The Charlton Affair (10 page)

She noticed a late series BMW parked near the large rear shed. After trying to memorize the number plate details, she ran the lengthy distance back to where her car was hidden, repeating the details in her head as a mantra over and over again, not daring to think of anything else until she felt safe again.

*****

Sally Middleton replied into her mobile phone, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, there’s no doubt. The iPad you gave us from the Rawlins search was the controlling device for the Volvo’s computer.” The police forensic expert replied in a dry voice, annoyed at being asked to verify his information. He added, “I’ll have a preliminary report sent off to you sometime today. You’ll have to wait for the final report.”

Ending the call, Sally rubbed her hands together in satisfaction.
Got him!
  Standing up, she sang out to Phillips, “Come on, let’s go and arrest Rawlins.”

Phillips grabbed his jacket and accompanied her to their vehicle, a broad smile on his face. As he folded his tall heavy frame into the drivers seat he asked, “Forensics?”

“Yup. The iPad we found in his bedside table.”

“He must be a serious geek to know how to hack a car computer,” Phillips commented.

“We’ll have to find out about that, too.”

“Whole thing’s a bit weird.” Phillips remarked as they drove off toward the head office of Michael’s company, ShelfSeam.

“Yeah, I get that feeling too,” Sally said.

“I mean he doesn’t need the money, you know?” Phillips pondered.

“What’s the bet we find another woman?” Sally said.

“Yeah, you’re right. If it’s not money, it’s got to be sex.”

*****

“I thought I was going to die, my heart was beating so fast!” Amanda exclaimed, telling Charlie about the previous evening. “After that, I drove all the way back to Brisbane and got here just in time to get stuck in the morning peak traffic,” Amanda rolled her tired eyes.

Dark circles ringed Amanda’s eyes. She had arrived at work that morning, still wearing her black clothing from the night before. After arranging for the temp to come back for the day she met with Charlie. When she was finished with Charlie, Amanda fully intended to go home and get the sleep she’d missed out on.

Charlie shook her head at Amanda, “Why the hell did you put yourself in such a position?” She growled, “I asked you to investigate, not break the law!”

“I was just following my instincts.” Amanda retorted, “And I was right!”

Amanda handed over the little pink journal, the lock now open.

Charlie picked up the journal curiously and leafed through the pages, examining the childish handwriting. The name Honore Charlton was inscribed inside the cover.

“Looks like she was being sexually abused,” Amanda stated grimly.

Charlie’s eyebrows rose, “By whom?”

“She doesn’t say, but surely it had to be the father, given what happened?” Amanda replied, “He forced her to keep it a secret. He even killed a kitten her mother had given her, telling her he’d do the same to her little brother if she revealed their secret. It’s clear she believed him. And she really loved her little brother.”

Charlie shook her head sadly, “I wish this sort of horror wasn’t so bloody common,” she reflected.

Amanda nodded grimly, “The poor child. She describes a time when his big hands covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream, but then she couldn’t breathe.”

Charlie looked angry, and said, “It fits with the rest of the violence. Men who murder their families are often exercising the ultimate power and control. Sexual abuse is sometimes about power and control too.” Charlie shuddered, “What a fucking awful situation. I wonder if Michael Rawlins knows about any of this?”

Amanda nodded thoughtfully, “I don’t know. But what has all this turned him into?”

Charlie’s face revealed that she had been thinking along the same lines.

Sighing, Charlie asked, “What else did you discover?”

Amanda filled her in on what she had learned from the librarian and the men in the public bar.

Charlie nodded in agreement when Amanda told her of her plans to go up to Hervey Bay to see if she could find Ranelle Rawlin’s mother.

“Good idea. You may as well tell that temp to stay until further notice.” Charlie instructed. “Now what are we going to do about the man at the Rawlins’ place?”

Amanda frowned, “I don’t want to fess up to my Dad and ask him to check the number plates.”

Charlie nodded again, saying, “He’d kill you! He’d think I’ve put you up to all of this. And what if he gets in trouble again? Or worse, pressures you to stop working for me?”

Amanda nodded tiredly, “That’s what I was thinking. All the other police I know would tell him if I asked them. They’re all Dad’s mates.”

Charlie said, “Write down the registration details and I’ll get Darren to pull a favor from one of the less scrupulous police he knows. He’s always plying them with wine and food, surely one of them will help out?”

Amanda wrote the details on a sticky note and passed it over to Charlie, getting up to leave. Before she reached the doorway, Charlie said, “Do you think the man knew you were going to be there? Or was it just random?”

Amanda shrugged and replied, “Maybe we’ll find out when we know who he is?”

She didn’t want to believe there could be a murderous man out there who knew who she was and what she was up to.

*****

Michael walked, his head hung low, out of the foyer of the main office of his company with Phillips’ meaty hand on his shoulder. At the police car, Phillips placed his other hand on his head, forcing him to duck down as he shoved Michael into the back seat.

Sally had decided not to handcuff Michael in front of his colleagues. Instead she warned him that if he tried to run things would go badly for him. As she looked at him she thought,
I needn’t have bothered with the warning
. Rawlins looked utterly defeated.

It took a little while to process him at the station. Sally flipped through the information in his mobile telephone, examining his calls and texts, as she waited. When she came across some extremely sexually explicit pictures in a multimedia message, Sally checked the number against Michael’s call log. It was listed under the name Marita. After beckoning Phillips over, she showed him the pictures.

“Not bad!” he said grinning and reaching to take the phone from her for a closer look.

“Mind on the job!” She chided him, letting him take the phone nonetheless.

“Looks like we’ve found the mistress,” He replied, angling the phone and eyeing the pictures, “Nice camera angle there, right at her…”

She cut him off, “Can you follow it up?”

“With pleasure,” he leered.

*****

Darren sat in the small interview room at the police station with Michael. “Michael, you really need to pull yourself together,” Darren said, concerned.

Michael nodded, clearly struggling not to cry.

“You can’t get bail from a Magistrate on this charge. It has to go to the Supreme Court. You’ll be locked up for a couple of days over the weekend, until Charlie can make an urgent bail application on Monday. Understand?”

“We’re going to have to post a surety and agree to strict conditions if you get bail. It might even be a bit like home arrest, understand?”

Michael nodded again.

“You won’t be able to contact your wife at all, and you won’t be able to leave Brisbane.”

“What about my job?” Michael moaned.

“I’m sorry, but you have bigger problems than that right now.”

Michael looked horrified.

Darren carefully said, “They found an iPad at your place. They say it was used to control Phoebe’s car, causing her to go into that intersection.”

Darren thought,
either he’s a very good actor or he’s genuinely surprised
, as he watched Michael react to the news.

“Is there anything on your phone that will lead them to your mistress?” Darren asked.

Michael blushed, “Some pictures and texts. I forgot to delete them.”

Darren thought,
Bugger! I was hoping it’d take them a while to find her, that’s going make getting bail even harder
.

Aloud he said, “Never mind. They would have found her sooner or later.”

Michael looked at him, pleading, “Please get me out of here. I can’t stand being locked in small spaces. Ever since I was little…”

Darren’s heart went out to him.
Poor bastard
, he thought.
Perhaps he’s innocent after all?

*****

“Did you get that stuff I emailed over?” Darren said across the speakerphone to Charlie, his usual effervescence absent.

“Yeah, I’m looking at it now.” Charlie replied as she perused the material on her screen.

“Have you looked at the list for Monday? Who’s doing bail?” Charlie asked.

“I checked. It’s Justice Donaldson.” Darren replied.

Charlie was relieved, “Lucky. He’s a way better option than some. Not the most lenient, but definitely fair. If we can put together a half decent case, we might be right. OK, here’s what I want you to do,” Charlie said.

“Hang on,” Darren said as he grabbed a pen, “OK, go.”

“First, go back and see Michael. Find out when he purchased his iPad and what the serial number is. I want to know if they have the iPad he bought or if it’s another one. Of course the police will just say that he got another one, but at least we can throw a bit of doubt onto it. I’ll ask Amanda to do some running around for you.”

“OK.”

“Next, find the mistress and see if you can get an alibi for any of the times in question? Seems to me that if he lied about when he came back, chances are it’s because he was with her.”

“I’m already onto that. I’m seeing her tonight.”

“Good. Next, get all the usual character references together, his boss etc.”

“Already on it. I even tried getting one from the wife, but she’s already been called as a prosecution witness.”

Charlie nearly choked, then said as matter-of-factly as possible, “There’s no property in a witness. Do it anyway.”

Continuing on, she said, “I want copies of the CCTV from where her car was parked at work that day. The police mention it in the material but we’ve yet to see it.”

“OK.”

“I want his bank account statements for the last three months and information from him about any unexplained amounts. In other words, if there are any large amounts going out of his account, they’d better be going to the mistress and no one else.”

“I can get that today.”

“Oh, and Darren?”

“Yes?”

“If you do get to speak to the wife, you should know that I know her. She’s a friend of a friend of mine, Roman Coustas, the accountant.”

Darren replied, “Brisbane’s a small town.” Then he added, “Will there be a problem?”

She could tell his nose for gossip was on the alert.

Casually, she replied, “No.”

*****

Sally knocked on the door of the gorgeously restored old Queenslander home in New Farm. She saw a well-muscled male coming down the hall through the side pane. When he opened the door, Sally showed him her badge, explaining that she had an appointment to see Mrs. Rawlins. Mark introduced himself and led her through to the pool area. Sally made a mental note to find out more about Roman Coustas and his boyfriend Mark Mitchell.

Phoebe sat on a lounge near the pool. The reflection from the water flashed off the leaves in the lush garden surrounding the pool. It was an idyllic setting. Phoebe reclined propped up by some extremely large and colorful cushions with a tray of refreshments next to her on a little table. Sally knew she was still recovering from the injury. Looking at the scene, she thought,
talk about recovering in style
.

Sally perched on a lounge close to Phoebe and explained that she wanted to ask her some questions and tell her several things. She placed a voice recorder on the table and said that she was taping the conversation, which was her usual procedure.

“Normally, I’d ask you to come to the station, but I know getting around is a little difficult for you at the moment,” Sally explained.

Phoebe nodded, her expression neutral.

“Firstly, do you mind telling me why you are staying here instead of at home in Hamilton?”

Phoebe replied, “Michael called me just before he was supposed to pick me up from hospital and told me I’d have to come and stay with Roman. There were some people at the house and it was a mess. He didn’t want me to fall or trip over anything.”

“I see.”