Garry Disher: Two-Way Cut

The next day she resigned from the force. She brought charges against all of them, including the women, who reluctantly gave evidence supporting her case. Of the ten men, four were sacked, five transferred or demoted, one committed suicide. So, justice had been served, but shed let the side down, and now she was a target.

Its the fact that one of the guys committed suicide, she told Tess in conclusion. They want to get even.

Tess was watching her, eyes wide. What, like, kill you?

I doubt it, but then again, I wouldn’t put it past some of them.

Wow. Bummer, Tess said. She shook her head in disgust. Cops.

Leah’s attitude was more complicated. She missed her job, her vocation. She had loved police work, was good at it, and praised for it by her superiors. And even though the police had ultimately let her down, her belief in them was undiminished. In her view, the police were mostly dedicated, but underpaid, unappreciated and apparently despised by a high percentage of the public, so it was no wonder that they tended to be inward-looking, clannish, a culture apart from the mainstream. They sought each other out when off-duty, and were sustained by a sense of moral superiority despite existing on the fringes of polite society.

And they hated anyone who broke ranks, anyone who revealed the rotten apples in the barrel. They felt that whistleblowers tainted the force, did more harm than good, and should be stopped.

But Leah said none of this to Tess. So I hit the road.

What about your friends, your parents? Tess said.

I wasn’t going to drag them into my mess, said Leah harshly. Anyway, my parents are in Queensland, I lost friends when I joined the force, and lost police friends when I left it. Now, whats your story?

They had returned to the sitting-room. Tess flopped back in her corner of the sofa and began checking her hair for split ends. A moment later she pulled one bare foot into her lap and picked at the hoary skin on the edge of her big toe. She looked bored, sulky and apathetic, a dangerous combination to Leah’s mind. To shock her out of it she said, Tess, someone close to you was murdered a couple of hours ago. You could be next.

Tess shifted about restlessly. Leah wondered if she was coming down from something, amphetamines maybe. Tess? Lets start at the beginning. Whats your full name?

Tessa Quant.

How did you meet Mitch?

He did maintenance at my school.

God, how old was she? Your school?

Penleigh Hall. I’m a boarder there.

How old are you?

Tess’s eyes shifted. Eighteen.

Leah knew she was lying. Sixteen? Seventeen? She certainly could pass for eighteen. She could pass for twenty-five. So, Mitch was a handyman at your school.

Tess leaned forward and smirked. Very handy.

Leah stared at her neutrally, unimpressed by the sexual bravado. And you got involved with him.

Tess shrugged her bare shoulders and sat back in a sulk. Yeah.

And the pair of you stole a car.

Yeah.

This was like getting blood from a stone. And ran away together.

Not immediately.

I’m trying to understand. Were you running away from something, or running to something?

Stop interrogating me. Stop sounding like a cop. Or a teacher.

I want to know.

I was failing, all right? Satisfied?

At that moment, Tess sounded exactly like a sixteen-year-old schoolkid. Did you and Mitch hit the road immediately?

Tess laughed. We shacked up together, only my father sent my brothers to get me back. Hes such a control freak.

Leah cocked her head in frank disbelief, hoping to unsettle Tess. When Tess wouldn’t meet her gaze she said in a low, hard voice, Tess, those men had a shotgun, they killed Mitch, they could have killed you. Are you saying they were your brothers?

No. I mean, I don’t think they meant anyone to get killed. Maybe its really you they’re after.

Leah shook her head. This was like interrogating a child who lies automatically, the lies a complicated, unconvincing artifice when a simple lieor the truth would be best. When did you and Mitch hit the road together?

About five days ago.

Leah let the silence build in the stuffy little room, knowing that someone as impatient and impulsive as Tess could not stand much silence. Finally she said, So you don’t want to go to the police because it would mean getting your father and brothers into trouble?

Exactly.

But Mitch is dead now, Leah said, thinking: Not that you’re exactly grief-stricken.

So?

So you can go home, or back to school. If you’re a boarder, the school must be worried about you. They’ll be looking for you.

You must be joking, Tess said. They were going to expel me anyway.

Leah felt immensely weary. I don’t understand: if you’re a boarder, does that mean your parents live interstate or on a remote property somewhere?

Melbourne.

So why are you a boarder?

Don’t get on with my parents.

They must have pots of money, sending you to boarding-school when they don’t have to, Leah said, feeling resentful.

Tess shrugged.

I’m not exactly in a position to look after you.

You don’t have to. I can look after myself.

Yeah, right, Leah thought. The police will be involved now, she said, because of the car crash. They’ll identify Mitch, and someone will tell them that you were traveling with him. People will wonder where you are. The school, your mother.

Want to know about my mother? When I was fourteen I got asthma so bad I had to go to hospital, so the school called her, and you know what, they didn’t find her for two weeks. She was off overseas with her boyfriend, who’s now my stepfather. When they finally did get hold of her, you know what she told them? You deal with it, like she didn’t care if I died or not. So excuse me if I don’t care what my mother thinks. Tess seemed on the verge of tears again.

Leah cocked her head. It was your father, not your stepfather, who sent your brothers after you?

Tess looked hunted. Yeah.

Tess, look at me. Were those guys in the Range Rover your brothers?

Tess avoided her gaze. I couldn’t tell. Maybe they got their friends involved, or hired somebody.

Leah wanted to give Tess a good shake. She believed that Tess and Mitch had stolen a car, but that was all she believed, and a stolen car wasn’t enough to galvanise two killers in a Range Rover. No, she thought, I’m the target, not Tess.

We need to stay here for at least a couple of days, she said. When they don’t find us tonight and tomorrow, they’ll assume we’ve moved on.

Stay in this dump for two days? No way.

All right then, go home. Go back to school. Simple.

Tess moved about agitatedly on the sofa. She was a poor little rich girl with no conscience and hooked on cheap thrills. Life was a movie, and Leah was making her see what was real. She took a mobile phone from her pocket and switched it on.

What are you doing?

I have got some friends, you know, Tess flounced. Not that its any of your business.

It is my business. Mobile phones can be tracked. Calls can be monitored.

Giving Leah a hunted look, Tess put the mobile away. Leah wanted to say more, but fear was clearly apparent in the younger woman, breaking through the shallow cuteness and bravado. I don’t blame her, Leah thought. But I have to put on a brave front.

Tomorrow we alter our appearance, she said. If we have to go out to the shops, then we don’t leave a trail. We use cash, not credit cards, okay? And no calls from public phones.

Boring.

I’ll sleep on the sofa, Leah said.

Can I watch TV?

Only the news, if you keep the volume down.

God! What about e-mail?

There was a computer on a card table in one corner of the sitting-room. No, Leah said, glancing at it. We don’t do anything that signals where we are.