TW // Violence
“True crime?” Elisa asked with a bright smile, holding her phone up to display her favourite subject.
“Really?” Rahul winced at the thought, as he slopped his paintbrush into the thick red liquid between his feet.
“Come on, it’s interesting!”
“Put your headphones on and listen to it; I’ll listen to a football podcast.”
“This is supposed to be a special time together.” Elisa pouted dramatically, to express her dismay at their plans not being exactly as she had hoped.
“Fine.” Rahul conceded and started to slap paint on the walls. “Just make sure it’s a good one.”
“They’re all good.” She beamed, firing up the Bluetooth speaker and pressing play on the conversed dissection of a real-life horror.
“Are we sure about this colour?”
“Yes.”
“It’s very… red.”
“It’s called ‘Cherry Red’, what did you expect.”
“Huh.”
“‘Huh’ what?”
“Nothing, it’s just different to how it looked in the pictures.”
“It will look better when it’s dry.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Elisa turned to face him with hands at her sides. “Why are you trying to ruin today?” Her South African accent spilled out with her rising anger; a rare flourish that had been masked from years of living in the English countryside.
“I’m not.” Rahul raised his hands apologetically, flicking paint over his t-shirt. “I just don’t know if this is right.”
“Well let’s finish this wall and then we can review?”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Kylie Savage: Hello and welcome to another episode of THE TRUEST CRIME, with me Jane Savage and my co-host: Jack Sykes.
Jack Sykes: Hello! I am excited for this one.
Kylie: Yes, I know right? This aughta be a good one. Lots to unpack and lots of loose ends as well.
Jack: Yes, this is open-ended, a bit of a mystery.
“Careful with the edges.” Elisa said with a smile and Rahul rolled his eyes. He hated painting and was known to be a little too slap-dash just to get the job done; the edges would often bleed across and leave little scratches of colour, remnants of his impatience. Elisa was more controlled, more measured in her work, and that meant that she was able to be extra critical of everything he did.
Kylie: So, this took place in a small town just outside of Adamsbrooke in Southwest Australia.
Jack: Australian stories are always insane.
Kylie: Oh yes. There must be something in the water over there, or they’re all just so scared of sharks and spiders that they see murder as less of problem.
Jack: You’re providing a service. (laughs) “Now you don’t need to worry about three-foot spiders.”
Kylie: Exactly!
“Hey, Elisa!” Rahul shouted to grab the attention of his girlfriend who was staring vaguely at the wall, the paintbrush in her hand dripping red onto the wooden floor beyond the plastic dustsheet. “You’re dripping.”
“Huh?” She said, taking a moment or two to shake away her reverie. She put her brush into the pot. “Sorry.”
“What happened there?” He asked, putting his own brush down and helping her clean the mess.
“Just lost in thought.”
“You’re pale. Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She paused, listening to the audio and gathering her thoughts for a moment. “Can we listen to something else?”
Rahul frowned, doubting, “you love this stuff. I’m invested now. I want to know what these evil Aussies have been up to.” He laughed and got to his feet.
“There’s that good politics one with that not dreadful Tory in…”
“…this one’s fine. Are we really sure about this colour?” Rahul was squinting at the wall as he dismissed her comment.
“Yes, sure.” Her voice was thin, resigned, and the podcasters continued their unravelling of the story.
Jack: So, who found the body?
Kylie: Well, several people, actually. It was chopped into eighteen pieces and distributed around the town.
Jack: My gosh.
Kylie: I know, it’s just awful. One of the hands was found by a twelve-year-old boy.
Jack: Yikes.
“I feel sick.” Elisa said, swallowing hard as she paused the podcast.
“Oh no, you do look pale.” Rahul placed his paintbrush on the upturned pot-lid and felt her forehead. “No temperature. Maybe it’s the fumes?”
“Maybe.” She bit her lip. “Can we go for a walk or something?”
“I really want to get this done.” Rahul said, frowning, “I’ll carry on, you can go and get some rest.”
“I really just need some fresh air…”
“I booked a day’s holiday to get this done.” Rahul was incredulous. “You go for a walk if you like.”
“Without you?” She feigned being wounded and he rolled his eyes.
“Pick up a brush or go and lie down.”’
“Fine.” Elisa dipped her brush into the thick, crimson paint and started to stretch it across the wall in broad strokes. She managed three before Rahul cleared his throat.
“You gonna press play?”
Elisa exhaled and obliged.
Jack: And were there any suspects yet, any initial leads for them to go on?
Kylie: There were three, actually.
Jack: Okay…
Kylie: Yeah, promising, right? The first was a guy that was known to authorities. A bit of a drifter from Sydney. He had been charged with attempted abduction two years prior and was known to be in the area.
Jack: But…
Kylie: But he had died in a road traffic accident two weeks before.
Jack: Damn.
Kylie: Exactly.
Jack: And the others?
Kylie: The other was a brother of a landlady, who had these odd obsessions with girls and taking their photos. Just a bit of a creepy dude… but…
Jack: Here it comes.
Kylie: They had a water-tight alibi, so nothing to pursue there.
“Can you run and get me some water, please?” Elisa asked Rahul, talking over the podcast.
“Two secs.” Rahul was locked in, tongue poking out as he painted tight to the edge of the skirting board.
“I am really thirsty.”
“Give me 30 seconds.” Rahul whimpered, without taking his eyes from his hard work.
Elisa dropped her chin to her chest and exhaled, defeated.
Jack: Wait, you said three suspects?
Kylie: Yeah, the last one was from a witness statement, but it didn’t really amount to much. There was a postman who saw a young girl, early teens jumping the back fence of a yard, shortly before some of the remains were found.
Jack: Oh. That’s it?
Kylie: Yeah, there was something about the look on her face the gave the postman the shivers, but she was never found.
Jack: Damn.
Kylie: Yeah, she was wearing shorts and had a big tattoo of a dragonfly on her right calf. But they never found anybody who matched that description.
“Wait, what?” Rahul frowned at the wall and then turned to face his girlfriend, who stood solemnly beside him.
“What?”
“You didn’t hear that?” His eyes glanced down at her leg, the dragonfly wings creeping around the edges of her calf, which twisted back and forth nervously.
“Oh, the tattoo thing? Yeah, weird, huh?”
“Yeah, I’d say so.” Rahul got to his feet and placed the paintbrush into the pot. He fixed her with a stare.
“You’re not accusing me of anything here, are you?” She said after a short, strained laugh.
“No.” He shook his head, but continued frowning. “I don’t think so. Am I?”
“I’ve never been to Australia.”
The blood drained from Rahul’s face as he locked eyes with his girlfriend. “What did you say?”
“I’ve never been to Australia?”
“Yes, yes you have.”
“What?”
“On our first date you told me that your family took you out of school and emigrated from Australia.” Rahul’s voice was rising, becoming shrill, angry, defiant.
Elisa blinked and smiled softly, “Fine, you got me.” She bit her lip and shrugged, before frowning, “you heard what I did though, right?”
Rahul nodded repeatedly, his mouth open and his eyes wide with fear.
“Then why aren’t you more scared?”
Elisa was please to note the timely presence of plastic dustsheets as she splattered them with livid red. All the while the podcast continued to fill the room with spoken bloodlust.
Kylie: What I don’t understand, is why somebody would do something like this?
Jack: I know, we say this all the time.
Kylie: Yeah, but this is particularly severe. The anger, the abject disrespect for the other person.
Jack: Evil begets evil.
Kylie: Right, but I just find it impossible to believe that this person won’t re-offend again. Wherever they are - assuming they’re alive - it’s only as matter of time until they do something horrific again. They are a sick and twisted individual.
Jack: Absolutely. Let’s take a break from the story and talk about something else sick and twisted. Today’s episode is sponsored by the McDonald’s Christmas Turkey Wrap…