Free Deserving Death by Katherine Howell

Alicia Bayliss?’
    ‘Only today when he rang. He said he used to share with her and she was killed last night, and that’s why you were talking to him and would be talking to me.’
    ‘He never mentioned her before then?’ Murray asked.
    Jacobson shook her head.
    ‘Had you ever met her yourself?’ Ella said.
    ‘I work in the wards and we don’t get to meet many paramedics there,’ she said. ‘They occasionally come up for patient transfers, but I never know their names.’
    ‘How was Dave when he left here last night?’ Murray asked.
    ‘Yawning. We kissed goodbye at the door and I heard his car go a few minutes later.’
    ‘Did he say he was stopping anywhere on the way home?’ Ella said.
    Jacobson shook her head. Her gaze switched back and forth between them. ‘Do you think he had something to do with Alicia dying?’
    ‘What makes you say that?’ Ella asked.
    ‘He said that’s how you made him feel.’
    ‘Do you think he could’ve had anything to do with it?’ Murray said.
    ‘No. I think he’s a nice guy. I don’t know that I want to keep going out with him, but I can’t see him hurting anyone.’
    *
    Ella and Murray left Amber Jacobson staring thoughtfully out the window, and called Dennis from the car.
    He told them that the fourth friend in the group, birthday girl Hannah Dodds, wasn’t at home when detectives went there, but had later turned up at Bayliss’s house bearing coffee and cake, then started screaming in the street at the news. She was being looked after by Detectives Aadil Hossain and Jen Katzen, and she didn’t know about the blond man in the club or anything else suspicious.
    ‘Speaking of, Castro’s is a no-go,’ he said. ‘Manager’s insisting on a warrant, and I can’t see that we’ll get one today.’
    ‘Damn,’ Ella said.
    ‘And nothing’s come up on the street canvass so far. I called the LAC about the neighbourhood too. There’s been a number of recent break-ins, robberies, assaults, though no more than usual apparently. But they’re checking out the local scumbags and perverts and seeing who might be recently out of prison.’
    It was good to be working with Dennis again, her friend who took things seriously, who listened and thought through every angle. It was also nice to know that Homicide’s previous boss, Langley, was now in Computer Crime, a place she had no intention of ever going.
    ‘I’ve tracked down Noela Cross and left a message on her phone,’ he said. Cross was the probationary officer who’d made the complaint against John Morris. ‘With a bit of luck she’ll call back soon. Meantime, I’ve arranged for you to see the CCTV from the city street cameras. You never know.’
    You never did. Ella hung up and pointed straight ahead. ‘Let’s go, Batman.’

Eight
    T he cafe got busy. Carly sat in the hum of people placing orders and talking and laughing like it was an ordinary day. Linsey kept glancing up from behind the coffee machine as the queue in front of it grew. Carly clenched her hands and made herself breathe and wait.
    It felt like an age later when Linsey touched her shoulder. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
    Carly looked at the counter. Jo smiled at her.
    ‘Jo’s staying so I can go with you.’ Linsey took her hand and pulled her gently to her feet. ‘And you can tell me about your crappy morning.’
    They stepped onto the footpath hand in hand, but within a few metres Linsey let her go.
    Carly glanced around the street, then at Linsey. ‘They’re long gone.’
    ‘Just in case.’ Linsey was biting her lip, her face anxious. Carly hated that look, the worry in her eyes, and today it hurt for other reasons too.
    ‘You know they’ll find out eventually,’ she said.
    ‘Can we not do this here and now?’ Linsey said, eyes front. ‘Can you just let me get you home and take care of you?’
    Emotions fought in Carly’s heart. She wanted to be looked after, to be held close, to be made a hot bath and a cup of tea,