The Undertow Read Online Free PDF Page A

shook her. Just a little. ‘You must understand that William is . . . was a very energetic person. When we returned from Italy he set about adjusting to life here. He attended Cranbrook, where he was a first-class student and a fine sportsman. He was in the school teams for tennis and cricket and would have been for swimming if he’d been able to fit it in. He was popular and socially active as well.’
    She drew a breath as if this catalogue of her son’s qualities had tired her, but she went on almost at once. ‘He did splendidly in the HSC in science subjects and languages. He could have got into medicine at Sydney, but he opted to study languages. He was fluent in Italian, of course, and true Italian, not a dialect. He studied French and Spanish and got a first-class degree. He went backpacking in Indonesia after finishing and he acquired a proficiency in Bahasa very easily.’
    As someone who battled his way through school, especially at science and French, and dropped out of university, I was finding this Rhodes scholar stuff a bit hard to take. ‘And did he live here through all this?’ I asked.
    â€˜Oh, no. He lived in college and was only here in the holidays and sometimes at weekends and for family occasions. He was a favourite with the Italian side of my family, naturally. After university he moved into a flat with some other young people. He applied to the UN to work as a translator and was accepted as a trainee. While he was waiting for that to be arranged he worked at SBS, subtitling foreign films. He seemed so settled and stable with a career path ahead of him that I thought I should tell him the truth.’
    â€˜A version of it,’ I said.
    â€˜Of course, you’re right. I told him what had happened to his . . . my husband. I thought he was mature and confident enough to cope with it. I was wrong.’
    Saying she was wrong was not something she liked doing. She paused, as if to try to think of some way to withdraw the admission, but there was none available. I was beginning to dislike her. I had no idea what she meant about true Italian and dialects, but it sounded snobbish. Again, it seemed as if she and Heysen had unpleasant characteristics in common. I started to question Frank’s attraction to her, but maybe she was an actress and had projected a different personality to him.
    â€˜William went completely off the rails,’ she said. ‘He did some research and of course turned up the lurid tabloid stories about Gregory and all the details that came out at the trial. He turned against me for lying to him, and against the world he’d grown up in. He said he never wanted to see or hear from me again. He left his job and did not take up the traineeship at the UN. The last time I saw him he was heavily under the influence of drugs and he told me that selling them was how he made his living. That he was a criminal, just like his father. It broke my heart. I tried to tell him that Gregory wasn’t guilty but he wouldn’t listen.’
    â€˜Where is he now?’
    â€˜I have no idea.’
    I had to think that over. The job seemed to be double-barrelled. What was the point of exonerating Gregory Heysen, in the unlikely event that that could be done, if the kid to give the good news to was missing?
    â€˜Have you tried to locate him?’
    â€˜How would I do that?’
    â€˜By hiring someone like me. Can’t you see that this is two strands of the same story?’
    â€˜I hadn’t thought of it that way . . . until now.’
    â€˜You have to consider every angle. What if William reconsidered? He’s bright, you say. What if he’s trying to find out more about Dr Heysen’s conviction?’
    â€˜I suppose it’s possible.’
    â€˜Which means he could be in danger.’
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜You haven’t thought this through, Mrs Heysen. If your husband was innocent, then someone framed him. Do you