Time to take a risk.
‘She is sleeping with Jack Michaels,’ said Con. ‘And so is Jasmine.’
Madison’s face went slack. ‘What did you say?’
‘I just asked if —’
‘Who told you?’ She stood up, her hands balled into fists. ‘Who told you about Jasmine and Jack?’
‘It’s true, then?’ said Con, avoiding Gabriella’s curious eyes: he hadn’t had time to fill her in.
‘Jack was up with Mr North when they disappeared,’ said Madison. ‘There are plenty of witnesses.’ She bared her perfect white teeth. ‘You will not pin this on him.’
‘The condoms didn’t belong to Jack Michaels?’ said Con.
‘For the last time: the condoms belong to Cierra.’ She sat back down. ‘Dad might be a while: he’s up there on the mountain, actually helping, unlike you two. You should head off and, I don’t know, contribute to the investigation, maybe?’
‘Is that what the fight was about, up at the campsite?’ said Gabriella quietly. ‘Was it about Jack? Did one of the other girls threaten to expose him? Did someone else like him?’
Madison pulled out her phone. She ran her hands through her brushed hair, so it looked like she’d only just got out of the shower. A few seconds later she spoke to the front-facing camera.
‘Hello, Instagram Live, Facebook Live, or whatever platform you’re watching this on. I want to thank everyone for their support today. It has been . . .’ Her voice caught. ‘Knowing that our friend is gone . . . knowing that Cierra and Jasmine are still out there, and even Bree . . .’ Perfect little tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘Thank you to all the brave volunteers who are out there searching. I wish there was more that all of us could do, except hope . . .’
Con glanced at Gabriella, sensing danger. He stood up to leave, but Gabriella remained, leaning back and crossing her arms.
‘How could she not tell us about this?’ she hissed at Con. ‘This is major.’
‘I want to thank everyone for their kind words about Cierra . . . and yes, I’ll talk about it again: a video has gone viral, showing my dad at Jasmine Murphy’s house. He was accusing Jasmine’s dad of sleeping with my sister. As I’ve already told you all, that is unequivocally untrue. My sister’s sex life is no one else’s business, and has nothing to do with her going missing, but blaming Jasmine’s dad . . .’ She shook her head. ‘How do you think Jasmine would feel, hearing that her own father was being blamed for taking her? Please, share your messages of support for Murphy, using the hashtag “#JusticeForMurphy”.’
Con grabbed Gabriella’s shoulder, trying to pull her out of her seat, but she knocked his hand away.
‘We should go,’ said Con.
‘I’m not gonna be bullied,’ said Gabriella. ‘Besides, you’re the one who said she’s hiding something. I bet she’s hiding more.’
‘I’m streaming this live because I have something else to share . . . you see, since the discovery of those condoms in my sister’s room, we’ve seen police resources used to falsely arrest an innocent man and, what’s more, the detectives responsible for finding our girls have come here, to my house, to ask about those condoms again. As though having sex is some dirty thing, and that’s the reason for Cierra going missing. We are women: we own our bodies. It is normal for us to have sex!’
She tapped the screen, switching to the back camera, angling her phone towards Con and Gabriella. ‘Say hello to Detective Badenhorst and Detective Pakinga. My sister has been missing for thirty-six hours and they’re chasing up condoms. If anyone out there knows how to lodge complaints against dodgy police, please let me know in the comments.’
‘We know Madison is hiding something from us,’ called Gabriella suddenly, addressing the camera. ‘Someone out there knows what it is. We need to know what Madison isn’t telling us. Don’t be afraid: come forward and let us know. Help us find the girls.’
Madison gasped, furious, and switched the camera back onto herself. ‘See? They want to turn us against each other. Just tonight I’ve heard them accuse our teacher’s assistant, Mr Jack Michaels, of being involved. There are thirty eye witnesses to vouch that he didn’t take them. He was the one who actually found Miss Ellis, wounded on the trail. Don’t let them make up another suspect. Justice for Murphy! Justice for Jack! Bring our girls home!’
Con pulled Gabriella away and down the hall, before she could say anything more. ‘Why the hell did you do that?’ he demanded as they left the house, desperate to get out of there.
‘She’s not telling us something. We both know it.’ Gabriella stalked along the paving stones, bristling like a cat. ‘The little bitch. She wants to try and paint us as the villains – she wants to play the victim? Oh, she’ll see what we’re capable of, just you wait . . . Did you see the way she loosened the dressing gown and then pulled the camera back, so everyone could see she was barely wearing anything underneath? It made it look like we’d just dragged her out of bed, or from the bath, or . . . something equally creepy.’
‘We need to speak to Jack Michaels,’ said Con.
‘Yeah, and he’ll know we’re coming now.’
‘We can use that,’ said Con. ‘We might just need to bend a couple rules.’
‘Done. I don’t care, as long as we find out what Madison is up to.’ Gabriella pulled the driver’s side door open.
A text message came through on Con’s phone: Hello, this is Pastor Hugh again. Please call me when you can. It is a matter of some urgency.
Con quickly texted his reply: Sorry, will call soon. Can you text what this is regarding?
Ignoring the journalists trying to get their attention, Con climbed into the passenger side and they sped off. It began to rain again.
CHAPTER 21
MURPHY
Murphy, Butch and Skinner sat in the cushy couches around the fireplace in the shed. The other two were taking long drags from their joints and relaxing. Skinner didn’t know, but the one they’d given him had been painted in angel dust. Once they’d pumped Skinner full of the stuff they planned to interrogate him. Or it could go terribly wrong and he’d try and kill them. They had to wait for it to kick in and see.
Murphy scrolled through the comments on the video posted by the Justice for the Limestone Four Facebook page. It was surprising how many people he’d known his whole life wanted him dead. His mind went to the Glock hidden in the back of the couch he was sitting on; maybe he should keep it with him from now on.
Catching MMMMadisonMason’s comment, he clicked on her page, and saw she was streaming a live video.
‘Knowing that our friend is gone . . . knowing that Cierra and Jasmine are still out there, and even Bree . . .’
Jasmine, where are you? I’m coming for you, I promise.
Butch and Skinner had gone quiet, listening in. They both cheered when Madison declared Murphy’s innocence. At the mention of Jack Michaels, Murphy felt a flash of anger. Butch spat on the floor, and Skinner looked sheepish.
When Madison flipped the camera to show the detectives, and Detective Pakinga called for someone to come forward about whatever Madison was hiding, Butch roared. ‘How dare those pigs say that about the poor girl!’