Women Who Talk Pt. 06

It's been a long time coming but I've had a lot on my plate lately, but just to recap, as Helen's life starts to unravel Penny steps into the gap to provide much needed information about her to Robyn and is also forced to bare herself emotionally to the younger woman.

Author's note: A TAB is a betting shop, found in most suburbs of Melbourne, they were seen as a soft target by armed robbers. Kill a brown dog comes from a traditional Australian short story The Loaded Dog, which was brown and hard to kill. "My mother's cooking could kill a brown dog," means that her cooking is lethal. A bottle shop is the equivalent of a liquor store in the U.S or an off licence in the U.K. Werribee was where the bulk of Melbourne's sewerage collection was located, so being in more shit than a Werribee duck means you're in real trouble.

If things had taken a different turn, Penny could easily have settled for Lisa. Her junior partner was actually eighteen months older than her but she'd been living with Yvette for the last two years. She had stayed back longer than usual and even now was prepared to stay a bit longer for an informal mini conference on the delicate matter of Helen McInnes. Penny played the role of devil's advocate with Lisa on the other side.

"It breaches company policy but wouldn't a suspension be better than a dismissal?" Penny leaned on her palm.

"That would send the wrong signals," Lisa replied, "we've all abided by the rules, we know that if we get involved with a client we face dismissal but not if your name is Helen," Lisa replied, "and this time the police are involved as well."

"Okay," Penny looked past her, "if she's in trouble with the police then it reflects on us, even if it's just a summary offence, but... she's not a lawyer," she finished her rebuttal.

"You're pulling gnats out of goat shit," Lisa replied and then continued.

"I don't like the way she's treated her mother. At some point you need to say enough is enough and while the police charges will amount to a fine, you need to call her to account for her sake as well as for ours. If she's screwed Zara then how many others has she bedded? You've got an opportunity to act decisively instead of smiling and making minor adjustments. Sooner or later she's going to get tangled up in something much more serious, especially if her brother gets early release although that won't be happening for a few years yet," Lisa fluffed out her hair.

Penny said nothing as she got to her feet and walked to the window to part the Venetian blinds and peer out at the road. Lisa stared at her back and then a few moments later Penny let go of the blinds and turned to look at her.

"Okay, you've won your case," Penny nodded.

"Good," she stood up, "I've got to go for a piss."

"And I've got to reset the phone system," Penny replied.

A few moments later she grabbed her phone and walked out, the text was sent by the time she reached the reception.

Penny: Hope you like your cafetière... I felt strange about leaving money in the letter after our discussion the other week but $50 was the lowest denomination I had.

However just as she'd reset the phone system at reception Robyn replied.

Robyn: What money? Helen gave me a letter but there was no money in it.

Penny's blood ran cold as she stared at the text again and then she called the number and waited for her to answer the phone.

"Penny? What's up with this money?" Robyn rose and walked into the kitchen.

"She rang me from her joint about the cafetière, I've got it here," she picked it up, "silver base and lid, holds about two cups, there's a half packet of Costa Rica coffee," she lifted it up, "are you sure she didn't put it into the... no that's stupid, but the letter was in an envelope."

"What does the letter say?" Penny asked.

"Hang on, I'll take it out, it was printed out from a computer."

"That's not the letter I gave to her... it was handwritten on onion skin paper and there was a fifty dollar note in it."

"Nope," she looked around, "that's weird, why would she do that? I can't even ask her because she took off for Frankston and left me here. Her mum's been in accident," she walked to the bin, "and after she speaks to the cops she's going to drop her mum off at her sister's joint and she'll be back here in an hour and a half," she let the bin lid fall again. "Nothing in the bin either."

"What sister?" Penny stared at the monitor in front of her.

"Her half sister, Narelle."

"Narelle?" Penny leaned forward, "she's been dead for the last twelve years and I know about the accident, the cops phoned here looking for her. The hospital are keeping her overnight because they suspect she hasn't been eating properly, so the story about taking her back to her sister is bullshit. She's on her way to Frankston to speak to a doctor and the police, her car is being put on a flatbed because it's unroadworthy. Her mother's licence has expired, and because the licence address has been transferred to Helen's address she should've known her mum couldn't drive but she forgot to tell her and so the police want answers from her," she drew breath.

"So to put it plainly, Helen's in more shit than a Werribee duck."

"Oh fuck," Robyn spun around, "fuck, fuck, fuck, what have I fucking done?"

She pinched her nose.

"Fuck," she swore again.

"That's four fucks in a row, which is more than I've had in a while. Go through to the couch, sit down and tell me what's gone on between you two. I won't laugh, cry, shout or be upset, but in the last hour we've discovered things about Helen that are disturbing and I've known for years she's not a saint. I'm still at work right now with Lisa but I can swing by if you need me there."

Robyn leaned against the couch and stared at the door and gathered her strength.

"We were um, at the point of doing it but I was still mostly dressed when the police called," she ran a hand through her hair, "I said I'd hang around because I don't have to work tomorrow and I even um said that we two should spend some together but now," she trailed away.

"Okay," Penny pinched her nose, "I'll only ask this once," she paused.

"Do you want me to come around to her place? From what you've just told me it sounds as if she's sticking to her usual script. If she's inferred there's a future for you two then I can guarantee you she's said the same thing to dozens of others in the last few years. But if you think you have what it takes to get through to her then I'll take my hat off you, if I was wearing one."

Robyn stared straight ahead as she contemplated her options and then she pinched her nose.

"Please come around, I feel stupid right now."

"Don't, she tried something similar with me four and a half years ago but when I threatened to sack her she turned a whiter shade of pale. Cindy's also been subjected to one of her attempts but she went further and slapped her face."

"Cindy? My God, when?"

"Three years ago, I was in that office upstairs when I heard the slap and Cindy called her a cunt so I knew it was bad because she never uses that word unless she's really angry."

"Then come around," she sighed, "I'll try and find this letter in the meantime, maybe it's in the paper recycling pile or her bedroom."

"No worries, I'll see you in twenty minutes."

Robyn stared blankly ahead as she digested this new information and then a moment or two later she dropped the phone onto the bed and headed to the kitchen again.

Where could she have hidden it?

***

Penny knocked on the door some twenty five minutes later and by then Robyn had recovered a little of her composure. She'd already dressed prior to getting Penny's text but had left her stockings and boots off as well as the cardigan, which was lying on the couch because she had no plans of ever wearing it again. However she hadn't been able to locate the letter.

"The hail's stopped at least," Penny closed the door behind her and unbuttoned her coat, "but the road home is going to be dicey," she slid the coat off her shoulders and hung it on the coat rack next to the key rack.

"I'm sorry about all this," Robyn ran an eye over Penny's outfit.

Penny turned towards her as she grabbed the spare keys. She was wearing a black pinstriped skirt suit and a cream-coloured tie-neck blouse. A wry smile nudged her lips.

"Quit apologising, I'm here to enlighten you," she stepped forward, "show me this letter."

"It's through here," she led her into the kitchen and pointed to the letter, "but I've checked the recycling pile," she pointed to the pile of newspapers and other papers, "and I had a look in her bedside drawers, she's got an impressive collection of dildos and vibrators."

"So have I," she replied as she took the letter out and glanced at it, "the fucking bitch," she stared at the cafetière, "at least she did one thing right," she turned to the bin.

"There's another bedroom I haven't checked yet though," she followed Penny out of the kitchen and into a back porch area.

"She wouldn't hide it there, it'll be in the office."

"Do you think she tossed it out?"

"I doubt that, Helen is a hoarder, she's still got Alice and Narelle's old clothes."

"Who's Alice?" Robyn asked as she followed her through to the staircase.

"Alice died five years ago of a drug overdose," she started up the stairs, "they met when Helen was working as a social worker seven years ago," she paused on the first landing and indicated a framed photograph of a woman about Robyn's age with blonde hair and a graduation cap.

"She's about my age," Robyn murmured, "sorry, was," she bit her lip.

"Fast forward two years and Alice is off the system, so to speak, but she's just been kicked out of her place and she's sleeping on a friend's couch and so Helen takes her in. I'm still not sure if they slept together before or after she moved in but what our mutual friend didn't know was that in the interim Alice had acquired a heroin habit," she pointed to a picture of Narelle, "that's Narelle there and the next one down is her brother Rory, you might have read about him in the papers."

"Nope, the name doesn't ring a bell."

"The papers called him the Tranny bandit because he had a habit of dressing up in women's clothes to rob banks and TABs, coincidentally, he was about the same build as Alice. The police did search the room when they arrested her brother two years ago but found nothing."

"You think she was in on it?"

"I don't know, he was sentenced two years ago to fifteen years for a series of armed robberies in Melbourne, Geelong, and Adelaide. He's now in prison in Barwon, just near Lara," she turned and headed up the last flight, followed by Robyn.

"She did tell me just before she left that she had a brother who lived in Lara," she replied, "she just left out the actual location."

"For good reason," Penny glanced over her shoulder, "he's the only sibling she's in contact with now, her oldest brother lives in Los Angeles and wants nothing to do with the family," she stepped into the hallway and turned towards her.

"How did Narelle die?" Robyn mounted the last step.

"She was killed in a car accident nine years ago, long before I met Helen, I saw the grave a few years ago when I ran Helen out to the cemetery to put some flowers on the grave, she'd run out of petrol for reasons that escape me and so I did the Good Samaritan thing one year. I didn't ask about the reasons for the accident because she wasn't very communicative that day and I didn't feel like opening a can of worms."

Penny opened the door to the bedroom next to Helen's room and waited until Robyn joined her at the door. It looked like any normal second bedroom with the double bed, bedside cabinets and the wardrobe.

"That was her old bed," she pointed, "the one she shared with Alice years ago, her clothes are in the wardrobe as well. Apparently this was actually Alice's room when she first moved in, so this room is a bit of a shrine to Alice I guess."

"Creepy, now that I know that," she shivered.

"Yeah, that's one way to describe it," she stepped backwards.

"Five years ago Helen came home to find Alice dead in that bed, she knew about her heroin habit by then of course but thought that sheer willpower or loving support or a miracle would save her but heroin kills," she started walking towards office door at the end of the hallway.

"The coroner however disagreed, she'd probably died sometime in the night and Helen was either too groggy or hungover to notice," she glanced over her shoulder.

"The Social Welfare department also disagreed and she lost her job and that's where I came into her life. A woman I was involved with at the time also worked at the Department and asked if I could take her on as a part timer. Dianne and I split up soon after, it was a particularly painful breakup but one of the promises I made was to look after Helen. They were never lovers but she'd been a part of the departmental investigation and felt that Helen had been hung out to dry for something that was basically a human failing. Alice had been out of care for months, so there was an argument that she hadn't technically breached her duty of care contract."

She glanced at her for a moment.

"And in the beginning she was good, she was thorough and hard working and so I put her on as a full time legal secretary but within a few months or so I was starting to regret my decision. She's quite openly gay, which isn't a bad thing in my opinion. I say more power to you but Helen had a habit of coming onto staff at work, she was rebuffed very early on but they felt intimidated by her and so I made the decision to give her that office," she pointed to it.

"Helen's greatest asset is her ability to find the little details that can make or break a case, she's like a one woman computer. Even when she's not supposed to be working she'll be in there trying to find something that will give our clients a better settlement but her personal life is a train wreck, her longest affair yet has lasted three months and I lost a bet over that one because I predicted it would only last three weeks."

She stepped into Helen's bedroom but Robyn stayed where she was.

"It was here," she stopped at the foot of the bed.

"Four and a half years ago. I made the mistake of coming in to check on the job that I'd just paid for," she tapped the bed, "I organised for the guy who made my bed to do one for her as well," she stepped to one side.

"I was wearing this style of blouse but it was a purple one. She grabbed my tie ends and pulled them all the way down and I just froze, and she made the mistake of thinking I was up for it. When I said I'd fire her, she thought I was playing a game of hard to get but when I dug my fingernails in and drew blood she knew I wasn't joking," she moved towards the door.

"So, don't feel stupid or naïve for falling under Helen's spell, lots of women have fallen under her spell and she's bedded them. You and I are part of a very small club."

"What club is that?"

"Women who resisted Helen, Cindy slapped her face in this room when Helen kissed her and Lisa pushed her hand away when she grabbed her shoulder in a friendly way," she tweaked her fingers to simulate quotation marks.

"I'm not sure I belong in that club," she sighed, "she could have bedded me so easily," she stepped forward and grabbed the upper beam.

"I was partially undressed but she was more undressed than me when the police rang," she turned around.

"If that office door had been closed we'd never have heard the message and right now I'd be naked on that bed," she stepped quickly away from it.

"And she told me that her cousin had built the bed for her but he apparently died of cancer."

"Really?" Penny raised her eyebrows, "that's interesting because the only reason for not telling you the truth about such a simple matter is to stop you from speaking to me," she stepped back into the passageway.

"I gave the cop three numbers, her home number, the mobile and the work number and told him to try them all."

"That's exactly what happened," Robyn replied, "in that order but she only answered the work one because the office door was open at the time."

"It's a good job she did," Penny replied, "because if not they were going to send a patrol car around to knock on the door," she turned to the office door and jangled the keys, "do you still believe in God," she glanced over at her.

"Yes, I do but I'm struggling."

"Well if it helps you, I'm an atheist but after tonight I'm beginning to think I might have to look at the concept of God, once is coincidence, twice is God being anonymous," she unlocked the office door and opened it.

"Let's see if we can find this letter."

The letter was found soon enough in the top drawer of the desk and Penny handed it over and then propped against the front of the desk while Robyn sat on the divan by the wall.

"Oh," Robyn stared at the letter, "there's money here."

"It looks like fifty dollars," Penny stated the obvious.

"Um, yeah," she looked up, "do you mind if I read this in front of you?"

"Go ahead," she shrugged.

Robyn read the letter twice and then laid it down beside her and stared at the floor.

"She said things about you tonight."

"What kinds of things?"

Robyn frowned and then told her everything Helen had said about her and a few minutes later she ended it with, "but this letter wasn't written by someone trying to shut me out."

"It's not, it's my way of saying I'm here and I'm vulnerable and I'm afraid but I'm also willing to open the door and see what happens next," she rounded the desk and sat down behind it as she went on, "in one way she's right," she stared at Robyn.

"I've been reserved and almost hermit like but you were the first woman I did this with alone, I've had women up at my place for various sessions but they were always with another woman. If I was helping someone out I never wanted to cross that boundary but then you came along," she leaned on her palm.

"At first I thought I was okay, I was confident that I could do this but after a couple of weeks the cracks in the armour began to show and when I was getting ready for that concert I felt like a twenty one year old going out for a hot date. I was literally buzzing."

"Why didn't you take me home to your joint that night then?"

"Because you were pissed and I was sober. I have two rules with women, don't take advantage of them when they're pissed or stoned and don't try to take advantage when they're emotionally drunk and you were both that night. In the morning you would have woken up in bed with me, you would still have to face up to a boyfriend and I wasn't sure where you stood with the church. I advised you to deal with Jeff and you did, and tomorrow night I was thinking of asking you out but right now I'm not sure how that's going to look after Helen's done her dirty work."

"You're not Helen," she stood up and walked over to the rows of folders on the shelves, "you've been honest with me, you didn't take advantage of my lack of experience."

"Well there is that in my defence, your honour," Penny grinned as she watched her walk along the shelves to the ones by the door and then Robyn turned around and faced her.

"She lied to me," Robyn spoke quietly, "I was on the edge, everything was happening so fast. Don't get me wrong, I kissed her first so that's on me but by the time we got up here I knew what was going to happen unless I stopped it," she took a couple of steps forward.

"I may not have stated it directly but one of my requirements is honesty. I demand the truth even if it's painful, but from what you've told me, just about everything she's told me has been a lie," she stopped near the divan and stared past her.

"She sold me a sewing machine that was supposed to have been in her mother's spare room for thirty bucks because that's the price I offered her but Cindy told me the other day that they go for about two hundred or more."