I gathered up my coat and overnight bag. ‘Well, thanks for the tea, Smithy.’
He took my coat and held it open for me.
‘I’ll be in touch when the report’s made public.’
Smithy nodded. ‘Sorry I wasn’t able to tell you more.’
He didn’t seem to realise how much he had told me. I was pleased about that. I didn’t want him feeling bad. He ushered me out, a protective arm hovering tentatively over my shoulder. I couldn’t resist giving him a peck on the cheek. He blushed at the touch.
When I turned back from the door to wave goodbye he was standing in the one little block of sunshine, deep in thought, patting his comb-over affectionately. I suspect poor old Blinky had been permanently dispatched to the big farm in the sky.
Chapter 16
MONDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2012
For a full ten minutes I weighed the ethics of staying at Norma’s place against my non-existent bank balance. Since I wasn’t being paid for the work, free board seemed reasonable. No doubt the townhouse would eventually be sold as part of Karen’s estate, but that wasn’t going to happen in a hurry. Meanwhile it was just sitting there with the key under the welcome mat. There was no sign of Ned. If he did turn up, I didn’t think he’d object to my company. As long as I didn’t attack him again, that is.
On the flight up I’d thought about what I’d learned from Smithy. Karen had bruising down one side of her body and what had killed her was a blow to the back of the head; she hadn’t died immediately and would have been in excruciating pain before slipping gratefully into a coma. And yet she hadn’t called the police. All the scenarios I could think of for why she would have kept silent relied on the notion of her having known her attacker. According to Fanshaw, someone known to Karen came to see her on the Friday night. It could have been Karen’s friend Manny, who was coming for a prayer session. Or it could have been someone else. Whoever it was, they were possibly the bearer of Sunny’s photo. No doubt there were other possible scenarios but I needed more time than a one-hour flight to Auckland to come up with them. One thing was certain: Karen’s killer was still out there and this meant there was a good likelihood Sunny was still in danger.
At nine o’clock I took a deep breath and used the landline to ring Sunny’s house. If Justin answered, this was going to be one of the shortest phone calls in history. Luckily, it was Sunny who picked up. I hadn’t spoken to her since I’d informed her of Karen’s death, and then stayed on the phone with her until Justin came home. I had wanted to keep Sunny talking until she had someone with her who she knew and trusted; someone she could really talk to. We’d covered a lot of ground in that talk. She’d rabbited on about whatever came into her head and I’d just let her talk. Precipitated by the news of her mother’s death our conversation had been unnaturally intimate. Two days had passed since that call.
‘How are you handling things?’ I asked.
‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t like my mother and I were close or anything.’
‘I know,’ I said far too quickly.
The truth was I had no idea what it was like to have your mother die hours before you’re about to meet her for the first time since she tried to kill you. I kept my tone light. ‘Hey, listen, I’m in Auckland for a couple of days and I thought maybe we could meet up.’ I could almost hear the shrug.
‘Sure. Whatever. I do reception at the gym after school. Salena thinks I should work for my miserable pocket money. Not that she ever works. Not unless you call pole dancing work. Did you know that’s what she teaches at the gym? Pole dancing! And what makes it totally tragic is she’s Polish! Which is a total joke only she doesn’t get it. Anyway, you could come to the gym tomorrow, if you want. I look after my little brother Neo there too. Come at around six.’ As if reading my thoughts she added, ‘Tuesdays are Salena’s hair days and Dad’s not likely to turn up.’
The prospect of being confronted by Justin was daunting.
The remainder of last week’s bottle of wine was still in the fridge. It