Anya reached over and shook the older woman’s hand. “I owe you for this one.”
“Take those dusty bags off my desk and we’ll be even.”
Back at the SA unit, Anya felt victorious. Finally, something was going in a positive direction. Then she saw Mary Singer’s solemn face.
“Did you get my message?”
Anya checked her mobile phone. She’d forgotten to charge it overnight. “Sorry, it’s flat.” With annoyance she realized that in her haste to see Morgan Tully, she’d left her pager at home as well.
“There’s a woman in the waiting room. She’s been here two hours and hasn’t said a word. It’s like she’s catatonic.”
Anya followed the counsellor to a room filled with lounge chairs. It served as a waiting room and was used for counselling sessions as needed.
A young blonde woman sat staring out the window. Dressed in trackpants and a windcheater, she had her bare feet on the chair, knees pulled up to her chin. The disturbing thing was how she rocked. Not much, but repeatedly.
Outside the door, Mary whispered, “She’s been like this since she got here.”
“Do we have a name?”
“Her license says Emily Mirivac. She’s eighteen.”
Anya entered the room first, and knelt down on the floor in front of the young woman.
“Emily, my name is Anya. I’m a doctor, and I’d like to help you.”
Emily stopped rocking and turned her face toward Anya. A bruise on the left side took in part of her eye, but most of the impact had been taken by the cheekbone.
“That looks sore.” Anya shifted her weight onto the other knee and reached over to a bar-fridge. In the freezer section she pulled out a gel ice-pack and wrapped some paper towel around it from the tea-tray on top.
“This might help,” she offered, and Emily made eye-contact. As she took the ice-pack, their hands touched, and it was enough to break Emily’s emotionally frozen state. The young woman blinked back tears.
“Will you pray with me?” were the first words she spoke.
Anya flicked a look at Mary, who had sat down in a chair across the room.
All three women bowed their heads and Emily asked for forgiveness for what she had done, and the strength to go on. Anya wondered what she had done to the person who attacked her.
She concluded with “Amen,” and the two others in the room echoed the sentiment.
“Emily, can you tell us what happened?” Anya moved to a position next to the teenager and tried to straighten her stiff knees.
Clutching the ice-pack with one hand and Anya’s with the other, she began to explain. “Mum and Dad had gone away for a couple of nights, on a church camp. My little brother was staying with a friend. I got home from scripture at about nine-thirty. I remember locking the doors before bed. Next thing I knew, I couldn’t breathe. There was someone on top of me, holding me down.”
She squeezed Anya’s fingers tighter.
“He hurt me. I was so scared, I didn’t move. I told him I was saving myself for marriage.” She blinked a few times and a lone tear escaped down her purple-red cheek.
“He raped me,” she managed, “and told me it was for my own good. He said that if I can’t be hurt, I can’t be loved.”
48
With Emily’s permission, Anya phoned Meira Sorrenti after the examination. It took less than half an hour for her to arrive with Hayden Richards.
They chose to interview Emily in the same room in which the young woman had sat to steel herself for what lay ahead, and sat down to wait.
While Emily finished showering and speaking to Mary, Anya took the opportunity to brief the detectives.
“This one’s got all the hallmarks of the others. Same kind of vaginal tear, same saying, and the knife mark on the clavicle. She’s pretty small and slight, so the mark isn’t continuous. But it looks like the same weapon was used.”
“Did you get a photo?” Meira spoke and then bit her lip.
“Not this time, no.” With the chance of any images being leaked, Anya refused to photograph any more injuries. “I’ve measured it and recorded it on a diagram.”
Hayden was surprisingly quiet and let Sorrenti take the lead.
“Fucking Lerner,” Sorrenti said, rocking on her toes.
Hayden added, “Surveillance didn’t pick him up until this morning. It was almost as if he knew. Platt and his wife swear they didn’t say anything to him, but he’s got to be smart enough to know why you were sniffing around their place.”
Meira pulled a face. “My guess is Platt spilt her guts.”
Hayden smiled. “By the way, we found the condoms in Lerner’s garage. And it looks like we got the weapon that killed Liz Dorman. It’s fairly new and had been cleaned, but there were still traces of blood on it, mostly up near the handle.”
“What kind of knife?” Anya asked.
“Boning, really pointy blade. He’s our boy, for sure.”
Meira stuck her hands in her pockets, like a child caught stealing from the lolly jar. “Looks like you were right about Willard,” she said. “Lerner has been round at Lillian Willard’s home. He could have hidden the bloodied knife in the laundry basket, or even wiped it clean with Geoff’s shirt.”
Anya knew that was the closest thing to an apology that the detective was capable of giving. There was no point holding a grudge.
“You surprised me the way you still looked into the anomalies.”
Meira flicked her fringe and shifted uncomfortably. “I may be gullible and pig-headed, but I’m definitely not stupid.”
“Agreed.” Both women smiled.
Emily entered the corridor and appeared more child than adult. Her frame seemed more delicate silhouetted in the light. Anya excused herself to let the detectives take their statement.
Thinking about how Emily’s world had forever changed, she desperately hoped that Lerner would be stopped before he hurt or killed again. She found herself saying a silent prayer, just in case God was listening.
The detectives reappeared. Hayden took a call on his mobile in the corridor and signalled for Anya to wait. She walked further away, not wanting to eavesdrop.
“Shit,” he said, rubbing his mouth. “That was the lab. There are two types of blood on the knife. One is Liz Dorman’s, but the other doesn’t belong to Lerner.”
Anya considered, “So, either he’s not the killer…”
“Or there’s been another victim, only we haven’t found her yet. My money’s on the rape victim who withdrew her statement and hasn’t been seen since.”
Sorrenti began to dial. “We’d better liaise with homicide and pick this bastard up.”
49
Anya parked her car and dragged her green bag full of milk, vegetables and bread through the front door, automatically locking it once inside. Her body relaxed when she realized Elaine had left for the evening. Right now, she didn’t feel like talking to anyone. No one asking about her day or offering sympathy for what she had seen. With soft light streaming through the lounge-room window, there was still time to just enjoy
