Deserving Death

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Book: Read Deserving Death for Free Online
Authors: Katherine Howell
Tags: australia
yes. She pushed me. I stopped her. I had hold of her arm at one point. I assume that’s what your witness saw. Whoever it is. Then she said he was moving out so it didn’t matter anyway.’
    ‘When exactly did you and Alicia break up?’
    ‘Friday the tenth. Just over three weeks ago.’
    ‘What happened?’
    ‘The relationship had run its course.’
    ‘Up another woman’s top?’ Ella said.
    ‘We’d discussed breaking up before that happened. As far as I was concerned it was all but over.’
    He breathed evenly, his posture and position unchanged, but he’d put on his cop face, the one of boredom and indifference that you used when you wanted nobody to see how you really felt, especially if they’d got to you.
    ‘Are you in a relationship with that woman now?’ Ella asked.
    ‘The one from the party? No.’
    ‘Something funny about that?’ Ella said.
    ‘Not at all.’
    Uh-huh. ‘Where were you last night?’
    ‘At a mate’s place until about midnight, then home.’
    ‘What’s this mate’s name and where does he live?’ Murray asked.
    ‘Ben Trevaskis.’ He recited an address in Bondi Junction.
    ‘A cop?’ Ella said.
    ‘Yep. Works here with me.’
    Ella didn’t know him. ‘What did you do at his place?’
    ‘Had a couple of beers and watched UFC on his Foxtel. Ultimate Fighting Championship, you know?’
    Ella knew. She thought about the lacerations and bruising to Bayliss’s face. ‘Are you into fighting yourself?’
    ‘Boxing’s part of my gym routine, but I don’t actually fight,’ he said.
    ‘Mind showing us your hands?’
    He held them out, palms up, then turned them over. His skin was intact and bore no bruises, but good padding or gloves could have protected it.
    ‘Which gym do you go to?’ she said.
    He told them the address in Coogee.
    ‘What about when you got home last night?’ Murray said. ‘Do you live alone?’
    ‘No, I have a flatmate.’
    ‘Another cop?’ Ella asked.
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Where’s he work?’
    ‘Paddo.’
    ‘Was he awake when you got in? Did you have a conversation?’ Murray asked.
    ‘He was playing guitar in his room,’ Morris said. ‘I knocked on the wall as I went past and he said hi.’
    ‘What time was that?’
    He shrugged. ‘Some time after midnight. I didn’t notice.’
    ‘His name?’ Ella said.
    ‘Patrick Green.’
    Ella didn’t know him either. Once upon a time it felt like she knew most of the cops in the city. Now there seemed to be swarms of young strangers everywhere.
    ‘Where do you live?’ Murray asked.
    ‘Apartment in Coogee.’ He gave an address not far from the beach.
    Ella said, ‘Do you know a Maxine Hardwick?’
    ‘The dead paramedic Maxine Hardwick, or some other one?’
    ‘Any,’ she said.
    ‘No.’
    ‘You’re sure?’
    ‘Yes.’
    Ella’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out to see the office number, and glanced at Murray.
    ‘Interview suspended,’ he said, and she left the room, pulling the door closed behind her.
    ‘Marconi,’ she answered.
    ‘You’re still interviewing Morris, right?’ Dennis asked. ‘The neighbour across the street, the woman who found Bayliss, saw him cruise past Bayliss’s house three days ago. Bayliss wasn’t home.’
    ‘Beautiful,’ Ella said.
    Back in the interview room, Murray restarted the tape as she sat down. Morris glanced at his watch and folded his arms.
    ‘So,’ Ella said, ‘you broke up with Alicia almost a month back.’
    ‘Three weeks.’
    ‘Why did you drive past her house three days ago?’
    He didn’t blink. ‘I had some CDs of hers that I wanted to drop off, but her car wasn’t there. I didn’t want to leave them on the verandah where anyone could see them and steal them, so I drove away.’
    It sounded rehearsed to Ella. ‘Did you ever have a key to her house?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘How security conscious was she?’ Murray said.
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘If someone knocked on her door late at night, and she didn’t know them, would she

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