G'Day USA (34 page)

Cathy thought different.

She got up, pulled a robe on and padded out to the living room. ‘You change your mind yet?’

Bernie groaned, his feet hanging over the end of the sofa. He swung his arm off his eyes and knocked an almost empty bottle of red wine on the floor.

‘
Oh, you fucking asshole.’ Cathy dove and grabbed it before the few remaining drops could spill on the carpet. ‘You’re not even sober yet, are you?’

‘
Cath.’ He covered his eyes against the early morning sunlight. ‘Jeez, can you keep it down? My head is killing me.’

‘
Are coming to the beach with me?’

‘
We’ve already had this fight. You’re crazy to go.’

‘
You’re a spineless lazy asshole
not
to go. She’s our friend. She’s in trouble. We’re obligated to help.’

He rolled over and faced the back of the sofa. His voice was muffled. ‘Don’t get involved, I say. And the trouble she’s in is of her own making. Let her sort it out herself.’

Cathy stormed the sofa and punched him on the back of the neck. ‘You cowardly piece of shit. I’m going to find her and help her. I may not be back.’

He tucked, his hands covering the back of his neck. ‘Shit. Spousal abuse.’

‘
No. Not spousal. And I’m glad we didn’t get married.’ She stalked out of the house as her phone started ringing.

S
ampson held the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he navigated the surface streets. He was ready to abandon the call when Cathy finally answered.

‘
Cathy, this is Jacob Sampson. We met a few times a year or so ago.’

‘
Yeah. The cop. Joel’s brother. I’m kind of busy right now Jacob. Call you back later, okay?’

‘
Wait. You’re one of Ellie’s best friends. She talks about you all the time. I was hoping you might know where she was. She’s in trouble. I want to find her and help her. Can you help me?’

‘
You’re a cop. You all want to arrest her for something she hasn’t done.’

Sampson sighed. ‘I know she didn’t do it. I’m not sure who did, but I’ve
never
thought she did. If you know anything, you’ve got to let me know. For Ellie’s sake.’

‘
Look, I don’t know where she is, specifically. I know she’s still near Venice Beach somewhere. Something she said the last time I was talked with her.’

‘
When was that?’

‘
Last night. Late. I would have been out there last night but my asshole boyfriend refused to go. Ex-boyfriend, now.’

‘
Sorry to hear.’

‘
Sorry it took so long. So I’m on my way to Venice. I’m not sure where exactly she is, but if I can find her, I’m going to help her. If that means you have to arrest me, so be it.’

‘
I’m on the same side you are.’ Sampson pulled off Pacific Highway on to N. Venice. ‘I’ll see you there. I’ll be looking for her too. Maybe we join forces.’

He listened to silence. Then she said, ‘If I see you, I see you. I’ll be there in about twenty.’

T
he dream was a frantic patchwork of colors and sounds and a dread feeling of immeasurable fear. It felt like icy-cold fire licked at his feet. Shadows of something threatening played at the corners of his eyes. He sat upright, a scream throttled in his throat as the incoming tide lapped around his feet.

‘
Fuck.’ Kent rubbed his eyes and flinched at the searing pain on his left cheek. He touched it lightly and inhaled sharply. ‘That fucking bitch.’ He looked at the approaching water and scrambled out from under the pier.

‘
Son of a bitch. I need food and then I need to kill me a bitch.’ He opened the Altoids tin. Two left. ‘And one of these.’ He tossed it in his mouth and dry swallowed. He tightened all the muscles in his torso, flexing his pecs, shoulder and arms and let out a yell. ‘It’s fucking great to be alive.’

He staggered north on Ocean Walk. The sun was barely up. He squinted at his watch. ‘6:30? Shit. Too early.’ Rattling around in his head was a free meal he caged a couple of days ago - a lifetime ago it felt. He tried to remember where.

Shops were setting up, inventory placed on outside shelves and fresh food shuttled into the cafes and fast food outlets along the strip. Kent stared at every food outlet he passed, trying to remember the friendly one. He was hungry and had no idea where his wallet was. It probably fell from his pants in the fight with Ellie. He touched his nose again. The swelling had subsided but the pain remained. ‘She’ll pay for it.’

‘
What’s that, pal?’ An old Mexican-looking guy was hanging t-shirts in front of his stall. ‘You talking to me?’

‘
Get lost.’

‘
Nah, I don’t think so. I’m here for the day. You, on the other hand, would do well to get lost. You look like shit, pal. Clean up a bit. We’ve got standards even here. Take a shower. You’re disgusting. Did you piss yourself?’

Kent snarled and made to swing at him, then backed off and continued up the walk. He didn’t need to get picked up this close to his goal.

He passed Emily and Henry’s cafe a good ten paces before he remembered that was where he and Charlie got the free meal. He backtracked and wandered into the cafe.

‘
Hey there. Remember me? Ellie’s friend? She said she’d be joining me for breakfast here and I should start without her if I got here early.’

Henry wiped his hands on his apron and came out from behind the counter. ‘Do I know you?’

‘
Hey, old man, I’m Ellie’s friend. She said it was cool.’

Henry placed a hand on the center of Kent’s chest and gently pushed him toward the door. ‘I don’t think so, Ellie’s friend. We have a dress code and you fall short. Considerably short. Go get cleaned up and we’ll talk again.’ He gave him a final push and closed the door behind him.

Kent stood on the sidewalk, clenched his jaw and threw one of the restaurant’s patio chairs at the front window, shattering it and spraying the inside with glass. ‘Go fuck yourself you fucking dick-wad.’ He picked up a second and threw it through the hole, just missing Henry.

Kent continued north. Hunger fueled the rage, and the rage fueled his hunger. He was quickly devolving to a ball of psychotic nervous energy. He had no idea where he was going. It was random walking. The odds of finding Ellie increased with every minute he was on the street, his logic told him. He licked his lips, parched. His tongue felt thick. His lips were caked with dried spittle, salt spray and old blood. He rubbed his hand over his chin. The stubble was soft. ‘I’m going to grow a beard.’

He heard yelling behind him. He slowly turned and smiled. The old guy and his wife were out on the sidewalk yelling at him. He shook his head and turned back north, looking for Ellie. They couldn’t touch him. He was invincible.

S
ampson pulled into the long term parking lot at the north end of Venice Beach. He hopped out of his car and opened the back door. Lisa, his eight-year old Golden Lab, lifted her head and thumped her tail against the back of the seat. He clipped a lead on her collar. ‘Let’s go, old girl. Let’s go find our friend Ellie.’

At the sound of Ellie’s name Lisa’s tail beat faster and she hopped out of the car. He laughed and started walking. He called the last number he had for Ellie, not bothering to leave a message when he got her voicemail. ‘No joy, girl. We’re going to have to do some hard work here.’ They strolled south. If he had something of Ellie’s it would be a lot easier. Lisa was a trained sniffer. Retired, but one of the best in her prime. ‘Ellie will be hanging out with some of the less advantaged residents of this little burg.’ He scrolled through the pictures on his phone, stopping when he got to a headshot. ‘That’ll do.’

The population along the boardwalk was still thin. The majority of the people were still setting up stalls and cleaning up the mess from the previous night’s storm. Those not working were skating or walking along the boardwalk getting an early start to the day.

He scanned the people looking for someone of the right socio-economic class and spotted one almost immediately. A tall man, dark hair, unshaven and younger than he would have expected was walking toward him, slightly off-center.

‘
Excuse me, can I have a minute?’

The man stood and cocked his head. ‘Who the fuck are you? Never mind. Don’t matter who you are. Outta my way.’

‘
Hang on, pal. Detective Sampson.’ He lifted the side of his jacket and realized he didn’t have his gun and badge with him. ‘Currently off-duty. It’ll only take a minute and you could be saving a life. What’s your name?’

‘
Kent Williams.’ He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose.

Sampson smiled at the whistling sound. ‘You break that in a fight?’

‘
Fell off my bike. What do you want?’

Sampson held out his phone and showed Kent the picture. ‘I’m looking for this girl. Her name is -‘

‘
Ellie Bourke. Every sentient being on the face of the earth knows who she is. Why do you think I’d know where she is?’

Sampson stowed his phone. ‘Maybe not you specifically, but I believe Ellie is in danger and she knows it. She’s been located around here a couple of times now, so I think she’s staying in the area, but gone to ground. Living with homeless people trying to stay below the radar.’

‘
So?’ He stepped away from Lisa, who was sniffing around his feet. ‘Hey, call the dog off.’

‘
She’s a little baby. Wouldn’t hurt a fly unless it was wrapped in sausages and barbecue sauce.’ He scratched the corner of his eye. ‘Look, I’m just thinking, seeing as you appear to be living on the streets too, you may have seen her, maybe point me in her general direction since you’ve probably crossed paths with her.’

Kent squared off, feet shoulder width, hands at his sides and fists clenched. ‘What the fuck? You think I’m homeless?’

Lisa backed up, hackles raised. Sampson did pretty much the same, sans hackles. ‘Back it up, son. You don’t want to go where you’re thinking. Have you seen her?’

‘
I’m not homeless. I am not a failure. I’m not a crazy fucking bat-shit loser who can’t manage to keep it together.’

Sampson automatically reach back to unclip the restraint on his holster to find it not there. He left his hand on his hip. ‘Relax Mr. Williams. You’re not homeless. Great. Fantastic for you to be paying rent. I’m impressed. Now let’s just get past that and you tell me when and where you’ve seen Miss Bourke.’ He held up the phone again, showing him the picture.

‘
Yeah, fine.’ He was breathing heavily. ‘I saw her on the TV. She was doing that red carpet thing for her next movie. And then after when the news put her picture up.’ His cheek throbbed. His blood pressure was rising and the increased blood flow to the cut on his cheek caused pain. ‘Is that all? I need to find somewhere to eat.’

‘
Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Williams. You’ve been a great help.’ He watched Kent walking away and shook his head. ‘What do you think, Lisa? Whack job?’

She woofed. A whack job.

Chapter Thirty-One

I was snug in bed, twelve-years old, cuddled up with my mother on a cold winter’s night. It was July. We were talking about heading up to the Blue Mountains for a Christmas in July dinner. Cold wind blew through the house. A window must have been left open. Dad would be pissed.

I tried to snuggle in closer, but my mother had put on weight and when I took her hand it was hard and calloused, not the soft I knew it should be. The hand squeezed back and a voice not my mother’s whispered in my ear.

‘
It’s all right. You had a nightmare.’

I pushed her away and tried to stand, falling into the side of the container, cracking the side of my head against the wall.

The previous two days came screaming back at me and I retched. My head hurt. Not just from the growing lump above my right eye, but also from a deep, behind-the-eyes pervasive headache.

And I had to pee.

I steadied myself against the wall, standing on the thin mattress and blankets and looked around. The light was poor, thin shafts of sunlight forcing themselves in wherever they could find a crack.

‘
Ann.’

She scowled and pulled her coats tighter.

‘
Sorry, Ann. I was in the middle of a dream when I woke. My mother and I. Years ago. I was a little disoriented. Are you okay?’

She grumbled something and stood there, looking at me like I just kicked her puppy.

‘
Really sorry. And I really need to pee. Where do you go to the bathroom around here? Do I have to walk down to the public toilets on the beach? That’s got to be almost a mile away.’

She reached into one of her pockets and gave me a small plastic package of tissue. ‘Around the back.’

‘
Of the container?’

She nodded and sat down on her bed.

‘
You mean around the back where I’ve been standing, and sometimes sitting while I’ve been making phone calls?’

She cracked a small smile and nodded again.

‘
Well, thanks for letting me know. Although a heads up yesterday would have been brilliant. I’ll be right back.’

She grabbed my arm. ‘Be careful. It’s not safe out there.’