The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies
Page 20
“A student? Wouldn’t that be illegal?”
“Unethical, maybe.” I shrug. “She’s an adult. And she isn’t one of his swimmers any more.”
“Wow, though. Real live ex of Andrew Coleman. Other men in your life will have a lot to live up to.”
“I suppose.” I haven’t thought of it before. Thank goodness I already have Lachlan. I wonder if he’ll grow up to be a swimmer.
“That was him on the telephone then?” Ken asks. “Andrew Coleman?”
I nod.
“You know, they say Ian Thorpe made millions of dollars, just last year. I’m surprised Andrew Coleman needs to coach.”
“Things were different back in the eighties. There wasn’t as much money floating around.”
More time passes. Has the taxi company gone broke? Are all the drivers on strike? I wonder what Ken Richardson would think if I I changed my mind about the lift to the airport. Soon, it’s my turn to try to find a subject of conversation.
“What happens next to Kevin Mathers?”
“Court. Jail. He’ll never be near kids again. Maddy, I have something I need to ask you.”
“Yes?”
“You knew him when you were a kid, you say. He didn’t …” he trails off, hands pushing into his pockets.
I look at him more closely. “No. Nothing like that. He did nothing to hurt me. Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been biting your fingernails for two solid days.”
I fist my fingers, hiding the evidence. “You could be a psychologist.”
“I find my skills more useful in the police.”
“Touché.” Ken’s body inclines slightly towards mine. He laughs and leans closer.
I pull away. “He could have been helped, you know,” I say. “Someone could have tried harder. He was jailed for years for kidnapping Cameron Seymour. A proper assessment might have shown whether he’d escalate.”
“You can’t predict the future. No one even thought that this might happen.” Ken peers down the road. “I don’t think that taxi’s coming. You sure you don’t want a lift?”
I’m reconsidering. I’ve been here for two days. It’s not long enough to get to know anyone, of course. But it’s a more intriguing conversation than I’ve had in a while. Then the bonnet of a familiar orange vehicle slides into view and makes my decision for me. I’m not fourteen. I don’t fight things any more. It’s time to go home.
“Well, goodbye, then,” Ken says. “Hopefully business won’t call you down here again too soon, if you know what I mean.”
It’s all been so grim I’m surprised to feel myself smiling. “I do know what you mean. Goodbye, Ken.”
I shake his hand.
In the taxi, I open my folder and begin to write my case notes, starting at the end, with my final interview. It was creepy to remember the way Kevin Mathers looked at me.
“You threw the stones?” he demanded. “You knew Cameron Seymour was there?”
I shook my head.
“Then why did you —”
“I don’t know what to say. I was angry and confused. My mother had just died —”
“And you’re meant to be the psychologist.” He tipped his head to one side. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. It’s all done now.”
Had I expected absolution? That would have been ridiculous. At least now I know not to expect anything.
“You going far, love?” the taxi driver asks, eyeing my bag.
“Just the airport, thanks,” I say.
“Going somewhere?” he asks. I wonder if it’s not so bad after all that taxi drivers like to talk. At least it’s some sort of communication within a society where people have lives as lonely as Kevin Mathers’, and their neighbours don’t even notice.
Who knows what Kevin Mathers might have become had people taken the trouble to know him? Would Cameron Seymour have died if a lonely, sad little girl hadn’t expressed her anger by throwing stones at the tin roof of a haunted house, frightening its horrors into existence? And if Cameron hadn’t died, if Kevin Mathers hadn’t been jailed for it, would his subsequent crimes have been prevented?
I keep my mobile phone gripped in my hand and watch the new Brisbane, familiar yet strange, pass outside the taxi window. We’re almost at the airport now. On my way to Lachlan. Motherhood is such a splitting thing. Part of me — already regretful about Ken Richardson, desperate to be needed — would love Lachlan to call right now, his childish voice an audible reminder of what’s really important. Then again, I’m glad the phone stays silent, because that means there’s a chance ’just a small one — that he’s out somewhere, having fun with his father.
First published 2004 by University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
www.uqp.uq.edu.au
© Kimberley Starr
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Cataloguing in Publication Data
National Library of Australia
Starr, Kimberley
The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies
I. Title.
ISBN 9780702234743 (pbk)
ISBN 9780702257575 (pdf)
ISBN 9780702257582 (epub)
ISBN 9780702257599 (kindle)