In Part Four we saw Kym hire an escort girl for an hour in an attempt to settle a question about her sexual orientation. She is still attracted to Anna but there is a rival for her affections when one of Anna's colleagues, Shobi steps up and offers to put her up for the night when ex cop, McNally fails to turn up for a bail appointment. Shobi's intentions however are far more mercenary as she homes in on Anna, seeking a way in. Gitti is drafted in to talk to one of McNally's friends and see if she can help locate him. Ellen is now at Jacinda's place and the two are drawing closer together.
The blinds had been drawn on the windows of Lynette's Salon in Beaumaris but there was still a light shining between them, indicating some staff were still inside. It was well known that some tv personalities sometimes booked an after hours appointment in an attempt to stop people gawking and taking pictures through the window. To that effect, Lynette had hung her usual sign in the door.
Private Appointments Only. Ring bell for assistance.
However, the only private bookings she had that evening were a former detective, Gitti and a serving detective, Angie and they weren't celebrities by any means but Lynette prided herself on making ordinary working people feel like celebrities even if it was just for show. Angie had been treated to a freebie and now it was Gitti's turn. Lynette wasn't being entirely altruistic though, she needed to keep her hands busy whilst police made plans to locate ex detective turned criminal, Roy McNally and take him back to a police station to discuss the bail conditions he'd just broken.
"What do you think?" Lynette fluffed out Gitti's hair.
"I like it," Gitti plucked at a lock of hair in the front, "it's almost manageable. My boyfriend in Sydney will have to reconsider relocating to Melbourne," she turned her head to one side.
"Just as long as he doesn't want to move in," she continued, "that's a bridge too far. I value my privacy and women are much easier to live with," she examined her new hairdo.
She'd lost two inches off the bottom so that her hair fell to three inches past her collar, it had also been thinned out at the sides and top, giving her an elongated bob effect. It looked professional and yet also alluring, she managed a tired grin as Lynette carried her instruments over to a small sink just beside the mirror in front of the chair. She glanced at the front window. The salon had closed half an hour ago and the only other person in the establishment was Angie.
"What do you think, Angie?"
"About what? Your hair or letting men move in?"
"The second one," Gitti replied
"Yeah, that does it for me," Angie smiled, "if they want to stay more than one night I show them the dog kennel out the back and tell them to talk it over with Rastus and his son, Milo."
"What kind of dogs are they?" Lynette looked at her in the mirror.
"Rastus is part blue heeler, part kelpie and part bull terrier and Milo's mother is the labradoodle that dug a hole under the neighbour's fence. Her owner is Selena and I agreed to take one of the pups in exchange for the old Holden my ex brother in law dumped on my nature strip."
"An interesting exchange," Lynette replied.
"It was," she inclined her head and looked at the front window, "she had just bought a similar model Holden and wanted mine for spare parts and Rastus needed a playmate."
"So, you don't have a bloke?" Lynette carried her instruments over to a nearby sink.
"Not me, although I do confess to a passing attraction for Selena though but she's been seeing some woman in Wantirna so at the moment I'm happily single.
"I've thought about switching sides. I had one brief affair with a married woman five years ago," she glanced at her.
"And how was it? Just out of curiosity," Gitti asked.
"It was better than I thought, you could say it was addictive, but I knew that if we kept going I'd be out of control and it would kill her marriage."
"What do you mean by out of control?" Angie glanced at her phone as it beeped.
"I need exits," Lynette replied, "you don't go through three marriages, two defacto marriages and a slew of lovers without developing an exit strategy. Even with Ken, as much as I like him, I have my exit already worked out," she stopped as Angie touched the screen and raised the phone to her ear as she walked to the window.
"My youngest daughter is pregnant and wants to move back to my place for a bit of support from her mother. Ken's not the fatherly type and he definitely won't cope with my broody daughter living there at the same time. When she moves back in I'll suggest he moves in with his ex brother in law until Helen gives birth and then of course I'll be the doting grandmother, again and he'll fade from view."
"You don't just kick him out?"
"Heavens no, he's not a bad man, he just has an inflated view of himself," she replied, "he's on his seventh draft of the great Australian novel and he's only written half the book."
Angie lowered the phone a minute later as Lynette dried the scissors and combs she'd washed, she turned around and nodded.
"Well?" Gitti swung around in the chair.
"They've got him in custody," Angie replied, "he actually saw the police car cruising by the house and stepped out to wave the car down. He's been taken back to Frankston for a bit and then they'll transfer him to the Assessment Centre for the weekend and possibly longer, depending on what they can arrange for his co-accused. They need to keep them separated for now."
"Has he mentioned me?"
"I really don't know, they're getting ready to question him again."
"So, what happens now?" Lynette turned the tap off, "do you need a statement from me?"
"Not yet," she replied, "he's walked out before we sent in the soggies so he knows the game is up. He would have known we'd come and see you sooner or later and his only other option was to stay under the radar and try to go interstate."
"I really haven't had much to do with him for the last three years. He used to drop by for a haircut and a bit of conversation every couple of months but then he got that place up the bush and I never saw him. He just rang me out of the blue and asked for a temporary place so he could prepare for his upcoming trial," she folded her arms.
"I honestly thought he was checking in with his bail officer, until you showed up," she nodded at Gitti, "I didn't want him staying with me, I'd seen the news reports but he never discussed things like that with me. He said it was better to stay a clean skin."
"You think she's telling the truth?" Gitti looked over at Angie some twenty minutes later as they drove away from Beaumaris.
"You're asking me?" Angie stared at her, "you're the one with more experience."
"I get the impression she's covering her tracks but considering the charges he's facing I can't say I blame her but Roy just walking out to give himself up sounds suspicious."
"The police car would have given it away," Angie conceded, "that's the problem with hunting your own, they know your moves before you make them. We can give him the story about an anonymous tip off but I'm not convinced he'll buy it."
"But he'll probably leave her alone," she replied, "when she said he'd called her a clean skin it seems to imply that he wants to keep her out of the loop. God knows his ex wives have all given him the heave ho, she's probably the only woman left who actually talks to him."
"Let's hope she doesn't ditch her current partner and try to reach out to Roy, she needs to stay on the right path and who knows? Find herself a woman? They tend to be less trouble."
"Where are you going?" Gitti stared at the service station where Roy had been left a couple of hours ago, "what about Tom?"
