Ellen's Tale Pt. 02

"I know you," she finally spoke up, "but not by your first name."

"Okay?" Kym released her hand, "which school?"

"Eltham Primary, 1997."

"Wow, that's a blast from the past," she studied her, "the year I started teaching, I taught Year Six at that school but I was there earlier in the year for a few days, filling in for the Year Five teacher."

"I remember you said shit and we thought it was so funny, you taught me the next year."

"That brings back memories," she sipped her wine, "it's not the first time I've bumped into a student from the old days but they usually have to remind me because I wouldn't recognise them if my life depended on it."

"Oh, I recognised you right away, you haven't aged that much, but I don't know your first name, I just remembered you as Mrs Hunt."

"My married name," she replied, "first husband whose last name rhymes with cunt and he lived up to that one for a few years but we became friends again after my second marriage."

"So, what's your last name now?"

"Graham, I've gone back to my maiden name, husband number two gave me two kids and an aversion to walking down the aisle again. I've had a regular partner up until a few months ago but he was starting to talk about moving in and I thought it was time I upended the apple cart," she had another sip.

"So, here I am at an all girl barbecue checking out the gay brigade," Kym went on, "so, who do you know here?"

"Elaine," she turned to her right and nodded at a woman standing side on to her and then she saw another woman some distance away who looked eerily similar to her.

"That's her twin sister, Imogen," Kym murmured as she followed her line of sight, "where do you know Elaine from?"

"I teach ceramics two days a week out in North Croydon."

"Ellen's Ceramics?" Kym looked at her, "I've seen the flyers down at the local supermarket, I'm out at Burnt Bridge."

"Okay, yeah, that's the name of the class, totally original I know," her eyes shifted as a beautiful woman with raven black hair and a light brown complexion sidled up to Elaine and slipped an arm around her waist.

So this was her girlfriend, Ellen managed a sly grin, she'd certainly hit the jackpot.

"Well, this is a coincidence," Kym smirked, "that's my colleague, Jodie over there, she introduced me to Elaine, Imogen, Ilona, and Julie."

"It is an odd coincidence, what's that about seven degrees of separation?"

"Something like that," Kym nodded, "so, are you or aren't you? If you don't mind me saying."

"What? Single, married, gay, straight?"

"Um, all of the above," Kym raised the glass to her lips, "I was invited here by Julie because I don't know many gay women although at least three of them aren't that way inclined."

"I am gay but as for single, it's complicated," she pursed her lips, "she's married to a guy and I'm not pushing the envelope too far."

"Been there, done that, got the tee shirt," Kym looked past her, "fancy a wine?"

"Yeah, um, okay," she glanced once more at Tabitha and then turned back to the bench.

"Not the nominated driver are we?"

"I am but Anna can drive as well."

"Anna?" Kym raised an eyebrow, "your girlfriend or just a friend?"

"A housemate, kind of, she's in the house and I'm in the bungalow."

Kym didn't reply as she poured a wine and it was only when Ellen raised the glass to her lips that she stared at one of the tattoos on her upper left arm.

"Nice tattoo."

"It's my first," Ellen glanced down at the skull impaled with a knife, "a friend wanted me to get I love mum as my first but I couldn't resist the skull, it's faded a bit since then."

Kym straightened up as Anna stepped outside with a bottle of wine and moved up beside Ellen and nudged her with an elbow.

"That's a load off my mind."

"My first husband used to say he was giving birth to a politician," Kym smiled crookedly, "hiya, I'm Kym."

"Anna," she held out her hand, "so who's driving home?"

"I am," Ellen held up the glass, "this is my only glass."

"Don't mind if I do," she set the bottle down on the bench, "I'm so hanging out for this," she looked over at Tabitha, "do you want me to get something for Tabitha?"

"Thanks," Ellen smiled.

Ellen moved away shortly after that to speak to Elaine and meet her girlfriend and when she looked over her shoulder some time later Kym had retreated to a table set up on the other side of the bar with Anna, the two were deep in conversation. In fact, they spent the better part of two hours in each other's company, although there were others at their table. It left Ellen to circulate amongst the other women, most of whom had partners either at the party or elsewhere. Nevertheless, there was a relaxed atmosphere at the barbecue and Ellen made a mental note to get herself invited again. These women were educated, open-minded and sophisticated.

Yes, she could do much worse than develop friendships with them.

***

"She's a unique woman," Anna murmured as Ellen started the engine some two and a half hours later.

"Who?" Ellen looked up briefly.

"Kym," she replied, "she's the first woman I've met down here that could justifiably be called a second mum and I've only known her for two hours."

"So, that's good then," Ellen shifted into gear and released the parking brake, "you two seemed to be deep in conversation."

"We were and I told her a lot about my situation, only my family knows more."

"And what's her advice or didn't you get to that part yet?"

"We're going to sit down and look at facts and figures, I'm not sure if I want to go through to a settlement or just sell up. A lot depends on his trial," she reached over and nudged her leg.

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure, name it," she replied.

"Can you come out with me to the house? I need to grab some paperwork and a few other bits and pieces."

"What, now?"

"No, just whenever."

"May as well do it now," she glanced at the clock on the dashboard, "I have to work tomorrow and it's only a small detour."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it."

Some thirty minutes later they were pulling up outside the house and Anna stared at the police tapes in front of the door.

"Jesus, I didn't even think of that."

"It's your place," she picked up her phone, "but let me call a friend," she swiped the screen and opened her phone book. A few seconds later she put the phone to her ear and waited for Gitti to answer the phone.

"Yeah, it should be fine," Gitti told her a minute or so later after she'd outlined the situation, "they should have gone through the place looking for evidence. The tapes are there to prevent outsiders from coming in and sprinkling their DNA around the place."

"What about hers?"

"It's her place," she replied drily, "her DNA is going to be everywhere, she's been swabbed a few days ago."

"Okay, no worries, see ya later."

"You're fine," Ellen looked at her.

The place smelled of dust the moment they opened the front door and Ellen sneezed. Anna headed down the hall towards the other rooms leaving Ellen with Tabitha in the living room. Out of a sense of curiosity she proceeded to examine the contents of a bookshelf and two DVD/CD cabinets, they seemed to be big collectors of movies and music. Another cabinet held a smaller collection of vinyl records and cassette tapes. Judging by the titles it seemed at least one of them, probably Ritchie was into gangster movies with titles such as Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon, and more concerning, when considering his present address, the Underbelly Series.

She was so engrossed in her exploration that she didn't register the approach of another car until it was pulling up outside the house. Tabitha stepped over to the window and peered out.

"Mum, he's got a gun."

"What the fuck?" Ellen took two steps backwards to look out the window at a man in a suit, he had a gun in a holster at his side and short hair.

"Probably a cop," she glanced over at the hallway door, "Anna, the cops are here!"

Anna appeared a moment later, carrying a portable filing case and a small suitcase. Ellen looked out the window as the man wrote down her car registration in a notebook.

"What's he doing, mum?"

"Probably his job," Ellen put the DVD back, "come on, you'll have to tell him what you're doing here."

"Whatever, I've got it all anyway."

The man turned to look at them as they stepped outside again and for a brief moment, Ellen felt the hairs on the back of her head tingling and then he offered up a slight smile.

"You must be Anna," he stepped forward, "I'm Senior Sergeant Tom Steele, I just thought I'd drop in on the place to have a look around now that the forensics guys have been through it."

"Oh, okay," Ann returned the smile, "do you want to come inside for a few minutes? I just dropped by to pick up a few bits of paperwork."

"Do you mind if I have a look?" Steele looked down at the filing case.

"Sure, whatever."

"What are you looking for?" Ellen spoke up as he took another step forward, "just out of curiosity."

For a moment she thought she'd overstepped the mark because his expression changed.

"Bank statements and other financial statements," he replied.

"Funny," Anna frowned, "I thought they'd taken them, there's nothing like that in here, it's just the title deeds, birth certificates and insurance documents."

"Even so," he replied.

"Whatever," she put the case on the bonnet of the car.

Ellen positioned herself some distance behind him and lit a cigarette. He seemed to be undertaking an examination of the paperwork inside but it almost looked as if he was playing a role, looking at birth certificates, a marriage certificate and other minor documents. He finally closed the case and turned towards the house.

"I was wondering if you could walk me through the house and give me a feel of where he spent the most time, we're looking for something."

"What? Right now?"

"No, of course not, but perhaps later?" Steele glanced at his watch, "say about half past seven?"

"Um, yeah... sure... anything to help."

"My card," he took out a card and handed it over, "call me when you get back here and I'll drop by and meet you here," he glanced at Ellen, "it's important that you come alone... nothing implied of course," he smiled at Ellen.

"We've just found that it's important that you have no distractions like friends or family, I've got a couple of other leads to chase up now but I'd really like to go through this place before I get back to the station, I've got a long night ahead of me."

"Sure," she frowned, "okay, um, can I see some ID first though?"

"Of course, sorry," he took out his police badge and after checking it she nodded.

"Okay, half past seven then."

"Or seven, just call me as soon as you get back here."

He farewelled them and walked back to his car. The three of them stared after his retreating back but it was only when he drove back down the driveway that Ellen finally spoke up.

"I think you should call Sergeant Dickson and ask her about him."

"You don't think?" Anna left the question unfinished.

"I do think, that's the problem. Let's not forget they've been making inquiries about a corrupt cop, and these guys don't operate in a vacuum. If you're going to pinch drugs and guns at a bust you need to find corrupt cops to help cover up the crime."

Anna didn't reply as she put the two cases in the boot but as they headed back down the driveway she finally exhaled.

"It does sound weird. Don't they travel in pairs? But even so, maybe he was just in the area."

"So, why did he just drop in, just as you were here?"

"Coincidence?"

"Your number will be on file," she turned onto the highway, "all he's got to do is track your GPS movements, I could do it with Tab's phone."

"Jesus," she swiped her phone, "he might have tapped it."

"Possible but unlikely," she glanced at her own phone and then looked up in the rear view mirror at Tabitha, "Tab."

"What?"

"Pass your phone over to Anna for a moment."

"Okay, I'm playing a game but."

"It's important, sweetie, sorry."

After Tabitha had handed over her phone, Ellen instructed her to call Sergeant Dickson from her daughter's phone and whilst she only heard Anna's half of the conversation it didn't take an investigative mind to work out that Steele was a person of interest.

"She said not to turn my phone or GPS off," Anna turned to her as she ended the call, "we'll meet up at Chirnside Park."

"Whereabouts, the shopping centre or the carpark?"

"The carpark," she replied.

"Well if that's the instructions just follow them."

Anna leaned back and a moment later reached over and put her hand on Ellen's thigh.

"Sorry," she murmured, "if it makes you uncomfortable."

"It's fine," Ellen patted her hand lightly.

They pulled into the carpark at Chirnside Park some time later and it didn't take long to find a marked police car. Sergeant Dickson was in the next car along with Senior Detective Harris and there was a long silence before Anna leaned across and hugged her.

"I won't be long."

A moment later she got out of the car and into the back of the other car. She was there for the best part of fifteen minutes before Sergeant Dickson got out of her car and walked around to Ellen's side of the car.

"Hiya," she greeted her with a smile, "um, we're going to go back to the Coldstream address for a bit of a look around, we'll drop her off later on."

"What's going on? Or can't you tell me?"

"Without going into too much detail, the man calling himself Senior Detective Steele is a person of interest in our inquiries, he's connected to Roy. You didn't happen to see him at the club, did you?"

"Nope, first time I laid eyes on him was today."

"He didn't take part in any raids on the clubhouse or members?"

"You've got me there," she closed her eyes, "we were always getting raided by the cops, our joint was tossed over six times one year but it was mainly uniformed cops and the Special Operations Group, there were some detectives but I can't say I recognised him. He did write down my rego though."

"Don't worry about him, go straight home and if he tries to contact you at all, just say that Anna is out and about and you don't know where she is, then call this number," she handed over a police card, "tell the duty officer you have a message for me regarding Operation Moss and they'll pass on the message."

"Okay," she glanced over her shoulder as she took the card, "is she all right?"

"She's fine, just a bit shaken up but we've put a plan into action," she stepped back, "remember, go straight home."

A few minutes later the two cars drove away leaving Ellen staring straight ahead. She had a sickly feeling in the pit of her stomach. A day that had started out with promise had suddenly turned dark and as she started her car she found herself doing the controlled breathing exercises she had been taught not long after leaving the club.

Breathe in, breathe out, slow and steady, breathe in, breathe out.

To be continued...