Chapter 72
The strong beam from the lighthouse swept across the ocean in the distance as Nel emerged from the pub and charged up Manning Street.
‘Nel, wait!’ Lauren ran to catch up, then fell in sync with her stride. ‘Where are you going?’
‘To the surf club.’
‘To Geoff’s election party?’
‘Yep.’
‘What are you planning to do?’ There was trepidation in Lauren’s voice.
‘Not sure yet,’ Nel murmured as the surf club came into view. A few media vans were parked out the front. She spotted a police car and wondered if Jimmy was there.
Lauren grabbed her arm. ‘I don’t think this is a good idea.’
Nel shook her off, striding towards the building where Geoff Marshall would shortly make his victory speech.
Voices echoed in the foyer. When Nel reached the function room, she stopped at the door and scanned the crowd.
People had started moving towards a small stage at the far end of the room where two Australian flags stood behind a lectern.
She could see Geoff’s head above the crowd.
Where was Faye? She would be here, a good wife, dutifully standing by her husband’s side. How could she, if Nel was right …
‘Hey.’
She turned to see Trent. ‘Hi. What’s happening?’
‘Geoff’s about to claim victory. You won’t see anything from back here soon. Want to come down the front with me? My photographer’s already down there.’
They squeezed through the crowd and found a spot close to the front as Geoff stepped up onto the stage, Faye one step behind. Nel was struck by how small she looked, how frail. Jimmy stood at the other side of the stage. He glanced up and their eyes met.
‘Hello, darling,’ Cath said, appearing by Nel’s side. ‘Good turnout.’
Nel nodded. She looked back at Faye, who was staring at the floor in front of her. ‘How’s Faye?’
Cath shrugged. ‘Tolerating it all. She’s never been comfortable with the spotlight.’
Applause broke out as Geoff approached the microphone to the flash of cameras. He leaned down and said something into Faye’s ear. She gave a slight shake of her head and looked away.
‘Good evening!’ His deep voice boomed over the speakers.
‘And a very good evening it is!’ He paused for more applause.
‘Firstly, thank you to the wonderful people of Wells.’ That was the federal electorate of the far south coast. ‘It’s been the greatest honour of my life to serve you, and I’m so humbled to have the opportunity to continue to do so for another term … ’
His delivery was perfect. Thoughtful, composed, statesmanlike. By his side, Faye’s face was utterly devoid of emotion.
When Geoff finished his victory speech, Trent stepped forward and cleared his throat. ‘Mr Marshall? Congratulations on your resounding victory, but I wondered how you and Faye are doing after the news of Ryan Warner’s arrest on charges relating to Maddie’s death?’
There was silence as though the whole crowd was holding its breath. A shadow crossed Geoff’s face, then he seemed to steel himself.
‘We’re okay … thank you.’
Nel watched Faye. She kept her eyes down. Her mouth was tight, her lips pursed.
‘I don’t want to say much on this matter. Just that all we want, all we’ve ever wanted, is for our beautiful Maddie to be able to rest in peace.’
Those words again. Nel sucked in a deep breath. ‘Faye,’ she said loudly.
Faye’s eyes snapped up as heads swung in Nel’s direction.
‘You need to tell the truth.’
She waited, heart racing, for Faye to say something. A cameraman pointed his camera at her. Some people were filming on their phones.
‘Nel!’ Cath hissed beside her. ‘Be quiet!’
Geoff looked at Faye, who met his gaze, stony-faced, then back at Nel. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’
Nel ignored him. ‘You need to tell the truth, Faye.’
Geoff scoffed. ‘That’s enough!’
Nel raised her voice. ‘You know what happened to Maddie, Faye. I know you know.’
‘The nerve of you!’ Geoff said, seething. ‘You need to leave or I’ll have you taken away.’ He gestured to Jimmy. ‘Get her out of here.’
Jimmy was unmoved.
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Nel’s heart pounded. ‘Tell us the truth, Faye.’
‘I can’t do this anymore, Geoff,’ Faye said, her voice thin, weak.
He glared at her. ‘Don’t, Faye.’
Her eyes flashed with defiance. When she spoke again her voice was stronger. ‘I won’t do this anymore.’
‘Faye. Don’t.’ Geoff’s voice cracked as he spoke. ‘Please.’ He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the side of the stage.
‘Don’t touch me,’ Faye hissed through clenched teeth, wrenching her hand free.
Geoff stepped back and raised his hands slightly.
‘It’s time people knew the truth,’ Faye said. She looked around at the faces before her, then she fixed her eyes on the floor in front of her and began to speak.
‘At first we didn’t think anything was wrong, that night when Maddie didn’t come home.’ Her voice was a low steady murmur. ‘She was a handful, you know. She often pushed the boundaries.’
She looked up and her eyes met Nel’s. ‘We thought she must have been with you, Nel. When it got to about nine and she still wasn’t home, I rang the Foleys, but Cath said Nel had got home just after eight.’
Nel felt Cath stiffen beside her at the mention of her name.
‘That was when I started to worry. We waited a bit longer, telling ourselves that any minute she would turn up. But she didn’t, so we decided that Geoff would go out looking for her in the car and I’d stay at home in case she came back or rang.’
She twisted her wedding ring as she spoke. Geoff’s hands hung by his side, his gaze distant.
‘It was almost midnight when Geoff came back. He said he hadn’t found her and that we should go to bed, that she’d come home eventually.
I lay awake all night, convinced she must be dead or abducted, but telling myself it was just an act of teenage rebellion.
I’d picture her waltzing back in, telling us to chill out, apologising flippantly in that sing-song way she had that drove me mad. ’
A long silence.
‘What happened then, Faye?’ Nel prompted.
‘When daylight came and she still wasn’t home, I knew something was terribly wrong. I woke Geoff. He can sleep through anything.’ She let out a hollow little laugh and shook her head. ‘We rang the police and reported her missing. And then, three days later, she was found. Dead.’
Faye paused, still twisting the ring, anguish on her face.
‘Those first few years after we lost her, I was barely living. The only time I didn’t feel pain was when I was asleep, so I took Stilnox and stayed in bed.
I spent eighteen months like that—sleeping, or staring at the wall.
Then eventually I started to come out the other side. I started painting instead.’
Faye’s face hardened. She glared at Geoff then looked back at the crowd. ‘That’s when I started to think back to what happened. I kept replaying that night over and over in my mind. And there were some things that didn’t make sense.’
She shook her head, looking down at her hands.
‘Like what?’ Nel asked gently. ‘What didn’t make sense?’
Faye looked up at her. ‘When Geoff got home the night she disappeared, his pants were dirty and torn at one knee. He said he’d walked around the cliff track looking for her, but that didn’t explain why they were so dirty or why they were ripped like that.
The day after she went missing, I tried to find them, but they were gone.
When I asked him where they were, he said he threw them out.
At the time, I didn’t think much about it—I was out of my mind worrying about Maddie—but it bothered me. ’
She was speaking to Nel now as if they were the only ones there.
‘It was more than that though. I started to wonder, why didn’t Geoff want to call the police that night?
It seemed strange, in retrospect. Out of character.
I had terrible guilt about that for a long time.
I kept thinking, if we’d called the police then she might not have ended up dead.
’ She shrugged sadly. ‘But now I know that’s not true. ’
Nel nodded, encouraging her to go on.
‘And I couldn’t understand why Geoff wanted to drop the case. He was very insistent, so I went along with it, but it seemed strange to me. Our daughter was dead. Witnesses saw her ex-boyfriend’s car in the area where she was last seen. Why wouldn’t he want to pursue it?’
She stood taller now, her eyes flashing with resolve. ‘It didn’t add up. I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me. So in the lead-up to the 2013 election, I confronted him. I told him he needed to tell me the truth or I’d go to the police.’
She turned to Geoff. He looked back at her, eyes pleading.
‘Tell them,’ she said. It was an order.