KIMMY'S LIST

CHAPTER 9

Kimmy glanced at the wall clock when her doorbell rang.

‘Eight o’clock…right on time,’ she said. She pushed herself up from her lounge chair.

The smiling face of Jax Higgins greeted Kimmy when she opened the front door.

‘Detective Higgins…?’ Kimmy asked.

‘That’s right,’ he said.

‘You must be Kimberly.’ He held out his police ID to Kimmy, which she inspected.

Kimmy stepped back, a silent gesture for her visitor to enter. Jax moved inside and she closed the door behind him.

Jax moved through to the lounge room and approached Naomi sitting in an arm chair.

‘Hi. I’m Detective Sergeant Jax Higgins from Oolong police…’

Naomi shook Jax’s hand.

‘Naomi,’ she said. ’Pleased to meet you…’

Kimmy gestured to a vacant lounge chair. Jax took a seat.

‘My husband is working afternoon shift, so I asked my friend Naomi to sit with me while you visited. I hope you don’t mind…’

‘Not at all,’ Jax said, giving his best reassuring smile to Naomi.

‘What does your husband do for a living…?’

‘He’s a paramedic here in Oolong…’ Kimmy said.

‘Oh, Nice. I have probably seen him around then… We often cross paths with the ambulance guys at various jobs we attend.’

‘Would you mind making some coffees, Nomes…?’

Kimmy said, it was her signal to Naomi that she was comfortable being left alone with this cop, albeit for a short time.

Jax handed Kimmy her list. ’Did you create that list of names, Kimberly..?’

Kimmy briefly scanned the page.

‘I did. I unintentionally left it at the police station earlier today.’

‘I’m glad you did. I’m glad I got to see it…’

By the time Naomi returned to the lounge with coffees for all, Kimmy was well into her explanation about how she met each person named on her list. She explained where their bodies were located, as told to her by each visitor. She even mentioned the one occasion when three people visited her at the same time because they shared the same hole.

‘Tell him about the seminar you went to, Kim…’ Naomi said.

‘Seminar…?’ Jax said.

‘A few months back, I didn’t understand why I was being visited by these dead people. Naomi found this medium seminar being held in Winchester. So I went to try and find some answers. The host, Molly Williamson, dragged me up on stage and told me that I apparently have a rare gift…the ability to talk to the dead.’

‘Did this Molly Williamson have the gift…?’ Jax asked.

‘So she said.’

After what Jax considered was an informative forty - eight minutes he began to wrap up. He scanned his detailed notes taken during their chat. ’It seems that some locations are more precise than others. Did you find that?’ He asked.

‘I did, actually…’ Kimmy said.

‘But that is what, or where they told me to look… I just wrote it down.’

‘And these are the injuries they each told you they have…presumably the same injuries that killed them…? Would that be right?’

Kimmy shrugged. ’That’s how I understood it, yeah,’ Kimmy said.

Jax showed Kimmy the list.

‘These last two people on your list…They don’t have names. Why is that?’

‘They aren’t on your missing person’s website.’

Jax regarded Kimmy, briefly. He frowned.

‘I’m not sure I understand. Are you saying that you only know these peoples’ names because they are listed on the website…?’

‘That’s right.’

‘But you talk to them…don’t you ask them their names…?’

‘Look. It’s all very surreal when they contact me. They control the conversation. We don’t talk like you and I are talking now…. I just clarify what they ask, or want. Asking their names is the last thing I think of at the time….’

Jax nodded, albeit unconvinced. ’OK. Thanks.’ He stood from his seat. ’Well, I won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you for the coffee Naomi,’ Jax said.

Kimmy escorted Jax to the front door, which she opened. ’Thanks again. I’ll be in touch,’ Jax said, then stepped onto the front porch.

Kimmy watched her visitor make his way to his car parked in the street out front, then closed the door.

‘What do you make of all that?’ Kimmy said.

‘He certainly seemed interested, Kim…That’s more than you got from those other cops today.’

‘Yeah. I suppose you’re right. I’ll be curious to hear if he finds anything at any of those locations.’

‘Me too.’

Jax Higgins locked his fingers behind his head and rested his feet on the side of his desk, his favourite position for contemplating. His eyes remained glued to his whiteboard photos.

His boss, Jeff Fry stood to the side reading Kimmy’s list of people who she claimed visited her.

‘You’re telling me this woman gave us a list that contains every one of your missing persons…’

Jeff said. ’No other missing persons…. Just these ones,’ He waved a hand at the whiteboard.

‘Correct.’

‘And the only way she knew their names was by visiting the Oolong Police missing person’s website…? She didn’t think to ask them their names when they visited her…?

‘Correct.’

‘Bullshit!’ Jeff blurted.

‘I find it intriguing that this woman claimed to speak to dead people who have gone missing and she doesn’t take the time to ask them their names…..

‘Wouldn’t that be one of the first questions you’d ask someone who claimed to be missing? What’s your name? Where are you from…?’ Jeff said in a rambling rant.

‘I agree. And I know where you are heading. But the thing is, this Kimberly Davis is a sweet, calm amiable type who gave the impression she wouldn’t hurt a fly. When you speak with her, she genuinely seemed intimidated by these visits she claimed to have had.’

‘The way I see it, Higgo, is you have two options here. One. She is a psychic who speaks to dead people, only some dead people mind you, but while doing so doesn’t think to ask them their names…’ He said riddled with cynicism. ’Or Two. She is either the perp, or knows the perp.’

‘Normally I’d agree,’ Jax began. ’But if she was our perp, why would she implicate herself in murders of people who have been missing for considerable periods of time?’

‘Secondly, she’d be 153cms in the old money, and only sixty Kgs wringing wet. So she couldn’t move these bodies…not on her own, anyway.’ Jax said.

So, she could be a co-offender then…’

‘Mmmm. Still doesn’t explain why she would bring heat on herself after all this time,’ Jax said as he continued to study his whiteboard.

‘I go with the hard evidence, every day of the week…Something that can be proven, not this mumbo jumbo psychic bullshit,’ Jeff said.

Jax dropped his feet to the floor and woke his computer screen.

‘Why don’t I run a test case on the first name on her list…’ He flicked a finger towards Sarah Moon’s photo. ‘Let’s drag this dam and see if her body is in there. If it is … We can re-visit this conversation and decide on our options, moving forward.’

He brought up Google maps satellite image and typed in the area where Sarah Moon’s burnt out vehicle was located. ‘OK. There are two dams near where her burnt out car was located. Here and the other over here.’ He tapped his screen. His eyes lifted to his boss.

‘What do ya reckon…. Drag ‘em?’

Jeff waved a hand in the air, ‘Drag ‘em,’ he said with a defeated tone.

Slight ripples fanned across the opaque, coffee coloured dam water, courtesy of the biting winds whipping up from the south-west. Tiny waves lapped onto its muddy shores.

With open farm land stretching to the horizon in all directions, there was nothing to reduce the impact of the chilly unseasonal winds.

Jax Higgins stood on the elevated dam bank overseeing proceedings. Which in reality, meant he tried to follow the almost indiscernible trail of air bubbles expelled from the police divers trawling the floor of a dam, roughly four times the size of the average back yard swimming pool.

While he waited, Jax toed small pebbles on the bank of the dam. Some of the larger ones he pitched at a nearby, well-weathered fence post, silently keeping score of his hits and misses.

When he wasn’t reshaping the landscape, one pebble at a time, he shoved his bored hands deep into his pockets and pressed his arms tightly against his body, to trap in whatever heat he could.

His light - weight suit jacket did nothing to warm him from the cold mid - morning winds.

Every so often and occasional wayward fin breached the water surface, like a frolicking seal, then disappeared into the murky depths. It was his only highlight to break the monotony.

The poor visibility on the dam floor meant the two divers had to drag their hands across the silt bed in an organised grid pattern, foot - by - foot, and meter - by - meter using touch in their search for human remains. A third member of the search and rescue team remained on land monitoring his colleagues for safety warnings.

Jax checked his watch. The divers had been down now for twenty - five minutes. It wasn’t looking good, not for this dam anyway.

One of the divers breached the surface and stood in the shallows. ‘Finally,’ Jax mumbled. While the diver removed his fins, the second diver surfaced and stood in the shallows of the dam. The divers made their way to the bank. Jax moved around to meet the divers.

‘No good…?’ Jax said.

One of the divers shook his head. ‘Nothing,’ he said.

Jax rubbed a hand across his mouth as he scanned the country side. ‘OK…’ He said. He unfolded his printed map. ‘This is us here….So the other dam is there.’ He tapped the map.

‘Which is over in that direction.’ He gestured to the north - west. ‘Looks like we’re moving to dam number two…’

It wasn’t long before Jax experienced a sense of déjà vu at this second dam site, Located on a different property about five hundred meters from the first dam.

It was much smaller than the last dam, but it was the same biting south - westerly wind, the same coffee coloured water, the same boring wait while all the action happened below the surface.

While he waited, Jax kept an eye on three nosey cows that wandered over to him, obviously curious at what all the fuss was at their waterhole. As long as they kept their distance, Jax was happy.

‘Twenty minutes after entering the water, the divers re-surfaced. They proceeded to remove their fins in the shallows. To Jax that meant only one thing --- strike two.

He moved over to the divers. ‘Nothing there either…?’ He asked.

‘Same - same,’ a diver said.

‘OK,’ Jax said. He held up a finger to the divers.  ‘Give me a minute to check something…’

Jax quickly returned to his vehicle and revisited the notes in his folder. He read from Emily’s hand written notes that recorded Sarah Moon’s supposed whereabouts.

In a dam of Winchester, he read. He scanned the surrounding open plains. ‘There are no other dams around here…’ he said to no-one.

Then, he had a light bulb moment. He removed his phone and opened Google Maps and rechecked their location. ‘Ah…south of Winchester…’

He mumbled to himself. His first mistake was he limited his initial search area to where Sarah’s burnt out car had been located.

He jogged back to the divers, waiting by the side of the dam. ‘We were supposed to be looking at dams south of Winchester…’ Jax said.

‘We are south - east of Winch…’

‘OK. Any dams to the south of Winchester?’ a diver asked.

‘There’s this one that’s not too far south of the town. The only other one is a few Kays further south… So I’m thinking we’ll do the closer one,’ Jax said.

‘Your call,’ one of the divers said.

‘OK. We’ll make this the last one,’ Jax said.

Jax watched the divers slide into the third, and final dam and disappear from view. He checked his watch. His hunger pangs reminded him his lunch was well overdue.

This dam was similar to, if not slightly larger than the first dam, so he expected it would take time for the divers to trawl across the floor of this dam. He settled in for a long wait.

After a few short minutes of boredom, his wandering eyes located some young lambs playfully frolicking nearby.

The paddocks were dotted with hundreds of woolly sheep feeding, many with a small lamb close by. The playful innocence of the new-born lambs caused a rare smile to emerge on the tough cop’s face.

His ovine watching interlude served as an unintended, pleasant distraction to the expected lengthy wait for an outcome. That’s was until a shrieking whistle caught Jax’s attention.

The head and shoulders of one of the divers protruded from the water. His mask was up and his regulator was out. The diver held up a thumb to Jax.

‘You got something…?’ Jax said. He approached the water’s edge, trudging carefully through the deep, sheep hoof prints in the mud.

‘Got her…’ the diver said.

‘She’s been weighted down with two car batteries.’

Jax rubbed a contemplative hand across his mouth. He was a little stunned. He didn’t expect this last dive to uncover anything.

He had all but conceded their efforts would come up empty, proving Kimberly Davis to be a psychic fraud.

Instead, Kimmy’s handwritten notes were accurate. Sarah Moon’s body was in a dam near Winchester. But did Kimmy know this because she put Sarah’s body there, or was she a medium psychic, as claimed? ‘

‘We’ll keep checking the dam floor for a weapon, or anything else…’

Jax held up a thumb to the diver