“Steph, what am I-” but that was when I saw it. She began to smile as she saw my expression change. I took the book, held one finger on the page we were on, then flicked a couple of pages forward. The signature that was next to Dr. Levinson’s name was different. And not just by a little bit. It had been written by a different hand entirely.
“It’s fake?” I asked and Steph nodded.
“It’s fake,” she said, confirming it for me.
“Why would he fake the signature?” I asked, but had a feeling I already knew the answer. “Because he was coming and going whenever he chose. Someone else was filling the book in for him to keep it all official. I don’t get it, though. Why would he need to fake it?”
“Because I’m guessing, he wasn’t only visiting during normal hours. My guess? He practically has a key to the front gate.”
“But that would jeopardize the security of the prison,” I said.
“Yup, but who’s going to tell him off?”
“I don’t get it. The man visits Lightman for years, almost on a daily basis and everything is legit. Then he takes off for a year, leaving his patient in the hands of someone else. Then, when he returns, he sees Lightman daily like clockwork but now needs to make up the times that he actually comes and goes. Why?”
“Wait, do you have the prison rosters in that box?” I asked, an idea flashing into my mind like something tapping me on the shoulder.
“One sec, I’ll check.” She left the room again, returning a minute later carrying the box. She set it down on the table and began taking out piles of old books. She found what we were looking for with the second pile she pulled out.
“Here, is this it?” she asked, holding a book out to me. I took it, opened it and nodded. On the front cover were the words “Staff Schedules” and when I opened it, found a section titled “Rostering”. After flicking through a couple of pages, I found what we needed.
Each officer was assigned a post, which they held for the duration of their employment. Transfers between duties occurred, judging by the names changing places, but not often. Each guard worked a 12-hour shift, meaning each position had 4 officers that rotated between days and nights. Crab Apple had the inner wall with its gatehouse and it was in this gatehouse that the visitor’s log was kept and signed by all the visitors to the prison. Guards with the number 1 behind their name, worked the day shift. Guards with the number 2 allocation, worked nights. The first three names that were written next to “Gatehouse” meant nothing to me, the fourth however did. The name was Lee Higgins.
“Do you know who Lee Higgins is?” I asked Steph, but she shook her head. Even though she had lived most of her life half way between Cider Hill and Daylesford, most of her life took her to Ballarat, about the same distance from Cider Hill that Daylesford was. She had only been in Cider Hill since being posted here and in that time, hadn’t totally grasped all the 3500 or so names that resided in this town. “Could he be any relation to Clancy?” I was thinking of the man that chased me with a rifle not too many hours ago.
“I don’t know,” she said, then held up one finger, as if about to announce something,” but I think I know someone that might.” She walked into the kitchen and picked up the telephone that hung on the wall. She spoke in a low voice, Judith’s bedroom across the hall from where the phone hung. A couple of minutes later, Steph returned, smiling triumphantly.
“Margaret says hello. And, she also said that Clancy has one brother. Lee Higgins, who’s been working up at Crab Apple for the past 5 years.” I told Steph what happened when she left me at the house, me peering in on the woman and about the man who fired the gun at me.
“You were shot at?” she said when I finished. I nodded. To my surprise, she began to giggle.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You’re the peeping tom that Pete was talking about, aren’t you?” She laughed harder, then stifled it when she remembered the little girl sleeping down the hall.
9.
It was decided that we would take a drive to Melbourne the following morning. I was beginning to feel inadequate without my own transportation and asked Steph to take me home so I could get it. She phoned her trusty neighbour, asking if she could pop over early in the morning to watch Judith, then brought me a blanket. We figured it would save a lot of time and hassle if I just camped on her couch for the night. Neither of us were too fussed with rumours and I knew Tami wasn’t the jealous type.
I snuggled into the cushions on the couch, wished Steph a goodnight as she switched the lights out, then closed my eyes, the noises of the house and the night outside slowly receding as sleep took hold of me quicker than I was expecting. I don’t think I even heard Steph climb into bed before I was out.
10.
The drive to Melbourne was a quiet one, given the day of the week. We didn’t talk much, not because we didn’t want to speak to each other, the landscape just looked incredible in the morning light and we just kind of went with it. I did engage Steph with an incredibly important plan I needed help with and as usual, she obliged. There was very little traffic, a couple of farm tractors slowing us, but when clear, Steph negotiated the FX around them with ease. It really was a fine automobile and I loved riding in it. The weather had been
