‘That’s fading,’ he said. ‘Even if she was in intensive care, there’s nothing anyone could do for her. It’s the classic instant poison. Were you about to arrest her?’
Troy finally spoke. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Looks like she had this planned for some time, though. She was prepared for this.’
‘Probably since Martin’s arrest,’ said Cass. ‘Maybe she thought he’d tell us what she’d done. As he might well have done, eventually.’
Tina’s eyes rolled back in her head and then closed. Her body convulsed, she gave a long sigh, and her head fell forward. The doctor lifted an eyelid, checked her pupil, and then her pulse. He shook his head.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘She’s gone. Nothing could have made a difference.’
There was activity at the plane door and two paramedics appeared, ushered in by the captain.
‘We need a stretcher here,’ the doctor said. ‘And a sheet to cover this woman. She’s taken a cyanide pill, I’m sure. I confirm that she’s dead.’
24
Cairns
Tuesday 4th September 2013
Early the next morning, Cass, Drew and Troy met with Leslie in his office.
‘I don’t think I can cope with any more bodies this week,’ the Inspector commented drily.
‘Right, sir, we’ll do our best.’
‘The easy case, first,’ continued Leslie. ‘Meredith Harrison. The technical people have looked at her phone and they’re certain what’s recorded there is genuine?’
‘Yes, sir,’ answered Cass. ‘It’s definitely proof that she was not on the veranda when Karen Moster fell; no jury would convict Meredith after seeing what was a very slight slap, just a tap really, sliding off the side of Moster’s face as she stepped back. And the fact that Moster’s pre-existing condition made her more likely to bleed is not relevant now that she is expected to make a good recovery.’
‘Right. So, to Dorentina Lavides. It doesn’t seem that any crime’s been committed there either,’ said Leslie. ‘For exactly the same reason as Mrs Moster. They both had conditions making them likely to bleed some time, with bad results. What a tragic situation, though, for the Lavides woman.’
‘Yes,’ said Cass. ‘And the real tragedy for her is that if she’d come to the attention of a doctor sooner, she could probably have been saved. But, certainly, there’s no question of murder or even manslaughter.’
Then Cass added: ‘There’s one piece of good news about Dorentina. I got a message yesterday afternoon from Leah Rookwood. There’s been some malfunction of the crematorium and no bodies have been cremated for the past week. So Dorentina, in fact, is still in the fridge in Fennell’s Funeral Parlour. I spoke to Mrs Fennell yesterday and they are going to keep her there until her cousin can organise a burial plot and a Catholic funeral. It’s possible that the schoolgirls will also attend. I gave that news yesterday to Marcie Lavides and she was ecstatic, poor thing.
‘There’s also some good news for Dorentina’s little boy in the Philippines. A teacher from Baptist College, a Mrs King, called me. The students in Scarlett and Emily’s year have got together to raise money to support him. The teacher says that she’ll try to make it something Year 11 students do every year.’
Leslie nodded approvingly.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘that’s all good. Now. Onto the McFadden case. We’ll need several months to get all the evidence together. Every bit of forensic evidence, all the immigration details for the women, statements from probably hundreds of people. I don’t need to tell you that, it’s what you do. But you’re going to need more people. I’m bringing in four extra detectives to help you. They’ll come on board in the next few days. Drew will continue to be in charge.
‘I’m sure we can get the kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, GBH and probably even torture charges to stick. Plus, sex trafficking. It’s less clear, so far, about murder. McFadden and Fang didn’t kill Rita—though the case will be pursued, of course. The two skeletons we’ve dug up are being examined in Brisbane—whether a cause of death can be found is yet to be seen. But Curt Bailey’s a clever lawyer. McFadden can easily afford to pay him, and he’ll assemble a top defence team.’
‘I have heard,’ Drew said, ‘that the remains from the rainforest show a fractured skull and broken limbs.’
‘Right,’ said Leslie, ‘that might help. Gruesome business. I really do hope that no more bodies turn up.’ He got to his feet. ‘Well, I’d better go and give my daily dose of the macabre to the world’s tabloids. They’re lapping it up.’
After he left the room, Cass also stood up.
‘Guys,’ she said to Drew and Troy, ‘I’m getting myself another double shot. Do either of you want anything? We’ve got a bit of work to do.’
25
Cairns
Thursday 6th September 2013
Cass and Zak sat in the Salt House on the pier overlooking the Cairns inlet. Dusk had fallen, a light breeze was blowing off the water and the lights from the dozens of boats moored at the marina were reflected in the windows of the restaurant. With them at the table were Jordon and Mindy.
‘I’m so sorry we haven’t been able to do this sooner,’ Cass said to Mindy. ‘I felt terrible about dragging you into all that last week and not even meeting you properly. And since then, we’ve been flat out; I’ve been working overtime every night on the case.’ Zak caught her eye and smiled. She’d done a fair bit of work on his case, too, his eyes said.
‘Hey,’ said Mindy. ‘That was the most exciting thing I’ve been through in my whole life! We were fine. I was just horrified by what had been happening to those poor women though, and I’m so glad you rescued them. And, sure, I know how much you’ve been working. It’s on the news every day!’
Jordon squeezed Mindy’s shoulder. ‘She’s hooked on doing forensics now,’ he said. ‘When she’s finished chemistry.’
Mindy blushed. ‘It’s true. I had a look at uni websites and there are several that do grad diplomas in forensic science. It sounds great. I’d never even thought of it before.’
As their food arrived the talk moved on to other things. Then Jordon said, ‘Mum, Mindy lives in a share house in Smithfield. One of the others is moving out because he’s working interstate. I was thinking... maybe I might move in... I’d be closer to classes and work, so I could work more hours to pay the rent.’
Cass slowly finished her mouthful. Her boy leaving her! But he was twenty years old, and he was only going as far as Smithfield. Jordon was clearly nuts about Mindy, a young woman who seemed to have good ideas about where she herself was going. So, all those nights when he hadn’t come home, it hadn’t been drugs that had been keeping him out. Cass felt very happy for her son.
She took a sip of wine. She smiled across at Jordon and Mindy.
‘I think that’s a great idea,’ she said.
Suddenly she was filled with the strangest feeling; a kind of tingling in her arms and legs, and she realised that she was right now making a decision about the rest of her life—or at least the foreseeable part of it. She looked across at Zak, and they shared another smile, a bigger one this time. She understood that she really did want to try living with him. Probably they would move from her unit to somewhere bigger; they’d have to think about this. But what she wanted—tremendously—was to try again with a committed relationship. With someone she could trust.
‘As for us,’ Zak said to them all, ‘Cass and I are both owed time off. A whole six days, in fact. So tomorrow we’re going to turn off our mobiles and go north. Cooktown, Laura, Lakefield. Places you’ve never seen, Cassie. Wonderful country! The ancient Aboriginal paintings at Laura where I went when I was growing up! I want to show it all to you.’
If you loved this book,
read the previous suspenseful page-turner in the Cass Diamond series, out in paperback or E-book
In 1992, toddler Yasmin Munoz went missing from a rainforest picnic spot near Cairns. No trace of her has ever been found. Yet in 2012 Andre
w Todd, a wealthy businessman and former mayor of Cairns, dies, and leaves in his will directions for a search for the missing child, who if she is still alive must now be a young woman. Cairns detective Cass Diamond is soon asked to help with the search. But Cass sometimes exceeds professional boundaries... She discovers that in 1990, popular university student Chloe Campion had also gone missing, from a party in Brisbane celebrating her engagement to the son of Andrew Todd. Police inquiries at the time of the child’s disappearance found no link with the Campion case. But Cass is curious...
On her own, Cass delves deeper, and is led to a farm on the Atherton Tableland outside Cairns, where her curiosity gets her kidnapped with two other women, and into a hostage drama with an unpredictable assailant.
Weaving together a story of race, ethnicity, environmental politics and intrigue, Caroline de Costa again sets her heroine in the lush rainforest, the sparkling seas and the solitary inland country of North Queensland that she knows so well. The story twists and turns, leaving the reader guessing, then guessing again, about the fates of Yasmin and Chloe...
Table of Contents
Prologue: Quezon Province, the Philippines, November 2004
1. Cairns, Tuesday 21st August 2013
2. Cairns, Wednesday 22nd August 2013
3. Angeles City, the Philippines, 2004–2013
4. Cairns, Wednesday 22nd August 2013
5. South Luzon, the Philippines, 1994–2004
6. Cairns, Wednesday 22nd August 2013
7. Cairns, Wednesday 22nd August 2013
8. Cairns, Thursday 23rd August 2013
9. Angeles City, the Philippines, 2010–2013
10. Cairns, Thursday 23rd August 2013
11. Cairns, July 2007
12. Cairns, Thursday 23rd August 2013
13. Cairns, Friday 24th August 2013
14. Cairns, Saturday 25th August 2013
15. Cairns, Sunday 26th August 2013
16. Cairns, Sunday 26th August 2013
17. Cairns, Monday 27th August 2013
18. Cairns, Tuesday 28th August 2013
19. Cairns, Wednesday 29th August 2013
20. Cairns, Thursday 30th August 2013
21. Cairns, Friday 31st August 2013
22. Cairns, Friday 31st August 2013
23. Cairns, Monday 3rd September 2013
24. Cairns, Tuesday 4th September 2013
25. Cairns, Thursday 6th September 2013
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