‘Are you okay?’ she asked as they headed to the front counter at Central.
Emma shrugged. ‘When are they letting Mum out of hospital?’
‘Later this afternoon, hopefully.’
‘Can I stay at your place tonight, just in case she can’t come home?’
Good God no, Stevie thought, and fill Izzy’s head with those weird stories? She shook her head and squeezed the girl’s arm. ‘I’m sorry, hon, it wouldn’t be appropriate. You have an aunt in Westminster, don’t you? I can give her a ring, just in case. Do you have her number?
Emma heaved a heavy sigh. ‘No, we hardly ever see her.’
Stevie was leaning across to ask the desk sergeant for the phone book when she overheard a well-dressed middle-aged woman ask for Sammy Nguyen’s paperwork which had been left there for her to collect. Stevie gathered from the conversation that this woman with the kind, grandmotherly face was Mrs Jenkins, Sammy’s case officer from child welfare.
Seizing the opportunity to get the interview with Emma started as quickly as possible, Stevie introduced herself to Mrs Jenkins. The social worker said she would be pleased to sit in on Emma’s interview.
‘I seem to be getting quite good at this,’ she said, smiling at Emma as she pulled up a chair at the interview room table. She placed the manila file on the table in front of her and removed some unused pages, writing Emma’s name at the head of the top sheet. Emma slumped next to the woman, her chin in her hands, her dark hair spilling like a veil over her face.
‘Come on now dear, get your hair from your eyes and sit up straight,’ Mrs Jenkins said.
Emma did as instructed. Stevie decided she liked this woman. She switched the tape on, stated the time and the names of those present.
‘Emma,’ she said. ‘Last night you told me you’d done a bad thing, but you wouldn’t tell me anything else about it. Was it something to do with Miro Kusak, the man who killed your friend Bianca? You see, your father has admitted to killing a man with his gun and it turns out that it was the same gun that was used to kill Mr Kusak. Did you tell your father about him, Emma? Did you tell him what Miro Kusak had done to your friend? Did you and your father go to the lookout and kill him together?’
Emma took her glasses off and shook her head wildly, her hair once more falling over her face. But when she spoke it was in an even and unemotional tone. ‘My dad had nothing to do with Miro Kusak’s murder. I took my dad’s gun from the safe and I gave it to someone else. You’re right, I planned it, but not with my father.’
Stevie glanced at the social worker. The woman had her eyes fixed on Sammy Nguyen’s file in front of her. Perhaps she was beginning to regret volunteering for the job. It wasn’t every day one became involved with a child accused of murder.
‘Emma, who did you give the gun to?’ she asked.
Emma bit at her bottom lip.
‘Who did you give it to?’
‘Bianca’s dad, Mr Bennett. Nick Bennett.’
But Stella said she hadn’t seen Bianca’s father since the conception! Stevie’s mind filled with questions, but she forced herself to let the girl continue without interruption.
‘He was very angry about Bianca’s death. He’d been having sex with her you know. In secret. He said he’d kill her if she told anyone, even her mum. But she told me. He saw her as his property, you see—he could have sex with her, but no one else could.’
The social worker squirmed in her seat. Stevie thought her discomfort was probably less about what was said, than how it was said. Emma’s matter of fact tone even had Stevie suppressing a shiver.
‘I wanted to kill Kusak when he killed Bianca, but I knew I couldn’t do it on my own, so I got Mr Bennett to do it for me.’
‘How did you manage to contact him?’
‘Bianca told me. We were going to write a story about him, just pretend, you know, but I still like to get the details right. He lives in a scungy block of flats in Mosman Park. He’s been to jail where he learned IT stuff and he’s fully into computers. He has the words love and hate tattooed on his knuckles, they look gross. Bianca gave me his email address and his phone number because we were going to write a story about stalking him and getting revenge—we called him Count Luvanhate.’ The memory caused a brief smile to flick across Emma’s face. ‘I also had all Daniel’s details—Daniel is Miro Kusak—because Bianca forwarded me his emails too, including one with his mobile number. I just called Kusak and arranged to meet him in Shenton Park, just like Bianca did. It was easy.’
It must have been when Kusak was on the run from the police, Stevie thought. Would the man have taken such a risk?
Emma seemed to sense Stevie’s incredulity. ‘I think he couldn’t believe his luck, having another girl so soon after the last one.’ She giggled, and the sound sent an icy tingle up Stevie’s back. Mrs Jenkins looked across at her, wide eyed.
Emma seemed to have no idea of the effect she was having and went on. ‘I said I was a friend of Bianca’s and that we had something to discuss. He thought I was stupid enough to come alone and try and blackmail him, because that’s what I told him. But you know about creeps like him, they can’t control themselves once they get horny. I wore a short skirt and a tight top, not my usual stuff.
‘I counted on him thinking he had nothing to lose. Neither did I, I knew Mr Bennett would look out for me.’ She looked up at Stevie. ‘Don’t think I was stupid. I knew he probably wanted me for himself, anyway. But I decided I’d sort that problem out later. I just felt that I had to at least try and do something to avenge Bianca, I couldn’t let that creep get away with it.’ Emma flicked the hair from her face. ‘I got into his car and he tied me up and put me in the back. I was a bit scared so it wasn’t much of an act and I can cry on demand anyway—’ Emma broke off abruptly, for the first time she looked uncomfortable, directing a sheepish look at Stevie from under her dark fringe.
‘Go on,’ Stevie prompted.
‘It must have seemed quite realistic to him. He drove to Mundaring with Bianca’s dad following behind. It was so easy; Mr Bennett shot him at the lookout with my dad’s gun. He wanted to shoot the dog too, but I wouldn’t let him. It was such a beautiful dog...’
On that unnerving note Stevie turned the tape off. She looked towards Mrs Jenkins, whose florid complexion had turned pasty white. They needed a break. Stevie also needed to organise an urgent APB for Nick Bennett and summon Stella Webster to Central—loath as she was, she’d charge her with obstruction if she had to.
‘I’ll be back soon,’ Stevie said as she excused herself. As she was leaving the room she heard Mrs Jenkins ask Emma if she wanted anything from the vending machine.
‘A coke please, if that’s okay,’ Emma replied politely.
‘Stay where you are then dear, I’ll get it,’ Mrs Jenkins said. As she passed Stevie in the corridor she whispered, ‘I think I’m getting too old for this job. I don’t understand kids anymore.’
That makes two of us, Stevie thought.
36
Tuesday
EXCERPT FROM CHAT TRANSCRIPT 271206
HARUM SCARUM: And what do you want to call the evil count who hurts the princess?
BETTYBO: Umm ... count luvanhate??
HARUM SCARUM: Katy Enigma will help the princess. The count will pay for what he did to her.