Page 63 of Guilty Mothers

‘You mean apart from her mother being brutally murdered and Katie being the one to find her? That not juicy enough for you?’

‘Not when I know there’s more.’

‘Like trying to get details on something that happened at the station?’ Kim asked, referring to the low blow.

‘Hey, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t chance my arm a little bit.’

‘Well, use your arm to write a decent piece and get out of my way.’

Frost stepped aside, and Kim got in the car.

She still hadn’t started driving by the time Frost had hobbled out of sight.

The reporter’s instinct wasn’t wrong about Katie and her relationship with her mum. It appeared to be formed of many layers.

But that had nothing to do with the reasons for Kim paying her a surprise visit. Her concerns were twofold. On the one hand, she wanted to ensure the woman was okay. A part of her wished she could have kept Katie at Bushey Fields to get help, but she couldn’t. She was an adult who could take care of herself. But there was something unnerving about being in Katie’s presence. Subtle mood changes that happened frequently.

Every conversation left Kim feeling that the woman was one wrong question away from a meltdown.

She was also certain there was something about Katie and her mother that they didn’t yet know.

FORTY-ONE

Kim refreshed her phone as her team started to file into the squad room.

It was three minutes to seven and she wanted to see Frost’s article about Katie Hawne the second it landed. The time she’d spent with Katie the night before had unnerved her and got her thinking about mother and daughter relationships far more than she was comfortable with. She’d removed her own experience from the analysis. Having a schizophrenic mother who was hellbent on killing both you and your twin brother was an exception and not the rule.

From what she knew of her team, Stacey had an incredibly close relationship with her mum and they talked about almost everything. Bryant had been raised by parents who had been hard-working but not overly demonstrative. Penn’s mother had passed only a couple of years ago, but they too had been close.

Katie had wished her mother dead with such a deep passion that she had actually thought she was responsible for her murder when she’d found her body, yet despite that rage, she was eager to move back to the family home instead of forging ahead with the independent life she was starting to make for herself.

It just didn’t make sense to her, but she had to let it go. Whatever her concerns about Katie’s mental health, the woman was an adult and no longer in need of her attention.

She refreshed her phone once more before heading out to the squad room.

‘Morning, people, and don’t think I was joking last night. I expect you all to present your talent before the end of play tomorrow and someone will be chosen to represent us. I don’t even care how bad you are. Anything has to be better than Penn and his poetry.’

‘Actually, boss, I’ve been thinking,’ Penn said, reaching into his bag. ‘I had a pretty cool skill when I was a kid. I was a record holder.’

Kim allowed her hopes to rise.

‘Look,’ he said with a very proud smile.

‘A Rubik’s cube?’ she asked, folding her arms.

‘Yeah, here,’ he said, passing it to her. ‘Mess it up. As much as you like. I won’t look.’

She tossed it to Tiff when Penn turned his back. Her time was better spent getting a refill from the coffee machine.

There was an air of expectation by the time she had fresh coffee and Tiff handed the cube back to Penn. It looked pretty well messed up.

‘Want me to time you?’ Stacey asked, taking out her phone.

‘Oh yes,’ Penn said.

‘Okay, start,’ she instructed.

He began twisting and turning the three rows of random colours. They watched, and watched, and watched.