‘As I’ve said, there’s no point in those questions. Joel has nothing to say.’
‘Why did you wait four years before you went and saw her? Why not see her as soon as you came back to Australia? That’s when you found out who she was.’
‘I wanted to see her before she died. She was getting old.’
‘You wanted to make sure she put you in her will before she died. Were you watching her?’ the profiler asked.
‘No. I do things in my own time,’ he replied.
‘After your mother, Janice Wells, Jennifer Shillingworth was your second victim. Whose decision was it to kill her? Yours or Sara’s?’
‘There’s no proof that Joel killed his mother,’ the lawyer said.
‘Jennifer Shillingworth was your first victim when you came back. Why did you kill her?’
‘When I do business with someone,’ Griffin said after a few moments, ‘I always stick to the deal I’ve made. Once I’ve settled on a price, I never ask for more money.’
‘Jennifer Shillingworth wanted more money. Is that what you’re saying?’
Silence.
‘Why did you use her name for the property trust you set up? Because she led you to your grandmother? Or because she tried to get money out of you? Was this your way of putting her in her place?’
Silence.
‘Your next victim after you came back to Australia was Stan Wells. He was your father’s brother. Why did you kill him?’
Silence.
‘The first thing you do when you come back to Australia after years away is find out who your grandmother is, and then carry out a killing that will cause your real father genuine grief,’ the profiler said. ‘Those are things Craig Wells would do, aren’t they? Not Joel Griffin.’
‘I’m not Craig Wells.’
‘For all your killings you used an axe you stole from your father. Everything you do seems to lead back to your real family. Have you ever really left home, Joel? You’ve travelled the world, but aren’t you still back in that little house on Bay Street?’
‘You don’t know the places I’ve been,’ he replied.
‘You never killed your father.’
Griffin looked down at the table and this time he did smile. ‘Isn’t he already dead?’
‘You made your grandmother the centre of this,’ the profiler said. ‘You buried your victims in her surgery. The young women who worked for you at Life’s Pleasures said they were there to work for Amelie. You used her home as a base for your murders. You called your property trust after the woman who found her for you and whom you then killed. Why?’
Silence.
‘You and Sara met at Camp Sunshine,’ the profiler said. ‘You were both fifteen.’
‘Joel has already agreed with that statement,’ the lawyer said.
‘You planned the real Joel Griffin’s death from that time, didn’t you? Sara started seeing him. She paid for him to get his teeth fixed but he didn’t know it was under your name.’
‘That allegation is pure speculation,’ the lawyer said.
‘No, there’s sufficient evidence to support it,’ the police interviewer replied. ‘We also have Joel’s own dental records. They date back to when he was fifteen. Given that DNA testing has established his identity as Craig Wells, we can state that he was using Joel Griffin’s identity while the real Joel was still alive.’
‘Sara knew from the start what you were planning,’ the profiler said. ‘You planned it together.’
‘She liked being with me. She said it was exciting. She said there was only us in the world.’
‘She was in love with you.’
‘I guess so.’
‘You’re fascinated by identity, aren’t you?’ the profiler said. ‘You used the medical records you found in Amelie Santos’s garage to sell new identities to other people. You used them for yourselves. You even used them when you were extorting Amelie Santos’s Blackheath house from her. It was like having a second self you could draw on whenever you needed to do something. Like being invisible. And you sold several of those IDs to women who then worked
Silence.
‘Why did you kill Elliot Griffin, Joel?’ the police interviewer asked. ‘Did he believe you were his son and try to seek you out? Did he want money? Why not just tell him he’d made a mistake? How could he connect you to his son?’
Silence.
‘Or did he remind you that you weren’t who you said you were?’ the profiler asked. ‘You were killing your old self all over again when you killed him. Because you really aren’t Joel Griffin. You’re Craig Wells.’
Griffin looked her directly in the eyes. Watching, Harrigan thought he saw her flinch.
‘This is who I am,’ he said. ‘If someone comes to you and says, you’re not who you say you are, then, whether they want money from you or not, they’re drinking your blood. I don’t put up with that from anyone no matter who they are.’
‘Are you making a threat, Joel?’ the police interviewer asked quietly.
‘No.’
‘Elliot Griffin found you and wanted money,’ the interviewer continued after a pause. ‘That’s what you’re saying. And because of that you killed him.’
Silence.
‘Are you obsessed with the past, Joel?’ the profiler said. ‘You seem to have to keep worrying at it. Punishing it. You keep trying to obliterate it and then you keep bringing it back to life. Isn’t that like being on a treadmill?’
‘I was finished here,’ Griffin said. ‘I was leaving. I wasn’t coming back.’
‘Don’t you like Sydney? This is where you were born. Why come back after all those years if it hooked you back into the past?’
‘I never wanted to come back here. That was Sara’s idea.’
‘Why did she want to come back?’
‘She was homesick. She didn’t like the weather in London. She wanted to go sailing again.’
‘So you came home.’
‘She was going to get on a plane without me. It meant I had to move the whole business here.’
‘Are you the main driver of the business, Joel?’ the police interviewer asked.
‘Yes.’
‘You’re a very skilled financier.’
‘I’m good with money. I know how to make it work.’
‘Money’s important to you.’
‘Money is real. When everything else is finished, there’s always money,’ Griffin said.
‘Financial analysis has identified the companies Santos Associates and Cheshire Nominees as ultimately owned by you and Sara McLeod. Everything you own, you own jointly with her. You both shared your money. That’s a statement of commitment, isn’t it?’ the profiler said. ‘You owned in common. You killed people if they wanted money from you or didn’t pay you. But you and Sara shared every cent you had.’
Silence.
‘So when she wanted to get on a plane home, you couldn’t let her do that. You couldn’t kill her either. You had to go with her.’
Silence.
‘You couldn’t leave her. She knew everything about you.’ The profiler spoke almost gently. ‘Knew you as Craig and Joel. Was your lover as Craig and Joel. Helped you kill your mother and Joel Griffin. The first police on the scene
