Shadows of wildstone, p.17
Shadows of Wildstone, page 17
William’s composure faltered slightly, a fraction of a second where his poker face slipped before he regained a polite smile. ‘No, I’m afraid not.’ He smiled a little wider. ‘Skye was such a bright and charming young girl, it was such a shame, what happened to her.’
‘What do you mean by what happened to her?’ Caleb sat bolt upright now, his gaze burning into William’s.
‘Oh, forgive me for jumping to conclusions, Officer Hart, it’s just, I was witness to you uncovering her bones.’ At Caleb’s lack of response, William shifted uncomfortably in his chair. ‘Given that I live behind Rhonda and Donna’s, with all the commotion going on, I couldn’t help but take a look for myself.’
Caleb remained quiet a little longer. ‘We don’t know that it was Skye Love’s bones yet, so how do you?’
William’s shrug was overstated. ‘Surmising, I guess, like most of the township would be.’
‘Uh-huh, I see,’ was Caleb’s vigilant response. ‘Thanks for clearing that up.’
Nyah had to try extremely hard to bite her tongue. There was something in William’s mannerisms, a subtle shift in his gaze whenever Skye’s name was mentioned. She could tell Caleb was seeing it too. Her instincts screamed at her, pushing her to press further, but she wasn’t going to disrespect Caleb’s invitation to be here any more than she just had.
‘Skye was a beautiful child,’ William remarked nonchalantly, filling the lingering void of silence. ‘A very bright girl,’ he added with closed eyes and a nod, ‘with so much potential for her future.’
‘Yes, Mr Keller.’ Caleb drew in a heavy breath. ‘You’ve said that a few times now.’
‘Indeed, I have.’ William’s smile disappeared, and his regard turned a little icy.
‘Is Nate still working at the mine over on Groote Island?’
‘No, he was made redundant last month. He’s presently looking for other work.’ William’s reply was short and sharp, almost defensive. ‘Tell me, Caleb, is this impromptu visit official police business, or are you here off record?’ Brows rising, he looked smug as he waited for a reply.
‘Just a casual visit, Mr Keller, and we’ll be going now.’ Caleb stood, as did Nyah. ‘Do you mind if I use your toilet, though, before I go?’
‘Not at all.’ William motioned down the hallway with a tip of his head. ‘It’s just down yonder, in the bathroom at the end.’
‘You right to meet me back out at the car, Nyah?’
‘Ahh yes, yup.’ Damn straight I am, she silently screamed, as she made her way back to the front door without even a goodbye, shot outside, and then locked herself in the car.
* * *
Caleb’s heart hammered against his rib cage as he casually made his way down the hallway, subtly taking in every detail he could along the way. Needing the toilet was the only excuse he’d been able to come up with to give himself the chance to have a quick look around. Heading into the salmon pink room with brown and orange cupboards above the sink—the colour scheme right out of the seventies—he smelled the musty scent of earth mingled with the humid air that seeped through the cracks in the wooden walls. Biding his time, he lifted the lid of the toilet then turned in a circle. Everything had a place and was in it, except for one thing; the bathroom mat was bunched up, as if kicked into the corner behind the clothes basket. The tidiness of the rest of the house made this look completely out of place, and Caleb’s copper instincts moved into top gear.
Crouching, he moved the mat then quickly ran his fingers along the floorboards and over the skirting tiles, feeling for anything out of the ordinary. Just as he was about to give up, his fingers caught on a subtle indentation. With bated breath, he carefully shifted the unattached tile from where it was loosely held in by grout. Using his phone’s torch, he lit up the dark cavity and saw a small ziplock bag. He reached in with a steady hand, opened it and discovered a pile of Polaroids. Each was a chronicle of Skye’s days: her movements, her laughter and her tears. Nyah was in some, as were her father and mother. None of them seemed to know that the camera was pointed at them. Underneath the snaps, he spotted a familiar childhood sweet and carefully lifted the packet; the label FADS Fun Sticks was still legible. Inside the packet, only half the white cigarette-shaped lollies remained. Had Keller lured Skye with the promise of these, and if so, why had he kept the box? This strange find could be what they needed to get the justice they were searching for. But as much as he wanted to take all this straight to the investigators, he couldn’t. He had no legal right to be snooping. It would backfire, and any evidence would be thrown from court by Keller’s defence. He’d seen the guilty using the law to their advantage too many times. He wouldn’t allow this to be another such case. So he quickly took a photo with his phone, popped it all back, and made sure to put everything where it should be, including the bunched-up mat.
Footfalls sounded down the hall. With quick reflexes, he straightened and flushed the toilet just as William jiggled the handle. ‘Everything okay in there?’
Caleb’s heart thundered, but he maintained a cool facade. ‘Yup, just washing my hands.’ After doing so he unlocked the door, swung it open, and smiled into the face of the man who had very likely stolen Skye’s life—the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. ‘Sorry, too much coffee.’ He tapped his stomach. ‘But all good now.’
William’s eyes hardened for a split second before he forced a smile. ‘I’ll see you out. In the future, please don’t take it upon yourself to call in and question me like I’m a suspect, Officer Hart,’ he haughtily stated as he basically marched him to the door. ‘You take care now.’ The door thumped closed before Caleb could respond.
The walk back to his Troopy was a quick one, and as soon as he slid in, he started the engine, turned around, and headed back towards the main street of town. ‘Sorry to send you to the car on your own, Nyah, but I needed a chance to snoop.’
‘I gathered that was the case. Find anything?’ Her voice held a mix of hope and trepidation.
‘More than I bargained for.’ He recounted the discovery, watching as a range of emotions flickered across her features—shock, anger and indomitable resolve.
‘Keller,’ she whispered, the name a venomous curse on her lips. ‘He’s been hiding in plain sight, all this time.’ Then she sucked in a sharp breath, brows high. ‘Oh my god, Caleb, I just remembered Mum finding a few of the same lollies underneath Skye’s mattress one morning, and wow, did she get cranky. She told Skye cigarettes were death on a doorstep, and that pretending to smoke them was stupid.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘Skye was so upset.’
‘Wow, the plot thickens.’ Caleb mentally stashed the information. ‘I know this is a massive breakthrough, but we need to be really careful,’ he cautioned, his protective instincts flaring. ‘Given we weren’t even meant to be there, I’ll need to find a valid reason for a search warrant, and then I can re-find the stash, so it can’t be struck out in court.’
‘As much as that sucks, I get it.’ Nyah nodded, a fierce light kindling in her eyes. ‘We will find a way and bring Skye justice. No matter what it takes.’
Pondering for a breath, he indicated left, then turned towards the industrial estate. ‘Slight change of plans. It may be throwing the ball out of the park, but I reckon we should pop in to see the bloke who very likely would’ve sold William the packet of lollies.’
She tipped her head, questioning. ‘How do you know where he would’ve gotten them from?’
‘Other than the takeaway that sold milk and bread, the Davies corner shop was the only grocery store for miles back then.’
Nyah’s brows furrowed, then she nodded. ‘Ahh, that’s right, I remember it now.’ The wind tore through the open window, whipping her loose dark curls around her face. ‘Great thinking.’
They continued in silence as he thought about ways to justify a search warrant, coming up empty for now. ‘Here we are,’ he announced, his voice blending with the hum of the engine as they pulled up outside the shopfront.
The creaking sign above the door read Davies Corner Store, and as they stepped beneath it they entered a place caught in a time warp, where the heavy scents of old paper and burnt toast mingled.
Mr Davies looked up from where he sat behind the counter, his narrowed eyes made bigger by his thick glasses. ‘Caleb Hart, what brings you in here?’
‘Sorry to bother you, Mr Davies, but we just need a moment of your time.’ He kept his tone serious, yet warm enough to coax cooperation rather than demand it.
Closing the newspaper he’d been reading, Mr Davies looked over the rim of his glasses. ‘Of course, how can I help?’
Resting an elbow on the countertop, Caleb tried to remain casual. ‘I know it was many years ago, and this may seem like a strange question, but can you recall if William Keller came in here around the time Skye Love disappeared? Buying lollies?’
‘Keller? Yes, I sure do. He shopped here often, just like the rest of the township before the corporates stole my business away,’ Mr Davies replied eagerly, his height diminishing as he hopped off his stool. ‘But it wasn’t William buying the sweets, it was his brother, Nate.’
Caleb’s mind raced at the mention of Nate Keller. He didn’t have much to do with the bloke, given he spent most of his time working away at the mines. ‘I see.’ Keeping his expression neutral, he pressed further. ‘Nate Keller, you say. Did you ever notice him acting out of the ordinary?’
‘I haven’t seen him in years.’ Mr Davies scratched his chin thoughtfully, the stubble on his ageing face rasping softly. ‘But back when he used to come in here, he was a bit of a shadow, always lurking around as if he was about to nick something, not that I ever caught him taking anything. He was never the friendly sort like his brother, although William has changed since his mother died, I must admit. He still pops in here from time to time, to pick up the odd thing—milk, the paper, bread sometimes.’ He paused momentarily as if finding the right words. ‘As for Nate, he was always quiet, kept to himself mostly.’ He paused and his eyes clouded with reminiscences. ‘But I do remember one thing—he always bought those lolly cigarettes. Used to pretend to smoke them as he walked out the door. Very odd chap, that one.’
Nyah turned to Caleb, urgency in her eyes. Caleb met her gaze, a steely determination settling in his, then he quickly focused back on the old shopkeeper. ‘Thank you for your help, Mr Davies. If you remember anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me personally.’ Opening his wallet, he handed over one of his official police cards, with his mobile number at the bottom.
‘Will do, Caleb, will do,’ Mr Davis replied seriously.
‘Just one more thing.’ Caleb exhaled heavily. ‘If necessary, would you be prepared to put what you just told me into an official statement?’
‘Yes, of course I would, anything to help.’ He looked to Nyah and his gaze was deeply sympathetic. ‘Your sister deserves justice.’
‘Thank you, Mr Davies.’ Nyah’s reply was filled with heartbreak.
With a nod of understanding, they left the outdated corner store and climbed back into the Troopy. As they excitedly went over what they’d just uncovered, Caleb revved the diesel engine to life. The quest for Nate Keller’s guilt, or innocence, had begun—there was no turning back now. Traction had been gained, and he was ready to accelerate into the truth of that fateful day.
* * *
Four and a half hours later, fortified by determination and legal authority, with official confirmation that the bones were in fact Skye’s and the receipt of an official affidavit from Mr Davies, Caleb stood at the threshold of William Keller’s property with the search warrant burning a hole in his pocket. He was grateful that Nyah was safe at Hope’s place, where his sister was comforting her.
With nightfall quickly approaching, ghostly shadows draped themselves over the modest weatherboard home, as if clinging to its corners and peering out with an eerie watchfulness, and the air held a palpable sense of foreboding, as if the world itself was holding its breath in anticipation.
‘Ready, Hart?’ Boston asked him.
‘Bloody oath I am; let’s go find what we need to put whoever’s responsible behind bars,’ he replied firmly.
‘Damn straight, let’s do this,’ Vance stated firmly.
The crunch of gravel underfoot echoed through the stillness as Caleb, Vance and Boston led a team of six through the twilight shroud. This was the culmination of their steadfast efforts, the point of no return. As they approached the home, bathed in the fading light of dusk that bled into hues of dusky rose and violet above them, Boston signalled for his officers to surround the house. The six men moved with precision, like well-rehearsed dancers honed by years of training. Ready for anything, Caleb rested his hand on the holster at his hip. It was a silent reminder of the gravity of their operation.
Arriving along with his five fellow officers, Caleb locked onto Keller’s wide gaze when the front door swung open. ‘William Keller,’ he began, his voice steady despite the turmoil within his heart, ‘we have a search warrant for your house.’
Keller’s expression faltered. ‘What do you mean you have a search warrant for my home? I did nothing to that girl. Nothing!’
‘We’ll be the judge of that, Mr Keller.’ Caleb put the paper worth its weight in gold back into his pocket. ‘Now please step aside and allow us entry.’
As a junior officer kept an eye on William, and Boston held watch out front while Vance and two other cops from the Gunadi station began searching, Caleb felt the threads of closure weaving themselves into his grief-stricken heart. This was it. One way or another, they were finally going to crack the case his father had tried to break for the last decade of his longstanding career. The air was heavy with tension as they began their thorough search, turning over furniture and rummaging through closets. Knowing exactly where he was heading—right back to the tile behind the toilet—Caleb’s mind raced with the possibility of finding more crucial evidence that could bring closure to Skye’s case. As he knelt exactly where he’d been earlier, then carefully extracted the photos and packet of FADS, his hands trembled slightly as he carefully bagged the evidence.
‘You’ve got to come look at what we just found beneath a floorboard.’ Vance’s terse voice gripped his attention. ‘One of the Kellers, if not both, are going down for sure.’
Arriving in the spare room, Caleb couldn’t believe his eyes. There, in an officer’s gloved hands, was an open diary. Stuck to one page was a photo of a young Nate, with Skye sitting on his lap, and written on the opposite page in red ink was a chilling poem that Caleb had to read twice to absorb after the officer handed it to him.
The connection between us is deep,
Yet secrets in the darkness my family keep.
She vanished without a trace,
But her beautiful memory I can’t erase.
In shadows we roamed,
Little did she know, I was her home.
And now she remains where light fades,
In death’s embrace, because of my mother, she wades.
I’m so sorry, Skye, sweet and fair,
Your spirit lingers in the air.
My hands will forever be stained red,
By the secrets now left unsaid.
CHAPTER
14
As he held the damning evidence in his hands, Caleb’s heart sank. The truth was staring back at him in the form of the eerie poem and a chillingly haunting photograph. Vance placed a supportive hand on his shoulder—a gesture of both friendship and professional camaraderie. The pieces of the puzzle were finally starting to fit together, revealing a sinister picture of what had truly happened to Skye Love all those years ago. The web had been woven, and he was about to trap the person who’d preyed upon an innocent young girl—the little sister of the only woman he’d ever truly loved with every inch of his heart, and still did.
Turning to Vance, his voice was firm and unwavering. ‘We have what we need. Secure the evidence, and we’ll take William back to the station. And prepare to find Nate Keller so he can be brought in for questioning as well. But make sure to keep the two men separate if you come across Nate before me, so they can’t collaborate a false story—if they haven’t done so already.’ His hands clenched at his sides as he fought to control red rage—it would do him no favours to snap. ‘It’s time to end this nightmare once and for all.’
‘Gotcha, Caleb.’ Vance nodded, offering a glance that only longtime mates would share, then stepped into action.
After taking in a deep breath to steady himself, Caleb turned and walked out of the room and down the hallway towards William Keller, his eyes burning with a mixture of anger and sorrow. ‘William Keller, it seems you have some explaining to do.’ With William going to retort, he held his hand up. ‘Save it for when you’re under oath. We’ve found a diary of your brother’s along with a photograph that paints a very incriminating picture.’
William paled, his facade crumbling as he realised the damning nature of the evidence now in plain view. ‘I—I can explain,’ he stammered, but his voice faltered under the weight of guilt and fear.
Caleb’s grip on the evidence tightened as he took a step closer, his voice low and firm. ‘You’ll have plenty of time to explain down at the station.’
Vance guided William Keller to the waiting vehicle with a firm but gentle hand, despite the cold steel of handcuffs that bound the retired schoolteacher. And as Keller’s form disappeared into the back of the patrol car, Caleb felt as if a chapter had closed on a tale that had gripped the town for far too long. Now they needed to dig deep, and remain vigilant, as they discovered the ending of the story. He didn’t want any stuff-ups on the police force’s part, giving the Kellers a way to escape what they’d gone and done.
Regrouping outside the house, he found a private spot and dialled his sister’s number. When she picked up, he could hear the concern in her trembling voice. ‘Caleb, thank god, what’s happening? Is everything okay?’
