and said in an even tone, ‘Sergeant O’Sullivan, you are officially requested to return to Central Bureau and meet with Commanding Officer Buckley. Now.’
‘You’re seriously doing this?’
‘Yes.’
Ellie closed her eyes. As much as she wanted to solve this puzzle, Florry was right. She couldn’t ignore the request to see the commanding officer. She had to face her mistakes—again.
Ellie waited in Commanding Officer Buckley’s office, a thin film of perspiration covering her body despite the coolness of the evening. It had taken two buses and a long walk to return to Nyrambla and her dread grew as every minute ticked by. She’d desperately hoped she wouldn’t return from Victoria Point empty-handed but luck, and pig-headedness, had not been on her side.
The door opened and the commanding officer strode to his desk and sat. He locked eyes with her. ‘This is a dire situation.’
‘I’m sorry. I—’
‘I don’t need your sorries. I need Vivian Jones and Nigel Porter.’
Ellie remained silent, determined to stop another wave of apologies flooding the room.
‘Well?’ His voice boomed around the room.
‘I’m so …’ She sat up straight.
The commanding officer placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward. ‘This situation is immensely disappointing.’
Ellie’s muscles tensed. ‘I promise you that Vivian Jones is an anomaly. The rest of the cipher office are dedicated and trustworthy.’
‘I wish to believe that.’ The commanding officer’s gaze didn’t move from her. ‘However, I will be monitoring things very closely.’
Ellie gave a slow nod.
‘Especially with you.’
‘Me?’ She wished her voice sounded more in control.
‘It will be no surprise to know that your close association with Jones has put you under scrutiny.’
‘I understand.’ What more could she say? If she were in the commanding officer’s shoes, she’d be doing the same.
‘I should have been notified the moment you discovered this information.’
‘I regret this mistake enormously,’ she said, her chest hurting. ‘I want to make this up to you—to everyone.’
‘It’s a case of too little, too late. We currently have no way of knowing how far this information has travelled. You better pray we find them otherwise it is on your head.’
The next morning Ellie got dressed in the dark and left the hut, heading towards the gate.
‘Hey.’ Florry hurried across the barracks.
‘What are you doing up so early? It’s our day off,’ Ellie asked, still upset at Florry for pulling rank, even though she’d been right to do so.
‘I’m coming with you.’
‘You are?’
‘Don’t sound so surprised. We’re in this together, right?’ Florry unlocked the gate and they walked down the dark road.
‘I thought Commanding Officer Buckley was going to throw the book at me last night.’
‘You’re lucky he hasn’t yet,’ said Florry. ‘Lieutenant Andrews and I both put in a good word for you.’
‘There’s a but, isn’t there?’
‘Yes. There’s only so much we can do to protect you. I’m sorry.’ Florry put her arm around Ellie and pulled her close.
‘I have to fix this. Not just for me, but for everyone. I dread to think what would happen if people knew about She couldn’t finish the sentence. It was too frightening.
They got to the end of the road and the bus pulled up. They sat in silence until they reached the city then changed buses. The cabin filled with fumes as they travelled through the eerily quiet streets of Brisbane.
‘What’s your plan?’ asked Florry.
‘Same as yesterday, one street at a time.’
‘It’s a big area to cover, especially as there’s no guarantee she’s even there.’
‘Do you have other ideas?’
‘No.’ Florry puffed out her cheeks. ‘This is the best option, I guess.’
They got off the bus a few stops past the one from the day before. The sky swirled with menacing grey clouds and a cool breeze whipped around Ellie’s legs.
Ellie walked with Florry to the street where they had finished the night before. ‘You this side and me on the other?’
‘Okay.’
They covered the streets, the sky growing darker by the minute. Two hours slipped by yet they were no closer to an answer.
Ellie crossed the road to Florry. ‘Are we wasting our time? What if we should be looking somewhere else?’
‘What happened to your hunch?’
Ellie leaned against a tree. ‘I’ve always trusted my gut but now I’m worried that …’
In the distance a trio of women hurried up the road. They waved and smiled as they drew closer and embraced Ellie tightly.
‘What are you doing here?’ Ellie couldn’t have been happier to see her friends.
Lillian pulled some papers out of her handbag. ‘We couldn’t let you and Florry do all the legwork. Besides, we want to give Viv a piece of our mind.’
‘Yep.’ Joy shoved a pencil behind her ear. ‘We’re the Garage Girls and there is no way we are going to leave you to cop the blame alone.’
‘But I should have said something sooner.’
Joy waved her hand in a dismissive manner. ‘Water. Under bridge.’
‘I’ve drawn up a list.’ Lillian presented the women with a piece of paper each. ‘We would have come earlier but I wanted to spend some time figuring out the best approach. Divide and conquer and all that.’
‘Between us we should be done by this evening,’ said Joy.
‘Thank you,’ Ellie gushed. ‘I just … thank you.’
‘You are more than welcome,’ said Lillian.
‘Come on,’ said Florry. ‘The Garage Girls will not leave a stone unturned.’
The women fanned out across the suburb while Ellie continued on her route, Florry
on the other side of the street. As the hours ticked by, the last skerrick of hope she’d been clinging to dissipated into the ether.
Florry crossed the road and said, ‘What if the yellow door doesn’t exist?’
‘That had crossed my mind. After all, Viv’s lied about all kinds of things. Although she’d told me about the door before all this happened. But perhaps it’s been painted over.’ A feeling of hopelessness threatened to wash over her. ‘Maybe we should check in with Central Bureau.’
‘Good idea.’ Returning to a phone booth they’d passed earlier, Florry made the call and a few minutes later returned to Ellie. ‘Nothing.’
‘How can she disappear into thin air?’
‘She still could have left the city. She had a lead of at least an hour or two. And it’s been two days now. She could have got a long way from here.’
‘And she had nothing weighing her down.’ Ellie sighed. ‘So, they found nothing useful in her belongings at the barracks?’
‘Nothing.’
‘What if she had help to disappear?’
‘Her aunt?’
‘No, someone else,’ said Ellie.
‘Who?’
‘Nigel Porter? What if she decided she wanted to be with him after all? He did have some weird spell over her.’
Florry took some time before replying. ‘They haven’t been able to trace him, either.’
‘This is crazy.’ Her attention was drawn to an older woman walking down the street with her grandson. The boy chatted non-stop and looked up at her with large brown eyes. She smiled at him like only a grandmother with all the patience in the world could.
Ellie forced herself to saunter over to the woman, even though she wanted to rush. ‘Excuse me.’
The woman grabbed her grandson’s hand.
Ellie gave the woman a bright smile. ‘I’m just wondering if you know of a house with a yellow door around here.’
‘Why?’ asked the woman.
‘My … uh … my aunt lives there.’ What had she told herself about lying?
‘If she’s your aunt you should know where she lives.’
‘Well, it’s rather complicated. Family politics and all that. I’m hoping to find her to make amends for my family’s indiscretions.’ Wow. Why was this coming out so easily? Louis would be horrified.
‘I don’t know of a house with a yellow door.’ The woman’s tone signalled the subject was closed.
‘You sure?’ asked Ellie.
‘Of course I’m sure,’ the woman said. She tugged on the boy’s hand. ‘We have to go.’
She took off in the opposite direction, leaving Ellie and Florry in the middle of the path.
‘Well, that was a disaster,’ said Florry.
‘Far from it.’
‘What?’
‘She knows where that house is.’
‘Why on earth would you say that?’
‘Something in her tone,’ said Ellie.
‘That hunch of yours working again?’
‘Yep.’ Ellie watched the woman disappear around the corner with the child. She waited a few moments then motioned for Florry to follow. The woman covered the ground quickly, her grandson struggling to keep up. She crossed the road, travelled down two more blocks then entered a property with a high, lush hedge.
Ellie stood behind a thick tree.
‘Now what?’ asked Florry.
‘I don’t know.’
‘You can’t follow people like this. You’ll be arrested.’
‘Come on.’ Ellie forced herself to walk casually down the street. Florry hurried to her side. As Ellie drew closer, she checked the door. Black. Her shoulders slumped, she kept walking. When they were a few houses down, she stopped again.
‘Well, that didn’t work out the way I’d hoped.’
‘Worth a try.’
‘Yeah.’ Ellie hooked her thumbs into her belt tabs. ‘We should go back to where we left off.’
Florry walked with Ellie back to the place they’d started following the woman and her grandson. They methodically covered their designated area but something kept nagging Ellie.
‘We need to go back to that house.’
‘Why? It was a dead end.’
‘I just think we need to.’
‘Tell you what,’ said Florry, ‘I’ll keep going and you go and do what you need to do.’
‘You think I’m being strange, don’t you?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ Florry’s lips twitched. ‘Okay, I think you’re wasting your time but I’m not going to tell you to go against your intuition.’
‘Thanks for not saying I’m crazy,’ said Ellie.
‘I didn’t say you weren’t.’ Florry waved her hand. ‘Go on. Let’s meet at this corner in an hour.’
Ellie covered the same ground as before but instead of passing the front of the house, she went down the back alley. A lone dog stared at her from the other end but she ignored it. Ellie counted the houses from the corner and homed in on the one the woman and child had gone into earlier. She could hear a child’s voice chatting in the backyard. Ellie crept quietly along the cobblestones, wondering if she really had lost her mind.
She reached the fence and stood on tiptoe. Not tall enough, she looked around for something to climb on. Way up the end of the alley, near the dog, was an abandoned wooden soft drink box. Slowly, she made her way towards the animal, whose eyes didn’t leave hers. Did staring at a dog stop them from attacking or antagonise them? Nerves played havoc with her memory. She saw a stone and picked it up, just in case.
Closer. Gradually. Ellie was now a few steps away from the box. The dog hadn’t moved an inch. A low growl rumbled into her ears. Every nerve of her being on alert.
‘Bosco!’ An old man whistled. The dog turned around, ran towards his owner and sat dutifully by his side. ‘I’m sorry if he scared you. Growl worse than his lick, this one.’
‘It’s fine, really,’ said Ellie, shaken.
‘Are you lost?’
‘I … uh … I’m looking for a house with a yellow door.’
‘Are you now?’
He clipped the lead onto Bosco who stared at Ellie. She shifted from foot to foot.
‘Yes.’
‘Well, there was one around here. A sunny yellow. Although they painted over that a long time ago.’
‘What colour is it now? Which house?’
The old man held up his hand and laughed. ‘You really want to find the owners that badly? Why?’
She could have spun the same lie as earlier, but she felt terrible about doing so again. ‘I’m looking for someone I used to work with.’
‘Well now,’ he rubbed his chin, ‘I wish I could help but my memory isn’t like it used to be. All I can tell you is the house is around here but you may need to do some knocking.’
‘Thank you,’ said Ellie, elated and frustrated.
The man waved goodbye and Bosco trotted beside him as they disappeared out of view.
Ellie leaned against the wooden fence, her body and mind tired. With no yellow door, how on earth could they find Viv’s aunt?
She picked up the abandoned soft drink box and made her way back to the house where she’d heard the little boy’s voice. The place was now silent. Standing on the box, she peered over the fence, feeling like she was a criminal staking out a place to burgle. She waited. Then waited some more. Her calves burned from balancing tip-toe on the wooden box.
The wire back door opened and a woman of a similar age to the one she’d spoken with earlier carried a washing basket down the stairs. She wore a deep frown and her feet fell heavily on the ground. A second later a younger woman followed, her hair tucked under a scarf.
Ellie sucked in her breath. She crouched down and leaned against the fence, straining to hear the conversation.
‘I don’t see what the rush is,’ said the older lady. ‘I’ll get you the money tomorrow.’
‘I need it now,’ Viv said evenly.
‘If you’re in trou
ble, I can help.’
‘Like I said, the money is the best help you can give me.’
‘Please tell me what’s going on.’
‘It’s better you don’t know, Aunt Caroline.’
‘Don’t know what?’
Silence.
‘Why were there people looking for my house?’ asked Viv’s aunt. ‘Mrs Irvine said those two women were desperate to find you. You’re lucky she had to take Tom home for a nap otherwise she would have asked more questions. Tell me, what’s going on.’
‘It’s a long story.’
‘Vivian …’
‘Please, I’ve never asked you for anything.’
‘I’m not comfortable with this.’
‘The less you know the better.’
‘Vivian Annette Jones.’
‘Please …’
‘Is there a man causing this trouble?’ Pause. ‘You’re not pregnant, are you?’
‘You keep asking me that and the answer is still no!’
‘Vivian!’
‘I’m sorry.’ In a sweeter tone, Viv said, ‘Can I just have the money? I’ll repay you as soon as I can.’
‘Where are you going to go?’
Ellie leaned in closer. The box tilted and she slammed into the fence with a thud. The box flipped and the corner smacked into her shin and she tumbled over.
‘Shit!’ She writhed on the ground. Her ankle throbbed.
The back gate flew open and Vivian Jones loomed over her, seething. ‘What the hell?’
Ellie scrambled to her feet.
Viv’s aunt appeared behind her. ‘Who’s this?’
‘No one,’ Viv said bluntly.
‘Viv.’ Ellie fought to keep control of her anger. ‘Please come back to work.’
Viv threw her head back and laughed then fixed Ellie with a steely gaze. ‘You have got to be kidding.’
‘If you come now then—’
‘I’m not going anywhere with you.’ Viv turned to her aunt. ‘Go inside.’
‘Vivian!’
‘Go inside please, Aunt Caroline.’
‘Is this one of those women who asked about my yellow door?’ asked the aunt.
‘Please, go inside.’ Viv gritted her teeth.
The aunt stepped back slowly, not taking her eyes off her niece. She backed up the stairs and went inside the house. Ellie saw her peering through the window.
‘Leave.’ Viv’s icy tone sent a shiver down Ellie’s spine.
The Codebreakers Page 16
