Garry Disher - Snapshot (Inspector Hal Challis)

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Snapshot

[Inspector Challis03]

By Garry Disher

Scanned & Proofed By MadMaxAU

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OnSaturday she watched Robert have sex with four women. She had sex with two men.And now it was Tuesday and she was driving along the highway with herseven-year-old daughter. Sex with strangers on a Saturday evening, drivingaround with her daughter in the family station wagon on a Tuesday morning: werethese the twin poles of her existence? Not any more. Janine McQuarrie had donesomething about that.

Are we there yet? asked Georgia inher piping voice.

Another clich in a life of them. Notyet, sweetie. Bit further.

She needed to concentrate. The weak,wintry sun was casting confusing shadows but, more than anything, shed beobliged to make right-hand turns pretty soon. A right turn off the highway,another off the Peninsula Freeway, and another off Penzance Beach Road, whichwound in a dizzying climb high above sea level. She slowed for an intersection,the light green. She should make a right turn here, but that meant giving wayto the oncoming traffic, which was streaming indifferently towards her, andwhat if some maniac failed to stop before she completed the turn? She tried toswallow. Her mouth was very dry. Someone sounded their horn at her. Shecontinued through the intersection without turning.

All those people there lastSaturday, as close as bodies can get to one another, yet Janine hadntexpected, sought or found any kind of togetherness. She knew from pastexperience that the other couples would look out for each other, the wiveswatching out for their husbands, always with a smile, a kiss, a comforting orloving caress, Just checking that youre happy. kind of thing, and thehusbands checking on how their wives were doing, Are you okay? Love you kindof thing, even stopping to have sex with them before moving on to another playarea. But that wasnt Roberts style. He would never so much as say Enjoyyourself but go after the single women and younger wives, a glint of graspingneed in his eyes, and last Saturday hadnt been any different. Hed kept herthere until three in the morning, long after most of the others had gone home.

Mum?

What?

Can I have a Happy Meal for lunch?

Well see.

Beside her, Georgia began to sing.

It had taken her husband about threemonths to wear her down. When hed first proposed attending one of the parties,late last year, Janine had thought he was joking, but it soon became clear thathe wasnt. Shed felt vaguely discomfited, more from the tawdriness and risk ofexposure than realising he probably didnt want her sexually any more. Why doyou want to have sex with other women besides me? shed asked, putting on abit of a quiver.

But you can have sex with othermen, hed said reasonably, as many as you want.

Youre pimping for me, Robert?

No, of course not, it will spicethings up for us.

Things had been low-key tonon-existent, she had to admit. They still werewith Robert at least.

For three months shed let him thinkhis wheedling and cajoling were seducing her into it. Youll meet lovelypeople, he said one day. Very open-minded.

That confirmed it: hed hadexperience already. She waited a beat and said in a little voice, You mean youvealready been to one of these parties?

Yes, he told her, trying not tosound ashamed or evasive but open, honest and a little defiant and courageous.Shed felt a surge of anger, but kept it bottled. He was so plausible, so small.Playing shy and a little threatened shed asked, So they let single menin?

Some parties do, he said. Itcosts more, and youre soon barred if youre a sleazebag.

Robert wasnt a sleazebag, or not tolook at. Nondescript, if anything. His morals were sleazebag, though.

Theres no need to feel threatenedor jealous, hed said gently, stroking her arm, her neck, her breasts, and shedactually tingled, her body betraying her. It forges a deep trust betweencouples, he went on. Its not just physical, its also spiritual. A mutualtrust. Its a fundamental thing.

On and on, for three months.

I dont want to have sex with aboilermaker, shed told him finally, knowing just what to say.

He shook his head, the picture oftop-drawer gentlemanliness. Potentially, you have people from all walks oflife, he said, but Ill make sure we attend only the better parties.

Yeah, those that admit right-wing,think-tank sons of police superintendents, she thought now, at the nextintersection, her insides clenching. Finally she found the nerve to turn rightacross oncoming traffic. Soon the car was climbing steeply inland from thecoast and heading across the Peninsula along narrow roads lined with pines andgums, sunless, dank and dripping on this early winter morning.

Eventually shed let Robert see thathed worn her down, and in February had let him start taking her along with himto his banal little suburban orgies. She went partly out of curiosity andpartly to get something on him. On the first three occasions shed insistedthey attend as observersRobert itching to get into it, of course.

At her fourth party she drank a lotfirst, to convey the impression that she needed Dutch couragebut thendiscovering to her irritation that she did need it. Good on you,sweetheart, Robert said.

To her surprise, it all turned outto be quite erotic. A house in Mornington, lots of plane trees along thestreet, tall hedges to screen the house from passersby or nosy neighbours.Robert pointed it out to her, and then parked in the next street. What weredoing isnt illegal, he said, but we dont want to attract unnecessaryattention. They walked to the house, dressed as if for an ordinary party, andwere greeted at the door. Ten oclock, and most people were already there,about twenty couples and a dozen single women. Janine recognised several ofthem from observing on earlier occasions. They stood around, drinks in theirhands, talking about football, the stock market, who was minding the kidstonightin Janines and Roberts case, Janines sister, Meg.

By 10.30 everyone had loosened up.Jackets came off, lights were dimmed, there was kissing, a porn film flickeredon a widescreen TV in a corner of the sitting room.

Soon men and women were in the changerooms, hanging up trousers, jeans, dresses, shirts, and emerging, the men inG-strings, the women in sheer black slips, camisoles, knickers. Janine wasaccustomed to this by now, after those three preparatory visits. You had to dressdown in order to watch.

She drank another vodka, thenstripped to her knickers and walked topless to one of the bedrooms, a largeroom where two double beds had been pushed together. Black satin sheets,candles placed where they cast a suggestive light but couldnt be knocked over,a bowl of condoms and a pump dispenser of lubricant on a side table. Twocouples were having sex; others watched in the shadows, fondling themselves,sometimes darting forward to peer at all that moist coupling. Cruising nicelynow after the vodkas, Janine felt desire hit her, a little hot and nasty in thepit of her stomach. She perched on the end of a bed and touched a womansbreast, a mans penis, saying, Do you mind?

It was important to ask and notsimply barge in. They smiled. No, they didnt mind. Join in, why dont you?

She still wasnt sure. Most of herwanted to, part of her didnt. Perhaps if she just stretched out on thebed...Time passed. People stopped to watch, moved on to another play area, orjoined in. Like this? they asked, or like that? Here, or there? What wouldyou like me to do? Do you mind if I do that? What turns you on? Bymidnight, that first time, Janine had had sex with three men.