Liars by James O’Loghlin

Author:James O’Loghlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, Closed circle crime, cosy crime, small town, secrets, murder mystery, locked room, drugs, podcast, amateur detective, Northern Beaches, rehab, gentrification, coastal, clever, Richard Osman, Thursday Murder Club, Bryan Brown, funny, quirky
ISBN: 9781760687489
Publisher: Echo Publishing
Published: 2024-06-11T03:11:01+00:00

CHAPTER 37

Next morning Seb drove to Sal’s mum Sabina’s plain two-bedroom wooden cottage at the end of a quiet, winding street on the hill. He had spent a lot of time there as a teenager, but hadn’t been back since Sal died. The cottage rested against the bush, ten minutes’ walk from the jetty, and he well remembered its friendly front porch containing a couch and chairs.

They had gone through the motions of discussing who would visit Sabina, both already knowing the answer. If Barb asked Sal’s mum for permission to release Viv from his vow of silence, it would prompt all sorts of questions about her involvement. Seb, on the other hand, had the uniform.

Sabina was a writer and, back when he and Sal were in school, had also worked a few days a week at Sue’s shop. When Seb visited, she was usually sitting at her kitchen table frowning at her laptop. Her novels still came out, every couple of years, more critically acclaimed than purchased, but Seb never read them in case they were influenced by the tragic murder of her only child. He thought about Sal enough already, without being prompted by a book.

Sal’s parents had separated when she was in primary school. Her dad lived in Melbourne with his new family. Sal had spent the occasional week of holidays with them, and he came up every now and then. She had said she didn’t really miss him, but Seb doubted it was that simple. Perhaps it was something they would have discussed eventually if they had lived the fantasy life he had spent so much time imagining.

When they all moved to Sydney, Sal’s level of parental financial support had been lower than his and the others’, and she worked a few days a week at a bookshop to pay the bills.

After Sal was killed, Sabina stopped working at Sue’s shop. He could imagine that everyone coming in with big eyes and sad looks, and ordering flat whites and burgers with sympathetic voices, would have been an extra form of hell on top of what she was already experiencing.

Seb had seen her about in the last few years. Sometimes, to his shame, he had dawdled or crossed the road to avoid her. Sal was their point of contact and she was dead, so what was there to say?

Now he stood nervously outside her front door. He wondered what it would be like to hear that your daughter’s unsolved murder was active again. Did it raise hopes, or just spark unpleasant memories that might have begun to fade, and cause another round of sleepless nights?

He made himself knock, then stepped back until she opened the door. Her hair had lost none of its frizz or blondness. She wore loose cotton pants, a red blouse, bangles, beads around her neck, and sandals.

‘Sebastian.’

‘Hi.’ It still felt too weird to call her by her first name.

‘Has anything—’

‘No, no, nothing. Sorry. Can I come in?’

‘Yes, of course.’

She pointed him to a

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