Chapter 29

Thursday 1st September 2022

She woke up to messages from Alison though the night:

✉ Alison: Wow. I should’ve decided to go online on the plane, instead of chilling out like Landon said
✉ Alison: Literally amazing. I’m reading the news
✉ Alison: And I looked at Twitter. Are you OK now?
✉ Alison: Msg me when you wake up!
✉ Alison: OK. I’m home. Here goes!
✉ Larissa: Awake! Tell me when to call!
✉ Alison: Calling. Don’t say anything

Larissa answered the facetime call, and she realised that Alison was in the midst of a raging family argument. What she saw was Alison sitting on Landon’s lap in the family meeting room. She could hear Linda almost shouting at her, telling her that she couldn’t move out, she wasn’t eighteen, and all the terrible horrible reasons she shouldn’t, Landon would just screw her over, she didn’t appreciate the value of money because she’d always had it too good, and how that no good Larissa girl kept corrupting Alison. Doing her big swim naked! And that photo from the airport in Australia - just what the hell was she thinking, she hadn’t been taught to be a tramp, but showing her underwear like that! Alison was listening to this with a blank face.

When she finished Alison said calmly, “Mum, I love you, but I’m doing this, and I’m not sorry for any of it. I love Landon, and I’m going to sleep with him every night now, and he can’t afford to be away from his parents and farm and live here. So it’s going to be there, so we can look after this parents.” Larissa gave her a thumbs up, right on, that was just perfect, what she’d been aiming for when they practised.

“No, you can’t,” Linda shouted at her. “Dad, tell her! She can’t move into the bed of the first guy she loves just cause he screwed her good! Alison, you’re not a tramp!”

Then she heard Niall’s voice. “Alison, I think that perhaps the family doesn’t understand quite where you’re going with this. Perhaps you should show them.”

Alison turned and looked at Landon, and they agreed and then she looked at Larissa. Larissa gave her a thumbs up, so she reached for the phone. Next thing, Larissa was shown around the room, the entire family gathered there. Her mum standing right opposite Alison in a very hostile position. No wonder Alison had put a table between them. Then she was looking at the ceiling, and she realised Alison was hooking her phone up to their projector. A short delay, and then she heard the video of their promises playing. When it finished, Alison said, “So there you go mum, everyone. That’s how serious we are about this.”

“Wait, what?” Her mum said, “What was that ring on your finger?”

She saw the front of Alison’s hand in her view. “There mum, that’s Jessica’s wedding ring. Landon’s mum. She gave it to me to wear when we did our promises, and asked me to wear it and only it for what we did for the first time immediately afterwards, her witness to what we did. I’ll give it back to her in a few minutes.”

“Oh my God, Alison...” Linda was shocked to her core, but now she fully understood, Larissa could hear.

“Welcome to the family, Landon.” The phone shook a bit, she was sure that Niall was shaking Landon’s hand.

“Thanks, Grandpa,” she heard in Landon’s measured tones. “I appreciate your blessing, and I promise you, I’m learning to be Alison’s best man as quick as I can. She’s very special.”

“I agree she is. Can I ask, are you really planning to live in your home? How will that work?”

“We are, grandpa,” Alison answered. “We’re going to keep things as stable as we can for Landon’s parents, until his mum passes away. We’ll try and make it as easy as possible for them. So at first, we’re not going to change anything in the house. I’ve asked Jayla, and she’s going to be my security person, and she’ll sleep on the floor either in the hall way or beside our bed, until we can sort something better without upsetting his parent’s routine. And other than that ... we’ll figure it out.”

“Jayla is happy doing that?” She could her the aghast disbelief in Linda’s tone.

“I want to do that very much,” she heard Jayla call from further away. “Alison is boss now.”

The view shook again. “Way to announce that you’re doing it with him now!” She heard Dee say. “And I thought the swimming was a big announcement! Landon, I’m happy for you both.”

“Thanks, Dee. I wish you could’ve been there.”

“Right, but you did it with Larissa and Layna, I totally understand. Did Larissa do anything wild while you were there?”

Alison burst into laughter. “Oh, you have no idea! Larissa and Layna both. This one was really insanely wild. But it’ll take me too long to explain it. For now, watch this song, because it’s all about the song. And when that finishes, I’m going home. I’ll be back for dinner with Landon, after I’ve cooked for them, and I’ll explain the rest then.”

Larissa grinned to herself. It had been insanely wild. She rolled over and kissed Julian, and found that Joe and Layna had been leaning over Julian watching too.

At the end of the song, Alison closed the face time.

Layna asked her, “So we’re back to normal now? Or we still in scary lockdown mode?”

“I trust Isla,” Larissa said, “and my sense tells me that everyone is safe but us two now. I have the cops, so you should have Dyunh. He’s very comforting.”

Layna frowned. “You think he had time to target me?”

“Not really. I think you should always have someone now, after everything. Give it a go and then negotiate with him. But maybe you can’t afford a special forces guy routinely. He is awesome though.”

News was interesting. he didn’t usually look, but she sure did this time. It was full of the murder of David Jones - how he’d been found, and lots of interviews with tourists reporting what he’d said, and the mess afterwards. One thing that made her laugh was that the papers said that some special forces had landed their helicopter at a car park nearby ‘for an exercise up the river’, and the rangers intercepted them leaving and asked them to look around the area of the murder to see if they could see any evidence. They’d also bought a couple of experienced bush trackers over from Arnhem Land to look around with the special forces. Larissa tried to imagine that little outing and her head exploded. No doubt the special forces used that opportunity to thoroughly confuse any possibility of remaining evidence. No news she saw had made any connection between the special forces and the murder.

The other item the news was full of was Isla’s song, which is how it was being reported, and the fact that she was releasing it right at the same time as her father’s murder. The minister wasn’t saying anything about her father, choosing instead to focus on Isla and Layna. But there was real speculation in the news about the relationship between Larissa’s over-the-top security, Isla’s song, and David’s murder. People had heard some of what David said, but no one else had said anything. Journalists were hammering her messaging desperate for comment, but she chose not say anything for the moment.

Well, time for uni, but she did have time to message Alison:

✉ Larissa: Thanks for the FaceTime. Well done, seemed to end well enough
✉ Larissa: Good luck at home
✉ Alison: Thanks. It helped, having you listening, and your coaching. Mum was going off, even more than I expected!
✉ Alison: She was crying when I left. Inconsolable. Because she got the message: I have a new home and a new mum now, and she matters
✉ Alison: She just called me, can she visit us this afternoon
✉ Alison: I warned her, she will have to eat a great deal of humble pie if she wants to visit Jessica
✉ Larissa: Wow
✉ Alison: Dee is here with me, obsessing about me sleeping with Landon, and cooking for them, and that photo. And she saw that I facetimed you during that - no one else realised
✉ Alison: Jessica is actually amused
✉ Alison: I’m really going to blow their minds at dinner. I’m so happy you’re safe now.
✉ Larissa: Thanks. What was that about the photo?
✉ Alison: When I kissed Landon at Cairns airport for those girls. I rather got into it, and I had that short sundress on, and when I put my leg up against him, my dress lifted up enough and someone took a photo of us kissing that showed my thong. Then it came out in one of the celebrity magazines today. Welcome home!
✉ Alison: I just released a statement: Nice Place, Great Company, Awesome Kiss. I hope everyone enjoys the photo as much as we enjoyed the kiss!
✉ Larissa: LOL. Own it, nice
✉ Alison: Dee really is obsessing. I may tie her to the door with your tie so she has to watch us before our siesta
✉ Larissa: LOL Love that. Send photos
✉ Alison: ;-) I actually threatened to do that and told her what you said, and now she’s shut up

Just before she left home, she got a message:

✉ Sophie: Your mums are feeling very shaky, Larissa
✉ Mary: A very big week, and very scary
✉ Raychelle: Yes, my princess, I’m still quaking
✉ Sophie: So do you have time for lunch with us today before work?
✉ Larissa: Love to. Hugs all round!

It was good she still had her police security, because it kept everyone away from her at Uni when otherwise they’d be asking her questions. Everyone wanted to, that was for sure. Messaging was insane, of course, but she ignored most of it.

All through the day, journalists were chasing her for her comment. She still wasn’t talking to anyone; she’d decided to wait and see how it played out. And if she talked, it’d probably be to Jackie, and she’d recommended Jackie to Isla.

The girls were busy chatting about the fallout from David’s murder and Isla’s song. Isla wasn’t joining in - she’d left very early in the morning to fly to Sydney with Bob.

Then she got a message from Lisa, asking for a call at 9:55. That worked for her - just at the end of a lecture. She made sure no one was listening for this, not even her escort.

“Hi Larissa, thanks for calling.”

“Hi. Thanks, Lisa, for everything. I really don’t know how I would’ve got through that without your support. You really made a very meaningful difference for me.”

“No problem, Larissa. I’m just glad that we brought that extremely dangerous man down, though the actual ending was a surprise.”

“It sure was. A happy outcome for me, and it’s kind of sad how Isla isn’t that sad.”

“Yes, Larissa. Exactly. Now, your escort. The NT police tell us that all David’s team sang like canaries. Apparently the special forces soldiers took an interest in making sure they didn’t get away, and they were a bit ... out of sorts ... after that. I thought they might have roughed them up, but everyone says they didn’t touch them.”

Fascinating. “Minister, can I ask, they’ll never figure out who did it, will they?”

“Honestly ... it’s very unlikely. And really, my NT counterpart will do all she can to get a proper investigation, but that’d be a formidable investigation to take on even if the force was highly motivated. Specially after the rangers invited the soldiers back to visit the crime scene.”

Larissa understood. “Thanks Minister. I won’t be saying anything about that.”

“I appreciate that, Larissa. Anyway, the police are confident that at no time did David take any steps to organise anything targeting you. He would’ve later, his men are all clear about that. That means that we’re sure you don’t need our police escort anymore, so they’ll be withdrawn. Shane just wanted me to let you know personally.”

“Thanks for taking the time to do it personally, minister, and thank Shane and all the police for me.”

She met her mothers for lunch at a cafe near her work, the last thing she still had an escort for, which was useful - the police kept other people away. As she had said, they started with a series of long hugs outside the cafe with real tears on the part of her mothers. Once they were sitting down, she said, “No doubt you want my story of the week?” Indeed they did. She grinned. “And you’d like to know about Isla, too.” Mary and her mum were nodding intensely. “Of course. Mum, you’ll know why when I’ve finished. And I asked Isla, and she said you can know the entire truth.”

She launched into the entire story, starting from the start of the weekend. They listened without interruption, mouths open most of the time. When she finished, she laughed and said, “Go on, you can eat now.”

“Oh no,” Sophie said, “How can we do that? That’s a terrifying story. Please tell us that you won’t do anything like that ever again!”

“Mum, I understand. I was increasingly terrified through the week, and I wouldn’t want to do that ever again. But each step, it was not quite bad enough for me to pull out, and by the time it truly turned terrifying, I had no way out. That one point, Layna and I talked about it deeply with the guys, and it was really forwards for a small chance, or nothing. But I have an opinion that you’re not to repeat to anyone, especially Bob.”

She lowered her voice so that only they could hear. “My opinion is that my bodyguard set it up. He was sitting on my shoulder the whole time, but busy messaging in the afternoon while the special forces were being organised. I looked at him as soon as we heard David’s team didn’t know where he was, and he already knew. I think he told them how terrified I was, because eventually my protection would be withdrawn. And he was protecting me, doing his job. But they’ll never figure it out, he was a special forces comms guy. And they’ll never pin it on anyone. It was unlikely anyway, but then the rangers invited the special forces guys back to the scene and they had a chance to trash any possible remaining evidence.”

“Wow, Larissa,” her mum said. “That makes total sense. You going to tell anyone else?”

“Never. Not even Julian. That’s just for you, special secret between us.”

She could see how much they liked that, and they felt better too. And they started eating, and she asked about how they were going, particularly her pregnant and very happy mum. Not getting enough sex, she complained. Larissa looked at Mary in surprise, who grinned and said, “She’s getting more than ever, but we’re only just keeping up.”

At the end of lunch, she said good bye to her escort and got a taxi to work. While she was in her taxi, she got around to looking at a message she’d got earlier in the day.

✉ Unknown: Hi My name’s Katy. Are you really Larissa?
✉ Larissa: Sure. I’m Larissa Wright. Why?
✉ Katy: I met with Eloise yesterday and she gave me your number
✉ Larissa: You’re a life coach?
✉ Katy. Y. That’s why she met me
✉ Larissa: Can I call you now?
✉ Katy: Y

“Hi Katy, thanks for talking to me.”

“Oh, no problem. It’s hard to believe I’m talking to you. Specially after the last few days, what bombshell news. How on earth do you have time for this call?”

“Well, I have been busy, yes, but I keep my promises, and I said I’d follow up with Eloise. Thanks for talking to her.”

“Well, I’m happy I did, but this is a pretty unusual arrangement. Are you really going to pay for her to talk to me? You hardly know her. Why do that?”

“Honestly, I’m not really sure. But I look at her and I see me, when I was at my lowest, and someone else invested in me, a very good life coach, at a time when I not only didn’t have the resources, I wouldn’t have done it. And nor will Eloise, so I will. I know the chances are not great that she’ll really change her life, but I decided to give it a go. What did you make of her story?”

“Well, first of all, thank you. It’s wonderful for her that you’re doing that, and she certainly needs some help aligning her life with her hopes. She told me that I can tell you everything, which is pretty unusual, honestly. But you’re paying, I guess, so what are your goals?”

“Well, I want her to the have the best life she can, but I did say that I wanted her to give you three goals: to not drink anymore, or other drugs, to have good female friendships, and to help her choose the right guy to have amazing sex and a great life with. What did she say?”

“Yes, pretty much those things.”

“OK. And do those work from your point of view? And how much do you charge?”

They discussed those things, and figured out what Larissa was going to pay - cheap, from her point of view, and what Katy’s goals were going to be with Eloise. In particular, they agreed, based on what Eloise said her interests were, that Katy was going to encourage her to join a dance club and a mixed gender touch rugby league team. That’d give her an incentive to stay fit and not drink, and help her find friends that weren’t based around alcohol.

By the time she got to work, she’d paid Katy, and she felt guardedly hopeful that she wasn’t wasting their money on Eloise. But only time would tell.

At work, she had to tell Mark what she could about the week’s events. Everyone wanted to know, it really was the biggest story of the day. Or week. Or year. Then she went down to the media team for stories, and tried to decide whether anything of the week should or could appear in the vet rescue media communications, while she tried to assemble her mind to focus on a story about her experience in Townsville, her research project, and applying her touch to a touching story of one of her co-workers who attended farmlet on the edge of town to deliver a lamb, and ended up delivering a baby for a mum in distress. A very sweet story for him, since he was the one who got rookie of the year the year before - the nerdy guy. She’d seen him around and chatted to him, and he had some real confidence now. Nice.

She was still working with the media team when she got a message from Isla saying that her press conference was about to start. Larissa stopped to watch the press conference with the media team. It was live on national TV, which made sense - interest in the fate of David Jones had reached insane levels, and the news had reported that Bob was spending the day with Isla at her home and David’s office, which had caused all sorts of speculation.

“Hello everyone. I’m Isla Jones, and Bob Smith and I have just met with the Minister of Energy, and we are here to make an announcement concerning the contents of our meeting. But before I can say anything about that, I have a number of details to provide with regard to the events of this week. I know that most of you have big unanswered questions, so I’ll try to clear some of those things up for you, and they’ll provide context for the meeting we just had.”

“Last weekend, I had a weekend away with a number of other Australian heiresses at a private island retreat in the northern part of Great Barrier Reef, along with Layna, Larissa, and Alison. I would very much like to thank Cornelia Brown’s family, who hosted us and looked after us wonderfully well, and also recognise our respective security teams, the police, and other security services for helping out with that. We had a wonderful weekend, and we ended up posting a photo of us all to social media, though that’s all we said publicly. Larissa wrote a trip report of the weekend for her family, and that’s being distributed to you now, and posted to my Facebook page as we speak. Of course, the real value of the weekend was the deep personal friendships we established.”

“For me, the weekend was a revelation. I had been struggling with my situation in life; my father was very controlling, and I’d come to a crossroads. I wanted to be free to make my own choices, and in particular, to make music and sing, but my father wished for me to be beautiful, a perfect social hostess, and then to make babies with an appropriate man for him to gloat over. And my father always got what he wanted, but I could not imagine living that life. At the weekend I shared my troubled heart with my wonderful friends, particularly Layna and Alison, and I was inspired to take action to change my life.”

“Also, Layna told us about our climate challenge, made me appreciate it in a way I had not before, carefully wrapped up as I was in a life that protected me from such understanding. And then she sang her song to us, and I loved it, and said I wanted to sing it with her in public, to her considerable surprise. For YouTube. And I understood full well that making this song would cause a break in relationships with my parents that would not be easy to resolve, but that was part of the point, for me. My father was not listening to me, or the world, it had become simply an exercise in dominance. Now you might think Layna simply said yes very happily, but she put quite some effort into changing my mind, since neither Layna nor Larissa are at all happy with broken relationships in families. But I would not change my mind, since I’d found my cause.”

“So I went home, and my parents had heard about something that happened on the weekend.” She look around with a cheeky smile. “Some of us girls decided that it was just us girls, why bother wearing anything on the beach? Apparently Larissa’s pretty famous amongst her friends for that, but it wasn’t just her who did that. My parents were not happy that I did that too. To put it mildly. They were aware of Larissa’s reputation, and blamed her. I didn’t care about that, I just want to sing. But the result of the weekend was to tighten security around me. As I expected. So the next day, I left home, and left my security team. Video of me doing that will be released.”

“For some reason, my father blamed Larissa for my ‘disappearance’, and that resulted in a series of vicious phone calls from him to Larissa, my father threatening Larissa for abducting me, and then for covering for me. Video of those calls will also be released, tomorrow, and you’ll see how horrifying my father was to her. But she didn’t give me away to him, simply because of her sense of honour. Unbelievable. You’ll have also seen photos of the police protection she had, and how it escalated through the week, as my father’s threats escalated. And understand this: my father was a very dangerous man, and one with the resources to carry his threats out, which is why the security around Larissa was so serious. Larissa asked me to thank the Victorian Police and particularly Minister Lisa Neville for her care over Larissa. But my father did eventually find out what we were planning to do from someone else, which was to film our song at Ubirr Rock yesterday evening, and he went there to stop us, kidnap me, and, according to his words, murder Layna. So that’s why he was where he was when he was murdered.”

“But as you know, we weren’t there - we went to Katherine Gorge instead, thanks to the minister, which was an awesome location, and then we recorded the song on Tuesday and released it yesterday. I’ve been very gratified by the reaction to the song, and very honoured to be called the Voice of Australia, thank you everyone, that part is like a dream come true for me.”

“At about the same time we were doing that press conference yesterday, my father realised that he’d been set up, he believed, and he made a very vicious phone call indeed to Larissa accusing her of misleading him. We do not have a recording of this to release, because by this time Larissa was deep in police HQ for her protection, and the Victorian Police and the NT police recorded that phone call, but it was deeply incriminating, he made a number of promises of horrible retribution to Larissa and Layna. Larissa did tell him during that call that the video was about to be released, so he hung up on her, and made a particularly desperate and criminal call to the minister that included threatening the minister’s life if he allowed the video to be released, along with committing treason. The minister will decline to comment because he was collaborating with the police, but he did say it was OK if I said that. The Victorian or NT police might choose to release those recordings.”