“I think I’ve got something,” she said, setting up a laptop on a nearby desk. She called up a video file and pressed play. Cooper saw a grainy image of Jill Fisher talking to a man in a dark-coloured suit. “I’ve found her talking to the same guy on three different occasions. The last time, it looked intimate. Well, as intimate as you can get in a library.”
“Is there a better picture of his face?” Cooper asked.
“The resolution isn’t that great, but I picked the best couple of shots and sent them to your inbox. Here’s a printout.” She handed Cooper a photograph.
“Good work, thanks, Nora.”
“No problem.” As quickly as she’d arrived, Nora packed up the laptop and was gone.
Cooper studied the photo, then handed it around. No-one recognised the man, which was disappointing, but still it was good to have a lead of any sort. This case was getting more complicated by the minute.
22
“You just got home, Beth,” Louis complained. It wasn’t true, she’d been home for at least half an hour. Long enough to throw down some pasta and intervene in at least two fights between the kids. She didn’t need to hear this as well.
“They only meet once a month, I have to go.” Also not strictly true. The First Fleet Descendant’s Society did indeed meet once a month, but according to their website this was an extra function they held once in a while where members get to present their ancestors’ stories to the group. The actual meeting was on next week, she could have waited for that, but Beth was more the ‘do it now’ type. Besides, Meg Baxter had offered to go with her tonight.
“I need to get to the bottom of this, Louis. I thought you understood. I need to know why Jill wanted to join this group.”
“Didn’t she tell you?”
“No. She changed the subject every time I asked about it. Why, did she tell you?”
Louis shook his head and turned away to start clearing plates from the table. “Why would she tell me?”
“I don’t know,” Beth replied. “Sometimes she talked to you more than she did me.”
Louis paused, then turned back to face her. “She asked about the kids a lot. She was so good with them…”
He was right, Beth realised. She remembered how close her sister had been to her children, how she’d helped Louis with them whenever she had some spare time.
“I’m doing this for Jill, Louis. I need to go to this meeting tonight to get some answers. I’ll be okay, Meg will be there the whole time.”
“We haven’t even had a chance to discuss this whole protection thing properly.” Louis glanced towards the kids, who were using their parents’ distraction to their advantage by sneaking extra time on the iPads.
“We can talk about it when I get home, when they’re asleep.” Beth pulled on her boots and looked outside. A sedan with two occupants was parked across the street, the minders Meg had talked about. Beth let the curtains fall back just as a second car’s headlights lit up the driveway. “That’s Meg, I have to go.” She grabbed her handbag and left, calling goodbye to the kids as she went out the door.
“Everything okay?” asked Meg as she settled into the passenger seat.
“Just the usual grief. Are you married?”
“I was.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Don’t be. This job is not conducive to happy families.”
“I’m beginning to think mine isn’t, either.”
Meg didn’t say anything further, and Beth was happy for the silence as they drove to the meeting. She needed time to think, to work out what the best approach might be tonight. What if someone at this society had something to do with Jill’s death? Maybe Louis was right, maybe she should have waited until the proper meeting next week. At least then she could have said she was picking up where Jill left off. What did it say that she was coming to this thing tonight? The website said strictly members only. Jill hadn’t been a member, just a ‘friend’. And Beth and Meg weren’t even that. Maybe she was worrying about nothing. They probably wouldn’t even get past the door.
Meg found a spot in the car park and they made their way to the venue. The meeting was being held in a function room at one of those big sports clubs Beth wasn’t a fan of. They had to walk past a bank of poker machines, and she turned away so as not to watch people pouring fifty dollar notes into the money slots.
“It’s through here,” said Meg. “Do you want me to do the talking?”
“No, I think it’ll sound better coming from me. Can you be my supportive friend?”
“Definitely.” Meg hooked her arm through Beth’s, and for a moment Beth was taken aback by the familiar gesture. But she gathered herself in time to greet the woman on the door with a smile.
“Can I help you ladies?” said the woman, whose name tag identified her as Margaret. Here goes.
“Hello. My name is Beth, this is my friend, Meg. I realise this is a members only event, but I was hoping someone here could help me. My sister is … sorry, was, interested in your society. Jill Fisher?”
The woman’s stern face melted immediately.
“Oh, my dear. Please, come in and have a seat. The meeting hasn’t started yet.” The three of them sat at a table at the back of the room, away from the door. “I heard about Jill on the news, so sad. I’m terribly sorry.”
Beth wasn’t sure how she felt about meeting a stranger who knew her sister like this, but at least it meant she didn’t have to explain her way in any further.
“Jill mentioned this group to me constantly,” said Beth, exaggerating a little. “Did you know her well?”
“I wouldn’t say well, exactly, but I had met her a few times. A lovely girl. She was a friend of the society, you know.”
“Yes, she told us that, but I’m not sure exactly what that means. Can you explain to us what you do here?”
Margaret sighed. “Look, I’d love to, but I need to get things started here in a minute.” She glanced around the room. “Oh, there’s Bryce. He was friends with Jill, I think he was even helping her with her research. Do you mind if I ask him to help you?”
Beth looked at the man Margaret had indicated. Tall and very formal looking in a suit and tie, he wasn’t the type of guy Beth expected Jill to have been friends with. She turned to Meg, and caught a strange look on the detective’s face. Did she recognise the man? “Of course,” she said, turning back to Margaret, who was watching her intently. “Please, don’t let us keep you from whatever it is you have to do here.”
Margaret nodded and then left, making a beeline for the man she’d pointed out.
“Did Jill ever say anything to you about having a friend in this group helping with her research?” asked Meg.
“No, not to me. I’ve never seen him before. But it looks like you have. Do you recognise him? Is he part of your investigation?”
Meg ignored the question. “Try to get him talking, if he was helping Jill he might be able to help us. With your family tree, I mean.”
“Yes, I know what you mean.” Beth replied. There was no time to question Meg further, as the man approached with Margaret.
“Beth, this is Bryce Allen. I told him you’re Jill’s sister, and he insisted on meeting you. And your friend, of course.”
“Hi, I’m Meg,” said the detective, picking up on the cue that Margaret had forgotten her name.
Bryce shook each of their hands in turn. “I’m pleased to meet you both, but I wish it were under better circumstances.” He held onto Beth’s hand. “I’m very sorry for your loss. Jill was a lovely woman, and a pleasure to be around. I’m going to miss her.”
Beth nodded, not sure exactly what to say. The loss of her sister was still so raw, and moments like this made her throat tighten. Margaret took the opportunity to make her excuses, but insisted that Beth and Meg were welcome to attend the society’s general meeting next week. Beth didn’t miss the implication that they weren’t welcome to stick around for tonight’s proceedings. Fortunately, neither did Bryce, who
suggested they take a table outside in the main area of the club.
Once they were seated in a quiet spot, drinks in front of them, Beth had regained her composure.
“Thank you, Bryce, for helping Jill. I’m not sure if she ever mentioned you, but I know the family history was very important to her, so I have no doubt that you were important in her life too.”
“Please, don’t thank me. I don’t really think of it as helping her, as such. We helped each other. We met in the library, actually. Tracing one’s ancestry can be a difficult and frustrating past-time, but Jill was a natural. And these things always work better with two heads, as they say.”
“So she helped you with your ancestry? Have you been a member here long?”
“I joined a couple of months ago. As it turned out, Jill and I were actually related. I guess that means you and I are, too.”
Beth looked at Bryce Allen in a slightly different way. It seemed strange to think that her family could have ties to his, this man she had only just met.
Her confusion must have shown on her face. “Very distantly, I should add. I believe your third great grandfather and my fourth great grandmother were brother and sister.”
“By third great grandfather, do you mean great, great, great grandfather?”
“Yes. Sorry, that’s the terminology we use. All those greats can get confusing.”
“Wow. And you and Jill found this out at the library? That you were related, I mean.” Beth took a sip of her drink.
“Yes, among other things. I can show you my family tree one day, if you like. You can compare it to Jill’s and see where we cross over.”
Beth glanced at Meg, before turning back to Bryce. “That would be great. I’m afraid we lost all Jill’s work, so we’re trying to recreate it. That’s why we’re here. You might be able to help us. My third great grandfather, as you put it, was Charles Fisher. So you’re saying that you’re a descendant of his sister?”
“Mary Allen, that’s right. Of course Allen was her married name.”
“And you have proof of her history, back to the First Fleet?”
“I do. Her grandfather was Daniel Fisher, a convict who arrived on the Lady Penrhyn.”
Beth couldn’t believe her luck. She knew that Charles was the name of the father of her great, great grandfather, James, the founder of Fisher & Co. But there were two Charles Fishers listed on the website she’d been using that could have been the right one, and Beth hadn’t been able to get any details on either of them. And even if she had, details of his parents and grandparents were going to be a nightmare to find. This man was able to hand them to her on a plate!
“Is there any chance we can get together some time soon, so I can have a look at your documents? It would save me a lot of work.”
“Of course. I’m actually going interstate on a business trip tomorrow, but I’ll be back towards the end of next week. I could get in touch and organise something then, if you like.”
Beth was disappointed, having got so close she didn’t want to wait a whole week, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. She didn’t want to push, and a glance at Meg told her the detective thought the same. For now.
“Thanks, that would be great.”
“I’m not sure if she told you, but Jill had been working on something else in the last few weeks,” said Bryce.
“Oh? What was that?”
“She’d been very interested to find out that we were distantly related. Once we’d concluded that she was a First Fleet descendant, she decided to look closer at other names further down the tree. She wanted to see if she could find other relatives who were still alive.”
“No, she didn’t tell me that. Do you know if she’d got anywhere?”
“I don’t, sorry. It was something she only started a couple of weeks ago, and I haven’t seen her since.” He caught someone’s eye over at the door to the meeting room. “Look, I’m going to have to go in now. I’ll be in touch about the tree.”
They exchanged numbers and Beth thanked Bryce for his time before he rejoined the group in the closed meeting.
“What do you think?” she asked Meg once he was out of earshot.
“I think you handled yourself really well. It’s great that he’s possibly got all the answers for you.”
“Yeah, not great that I have to wait until next week to get them, though. Do you think I should try again, maybe get him to give me the paperwork tonight?”
“No. He doesn’t know why it’s so important to you, and I don’t think you should tell him.”
There was something else, something Meg wasn’t telling her. Beth could see it in her face. “You did recognise him, didn’t you?”
“I can’t tell you, not before I discuss it with my team.”
“Bullshit. I’m not a child, Meg. Tell me what you know.”
Meg tapped her fingernails nervously on her glass. “We went through the security footage from the cameras at the library. We found pictures of Jill and a man.” She nodded in the direction of now closed meeting room door. “It was Bryce Allen.”
“So? He just told us they met at the library.”
“Yes, but in the pictures you can see their body language, Beth. I think there was something more to the relationship than just friendship.”
Beth finished her drink and put the glass down with a thud. “He was wearing a wedding ring. Jill wouldn’t get involved with a married man, no way.”
“Maybe not. I’m jumping to conclusions here, Beth. It might not be at all what it looks like. But until we know for sure, I don’t want you rushing into anything. If he was having an affair with Jill, it pushes him a fair way up the suspect list.”
The two women stood and were about to leave the table when Meg glanced once again towards the meeting room. Beth followed her gaze, to see that the door was still firmly closed and Bryce Allen was nowhere in sight. She then watched as Meg took a plastic bag from her pocket, carefully picked up the empty glass that had once contained Bryce’s drink, and placed it in the bag.
“What are you doing?” she asked the detective.
“Our forensics team found fingerprints in Jill’s apartment we weren’t able to exclude as friends or family members. This will tell us whether our new friend Bryce was closer to your sister than he’s letting on.”
23
Coop, you awake?
I am now. Cooper sat up in bed as he typed the text reply on his mobile phone. Five-thirty am, the phone told him, just before it rang. This had better be good.
“What can I do for you, Meg?” he whispered, trying not to wake Liz.
“It’s what I can do for you. I’ve got an ID on the guy from the library, and I’ve got his fingerprints in Jill Fisher’s apartment. In the bedroom.”
“What? How?”
“Never mind that for now. The guy’s name is Bryce Allen, and he’s getting on a plane this morning for Melbourne. I figured you’d want to talk to him before he leaves town.”
“You figured right,” said Cooper, fully awake now. “It’s not enough for a warrant, though.”
“No, but his plane leaves in about two hours. We can catch up with him in the Qantas lounge. Otherwise he’s not back until next week sometime.”
“Alright, good idea. Will I meet you there?”
“No. I’m outside your house. Throw some clothes on, Coop, and get out here.”
He didn’t need to be told twice.
In the car Meg filled him in on how she’d gone with Beth Fisher to a meeting of the First Fleet Descendants Society, and how they’d met Bryce Allen. She’d instantly recognised him from the library footage, and she’d been clever enough to get his prints on a glass which she’d taken straight to Forensic Services once she’d dropped Beth off at home. By the time forensics had matched the prints to the unknown set found in Jill Fisher’s apartment, Meg had just enough time to go home and change clothes before turning up on Cooper’s doorstep.
“Sorry for the early morning rus
h,” she said when she’d finished her story, “but like I said I thought you’d want to talk to him now rather than wait until he gets back from his business trip.”
“Good work, Meg. Where was Anderson in all this?”
“I didn’t involve him. I agreed to take Beth to the meeting last night on my own time, and it kind of just went from there. I’ll call Flynn once we get to the airport.”
“Fair enough.” Cooper admired her spirit. Not enough cops these days have the brains to think for themselves, like Meg had done last night and this morning. He made a mental note to mention it to Munro.
Meg found a space in the car park at the domestic terminal. She could have pulled up out the front and used the official police dashboard sign, but there really wasn’t any need. Allen’s plane wasn’t due to leave for another hour: they’d have no trouble catching up to him in the business class lounge. It took a couple of minutes for them to explain their way through security, but once inside they located the lounge easily.
“That’s him,” said Meg, pointing to a table by the window, after they’d shown their badges at the front desk.
Cooper nodded. “You lead,” he said to Meg on their way to the table.
“Bryce, hello,” she said, showing her badge this time. Cooper also held his up for the man to see. “Mind if we join you?”
“I get the feeling that’s not really a request,” said Bryce, pushing a plate holding a delicious looking apricot danish to one side. Cooper realised he hadn’t had time for breakfast.
“No, not really,” Meg answered, as they both took seats with a minimum of fuss. Not that any of the other waiting passengers had paid them any attention. It seemed keeping to yourself was just as much a part of airport terminal life inside the fancy lounges as out among the little people.
The Dark Series Page 48
