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Deadly Obsession Page 4
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Turning slowly towards Lexie, without meeting her eyes, Sasha nodded her acknowledgement.
‘Hello, Lexie. It’s been a while.’
Not long enough . . .
Brad gave Lexie a questioning glance.
In answer to her partner’s silent query, Lexie explained, ‘Sasha and I went to school together.’
‘Small world, the Eastern Suburbs, isn’t it?’ Brad said, raising an eyebrow.
It was too small, sometimes. Growing up at Bronte and working down the road at Bondi Junction was not always a good thing.
‘I’m very sorry for your loss,’ Brad said gently to both women. ‘And I’m sorry we have to meet under these circumstances. I know this is a hard time for you both right now, but I’m afraid we have to ask you some questions. We want to find out what happened to your friend as soon as possible.’
Lexie knew that sometimes people saw it as insensitive for police to be asking grieving families and friends questions immediately after their loss. But the first forty-eight hours of a murder investigation was the most crucial in gathering information. Police had to start asking questions as soon as possible.
‘We understand you have a job to do,’ Sasha replied for both of them. ‘We’ll do anything we can to help.’
Lexie turned towards Vicky Bruce. The poor woman’s eyes were smudged with mascara and her bottom lip trembled uncontrollably. Tears gushed down her cheek. She brushed them away with a crinkled tissue. At any other time Lexie could see that she would be attractive, but not right now.
‘I’m sorry. I want to help catch whoever did this to Melissa. I’m just . . . I don’t know.’
Sasha put her arm around Vicky’s waist sympathetically.
‘I’m here to help her get through this,’ she said, softly.
There was a pause as Vicky tried to control her emotions. After a moment Sasha spoke again. ‘We’re being rude. Can I get either of you a coffee, tea, biscuits?’
At the mention of biscuits Lexie saw Brad’s eyes light up. Before he could reply she cut in. ‘No thanks, we’re fine.’
She shot him a look.
‘Why don’t we all sit down while I ask you both some questions?’
Sasha nodded, though her eyes were still unable, or unwilling, to meet Lexie’s as she perched herself next to Vicky on the edge of the lounge. It was warm in the unit and Lexie shed her heavy coat, draping it across the back of a chair before taking a seat on the lounge opposite the two women. Brad followed suit.
While Sasha avoided her gaze, Lexie took the opportunity to study her for a second. She sat with her chest pushed out, posture straight and confident. Her tight shirt was low-cut, and stretched to its limits across her large bust. Her denim-clad legs were crossed and pointed at Brad. She wore her straight black hair in a shoulder-length bob. Her pleasant heart-shaped face was suitably forlorn.
Lexie forced herself to push all dark emotions away, to depersonalise her feelings. She needed to remain focused, professional, no matter how hard it was.
You’re here to do a job.
‘So how do you two know each other and how did you know Melissa McDermott?’ Lexie asked both women.
‘We work together at the Prince of Wales Hospital,’ Sasha said, directing her answer to Brad even though Lexie had asked the question. ‘On the same ward as Melissa . . . uhh, did.’
She let out a little gasp.
Since Brad’s eyes were pretty much stuck on Sasha’s impressive cleavage, Lexie continued with the questions.
‘How long have you been living with Melissa, Vicky?’
Sasha began to answer but Lexie put her hand in the air as if stopping traffic. Talk to the hand, she thought. I have the power. I’m in control here.
‘I’d really like Vicky to answer, thanks, Sasha.’
Lexie felt rather than saw the glare Sasha drilled into the side of her face.
Vicky sniffed and then coughed.
‘We have been living together for six months. Melissa got to Australia just as my last flatmate left to go home, so it worked out really well. We met at work and she pretty much moved straight in. We got along really well. She was a nice girl.’
Vicky began to sob.
‘I just can’t believe what has happened; her poor parents.’
‘Where are her parents?’ Lexie asked.
Vicky blew her nose loudly while Sasha rubbed her back.
‘Melissa’s from England. Her family lives in Sussex. She had a two-year work visa but wanted to live here permanently. She loved Australia. Oh God . . .’
Vicky choked a sob into a tissue.
Lexie glanced at Brad, who was still having a hard time diverting his gaze from Sasha’s breasts. If she was being nice Lexie would describe Sasha as curvy, voluptuous even. But nothing about Sasha encouraged Lexie to feel nice, so she’d say the woman could use a diet and drop two dress sizes.
Stop it. You need to move on from the past.
‘Have you got the family’s address? They need to be contacted ASAP.’
Vicky disappeared for a moment and came back holding an envelope. She read the name and address printed on it as Lexie jotted the details in her notebook.
‘It was a birthday card she was about to send to her mum,’ she exclaimed, then promptly burst into tears again.
Lexie gave her a minute to recover her composure, then continued.
‘As you know, Melissa didn’t have any identification on her. Would she have left her purse here, by any chance?’
‘No, she wouldn’t have gone anywhere without her purse and bag. She had asthma and took her puffer everywhere with her.’
‘She had a mobile phone, I’m assuming. It isn’t here, by any chance?’ Lexie asked hopefully.
Vicky shook her head. ‘No, she would have had it with her too.’
‘Can I get her number, please?’
They could check the call charge records, ascertain the last incoming and outgoing numbers. Lexie’s mind was ticking over. She’d also ring the number later and see what happened. More than likely nothing, but you never knew. If someone had stolen her phone, whether that person was the killer, or just an opportunist, they might be dumb enough to answer it. It had happened before. Most bad guys were not smart. She thought of the famous heart surgeon, Victor Chang, who had been tragically gunned down on a busy Sydney street. His killer had been considerate enough to leave his wallet behind, making easy work for the detectives.
Could she be lucky enough to get one that stupid? Not a chance!
Vicky grabbed her phone from the coffee table next to her and scrawled through her contacts. She read out Melissa’s number. Lexie scribbled it down.
‘Can you tell me her date of birth?’
‘We just had her birthday party here,’ Sasha said. ‘It was the 22nd of May. She had turned twenty-seven.’
‘Can I confirm that Melissa had a bluebird tattoo on the left side of her neck?’
They both nodded.
‘She got it for her birthday. It was a present to herself,’ Sasha informed them.
‘Since Melissa’s parents are overseas, we’ll need someone to identify her for us.’
Sasha rubbed Vicky on the back as she sobbed harder.
‘We’ll do it together,’ Sasha responded. ‘I presume she’s at the Glebe morgue. We can meet you there after this.’
‘We can take you,’ Brad volunteered.
Sasha smiled at him.
‘Thanks, but it’s okay. We can go there together. We’re nurses; we’ve seen dead bodies before.’
‘Okay, we might meet there in a few hours,’ said Lexie.
She began calculating things that had to be done and glanced at her watch. It was now just before 11.00 am.
‘Can you meet us there at around 1.30 pm?’
By that time the government contractors would have conveyed Melissa to Glebe and the morgue staff would have had time to prepare her for viewing. Sasha and Vicky might be used to dealing with the dead, Lexie thought, but this was p
ersonal. It would be best to have their friend presented as nicely and respectfully as possible.
Both women nodded.
‘Did Melissa have a boyfriend?’ Lexie continued with the questions, mentally ticking them off in her head as she covered another line of inquiry.
‘No boyfriend,’ Vicky said.
Sasha shot Vicky a curious look.
‘No boyfriend, so to speak,’ Sasha corrected. ‘But she did, um, have a few male friends, if you know what I mean; casual relationships.’
Lexie shook her head and stared straight at Sasha.
‘No, I don’t. What do you mean?’
For the first time Sasha met Lexie’s eyes.
‘Melissa liked men. She went after what she wanted. Get my drift?’
Vicky looked shocked and embarrassed.
‘Sasha . . .’
Lexie kept her expression neutral.
‘Can you give me any names?’
Sasha smiled sweetly at Brad before her eyes slipped off him and met Lexie’s.
‘Zack Rogers. There’s a name.’
Lexie’s heart slammed against her chest and it took all her strength to remain calm.
‘Would you like to expand on that?’
Brad snapped out of his trance, seemingly picking up on the name and the underlying tension filtering around the room. He looked confused, glancing at Lexie and then back at Sasha.
‘Was Zack Rogers her boyfriend?’ Brad asked.
Sasha shook her head.
‘No, no. I’m sure Melissa would have liked him to be. Many girls would like him to be, but Zack’s not the boyfriend type.’
Lexie held her breath and did her best to swallow her anger.
Brad’s eyes bounced back and forth between Lexie and Sasha. He was clearly trying to figure out what was going on around him. He addressed the nurses.
‘All right, I want a list of all these “casual boyfriends”, or whatever you want to call them, before we leave. I also want a list of all Melissa’s friends and associates.’
Sasha got up, grabbed a pen and notepad and started writing.
‘I’ll do my best. There have been a few and I’m not sure of some of their last names.’
Brad shrugged.
‘Just give us what you can. Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt Melissa? Did she have any enemies that you’re aware of?’ Both women shook their heads.
‘Does either one of you know where Melissa was last night; who she was with?’ Lexie asked.
Vicky piped up.
‘Earlier in the night she was with us at the Royal Hotel at Randwick. We were drinking, then had dinner. I left her talking to Matt, he’s the licensee.’
Sasha added, ‘I left a bit after Vic and she was still talking to him then.’
‘What time was that?’ Lexie asked.
‘About 11.00 pm,’ Sasha said. ‘Um . . . she’d had a fair bit to drink by then. Too much, actually. Melissa always had too much to drink,’ she continued. ‘She had been seeing Matt recently . . . casually.’
‘I didn’t know she was seeing anyone . . . how do you know that?’
Vicky looked confused and slightly hurt. The tears started again. Sasha shrugged and continued writing her list.
Lexie had a thought.
‘Did you see Melissa with a rose at all during the night?’
Vicky screwed up her face.
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Do you know if she did drugs?’
Both women exchanged a look. Vicky shook her head, while Sasha was less certain.
‘You’d never know with Melissa. She was a wild one.’
Lexie asked the next predictable question.
‘Can you give me the full name of this licensee, Matt, she was seeing – casually?’
CHAPTER 5
Watching Sasha close the door behind the detectives with a self-satisfied grin creasing the corners of her mouth, Vicky could not for the life of her imagine what she could possibly have to smile about right now. They had just lost a friend in the most traumatic of circumstances; what the hell could be so amusing?
Grief seemed to have exacerbated her dormant temper and Vicky was unable to put a lid on it. This was an unfamiliar feeling and not one she liked.
‘What’s going on, Sasha?’
Sasha spun around to face her. Surprise etched across her face at the usually timid Vicky’s tone.
‘Sorry?’
‘What is the story between you and that female detective; what was her name?’
Vicky glanced at the business card the detective had given her.
‘Lexie Rogers, that’s it. There was some serious tension happening between you two.’
Sasha continued to stare wordlessly at her. Perhaps she had assumed that because of her obvious emotional unravelling, Vicky had been too overcome with grief and shock to notice the tension in the room. If so, Sasha was wrong.
‘I’m sorry, Vic. I didn’t realise it was that obvious.’
Sasha’s face was sorrowful.
‘Lexie and I go back a long way, that’s all, and there’s no love lost between us. You see, we used to be really close friends.’
‘It’s clear you are not friends anymore, so what happened?’ Vicky asked.
Sasha’s face took on an injured expression.
‘We had a falling out over . . . a guy.’
‘Oh,’ Vicky said.
She was mildly relieved there was a reason for the friction.
‘So what’s with the smirk?’
‘Lexie kind of stole my boyfriend,’ Sasha told her, taking a deep, shaky breath. ‘I was totally heartbroken. We haven’t spoken since it happened and to be honest it still hurts. Seeing her today just brought it all back. I suppose I’m just glad she seemed as uncomfortable seeing me as I was seeing her. It’s childish, I know, but Lexie has always been so cool and calm.’
Vicky’s expression changed from one of irritation to sympathy.
‘Oh, I see where the animosity would come from, then.’
It was stupid to argue over insignificant issues at a time like this, she thought.
‘It was a long time ago, but you know how it is, you never completely get over that type of betrayal.’
Vicky nodded in silent support and waited for her to go on. The female detective was very good-looking. Tall, slim, with long blonde hair and beautiful big brown eyes that she’d noticed were not just mesmerising, but had a depth of kindness to them. The eyes said a lot about a person. They were the key to the soul, Vicky had always thought, and the detective’s had reflected genuine warmth. She could not imagine that Lexie Rogers would do such a thing as steal Sasha’s boyfriend. But then, what did she know? Vicky had been wrong about people before.
Poor Sasha.
She could be moody and self-centred at times, but Vicky didn’t think she was a bad person. Sasha could actually be a lot of fun. All of a sudden, her heart went out to her friend.
‘Do you want to talk about it?’
‘There’s not much to tell, really,’ Sasha said, waving her hand in the air as though it didn’t really matter. ‘I went to visit my boyfriend unexpectedly one day and caught them in bed together. I heard voices coming from inside the house and just knew something was not right. So I snuck around the back and glanced through his bedroom window and there they were, writhing around on his bed. I couldn’t believe it.’
Sasha shook her head as though the memory still haunted her.
Vicky gasped, her hand shot to her open mouth.
‘How terrible!’
She could only imagine how devastating that would be.
‘You poor thing, it must have broken your heart.’
‘Of course it did and it still does every time I see him at work; I just . . .’ Sasha seemed unable to finish the sentence. ‘Sometimes the pain just never goes away,’ she whispered, sadly.
Vicky was confused.
‘At work?’
‘I’m talking about Zack Rogers
, the paramedic,’ Sasha said, somewhat impatiently. ‘You know him. I see him around the hospital sometimes and we speak and all that but . . . it just rips out my heart.’
She sighed loudly.
‘Just like that male detective said; it can be a small world in the Eastern Suburbs.’
Vicky knew exactly who the paramedic was – tall, blond, a surfie type. All the nurses knew Zack, although Vicky hadn’t known his last name as he was relatively new.
‘Zack Rogers . . . Detective Rogers . . . so they are married?’
‘Were married,’ Sasha corrected.
‘Wow, I’m sorry,’ was all Vicky could manage.
Sasha shook her head.
‘Given what’s happened to poor Melissa, my story isn’t that important. Let’s just forget it.’
She was right. Vicky felt sorry for her friend and her sad memories but they were getting sidetracked. They needed to be thinking about Melissa.
Vicky felt suddenly restless and started pacing around the small living room.
‘I feel like I just don’t know what to do with myself,’ she cried, suddenly upset again.
Then a thought popped into her head.
‘Hang on a minute. You mentioned the name Zack Rogers to the detectives. You insinuated that Melissa had a relationship with him. Did you mean that or were you just trying to upset the female cop?’
‘No, I meant it. Melissa had been with Zack. She’d told me so, not realising my history with him.’
‘I knew Melissa was a bit flirty but I had no idea she’d been with so many guys.’
Vicky was perplexed. Where had she taken these guys? They hadn’t come to the apartment? Then again, Vicky lived a conservative, spiritual lifestyle, so Melissa knew she did not approve of casual sex. She must have met them elsewhere, maybe at their places? It was starting to dawn on Vicky that she really didn’t know Melissa that well, after all.
‘Are you sure she was that . . .’ she hated to even say the word, ‘promiscuous?’
Sasha gave Vicky an incredulous look.
‘You lived with her. Surely you would have known her reputation?’
‘I didn’t. She didn’t bring anyone here and I only ever saw her with one boyfriend and that was a while ago.’
Sasha shook her head in exasperation.
‘The guys at the hospital called her “Luna” as in Luna Park – you go there to have a good time. I can’t believe you didn’t know. Melissa was sleeping with just about everyone.’