Black Ice (28 page)

Her heart thumping madly, Kirri tried to close the gap between the two cars. Before she could catch up, the Magna turned left on the esplanade, then left again at the next T-intersection. The traffic was heavy, and Kirri was three cars behind when she saw the Magna turn into Sheridan Street and head north.

She couldn't see Catelyn, but every instinct told her she would be with Daniel. If she wasn't, Kirri had a horrible feeling her daughter might not be alive.

 

'There's no need for that gun, Stella, I'm happy to talk to you. But I need to get Catelyn to a doctor.'

Stella almost laughed.
Stupid bastard. When I'm finished with her a doctor will be useless. But I'll play the game, let him think he's placating me
. 'I'm sorry, Daniel, but soon it will be too late, and you won't believe I had nothing to do with it.'

'With what, Stella?'

She watched his tight grip on the steering wheel, saw the tension in his jawline. 'With Brett Lewis trying to kill Catelyn.'
Good, now I have his full attention. He won't try to do anything foolish yet
. 'The cops will have found out by now, and I had to tell you first myself. You see, Brett was my brother. Only his name wasn't Brett Lewis, it was Neall Quinlan.'

Daniel contained his shock, his mind racing as he tried to guess why Stella was telling him this now, his anxiety for Catelyn overriding any fear. 'Why don't you put the gun away and relax, Stella. Just tell me the story. I promise to listen. But first, is Catelyn all right?'

She made a pretence of showing interest in the child. The car movement had lulled Catelyn to sleep again, but she was still clearly unwell. 'She's fine. She's sleeping.' To reassure him a little, she moved the gun back slightly. She'd learned long ago to let the victim think he was gaining control while she planned his destruction.

'Neall was my twin. Our father, Harry, was an abusive bastard. Worked as a labourer by day and drank himself stupid every night. Bashed our mother whenever the mood took him.' She tapped the gun against his neck. 'Take that turnoff to the left.'

Daniel indicated, slowed, crossed the railway line. If Stella was as unbalanced as she appeared, he didn't want to risk antagonising her, not with Catelyn asleep beside her. And was she telling the truth about Brett Lewis?

 

Kirri had tried to convince herself that Daniel was just taking Stella out to catch her plane, but when the Magna passed the airport turnoff and continued northwards on the highway, this hope was dashed.

Then the car turned off on the road to Freshwater. Where was Daniel heading? To the mountains? And why was Stella with him? If her suspicions about Stella were correct, both Daniel and Catelyn could be in more danger than they had been before. She thought about phoning Mick, then felt around in her bag for the card he'd given her the other night.

Would he be interested in her assumptions?

 

'Neall was weak. I always had to protect him. After Harry and Gloria died he left the country town where we'd grown up and went to Sydney. He drifted into petty crime.' Stella allowed herself a small smile. She had his interest now, even though the tension in his back hadn't eased.

'Neall was arrested once,' she continued, 'got a rap over the knuckles. Then became a drug courier. When a shipment of drugs was destroyed in a fire at his flat, he knew they'd kill him. His mate had died in the fire, so I identified the body as Neall, and arranged new identification papers for him in the name of his mate, Brett Lewis. I even sent Christmas cards to Lewis's mother each year so she wouldn't list him as a missing person.'

'Why didn't you tell the police this, yesterday, Stella?'

Ah, I wondered how long it would take him to ask that question. I took a gamble that it would take the cops a while to trace who Brett Lewis really was, but I had to do my own research first.
She looked at the road ahead.
Not far to go now. String him along a little more, let him think I don't plan to harm him, that I'm just emotional with grief
.

'I was so upset at finding out that Neall was dead, I just couldn't think clearly. And when I was told that he'd been trying to kill your daughter … I'm sorry Daniel, it was too much of a shock.'

For a few minutes now Daniel had been watching a grey Nissan Patrol driving a few cars behind him on the highway. When he'd turned off and the vehicle had followed him, he'd seen the number plate and realised it was Kirri's vehicle. He was sure Stella couldn't see her in the rear-vision mirror, but he didn't dare move the angle of it and draw her attention. Carefully, though, he lifted his right hand off the steering wheel and rested it for a minute on the side mirror control. Once he'd gradually altered the angle so Stella couldn't see in it, he put his hand back on the wheel.

Although houses and shops were scattered along the left hand side of the road, he could see only a railway line and bush to the right. Where the hell was Stella taking him?

'Turn right up there.' The gun nudged at his neck. He swung the Magna around quickly, narrowly missing an oncoming car. If he'd waited until the road was clear of traffic, Kirri would have caught up, and Stella might have seen her as he'd turned. He drove across the railway line, then stiffened as the gun pressed into his skull behind his right ear.

'
Don't
do that again.' A low, menacing note had crept into Stella's voice. 'We don't want to attract attention.'

'Sorry. I just got a little jumpy.' It wasn't far from the truth. There were no houses alongside the road now, only trees, scrub, and fields of sugar cane. Wherever this narrow bitumen road was going, Daniel didn't like its isolation. All he could see ahead were more trees and then the mountains.

A quick glance in the rear vision mirror showed him Kirri had only just crossed the railway line, then the road curved and he lost sight of her vehicle.

 

Stella readied herself. The moment they stopped she was going to shoot Daniel in the right temple, then put Catelyn on his lap, wrap his hand around the gun, and shoot the child. She'd rehearsed the scenario in her mind as she'd driven here last night and hidden her hire car in the bush. All she had to do was drive to the airport, take her luggage from the boot, return the car, and meet Philip in the departure lounge as planned.

A simple murder-suicide. So terrible for Daniel, all that guilt over killing Brett Lewis, she smirked. And they would just have to conjecture why he decided to take his daughter with him. Not a brilliant plan, certainly not indicative of her normally meticulous nature, she realised, but she was desperate. Once the police knew about Neall, she would become a suspect and her every move scrutinised. But if this strategy worked, in a few minutes she would be at the airport and providing herself with an alibi by returning her hire car.

The road curved, the bitumen crumbling into the grassy strip separating it from the fields of sugar cane. They crossed a concrete culvert, thinly filmed with mud from last night's rainwater runoff, and Catelyn woke with a piercing cry. Stella went rigid, fighting to control her urge to slap the child across the face. For a split second, the past flashed back on her.
Girls don't cry, they conquer
. Her childhood mantra echoed in her head.

The road quickly curved again, revealing a concrete bridge with low concrete kerbed sides.

'Pull over! To the right of the bridge. Drive up to the creek, then stop.' She was in control now, but the note of hysteria in her voice was contrived to distract Daniel from her real intentions.

The Magna slowed, and moved onto the grass under a thick canopy of trees.

Catelyn continued to cry.

Stella leaned slightly forward, determined to get the angle of the gun correct, her attention focussed on Daniel as he shifted down to low gear to negotiate the uneven ground. Through the gap between the bridge and a debris-shrouded bush, he could see the creek, swollen with last night's torrential rain, only a metre down the embankment.

At the edge of the embankment he slipped the car into neutral and reached for the hand brake.

Stella's finger tightened on the trigger.

Ricky Munro fastened his racing harness and slammed his foot on the accelerator. The V8 engine under the red XB Falcon's bonnet roared, the back wheels spitting gravel with satisfying pings into the side of his father's brand new Commodore. Damn his old man! Couldn't the old prick ever let up on him?

The solitary pedestrian stared as Ricky took the corner at less than safe speed and the tyres squealed rubber onto the bitumen. Several blocks from his home he waited impatiently for the traffic to ease on Kamerunga Road. His foot beat a steady tattoo on the accelerator, his left hand flexing on the short gear stick. Spying a gap, he spun into the traffic, and a short distance later turned and crossed the railway line.

His anger ate into him, and he vented it in the only way that brought him relief. He settled back into his racing seat as the speedometer needle rose. 100kph. 110, 120, 130…

 

Catelyn vomited.

In great spurting streams like a fire hose.

Everywhere.

Stella recoiled with a loud curse, revolted by the putrid mush that covered her left side and filled her lap.

Daniel released his seatbelt and spun around.

'Don't move!' Stella snarled, reached with her left hand, opened the door, and stepped out. The sticky vomit trailed down her slacks. Shit! For two pins she'd shoot the kid where she sat.

Catelyn sobbed, tears running down her cheeks to mingle with the mess on her tee-shirt and coveralls.

Stella's mind raced. She'd lost the element of surprise. All her planning shot to pieces. It had taken her hours yesterday to find a place close enough to the airport to make the plane in plenty of time, preferably before Philip arrived, yet isolated enough to have little traffic at that time of the day. Now …

No! It was still possible. Get Daniel to wind down the window, shoot him in the head, then continue as planned. Wipe her fingerprints off the car, and remove her shoes so her stockinged feet left no imprints.

A four wheel drive vehicle suddenly rounded the curve. Stella pulled her shoulder bag in front of her in order to conceal the gun. She smiled, wishing the vehicle would hurry past. Instead, it halted right behind the Magna, and Kirri jumped out.

Stella stepped back two paces, moved the bag away and pointed the gun at Kirri. At the same time, Daniel swung his door open and leaped out of the car.

'I'll kill her.' The intent in Stella's voice was deadly.

Daniel froze.

Kirri fought to control her fear. 'Is Catelyn all right?'

At the sound of her mother's voice, Catelyn cried out, and Kirri's heart wrenched. She looked at Daniel, asked a desperate question with her eyes, saw his quick reassurance, then turned her attention back to Stella.

'Daniel's your brother, isn't he, Stella?' Kirri watched the other woman's face harden with pure hatred. She didn't look at Daniel, but she heard his sharp intake of breath, and sensed his shock.

'How did you know?' Stella asked.

'Philip gave me a newspaper cutting this morning. Daniel's parents were called Estelle and Keneally, but they were nicknamed Essie and Ken. I saw your brother's death notice in Philip's office, Stella,' she saw the flicker of annoyance, 'and I thought how unusual the spelling was, using two l's instead of one. Stella is short for Estelle, and Neall could easily have come from Keneally. It could be a coincidence, but I don't think so. I also think Brett wasn't asking Daniel to kneel beside him when he was dying, he was trying to tell him his name was Neall.'

Kirri moved slowly away from the vehicle, hoping to draw Stella's attention from Daniel and give him a chance to overpower her.

Stella's finger tightened on the trigger as she motioned with the small Baretta in her hand. Kirri stopped moving. 'I also read a letter written by Daniel's mother. Her doctor suspected something unusual in the late stages of her pregnancy. She was also much bigger than she'd been when having Daniel. My guess is she was having twins.'

Daniel watched the interplay between the two women. Could it be true? Could Stella be his sister? The implication of this suddenly struck him. That meant Brett Lewis - Neall Quinlan - was his brother! The air kicked out of Daniel's lungs. His brother. And he'd killed him. Not intentionally, but …

The nightmare became more surreal as Stella's expression changed. Rage contorted her face. 'All those years we thought Gloria and Harry were our parents.' She laughed, but it wasn't a pleasant sound. 'All those
miserable, miserable
years. Never enough to eat, clothes from op shops.' Her voice rasped with bitterness as she looked at Daniel. 'And all the time we should have been living in luxury with our real father.'

'How did you find out?' Daniel asked, still trying to come to terms with what she'd revealed.

Stella narrowed her gaze on him, but the gun remained fixed on Kirri. Her look told Daniel one move from him would result in Kirri's death. 'When Gloria was dying, she asked to see me alone. She showed me a newspaper clipping about the car accident that had killed Estelle Brand. Apparently Gloria had left Harry because she'd discovered she was infertile. Harry wanted children, and she felt she'd failed him. She didn't tell him she couldn't have children, just shot through and stayed with an old friend in Sydney.'

Catelyn gave a hiccupping sob, but Stella's focus on Daniel and Kirri was so intense Kirri restrained her need to comfort her child.

'She stayed five months in Sydney, and was actually travelling through the Blue Mountains on her way back to Harry,' Stella continued, 'when the storm struck. She took a wrong turn and ended up on the road where Estelle Brand had rolled her car, so she stopped to help. Estelle had just given birth, and Gloria helped to deliver the second baby before she died. Apparently,' she laughed, but it wasn't a pleasant sound, 'Gloria
intended
to take the babies to the hospital, but as she drove away she came up with the
pathetic
' Stella spat the word 'idea that she would go back to Harry and pass the babies off as his. And the stupid bugger thought we
were
his until it became obvious we didn't have his ginger hair and grey eyes.'