True Crime Story(62)
KIMBERLY NOLAN:
Maybe it was the way things were between us. Maybe it was how I’d reacted to his suggestion I play Zoe in the reconstruction—not saying anything, just nodding along—but I was never asked by anyone to help with the charity. I was never involved in it at all. It’s true I’d already left town by the time it got up and running, but they shut me out of those early conversations.
FINTAN MURPHY:
I’m not sure that’s entirely true. I was in the room on several occasions when Robert tried to speak to Kimberly about it. With that said, it was amazing what you could miss at the time. I suppose it made more of an impression on me because the idea of two loving parents was revelatory in my eyes. Even so, when Robert told me that Sally had suggested I help out with what went on to become the Nolan Foundation, I declined. Honestly, I felt like I was already putting my studies in jeopardy by dedicating so much time to them as it was, and I’d also started seeing someone, my flatmate Connor. It was early days, but he was my first real partner, and there just wasn’t time for anything else. Then one day, Robert broke down and said he didn’t think he could do it without me. Sally was in too much pain, and his relationship with Kimberly was fraught, they weren’t on the same wavelength at all. I thought if he pushed her, they might end up in some huge fight again, so I agreed to help, not quite realizing how much work would be involved.
All I did that year was research.
Preliminary conversations trying to work out what would be required, a long way from actually forming the foundation. But, well, suffice it to say that my relationship with Connor suffered as a result. I certainly sympathized with Kimberly a lot more afterward. I got to see Robert’s great skill close-up. He can play people and make them feel like they don’t really have a choice in things.
SALLY NOLAN:
Rob thought Kim and I couldn’t take the strain of dealing with the foundation, so neither of us ever had much to do with it, even when it was still just an idea. I never suggested Fintan help out. It just wouldn’t have occurred to me. I mean, it made sense—he was an old soul even then. But no doubt Rob was telling another one of his white lies to try and get his way.
ROBERT NOLAN:
The way I remember it is that Fintan did all the early legwork without my ever needing to ask. You could probably say there’d be no foundation without him. I didn’t have that kind of patience. I was too hardheaded.
* * *
7 All interviews with Carys Parry were conducted by Joseph Knox and added to Evelyn’s text in 2019.
17.
“Bad News”
As Alex’s personal problems begin to spiral out of control, a figure steps out of the shadows with tragic results.
SAM LIMMOND:
After Christmas, Alex was different, and especially with me. Distant, wasted. I knew she was upset about Zoe, she was struggling, but we started spending less and less time together.
I still feel like shit about that now.
Drugs were something I just didn’t understand. They were out of my realm. Then, being a teenage boy, thinking everything was about me, I took her behavior as a rejection instead of a cry for help.
LIU WAI:
I’d gone back early after the Christmas break, expecting to be at the center of this big investigation, but it was like nothing had changed. I mean, nothing except the people, since everyone was acting different. I guess Kim was with her parents somewhere that night. Anyway, I called Sam because I didn’t know what else to do? I was in my room and I could hear Alex in hers, having what sounded like this huge argument with someone, laughing, swearing, the works. Sam was always quiet, always sweet, so I assumed she had to be with this infamous second boyfriend she had on the side. Except when I happened to walk by her room, the door was open and it was obvious that she was alone.
She was really agitated, really stressed out, and her eyes were all red from where she’d been rubbing at them. She heard me coming and launched herself across the room, like, nails digging into my arm, saying, “Can you see him? Can you see that man? Tell me you can see him?”
I was terrified.
My hairs were standing on end, it was like a film or something. I sort of stammered, said, “Alex, sweetheart, there’s no one there.” She looked at me like death, these red raw eyes, then went back into her room and slammed the door.
SAM LIMMOND:
Liu called, and I went running over there. I’d never seen anything like it. Between us, we eventually got into Al’s room, got her calmed down. Liu could be nosey, a bit of a gossip, and she could talk a Samaritan to death, but at least she tried. She always made an effort, she made time for people, and I’ll never forget her being there for me that night. Bad as it got, she stuck by me. Al didn’t know where she was. She barely knew who she was—she fully disassociated. I thought about doctors, calling her mum, but I knew how scared Al was of being committed. Plus, well, I found pills in her room. Like, illegal stuff. In the end, it took us two hours to talk her down.
LIU WAI:
The second she was asleep, Sam went almost as crazy as she had. And, like, I was right there with him. Anyone who cared about that girl would have been angry. He wanted to know who she’d been with, who’d given her these pills. I just told him the truth. Like, no one comes and talks to me about their drug use.
All I knew was that there was this other guy in her life. Well, Sam knew that, but I still saw his heart, like, actually breaking as I said it. Then I got an idea where the drugs might have come from.