Craven (9781921997365)

by Casey, Melanie

  I sat there staring into space. My stomach was in knots and my head was starting to pound.

  ‘How did it go?’

  I looked in the direction of the friendly voice. It was Claire, one of the more experienced tutors who’d taken me under her wing and assumed the role of unofficial mentor when I’d fronted up to the office earlier that morning for a faculty meeting. I grimaced at her.

  ‘Oh no! Were they that bad? You look wrecked.’

  ‘No, they weren’t really that bad. One of them recognised me and started asking questions.’

  ‘Recognised you?’

  ‘Um, yes.’ Oh shit, I’d gone from one extreme to the other, first assuming no one would know about my past and then assuming that everyone would.

  ‘Are you some notorious criminal or a celebrity or something?’

  ‘Nothing quite so glamorous.’

  ‘I’m all ears. How about you tell me about your nefarious past over a glass of wine? Don’t know about you but I could murder a drink. First years are bloody hard work. They either haven’t worked out they’re not in school anymore or they think they’re on easy street now they’ve finished.’

  I smiled. I’d liked Claire the moment I’d met her. She had an easy-going charm that made you feel like you’d known her for years. Tall and slim, she dressed more like one of the students than one of the teaching staff and her long brown hair helped complete the illusion. I guessed she was a few years older than me, thirty-four or five at most, but she looked a lot younger.

  ‘A glass of wine sounds great. Where do you normally go?’ I stood up and followed her out of the room and towards the lifts.

  She jabbed impatiently at the button. ‘I thought we might head to the Botanic Hotel. It’s quite civilised, too expensive for the student budget.’

  ‘Is it far? I’ve got my car.’

  ‘I keep forgetting you’re not a local! No, it’s just across the road. We’ll need to work out some public transport options for you. That way you can leave your car at home and we can have more than one drink next time.’

  ‘Do you drive?’ I asked.

  ‘Nope, never learned. I only live a couple of kilometres out of the city so I’ve always caught buses or cabs. Where are you living?’

  ‘Goodwood. I’ve only just moved in. I thought I was going to be staying in a dodgy motel forever until I found this place. It’s in a block of eight and it’s nice and quiet.’

  ‘Really? I’m in Parkside, a couple of suburbs over. That practically makes us neighbours.’

  We travelled down in the lift then made our way out of the building. Claire set a cracking pace, so I practically had to run to keep up with her. She headed for the closest pedestrian crossing.

  ‘Wait!’ I reached out and grabbed her arm.

  She stopped and looked at me with a slight frown. ‘What?’

  ‘Can we cross somewhere else?’

  ‘Um, yes. I guess so. We can cross a bit further down. Why?’

  I sighed. Explaining never got any easier. ‘How about I tell you over that glass of wine?’

  CHAPTER

  4

  I looked around the crowded café, checking whether anyone nearby could hear us. The interior was brightly lit with wooden tables and chairs arranged in an L shape around a central counter that served drinks and sweets. Glass cabinets displayed an impressive collection of pastries and cakes. At the back, another counter was geared up to take food orders and chefs could be seen busily making pizzas and shunting them into an enormous wood-fired oven. The smell of baking pizza mingled with the aroma of freshly ground coffee. It was Wednesday and nearly every table was taken and the roar of happy chatter, cutlery clinking on plates and the whirring of the coffee machine meant there was no chance anyone would be able to hear our conversation.

  ‘So how do I know if you suddenly have a vision? Will you start to speak in tongues or something?’ Claire was smiling but there was a note of seriousness behind the question.

  ‘No! I’m not something out of The Exorcist for God’s sake.’ I laughed. ‘Trust me, you’ll know. When I have a vision it overwhelms me. I sort of freeze on the spot and I can’t see or hear anything around me.’

  ‘Wow, that’s gotta be hard to disguise. It could be dangerous too. What if it happens in the middle of the road or something?’

  ‘Yep, people notice, and it has happened in the middle of the road. Why do you think we had to cross further down? I’ve nearly been run over. That’s why I hardly left home in Jewel Bay for almost ten years.’

  ‘But aren’t you scared you’ll have visions all the time?’

  ‘I guess I am but I can’t spend the rest of my life living with my mum and gran. I’m nearly thirty.’

  I’d shared my ‘secret’ over a glass of red while we were tucked in a cosy booth in the Botanic Hotel. One glass had quickly turned into two followed by pizza at Scoozi on Rundle Street. While we were sharing the house special, I’d been answering her barrage of questions.

  It actually felt good to talk about it. What I had wasn’t something people came across every day. Most people probably went their whole lives without meeting someone with psychic ability and the only other person I’d really opened up to about it who wasn’t family was Ed …

  Claire tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear before it fell onto her pizza. ‘So what if the person died, like, a hundred years ago? Do you still get a vision?’

  ‘The oldest one I’ve had dated back over a hundred years.’

  ‘Wow! Imagine if you went somewhere like Paris or Rome, somewhere really ancient. You wouldn’t be able to go ten steps without having a vision!’

  ‘Thanks for reminding me. I’m just concentrating on settling into Adelaide for the minute. Overseas isn’t even on the horizon. Baby steps!’

  ‘If I had to deal with what you do I’d never leave my own lounge room.’

  ‘It took me nearly a decade to leave mine,’ I said.

  I watched as Claire started on her third slice of pizza. I wasn’t too far behind her. It felt like ages since I’d had a really good meal. I was missing Gran’s cooking. It wasn’t the same cooking for myself and I was a poor imitation of her in the kitchen anyway. I’d gone from cooked breakfasts and lunches to cornflakes and sandwiches.

  Claire sat back and wiped her mouth, sighing, her eyes half closed in contentment. ‘I’m stuffed but I reckon I can still fit in a piece of cake and a coffee.’

  I smiled. I’d been eyeing off the tempting selection of cakes in the glass cabinet behind her and wondering if she’d think I was a complete pig if I ordered dessert. It was nice to meet a kindred spirit.

  ‘I can’t decide whether to go for the caramel cheesecake or the lemon meringue pie,’ I said.

  ‘The mud cake is to die for as well.’ She grinned back at me.

  ‘So, what about you? You know plenty about me now. What’s your life story?’ I asked.

  ‘Not much to tell. Terminally single, never married.’

  ‘There has to be more to it than that? Surely you have some skeletons in your closet too?’

  ‘Well, I suppose if you consider having fundamentalist Christian parents who think I’m going to hell in a hand-basket, then yes, I have one.’

  ‘That must have been hard growing up.’

  ‘Yeah, I never fitted in. I left the church as soon as I was old enough to make my own decisions.’

  ‘And you live alone?’

  ‘No, my brother lives with me. He has a disability. He needs some help with organising himself but he’s mostly self-sufficient.’

  ‘Oh, so it’s OK for you to be out tonight? He can look out for himself?’

  ‘I phoned him just after we got to the Botanic when I ducked to the ladies. I told him I was out with you and wouldn’t be home for dinner.’

  ‘I wondered why you were gone for so long! Um, if it’s OK with you, I’d prefer you didn’t tell anyone else. I don’t really like to advertise my ability. A lot of people don
’t react well to it.’

  Claire snorted. ‘You can say that again. When I told Michael I was having dinner with the Fleurieu serial killer psychic he just about had a fit! It took me a while to calm him down. He’s got the same mind-set as my parents. I’m sorry I said anything, I was just excited and I didn’t think. I promise I won’t say anything again, your secret’s safe with me. Tell me, if you hardly left home in a decade does that mean you’re single?’

  I chewed my way slowly through a mouthful of pizza, deciding how to answer. Since we’d first sat down in the pub I’d talked about almost everything except for Ed. I hadn’t really had any close female friends since my school days, and it was great to talk to a woman who wasn’t related to me, but for some reason I was reluctant to talk about him.

  I looked up and found her watching me intently.

  ‘You’ve got man troubles written all over your face. You’re not very good at hiding what you’re thinking! You’re going to have to practise a sphinx-like inscrutability for when your students start spouting complete crap, otherwise you’ll get into all sorts of trouble.’ Her smile slipped away and she reached across the table and patted the back of my hand. ‘You don’t have to tell me. I don’t want to completely intrude on your life.’

  I took a breath. What the hell … it wasn’t going to kill me to talk about it. It might even feel good to get things off my chest.

  ‘You’re right. There was, is, no, was a man.’

  ‘Stop right there! If it’s that complicated then I need dessert. Tell me which cake you want and I’ll order, my treat.’

  ‘If I’m going to talk about Ed then it will have to be the chocolate mud cake.’

  ‘Wow, must be bad. Coffee?’

  Over spoonfuls of dark, rich cake I unloaded all my angst about Detective Dyson.

  ‘So he just up and left?’

  ‘Well, no, he did tell me he was going.’

  ‘But you thought things were OK until he told you he was moving to Adelaide?’

  I sighed. This was the hardest part. ‘I had no idea that anything was wrong. We saw each other every second day. I thought things were going really well but I’m no expert at relationships.’

  ‘Well I am, and if he was hanging out at your place and taking you out for lunches and dinners then you had every right to think it was heading in the right direction.’

  ‘Mum and Gran are still mad with him. They practically had us walking down the aisle.’

  ‘Maybe it was too much pressure for him?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Was everything OK between the sheets?’

  Tendrils of heat crept up my neck and across my cheeks. That was another sore point. I’d wanted to. I thought he’d wanted to. We’d got pretty hot and heavy a few times but every time I thought it was going to happen he’d backed off.

  ‘Um, we never had sex.’

  Her eyes widened in surprise. ‘Oh. Sorry. I just assumed. Are you a …?’

  ‘No! I’m not. I wanted to but he always stopped before we did.’

  ‘Did he say why?’

  ‘No, I didn’t ask him.’

  ‘Maybe he had impotence issues. It’s pretty common.’

  ‘Maybe. I assumed it was about Susan.’

  ‘Susan?’

  ‘His wife.’

  ‘He was married?’

  ‘No, I mean, she died.’

  ‘Wow, that adds a whole new level of complicated.’

  ‘I thought I was helping him to get over it all.’

  ‘And then he went and broke your heart! I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Me too.’ I pushed my empty plate away. The cake was sitting like a leaden ball in my stomach. I thought I’d feel better talking about it. I was wrong. All I’d done was open up a raw oozing wound and thrown a handful of salt in it.

  ‘But I don’t understand, after everything he did, you still followed him here?’

  ‘No, I didn’t follow him. He doesn’t know I’m here and I’m happy for it to stay that way. I came for the job, not for Detective Dyson.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Cass. All men are bastards. I should know. I’ve been looking for Mr Right for so long I don’t think I’d recognise him if I fell over him.’

  ‘So we’re both destined to die alone and be eaten by our cats?’ It was a thought that had started to haunt me again since Ed’s abrupt departure.

  ‘Maybe we can enjoy spinsterhood together. No cat would want to eat me, I’m too tough.’

  ‘You haven’t seen my cat!’ I laughed. ‘I think it’s time I headed home. I’m wrecked. I hardly slept last night thinking about the terror of facing my first group of students. Do you want a lift?’

  ‘I’d love one.’

  ‘It’s the least I can do after the cake and coffee. You’ll have to let me shout next time.’

  ‘It’s a deal.’

  We rugged up and headed out into the frosty night air. It was one of those cold, clear midwinter nights where the temperature dropped to just above zero as soon as the sun went down. Our breath made puffs of steam as we hurried along Rundle Street then through the university.

  I followed Claire down the steps that ran past the back of the library. The path was well lit, although the living weren’t my biggest concern. I worried that I was going to have a vision every time I took a new route. So far I’d gone the whole day, visiting new places without having one.

  I’d deliberately parked near the science and engineering buildings rather than the cloisters. I’d already felt the death of the young woman the Fleurieu Killer had strangled there once before and I wasn’t keen to relive the experience.

  Claire stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at me.

  ‘I hate the back car park. It’s spooky at night.’

  ‘Nah, no spooks. Trust me, I’d know! My car’s the small blue hatchback over there.’ I pointed at the few remaining cars that were scattered in the car park behind a grassed area.

  ‘What’s that?’ Claire pointed at the Mazda’s windscreen.

  I cut across the lawn, trying to see what was wrong with my car. The windscreen was streaked with something dark and wet. I moved around to get a better look. Smeared in the liquid was a single word.

  FREAK

  With a trembling finger I reached out a hand and touched the glass. It was cold and sticky. I brought my finger up close to my face where I could see it better. The smear was dark red. I raised it to my nose and sniffed.

  ‘Oh God, is that what I think it is?’ Claire looked at me.

  There was no mistaking the pungent, metallic smell.

  ‘Yes, it’s blood.’

  CHAPTER

  5

  ‘You have to call the police!’ Claire stared at the car. Her eyes were round and glassy and her jaw rigid as she clenched her teeth to stop them from chattering.

  ‘It’s probably animal blood,’ I said.

  ‘You don’t know that! How can you be so calm? Some psycho has spread blood all over your windscreen and you’re just standing there! He could still be here!’ Her voice had gone up a few octaves in panic.

  I watched vacantly while Claire scrabbled in her bag. The calm was an illusion. The truth was, I was so freaked out I was frozen to the spot. Making my mouth move and words come out was taking a supreme effort.

  Claire had pulled out her mobile phone. With shaking hands she poked at it.

  ‘Fuck. My hands are shaking so much I can’t even call the police.’

  ‘Stop!’ I said.

  ‘No way. We have to call the police, Cass. We can’t pretend it didn’t happen.’

  I finally managed to make my frozen limbs move and stepped up to Claire. I laid a hand on her arm.

  ‘Please, wait a second. The blood is nearly dry. Whoever did this is long gone. I need a minute to think.’

  Claire stopped jabbing at the screen.

  ‘Why do you need to think?’

  ‘I don’t want to have to explain my talent to another group of cops.
From my experience most police don’t have a lot of time for people with psychic abilities.’ Ed’s partner in Fairfield had been blunt to the point of rudeness when it came to her views about my ability.

  ‘You wouldn’t have to tell them,’ Claire said.

  ‘Yes, I would. One of the first things they’d do is look me up. Then they’d work out who I am and I’d have a whole new group of sceptics to deal with. I don’t want my talent to become the focus on my first day here.’

  ‘Too late, it already has.’

  I nodded. Claire was right. The realisation made my throat constrict and my eyes fill with tears. As if the state of my car wasn’t bad enough, now I was going to have a cry.

  Claire looked at me and her anxiety melted away. My tears had done what explaining couldn’t.

  ‘Shhh, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I’m just scared. I won’t call them until you’re ready, all right?’ She put her arm around my shoulders and squeezed.

  I nodded and sniffed. I brushed the tears away with the back of my hand. I felt ridiculous. We stood there, huddled in the freezing night air. Something had to be done. We couldn’t stay out in the cold for much longer.

  ‘I’ll call Ed.’

  ‘Ed? The same Ed we were talking about at dinner? The one who walked out on you?’

  ‘Yes, him.’

  ‘Cass, I –’

  ‘He knows already. He understands me. He’ll keep it low key. If it’s not human blood he’ll keep it off the record.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘Don’t worry, I won’t get involved again. I’m not going to give him another chance to trample all over my feelings.’

  ‘If you’re sure?’

  ‘I am. I’ll call him now.’

  I shivered, from more than just the cold.

  Twenty minutes later we were still standing in the car park but at least we weren’t alone. True to form, Ed had come running to my rescue. All that was missing was his armour, lance and noble steed. We watched as he dabbed at the blood with a long cotton bud which he inserted in a test tube and swished around. After a few seconds he turned towards us and shook his head.