34. Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

Lara sat in the interview room at the Silverbloom Police Station and shivered. She wasn’t sure if it was deliberate but the air conditioning was turned up so high she felt like she was freezing to death. Her fingers were white, but whether that was from the cold or from stress she didn’t know.

She was alone. The cop - the older one - had left nearly an hour ago, after Lara - who might be something akin to terrified, but who also wasn’t an idiot - had refused to say anything at all. The room she was in had opaque safety glass windows, a table and chairs bolted to the floor and a plastic bottle of water for her to drink. She wasn’t sure if the door was locked or if the cameras were on. She figured she was being watched one way or another. So she did nothing.

She couldn’t stop shivering and she really needed to pee. She was pretty sure she might be about to throw up. She stayed stock still and tried not to give them anything at all, which only made her think of a prey animal. What kind of strategy was this? So far she didn’t have another one. All she wanted was to go home.

The door opened and the cop - Chris something, she was pretty sure, because of course they were all fucking called Chris - walked in.

“Come on Lara.” He looked thoroughly annoyed. “What are you playing at?”

She frowned.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little more specific,” she said drily. Jesus christ, don’t taunt the police Lara.

“There are two goddamned lawyers out here, both saying they represent you. You’re entitled to a lawyer. So which one is it?”

“What are you talking about?” Lara wasn’t playing at anything. She’d used up her one phone call to get hold of Sadie and tell her that shit was hitting the fan and to pick Tilly up from school this afternoon. No matter what, keep her safe. Don’t let her worry, okay?

The cop eyeballed her. He looked familiar somehow, but she couldn’t place him.

He held up a post-it note and squinted at it .

“There’s a Danielle Nguyen, says she’s a senior partner at Audrey Coleman’s firm, specialises in criminal law. Apparently she’ll represent you pro bono. And then there’s a Steve Rossi, also a senior criminal lawyer, says the Gabrielli family has hired him and apparently you shouldn’t worry about a bill there either.”

Lara blinked. Her eyes got hot.

Cop Chris tapped his foot. God, she was so sure she knew him. Years disappeared and a flash of the scent of beer hit her, men’s voices from her living room shouting at the football on the television. She swallowed, hard.

“Audrey’s one,” she said after a minute, forcing her voice to come out steadily. She wasn’t about to let a Gabrielli pay a single bill for her, especially not if Audrey’s boss was willing to help her for free.

“Fine,” he said. He disappeared and a couple of minutes later, an expensive, extremely competent looking middle-aged woman walked into the room. To the detective’s distaste he was promptly organised into letting Lara use the bathroom, bringing in a cup of instant coffee and adjusting the room to a comfortable temperature. Lara was not a hugger but if Danielle had offered her a hug too, from this woman she’d probably have taken one.

Lara, now instructed, answered the detective’s questions. No, she hadn’t killed Dale Winchester, no she didn’t know who had. No, she wasn’t conducting deep conspiracies to murder and maim men, saying he’d sleep with the fishes was a goddamned joke. Yes, Lara was capable of dark jokes about men actually, most women were.

“What did you mean when you said to Eva Sinclair - in regards to her partner Dan Evans -” he checked his notes, “we’re going to find a way to make him pay? ”

“I meant we are literally going to find a way to make him pay. Child support,” she emphasised. “And a fair division of assets. He left Eva after four years and a child together to go do FIFO, then decided he was bored of his life with her and wanted to shack up with someone else.” The cop just looked at her, nonplussed, and Lara just barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “He didn’t tell her that though,” she explained. “He literally just stopped answering his phone and blocked her access to the only family income they had, while she was stuck out in the bush with no car and no childcare. When she called around - his boss, the local police - freaking out and searching for him, he pretended he didn’t even know who she was.”

“And how exactly were you planning on making him pay?” The cop narrowed his eyes. “What was the plan, Lara?”

Lara glared at him, actively willing him to burst into flames.

“I found a contact up at the mines. And I have a friend who’s a lawyer.” She tried not to look at Danielle, unsure if this was going to backfire on Audrey somehow. “She drafted a letter outlining his responsibilities and threatening to take him to court if he didn’t do the right thing. The contact made sure he got the letter, since Dan has been pretending he has no address.”

The cop made some notes. Danielle gave her a carefully encouraging nod while he frowned down at his laptop.

“You were overheard to say to Ms. Sinclair in regards to Chloe Perkin’s partner, Mr. Dale Winchester: I hope I never have to go to that extent again. It was messy. But Dan won’t even know what hit him.” He looked up at Lara to see her reaction. She tried not to give him one. “ You can see how that would be of interest to us,” he watched her face, “being that Mr. Winchester was reported as a missing person by his mother back in March of this year, just over eight months ago. The body we recovered from the dam at his ex-partner’s property is in a deteriorated condition but I’m told the cause of death was probably due to the great big dent someone gave him to the back of the head.” He sat back in his chair as if his case was closed. “Ms. Sinclair was heard to say you got rid of him. So tell me, Lara, did Dale even know what hit him?”

Lara stared back at him, her chin high.

“I don’t know,” she repeated. “I wasn’t there.”

“I can see how maybe things could have gotten a bit out of hand, a bit messy as you put it. Maybe you just meant to warn him off. He didn’t take it well, things got heated.” He didn’t ask a question so Lara didn’t answer one. “Chloe Perkins wanted him gone didn’t she? ”

“Wouldn’t you? He beat and raped her.”

“So you took matters into your own hands? You didn’t, say, assist her to get some help, make a police report perhaps?”

“You have to be fucking kidding me.” Lara gave him the iciest glare she was capable of. “Since when do you lot give a shit about domestic violence,” she bit out. “Just a guy torturing his girlfriend, not really a crime is it?”

Danielle gave her a warning glance and she tried to wind herself back.

Cop Chris kept his expression perfectly bland but Lara could see the hint of red to his throat now.

“Did you conspire to-”

“ No. I didn’t harm him and I didn’t ask anyone else to either. I have no idea what happened to him, though I promise you it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”

“I’m going to take a minute to confer with my client,” Danielle interjected. The detective gave her a long level look but got up and left the room. “Lara,” the lawyer said firmly as she turned to her. “This tough girl shit isn’t going to help you here.”

“I’m not going to cry,” Lara said, the words coming out slightly ferociously. “I’m not going to play the little terrified woman or get hysterical or beg to go home. I’m not doing that.”

Danielle stared at her.

“That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” she said gently. “I’m asking you to answer the questions, without commentary. Without deliberately antagonising the police detective who might decide they see fit to charge you with murder and send you to a remand facility, awaiting trial.”

Lara swallowed hard. She nodded.

When the detective came back into the room she tried to hold her shit together. Why was it so hard to let go of her defence mechanisms without falling apart altogether?

“Tell me what you meant when you told Ms. Sinclair that things got messy with Dale Winchester.”

“Well,” Lara said, fighting hard to keep her voice even. “I flirted with him. I made him think I was interested. Strung him along, made him think he had a chance. ”

“Why?” the cop prodded.

I was just getting to that! Lara snapped internally. She kept her face still.

“One day I texted him, told him to meet me, told him it was urgent.” The detective watched her closely. “I told him you’d contacted me.” He blinked. “I told him the police were onto him, the drugs he was dealing, the shit he was up to. I said you were wanting me to wear a wire, ask him questions about the guys he got the drugs from. He freaked out.” She looked at him. “And then he left town.”

“When was that?”

Lara sucked in a breath.

“Sometime in March,” she said quietly.

The room was silent. The detective looked at her for a long time.

“It got messy.”

“Not like that.” She tried to keep breathing.

“How did it get messy, Lara? ”

“He kissed me,” she said. “I didn’t want him to.”

“You hit him. It just happened-”

“No,” Lara denied. “I just flirted with him some more, managed his ego for him, told him to go before he ran out of time. Then I got the hell out of there. It just… it scared me.” She felt sick as she admitted it. “I knew what he was capable of. And even though I met him in public, there wasn’t really anyone around. And even if there were…” She didn’t finish the sentence. Even if there were, do you think they’d go out of their way for Lara Bennett if she were cornered by a man? After all, she’d always been asking for it.

Cop Chris made some notes. Then, without a word, he got to his feet and left the room. Lara stared at Danielle and tried not to panic.

“Remand facility?” she asked, her voice coming out high and tight. She felt like she was running out of oxygen. Oh god, Tilly.

“It would be highly unlikely,” said Danielle soothingly. “They have nothing but incredibly circumstantial evidence.”

“There’s no evidence.” Lara sucked in a deep breath and then another, her throat starting to close up. “I didn’t do this. I want to go home. ” Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry -

Danielle was just opening her mouth to speak, her hand gentle on Lara’s arm when the door swung back open.

“You’re free to go,” said the detective. “But I want you back here tomorrow at eleven a.m sharp for further questioning. Don’t leave town,” he instructed her sternly.

Danielle drove her home, talking calmly about it being completely fine, about how the cops clearly had nothing, but Lara could only hear the words charge you with murder and remand facility whirling on repeat in her brain. Why bring her back the next morning if not to formally charge her? Were they just getting all their ducks in a row? Did they have something they could twist to somehow look like evidence? After all, Dale had touched her. Were there… fibres? Hairs? That kind of thing happened, didn’t it? That cop… she didn’t trust him, there was something so supremely confident in his face. Had he been mates with Josh? Lara was pretty sure had. He didn’t like her, either way. Lara hadn’t been likeable.

She let herself in through her front door with shaking hands. She picked up her phone. She was about to call Sadie, to get Tilly here, to hold her daughter in her arms and never ever let her go. Remand facility. Then she stopped herself. She was a mess. She would scare the shit out of Tilly. She had to keep it together. She wanted nothing more on this planet than to see her daughter, to hug her tight, to make sure as hell that she knew that she was loved, that she’d be okay-

Lara called no one. She switched her phone off instead. She drifted around the house on autopilot. She unstacked and restacked the dishwasher. She went to hang the washing out but then thought remand facility and put the clothes in the dryer instead. She went out and topped up the food and water for the chooks, checking everyone was locked up safe. She looked at all the fresh vegetables waiting in the crisper and slowly made a huge pot of thick rustic stew. She ate a bowl without tasting it and put the rest into containers to freeze. There’d be something nutritious in the house then. Remand facility.

Lara curled up in the corner of her sofa and pulled a blanket up to cover herself. She was still so cold. She thought of her daughter, then made herself stop. She thought of Ollie. Arms around her, laughing eyes. Gabrielli family dinner. She thought of Sadie sitting across her kitchen table from her. She thought of bonfire night. All of it, evidence that her life had mattered.

Somehow though, this was where she’d ended up. Holding herself together. Alone. Terrified. Self-reliant.

She stayed that way all night.

When Danielle and Lara presented themselves to the Silverbloom Police Station the next day, Cop Chris walked them into another interview room. This one actually had tea and coffee-making facilities and the clear pane of window glass looked out onto the trees. He gestured for them both to take seats.

“You’ll be pleased to hear that we’re not pursuing any charges against you, Ms. Bennett,” he told her. His face was tight and his annoyed expression incongruous with his words .

Lara felt her vision go fuzzy. For a few seconds it was like her ears were ringing.

“What?” she found herself asking. “Why?”

“Chloe Perkins turned herself in last night. She’s been questioned before but this time she confessed to the crime. Self-defence, she said.”

“ No!” Lara cried before she could stop herself. Tiny, frail Chloe Perkins who’d been through so much and who’d tried so hard to warn her. Had she done this to save Lara? “She can’t go to jail.” She stared at the cop, as if there were a way to argue him out of this. This would never be justice.

“Well,” he said, “I suspect she won’t. While we were taking her story, Esme Walker came down to the station. She also confessed to the crime.” Lara stared at him, her heart racing. Esme? “She said she’d found out what he’d been doing to Chloe and was so overcome with rage that she followed him out the back of the property and whacked him with a shovel.”

“But… Esme wouldn’t-”

“This morning, there were three other women waiting for me when I arrived,” he fixed her with a firm gaze. “Robyn Lowe informed me she’d seen Dale Winchester selling meth to school kids so she’d lost all control, tracked him down and hit him with her car.” He paused and looked down at his notes. “Kylie Burgess said Dale had tried to sexually assault her but she kneed him in the groin, then hit him with a tree branch for good measure.” He watched Lara, as tears began to slide down her cheeks. “Jessica Webb-”

“Jessica?” Lara couldn’t breathe. Jess had been Josh’s fiancé right up until he’d set his sights on Lara. Teenage Lara had been terrified of the weeping, intimidating, beautiful older woman who’d once called her a slutty little schoolgirl in public. Adult Lara still couldn’t meet her eyes.

“Jessica Webb told me that Dale came after her in some kind of unprovoked drug rage and she’d used the knife he’d been wielding to stab him in the chest.” He looked up and rolled his eyes. “I mean, that one doesn’t even fit the mechanism of injury, but she also said something about how she should have protected you back then , so I figure that one is an obvious outright lie.”

“I don’t understand,” she whispered. There were tears coursing down her cheeks now. She wiped them away but they just kept coming.

“Nico Gabrielli came by not long after that.” He looked at her. “Confessed he’d bought marijuana off Dale on several occasions. Said Dale had been acting wiggy for months, telling Nico he’d gotten himself into some messy situation, owed money to the wrong guys. Said he seemed scared. By the time Mr. Gabrielli was done, I had a line of bloody women out the damn door, all coming to tell me they’d killed Dale Winchester. ”

Lara wept.

“What I’m hearing,” Danielle summarised softly, “is that my client is free to go.”

“Well, you see my problem,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve got eight different women all prepared to sign statements that they, personally, murdered a man, as well as someone else prepared to get charged with drug possession to let me know another solidly good reason for why Dale Winchester might have wound up dead. No jury in the world is going to be able to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. I don’t know what your client has done to deserve this, but yes,” he looked Lara in the eye, “she’s free to go.”

When Lara walked out, it was out into the light.