Chapter 17

chapter seventeen

Now

‘So she sends her sons over to pick up this girl’s stuff. Doesn’t know her from a bar of soap but she lets her move in!’

It was late afternoon and the packed salon hummed with the roar of multiple hairdryers. Senior stylist Narelle Longford only half-listened to her three pm half-head highlights as she prattled on about Joy Delaney. Nearly every one of her clients had been prattling on about Joy Delaney over the last week. Joy was well known in the local community.

‘It has to be connected, don’t you think? This strange girl and Joy’s disappearance?’

‘I don’t know.’ Narelle removed the towel turban from the woman’s head. Isabel Norris was known to be difficult about her colour.

‘Wait. Don’t you normally do Joy’s hair?’ Isabel spun her head to look at her. ‘You probably know more than me! Have the police talked to you?’

‘No.’ Narelle plugged in the hairdryer. ‘Smooth with a bit of volume?’

‘Did she tell you she was planning on going away?’

‘She didn’t,’ said Narelle.

‘I heard that Joy and Stan were having issues. They were barely speaking.’

‘I don’t know anything about that,’ said Narelle, who knew all about that.

‘Did she ever mention that girl to you?’

‘Savannah?’ said Narelle.

‘Wait, did you meet her?’

She met Isabel’s eyes in the mirror. ‘I did. I cut her hair.’

‘Did you?’ Isabel looked animated. ‘I heard she was a little, you know . . .’ She mouthed the word. ‘Slutty.’

‘She seemed nice,’ said Narelle.

‘It’s all tied up somehow,’ said Isabel. ‘Too much of a coincidence. Strange young girl moves in and then the wife vanishes. Don’t be surprised if the next thing we hear is that Stan just happens to be in a relationship with this girl now he’s got Joy out of the way – ow,that’s a bit hot on my ear.’

‘Sorry,’ said Narelle unapologetically.

She was Joy’s confidante and confessor, as bound by secrecy as a priest or lawyer, but if Joy missed her next appointment Narelle would go to the police and hand over thirty years of secrets. She’d tell them about the betrayals. The ones referred to obliquely and the ones discussed in frank detail. She’d give the police everything they needed to convict her husband. She would say, Here is one possible motive and here is another, because any marriage of that many years has multiple motives for murder. Every police officer and hairdresser knows that.