The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Jane Furlong by Kelly Dennett

Author:Kelly Dennett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Awa Press
Published: 2018-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The next day is a Thursday. Amanda phones Jane’s mother about 5.30 in the evening. Judith has not long finished work at an auto electrical firm in Newmarket and returned to the Onehunga home she shares with her son Mark.

“Amanda said, ‘Is Jane there?’ Judith recalls.

“I said, ‘No, why?’

“She said, ‘Well, I haven’t seen her since 8.30 last night and I’m worried.’

“I said, ‘Well, it’s not unusual. I’m sure she’ll turn up.’ I assumed she was with Dani. They were like glue, those two. The way they lived you wouldn’t know where they were.”

Judith and I have finally made it to the Atomic Café and are drinking juice because it’s so hot, too hot for coffee. I hit record on my iPhone. I also take notes on my bulky A4 notepad, just in case.

I want to know how the police investigation began. Judith has previously indicated it was miserable. So have Dani and Amanda. I don’t know if, like Chris Good, they are angry that Jane had not had police protection when she was about to give evidence against Stephen Collie, or if they felt the police had done a poor job of trying to find her.

Judith was used to Jane taking off at the drop of a hat. When Jane and Dani had lived with her it was common for them to spend days on end at friend’s houses, taking drugs and partying. They would come home drunk or drugged and make a terrible racket at all hours of the day and night. It didn’t help that Jane’s favourite music was heavy metal and punk rock.

Given this, Judith didn’t think much of Amanda’s phone call. In any case, Dani hadn’t phoned her to say Jane was missing and neither had the police.

Many people I spoke to while researching this book emphasised how strange it was that Dani hadn’t bothered to report Jane missing until a full two days after she disappeared. This seemed suspicious. Why would you wait so long? Anybody disturbed about the sudden disappearance of a partner would surely contact the police straight away.

In fact Dani had gone to the police station straight after Jane failed to show up on the Wednesday night. Officers had turned him away. The current head of the investigation into Jane’s murder, Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Newman, confirmed this in an email to me. “Norsworthy reported her missing on the night of the 26th but was told by officers to wait 24 hours as she would probably show up (normal practice). He made a formal report at the Auckland Central watch house in the early hours of Friday 28 which, after being processed, was handed to an enquiry team on Monday 31.”

By this time Jane hadn’t been seen for five days.

The police did not call Judith to let her know her daughter had been reported missing. On the Monday, having heard nothing more from Amanda or Dani, she decided to call Detective Sergeant Dayle Candy, whom she knew of from the Stephen Collie enquiry.

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