But Butch still wasn’t home yet. Murphy would have to find him, instead.
CHAPTER 40
CON
Con stood in the steaming shower. The shaking had stopped, but the fatigue was still there. The faces of the Jaguar girls rolled across his mind, now joined by Georgia’s broken body and Bree’s bruised face.
He needed sleep.
He had to focus on Georgia and Bree.
Option 1: Bree killed Georgia and/or the other girls, then killed herself out of remorse.
Option 2: Someone killed Bree and hung her up to look like a suicide.
Option 3: Bree killed herself, believing it would protect the others from the Hungry Man.
Option 4: Madison had convinced both Bree and Georgia to kill themselves, and this has all been part of some sick, insane plot.
He thought back to the Honcho Dori Club. He thought back to Denni King. He thought back to the wooden statue tied to Bree’s wrist.
Chaotic Evil: the Hungry Man. Chaotic Evil: Madison Mason. Was there a difference?
There was banging on his hotel room door. He walked out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, and opened the door.
Gabriella came stumbling in, arm raised in mid-knock. ‘Con, you toolbag, why don’t you answer your calls?’
‘Gabby, I’m —’
‘Madison killed Denni King,’ she said in a rush. ‘I saw the messages. On her phone. Madison convinced Denni to kill herself.’
‘What?’
‘Do I have your attention now, Cornelius?’
‘I’m listening,’ he said.
She refused to come further into the room and started bouncing on her toes as she spoke. ‘They were both part of something called the Kundela Game, a series of dares. Remember when we saw ‘kundela is the word’ on Madison’s sleeping bag? It has something to do with that. And, Denni was a woodcarver. And this,’ she held out the wooden statue that had been tied to Bree’s wrists, ‘Madison found in her room!’
‘How do you have that?’ said Con, taking it from her. ‘This is evidence. It should be with Forensics.’
‘It’s not the one from Bree’s body. Madison brought this to Eliza’s house today. She accused her of putting it in her room, but Eliza had never seen one before.’
Eliza Ellis appeared at the door. ‘Can I come in now?’
Con swore, clutching his towel. He grabbed his clothes off the floor and fled into the bathroom to change. When he came out in a white button-up, grey slacks and bare feet, the two women were sitting on his bed.
Eliza studied Con, expectant.
‘Look, Eliza, I’m sorry for lying about Cierra being found,’ he said.
‘I don’t forgive you. It was a cheap trick.’
‘No worse than covering for Tom,’ shot back Con. He sat in the chair by the desk.
‘That’s in the past now,’ said Gabriella. ‘We need to work together. I think Jasmine Murphy is still alive, and she’s in Limestone Creek. If Denni made these statues as protection, who else would have them but her friends? I’m sure it was Jasmine – she must have put it in Madison’s room.’
‘Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be Bree?’
‘Only Jasmine or Georgia would have the foresight to go against Madison,’ said Eliza. ‘Given what Madison has on all of the girls – the nude photos, her influence with her YouTube channel – it would be a way to mess with her head. Madison’s all about the head games and power, right? Why not gaslight her? Disappear, using Madison’s own plot, but then pretend to go really missing, pretend the Hungry Man really did take them. Make Madison admit everything to her followers, put all her guilt on display.
‘Jasmine has always had a keen sense of justice – you should see her arguing with me whenever I give her or any of her friends detention. She’ll make a good lawyer one day,’ said Eliza.
‘But why would Bree have one of the statues?’ said Con. ‘I don’t accept the idea that all four of those girls believed in the Hungry Man.’
‘You’re not from around here, Con,’ said Eliza. ‘You don’t understand what it’s like, living in the shadow of these mountains, the 1985 disappearances.’
‘Yes, thank you, Eliza. I am by now keenly aware that I am not Tasmanian, nor do I live in Limestone Creek. Although I’d bet I’m having a pretty authentic experience . . .’
Con’s phone buzzed. It was Murphy calling. He answered instantly.
‘I’m out the front of the Inn. I need to talk to you.’ Something seemed wrong – Murphy’s voice was too flat. ‘I brought Madison’s USB drive.’
‘What’s happened?’ said Con.
‘Come let me in the side door. I’ll show you.’
‘Eliza and Gabriella are here.’
‘I don’t care, let me in.’
‘Murphy’s outside,’ said Con to the room. ‘Eliza, can you go find the side door and let him in? I don’t think he wants to be seen.’
‘Okay,’ said Eliza, still full of energy following their conversation – she jogged out of the room.
The moment she was gone, Con hissed at Gabriella, ‘Why the hell is she here?’
‘Because she’s a part of this,’ Gabriella snapped back. ‘You keep forgetting how strange this case is. Remember how Eliza was found? What Georgia saw?’
‘What she thought she saw! This isn’t the time to start bringing pet civilians into the investigation.’
‘Pet civilians? Then why is Jordan Murphy rocking up at your hotel in the middle of the night?’ demanded Gabriella.
‘Because he has actual evidence.’
‘And this statue isn’t? It’s the same as the one tied to Bree’s wrist!’
‘It tells us nothing. If you hadn’t handled it, we might’ve been able to dust for a print.’
She poked him hard in the chest. ‘Don’t you dare, Badenhorst. Madison and Eliza had both already touched it. Don’t you dare: I’m just as much a detective as you are. Don’t take your testosterone out on me.’
‘Is this a bad time?’ said Eliza wryly from the doorway.
Murphy stood beside her, his face haggard and pale. The smell of spilled beer and a strange foresty smell came into the room with him.
Con reached for his laptop. ‘Show us, Murphy.’
‘Show us what?’ said Gabriella.
‘It’s a USB drive Madison gave to me. She and Jasmine made these videos . . .’ Murphy handed the USB to Con. ‘Butch raped her mum . . . Sara . . . my wife. Butch is her real father.’
‘Butch?’ said Eliza, horrified. ‘He raped Sara?’
‘What?’ said Gabriella.
‘And now I don’t know where he’s gone . . .’ said Murphy, voice flat. ‘But I came here because otherwise I’ll kill him.’
‘Good for you, Murphy,’ murmured Gabriella.
‘She’s still your daughter, mate, no matter what,’ said Con firmly. He put the USB drive into the port. It opened to show the six video files. ‘Have you watched them all?’
Murphy nodded once, then hesitated. ‘Well, actually . . . no. Not the last two.’