Then she put on her serious face. “Anne, you are a good friend and I will tell you what I can. There are parts I cannot tell you about because if you knew it you would need to report this information to the police or you would become an accessory to what I have done. I will tell you the rest.”
Susan began back in England with Edward and the split up. She knew Anne knew it, but still it was the beginning of the story. She said, “When I broke up with Edward, I did not really miss him, but I really missed the sex, that part at least had been good.
So, when I went out to Australia, I had more or less made up my mind to have an affair, perhaps with another tourist, perhaps with an Australian. Then, on my first day out on the reef, I met Mark, we were diving buddies. He was not exactly handsome, but he had something, a fearless vitality with a wild and dangerous edge. I was really attracted to him and I could tell he was to me. When I missed him, that night in Cairns that Maggie told you about, I was really disappointed.
The day after next I went to Magnetic Island. It is another place on the reef, three hundred miles south of Cairns. I checked into a backpacker hostel on the beach. As I was eating my lunch Mark walked in. From then on we just clicked. That afternoon were walked in the bush to a little secluded beach and made love. For the next five days we were continuously together, riding, swimming, sailing, but mostly having sex. I have never had anything like it with anyone else. It was wild and possessed me. I could think of nothing else whenever we were together. He only had to look at me or I at him and we would start wanting it again.
Finally I had to fly on to Sydney and he had to go to do some work in the Outback. I was really sad, I thought I would never see him again, but then he said he would be in Alice Springs in a few days. I had told him I might be flying back that way. So, he gave me his mobile number, no promises but a half offer to come travelling with him in the Outback.
Part way through my Sydney stay I got in touch with Mark and arranged to meet him and travel through the Northern Territory with him the next week. But at the same time I had met David and he was really keen on me. At first I did not like him much, but my cousin, Ruth, sort of pushed us together. So we spent lots of time in each other’s company, and I started to really like him too, not in the same way as Mark, but David is so incredibly good looking and there is something very kind and honourable about him. I did not intend to have an affair with David. I was meeting Mark the next week. On the second last night it was just the two of us in the pub, after the others had left. It just sort of happened. I was a bit drunk and he was so handsome, so I ended up back at his place in his bed. The sex was only okay but still I really liked him so we kept doing things together until I left Sydney. But then I was going to Alice Springs the next week to see Mark, and I was totally captivated by him. In the end I was not very nice to David, he asked me to stay on, he offered to fly anywhere in Australia to see me again. I was not interested, but to spare his feelings I gave him my phone number and address back in England and told him to write to me. You know the story after that.
Once I got to Alice Springs I forgot all about David. With Mark it was even better than before, not just the sex but there seemed to be this incredible bond growing between us. Part of him was really wild but another part of him was like a lonely little boy. He had lost his mother when he was little and was beaten up by his Dad and others. As he grew up he learned how to retaliate and became really dangerous.
Mark had done some really terrible things which I gradually found out about. I didn’t know what to do with this knowledge. In the end, when you texted back, I knew I had to leave him, but I was trapped. I used my body to seduce him and got away but Mark was dead. I flew back to London, hoping no one would ever know what had happened between us.
Now the police have discovered his body, most of it was eaten by crocodiles. They know I was with him in the Northern Territory, they are running a murder investigation. The police at Scotland Yard called me in for questioning today. They have my photo from CCTV with Mark. They know we were together soon before he died. They asked me to cooperate with their investigation on behalf of the Australian police.
In two days this story will be on the front page of every Australian and English paper, the English slut who fed her lover to the crocodiles. It is going to be terrible beyond belief, bad enough for me, but even worse for David and my family, my friends like you, everyone will be caught up in it. I think they will seek to extradite me back to Australia on a murder charge.
And to make matters worse I am expecting Mark’s baby and I am engaged to David with my wedding set down for just over a month. David knows about the baby. Even though I slept with him, I am almost sure it is not his. I told David this, and he has been so good about it, promising to love it as if it was his own, offering to come and live with me in England while I have it. He is such a good man, and this will all break his heart. I have not told him about Mark, only that I went with another man in Australia who I think was the father, but I will not be seeing this person any more.
I have one day, two at most before all hell breaks loose, and I don’t know what to do. I have to tell David, I have to tell my parents, I have to cancel the wedding. Mark left me his diary, it tells the story of the last five years, where he went and what he did. I need to read it. I should give it to the police, but I cannot. If I tell them they will take it and I will never get to know about this man who is my child’s father. I thought of having an abortion but now it is too late even for that.
So that is my story in simple terms. I cannot tell you more about the awful things that Mark has done, I cannot tell the police about this either, at least not now, I cannot tell you what happened in the end between him and me and how he died. I really should not have told you about his diary but it just sort of came out.”
Susan looked at Anne with great earnestness. “Please promise me this. You are the only person I felt I trusted enough to tell even this. It has to stay our secret. Perhaps one day, when I have read Mark’s diary I will be able to tell more. For now I cannot.
“You see, despite all the awful things he has done my first loyalty is to him, and he is also the father of my child. I gave myself willingly to him to allow this, without any thought for the consequences. I cannot casually give information which would destroy his name and forever tarnish my child. And, despite all he has done, I love him still and must be true to this.
“I feel love and great affection for David, but it is not the same as what I felt for Mark. For a while I thought it might be enough. Now I know it is not. I think I was more in love with the image of being married to David than the reality. It is an awful thing to end our relationship at this late stage. But it is better than living a lie. And I will not be in any position to continue with David if I am charged with murder, even if he wanted it. I could not do this to him.”
She had disgorged these words in a big flow, barely taking a breath, and lost in her own world of memory. But now she had run out of things to say. It was as if she had to get it out or her nerve might fail. Now she looked at Anne to see how she was taking it.
Anne had a bemused expression on her face as if she was struggling to really understand everything she had been told. Susan did not find this surprising; if the situation had been reversed six months ago she would have found it all pretty hard to take in.
Anne said, “My head feels like it is spinning almost as much as yours after all that. It sounds unbelievable and yet I am sure it is real. It is not something to make up, and it explains tonight. And now I start to understand that text you sent me.
“My God Susan, you are right, there are things I should not know. If it was me I would go crazy, they would have already locked me up in an asylum. Of course I won’t tell anyone what you have told me. Sooner or later what happened to those girls has got to be told to their families. But only you can do that, and it is not for me to stand in judgement.
“First we need a plan of what is really urgent to do. The thing
we must do now is let your parents know you are here. I will ring them in a minute, no need for you to talk to them tonight. Tomorrow we can decide what you need to do about telling other people and about your wedding. One more night will not change anything.
Now we both need a brandy nightcap to put some distance from today or we will never sleep. But first let’s have a hug, that’s what friends should do at a time like this”.
She came and put her arms around Susan, the way a mother would do. Susan put her arms around Anne and they held each other. Susan felt so comforted. She let everything slide away from her mind as she was enfolded in her friend’s warmness.
Anne walked into the kitchen, returning with two liberal brandy glasses. “Here’s to us, friends through all adversities. We will get through this one too, though I am stuffed if I know how.”
Chapter 16 – Into Hiding
Susan woke up the next morning wondering where she was. Then she realised she was in the other side of Anne’s king bed. After the brandy Anne had quickly rang her parents and then Anne had lent her a nightie and given her half of the bed. There was another small bed in the spare room but it was not very comfortable and the room was full of junk so they both agreed it was better if Susan slept in Anne’s room. They had done this lots of times, between men, or just when they had been on a girls’ night out together.
They had chatted for a while, both deliberately avoiding the momentous event of the day, then both started to yawn and after a few minutes Anne turned off the light.
Before Susan knew where the night had gone it was a new day. There was no sign of Anne, but a note on the kitchen table said, Gone to work early for an hour to sort out a few things and make space in the day. I have also rung your work to say you won’t be in until after lunch. Back by 9ish and will see you then.
Susan felt a welling of affection for her friend, she really loved that girl, best friends since part way through school and she was so good at organising other people’s lives, the lawyers at work, boyfriends, family. The older sister bossy gene Susan always joked, though she was an older sister too and also pretty organised. But Anne left her in the cold for sheer efficiency. And because she did it with such charm others rarely got offended.
As Anne had said to Susan, in one of her flashes of brilliance late last night, “I will help you sort out some of the things that need to be sorted. You can get on with what is most important, reading the diary of the crazy former boyfriend of yours, though why you would want to do it beats me.”
Susan looked at the clock, ten to nine. Anne would be back soon, she was rarely late. She found one of Anne’s smaller dresses and went to the shower. She felt much better with clean clothes, and had just finished drying her hair when Anne came back in, fresh pastries and coffees in hand.
Susan had a strange sense of apathy about the future, but she went along with most of Anne’s plans. There were two things she would not agree to. The first was engaging a lawyer. In her mind she was guilty as charged. The second was facing the music with her head held high, declaring her innocence with confidence, saying it was all some ghastly mistake, that she was cooperating but knew nothing further, that she had done nothing to be ashamed of. And to continue to proclaim innocence implied continuing with her life, staying at work, postponing rather than cancelling her wedding outright.
But Susan had run out of will to fight it. Instead she would disappear from life, find a place to stay where others would not find her, break her links with the past. She would neither cooperate with nor obstruct the police, she would give the fingerprint and DNA sample they requested, but she would not help with their other inquiries, the drawing of others into this investigation, or aiding in discovering information which may be harmful to Mark.
There was a relief in not running and fighting anymore. She would meet her parents, tell them of the coming storm, she would ring David’s mother and tell her of her decision and why. She had asked Anne to ring David and tell him about it, she just could not find the words to tell him of what she had done, and yet could not bear to lie to him either. And she did not have the mental energy to debate with him whether it was the right thing or not, or to decline his offers of help which she knew would come. She did ask Anne to say she sent her love, but to also say he must not hope for a future together, that was impossible. So in the end Anne had agreed, said she would ring as soon as Susan left, although she was clearly reluctant.
So now her day’s tasks were clear and she was on her way. Anne had lent her fifty pounds to go to Scotland Yard, where she would provide her fingerprints and a DNA sample, and would collect her purse. Then she would go to work, tender her immediate resignation, pack up all her things, collect her car and drive home. She expected to be home by lunch time, no one else would be there during the day.
She would get out the diary and photograph all the pages. She would place the images on a micro SD card, something too small for others to find but which she could read on her Smartphone. She would take the diary and the pouch of gemstones and arrange for them to be placed in secure storage, where no one else could access them.
Then she would be home early to meet her family and tell them what was coming. Her Smartphone would get a new SIM with the number only known to her parents, Anne and the police. Her parents and Anne could make any statements they wished to the media but she would not talk to them.
She would rent a tiny bedsitter in an obscure part of London, so she could have some privacy and would go there later tonight. Then she would be on her own until either the storm of media subsided or the police charged her. She would not oppose extradition if charged; she would return to Australia and let events run their course. She may even go back to Australia of her own volition in order to find out more about Mark.
At some stage before she had her baby she would change her identity so her baby and she would have a new name and could start a new life. She did not know what she would do if she was in prison when her baby came, that was a story for another day.
It was as if in the night something had changed inside Susan, the joyful and funny girl had gone, in her place was a hard relentless person, one that would give no quarter to anyone, and take no prisoners. She still loved Anne and her family dearly and felt affection towards David. But to the rest of the world she was indifferent. She said to herself that she had just grown up the hard way.
Anne felt Susan had retreated inside herself as the last line of defence. She was dismayed by the change, as if during the night Susan had become autistic. She still smiled at Anne with her old trademark smile, but it was glitter over a steel cage. As Susan left in a taxi she felt she had lost her best and most loyal friend. She felt dismayed. Still she would do what was asked, she knew that Susan could not survive another betrayal.
Even though Susan thought she was now indifferent to other things, she had found it had still been a tough morning. She felt bad about dumping the phone call to David on Anne, but knew it was an impossible conversation and her being on the other end of the line would not improve it.
The provision of samples at the police station had been mundane, but telling Inspector Davidson that she would not be providing any further information to the police had been hard. It was not as if she did not want to help, she just could not. But she also could not explain it and, the way he reminded her of her father, it felt like a further act of betrayal.
Turning up at her work and announcing her resignation, effective immediately, was also bad form. Her colleagues had been so helpful in accommodating her recent absences, and were planning a big party to say goodbye at the end of the month. So, just to vanish like this was a shock to all. She felt like a deserter. In the end she had gone around and talked to the people she knew to say individual goodbyes, not that she could explain the reasons but it was better than nothing.
Then she had gone home, via a real estate agent in north-west London. She had rented an ugly and depressing little bedsitter, in a busy street in a fairly disgus
ting neighbourhood. She had taken it sight unseen, with the only requirement being it was in a building with a security door which separated it from the street, to help with privacy. Its best feature was that it was inexpensive but close to things, so she could get rid of her car if needed. She had money to live there for up to six months but did not expect to be there for more than a month or two. After paying for the first month today she could pay by the fortnight.
It was now past one o’clock and she wanted a couple hours to photograph Mark’s diary. She would use her underwater camera. It took high resolution images, the batteries were fully charged, and had an almost empty 16GB memory card which was more than enough. Then she could transfer the images to her laptop and from there onto a tiny card that she could hide deep in her purse and read on her phone.
Once at home she took out the diary and the jewel pouch. After a quick look to ensure the jewellery contents were there, she settled down in the conservatory, where the light was good, to photograph the entire diary. There were about 200 pages in this book, and the last 50 were untouched. First she wrote a page number in the corner of every page. That would make it much easier to keep track of the separate images. She deliberately avoided reading any parts. She just treated it as a document copying job, beginning with the front and back covers and then working her way through from start to finish. It took almost two hours before she was happy with the product. Then she loaded the memory card from the camera into her laptop, did a quick scan to ensure all the images which were sharp and clear, and then copied them all to her laptop, before returning the memory card to the camera. Tonight, she would move these files to a tiny memory card, and remove them from her laptop, just in case the police came with a search warrant and decided to check her computer.
Crocodile Spirit Dreaming - Possession - Books 1 - 3 Page 39
