Chapter 24 –Last Roll of the Dice
It was late afternoon Sunday before Alan was home from the bush. Sandy wanted some of his time after a week away so he postponed his visit to the office, deciding he would call first thing in the morning en route to Katherine.
Last week he had radioed the Katherine police station which had organised an office for him to use there for his next two days enquiries.
He was in Katherine before ten o’clock. First he went through the phone bill log of calls from Mark’s phone that he had brought with him. He tried to ring the number from the suspect call cluster but was advised it was disconnected so he got to work with tracing it. Late that afternoon he finally got advice that this number belonged to a SIM card, with $30 of credit, purchased in Cairns by a Susan McDonald.
Now to get the log of the calls she made on it. There were only about ten, most were when she was in Sydney, a couple came from Cairns and Melbourne and just two texts were in the Northern Territory, one sent from Borroloola and the other received at Timber Creek, both from the same UK number. So now he had the times of the texts but not their content. Still he knew he was on to something when he saw the time of the second text, 9.05 am on the date when Mark and Susan were last seen leaving Timber Creek.
He remembered that day in Timber Creek, two weeks ago, standing outside the pub just where their car was parked. His own phone was in a dead zone, and he had to walk along the road for fifty yards before he got reception. So when Susan checked her phone at 8 am she would have got nothing. Then she was asleep at 9.05 when the message was received. But it would have been there on her phone when she woke up.
Imagine if it was something bad about Mark, some record sent from overseas, something terrible, maybe even something to do with a missing girl, the way that Mike from Top Springs had hinted. And imagine if Mark had found out about it and had known he had to stop Susan from talking. Perhaps she was still asleep when the text came in, he had heard the ping, picked up the phone to look and, suddenly, he knew.
There were plenty of possibilities but his police intuition told him that this was the real thing, all the rest was window dressing. It fitted too well with what happened later on. If she knew and he knew that she knew, then unless she agreed to keep his secret and he knew he could trust her, she was in great peril. And if he needed her to disappear, what better than a crocodile, it fitted the crocodile symbols which surrounded him.
Perhaps in that moment she somehow turned the tables and he had taken her place. Then, knowing that the secret must be hidden, she had decided she must cover all evidence of them coming to this place. She had done such a good job it had almost worked. If not first for Charlie finding the head and then, if not for him and Sandy and their little game of one upmanship, it would have been missed.
But fate had intervened and, despite all the odds, the head, and with it the murder and the cover up had been found. Of course she had never tried to hide her movements until that fateful day; she was not naturally like that. But in that moment she had seen it as her only choice. But she was caught and now convicted. It must be she had decided not to reveal it for the sake of her unborn children; that was what she had told Buck.
So if Mark had killed one or more other girls, as Mike had suggested, then that was a secret he could imagine someone wanting to take to the grave if they still loved the other person, and Susan clearly did. So it all hung together, was plausible and, most important, it made sense of the facts. But it was not evidence yet, just an educated guess.
Well enough speculation. Now that UK number had to be traced, and he also needed the content of the texts. The lady told him that that the UK number was part of UK Vodafone and he would have to contact them to get details of the owner. In terms of getting text details she told him she would put in a request but it could take several days.
After some time sweet talking and cajoling her she admitted that it may be possible inside of 48 hours and the absolute best case was a bit over 24 hours, perhaps late tomorrow afternoon. She assured him she would put it to the top of the pile and mark it highest priority and she would also follow it up tomorrow morning when she was back on duty.
Alan thanked her; he knew he had got the best result possible. Late in the night he got an identity on the owner of the English phone. It was Anne, Susan’s best friend. Alan did not feel surprised. He knew she worked as a legal secretary in London, just the sort of person one would ask to trace other missing persons.
About four o’clock the next afternoon his phone rang. It was the operator he had spoken to the previous day. She said, “I have the texts, I will email you the transcripts though I can also read them out if you like.”
He said “Thanks, but no,” not wanting any chance of this information being broadcast in the office where perhaps others would hear. He also felt he needed to see a hard copy in front of his eyes, daring not to let his imagination run away, lest he mishear or misunderstand.
So he said, “Could you email them through straight away please.” Within a minute a new email pinged on his phone. His hands were shaking as he opened it. It was a one line document with two files attached, each a text transcript. Now he read.
Message sent at 11.57 am, Australian Central Standard Time.
The date was Susan’s day in Borroloola. It read.
Anne,
Can you check out two names below?
Saw notice saying missing in a place I stayed.
? Whether persons home now and OK.
Text back soonest.
Will check next town, where phone works.
Having a great time in Oz.
Love and see you soon
Suz
Names
Fiona Rodgers Age 25, Aberdeen Scotland
Amanda Sullivan, Age 24, Newark New Jersey USA
The reply was sent the next day but not transmitted until three days later, received at 9.05 am, Australian Central Standard Time. It read
Girl in an Empty Cage Page 28
