The Party Line by Sue Orr

Author:Sue Orr [Sue Orr]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775537564
Publisher: Random House New Zealand
Published: 2015-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

She thought, at first, that all the lights were out at the Baxter cottage too. But as she slowed down, she noticed a pale milky glow in one window. She parked the car and climbed the steps of the front porch.

Joy knocked loudly and called out. For a moment, it seemed that no one was coming, but eventually footsteps echoed inside. Ian Baxter opened the door and flicked on the porch light. He squinted at Joy.

‘It’s Joy. Joy Walker … I know it’s late but … I need to have a word, Ian.’

Did he recognise her? She couldn’t say. The name — Walker — didn’t seem to trigger any response. Joy thought that, on Nickie’s behalf, this was a good thing.

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Of course. Come in.’

There was no heady scent coming from Gabrielle’s bedroom this time. The door of that room was shut now. Joy hoped Gabrielle was asleep.

Her hands brushed against the wall as she moved through the dark hallway. Her fingers pressed against rips and bumps and indentations in the wallpaper; layers of life before now, some pushing their way to the surface. Who had lived in this house, before Jack Gilbert’s inaugural sharemilkers? No face or name came to mind.

The living room was sparse and cold, with two tatty armchairs and a matching couch. In the corner, a television was switched on but the screen was white static, hissing to be switched off.

He sat in one of the chairs, and gestured for her to take the other. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ he asked. The question — the correctness of it — seemed to startle him.

Joy shook her head.

‘Look. I’m really sorry about this … I could have left it until tomorrow, I suppose. But I just heard and … well, here I am.’

She shrugged and stared at Ian, searching for signs … of what? Depravity? There was only bewilderment in the face of this man.

‘I need to ask you about something that happened at the school, a while back now.’ Her heart thumped. ‘My girl, Nickie. She was wearing a scarf, apparently. It belonged to your … to you, I think.’

Ian nodded. His eyes met hers, unblinking and honest.

‘And,’ Joy went on, ‘I heard, just tonight. I heard that you might have … approached her? Played with the scarf?’

Ian got up, for a moment he brought his hands to his face and held them there. Joy wondered whether he was crying, or perhaps thinking about his next move.

He left the room without speaking. Joy listened to doors opening and closing softly. When he returned, the scarf was in his hands.

There had never been an object more out of place, Joy thought, as he laid the glorious fabric gently on the threadbare carpet. Ian kneeled at one end of it and, with a tender hand, flattened the ballooning air out from underneath. Joy slipped to the floor at the other end of the scarf and did the same, taking care not to catch the sequins.

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