You Had It Coming by B.M. Carroll (best fiction novels .TXT) 📕

it’s hard to shake the bias. She asks if there is someone who can corroborate his whereabouts, and he readily supplies a phone number for his boss. Then she asks where his daughter was that night.

‘Jemma was at home. With my wife.’

‘You sound very certain about that.’

‘Jemma doesn’t have much of a social life.’

This is Bridget’s cue to bring up the rape charges. ‘Is that because of her bad experience?’

His jaw clenches. There’s deep-rooted anger in his dark eyes. ‘She goes nowhere. Comes home from work every day and sits exactly where you’re sitting, a book on her lap. It’s fuckin’ sad. For her. For me and her mum. These should be the best years of her life. School done and dusted, money coming in from work, no big responsibilities yet … She should be having the time of her life.’

According to Bridget’s research, Jemma was assaulted in the public toilets next to a beach. She met the man in a bar, and had been talking to him for some time, supposedly flirting. They left the premises together. To go for a walk, Jemma thought; the man obviously had other ideas. The DPP dropped the charges because it was ascertained that Jemma did not clearly indicate dissent to the man. CCTV footage showed her entering the public toilets in a willing manner, holding his hand.

‘She was innocent for an eighteen-year-old.’ The harshness of the father’s tone barely disguises his anguish. ‘Sex wouldn’t have been on her radar going into those toilets. He was six years older than her – that’s a lifetime at that age. He knew what he was doing. He paid her attention at the pub because he could tell that she was easy to manipulate. Fuckin’ dirty bastard.’

Bridget can’t help transposing Cara into the same situation. Inexperienced. Trusting. A little bit flattered. Cara has no trouble being assertive at home, but how would she cope in the situation Jemma found herself in?

‘I have a daughter around that age,’ she murmurs sympathetically. ‘They’re so young and vulnerable. It scares the hell out of me to think that this time next year she can legally drink and meet men like that in bars.’

They share a look of solidarity.

Sasha asks the next few questions. ‘Do you have a car registered to this address?’

‘Yes. A Mazda 6. My wife has it at the moment.’

‘Any other vehicles? Your truck? Any motorbikes or scooters?’

‘The truck belongs to the supermarket. No motor-bikes or anything else.’

Bridget holds his eyes for a moment. He looks like the owner of a motorbike. Has she got him all wrong?

‘Do you mind if we take a squiz around the backyard and the garage? You don’t have to say yes. It just saves us from coming back at a later point.’

He hesitates. She doesn’t know if it’s the inconvenience or some other reason.

‘Sure. If you turn a blind eye to the mess.’ His smile reveals a missing molar.

He leads them through the hallway and into a modern kitchen. Sliding doors open to a back patio and a rectangle of grass that’s as overgrown as the front lawn. She pokes her head into the small shed that contains a lawnmower, gardening tools and several bags of potting mix.

‘Just need a quick look at the garage and we’ll be off.’

They double back through the house and access the garage via a door in the hallway.

He turns on a light but it’s not much help. ‘Sorry. The roller door is broken.’

Bridget peers through the gloom: a folded-up table-tennis table, a couple of push bikes, some fishing rods and an extensive collection of half-empty paint tins.

No Yamaha in sight.

Bridget instructs Sasha on the drive back to headquarters. ‘Request a full history of registered vehicles from roads and maritime services, going back at least five years. Check Fergus Herrmann for connections to outlawed bikie gangs. Call his boss, see if the truck has a tracking device.’

Links to a bikie gang would give Fergus Herrmann access to any number of motorcycles … and any number of illegal guns.

YOU HAD IT COMING.

Forensics were embarrassed to have missed the etching on the tree. Light of hand, most likely done using the blade of a key, definitely recent, was their analysis on re-examination of the scene.

Did Fergus Herrmann believe that William Newson got what he deserved? The assault outside the courthouse happened three months ago. How did the distraught father use those intervening months? To calm himself down, or work himself up into a greater fury?

25

MEGAN

Lucas has offered to speak with Joshua Newson.

‘I was the one with his dad on the way to the hospital,’ he reasons. ‘If anyone should speak to the family it’s me.’

‘Thank you.’ Megan gives him a grateful smile.

Bereaved relatives make contact from time to time. The ambulance staff are not obliged to respond, but kindness prompts them to offer whatever solace they can. Maybe a quick chat will help the Newson family come to terms with their loss?

Saturdays are non-stop, sporting accidents compounding the usual volume of emergency calls. Their current patient, a middle-aged man who overestimated his agility on the soccer field, has broken his leg in multiple places. After dropping him at Royal North Shore, they finally get a lull. Lucas makes the call while Megan sits intently by his side.

‘Joshua? This is Lucas Halliday from NSW Ambulance … Sorry, Megan is unavailable today …’ Lucas holds her gaze while he speaks. ‘How can I help?’

A pause while he listens. ‘Your father didn’t regain consciousness, Joshua … No, he didn’t speak at any stage … Megan? Megan was driving, I was in the rear with your dad … Not a word, but at least he was spared the pain … Megan will be off for the next few days. Sorry, I need to get back to work. Please extend my sympathy to all your family.’

Lucas hangs up. ‘Boy, he’s really fixated on talking to you.’

She sighs raggedly. Joshua Newson knows exactly who she is, then. ‘Does he think I didn’t