St Kilda Blues (Charlie Berlin #3)(49)

Berlin stood up and faced Clive Marquet across the table. The height difference between the two men was six or perhaps eight inches. But Berlin recalled his grandfather saying that it wasn’t always height or reach that made the difference, it was the questions you asked. ‘You’re right of course Mr Marquet but it’s only a couple of little things I need to clear up. You don’t have anything to hide, do you?’

Clive Marquet stared at Berlin for a moment then sat down again. He unsnapped the leather cover over the face of his wristwatch. ‘Five minutes, that’s all you can have, you hear me?’





TWENTY


Thick tea-tree scrub partially blocked the view of the cabin from the house. Berlin made his way down a gravel path to the side door of the white-painted building. He knocked once.

‘It’s not locked.’

As he turned the handle Berlin saw the reason the door wasn’t locked. Like the bathroom in the main house, there was no lock. Inside the single room the light was almost as bright as outside. This was because of the white-painted walls and ceiling, and because the large windows along one wall had no curtains or blinds. There were three single beds with white quilts and pillows, a large dressing table with a big mirror and, in the rear of the room, a shower alcove and a toilet. The shower had the same clear curtain as the bathroom in the house, and the toilet was fully open to view.

As a one-room country schoolhouse the building might have had desks for up to forty kids, so there was a lot of room. Even with the beds and dressing table and bathroom area there was still plenty of space for three freestanding wardrobes and a wood-burning heater in one corner. The room was warm enough. In the middle bed, Maud Marquet was sitting up against a couple of pillows with a quilt pulled up to her chin. Her long auburn hair stood out starkly against the white pillows and quilt.

‘I’m Detective Sergeant Berlin, Miss Marquet, I need to ask you a couple of questions about your sister. I’m very sorry about what happened to her. Can I call you Maud?’

She studied his face briefly, then nodded. ‘Okay, if you like.’

Berlin turned his head and looked around the room. ‘This must be a very interesting place to sleep.’

‘You have to be twelve.’

He turned back to face her. ‘Twelve?’

‘When you turn twelve you get to sleep out here.’

‘That must be fun.’

The girl shrugged. ‘I suppose.’

‘You told Constable O’Brian, Shane, that Melinda had a boyfriend, remember? And that she used to sneak out at night.’

Maud looked towards the doorway. ‘Does my dad know you’re here?’

‘He does, but right now he’s back in the house talking with my friend, so it’s just us.’

‘Is he a detective too, your friend?’

‘That’s right. His name is Robert Rob Roy Roberts. That’s true, by the way.’

The girl smiled a brief smile. ‘How did he get that scar on his face? I saw it when you arrived.’

‘From the window? You’ve got very good eyes, you must eat a lot of carrots.’

The girl shook her head. ‘I don’t like carrots. I do like mushrooms, though.’

‘Me too, especially on toast for breakfast, they’re yummy.’

Maud give him a look that indicated she found his last comment a little childish. He remembered Sarah had been around ten when she first gave him that look, the look that said, ‘I’m not Daddy’s little girl any more so please don’t treat me like a child.’ He remembered both the humour and sadness he felt in that moment.

‘Was he in an accident, your friend, Mr Roberts?’

‘Not exactly. He did me a favour a long time ago and some people beat him up for it. They almost killed him, in fact.’

The girl was looking at his face, looking into his eyes. ‘Is that really the truth?’

‘I always tell the truth, Maud.’ Except to myself. Can she see that? ‘I thought maybe you might want to tell me the truth, tell me about ... about Melinda’s boyfriend and that last night when she sneaked out to meet him. It will stay just be between you and me, I promise.’

The girl considered the suggestion for a moment. ‘Okay.’

‘That’s good. For starters, did he have a name?’

‘She wouldn’t say. She told me it was a super secret and no one could know about them for now. All she said was that she met him at Catcher.’

‘Catcher?’

‘It’s a dance place in the city. He drove her home and she went out to meet him again, that next Saturday. He was going to wait for her down the road in his car. That’s all I know.’

‘Had Melinda been sneaking out for a while?’

Maud considered the question for a minute before she answered. ‘We’re not supposed to go out with boys or to dances till we turn twenty-one and she didn’t think that was fair. She’d only done it half a dozen times, and she was always back before breakfast.’

‘And you can’t tell me anything else about the boyfriend?’

‘He was a photographer; he said she could be a model. He was going to take some pictures of her so she could join an agency and go to London and be famous. Sometimes famous models get to keep the dresses after they get photographed in them. Did you know that, Mr Berlin?’