Read Tangled Page 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The monotone voice of the message bank assistant cut

  in. "You have one new message. Message received

  yesterday at 11.27pm"

  'Detective Payne, this is Marla Andrews from the

  Wellness Clinic, I need to speak to you, as soon as

  possible. It’s important. There is something you should

  know; I can’t go into it now. Can you please call me back?

  Thank you.'

  Ben listened to the message again. The desperation in

  her voice was evident. He saved her message on his

  phone, threw it onto the bed and headed straight for the

  shower, finally there was going to be more than cracks

  appearing down at the Wellness Clinic. Marla was going to

  blow the lid clean off the place, he could hear it in her

  voice. For the first time in almost a month of investigating

  Tessa’s murder, he saw a glimmer of hope shining at the

  end of the long, black tunnel he’d been walking down.

  Ben threw the phone onto his bedside table and headed

  into the bathroom.

  He stepped into the shower, cold water splashed over his

  face. His entire body felt invigorated by the drops that

  rained down upon him. His thoughts travelled back to his

  visit to the Wellness Clinic and his interview with Marla

  and Dr. Sugars, finally the reason for their odd behaviour

  and caginess would be revealed. Ben knew with every

  ounce of his being, that today would change his, and

  Jay’s case; in a way they had never anticipated. He flicked

  the taps off and reached for the towel draped over the

  railing beside the shower cubicle. Wrapping it securely

  around him, he hurried into his bed-room, pulled a set of

  clothes from the hanger on his robe door and slipped

  into them.

  He grabbed his phone and stuffed it excitedly into his

  shirt pocket before rushing downstairs, his pulse racing

  in anticipation of Marla’s upcoming revelation. Once or

  twice he chided himself for being so excited, that’s how

  mistakes are made and vital information is overlooked.

  He made his way to the kitchen bench and pulled a coffee

  cup from the cup-board. Determined to slow himself

  down he set the jug to boil and searched for his

  notebook. Plucking it from amongst the debris on the

  living room coffee table, he flipped through it and

  surveyed his previous notes. This time he would get what

  he was looking for if he had to set up camp in the

  wellness clinic waiting room.

  The kettle wailed it’s shrill whistle, alert-ing him that it had

  boiled. Ben placed his, coffee, sugar and milk in the cup

  followed by the water. He stirred it vigorously, all the while

  the excitement of what Marla was about to reveal to him

  was building inside him. After two sips, he was unable to

  contain himself any longer, he had been waiting for a

  break for so long and now he was going to get it. He

  poured the unfinished coffee down the sink and rinsed

  his cup quickly before placing it upside down on the

  drainer. With not so much as a second thought, he

  snatched the keys from the holder and made a beeline for

  the car.

  He backed down the driveway and out onto the street,

  with a swift gear change he found himself nestled

  amongst the flow of traffic, heading east towards the city

  centre. Twenty minutes later, he turned onto Link Avenue

  and then onto Fort Street before halting steadily in the

  nearest parking bay he could find. Ben turned off the

  engine and sat in his seat, the anticipation of what he was

  about to learn paralysing him. Deep breaths filled his

  lungs with fresh air before escaping from his mouth ready

  for the next intake. He pulled the sun visor down and

  stared at his reflection in the tiny personal mirror behind

  it. He studied his eyes and the sternness he wanted them

  to hold, he pursed his lips in an attempt to remain firm. It

  was time; he was ready.

  The glass doors and marble columns that had so

  impressed him before, no longer intimi-dated or held awe

  for him. He was focussed. With one hand, he pushed on

  the glass entrance, marched across the immaculately

  shiny tiles and straight up to the reception counter. Just

  as he was about to open his mouth, a petite red head

  stared up at him and smiled courteously.

  "Good morning, Sir, how may I help you?"

  "What?" he choked out.

  "How may I help you?" she continued, clearly confused by

  his stalled behaviour.

  "Who are you, where’s Marla?"

  "My name is Sandy. I’m sorry, Sir, I can’t give you any

  personal information. Is there something else I can help

  you with?"

  "Sandy…"

  "Yes?"

  "You go and get Marla and tell her Detective Payne is

  here to see her… please."

  "Detective? Uumm, well…"

  "What? It’s a simple request."

  "Marla didn’t come in today, Sir."

  "She what? Well when did she call in sick?"

  Sandy’s eyes darted around like a frightened deer, "Well I…

  I Don’t…"

  "Where’s Dr. Sugars?"

  "Oh, I’m sorry, Detective, she can’t be disturbed, she’s on

  a conference call at the moment."

  Something inside Ben snapped, the Wellness Clinic, Marla

  and Dr. Sugars had jerked him around for the last time.

  He spun on his heel and marched deliberately down the

  corridor and crashed through the door at the end.

  Sandy ran out from behind her desk and scurried after

  him. "Wait, Detective… You can’t go in there!"

  Ben turned and faced Sandy when he stepped into the

  office, then with a wry smile, slammed the door in her

  face. He spun around and saw Dr. Sugars sitting behind

  her expensive oak desk, her eyes bulging and her mouth

  slightly ajar.

  "Where’s Marla?"

  "Well, good morning to you too! What gives you the right

  to come barging into my office this way? I hope you have a

  warrant, Detective." Her cool words sprayed from her

  mouth like venom.

  "No, I don’t have a warrant, Rose… I can still call you Rose,

  can’t I?" The sarcasm oozed from his lips. "I have

  something much better than a warrant."

  "And what would that be?"

  "A need."

  "Excuse me… A what?"

  "A need, Rose. A need to speak to Marla, a need to know

  what’s going on here, a need to get to the truth of these

  murders I’m investigating and…"

  "Get out of my office immediately…"

  "Don’t interrupt me please, I am express-ing myself." He

  spat back at her before continuing on unabated. "I need

  to know why you are playing games with us?"

  "Us?"

  "Yes, Detective Marnotti and myself. Us."

  "I’m not playing…"

  "Where is Marla, Rose?"

  "She’s sick."

  "What time did she call in?"

  "She didn’t."

  "So what time did you call her?"

  "I didn’t call her."

  "So how do yo
u know she’s sick?"

  "I just assumed…"

  "Does she often skip work and not call you?"

  "No, never…"

  "So wouldn’t you consider this a little odd?"

  "Well, yes I guess so, but…"

  "Why didn’t you call her Rose?"

  "I… I… I was going to."

  "What, you decided you’d wait until morning tea time

  huh?"

  Rose wrung her hands together so tightly that her

  knuckles turned white, her eyes avoided Ben’s and she

  slumped in her chair. "No, I just thought…"

  "What is going on here, Rose, be straight with me before I

  haul you down to the station for obstruction!"

  The colour drained from her face and she sighed deeply.

  "We had a fight last night, when I dropped her home." Her

  words were barely a whisper and she covered her face with

  her hands.

  "About what?"

  Rose regained some composure and sat a little stiffer in

  her seat. "About her pregnancy."

  "She’s pregnant?"

  "Yes. She was planning to terminate and she didn’t want

  me to tell her Father."

  "And why would she be worried about you telling her

  Father? You’re just her…"

  "Mother!" She hissed, cutting him short.

  "You are Marla’s mother?" Ben stepped back, the shock

  knocking the wind out of him. Glancing behind him, he

  moved to his left and sat in the easy chair.

  "Yes, Detective. I bet you didn’t see that one coming did

  you?"

  "Why didn’t you tell me this before?"

  "You never asked… I didn’t see that it was important, and

  quite frankly I still don’t. I am only telling you now so that

  you understand why I haven’t contacted her today. I’m

  giving her some space. She’ll cool down and be back at

  work tomorrow. That, I am certain of."

  Ben sat forward in his chair and stared di-rectly into her

  pale blue eyes. "What else haven’t you told me that you

  think isn’t important, Rose?"

  She raised her silvering eyebrows and looked away,

  "Nothing. There is nothing to tell."

  "Oh, I think there’s a lot to tell and I am going to keep

  digging until I find it, so you’d better get used to seeing

  my face around here, Rose." He pushed himself up from

  the easy chair and walked towards the door. "What’s

  Marla’s address?"

  "What do you want that for? I told you, she’ll be just…"

  "Her address please, Rose. Now."

  She slumped back again and whispered, "42 Mayberry

  Terrace."

  "Thanks for your time. I look forward to seeing you again

  soon."

  Back at his car, he turned the key and the engine roared to

  life, the power purring from beneath the bonnet in waves.

  While the car sat there idle, Ben pulled his phone from his

  pocket and called Jay.

  "Jayy?"

  "Yo, Ben… what’s up?"

  "You busy?"

  "Just leaving the morgue," he replied.

  "You got a positive I.D. from the parents then?"

  "From Frank, yeah. Where are you?"

  "I can’t explain too much right now, can you meet me?"

  "Sure. Is everything ok Ben?"

  "I don’t know, Jayy, I guess we are about to find out. I’ll

  be at 42 Mayberry Terrace."

  "Got it,‛ said Jay. ‚See you there in ten."

  Ending the call, Ben threw the phone down on the

  passenger seat of the car, shifted into reverse and rolled

  out of the car park before joining the stream of traffic. The

  congestion on the highway was murder, bumper to

  bumper for as far as he could see. Just what he needed to

  cap off his already badly started day. It always annoyed

  Ben when it took twenty minutes just to get from one

  side of Showsdale city centre to the other, it would have

  been quicker to travel the outskirts. More kilometers but

  fewer hold ups. By ten-fifteen, he had successfully negoti-

  ated his way from east to west and made a right turn onto

  Evergreen Crescent followed by a left into Applegum Drive

  and a final right onto Mayberry Terrace. The area was

  commonly referred to as Shrub City by the locals due to

  the streets of the four square blocks, all being named

  after trees and flowers of sorts.

  He rolled slowly along Mayberry Terrace, noting the

  development of the surroundings. There were at least five

  vacant blocks, two houses in the process of being built

  and a further three blocks under excavation. Ahead of him

  was a cul-de-sac lined with dense bush land. Ben thought

  how eerie it must appear to the naked eye at night. It

  would be a child’s nightmare to have that as the view from

  their bedroom window. Number 42 appeared on his left at

  the end of the cul-de-sac, the single story timber home

  butted directly up against the scrub, with not so much as

  a fence dividing the house from the nature strip.

  Ben came to a halt in front of the quaint ivory and green

  painted home. He remained in his car and observed the

  house before him. The driveway was bricked up, quite

  loosely too he thought. The front steps appeared to be in

  need of some repair and a new paint job. Compared to

  the rest of the house, the railing was old and peeling. He

  tried to imagine Marla standing out in the heat with a can

  of paint and a brush… no wonder it hadn’t been fixed. A

  brief smile tugged at his lips, he couldn’t imagine a

  woman such as her ever getting her hands dirty.

  The sound of Jay’s cruiser filled his ears. Ben looked in

  his rear vision mirror and saw him turn into Mayberry

  Terrace. He roared along and pulled up behind him,

  honking his horn as a final alert to his presence. He

  grabbed his phone from the seat next to him and

  climbed out of the Chevy, locking the door behind him.

  He stood on the roadside for a moment and waited for

  Jay to climb down from his cruiser.

  "Gees, Ben. What are we doin’ out n the sticks?"

  "Thought we’d pay a little visit to the Ice Queen," he joked.

  "Really? You mean this is where she lives?" Jay stared at

  the rather plain house.

  "I kinda pictured her as the brick and tile type."

  "Me too. She’s just full of surprises isn’t she?"

  "Now why do I feel that there’s more to that question than

  meets the ear?"

  "Marla left a message on my phone last night," said Ben

  pulling out his phone. He entered his message bank,

  keyed in his pin and threw his phone to Jay. "Here, you

  listen for yourself."

  Jay held the phone to his ear and listened intently.

  "Sounds like she had some pretty beefy news for ya. So is

  that why we’re here?" He threw the phone back to Ben.

  "Marla didn’t show for work today."

  Jay stared at Ben.

  "I called by the Wellness Clinic only to find some little red

  head where Marla should have been."

  "What did the good doctor have to say about it?" Asked

  Jay.

  "Rose hadn’t heard from her. Boy is she some piece of

  work though
."

  "How so?"

  "Let’s just say she is full of secrets." He glanced back at

  Jay and added, "She is Marla’s mother."

  "Now there’s an image I can live with-out!"

  Ben chuckled and walked up the brick driveway looking

  around the yard as he went. Jay followed, lighting a

  cigarette as he walked behind him. Upon reaching the

  front steps, Ben held his arm out and said to Jay, "After

  you."

  "Are you kidding? Those damn things don’t even look like

  they would hold my weight!"

  "Oh alright then… you sook," laughed Ben, his foot lifting

  to the first step.

  A couple of steps later he was at the front door, the paint

  job on that was looking a little worse for ware too. Ben

  raised his hand and knocked several times loudly, then

  stood back and waited for Marla to appear. He looked

  back down at Jay.

  "Hey, where are you going?" He asked.

  Jay was disappearing around the side. ‚Just checking the

  joint out. No harm in looking is there?‛

  "Well mind your manners, we have no warrant you know."

  He looked back at the door, Marla still hadn’t answered,

  he banged louder and waited a bit longer.

  "Yo, Ben…" Jay yelled from around the side of the house.

  "You might wanna come take a look at this."

  Ben left the front door, scooted down the steps and raced

  around the side of the house, following Jay’s voice. He

  was hit in the face with various tree branches and foliage

  from the unbridled nature strip

  "Shit," he cussed loudly.

  "Over here, Ben."

  A few steps further, the scrub was down trodden and Jay

  was standing aside staring up at an open window, the

  glass broken and splinters of wood strewn about the

  ground and architrave.

  Ben took a minute to digest the scene and then said,

  "Jayy, these shards of glass and splinters of wood are on

  the outside. Why would someone break out?" He thought

  a few seconds longer and then it dawned on him. "Unless

  someone was dragged or pushed out?"

  Jay looked at him, his face stern, "Who needs a warrant?

  We’ve just found probable cause."