CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ben parked his Chevy on the side of the street. He looked
up at Anna’s house from his seat. Sitting in her driveway
was a silver Volkswagon Convertible. Ben eyed it
suspiciously. He remembered seeing that car before. His
mind ticked over trying to recall where. He got out of his
car and stepped onto the footpath, his eyes still fixed on
the VW. Like a bolt of lightning it hit him. That was the car
he had seen Marla and Dr. Sugars drive away in the night
he visited the Wellness Clinic, but what would Rose be
doing at Anna’s?
The thought had no sooner entered his mind when he
heard smashing glass and screaming echo from inside
Anna’s house. He grabbed for his gun and ran to the front
steps, stopping beside the front door. The voices became
hushed and he could hear Anna sobbing hysterically. Ben
trod carefully and made his way towards the window to
the left of the door, his gun still firmly in his hand. His
heart thumped in his chest and sweat gathered above his
brow. As swiftly and as quietly as he could, he poked his
head around to the front of the window and peered
inside.
Anna was seated on the sofa in the lounge room, tears
streaming down her cheeks and Rose was standing over
the top of her holding a gun. Ben pulled his head back
from the window before he was seen and backed further
up against the wall of the house. With his left hand, he
reached into his pocket for his phone. It wasn’t there.
“Shit!” Ben cursed under his breath.
His breathing became more rapid and the sweat now ran
down over his brow and into his eyes. The stinging
caused him to repeatedly blink his eyelids. It was the
body’s vain effort to expel the salty liquid from his eyes
and regain his vision clearly. Rose’s voice resounded from
the lounge room. It was harsh and deep.
“You dare to threaten me! Who do you think you are?”
“You have to go,” Anna sobbed and stammered, “to the
police.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Rose’s voice grew more menacing.
“and neither will you.”
“But Marla…”
“She was weak, she was going to run to those cops and
tell them everything.”
“You? You killed her, too?” Anna’s voice rose to a higher
pitch.
“No!” boomed Rose, “I’ve killed no-one.”
“You killed Tessa, I know you did, and so do you.”
“Tessa was an accident!” Rose spat back at her.
“An accident? If it was an accident you should have gone
to the police like Marla wanted you to.”
“You should be more worried about why Kylie-Anne and
Marla were murdered…” Rose cut herself short.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, they were all your clients. They all died within hours
of meeting with you. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“You mean… You didn’t kill them?”
“I told you. I didn’t kill anyone. Tessa was just an
unfortunate accident that had to be taken care of.”
“Oh my God, what is going on here? I, I thought you…”
“What? That I could kill my own daughter?”
“Then who?”
“I have no idea,” Rose paused. “But they certainly picked a
convenient time and manner in which to start their little
killing spree. Seems they like to copy-cat, eh?”
“How can you say it’s convenient? Your own child is dead
at the hands of this monster!” Anna choked between
sobs.
Ben listened intently, his heart still jumping wildly in his
chest and his mind racing. He was desperate to reach
Jay and call for back up, yet he didn’t want to leave the
porch and the conversation inside. If he had any chance of
saving Anna, it was by staying right where he was and
waiting for an opportune time to make his move. He
pressed his ear back to the wall and gripped his gun
tighter.
“Yes, she was my child.” Rose’s tone softened ever so
slightly, “but she was also going to turn me in. I know it.
Her death is tragic but also a saviour.”
“How do you know she didn’t already talk to the police?”
A guttural laugh escaped Rose. “My dear girl, do you really
think I would be standing here if she had?”
“But you did kill Tessa.”
“No, that was not the way it happened. It wasn’t murder.”
“What do you call it? You sliced her up and disfigured her
so viciously…”
“I had to. I needed to.”
“You needed to? My God Rose, you are a sick woman. I can
help you.” Anna fell silent for a moment and then
whispered, “Just don’t kill me.”
“No, no… You have it all wrong, Anna. I needed to do
those things to throw the police off the real cause of
death. What better way than to mutilate her and dump
her in the scrub?”
Ben couldn’t believe his ears. Rose had admitted to killing
Tessa Hunt. His next thought was of the other girls. If
Rose didn’t kill them, then who did? She had nothing to
lose denying their murders to Anna/ If she intended to
shoot her there would be no point lying to her about that.
Then it dawned on him. They were indeed dealing with two
killers, Rose and someone else who was running around
using Tessa’s murder as a blueprint.
“If it was just an accident, why didn’t you go the police?”
Anna pushed Rose for answers.
“I would have lost my medical license, possibly received
some time in prison. Either way I was not going to lose
everything for some cheap little tart that you referred to
me. It was her own fault, I was pushed to do the
termination after hours and without correct attendants
and procedures in place. What could I have done?”
“You could have said no!” Anna screamed at her. “That’s
what you could have done, Rose.”
“Said no? How? You were the one who begged me to do it
for her that night, or have you forgotten that little
important piece of information?” Rose stopped
momentarily before carrying on. “While we’re on that
subject, why did you ask me that favour on her behalf?
Hmm. What was your vested interest in Tessa any-how?”
Ben had heard enough, it was time to end this siege
before it flared into another murder. Leaving the
conversation, he sunk to the ground and crawled on all
fours down the steps and across the pathway, all the
while his gun remained firmly in his grasp. Once he
reached the gate, he dived onto the footpath and around
to the drivers side of the Chevy. Pulling open the door, he
flung his body into the back seat and scanned the inside
of the car for his phone. There on the front passenger side
seat, he spied it. In one quick movement he grabbed it
and pulled it into the back. He raised his head and looked
out the car window. The house appeared as it did when he
crawled away from i
t. His fingers scrolled through the
phonebook and hit the call button when Jay’s number
flashed on the screen, the phone began to connect.
“Jayy, Jesus. Thank God you answered.”
“Ben, what’s wrong?”
“I need you to get here immediately, bring me some back
up too.”
“Are you hurt? Where’s Anna?”
“Rose is here, she has a gun…”
“Ok, just calm down Ben. Where are they?”
“They’re in the lounge room, I’m out in my car. They don’t
know I’m here.”
“We’ll be there pronto buddy, just keep your head down
and wait for us. You hear me Ben?”
“Yeah, got it… Hey Jayy?”
“Yo.”
“Be careful, Rose has nothing to lose…”
“What do you mean?”
“She killed Tessa.”
“Shit! Ok, we’ll sort this out later, right now you just stay
down. Be there in ten.”
The call disconnected and Ben threw the phone to the
floor. He wiped the sweat away from his brow and even
though he didn’t smoke, he wished like hell that he had a
cigarette. Jay had told him to stay down and remain
where he was, but he had to go back to the porch, he had
to make sure that nothing would happen to Anna. Within
seconds, he was once again on all fours, crawling across
Anna’s yard and up her front steps. From his position
beneath the lounge room window, he heard Rose’s
laughter ring out. He could hear Anna crying hard in the
background.
“My, my Anna. What a tangled web you have spun for
yourself. No wonder you were more involved with Tessa
than your other clients.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” sobbed Anna.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Rose parroted back to
her, disdain dripping from her words. “I’m not doing
anything to you, dear. You are going to do it to yourself.”
“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
“It makes even more sense that you would kill yourself
now! It was passable that you had reason to commit
suicide before, having watched so many clients die such
terrible deaths. It wouldn’t surprise anyone that you
would take your own life.”
“You’re sick, Rose. Twisted and sick!” Anna spat back at
her.
“But now, with what you have told me about Tessa, well,
that is simply extra cream for the filling isn’t it?”
“What makes you so sure that I haven’t told the police
what Marla has told me, Rose?” the desperation
resounded in Anna’s voice. “I’m not sure if you are aware
of it or not, but my exhusband is one of the detectives
investigating Tessa’s murder…”
“What?” Rose hissed at her. “Who?”
“Ben Payne. He’s been to see me several times already
asking about you and Marla. If something were to happen
to me now, don’t you think it would look a little
suspicious?”
There was silence. Ben was still crouching below the
window, becoming more and more nervous with the lack
of conversation. Concern filled him. If Rose had too much
time to think she might become desperate and even
more dangerous than ever. “Say something Anna. Keep
her talking,” he whispered to himself. His hands became
slippery, he was sweating more profusely and his grip on
the gun was not quite as steady as it had been.
“I’m sure even the detectives won’t have a hard time
believing your death is a suicide, especially since you will
be leaving them a note.” snapped Rose. “Get me some
paper and a pen now.”
Ben heard the trigger of the gun cock. The click sent chills
through him. Soon after there were sounds of a drawer
opening and closing again, then the rustling of paper.
“Thank you, Anna. Now be a good girl and start writing
your goodbye’s.”
“No, I won’t!”
“You’ll do it or I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” Anna cut her off. “Shoot me? Then I’ll be
dead and you won’t have your suicide note.‛”
Ben crawled back to the side of the window and stood up.
His nerves were peaking. Rose was getting far more
serious and Jay still hadn’t shown up. It was time to act.
He crept around to the back of the house and turned the
handle, it was locked.
“Damn it!” Ben cursed under his breath. He looked from
left to right surveying the other windows. On his right he
saw the small window of Anna’s office was ajar. He slid it
open as far as it would go and hoisted himself up,
wriggling as quickly and as quietly as he could. A muffled
thump resounded as he hit the desk below the inside of
the window. Ben immediately looked up toward the door
to see if anyone was coming. The coast was clear.
Anna and Rose continued to argue, their pitch reaching a
feverish scale. If he didn’t get in there soon, Anna could
end up wounded or even worse, dead. He slid down from
the desk and peered out the doorway. He could see the
dining room. It was empty. The two women were still in
the lounge room. Ben crouched down on all fours again
and crawled like a crab into the dining room. From there
he slithered past the table and rested up against the
breakfast bar, which divided the kitchen from the dining
room. The adrenalin was pumping furiously through his
veins and his heart was beating so hard, he was certain
that Rose would be able to hear it. He lay on the floor
behind the breakfast bar and poked his head around the
corner, he could see Anna sitting on the sofa, her arms
folded tightly across her chest. The fear on her face was
clear.
Rose was too far back for him to see her body, although
he could see her outstretched arm and the gun she held
in her hand, It was only inches from Anna’s forehead.
Anna was rocking back and forth. Her head was shaking
from side to side. Ben wriggled a little further out from
behind the bar and crawled across the kitchen floor
toward the doorway, he kept his eyes on Anna. Just as he
was about to crawl behind the wall, Anna shook her head
and looked his way. Their eyes met. Ben thought she
would blow his cover with her reaction, instead she
continued rocking and shaking.
Ben motioned for Anna to try and move away from him.
He held out his arm, made a turning motion and then
pointed towards the lounge room window. He wanted
Anna to move in such a way that Rose would be forced to
walk further into the centre of the room with her back to
him. He prayed Anna would understand his gestures. Ben
was now as close to the two women as he dared get
without having the opportunity to come at Rose from
behind.
Anna stopped rocking and said to Rose, “Give me the
pen.”
Ben watched as she stood up. Rose handed her a pen and
she took the paper from the sofa beside her. She walked
towards the window.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Rose screamed at her.
“If you want me to write this note, I need a hard surface to
lean on,” she shot back at her. “The buffet will do.” Anna
pointed to the small buffet hutch below the lounge room
window.
Ben felt relief wash over him. She had understood what he
wanted. He lifted himself into a crouching position and
prepared to spring at Rose from behind.
Anna reached the buffet and turned back to Rose, “What
do you want me to write?”
“Say how deeply traumatised you are because of the
horrendous deaths of your clients.” Rose crossed the
room to where Anna was standing.
Ben now had her firmly in his sight. “Just a little further,”
he whispered. “That’s it, keep going.”
Rose was almost right beside Anna. Her back was nearly
completely turned on him. She took one final step and
was over Anna’s shoulder.
“Mention how you just couldn’t bare their loss and how
disturbed you had become…”
Ben sprang from his position behind the kitchen wall and
lunged at Rose, moving so fast there was no turning
back. Instantly he fell upon her knocking her to the
ground. The gun flew from her hand and slid across the
lounge room floor. Anna ran and picked it up. Rose
screamed obscenities at him, punching and kicking as
hard as she could. The heel of her stiletto caught Ben in
the temple, knocking him out cold on the floor beside
her. Rose glared over at Anna and pulled herself up off the
floor.
“Give me that you stupid fool!” her words were icy and
bitter, spittle dribbled from her mouth.
“Don’t come any closer,” screamed Anna. “I’ll shoot you
dead, I swear I will.” Her hands trembled beneath the
weight of the gun.
Rose moved forward slowly, taking one deliberate step
after another, her hands out in front of her. She looked
like a woman feeling her way through a darkened room.
“Give me the gun, Anna, and you won’t get hurt.” She
forced out a laugh. “It’s not even loaded!”
Anna looked at the gun and then back at Rose. “We’ll see
then, won’t we?”
With that she aimed the gun at her and squeezed the
trigger. The bullet shot from the gun and lodged deeply in
the wall behind Rose. Anna looked at the fear stricken
expression on Rose’s face. She then shifted her attentions
to Ben, he was coming to on the floor, rolling around
moaning with his hands holding a gash above his right
eye.
Rose spun on her heel and bolted to the front door. Ben
threw out his arms in an attempt to pull her feet out from
under her. He missed. Anna stood where she was, glued
in a state of shock. Ben yelled to her, “Shoot again Anna,
shoot!”
It was too late, Rose was already opening the door and
halfway down the front steps.
“Stop right there!”
Ben heard a familiar voice. He climbed up against the wall
and peered out through the window, it was Jay. The front
lawn was littered with at least half a dozen cops and three
cars, all parked lengthways across the driveway. Ben
glanced over at Anna once more before passing out again.