Covet Read Free

1932–2001. Sixty-nine. Her friend’s marker was on the bottom row, right-hand side, and she was one of the younger ones in this block of memorials. She had been only nineteen when she was murdered, practically a child. In fact, south of the nearby Canadian–American border, Catherine would have been legal to drink as of today, her twenty-first birthday. This day should have been a coming of age for her. It should have been a big party , Mak thought.
    She reached down and pulled some dry, blackened roses from the metal holder by Catherine’s plaque and let them blow out of her hand in a gust of wind. She watched them for amoment as they took flight and disappeared in the valley of gravestones below. She recognised the white ribbon holding them together. It was her previous bouquet.
    Am I the only one who visits her?
    She couldn’t help but feel a flash of anger directed at Catherine’s neglectful foster parents.
    Don’t waste your thoughts on them. You have much bigger fish to fry.
    Mak placed her flowers in the holder and felt some minuscule and short-lived sense of satisfaction. At least Catherine had fresh flowers now, bright and cheerful, as she would have liked them. The yellow petals seemed to be the only colour for miles: the sky, the cemetery, the wall of plaques—it all seemed so grey and depressing.
    Don’t cry, dammit. Don’t.
    She had one more thing she needed to do. Makedde knelt on the hard stone tiles in front of the memorial, the numbing cold seeping through the knees of her jeans. She bowed her head for a moment to get up her courage, and with a deep breath she ripped open Catherine’s card.
    HAPPY 21 ST BIRTHDAY!
    I miss you, Cat. Your friend always, M.
    Mak pushed her hand flat against the marble square and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she slid the opened birthday card into one of the ridges around Catherine’s plaque so it stuck in place. The wind would take it soon, but it was the best she could do. She crumpled the envelope into a ball and put it in her pocket.
    I’ve gotta go now.
    Mak stood up and brushed off the knees of her jeans. It was time for her to fly across the globe to Sydney, Australia—a beautiful destination for most people, but this would be no holiday. Makedde was the prosecution’s key witness in the trial of the sadistic Ed Brown, the man who had abducted nine young women and murdered them senselessly; slaughtered and defiled them, and in the process had captured the public’s imagination as the epitome of evil, his acts making gruesome news headlines across the world. He had savagely ended Catherine’s life, and Makedde herself had been terrifyingly close to being his next victim. She had promised her dead friend justice for the wrongs that had been done to her, and although she could never truly make things right, taking the witness stand to help convict Ed Brown was one thing she could do. After a long and troubled eighteen months, the time had finally come for her to testify in court.
    We’ll lock him away forever, Cat. I promise. And he won’t be able to hurt anyone else ever again.
    What lay ahead would be no easier if she dwelled on her loss. It was too much to bear thinking about.
    ‘I love you, Catherine,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll get him for you. Wish me luck.’
    She turned away from the bank of memorials and walked towards her father’s minivan, prompting Les and Ann to look up from their conversation in the front seat. Her father offered asolemn nod through the foggy windscreen and Ann started the engine.
    Mak got in. ‘Alright, let’s go.’
    They pulled away in silence as she stared out the window, disturbed by the way a string of letters carved into cold marble could slowly take over the once vivid memories of her late best friend. Time blurred memories of the dead, even when the pain of their leaving remained fresh. Her mother and Catherine were slowly fading, like a dream upon waking, fragmenting and growing indefinite. She could no