Teeth of the Wolf

Teeth of the Wolf ebook-14-4

“I dropped off a fleet car at his workshop to get some panel work done,” Matiu says. “Little scrape on the Harbour Bridge this morning. In fact, it was right after we left Little Shoal Bay. The left wheel rim and passenger doors were dinged up pretty bad, so after we stopped by the hospital, I asked Screech to take a look at it.”

“Was the vehicle a…metallic blue Commodore, registration 2YEE4590?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“You took it to him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why?”

“I just told you. To get it repaired.”

“Yes, by why take it to him? To Screech. It’s one of your father’s fleet cars, isn’t it? Doesn’t the Yee company have a preferred supplier for repairs? I would have expected your parents to deal with a bigger outfit, someplace more…reputable. For insurance purposes.”

“Well, yeah. About that. That was my decision, taking the car to Screech. I wasn’t too keen on the old man seeing the car messed up like that.”

“I understand. You thought if you came back with a damaged car, you’d be fired, putting your probation in jeopardy. And your chances of getting another job would be slim to nothing if your own father won’t employ you…”

“No.” There’s an edge to his voice. “No that’s not it. I don’t give a rat’s arse about the job.” He lowers his voice. “Look Clark, the reason I went to Screech was because of Pandora.”

Penny whips her head up. Me? What has this got to do with me? Don’t you go blaming this on me, Matiu Yee. And don’t call me Pandora!

“The thing is,” Matiu goes on, “as far as our parents are concerned, Pandora is their little princess.”

Little princess, my foot. Penny makes chop-chop gestures at her neck, but Matiu barrels on. “They’re very protective. Over-protective, some might say. They don’t want their little girl exposed to any risk. It’s why they have me driving her—why it’s always me driving her—when they have an entire fleet of drivers at their disposal. It’s because they trust me to do everything I can to look after my sister. So, you understand why I couldn’t take the car to our regular automotive company. My parents were going to find out we’d been in an accident because the airbag deployed. I figured I could get the damage fixed before they saw it—assuming it was something Screech could sort over a lunch hour—and that way the olds couldn’t make a big deal of it. Because if my parents even suspected this science consult job was putting my sister at risk, they’d call in their loan, Pandora would be out of a job, and you, the police, would be down one very fine scientific consultant.”

In spite of everything, Penny can’t help but smile. She clasps her hands to her heart and mouths, ‘VERY FINE.’

Matiu turns his back to her. “And you know what? Even if that hadn’t been the case, even without Pandora, I probably still would’ve taken the car to Screech. He’s a good guy. Does good work when he can get it. Only there’s a lot of folk out there who aren’t willing to give an ex-con the benefit of the doubt, you know? Anyway, I wasn’t there long. In and out in about half an hour. Turns out he had too much work on to help me out today. Maybe I’ll drop the car back in tomorrow.”

On the other end of the phone, Clark is quiet.

“Right,” he says after a moment, his voice slightly muffled. “Unfortunately, your friend Screech isn’t going to be able to service the vehicle, because he’s dead.”

Penny checks Matiu’s reaction. His face is as stony as a Queen Victoria statue. The hairs on her neck rise. This was a friend of Matiu’s, or at least an acquaintance, someone he’d spoken to only hours ago, and yet apart from a ripple at his jaw, there’s no shock.

He knew! Matiu already knew Screech was dead. All of a sudden, Penny feels like throwing up.

“OK, that all makes sense,” a tinny Clark says. “I have Screech’s…Mr Strickland’s work order filled out for the Commodore, with time in today at 11:15am and your name in the client box, so your story checks out. Thank goodness for fire sprinklers, right? Just for the record, can you account for your whereabouts since then? You weren’t with Ms Pandora because she was out at Karaka. Tanner was out there, and he said you weren’t with her.”

“I was seeing my probation officer. Erica Langley.”

“The entire time?”

“We had a lot to talk about. Going straight isn’t as straightforward as you might think.”

“You realise I’ll have to call her and verify.”

“Of course.”

“OK, well that’s it,” Clark says. “My apologies for the inquisition.”

“You’re just doing your job, sir.”

“Please give my regards to Dr Yee,” Clark says.

Matiu swipes the phone off and hands it back to her. “That’s the five-oh off your back for another ten minutes. Can’t you ever stay out of trouble with the cops?”

Penny glares at him. Hard.

Matiu backs up against the wall, his hands raised in the air as if Penny were a Pinkerton and he the two-bit bandit. Not so far off, given the circumstances.

“I thought you said you needed a shower,” Matiu blubs. “Social life, remember?” He sniffs loudly and makes a show of crinkling his nose. “I’m not convinced Craig Tong will appreciate your current perfume, sis. Whatever you had baking in your Breadmaker, it wasn’t exactly wheatgrain and rye.”

Penny can’t help grabbing the end of her ponytail and holding it to her nose. Eeew. He’s right. She reeks of decomposing eggs. She flips the ponytail over her shoulder. “Who said I was going out with Craig, anyway?”

Matiu lifts his chin. “Well, you are, aren’t you?”

Who’s she trying to kid? He’s already guessed. Resigned, Penny lets her shoulders slump. “I didn’t have any choice. I had to get rid of him. You were in the alley. I couldn’t have him seeing you and reporting back to Mum and Dad that you’d been brawling. But I guess I misjudged you, Matiu. Here was me jumping to conclusions, thinking you’d got into an altercation with the disgruntled relatives of some girl you’d knocked up, when instead, you were busy hanging out at the scene of a murder!” She spits the last words, her hands firmly on her hips.

Matiu shakes his head. Nostrils flaring, he pushes past her and sits on the tiny sofa, resting his elbows on his knees. “Pen, you’ve got it all wrong.”

“Tell that to the judge. Dad’s money isn’t going to soften the blow a second time.”

“I didn’t kill anyone!” His hands clench into fists.

“You were there though, weren’t you?” Penny says softly. “You lied to Clark.”

“I have an alibi.”

Penny folds her arms across her chest.

“Yes, OK, so I was there. But I didn’t kill him.”

“I should hope not. But it doesn’t really matter, does it? Not if the police can place you—an ex-con—at the scene.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“Like I said, I’m sure the judge will buy it.”

“It was Kingi, alright? He did it. And while he was at it, he made sure Screech wouldn’t breathe a word to anyone…” Matiu’s breath catches. “Kingi tortured him, Pen. Cut the poor bastard’s tongue out. The man was covered in blood. It was everywhere. Great gluts of it. A f*****g sea of blood, and Screech’s tongue quivering and twitching on the floor like a fish caught in the shallows. I wanted to save him. Tried. Cerberus…we…” His fingers stroke the dog’s ruff. Penny bites her own tongue while she waits for him to continue. “Screech was the bait, you see. Kingi was after me…I had no choice. Had to leave him.” Matiu drops his head and buries his face in his hands.

This time, it’s Penny’s turn to ruffle his hair. Her baby brother puts his arms around her waist and hugs her close, his cheek against her lab coat. Penny could swear Cerberus senses his pain too because he rests his doggy head on Matiu’s knee.

After a while, Penny disengages herself and perches alongside Matiu on the sofa. “What’s going on?” she asks softly. “What does Kingi want with you?”

He tips his head back, his eyes closed. “You’re not going to like it.”

“I don’t care. Just so long as it doesn’t get you locked away.”

Matiu grins, but there’s something off about it. Penny’s skin prickles with goose bumps. He opens his eyes. Looks at her. “There was a time I knew Kingi. We were mates of a sort. Once in a while, we’d kick around together after a job, have a few drinks. He wasn’t all bad, and he was smart enough. I reckon he might’ve made something of himself if his dad hadn’t screwed him up, beating the living daylights out of him. Si used to say his dad was the meanest son of a b***h he ever knew, and that was saying something. The old man broke every bone in Simon’s puny body over the years. And each time, the namby-pambies at Social Welfare would patch him up and send his skinny arse back home for another round. That kind of abuse day after day; it does something to a guy’s head, and Si was just a kid. He split before he turned 14, lived rough until he hooked up with Hanson and his gang, and sometimes even after that. There wasn’t much kindness in Simon Kingi’s life.”

“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this. You just told me Kingi murdered Screech.”

“It wasn’t him.”

Penny takes his face in her hands. “Matiu, honey, you’re not making any sense. A minute ago, you said Kingi murdered Screech and now you’re saying he didn’t.” She brushes his hair off his forehead. “Have you been feeling sleepy, at all? I think you might have a concussion.”

But Matiu shoves her hands away. “Penny, listen, the creature that killed Screech; it only looked like Kingi. It had tentacles coiling from its back. Just like Hanson did. And its eyes, I swear, they were as black as a f*****g sink hole…”

“Stop! Stop it. That’s enough.”

“It’s happening again.”

Penny shakes her head. “No. It is not.”

“Yes, it is. Sacrifices, raising the dead; I don’t know how, but it’s happening again and somehow your John Doe from this morning is mixed up in it.”

Penny jumps up, turning on him. “No! I don’t believe it. I refuse to listen to any more of your stories about rampaging Cthulhus. There are no such things as demons. People simply do not go around with tentacles sprouting from their backs. It’s all fantasy. Fiction. You’ve got a concussion, Matiu. It’s what happens when you decide to waltz with a concrete floor—”

Dark eyes blazing, Matiu stands up and grabs her face in his hands. “OK, let’s say I didn’t see a man I used to know morph into some kind of otherworld monster. What was in your Breadmaker, Pen? Tell me, honestly: a sample from your John Doe?”

Sucking in a breath, Penny pushes him away. She straightens her back and looks him straight in the eye. “No, it wasn’t actually.”