The Housemate Read online

  PRAISE FOR

  THE HOUSEMATE

  ‘With The Housemate, Sarah Bailey expertly plays with memory, guilt and grief to build a tension-filled, vivid world, where there are many ways to be haunted by the ghosts of our past. You’ll be right there with the fascinating, flawed Oli Groves as her professional investigation of the Housemate Homicide increasingly veers toward personal obsession. Each new twist in the story skilfully balances bombshell revelations and believability, in a crime that feels achingly familiar, yet shocking at the same time. Much like Oli, I couldn’t stop until I knew the truth, too.’

  Jacqueline Bublitz, author of Before You Knew My Name

  ‘The plot is brilliant, the pace is relentless … Oli Groves is a brilliant protagonist: brave and fragile, kick-arse and compassionate—and so very human. The Housemate is a book of great emotional power and depth—Bailey’s best yet.’

  Chris Hammer, author of Scrublands, Silver and Trust

  ‘An enormously immersive story with Bailey’s trademark gordian knot plotting, true to life characters and twists galore. This is Australian crime at its best and The Housemate is destined to summit the bestseller charts.’

  J.P. Pomare, author of Call Me Evie and The Last Guests

  ‘I’m as obsessed with Bailey’s protagonist, Oli Groves, as Groves is with the story she is chasing. Clever, ambitious, prickly: she’s the perfect journo to lead us through this clever and ambitious thriller. Loved the deep dive into the rotten underworld of secrets and corruption, and Bailey’s wry take on the changing face of journalism. The Housemate is addictive reading in the very best of ways. Sarah Bailey knows her stuff.’

  Kate Mildenhall, author of The Mother Fault

  PRAISE FOR

  WHERE THE DEAD GO

  ‘Sarah Bailey has excelled herself … a well-written and exciting crime novel that builds to a taut and bloody conclusion.’

  Canberra Weekly

  ‘As riveting as the previous two, with a multilayered plot, compelling characters and vivid atmosphere … another addictive read from Bailey.’

  Good Reading

  ‘A tense, gripping end to a highly praised trilogy.’

  Who

  ‘Bailey always writes a killer thriller, and this is gritty and real.’

  Readings

  ‘[Gemma] is a well-rounded character, relatable in her frustrations and insecurities at work and at home but also an exemplar of the type of kickass female detective that Australian crime fiction writers are adept at creating.’

  The Age

  ‘A must-read for crime lovers.’

  Better Homes and Gardens

  ‘Next level crime fiction … police procedural at its finest … Where the Dead Go is compelling reading. Gritty, realistic, atmospheric and chilling. An absolute cracker of a read that I can’t even begin to recommend highly enough.’

  Theresa Smith Writes

  PRAISE FOR

  INTO THE NIGHT

  ‘Melbourne’s wintry streets come alive on the pages, keeping the dramatic tension high … Bailey’s writing has grown stronger and more assured in this novel.’

  Good Reading

  ‘With its deft exploration of the intersection of public and private lives and a chance to peer more deeply into the mind and heart set of an engagingly flawed heroine, Into the Night seems set to be just as successful as The Dark Lake.’

  Sydney Morning Herald

  ‘Into the Night is a solid procedural, full of constant twists and reveals that keep the investigation fresh … with this expansion of her world, it feels like Gemma Woodstock might be with us for a while.’

  Australian Crime Fiction

  ‘Bailey’s writing is stronger than ever, and the prickliness of her characters is a natural fit for the jarring confines of Melbourne’s central business district … a bristling police procedural for fans of Emma Viskic and J.M. Green.’

  Books + Publishing

  ‘Every bit as addictive and suspenseful as The Dark Lake … Sarah Bailey’s writing is both keenly insightful and wholly engrossing, weaving intriguing and multi-layered plots combined with complicated and compelling characters.’

  The Booktopian

  ‘Bailey’s writing is sharp, her sense of place harrowing, and her mystery intriguing. A great read for anyone who likes complex characters and gritty crime.’

  Glam Adelaide

  PRAISE FOR

  THE DARK LAKE

  ‘The Dark Lake is a thrilling psychological police procedural as well as a leap into the mind of a woman engulfed with guilt.’

  New York Journal of Books

  ‘The Dark Lake hooked me from page one! Sarah Bailey combines the very best elements in this stunning debut thriller—a troubled detective still trying to find her way as a female investigator, a small town haunted by secrets both past and present, and a beautiful victim whose unsettling allure appears to be her biggest asset and largest downfall. With clever twists and all-too-human characters, this book will keep you racing toward the end.’

  Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Right Behind You and Find Her

  ‘This polished debut is a winner from the first page.’

  Daily Telegraph

  ‘I read The Dark Lake in one sitting, it’s that good. A crime thriller that seizes you from the first page and slowly draws you into a web of deception and long buried secrets. Beautifully written, compulsively readable, and highly recommended.’

  Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God and co-author of the bestselling Pendergast series

  ‘Debut author Sarah Bailey depicts both the landscape and Gemma’s state of mind vividly, bringing into focus the intensity of Gemma’s physical and emotional pain and her increasing discontent. The Dark Lake adds to the trend of haunting, rural Australian crime fiction, and provides a welcome addition to the genre for those left bereft after finishing Jane Harper’s The Dry.’

  Books + Publishing

  Sarah Bailey is a Melbourne-based writer with a background in advertising and communications. She has two children and is currently the Managing Director of advertising agency VMLY&R in Melbourne. Her internationally award-winning Gemma Woodstock trilogy includes The Dark Lake, published in 2017 and winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and the Davitt Award for Best Debut, followed by Into the Night in 2018, and Where the Dead Go in 2019.

  First published in 2021

  Copyright © Sarah Bailey 2021

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

  Allen & Unwin

  83 Alexander Street

  Crows Nest NSW 2065

  Australia

  Phone:(61 2) 8425 0100

  Email:[email protected]

  Web:www.allenandunwin.com

  ISBN 978 1 76052 933 8

  eISBN 978 1 76106 269 8

  Set by Bookhouse, Sydney

  Cover design: Luke Causby/Blue Cork

  Cover photographs: Juli Kosolapova/Unsplash (woman); Gabriel/Unsplash (lights)

  FOR MY FRIENDS

  (LUCKY ME)

  CONTENTS

  SATURDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005, EARLY

  MYSTERY SURROUNDS HOUSEMATE HOMICIDE

>   CHAPTER ONE: TUESDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER TWO

  SATURDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005, LATE AFTERNOON

  CHAPTER THREE: TUESDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  MARCH 2006

  CHAPTER SIX: TUESDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  FEBRUARY 2006

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: WEDNESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: THURSDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  DAY THREE OF THE TRIAL, 2006

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: FRIDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  JULY 2005

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: SATURDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: SUNDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: MONDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  AUGUST 2004

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: TUESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2015

  AUGUST 2004

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: TUESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2015

  SEPTEMBER 2005

  CHAPTER FORTY: TUESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  HOUSEMATE HOMICIDE ARREST

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE: THURSDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR: FRIDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2015

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE: FIVE WEEKS LATER

  MONDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2015

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  SATURDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005, EARLY

  Through the dust and faded bird shit on the windscreen of her Mazda, Oli Groves watches the cops huddled next to the letterbox of 28 Paradise Street, St Kilda. The cop who just yelled at her, the bow-legged beanpole with the constellation of freckles and the permanent smirk, is talking animatedly and pointing a finger aggressively toward the house. His hot breath forms comical white clouds, but the faces of his colleagues remain solemn.

  ‘Piss off!’ he snapped when he encountered Oli standing on the bottom step of the porch, peering into the front door of the house.

  Oli’s pulse is racing, though she’s not sure whether that’s from his reprimand or the MDMA still coursing through her system. Before Beanpole blocked her view, she saw into the dark hallway: furniture on its side, the glint of glass on the worn floorboards. The curve of a female body lying there naked, a gaping wound in her abdomen. Half-open eyes staring blankly at the wall.

  Oli squeezes her own eyes shut, then blinks a few times. Shakes her head and sniffs, adjusting the rear-view mirror to check her hastily applied make-up. With her fingers, she combs her long blonde hair, knotty with stale hairspray. The image of the dead body is fixed in her mind. C’mon, c’mon. Keep it together, Oli. Clearly Jo was desperate, or she wouldn’t have called you. She must know this is going to be big. What if it’s a proper story, and you get to file it?

  Oli’s gaze shifts to the police tape that Beanpole tied firmly to the wooden fence post after their exchange, before looking along the path, up the short flight of brick stairs to the concrete porch and open front door. The house itself appears innocent enough, though perhaps a tad neglected. The white weatherboards have a skirt of dirt, and the tiled roof is covered in lichen. The patchy lawn has been recently mowed, but the garden beds are thick with weeds. To the left of the front door sits a pair of terracotta pots with brightly coloured flowers spilling out in cheery puddles. A rainbow dreamcatcher dangles behind the glass of what Oli assumes is a bedroom window.

  Movement draws her eyes back to the front door. Chief Inspector Gregory Bowman emerges from the house dressed in full scrubs, a young woman next to him. Oli gasps. The woman is covered in blood. A police-issue blanket hangs across her shoulders, her light brown hair is limp and her feet are encased in crime-scene booties. She’s crying, tears smearing the blood on her cheeks. Bowman gestures for her to move along the porch where she is shielded by a hedge wall.

  He speaks briefly to a woman who covers the speaker of her mobile phone to listen, their heads bent close. Bowman looks much older in real life than he does on TV; deep lines tunnel across his forehead, and his unusually thick hair has almost finished its transformation from dirty silver to crisp snow.

  A trio of plain-clothes detectives arrive, all men. They duck under the police tape and march purposefully up the path, ignoring the cops—including, Oli notes with satisfaction, an eager-faced Beanpole. There’s no sign of Isabelle Yardley, and Oli’s skin crawls with relief and a strange desire to sate her curiosity, to tug at a loose thread. To tempt fate.

  It’s bloody freezing. Her heart thumps as she rubs her hands together and cranks up both the heater and the radio. She begins to make notes in her book as the blood-soaked body flashes back into her mind. The ABC news bulletin reports that police have been called to a residence in St Kilda regarding the discovery of a body, but relays nothing more than Oli already knows.

  More cops turn up and congregate on the lawn. It starts to drizzle and the muck on her windscreen morphs into ugly brown streaks. Oli’s vision begins to blur just as a large hand raps sharply on the driver’s window. She jerks in fright, throwing her weight against the car seat.

  Then she winds down the window and thrusts her middle finger into Rob’s laughing face.

  ‘Want to get in?’ Her deep voice is even huskier than usual.

  ‘Nah, I’m good.’ He squints at the house. He’s wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and goose bumps prickle Oli’s limbs. ‘I can’t believe Queen Jo isn’t here.’ Rob lights a cigarette. ‘She loves a dead body.’

  ‘She’s at a wedding in the country.’

  ‘How odd to think she has friends. But, hey, maybe you’ll finally get a by-line.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Oli tips her head backwards trying to focus. ‘I saw the body. It’s lying in the hallway.’

  Rob looks impressed. ‘Excellent. I really hate getting out of bed this early just for grievous bodily harm.’

  ‘And there’s a girl on the porch behind the hedge, with blood all over her.’

  Rob whistles. ‘Ten bucks says they’re prostitutes.’

  ‘I don’t have ten bucks. I’m broke till payday.’

  ‘You can owe me.’

  She rolls her eyes. ‘Jo wants a hero shot of Bowman and whoever else ends up leading this thing.’

  ‘Her wish is my pain in the arse.’ Rob blows a smoke ring skyward.

  Oli stares at a black stain on the sun visor, trying to work out what it could be.

  Rob grins. ‘Late night?’

  ‘Not really.’ She shimmies in the seat as she attempts to retrieve a tube of lip balm from her back pocket.

  He laughs. ‘That’s not what your party-girl eyes tell me.’

  ‘Whatever.’ She smears the balm on her lips and pushes the visor against the ceiling. A wave of anxiety crashes over her. ‘Jo should have sent TJ. No one’s going to tell me anything.’

  ‘Not with that attitude,’ Rob agrees, yanking open her car door and winding up the window. ‘Come on, we may as well get some mood pics while we wait for the gory details.’

  A black Land Rover pulls up on the other side of the street. Melissa Warren from the Herald Sun is at the wheel, her dark bob hugging her sharp jawline. Rob pauses to photograph two people from the forensic unit coming out of the ho
use, and Oli almost runs up the back of him.

  The day seems reluctant to get started; the sky remains a murky grey, while the light rain has turned to a fine mist. Oli tucks her notebook inside her jacket, wedging it under her arm.

  It’s 6.39 am. Less than an hour since Jo first called, barking orders as Oli paid the taxi driver and fumbled for her keys in the badly lit entrance to her apartment block. She didn’t even shower, just swapped her heels and dress for one of her sister’s clean shirts and a pair of suit pants on the clotheshorse, spritzed perfume on her wrists and brushed her teeth. Now her tongue stings from the boiling coffee she bought at the McDonald’s drive-through, and she can still taste the Bacon & Egg McMuffin she wolfed down. An alarming clamminess is creeping across her body, her hangover threatening to take hold.

  Melissa Warren sidles up next to them, looking at Oli with undisguised contempt before casting her eyes skyward as if the gloomy weather is a personal insult. She brushes invisible lint from her tailored jacket and asks, ‘Where’s Jo?’

  Oli squares her shoulders. ‘Out of town.’

  ‘Shame.’ Melissa looks pleased. ‘This is a juicy one.’

  ‘How so?’ Rob cracks his gum and appears bored.

  ‘Well … Bowman was first on the scene, so it must be meaty, though of course the cops can hardly afford to dillydally at the moment.’ Melissa lists the recent unsolved homicides, ticking them off on her manicured fingers. She clearly delights in holding court, and Oli finds her overt confidence both grotesque and magnetic.

  Oli’s entire cadetship has been a parade of people like Melissa, who sashay through life with an easy smile and answers at the ready. Oli hopes this characteristic will magically bestow itself upon her at some point—or that at the very least, she will get better at faking it.

  ‘And,’ Melissa adds, ‘a female killer always has the public gagging.’ She walks ahead, heels tapping assertively on the cracked path. ‘Good luck, kids!’ she calls over her shoulder.

  ‘Reckons she’s a bloody TV anchor,’ Rob mutters, flaring his nostrils. ‘Pity about her face.’

  Oli gives him a look, even though she’s certainly not about to defend Melissa.