Expectant, page 12
‘It could really help the investigation if we could find out who knitted that set. I was wondering if you could do a bit of enquiring to your group for me. It’s a bit of a long shot, but it might help lead us to who was responsible for all of this. You’d have to be discreet, no one can know it’s about the case.’
‘Well, how am I supposed to do that?’
‘I was thinking you could post a photo of the set on the group page and ask if anyone knew anything about it.’
‘Pifft, well that wouldn’t work,’ she said straight away. ‘That would just make people wonder why? Get all suspicious.’
I knew there would be resistance from her, but I had to keep trying. But before I could put in an amended plea, she carried on:
‘What I’d have to do is pop up the picture and say something like, “I saw these at a craft stall and really like the pattern and the wool. My daughter’s having a baby soon and I’d love to knit some for her. Can anyone help me out?” That would work better. I’d be sure to get some suggestions, and someone might even pipe up and say they had knitted that pattern in that wool, then you could just look at the profile of the person and see if they were from around Dunedin, or if they weren’t, if they’d been posting pictures of things they were knitting and bragging about for an upcoming baby or grandchild. People get very excited about grandchildren. You can just check through their friends list and see if there’s anyone from there, and Bob’s your uncle.’
Well, that was a bit of a surprise, and I had to give Mum full credit for coming up with a pretty solid plan. It also made me wonder how experienced she was at cyberstalking people on Facebook. For a self-confessed technophobe she was doing pretty well on the ins and outs of that platform.
‘How about you email me that picture, and I’ll get it on there straight away?’ She sounded positively excited by the prospect. There was nothing Mum liked more than a puzzle, or a challenge.
This had actually gone better than expected.
CHAPTER 31
For some reason I felt ridiculously nervous as I approached the porch of the modest-looking red-brick bungalow in Caversham and climbed the steps. A few steadying breaths were needed before I reached out and pressed the doorbell. While I waited for someone to come to the door I took in the surroundings. A well-worn coir-and-rubber ‘welcome’ mat greeted visitors. There was also a cheerful burst of colour courtesy of a decorative wire frame attached to the wall bearing a rectangular planter full of crimson geraniums. A large jade plant in a terracotta pot sat directly beneath it. The tree must have been pretty old as it had a thick, sturdy trunk and spread to the size of a Swiss ball. It would take a few decades before my baby-sized version at home reached anything like those proportions, if I didn’t manage to kill it first.
The sound of approaching footsteps caught my attention so I quickly straightened up the top stretched over my belly, and pulled the sides of my jacket in as close as they could get to meeting. The door opened, and I was met by a warm smile attached to a bearded face in its thirties. Some of my apprehension dissipated.
‘You must be Detective Shephard?’ he said, reaching out his hand.
I took it and felt his firm, but not too firm, grasp.
‘Please, call me Sam,’ I said as I shook it.
‘Come in, come in. I’m Justin.’ He paused for a moment, taking me in and shaking his head in a chuffed kind of a way. ‘I am so pleased you could come.’
I stepped into the entrance way and noted the tidy arrangement of shoes by the door, so leaned over to undo mine.
‘No, don’t you worry about that,’ he said. ‘It’s a bit challenging to find your feet when you’re that round. When are you due?’ he asked.
A wave of relief hit, now the potential elephant in the room had been addressed. My being so heavily pregnant wasn’t adversely affecting Justin Newman – well, not that it showed.
‘Just over three weeks to go, in fact. This week coming is my last one at work.’
‘Well, I’m sure you’ll be looking forward to that.’
He led me through into a cosy lounge strewn with a variety of toys and one of those little ride-on, scoot-along plastic cars. The domestic scene, complete with toddler, hit me with a jolt. Life had to go on for this family, and that life involved another little person too. It must have been bloody hard.
‘This is my mother-in-law, Helen, and this is Charlotte. Say hi to Detective Sam, Charlotte.’ I gave her a little wave. ‘It was Sam that found your baby sister.’
There was no doubting that Helen was Aleisha’s mother. She was a beautifully mature version of the daughter I’d seen in the family photographs. The blonde, curly-haired junior version hid behind her nana’s knees and gave me a tentative smile rather than a greeting. I’d take it.
‘You all take a seat, and I’ll go put the kettle on.’ Justin headed through the back of the room, nudging a stuffed giraffe toy out of the way with his foot as he went.
‘And of course, you’ve met Hope,’ Helen said, nuzzling the baby blissfully clapped out on her nana’s shoulder.
‘Yes, we’ve had the pleasure.’ I noted the beautiful white crochet shawl she was wrapped in this time and wondered if it was Helen’s handiwork. ‘Thank you for inviting me around. I really appreciate it. And, look, I’m so sorry for your loss and all that you’ve been through.’
In the wake of what they’d suffered, my words felt so inadequate.
‘Thank you. It’s been a very tough time.’ That would have to be the understatement of the century. Helen edged towards one of the sofas, then carefully lowered herself down, baby on her shoulder and cling-on attached to her leg. ‘It’s not something I would ever want anyone to go through. But it does feel more bearable now we have this precious little one back where she belongs.’
Justin arrived in the room with a tray holding three mugs of tea and a plate with some Tim Tams. Second best things to Toffee Pops.
He passed me a mug, then paused a moment before blurting out, ‘I didn’t even think to ask you how you have it. I hope with milk is okay.’
‘Standard mix is perfect, thank you.’
Charlotte finally ventured out from the safety of Nana’s legs, lured by the temptation of chocolate biscuits. A girl after my own heart.
‘How are you all getting on?’ I asked. It seemed like a lame question, but it gave a good invitation for them to vent, ask questions or be stoic, in that good, old Kiwi fashion that seldom did anyone any favours.
Justin went for honesty. ‘Not that great, really. I still can’t quite believe all this has happened, that Ali’s gone. Thank heaven I’ve got Helen here, otherwise I don’t know what I’d do. Between us we’re muddling through and trying to remember what to do with a baby. I think we’ve done okay so far, but it’s blimmin’ hard.’
Of course, on top of grieving for his wife, let alone dealing with the horror of how she died, they had the practical realities and demands of a newborn to cope with, as well as a toddler who would be missing her mum but was too young to understand why she wasn’t here. I didn’t think there would be much sleep going on in this household, for anyone.
‘If there’s anything I can do to help…’ I offered. Wasn’t sure exactly what I could do in the practical sense, short of delivering a casserole or two.
‘You’ve already done the best thing possible, finding this one and getting her to safety. We can’t thank you enough for that.’ Helen punctuated her sentence with another kiss to Hope’s ruddy cheek.
‘Well, I was in the right place at the right time. I’m just so relieved she’s home safe with you now. It wasn’t just me, though. Did they tell you she had a doggy protector before I got there?’
‘Yes, that was quite funny. Dogs are very clever animals and so sensitive. Her guardian angels were certainly watching over her that day,’ Justin said. ‘I hope he got a good reward.’
‘Yes, he sure did,’ I said. ‘We tracked down his owners and made sure he got lots of special treats.’
We all took a moment to sip our tea and munch on a biscuit.
‘Can I ask you a question?’ Justin said.
‘Of course. What do you want to know?’
‘We haven’t really heard much about how the case is going. Whether they have any idea who did this … any ideas at all. It’s been almost a week now, surely they must have some suspects. Can you tell us anything?’
That wasn’t a simple question to answer. I wasn’t sure how honest to be with them. Sometimes people just wanted reassurance that everyone was out doing their best, and that the police had some solid leads to go on. Truth was, we didn’t have anything concrete at this stage. Real life wasn’t like the police programmes on television where they could follow an instant tantalising lead, use their amazing technology to test the DNA on the tiniest of scraps of evidence, and, hey presto, have the results back in an annoyingly long ten minutes, complete with the perpetrator’s name, address and current location – at a fast-food outlet. The occasions where it was cut and dried in a matter of days were the exceptions rather than the norm. Most of the time it came down to hard work and patience.
I went for the unvarnished-truth approach.
‘At this stage I’m sorry to say we don’t have any solid leads. Everything we found Hope with is being forensically examined for any evidence, and I’m following up with some other ideas about the clothes she was in. The security footage we’ve seen so far from the area around where Aleisha was found hasn’t come up with anything useful, but there is still more to go through. Our witnesses, the boys who found her, didn’t report anything that can help us, so at this stage there are no obvious suspects. But that being said, we have got everyone we can working on the case – a top team of really great investigators. We are being methodical and systematic, and please be assured every one of us is utterly determined to find who did this to her and bring them to justice.’
Justin stared into his tea before returning his gaze. ‘Thank you for being up front,’ he said. ‘We couldn’t really get any answer out of anyone else. I think they were just trying to make us feel better by not telling us anything, if that makes sense.’ It kind of did.
Courtesy of The Boss’s machinations I hadn’t been able to get near to the family until now, and I didn’t know if I’d get the opportunity again, so I took full advantage of my time.
‘One of our main considerations, and something that will affect the direction of the investigation is why anyone would do this to Aleisha? I’m sure it is a question you’ve been asking yourselves too. I know you’ve been interviewed by the police a number of times already, but now that you’ve had a bit more time to think about it, and looking in hindsight, is there anything unusual that happened that’s come to mind, or any thoughts at all about why?’
They were probably sick to death of being asked why. By the police, by family, by friends and neighbours. It would come up with every cup of tea served to caring and well-meaning visitors, and every time it would re-open their very fresh wounds.
Justin blew on his already cooling tea, head inclined like he was contemplating the question. He put an arm around the small blonde missile who had detached herself from Nana’s leg and attached herself to his, complete with chocolatey fingers. On the way she’d picked up a unicorn toy with a very impressive pink mane.
‘Can I ask you what you think? What sort of things you’re looking at? My mind is just swirling at the moment, coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas.’
‘We have to look at every possibility, no matter how unlikely or crazy, because this is such an unprecedented crime in New Zealand. In my mind, it has to centre around the baby, around Hope. I’ve looked into baby-trafficking, which isn’t a thing here, or baby-snatching by people who are desperate for a child of their own, for whatever reason. But to me, it has to be more than that for someone to do something so … brutal. In the past, newborn babies have been taken from hospitals or homes, not…’ I let the sentence hang. Even though she would be too young to understand I still felt uncomfortable having this conversation in front of little Charlotte.
‘Yeah, I had been thinking about that too. They’d wait until after a baby was born.’
‘Which to my thinking makes it about the baby itself.’ I had to phase this bit very carefully, but Justin and Helen seemed to appreciate bluntness, so I went with it. ‘Likewise, in cases where a baby was taken in a dispute about paternity or custody in a broken relationship, there has been nothing this drastic happen before.’
‘Oh,’ Justin said. ‘I hadn’t thought about that.’ He laughed then. ‘I can assure you that there’s no question as to Hope’s paternity. This baby was very planned.’
I couldn’t help but think even the best-laid plans could be derailed by the impulsive and unpredictable nature of lust, but this wasn’t the time or place.
‘And anyway,’ he said. ‘I’ve got the paperwork to prove it.’
‘The paperwork?’ Most couples I know didn’t rubber-stamp the dates of their shags to prove it had happened. Mind you, if they were actively working on fertility control and family planning, they might have written them down. A brag sheet of sorts. In fact, there was probably an app for that.
‘Yes. We had amniocentesis done when Ali was pregnant with Hope, so we know her genetic make-up. I’m definitely the dad. I’m in the clear.’
I knew from my own consultations with my midwife that amniocentesis was offered to older mothers to detect chromosomal disorders that became more prevalent with age, but I didn’t think that this couple were old enough for it to be a potential issue.
‘Was there any particular reason for the amniocentesis?’ They must have had their reasons, because it was an invasive procedure, so not one to be taken lightly. It was certainly not something Paul and I had considered doing.
It was Helen who responded to the question.
‘We have an family history of a serious genetic disease. Those who are born with it seldom live to see their third birthday, and if they do, they become seriously disabled. I lost a sister to Tay-Sachs before I was born. My mum said there seemed to always be one in each generation. Some members of our family carry the gene, and because it is so serious we all get screened for it. We found out Ali was a carrier, like me, and I would have passed it on to her. It’s one of those diseases where, if both parents carry the gene, there’s a one in four chance of any children inheriting it from both sides and ending up with the disease. So when we found out that Justin’s family also carried the gene, Justin went and got tested too.’
‘Turns out I was a carrier as well,’ he said, with a shrug of the shoulders.
‘Because of that, Ali and Justin decided to go get the amniocentesis. That way, if the baby did have the double whammy and the disease, they could make some decisions. We all supported them with that, and understood the implications.’
Lordy – I was glad that wasn’t something Paul and I had needed to consider.
‘We did the screening with Charlotte too,’ Justin said. ‘As you can imagine it was a bit nerve-wracking, but as it turned out we were lucky with both of them, it felt like we’d won the lottery.’
Oof, I could imagine. And I could certainly understand why they would have the amnio, but, man, armed with that knowledge it would be a very difficult and emotional decision to make, either way. Not a position I’d want to be in. The only unfortunate thing that ran in my family was the lack-of-height gene – for the women anyway.
It did get me thinking about the information you’d get from amniocentesis. I knew that you could find out the gender, and of course some chromosomal and genetic disorders. I’d have to go and do a bit of research, see if there was anything there that would help make some sense of this case.
Baby Hope started making some nuzzly, grunty, ‘I’m awake’ noises in that ‘cute for now but it’s going to build into a grizzle very soon’ kind of a way.
‘Someone’s waking up from her nap,’ Helen said. ‘She’s due for a bottle around now. Sam, do you want to hold her while I get it ready?’
‘I can sort that, Helen,’ Justin said, and got to his feet. The speed with which he volunteered made me suspect he needed a break from the conversation. I’d noted a number of moments where his eyes welled up when we were talking and had to remind myself it was still all very raw for him – for all of them.
‘How about you come and grab Hope on the way, Justin. I get the feeling the detective here would like a cuddle.’
I didn’t need asking twice.
‘Sure do. Hand her over.’
CHAPTER 32
Despite the fact I lived with the guy, and worked with the guy, I felt like Paul and I hadn’t had any couple time in ages. The rigours and task allocations of the case meant that we weren’t often in the same space at the same time, and if we were it was in the presence of the multitudes. Tonight Maggie was out at the movies with Rudy, so it was just the two of us, well, almost three of us. Four if you counted the cat who was curled up on what was left of my lap. It felt an absolute luxury to be parked on the sofa at home, ensconced in my PJs and fluffy slippers, snuggled up to the man, hot Milo in hand, watching crap TV.
‘Is it odd to feel guilty because this pregnancy is going so well, and everything is straight forward and there’s no drama when not everyone is so lucky, especially, well, you know…?’
He gave me a little squeeze.
‘I wouldn’t say odd. I think I’d say it’s stupid, ya dumb nut.’ Paul was always great with terms of endearment. He was right though, it was silly to feel bad about being happy, and although my head knew this, I still couldn’t help it.
‘How did your visit with the family go today?’ he asked.
