had left for me on the morning she was killed. He kept asking me to wait right there and refused to even touch the proffered phone. We argued back and forth for a while and things were looking downright ropey until I offered to write my name and address down for him. He visibly relaxed, and handing me a police issue notepad, waited patiently while I wrote on it. It was endearingly naive of him. If this was a bomb I was delivering, it was unlikely to be my real name and number I’d written down.
With the phone delivered, I broke a couple of speed limits getting to the airport and was soon back in the air, struggling with an Anzac biscuit encased in cellophane that was impossible to open. It all felt a bit déjà vu really. But despite the sensation of my stomach falling out of my anus during the roller-coaster takeoff, and despite the migraine-inducing buffeting as the pilot attempted to level out, it was a relief to be back in the air high above Wellington and winging my way back to Auckland.
Though I’d managed quite successfully not to consciously think about what had happened between Robbie and me earlier in the day, in truth the memory of his grin slowly unhitching haunted me.
Chapter 21
WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2012
One hour later I was charging my way along the air bridge, juggling overnight bag, sunglasses and mobile. There were no new messages from Sunny. I carefully pressed her number but her phone clicked straight to voicemail again. Salena might give me shit for turning up unannounced, but Sunny had asked for my help and I’d flown back to Auckland to give it to her. I had no idea what that help might involve but I owed it to Karen to go find out. I still couldn’t figure out how Justin could have killed Karen, but presumably the cops had a tight enough case for them to have made the crucial move of arresting him. It’s not something they ever do prematurely.
Sunny sat cross-legged on the sofa. Pale and dishevelled, she was eyeing the woman opposite her with a look of repugnance. As soon as she caught sight of me, she unravelled her long legs and ran to me, throwing her skinny arms around my neck like a distraught two-year-old. Salena put a comforting hand on her back but Sunny shrugged it off and kept her face turned into my collarbone. The woman moved towards me, her hands twitching with the desire to pull Sunny away from me. I gave her a look not dissimilar to the one I’d seen on Sunny’s face.
‘And you are?’ she asked, her irritation with my sudden appearance barely suppressed.
Ignoring her, I pushed the hair from Sunny’s face. ‘Okay?’ I asked. Sunny sniffed loudly and nodded her hair back into the tears and snot.
‘She’s a friend of Sunny’s mother,’ Salena explained, not unkindly.
‘My name’s Maggie. I’m the assigned social worker,’ she said, and held out her hand for me to take.
Sunny pulled herself out of my embrace but stayed close. ‘I don’t need a social worker. I don’t even know why you’re here,’ she said over her shoulder.
‘As I explained to you,’ the woman said in the slow irritating way some professionals adopt. ‘I’ve been appointed by the courts to check on your wellbeing.’
She looked directly at me, willing me to leave. I wasn’t going anywhere. I put my hand lightly on Sunny’s back. Her whole bony little frame was trembling.
‘In cases like this we need to be confident the children are safe.’ Maggie was addressing me. She was enjoying her role up there at the front of class, telling the poor students how it was going down from now on. ‘Sometimes removing the perpetrator isn’t enough.’
Salena advanced towards her. ‘Are you crazy? What are you saying? That I was involved?’ Salena’s face was flushed. ‘I knew nothing about it! How could you think I would allow such a disgusting thing!’
I had no idea what they were talking about. Sunny dropped herself to the sofa. Hands over her ears, she rocked back and forwards. I lowered myself down beside her and placed a gentle hand on her. I felt the fragile shoulder bones beneath my fingers, the warm vibration of her movement. Maggie continued in her irritatingly calm voice.
‘It’s my job to assess the home environment and to ensure the children are safe here. I’m just doing my job, Mrs Bachelor.’