The Frankston Murders. Vikki Petraitis

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СКАЧАТЬ for the cash jackpot. As the credits rolled, Paul told his wife that he needed cigarettes. After checking that the rain had at least temporarily stopped, the two decided to walk the dog up to the local shops. They set off, wrapped warmly in thick coats, figuring they could probably meet Liz as she got off the bus.

      At the shops, Paul and Rita Webster saw the eight o’clock bus pull into the nearby bus stop and watched as one person get off. It wasn’t Lizzie.

      Rita wasn’t overly concerned. She thought they may have mistaken the time that Liz said she would be coming home. Besides, her niece had just been paid her Austudy allowance so if worse came to worst, she could always catch a taxi home or ring them for a lift.

      After buying Paul’s cigarettes, the Websters walked back home and settled in front of the television to watch a movie. When nine o’clock came around, Rita began to get a little anxious. It wasn’t like Liz to be late. She always telephoned to let them know where she was and when she was coming home. It was one of the rules they had decided on when Liz had moved in six months before.

      Rita remembered the three of them sitting around the kitchen table discussing what they expected of each other. When Rita had told her niece that she always wanted to know what time she would be home, it had been mostly for the practical reason of planning meals but Liz had taken it to the extreme and always let them know exact times and left detailed notes for them. Rita knew that Liz was in many ways much younger than her 18 years.

      The two women had had great fun since Elizabeth joined the family, cooking and painting; things that Liz hadn’t done much of. For Rita, it was the daughter she never had. Rita smiled to herself remembering one of the other rules they had decided upon. Since Rita and Paul both worked, Liz took responsibility for cooking one meal each week. Liz would go through cook books and had so far produced rubber chicken fillets and a cake half an inch high and solid as a rock. Her roasts however, were improving under Rita’s guidance.

      Trying not to overreact, Rita reasoned that the library didn’t close until nine; Liz had probably got caught up in her studies. She didn’t mention her concerns to her husband.

      The movie finished at 10.30pm and by then both the Websters were worried. They figured that Liz must have missed the bus and decided to walk home so Paul suggested that he drive around and try to find her while Rita waited at home in case she arrived or telephoned.

      Paul drove up Paterson Avenue and along Cranbourne Road and then all the way to Frankston TAFE; his eyes scanning the footpaths for his niece. He stopped the car and went to the front door of the college but the place was in darkness; there were two security cards pushed into the locked door which told Paul it had been closed for a while. Worried, he drove around to the Frankston Library, but that too was deserted. Pulling out of the car park, Paul had a quick look in McDonalds, but the place looked like it was about to close.

      He knew his niece didn’t have any friends in Melbourne. She wasn’t interested in boys and her closest friends lived in Tasmania. She was a bit of a loner and he was at a complete loss as to where she could be.

      He couldn’t see her at the Frankston railway station nor at the bus stop, so he drove once again around the main streets of Frankston before heading home. Perhaps he would find her at home and she would have some reasonable explanation for her lateness and he could breathe easy again.

      But it was not to be.

      As soon as her husband arrived home alone, Rita wanted to ring the police but was torn between her fears and not wanting to over-react. Paul headed off once again in his car to shine a torch in the darker areas all the way to the TAFE college and then to the railway station. Driving past Ballam Park, he stopped the car and illuminated the barbecue area and the children’s playground with his torch beam. When he saw no sign of the missing teenager, he came home and finally agreed to call the Frankston police.

      He told the officer who answered the phone that his niece Elizabeth was missing and that she was a very reliable girl. After taking a description, the police officer said that he would pass on the information to Cranbourne because the Webster’s house was in the Cranbourne police district.

      Around 1.10am, the Websters were visited by Sergeant Steve Lewis and Senior Constable Alan Robinson who had received the missing person call through D-24 about twenty minutes earlier. The two officers had been making a routine patrol of their district in a marked police car. The weather was shocking and the night had been quiet.

      Sergeant Steve Lewis, with seventeen years experience in the police force, usually knew what to expect with a missing persons call. In the first couple of questions, the person making the report usually admitted to some sort of domestic fight or family trouble and the missing person invariably returned home. Hurrying through the heavy rain to the shelter of the Webster’s carport, Lewis stepped up to the front door and knocked.

      Paul Webster answered the door and invited the two officers inside, leading them through the kitchen to a dining area where they all sat down at a wooden dining table. Rita offered them coffee but the officers refused – these reports usually didn’t take very long.

      Paul and Rita Webster began by explaining that Elizabeth had gone to the library to study and had been expected home at 8pm. Lewis sensed that they were worried yet trying to keep their fears in check. Her disappearance was totally out of character, they said. Paul explained how he had driven around Frankston but he couldn’t find Liz.

      Lewis asked the customary question, ‘Could she have gone off with a friend or boyfriend?’

      The Websters explained that while Liz was free to do as she chose, she was a homebody with no friends that they knew of since she had only moved from Tasmania at the beginning of the year and had been living with them since mid-January.

      Steve Lewis got the impression that Elizabeth Stevens was a nice young woman who loved her school work and while being friendly to everyone, had yet to find close friends in Melbourne.

      Lewis asked if there had been any domestic difficulties but the Websters couldn’t think of anything that could have upset their niece. The only fight they’d had was when Liz had ridden a pushbike home from Frankston after dark without lights a couple of weeks earlier. Rita had been angry at the risk her niece had taken.

      ‘But I could see all the cars,’ Liz had said.

      ‘Well, you might have been able to see them but they couldn’t see you!’ Rita had cried, exasperated.

      Liz didn’t always show common sense but she always saw reason and wouldn’t repeat her mistakes.

      When Lewis asked if Elizabeth had any money on her, Rita Webster told him that she had just received her Austudy cheque. A possibility that occurred to the sergeant, although he didn’t share it with the concerned couple, was that Elizabeth Stevens had been robbed for her meagre student allowance.

      There was something about the Websters and their story that gave the sergeant a strong gut feeling that something was terribly wrong. Elizabeth didn’t drink or take drugs and she always let them know where she was and what time she would be home. To illustrate the point, Paul showed the police officers the note that Liz had written.

      As soon as Steve Lewis read it, he became really concerned about the safety of Elizabeth Stevens. He thought that any kid who left such a detailed note was unlikely to change plans without phoning to let her uncle and aunt know. According to the Websters, they didn’t exercise strict control over their niece. She had chosen from the outset to leave notes regarding her plans and she had always let them know where she was. It sounded to the officers as if it were as much for Elizabeth’s own security СКАЧАТЬ