The Sister(193)

‘You know, I think I'd prefer coffee.’

He tried to get the waiter’s attention. She laid a hand on his forearm; it felt cool against his skin. ‘It’s okay; since it’s already here, I’ll stick with the tea.’

Miller glanced at her hand; she drew it away softly. Her touch sent a pleasant tingle up his arm. For a split second, their eyes met.

‘You’re really quite shy, aren’t you?’ she said. Miller’s tiny smile seemed to confirm it. ‘Where were we? Oh yes, there was her and the boyfriend and another girl, all dating from around the same time. The other boiler-suited bodies had been in there significantly longer. Weighted down with rocks, the legs and arms of the suits were wrapped around them, and tied up in knots. Except for Lei Liang – that was her name – she had only the legs of the suit tied around her, which seems odd.’

‘The whole thing is odd!’ Miller laughed.

She wrinkled her nose at him. ‘Odd for him is what I meant. Maybe he was disturbed, or some other reason. Who knows with these people? Anyway, the boyfriend was fully clothed under the suit, as you might expect, but so were the women. We know when he didn’t come back, a team was called in to search a nearby mine. They assumed he’d died in a roof collapse, buried under tons of rock.’ She stirred a sugar into her tea.

Deep lines of concentration creased Miller’s forehead while he ran possibility against probability. He didn’t want to reveal he knew more than he was letting on. ‘So, how did he come to be in the water wrapped up in a boiler suit?’ he said.

She laughed. ‘You’re the investigator, you tell me!’

He took a sip of tea; he looked serious.

Carla realised she’d led him into reliving part of his childhood ordeal. Her smile evaporated. She kicked herself for being so insensitive.

‘It’s all right Carla.’ He seemed to know what she was thinking. ‘I knew the second I laid eyes on that place, with the boys that day. I knew it wasn’t right. I didn’t know enough about things then to warn them in time.’ Miller looked at a spot in the mid-distance and drained his cup. Topping it up, he held the pot out to her.

‘No thanks,’ she said.

Stirring the cup helped him think. ‘From what you have told me, we know he was a caver who was into exploring old mines.’

She nodded. ‘That’s pretty much what I found out.’

‘People like that don’t go off doing things like that alone, it’s too dangerous. Normally there would be at least two of them. Did you find out who the other girl was?’

‘She was identified as Christina Fischer, a German national. Reported missing a few days after the Australian disappeared. He met her and Lei Liang at university; they were all very close…’

Full of admiration for the way Carla had put it all together, he couldn’t add anything to what she’d already found out.

‘I spoke to the caver’s brother in Australia. He’d heard about this spooky place; a mine shut down after a disaster a hundred and fifty years ago. Now, from what I can gather from speaking to her mother in Germany, Christina just told her that she’d planned to go on a little trip somewhere, but it was all very secretive. She said she’d tell her all about it when she came home. Of course, she never did. My theory is they were lovers – did I tell you she was Lei’s best friend?’ she asked, raising a querulous eyebrow. ‘Anyway, at some point, after they pitched camp, the killer attacked them. He left the tent in place, taking all the caving equipment, everything, deep into the heart of the old workings, where he caused a collapse. The bodies were then disposed of in the lake.’ She settled her gaze on him. ‘If it hadn’t been for the unfortunate demise of your friends, we might never have known…’

Miller nodded.

‘And I couldn’t believe nobody had missed these people at the time they disappeared,’ she said, looking incredulous.

‘I suppose because they were all foreign students, people just assumed they'd gone home for the summer?’ Miller suggested.

‘Maybe, but quite how Lei came to be there, is a bit of a mystery.’

He gave her a sideways look. ‘You put all this together through speaking to the brother?’

‘That’s right; I built up a background, found out what friends he spoke of, girlfriends and so on. Then I found out all three were connected and had all gone missing within the same ten-day period. It makes you wonder how the police missed it at the time, doesn’t it?’

A blizzard of thoughts blew into his mind, as if a door had opened during a snowstorm, before slamming shut. Part of what had made no sense when he’d seen inside The Sister’s head came together now. The pieces were in the air; he watched them as they settled into place.

Irritated that he appeared to have lost interest, Carla, trying to catch his eye, noticed them flickering, and leaned in to get a better look. It seemed to her he’d slipped into a trance-like state. She waved her hand in front of his face. His eyes remained focused on something only he could see.

‘Miller, what the hell are you doing? Are you having a fit or something?’ At first, Carla thought he was just play-acting. He was scaring her now. ‘Miller!’

He snapped out of it, allowing his mind to refocus. His gaze returned to her. ‘His name was Thomas; he met up with Christina Fischer; they were going to explore the mine together. They were secret lovers. The killer caught them on the rocks by the river, down from the pit entrance. He smashed the Australian’s head in from behind, with a rock. Christina trapped beneath the body. A sitting duck… I don’t think I have to tell you the rest.’