‘It was the day of the Teddy Bear’s picnic to raise money for the community hall,’ said Ally, sadly. ‘We’d eaten and the adults told us to go off and play. We didn’t go far at first, but we ended up on the beach at Wild Pony Rock. We had all been told to stay away from it, but,’ her mouth twisted with self disgust. ‘we didn’t listen. We started daring each other to climb it and then I picked on Steven—’ Tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘And I—he—’
‘Ally, you were a child.’
‘That doesn’t excuse what I did. I was twelve and should have known better. Pam tried to stop me, but of course, I wouldn’t listen.’
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently. ‘Who else knew about it, Ally?’
‘Everyone who was there, all of the people who live on the island. I got into terrible trouble, we all did, and the police gave me a good talking to. Mum—’ words appeared to fail her.
‘We’re satisfied we have the whole story now,’ I said, mentally wincing.
June Esposito arrived home as her husband and father were being loaded into the police van. We watched in amazement as the woman collapsed into screaming meltdown. Deprived of her opportunity to wreak revenge on Ally, the discovery that her stepson Angelo, with whom she was totally besotted, had been blasted to death with the shotgun by her panicked father, sent her over the edge of sanity.
Beyond caution, she couldn’t tell us about the plan fast enough, after which it took four burly police officers to hold her for the paramedics to plunge a sedative injection into her buttock. Her shrieked invectives faded as the ambulance bore her away.
At the station, June Esposito’s father, Robert Fox, filled us in on the details. Tommy Esposito hid behind the time-honoured, ‘No comment.’
‘She’s right. I was to blame for Steven being crippled,’ Ally said, tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘I’ve had nightmares about it for years. I’ll never forgive myself. And Georgie and Jess are dead because of what I did.’
‘Tommy Esposito killed Georgie. Angelo was Jess’s new boyfriend and he murdered her. We haven’t got the full story yet, but enough to know the basics.’ I didn’t think Ally needed then to hear how her friend died or that she had been pregnant.
‘Angelo?’
‘Yes, he was the one who attacked you last night.’
‘Scarpia. That’s what I called him.’ She shuddered and pulled the sheet tighter against her chest.
‘Scarpia?’
‘Yes, from the opera, Tosca.’ She went on to explain that Scarpia, the evil agent of police raped Tosca, the heroine. He was a brute and they all died in the end. I wasn’t sure I was best pleased about the analogy of the police behaving so badly, but my concerns were more immediate.
‘Did Angelo rape you, Ally?’ I asked.
‘No, but he would have if Brie hadn’t got in and saved me.’
Relieved, I told her what we knew so far, including Jessica’s collusion in her kidnapping.
‘Jessica pointed you out to the Esposito’s in Traynor’s that night.’
‘I didn’t realise she hated me enough to actually do that. We weren’t getting along while we lived in the UK, you know, but I thought we were friends again.’
‘Did you tell Jessica about Steven’s accident sometime?’
‘Yes, Pam, Jess and I talked about it one night in London when we were getting stuck into the wine.’
I recounted the rest of the events as matter-of-factly as possible. ‘Tommy Esposito married Steven’s mother, June, after her divorce. It was her idea to kidnap you and make their fortune. Tommy was having an affair with Ms Hird and one night when she had too much to drink, she told him your father’s name. June Esposito saw the advertisement for household staff which your father placed in Brisbane Courier Mail and came up with the idea for herself, Angelo and her father, Robert, to apply. Tommy obtained false employment records for them and they presented themselves as a package deal. Actually, they were very lucky to get taken on as a group, but as is so often the case, the devil looks after his own.’
I paused. If Ally showed signs of being too tired I would stop, but she appeared to be holding up.
‘After Tommy killed Ms Hird because she realised he was involved in your kidnapping, he made a play for Mrs Miller, your mum’s friend. Of course, he knew it was the perfect opportunity for him to find out what your parents and the police were doing. She didn’t know he was anything but what he presented himself to be, a new lover.’
I didn’t tell her they sent Georgie’s ear with Ally’s earring in it gift-wrapped to her parents. She would find out soon enough about that.
‘They were never going to let me go. A man with a weird-shaped head, told me I was going to die.’
Tommy Esposito. Nice. Tears welled up and her mouth wobbled, but she continued stoically. ‘Then Scar-pia came up there last night, and forced me to kiss his— ugh. I kept trying to fight and turn my face away, but he gagged me and punched me a lot.’ She looked at me, shame-faced. I knew the doctors had taken scrapings from inside her mouth to test for Hep B or venereal disease. Dear God, please let it be negative.
‘I should have fought harder.’
‘You wouldn’t have stood a chance with him if you had,’ I said bracingly, an image of Jessica’s murdered body flashing into my mind.
‘He was about to r-rape me,’ she repeated.
I stood up, leaned over the bed, gently clasped her fragile, trembling body in my arms and explained why Angelo could never hurt her again.
‘But why me? Why should I be alive and three people dead? First Steven, then Georgie and Jess, all gone because of me.’
‘They’re not dead because of you, Ally. Each one of them made a decision for which he or she was responsible. What is going to be the hard part for you is making sense of what happened.’
We shared a moment of understanding before I gave her more news. ‘Your parents are out there waiting to come in. Are you ready to meet your father?’ I heard the whole story from James the night before.
She nodded nervously.
‘I’ll go out and send them in. Talk to you later.’ But as I turned to leave the room, someone knocked softly on the door. Ally sat up straight, smoothed her hair back from her face and took a deep breath.
‘Come in.’
CHAPTER 46
Recriminations
Ally
One week later.
The nightmares are drowning me. Scarpia dances around Wild Pony Rock, my father and mother are urging him on. Stevie lies smashed on the ground. The waves close over him and wash him out to sea. Georgie is urging Brie to throw me off Wild Pony Rock. I’m left standing helpless on the beach, paralysed by fear. Brie is standing smirking at Scarpia
He turns on me, savagely. ‘Well, you wanted to fuck him, didn’t you?’
I wake up, screaming, bringing Pam stumbling into my room to comfort, a nursemaid’s duty, a sister’s caring. And the shock of finding out my father’s name … of all the men in the world, why should he turn out to be my father? My gut crawls with shame as I recall how his good looks affected me when we first met. I knew it was mutual, but thank God I met Brie before either of us made a move.
My almost-intimacy with Angelo makes a relationship now with Brie churn my stomach. Mum keeps trying to talk to me, but I can’t face her yet. She came to my hospital room in a wheelchair, looking pale and drawn, her leg wrapped in bandages from the knee down. Apparently, she was injured when she threw herself at me in that horrible room.
My father was with her. I took one look at him and felt as though the top of my head was coming off. His shoulder and arm were supported in a sling. Their hopeful smiles vanished as they saw my expression. I can still hear myself screeching, spewing shock and betrayal like a river of acid.
‘You? You’re my father? How could you do this to me? You were supposed to be my friend. Why didn’t you tell me who you were?
The instant I paused for breath was not long enough for eit
her of them to get a word in.
‘So after all these years you want me to be glad you’re here? Well, woop-de-doo!’ I shouted, tears pouring down my face and into my mouth, almost choking me. ‘And where were you when I needed you? Did you even care that you abandoned me?’
The kind policewoman stood open-mouthed by the door. Mum came out of her shocked trance. ‘Ally, darling, I can explain—’
‘Explain? What is there to explain, for God’s sake?’ I shrieked. ‘Where were you when I was a little girl? When I watched all the other kids’ fathers at sports days and being there on Parent and Teacher night? And were you in the front row at my first concert being p-p-proud of me? Of course not.’
I turned on him so viciously that he actually stepped back. ‘And where were you when I made my first recording? Cheering me on? I think not! Too busy making millions!’
Mum finally managed to interrupt. ‘Ally, Ally, James didn’t know about you. I never told him.’
She wheeled herself over to the bed, stood up and tried to put her arms around me, but I pushed her away. She stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her up with his good arm and helped her back into the chair. He attempted to intervene, but my venom stopped him in his tracks.
‘What do you mean, you didn’t tell him? There was no such person as Robert Parker, was there?’
Her stricken expression told the story.
‘So, you didn’t tell him I even existed?’ I had to get it right.
Her face whitened. ‘No, I didn’t tell him about you, Ally. It’s not James’s fault. He only found out when you went missing a week ago. And yes, I lied. I couldn’t tell you about my past. I just—couldn’t.’
She reached out to me with shaking hands, but I shrank away. The policewoman started to leave, but when mum shot her a desperate look she remained, standing against the wall. Mum wheeled herself forward and put her hand on my shoulder. ‘James was furious with me when he found out. It’s a long story Ally, and you have every right to know it.’
I shook her hand off and flicked him a glance out of the corner of my eye. When he opened his mouth to speak, I cut him off again. ‘I’m twenty-five. You had plenty of time to let him know I existed and to tell me the truth. I can’t deal with this now. You want absolution from me for all the years I had no father? Well, it’s not going to happen. You knew where he was all along, but even when I joined the Pacific you didn’t tell me. And you must have known he was involved with the orchestra.’
I burst into tears, hiding from the flurry of appalled activity around me. The detective must have sent them away, because next moment she enfolded me in her arms and rocked me like a child. I roared even louder. Then I felt a prick in my arm and realised the nurse had given me a sedative.
‘Do you feel a little better now?’ Detective Senior Sergeant Prescott asked a few minutes later, as she dried my eyes with a damp face cloth.
‘Yes, thank you. I don’t want to speak to mum yet. I can’t get my head around him being my father. She said he was an accountant. She even had a photo of a man she said was my father. My whole life is a lie.’
She handed me a glass of water. ‘It’s been a shock, but you’ll eventually remember the good times, that your mum loved you and was trying to protect you,’ she said firmly, possibly feeling that a little less melodrama from me would be an excellent thing.
Then she told me about the week they’d spent while the police had been searching for me.
’ Your parents have had a terrible time believing you might be returned to them in pieces, if at all. Your father worked out the plan to reconnoitre the premises with Briece Mochrie. If no one was being held there, they would leave quietly. If they discovered someone imprisoned, he planned to call us. But when Briece heard you scream, he jumped through the manhole and tackled Angelo. Your father fought off the other two men with a tyre lever.’
The image it conjured up felt preposterous. That self-contained, sophisticated man whacking someone with a tyre lever?
‘You’ve been through an ordeal which would send most people off their heads and make no mistake about it, you won’t have an overnight recovery,’ she finished.
‘Post-traumatic stress? I asked drowsily, leaning forward as she took some pillows away and encouraged me to lie down.
‘And survivor’s guilt, but if you work with it rather than against it and let yourself be helped, then you’ll recover. You’re a strong girl and you’ve got an advantage that many don’t.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You have a loving family, friends and you’re well-liked by your colleagues—’
She reached for the card on a gaily wrapped package sitting on the table nearby and read it to me. “Hang in there! Splash some of this around! Love from Jacq xx”
‘For me?’
‘Yes, your friend wants to make you feel better and let you know she’s going to be there for you.’
‘I only have mum though, there’s no other family.’ I was feeling very sorry for myself.
She hesitated. ‘Your mum doesn’t even know this yet. In the course of our investigations we discovered that your mum is my husband’s half-sister. I’m your Aunt Susan.’
My eyes flew open. ‘But mum doesn’t have any brothers or sisters.’
‘Her mother, your grandmother, had my husband Harry, by her second husband. Eloise was her daughter from her first marriage. My twin daughters, Marli and Brittany, are your cousins.’
CHAPTER 47
Closure
Detective Senior Sergeant Susan Prescott
They buried Angelo Esposito in the far corner of the cemetery, surrounded by hosts of wing-spanned angels, fading plastic flowers and weathered photos of the departed. A line of majestic gum trees stood sentinel, protecting the resting place of his tortured soul. A gentle breeze wafted from the paddocks beyond, where newborn lambs would frolic in the spring. In the distance, a backhoe lay in wait, ready to trundle over to bury the young life forever.
His distraught mother was helped to the graveside by stony-faced sisters. Their father stood a couple of metres away between two detectives, an unyielding, handcuffed figure. Elderly relatives, traditionally black-garbed and wearing head scarves, gathered behind the immediate family and hesitantly recited the Lord’s Prayer, lagging two words behind the priest. A ragged “Amen” finalised the proceedings and the coffin was slowly lowered into the green-draped hole. The mourners each sprinkled a handful of soil into the grave before they turned to leave.
I lingered after the group departed, watching as two brawny, overall-clad council workers piled the floral tributes a short distance away and then moved the backhoe into position to fill the cavity. I felt a morbid fascination in watching the emotionless performance of their duties. Did they give a care to the person they would be burying under the earth? They stopped to light cigarettes, inhale deeply and flick the matches on top of the casket. One of them made a joke and my question was answered.
A cold wind blew across the cemetery. Drawing my coat tightly around me, I looked one last time upon the lonely site. How many victims bore the smudge marks of that young man’s passing through their lives? We would probably never know. Great sadness swept through me when I had looked on his beautiful, dead face. He could have done anything, achieved any goals he set himself. So why and how had his life gone so wrong? But when I remembered the cruel mouth and venom of Tommy Esposito, it all made sense.
CHAPTER 48
Promises
Ally
Brie made a rapid recovery and returned to his flat just a few days after I was rescued. He couldn’t drive because his throat, arm and shoulder were still bandaged, so Pam brought him to my house and told him to phone her when he was ready to return home.
‘Come in, Brie and sit down. You look terrible,’ I said, trying to keep my voice light and airy. He followed me to the lounge room where, white with pain and exhaustion, he eased himself onto the settee. I hastened to make coffee while I g
athered my thoughts. ‘Would you like something to eat? Pam made some scones and there’s jam and cream somewhere—’ I babbled, as I opened the refrigerator door.
‘No thank you, Ally. We need to talk. Please come and sit down,’ he requested.
‘I haven’t thanked you for rescuing me. I want you to know I’m very grateful,’ I said, setting the steaming cups on the coffee table. My appreciation for him saving my life sounded trite and shallow; I felt dirty, full of sorrow and terribly guilty because I couldn’t respond as he wanted.
‘Ally, I’d protect you with my life.’
‘You already did, ‘I replied, taking the chair opposite him. He looked at me silently, gorgeous blue eyes showing his hurt at my aloof demeanour. I realised something about him was different, but couldn’t think what it was.
‘What is it, Ally? I realise you don’t want me to tell you how I feel, but last week was the worst fucking time of my life, thinking you might be dea—’ words appeared to fail him. He put his coffee mug down and leaned back on the settee. ‘What happened? Did that bastard actually rape you?’
‘No, he didn’t. He assaulted me.’
‘It wouldn’t matter to me if he did, because—no, I didn’t mean that how it sounded, Ally. I meant I love you no matter what happened. I didn’t mean—’
I rescued him from his stumbling sincerity. ‘I know what you intended to say, Brie, but no, he did not rape me. He didn’t get the chance, thanks to you.’
Brie’s expression eased and then to my astonishment, his eyes filled with tears. He dashed them away with his good hand.
Yearning to respond but unable to commit myself verbally, I forced myself to move over beside him. He wrapped his arm around me and I rested my head against his chest. His heart beat strong and fast against my cheek and my aversion to being touched eased somewhat. ‘Calm down. This is Brie, your friend,’ said my inner voice. ‘He would never hurt you.’ ‘Brie, I know how you feel and if I hadn’t been, kidnapped and everything, I would have…slept with you. I really feel for you, but too much has happened all at once. I need space to get my head around everything. Can you understand that?’
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