Chapter Thirteen
CHAPTER
The first rays of morning sunshine reached for Nyah as she pushed open the doors of the Wildstone police station, her heart already heavy with the dreaded task ahead.
Smells of coffee and industrial cleaner greeted her as she left the main street behind her.
It had been thirty-six hours since the bones were discovered, and they were still waiting for official confirmation that the remains were Skye’s.
Every passing hour was agonising for her and for her grieving father, and she was eternally grateful he had her stepmum there to comfort him.
She was grateful too that her boss had given her indefinite leave, on compassionate grounds.
Her belongings were now all packed, ready for Caleb to collect them from the bungalow with her later on.
What a godsend it was, having him offer her a place to stay at his house.
With determined strides, she made her way to the front desk and saw a female police officer she recognised from the team that had carefully unearthed her sister’s remains.
‘Hi, I’m here to meet with Officer Caleb Hart,’ Nyah announced evenly, her voice betraying none of the turmoil churning inside her.
Prompted, she presented her ID to the officer, the fingers of her free hand unconsciously brushing against the birthmark at the nape of her neck.
‘Thanks, Miss Love.’ The female officer passed the driving licence back to her, her expression one of empathy. ‘I’ll take you to him.’
After unlocking a heavy door, the policewoman led Nyah into the depths of the station where rows of records lay in silent repose.
When they reached a room at the end of the hall, Caleb’s tall figure appeared in the doorway.
His usual uniform had been replaced with a smart polo shirt and tailored shorts, and with his tattoo-adorned arms hinting at his bad-boy side, Nyah felt her heart take off and flutter towards him.
‘Thanks, Officer Jonson.’ His eyes then settled on Nyah. ‘Hey there, you ready to do this?’
Swallowing her overzealous anticipation down, she nodded. ‘Ready as ever.’
‘Good.’ His warm smile contrasted with his determined gaze. ‘I have plenty of coffee to keep us going, and Hope said she’ll drop us down some food when the morning rush is over.’
‘Awesome.’ She clapped her hands together. ‘Let’s do this.’ The weight of grief and hope rested heavily upon her chest, a familiar contradiction in her endless search for closure.
They worked in tandem, flipping through faded pages that bore witness to the passage of time.
Between statements and handwritten notes, her eyes were weary within the hour.
She noted how Caleb’s typically charming smile was absent, replaced by a furrowed brow as they combed through myriad documents.
The rustle of paper and scratching of their pens on notepads created a steady soundtrack to their tireless search.
And the hours ticked on. Whenever her hand paused over a page, Caleb would lean in close, his warm breath caressing her ear as they both studied whatever had halted her, and vice versa.
Their search led them down a labyrinth of dead ends and false leads, each promising clue fizzling out into nothing.
There was no mention of any man who her mother could have been seeing behind her father’s back for years.
Claire had certainly been clever at keeping it under wraps.
Nyah’s frustration mounted with each disappointment, the weight of the fourteen-year-old cold case becoming almost suffocating.
Yet Caleb’s unwavering determination never faltered.
His belief in their ability to uncover the truth about that horrible, fateful day was a steady anchor in the turbulent sea of uncertainty.
‘I don’t know how to say this, Ny, so I’m going to put it straight out there.’ Caleb took a breath, then sighed. ‘Maybe your father knew about your mother’s affair, and can lead us to whoever it was, so we can ask the person some questions.’
‘I see your point, and I’ve thought about this, too.
’ Her heart stalled then raced with apprehension.
‘Honestly, I know my dad, and he would’ve spoken up about the man Mum was having an affair with when Skye went missing, if he knew anything about the lowlife bastard.
’ She tapped the folders. ‘In all Dad’s statements he mentions nothing about it, and I know in my heart he would have, because it may have led the police to clues about Skye’s whereabouts. ’
Caleb remained silent as he pondered this, then he nodded. ‘Yes, you’re right. And I don’t want to add to his heartbreak right now by adding your mother’s sordid affair into the mix.’
Reaching out, she placed her hand over his. ‘Thank you for not pushing the subject.’ She sniffed back red-raw emotion. ‘I will tell him, when I get back to Cairns.’
They got back to the painstaking work. It wasn’t until Nyah started sorting through old photographs provided by her mother that she noticed something unusual.
Among the snapshots, her eyes landed on a group picture from Skye’s twelfth birthday party, and her heart skipped a beat.
There, standing at the edge of the frame, was a younger, but very familiar, face—William Keller.
Beside him stood his brother, Nate. Their presence sent a shiver down her spine and raised questions in her mind.
Why were they at Skye’s birthday party? Yes, William had been their teacher and, along with his brother and now late mother, nearby neighbour, but she didn’t recall them ever having anything to do with each other outside of school.
If anything, William’s mother and hers disliked each other.
The two women were always grumbling at each other about this and that, like some neighbours do.
Nothing out of the ordinary. Or had there been?
Could it be possible that she’d overlooked William and Nate’s presence at family gatherings?
It wasn’t as if she remembered everything from her childhood.
She had in fact blocked a lot of it out due to trauma.
The memory of William at her mother’s funeral, then watching her sister’s remains being uncovered, resurfaced, intensifying her unease.
What was scratching at her subconscious, trying to be heard?
Was it palpable, or purely a figment of her imagination?
Caleb must have noticed the shift in her energy and, placing a folder down, he followed her gaze to the photograph in her hands. ‘Have you found something?’ His voice was low, almost a whisper, as if he sensed something important unfolding.
She hesitated, torn between voicing her suspicions and potentially accusing an innocent man, or keeping her thoughts to herself and missing a vital lead.
But the innate need to seek justice for Skye quickly outweighed her doubts.
‘I think Mr Keller might know more about Skye’s disappearance than he’s letting on.
’ A shiver ran down her spine at the realisation that even the smallest detail could hold the key to unravelling her sister’s fate.
Caleb looked then shook his head. ‘I don’t know—what’s not right about this photo in particular?’
She tapped the edge, where the two men were lingering at the back of the group.
‘As far as I know, neither of them were ever invited to anything at our place.’ She grimaced.
‘Mum never liked Mrs Keller, said she was an oddball without an ounce of kindness in her cold heart, and by the way Mrs Keller used to glare at my mother whenever the two crossed paths, well…’ She slowly shrugged.
‘Let’s just say there was no love lost between the two. ’
‘Hmmm, it might mean nothing, but it’s clearly sparked something enough for you to mention it.
’ He rubbed his stubbled chin. ‘This is a little out of the ordinary, but I’m thinking maybe you and I should pop around and ask him some questions, just on the lowdown.
’ His resolute frown was as austere as his tone.
‘As long as you promise to be a discreet offsider, that is.’
‘Yes, of course I will be.’ She was both pumped and terrified to hear what William might have to say. ‘As long as you’re sure you won’t get in trouble for taking me along.’
‘I’m not sure in the slightest.’ Caleb heaved an almighty sigh. ‘But my gut tells me we might get more of a reaction from him if you’re in the room.’
‘It’s worth a shot.’
‘Damn straight it is.’ Standing, he popped the paperwork they’d been looking at into a folder, then put the photograph in his pocket.
‘I know I shouldn’t say this, and even though Senior Sergeant Boston from the Gunadi station seems to be sure of the blokes from Sydney cracking this case, I don’t have a lot of faith in the bigwigs solving this.
’ Both hands went to the table, and he looked into her widening eyes.
‘My father did his utmost to find Skye, to the brink of exhaustion. I’ve seen, firsthand, how it can go.
The out-of-town coppers, especially the ones from the city, tend to have a habit of shoving cold cases, even ones with evidence, beneath more recent cases, especially when they’re drowning in city crime and the unsolved cases are from the sticks.
’ Exhaling, he straightened and folded his arms. ‘This time around, now that we have cold hard evidence, I’m not stopping until I find the bastard that did this. ’
Caleb’s steely determination was so overwhelming, Nyah blinked back tears. ‘Thank you.’ She shot to her feet and wrapped her arms around him. ‘I know I couldn’t do this without you.’