Джеймс Паттерсон - Liar Liar

Woods had been just about to set pen to paper, and now the man sat frozen, staring at the pages before him, unseeing.

‘Your daughter is –’

‘That’ll be all, Detective,’ Woods snapped.

Chapter

29

EYES EVERYWHERE. ON my face, my hands, my bag as I tossed it onto the seat and slid over to the window, adjusting my cap to hide my eyes. The thousand-yard stare of commuters, tourists going down the coast to see the wineries, farmlands, national parks. I sat tensed as the train pulled away from the station, waiting for someone to recognise me. No one did. Catching my reflection in the window beside me, I could see why. I was a tired, thinned version of the Harriet Blue in the photos the television kept running. My hair was stringy, unwashed. I rubbed my eyes and watched the city shrink into suburbia. The train was warm. I eased out of my hoodie. The movement of the carriage lulled me into an uneasy sleep.

When I dreamed, I saw my brother. One of the many times we were reunited at the Department of Community Services offices after months apart. He’d been waiting for me, looking oddly guilty, his fingers stained yellow from cigarette smoke and his shirt reeking of it as I pulled him close to me. He’d started smoking very young. It always annoyed the DOCS workers. A pair of them sat at the table near him in the wide, sterile meeting room, murals of kittens and bunnies painted on the walls. They were going to brief us on where we were headed next. Promises of longer-term placements, stability that would never come. They watched, bemused, as we hugged, knowing neither of us were huggers.

‘You’re getting taller,’ I told Sam, patting his greasy teenage hair.

‘No, you’re getting shorter.’

‘A dual placement,’ I’d almost squealed, punching him in the shoulder with glee. ‘This is awesome! God, I’ve missed you so much! How’d you swing this? Your last family kick you out? What’d you do?’

‘Nothing.’ His face flushed with guilt. ‘Nothing. It was all good. I just … I asked to be removed. I needed a change of scene, you know. That’s all.’

I knew when my brother was lying to me. He’d never been very good at it. I remembered taking his arm, trying to meet his eyes.

‘Bullshit,’ I said. ‘There’s something wrong. What happened? Some fucking paedo try to mess with you? Did you tell your case worker?’

‘Nah, nah, Harry, it’s fine.’ He rubbed my shoulder.

‘Then what?’

‘Nothing.’

‘ What? ’

‘Look, I met this guy.’ His voice was low. Uncertain.‘Another kid.’

‘In the same family?’

‘No, another foster kid. His placement was near mine.’

‘What happened? What’d he do?’

‘Nothing. I don’t know. He was just …’ Sam shrugged. Wouldn’t look at me. ‘Just a bit intense for me, I guess. A bit weird. I got creeped out. That’s all.’

‘What, the guy have a crush on you or something?’ I snorted.

‘Would you two stop messing around so we can get started over here?’ one of the DOCS ladies said. ‘Harriet? Harriet. Harriet Blue …’

‘ Harriet Blue .’

I was snapped out of the dream by the sound of my own name. My neck was sore from leaning my head against the train window at an odd angle. The voice was coming from the headphones of a young Asian man in a red cap sitting across the aisle from me, watching a news clip on an iPad. The volume was so high I could hear every word of the broadcast.

‘ Much of their work, police say, has been chasing down false sightings of Banks across the state, some coming from as far away as Broken Hill. And while the public wonders where Banks will strike next, the search continues for Detective Harriet Blue, sister of … ’

I’d been paying so much attention to the flashes of the program I could see on the screen, I didn’t notice the man with the iPad looking right at me.

I nodded acknowledgement, trying to play it cool, but as I did the screen in his hands was filled with a picture of me.

He looked at the screen.

Then at me.

Chapter

30

I GRABBED MY bag and walked quickly down the aisle towards the stairs. The other passengers seemed to sense my urgency and glanced up. When I turned, I saw the red cap guy with the iPad following me. I cursed and sped up.

‘Hey! Hey!’ he called. ‘Excuse me? Miss?’

I ignored him, taking the steep stairs to the carriage entry two at a time. There were people here on the long benches beside the doors. I held on to the handrail, trying not to panic. It was one guy. I could fend him off.

‘Excuse me?’ he said as he got to the bottom of the stairs.

‘Dude, leave me alone,’ I whispered.

‘Is this you?’ He lifted the iPad, pointed to the picture of my face, the video paused on the screen. ‘Are you Harriet Blue?’

At the mention of my name, and his excited tone, more people looked up. I shielded my eyes, gritted my teeth and snarled at the guy.

‘No, I’m not. I just look like her. Now fuck off .’

‘Is everything OK?’ A man in a business suit standing by the doors turned towards us. ‘Is he bothering you?’

‘Yes, he is.’ I tried to push towards the doors to the next carriage. The train lurched and I grabbed an overhanging handle.

‘She’s Harriet Blue,’ Red Cap said. ‘The one they’re looking for. The police.’

A woman nearby slipped her phone out of her pocket. She watched me, looking guilty, as she dialled what was obviously emergency services. I went for the doors again, grabbing the handle and wrenching them open. The gangway between the two carriages was unsteady, the train thumping on the tracks. I shoved my way into the next carriage, but the two men were right behind me now.

The businessman grabbed my arm. ‘I think you really ought to come with me.’

‘Hey, I saw her first,’ Red Cap snapped. ‘You just want that reward.’

‘Someone get a guard!’

I shrugged my arm out of the man’s grip and pushed him in the chest. He grabbed again, but the guy in the cap was with me now, a sudden ally, shoving him against the doors. Red Cap went for the strap of my backpack and I grabbed his fingers, wrenching them backwards, causing him to drop to his knees. I put a boot into his side and hurled him to the ground. The train was slowing, rocking on the tracks. People were getting up from their seats, alarmed by the scuffle.

‘Someone call the police!’ the businessman yelled down the length of the carriage.

I turned and ran down the aisle, leaving the men to fight it out. ‘Hey, stop her!’

I burst through the doors to the next carriage and looked out the side doors, watching the rocks and gravel between the tracks rushing past me through the glass. I couldn’t wait for the train to slow much more. Through the murky windows to the carriage I had come from, I could see a small crowd gathering in the aisle, pointing, passing on the story to each other. A couple more people grabbed their phones. In minutes, the police would be waiting for me at the next station.

I hit the emergency exit button and pried the automatic doors apart. The jump seemed higher, somehow, now that the doors were open.

I had no choice. I closed my eyes and jumped.

Chapter

31

WHITT TOOK THE on-ramp to the highway at breakneck speed, causing Vada to grab onto the handle above her window.

‘Edward, you’re driving like a crazy person. Can you slow down? I know Nowra is a long way off but I want to get there in one piece.’

‘Sorry. Sorry. I’m just anxious to get to the crime scene. You know.’ He pushed his hair back and tried to ease off the accelerator.

Not even 24 hours , he told himself. The previous evening at 5.30 pm, he’d relapsed, broken his promise to himself that he would not succumb to drugs or alcohol again. Now he’d stumbled once more, talking himself into taking a couple of Dexedrine to wipe out the hangover and get him moving. The great weight that Deputy Commissioner Woods’s words had dumped on him had made it difficult to breathe. But as he’d cracked open the plastic baggie of pills he’d stolen from the evidence room, he’d felt the weight lifting. He deserved this, needed to take care of himself, needed to be kinder to himself.How else was he supposed to keep going? Regan was escalating – so Whitt needed to escalate too, if only for one day.