Strike Me Dead

by Bob Goodwin

  ‘Is he still on about the Jessica Chang thing?’

  ‘He is, but you should know that it’s not just psychotic nonsense.’

  ‘It’s okay, Rae. He can be very convincing. Let’s say he has seriously strong manipulative abilities. He has almost put it over me a few times.’

  ‘Did you read his notes?’ asked Rae. ‘Did you see the transparencies?’

  ‘I skipped over them. I know how he thinks.’

  ‘Did you see the list of the missing persons?’

  ‘He has really hooked you in, hasn’t he, dear?’

  ‘Please, Carmel. There is no manipulation,’ Rae said firmly. ‘I’ve been helping with the research.’ She stood up. ‘...and right now he’s out there, probably at Kings Wood, probably trying to find a serial killer called Morgan Finn and a detective called Hunter...’ Carmel stood slowly and just stared into space. ‘Now. I’ve seen that look before,’ said Rae, with a tilt of her head. ‘Now I know where James gets it from.’

  ‘Morgan Finn? Are you quite sure?’ said Carmel after a moment.

  ‘Yes, Morgan Finn at Grasslands Road, Kings Wood.’

  ‘Wow, that’s another one I’ll chalk up for James then. Did he happen to tell you who Morgan Finn is?’

  ‘No, although he did seem very surprised. We just congratulated each other that we had discovered something very important. We thought that Jessica Chang might still be alive. He left, more or less, quite soon after that.’

  ‘I can’t believe it. He has known all this time and never told me.’ Carmel shook her head. ‘He is a clever one that boy of mine.’

  ‘Never told you what exactly?’

  ‘That Morgan Finn is his biological father. I think I need more wine.’

  * * *

  The two continued to share their stories and drink more wine. The atmosphere had progressively become more relaxed. Carmel related the visit to Walt and the pork pie scenario, and talked about the newspaper man at the cafe while Rae surprised her guest with stories about tracking devices on cars and the second visit to Detective Riley. What Carmel found a little upsetting was the description of the accident that nearly took the life of Morgan Finn.

  ‘Morgan was a lovely man,’ she said. ‘Handsome, strong and with the darkest brown eyes that just seemed to swallow you up. I met him in December 1986. That’s when I went by the name Jane Crenshaw; everyone called me Jane back then even though it’s my middle name. We were only together a short time. There was another woman on the scene. What’s her name now?’ Carmel paused in thought. ‘Anyway, he was quite enchanted by her — apparently, she was a bit mentally unstable. I think they had a baby. Erica, yes that’s it. That was her name, but that’s all water under the bridge now. We can’t change the past, can we?’

  Rae jumped up from the couch bumping the coffee table as she stood. Red wine splashed out but the glass managed to stay upright.

  ‘Oh shit, sorry!’

  ‘Don’t sorry me. It was your wine that spilled,’ chuckled Carmel.

  ‘The list. You need to see the list. Fuck ... I mean ... I’ll just get it, shall I?’ Rae disappeared for a minute then returned with a sheet of paper in her hand.

  ‘Carmel, check this out. The seventh name. It’s Erica Blunt. Is it possible...’ Rae handed over the piece of A4. ‘I mean ... crap ... It might be her, right. What do you think?’

  Carmel covered her mouth with her hand. She studied the list.

  ‘This is awful. Do you think all these people have been murdered, including Erica?’

  ‘I really think they have.’

  ‘By Morgan Finn?’

  ‘Yes, by Morgan Finn.’

  ‘There’s a name on here, number five,’ she pointed at the paper. ‘Barnaby Jackson sounds sort of familiar. Do you have any pictures of these people?’

  ‘Most of them have pictures on the internet — on the missing persons site. You wanna take a look?’

  ‘Please.’

  Chapter 47

  Future Plans

  ‘They are moving to the office,’ said James. ‘We won’t be able to hear much more for a while.’

  The two men were still in the Corolla, on a small side street two blocks from Rae’s house. James turned down the volume on the scanner.

  ‘So, is it true? Are you fucking my sister?’ asked Timmy blandly.

  ‘Well, I’m not really sure about that?’

  ‘Not sure?’ How is that really one of the possible answers to the question?’

  ‘Well, I have fucked her, yes, but your question implies that there has been more than one fuck; or there is a planned series of an unknown number of fucks, and of that I am unsure. Does that help clarify?’

  ‘Nicely,’ laughed Timmy pushing him lightly on the shoulder. ‘A bit of a comedian inside that meteorological brain.’

  ‘Hmm ... been told that before. It is my secret Jerry Seinfeld.’

  ‘We all have our secrets.’

  ‘Rae was getting a bit close to things. I needed to keep her onside.’

  ‘I see. It was a token fuck then? To install some blinkers as it were?’

  ‘Maybe, maybe not. She is quite lovely and we get on really well,’ added James. ‘When do you suppose you might tell her you are alive?’

  ‘Sooner, later, never, don’t know. Being dead has its advantages. Starting with a clean slate. No more mental health regulations; no more medication. I just need to be stealthy, untraceable and not draw any attention to myself. I can then go about my business of righting a few wrongs if you get my drift.’

  ‘As in particular personnel within mental institutions, law enforcement and a few religious establishments? Maybe ASIO?’

  ‘Ah yes, we do understand each other, my friend.’

  ‘You want to kill these people?’

  ‘They deserve nothing less. And anyway, they are not real people. They are programs — what I refer to as programmed instruments of offense and torture. They are sent to challenge our existence and work towards our demise.’

  James nodded slowly as he thought back to his tom yum soup and the prawns he thought were not real prawns. Maybe we do have some things in common, but you are way crazier than me.

  ‘And when your work is finished,’ continued Timmy. ‘We start on mine.’

  Chapter 48

  Self-contained

  ‘Hey! You!’ Graham Lawson poked the girl on the mattress. ‘It’s about time you woke up. Tell me what the fuck is going on.’ He jabbed her hard in the back with his finger.

  Jessica Chang gave a feeble cough. There was a slight movement of her shoulder.

  ‘Hey, you’re not dead. That’s encouraging,’ continued Lawson. ‘It’ll be pitch black in this stinking shithole soon, and I want out, sweetheart. So, get your shit together. Talk to me.’ He pinched some skin on top of her shoulder. He pulled and twisted, let go then repeated it again even harder. Sluggishly, the young girl turned onto her back. Her eyes opened to a narrow slit. Lawson slapped on one cheek then the other. ‘Come on now. Wake up. Where are we? What’s going on? How do we get out?’ He slapped her some more.

  ‘No out,’ she said softly.

  ‘Why am I here?’ he shouted.

  Jessica squeezed out one word. ‘Salvation.’ Her eyes shut. Lawson grabbed her head with both hands and banged her up and down on the mattress.

  ‘Stay with me now. Where are we? Talk, girl. Fucking talk!’

  ‘Prison.’

  ‘How do we get out? How do we survive?’

  ‘Count.’ Her eyes closed again and despite repeated aggressive efforts, Lawson could get no further response and Jessica laid still. He moved to the centre of the floor and banged the chain hard against the floor and shouted.

  ‘Help! Help! I need help!’

  He continued banging for fifteen minutes. ‘Is anybody out there? Help! Help me!’ His efforts ultimately started fading and, his bangs and shouts became softer and less frequent u
ntil they ceased completely. He huddled into a ball and began to sob. The last of the light disappeared and complete blackness filled the prison.

  Chapter 49

  Like Father, Like Son?

  Carmel and Rae sat side by side in the office scrolling through the names and pictures of missing persons.

  ‘All these people missing for so long.’ Carmel shook her head in disbelief. ‘It’s seriously disturbing and quite sickening.’

  Rae continued scrolling through page after page of names, faces and details. Carmel leaned closer. Suddenly she jabbed her finger at the monitor. ‘Jackson, Barnaby Jackson. That’s him. That’s the guy who attacked me at the Alexander Hotel. I’ll never forget that face. It was Morgan who protected me. He saved me.’

  ‘Well, I’m pretty sure Mr Jackson won’t be attacking anyone again,’ said Rae.

  ‘Morgan looked at his wallet. He knew his name and address.’

  ‘So, Morgan Finn killed this guy just because he attacked you?’ said Rae thinking aloud then realising her remark may have been offensive. ‘Sorry Carmel, it didn’t mean...’ Carmel held up her hand.

  ‘Quite all right, no more apologies.’

  ‘Was there something else?’ asked Rae. ‘Can you recall anything that was said?’

  ‘There was plenty of bad language.’

  ‘From Morgan?’

  ‘I think more from the Barnaby guy. Morgan did take particular offence when this guy shouted out a blasphemous thing. Like f...ing Jesus Christ or Jesus f...ing Christ or something like that. He slapped him hard about the head several times.’ Carmel wiped her eyes. ‘I’m thinking we need to talk to the police again.’

  ‘Probably. I’d like to wait and give James a chance to call in the morning. What do you think?’

  ‘Fair enough, but if we have no news by midday we have to call,’ insisted Carmel in a slightly slurred voice.

  ‘I agree, but we should call Crime Stoppers anonymously or we may just get the run-around again. If we say we know where Jessica Chang is, I think we should get a reaction.’

  ‘Do we know that?’

  ‘I guess not, but we can at least get them out to the property at Grasslands Road and see what happens.’

  ‘Oh dear, this is so fucked up, if you’ll pardon my language.’ A tear rolled down Carmel’s cheek. ‘And look, my wine is nearly empty. Can I sleep over?’

  ‘Of course. Come on, let’s go back to the lounge.’ They both stood. Rae gave Carmel a big hug.

  Chapter 50

  Dale Harding

  Tien and Mary Chang sat in separate outdoor chairs on the balcony of their Maroochydore unit. On a small glass-top coffee table between them was a mobile phone. They both stared out across the sea with blank, tired faces. Normally by 10 o’clock they would have been on one of the many beaches or at a shopping precinct handing out flyers about Jessica, but today they were waiting for two things — a new batch of flyers from the printer and, more importantly, a phone call from Jason Hunter. He had called them last night to give a report on developments. This had been his routine and he had not missed a day where he hadn’t either seen or called them. Last night’s call was different. He told them that he was on to a promising lead and was checking properties near Kenilworth, but not to get their hopes up. He promised to be in touch as soon as he knew more. He took time to tell them that after two weeks being missing, the chance of a good outcome was not very favourable. Nevertheless, Tien and Mary had latched onto this as a sign of hope, such signs had been few and far between and most of those they had so far had been just pranks and nuisance calls.

  ‘It is New Year’s Eve,’ said Tien, breaking the long silence but still gazing out beyond the breakers. ‘Maybe we see our Jessica before year finish.’ He extended his left hand towards Mary who instinctively moved her right hand over the top of the low table. He squeezed her fingers. Mary turned slowly and studied her husband’s face as he looked seaward.

  ‘Do not hate me,’ she said softly. Tien’s head turned immediately.

  ‘I not hate you. Never. Please. I love you always.’ He rubbed her hand. ‘My Mary.’

  ‘I think bad things. Sometimes I find myself hoping that my Jessica is dead.’ Tears streamed down her face. ‘Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.’ Tien moved to her chair and dropped to his knees in front of her. He took both her hands in his.

  ‘We find our daughter. I know this. I feel this.’

  ‘What has she been through? I can’t bear to think. What tortures? What pain? What awful things?’ sobbed Mary. ‘If she is dead then she suffers no more. I’m so sorry? My mind is filled with terrible, disturbing pictures. Am I crazy?’

  ‘No crazy. You beautiful mother of beautiful Jessica.’ The mobile rang. The two shared a quick glance; Tien gave a quick nod then grabbed the phone. He pushed the speaker button so both could hear then placed it back on the table.

  ‘This Tien Chang, can I help?’

  ‘Hello Mister Chang, are you the father of Jessica, the missing girl?’ said the male voice.

  ‘Yes, that is correct.’

  ‘Sorry to trouble you at such a difficult time, but I have some information. It may be nothing and I don’t mean to add to your distress, but I thought it may be worth someone checking this out.’ The man had a firm deep voice.

  ‘What news you have?’ said Tien cautiously.

  ‘I go out to Kings Wood, near Kenilworth, from time to time. I do a little shooting on a large property up there. You know feral pigs and cats, the occasional deer and such. I know the area pretty well.

  ‘Yes, I see, what of Jessica?’

  ‘Well, two days ago, the strangest thing happened. I’m out there sighting up this black pig when this naked young girl runs across my sight. Next, this naked guy runs by after the girl. Fit-looking dude with long black hair. I was thinking I had stumbled onto a damn nudist colony you know,’ the voice paused for a moment. Mary gasped loudly and moved closer to the phone. Tien took a couple of long, slow breaths. ‘Are you still there, Mr Chang? Hello.’

  ‘We still here. Please, what else?’

  ‘Not a lot really. They didn’t see me I was a long way off using my telescopic sight, you see. It did look like there was a small cabin way back behind where they came from. Anyway, I decided it was probably not a good place to be firing off a few rounds so I left. As I said it may be nothing...’

  ‘What is this address?’

  ‘101 Rifle Range Road at Kings Wood. It’s a big place.’

  ‘You need to show us. We have detective friend. He need to see you and find this place.’

  ‘Sure, unfortunately I am down at Byron Bay right now. This has been playing on my mind. Woke me up in the middle of the night ’n all.’

  Why you not talk police?’

  ‘Look, if I called the cops every time I saw something weird out there, they would be arresting me for making nuisance calls. You know what I mean?’

  ‘Okay, I think I understand. Please, what is your name and number?’ asked Tien. ‘Mary, get pen, get paper, please.’ Mary was staring at the phone. She had placed both her hands to either side of the mobile like it was a precious possession. She was not hearing her husband. Tien briefly considered snatching up the mobile but a look at his wife changed his mind. ‘Please wait I get pen, don’t go.’

  ‘Sure, no problem.’ Tien was in the dining room and back to the phone in a moment.

  ‘Yes please. I have pen now.’

  ‘Yeah, my name is Dale Harding.’

  ‘Yes, thank you Mr Harding. Your number please?’

  The male caller provided his number. Tien wrote it down and double-checked it was correct.

  ‘Thank you. Now you tell me. This girl you see. She look well?’

  ‘I was a long way off, but she appeared sort of scruffy, dirty, hair every which way you know.’

  ‘You tell she hurt?’

  ‘Too far away really but she moved okay. Couldn’t have b
een hurt too bad.’

  ‘101 Rifle Range Road. This is correct?’

  ‘That’s the place,’ said the man.

  Chapter 51

  Life’s a Beach

  Timmy switched off the mobile phone and removed the battery. He wiped everything clean with the bottom of his T-shirt then dropped it into the bin alongside the walkway to the beach. He looked back up at the apartment building and watched for a moment as Tien finished talking on his phone. No doubt talking to Hunter, thought Timmy. He nodded to himself with satisfaction. Tien and Mary Chang both stood and embraced each other.

  ‘Very fucking touching.’

  Timmy turned and made his way along the sandy walkway and onto the beach. He sat down on a towel next to James Champion.

  ‘Did you make the call?’ asked James in a slightly harsh tone.

  ‘All done. I told them I was Dale Harding. Funny hey?’

  ‘Yeah, hilarious,’ replied James indifferently.

  ‘All too easy. The cat has been set amongst the pigeons. What about you?’

  ‘Of course. My half-brother will be at Starbucks, Mooloolaba at 4 o’clock. Now I just need to send a text to your sister.’ James tapped away at his phone ... It may be likely that my real father is somehow involved in the missing person saga. And maybe in the disappearance of Jessica Chang. I need more time to talk with him. I am well and safe, but if you haven’t heard from me by 6 pm, please call the police. Love. James.

  ‘Well that’s fucking done too!’ He switched his phone off.

  They both looked at each other.

  ‘You are okay, right?’ asked Timmy.

  ‘Sure I am. The sooner we sort these arseholes out the better. I want their fucking heads.’ No sooner had the words left his mouth than he grabbed his head in both hands and screamed, ‘Fuck! My damn head. My stupid brain. It torments me sometimes. Sorry. I need more medication.’