30 Days (Lost Love Trilogy #1) - Belle Brooks Page 0,47
you’d read the fucking binder, you’d know.”
I shelter myself like a frightened dog.
He must see my fear and takes a lengthy inhale. “Sorry. This case is just rough for me.”
“I can see that.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He gazes at me for far too long before continuing. “Anthony, her younger brother, was four at the time. The home was a single-storey three-bedder, with a double lockable garage. It was modest, neat, and filled with love.
“Sometime, they believe around midnight, Stephanie was abducted from that house as her family slept. She was wearing pink flannels and was cuddled up with a rainbow-coloured elephant. At around four on the morning of June eleventh, her father, Garth, woke to use the toilet. Because it was cold, he checked on the children to ensure they were still under their doonas. Anthony’s room was the closest, so naturally he checked him first. When he got to his daughter’s room, the door was ajar. When he pressed it open, he discovered Stephanie was no longer in there. Garth turned every light on in that house, checking every inch. It wasn’t until he walked into the kitchen he noticed the back door was wide open and a bloody smudge had seeped into the white frame.”
Marcus stops talking again. He closes his eyes and takes deep breaths. The room is eerily quiet. My heart beats frantically. I don’t know if I want to hear another word. But I stay, waiting for him to continue.
“Her father called triple zero.” Marcus speaks quietly, running his hand through his hair. “For three years, I’ve been working to get justice.”
“For Stephanie.”
He nods.
“Is she alive?” I whisper.
He shakes his head.
My eyes strain under the pressure of tears. “What happened to her?”
Marcus stands before pacing back and forth, his fingers disappearing under his dark locks. “She was beaten, raped repeatedly, and then placed into a brown leather suitcase and dumped out to sea. She washed up onto Bondi Beach three weeks’ later. Her rainbow elephant was in the case with her, along with a sheet from her bed and four cement blocks.”
“Oh my gosh.” I gasp. “How did she die? The beatings?” I choke out in a shaky voice, not sure if I really want to know.
“The gutless pig didn’t do it with his own hands. He let the ocean do it. She was still alive when he put her in that suitcase and alive when her body hit iced water. She drowned, Abigail. Alone, cold, and frightened in the middle of the ocean. The coroner’s report shows even though she had sustained multiple and horrible injuries, she had survived them. Frankly, I can’t imagine anything more terrifying,” he adds, placing his hands on the table before leaning into me.
“They got the prick, though. They fucking got him. He tried to take another girl one week later, only four blocks away from Stephanie’s house. That scum of the earth was going to do it again. He climbed through a window to gain entry into her room, but the dumb fuck chose the wrong night to do it. Her father was asleep on a sofa beside her. She’d been having issues with asthma that day, and he wanted to be there if she needed him. The father restrained him before his grubby mitts ever touched her.”
My lips quiver before I choke out. “Those poor little girls.”
“Hey, we’re going to get justice for Stephanie and Silvia. Silvia never had a hand laid on her, but I’m sure her family have never been the same since. Nathan Macintosh is going to spend the remainder of his life behind bars. I will see to it.” His tone is filled with hatred as he straightens from his hunched posture, takes a few steps, and rests his hand onto my shoulder. “This is going to be a tough case, but I need you to have the documents ready. I need you to make sure everything is where it needs to be and every file, call, and measure is taken to assist me. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” I’m unsure if I really can, because this is so much bigger than I could have imagined.
“Good girl.” He kisses me on the top of my head as if he’s done it a million times before, and then he takes the containers and plates from the table.
“What happens tomorrow?”
“We do our final run-through at the office in the city, and Tuesday we’ll be in court.”
I swallow hard, trying to dislodge the lump forming in my throat.