In the News
Nothing happened for weeks. The year was almost over, exams had just about finished. I don’t know what I had expected. I thought I’d get a phone call or visit from Detective Rooks for sure, but there was no progress at all. The Video Saloon was still open. Crass still worked there. I still had the odd recurring nightmare. I felt a bit defeated.
At least Dad had managed to get some good pre-Christmas work at the hardware store. Most afternoons I found myself walking into an empty house. Something I used to enjoy. So I started spending more time at Skye and Topps’ or at the library, only going home around six, when I knew Dad would be there in front of the telly. I didn’t like being home alone very much.
One afternoon I was in the library borrowing a couple of books; Robert Cormier’s
The Chocolate War and Sonya Hartnett’s All My Dangerous Friends, when I felt a hand gently grasp my arm. It was Caitlin. She had a bunch of books under her arm. She was wearing a bright orange short skirt, an eggshell blue T-shirt and a white leather belt.
Topps was right, she did have the best legs in the school. From where I was sitting I could see they were shaved as smooth as a wax candle.
‘Listen Stacey, I’m really sorry about what happened in the store, but thanks, thanks for not dobbing me in,’ she said.
‘You don’t know if I did,’ I replied. I was still angry with her. Her pretty face fell for a moment. ‘But I didn’t,’ I quickly added. I was going to leave it at that, but there was still one thing bugging me. ‘Caitlin, there’s one thing I really want to know,’ I said. ‘I hope you’ll tell me the truth. Did Crass tell you to threaten me?’
The corners of her lips drew back. She paled behind her foundation. She sniffed and sat on the seat next to me. It was one of those big soft red couches that you just sink
into. I wish we had one in my lounge room instead of our threadbare recliner. ‘Yeah,’ she said quietly. ‘Yeah, he…he did. He rang me out of the blue Sunday morning, the day after what happened to you in the store; I didn’t even know he had my number. He told me you were helping him out with his business, just like I had, but you’d had an argument with him and left the store. He thought you were about to spill your guts to the police. I asked him why you’d left. He said you’d wanted a bigger cut of the profits. He said you got greedy.’
‘What!’ I said, my hands gripping the books tightly, ‘That’s a lie! I didn’t care about the profits, I quit because one of his sleazebag customers cracked onto me and he was dealing adult movies! He lied to you!’
Caitlin looked down at his shoes again. ‘I was pretty sure, you know, that he was lying. But what could I do? Anyway, he said a friend had given you a little scare the night before, as a bit of an incentive to leave.’
‘Robert Keppler,’ I said, grimfaced.
‘He didn’t say. Just that his friend had got a little carried away. He was only supposed to spook you. But Crass needed to make sure you wouldn’t say anything, that you kept quiet when you left. So he told me to warn you about what would happen if you told the police. So that’s what I did. The very day after it happened. I’m…I’m sorry – he threatened me, you know? I really did think I’d get into a lot of trouble, and you would too, if you said anything to the police.’
She looked back at the ground. I did too. If the police did arrest Crass, I was sure he would mention names, out of spite. I hadn’t mentioned mine or Caitlin’s name in the letter to the detective. Instead, I’d made it anonymous, outlining that I was a customer who had found pirated discs from her son (this was Topps’ idea) and who discovered they’d been bought from the Video Saloon. I had claimed to have written it anonymously to protect my son and had requested no mention of the tip-off be made if there were any arrests. It made me feel better not providing my name. Still, I half expected a call from the police after they’d arrested Crass and Vince. Or so I thought. It looked like the cops hadn’t done anything at all.
‘Well, this little trick of Crass’ worked,’ I said. ‘Looks like he’ll get away with it too, cause he got what he wanted. I left and the police know nothing. That’s how things go, I guess. Kinda sucks.’
I left her standing by the seat. I didn’t want to hint that Topps and I had taken matters in to our own hands in case she really was friendly with Crass, but I doubted that now. Anyway, I’d done her a favour and I wasn’t going to do anything more than that. Then, in late December during the final week of term, the most amazing thing happened. Skye was reading The Herald Sun during our free period in the library as I was drawing cartoons in my school diary. She squealed and called me over. She pointed at a small article on page 17. It read: