Читать книгу The Frankston Murders - Vikki Petraitis - Страница 14

On the night of Thursday 8 July 1993, Russell Hayes had a dinner invitation. His friend Debbie Fream had just given birth to a son, and she had invited him over for dinner to catch up and to see her new baby. Russell had worked with Debbie whom he called ‘Dee’ and they had established a close platonic friendship. They talked regularly both at work and on the telephone and would often go to the same nightclubs together; Russell would drink and Debbie, who rarely drank, would drive them both home.

Debbie Fream had left the small country town where she had grown up to take a job as a data-entry worker at a business in Clayton. Her boyfriend, Garry Blair, had stayed behind while Debbie had opted for the city with its bright lights and good job prospects. Initially Debbie shared a flat with a friend in Mordialloc and then Garry joined her and they both moved to Kananook Avenue in Seaford. Debbie would often tell Russell how happy she was with Garry.

Not long after Debbie Fream began the job in Clayton, she discovered she was pregnant. A doctor had told her that she might have problems conceiving and although the pregnancy came as a surprise, it was a happy one. Debbie continued working into the fifth month of her pregnancy, but fatigue soon overcame her and she had resigned to await the birth of her baby.

Russell Hayes had not seen Debbie since before her son Jake was born in Frankston Hospital twelve days earlier. Finishing work in Clayton around 5pm, he clocked off and drove straight to Seaford. When he arrived at Kananook Avenue, Debbie’s car wasn’t in the driveway and the house lights weren’t on so he waited in his car. Debbie had told him that she had a bit of shopping to do and he knew that she wouldn’t be long.

Five minutes later, when Debbie’s grey Pulsar pulled into the driveway, Russell got out of his car and gave his friend a congratulatory hug. Russell unloaded the shopping, leaving Debbie to carry Jake into the house. She joked about how many extra things she needed to carry around since the baby arrived.

Baby Jake was asleep and Debbie gently lifted him out of the baby capsule, showed him to Russell and then carried him to his cradle in the bedroom.

Alone in the lounge room, Debbie and Russell chatted about the baby, life in general and the omelette she was going to make for dinner. Debbie was in good spirits; she told Russell that although a lot of people had told her it was difficult coping with a new baby, she was finding it really easy. Debbie also explained that Garry was working an afternoon shift so it would just be the two of them for dinner.

As the time went on, the two friends moved into the kitchen and Debbie began peeling vegetables and cracking eggs for the omelette.

The telephone rang and Russell heard Debbie answer, ‘Hi Mum, how are you?’ Debbie’s mother had come down from the country when Jake was born and had kept in regular contact by telephone when she returned home.

They discussed the baby and Debbie told her mother that if Garry wanted another one, they would get married. She told her mother how wonderful her cousin Sara had been since Jake’s arrival and then voiced concerns that her mother sounded tired. They chatted a couple of minutes more before Debbie told her mother she had to go because Russell was visiting for dinner.

While dinner was cooking, the two friends went out onto the front veranda for a smoke. When they went back inside Debbie realised that she needed some milk. She told Russell she’d just pop down to the local shop and would only be a couple of minutes. It took her a few moments to find her keys, then she grabbed her purse out of her handbag and headed out the door. She had assured Russell that Jake was asleep and would be fine until she got home.

Russell, settled comfortably in front of the television, heard the Pulsar pull out of the driveway as he switched the channel to watch Home and Away. Engrossed in his favourite television program, Russell barely noticed the time pass and suddenly it occurred to him that Debbie had been gone a lot longer than a couple of minutes. He wandered into the kitchen and turned off the vegetables that she had left boiling on the stove.

After half an hour he began to wonder what was taking Debbie so long. He even wandered outside, and walked to the end of the driveway to see if he could see her car coming.

After a while Russell really began to worry. He didn’t know Seaford very well and didn’t know which shop Debbie would have gone to, so he couldn’t go and look for her. Besides, he certainly couldn’t leave the tiny baby asleep in the bedroom.

An hour after Debbie had left, Russell rang the Frankston police station to ask if any accidents had been reported in the area. A policewoman he spoke to suggested telephoning the Frankston hospital because, she explained, there was often a delay between an accident and the police receiving the report. Russell rang the hospital and they told him that no one by the name of Debbie Fream had been admitted and that they had no unidentified accident victims. Russell then tried calling a girlfriend of Debbie’s who lived in Seaford. If this woman could come and mind Jake, he could go out and look for Debbie. The friend didn’t answer.

Finally, Russell telephoned Garry Blair at work. Garry told Russell not to worry; that Debbie had probably just run out of petrol. This didn’t put his mind to rest. Surely Debbie would have telephoned him if that were the case. Garry suggested Russell ring another friend, Jeanette, who lived locally. She agreed to come around immediately and told Russell she would look out for Debbie on the way over.

Ten minutes later, Garry rang back to say he had organised to leave work early and was on his way home. Jeanette arrived a few minutes later; she had seen no trace of Debbie or her car. She told Russell she would drive up to the Seaford Safeway and look around there but she was back ten minutes later. There was no sign of Debbie.

When Garry Blair arrived home just before 9pm, Debbie had been gone nearly two hours. The worried young man asked Russell to drive around to the Food Plus store on the Frankston-Dandenong Road, which he did. Debbie’s grey Pulsar wasn’t there and Russell searched surrounding streets before returning to the house in Kananook Avenue.

Leaving Jeanette to babysit, Russell and Garry drove to the Frankston police station to report Debbie missing. The police wanted a photo of her so the two men returned home, found a recent photo and drove back to the police station. By the time they finally returned home, it was nearly midnight and Debbie still hadn’t come back. Russell stayed for a while before reluctantly leaving. He had to work the next day but he gave Garry his telephone number and made him promise to call as soon as Debbie came home.

Garry telephoned Debbie’s brother Troy, with whom he been working that afternoon. He had told Troy that Debbie was missing as soon as Russell Hayes had called. Troy had finished work around 10.30pm and telephoned Garry asking him to ring him if Debbie wasn’t back by midnight. When Garry finally called, Troy was so worried about his sister, he came around immediately. Garry asked him to drive to the ATM in Seaford to check the balance of his account to see if Debbie had withdrawn any money. Troy drove to the Westpac ATM in Frankston and got a print-out of Garry’s balance.

Back at the Kananook Avenue house, Garry figured that there was around fifty dollars less in the account than there should have been but that Debbie had probably withdrawn the money for shopping. There was still over two hundred dollars left in the account.

Garry, Troy and Jeanette spent an anxious all-night vigil waiting for Debbie to come home. She never did.

Russell Hayes was woken early the next morning when an officer from the Frankston police station telephoned to ask him if he had heard from Debbie. He hadn’t.

Milk bar proprietors in the area also received early morning visits by detectives. The closest shop to Debbie Fream’s home was on the corner of her street and McCulloch Avenue. The proprietor, however, said he couldn’t remember whether he had served her or not.