Underground

Chapter 10

The sunlight peeked in around the edges of my vertical blinds. I rolled over to snuggle into Grant, but the other side of the bed was empty. I looked around the room and sighed. Pulling on a robe, I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to look semi-respectable. I opened the door and padded barefoot down the hallway. As I reached the kitchen, I stopped and watched Grant reading my notes that I had spread across the table. "Morning."

Grant spun around with a guilty look. He placed a sheet of paper back on the table.

"Good morning. Looks like you've been studying up."

"Dad's notes. I've been trying to find the link between Rebecca Kaber and our family." I switched on the jug and heaped coffee and sugar into two mugs.

"You must have found something. Sam was pretty sure you shouldn't be alone here."

"Mum's friend's house burned down."

"Janet Cartwell?"

"Yeah." I poured water into the mugs and stirred in milk.

"They found a body."

I spun around. "And?"

"It had no teeth to identify it." Grant took the mug and blew on the steaming coffee.

"We've got Gordon watching Mum. With Rebecca Kaber contacting me and then dying, we're a little concerned."

"You obviously think there's a connection between your Janet and Rebecca."

I sipped my coffee. "Maybe." I didn't want to give too much away.

"Adrienne, I'm on your side. I'm also a cop. I might be able to help you."

"Dad was on his way home from work the night he died. Someone phoned him from a public phone near the place where he was found dead. I'll like to bet that the caller was someone I've spoken to or about recently." I shivered.

"Who?"

"Well, it had to be someone who knew his mobile phone number or could get it. It wouldn't shock me if it turned out to be Mum's friend, Janet Cartwell."

Grant nodded. "Well, being your mother's friend, she could have access to her phone. Mobile phones were bricks back then. They weren't as easy to borrow and return later. Where could she have done it?"

"BBRA meeting? Or back then it was probably QBRA. Mum could have had her over for coffee, or they could have gone out for lunch. Janet could have grabbed Mum's phone to put her number in it and memorised Dad's number."

"Or your Mum could have just given it to her in case she needed it? What's a B bra meeting?" Grant asked.

"Brisbane Businesswomen's Resource Association. Janet started it years ago. She also volunteers at a women's help centre. You never know when you'll need a cop there. She could have called Dad saying she'd had trouble and then killed him."

"She might have hired someone to do it for her in case he didn't die, or she couldn't go through with it," Grant murmured, then he went all cop on me. "That's just a suggestion, not a conclusion."

"Doctor Norman Somerset volunteered with her. He'd know how to do it. Nick Kaber, perhaps?" I paced the kitchen, gripping my coffee mug.

"But what's his connection?" Grant looked confused.

I stopped pacing and looked him in the eye. "We're thinking Shiralise."

"Shiralise?"

"Have you got a while?" I motioned for him to sit at the table. He obliged, and I sat opposite him.