An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire Read Free Book Online Page B

up the Gold Coast, but I realised pretty quickly that if I kept it up I’d have enough for a deposit on a little house in a couple of years. I’d get a place with a spare room and Bella could stay there for nothing and save up her own deposit. Imagine that – the barmaid and the nurse’s aide, daughters of a drunken welfare queen and a couple of no-good womanisers, both of us homeowners.
    So that dream, that dream that I was well on the way to making reality, that’s another thing those fuckers took from me.
    Don’t think I’m not keeping track.
    I didn’t tell the detectives all that, of course. They would’ve loved it, but. They dug and dug at me, asking me stuff that couldn’t possibly have a bearing on the investigation. Stuff that couldn’t have a bearing on anything except my dignity.
    â€˜This is obviously something you don’t like talking about, but for Bella’s sake, you need to give us a list of your clients.’
    â€˜Clients? You mean the drinkers at the pub? Geez, you’d have to ask Old Grey.’
    â€˜You know what we mean, Chris. The ones you take home from the pub.’
    â€˜Blokes I take home aren’t clients. They’re just blokes I take home. No one’s business, is it?’
    â€˜Shitty thing about a murder investigation,’ Brandis said, ‘is that we have to make everything about the victim’s life our business.’
    â€˜You’re not talking about her life, though. You’re talking about mine.’
    The young one sighed again. God, I would’ve liked to slap him. ‘Your life was intertwined with hers. It’s possible some of your cli–’ He broke off with a goddamn smirk. Held his hands up. ‘Sorry. Your boyfriends. It’s possible one of them might’ve taken an interest in your sister.’
    â€˜No, it isn’t.’
    â€˜Why not? You’ve got pictures of her in your place, don’t you? Bloke might’ve taken a liking, decided to look her up. Not unthinkable, is it?’
    â€˜You think whoever did that to her liked her? Jesus.’
    â€˜Alright, alright. Not a liking. Something else. Point is, it might’ve been the place of introduction so to speak. He sees her pic, he decides to –’
    â€˜No,’ I said. ‘No man I’ve ever met could do that.’
    â€˜You’d be surprised,’ Brandis said, so soft I wondered if he meant me to hear him.
    â€˜Thing is, Chris, we have to operate with the assumption it could be anyone, and since anyone is a hell of a lot of people, we have to start close to home. Bella’s workmates and friends, her neighbours and relatives. Her relatives’ friends. So, you know, if you could give us your boyfriends’ names . . .’
    â€˜Yeah, well, I would, but I don’t know them.’
    He fucking smiled, that little shit. ‘You don’t know the names of the men you take home?’
    â€˜Yeah, that’s right. I’m a big old slut. Not a crime, is it?’
    â€˜Chris. Calm down. We’re not trying to upset you. Like I said, it’s a dangerous kind of . . . lifestyle you’ve got. It’s not a safe thing, bringing men you don’t know back to your place like that. Fucked-up men looking for women to do nasty shit to, well, a lot of the time they figure a whore is a good target. No one’s going to worry too much, you know?’
    â€˜How can you say these things to me?’ I turned to Brandis, brooding away in the corner. ‘Is he allowed to talk to me like this?’
    Brandis blinked a few times like he was just waking up. I tell you, I understood a little then how someone could commit murder. For real, I did.
    â€˜Easy, Mikey,’ he said.
    Mikey raised his hands again. ‘Listen, I’m not judging. I don’t care about anything except finding whoever did this to Bella. If that’s what you care about, and I know you do, Chris,