Challis - 01 - Dragon Man (13 page)

She looked up to see that McQuarrie
was watching her, waiting for her to pay attention. First, I want to say that
I think youre doing a fine job under difficult circumstances. For that reason,
I will arrange for extra detectives to be assigned to the case from Rosebud and
Mornington. Sergeant Destry, you will continue to be in charge on the ground,
answerable to Inspector Challis.

She gave him a tight little smile.
He washed his palms together. Now, clearly this is the work of one man. Our
priorities are to find him before he kills again. Equally, we need to provide a
safe environment here on the Peninsula. We also need to find the vehicle used
to dump Jane Gideons body. Finally, we need to think about the mindset of the
person behind these killings.

Mindset, Ellen thought. God.

Similarities between the victims,
McQuarrie went on. Differences. Did they know one another.

Now hes telling us how to do our
job, Ellen thought.

Kymbly Abbott, Jane Gideon,
McQuarrie went on. He shook his head and laughed, and it was a laugh that went
wrong, even as he uttered it and said, Kymbly. Where do these people get their
names from?

No-one shared the laughter. He was
speaking ill of the dead. Meanwhile Ellen Destry felt herself blush, for shed
named her daughter Larrayne, not Lorraine, so what did that say about her?
McQuarrie was a prick.

It was with relief that she went to
her car at the end of the day and was able to snatch a moment with Rhys
Hartnett. She wasnt sure, but there was something there, in the way he looked
at her. Are we still on for twelve oclock Saturday?

Ill be there.

If you like, stay on and have some
lunch with us, she said.

* * * *

Challis
worked until six-thirty that evening. As he was leaving the station, the prison
called. Apparently his wife had tried to saw across her wrists with a plastic
knife and had written a note that said, Forgive me. Theyd assumed that the
note was for him. Maybe it was. Challis had long forgiven her, he was past
making judgments about her, and had even told himself that she wasnt his
responsibility any more, but it was always him they called whenever she went
off the rails. The call depressed him. He slumped back in his chair and stared
at the wall maps.

Then the front desk buzzed him. Tessa
Kane to see you, sir.

He put his hand to his forehead
briefly. Show her up.

He stepped into the corridor and
waited. He was alone on the first floor. When Tessa appeared with a young
constable, he sent the constable back downstairs. Tessas eyes were bright and
searching. She was pleased with herself, but also gauging what he thought of
her now. Hal, dont be mad at me.

I thought you agreed you wouldnt
publish.

No, I said Id
consider
not
publishing. Your finding Jane Gideon made it imperative, Hal. This was a scoop.
It meant a lot to me, and I think it was in the public interest.

Ive never heard a more cynical

Hal, she said, and reached up and
kissed him. He closed his eyes.

In her low voice, she said, Ive
been wanting to do that for ages.

He was surprised to find that his
anger was gone, and made a sound in his throat that might have been assent and
pleasure.

Hal, would you have dinner with me
tonight?

Challis thought about it. He felt
better about Tessa Kane, but doubted that he had energy and selflessness enough
to be pleasant company for her. All he wanted to do was drive to the aerodrome
and work on the Dragon.

Not tonight. Tomorrow?

Fine.

Somewhere out of the public eye,
he said.

Thats easy.

When he let himself into the hangar,
twenty minutes later, he saw that Kitty had left the new issue of
Vintage
Aircraft
on his tailplane, open at the centre spread. It showed a restored
Dragon at Bankstown airport, full colour, the red and silver livery of an
airline that had folded in 1936. Challis didnt think hed ever seen a more
beautiful aeroplane. The rounded nose reminded him of a tentative, questing
snake, but in all other respects the Dragon Rapide was nothing like a snake. An
insect? It suggested delicacy, restraint, grace, and the atmosphere of
England-to-Australia races and records as the world came out of the 1930s Great
Depression, before it all went wrong again.

He turned the pages to the Help
Wanted column. His letter was there. Somewhere in the world there might be a
man or a woman who knew a little of the history of his aeroplane.

* * * *

Kees
van Alphen sat in the window of Pizza Hut. They were used to him in there; he
often ate there. He saw Tessa Kane leave the station. At seven-fifteen, Challiss
car pulled out of the station car park. Van Alphen waited for the 8 p.m. shift
to get under way before he walked back across the road and into the station.

Thursday night, a bit of action in
town, what with people spending their pay cheques and gearing up for Christmas
and the summer break. But quiet in the station itself. Van Alphen prowled about
the building, opening and closing doors, chatting to the young constable on the
front desk, the probationers in the tearoom, a couple of other sergeants
writing up reports. In effect, he was mentally mapping the station, placing
everyone, anticipating where they might accidentally wander. When he was
satisfied, he walked into the office of Senior Sergeant Kellockhe who said his
door was always openand located the key to the evidence safe.

The drugs were on the top shelf,
just a handful of small plastic sealables of coke and hashish, some pill bottles
of ecstasy, some amphetamines from a garden-shed laboratory in a twist of
paper. Van Alphen substituted two of the cocaine baggies for baggies of castor
sugar, double checked the paperworktheyd not be needed in trial for another
six weeks yetand left the office, locking the safe behind him.

Ill be out for a couple of hours,
he told the constable on the front desk.

Okay, Sarge.

Our pyromaniacs might decide on
return visits.

Good one, boss.

The constable seemed to be assessing
him.

What are you looking at, Sunshine?

Sorry, nothing, Sarge. I mean, youre
not on night shift tonight.

Things hot up before Christmas, you
know that. Plus we got members down with a stomach bug. I like to keep on top
of things. Its what makes a cop, that little bit extra.

Yes, Sarge.

All right then.

Van Alphen took an unmarked
Commodore from the car pool and drove to Claras house with the radio
dispatchers voice scratching in the darkness and all of his heartaches on his
mind. Fucking Tessa Kane and her editorials. What was she doing at the station?
Trying to get more dirt?

Three strikes and youre out. Hed
been warned for over-enthusiastic policing in his previous two districts, and
now it was happening again. No-one understood that you had to start hard and
carry through on it, or the scumbags won. But the top brass were hypersensitive
to the image the press gave the force, and the civil libertarians were always
making a noise about police brutality. Fuck them. He knew his methods got
results. Hed had the highest arrest record in each of his districts, which
proved that crime was always there, under the surface, and had been allowed to
tick over unchecked.

It was a pity the women in his life
hadnt been able to hack it. His wife and daughter had walked out, finally,
saying they couldnt stand the stares, the whispers, the aggravation. He felt
sorry theyd had to suffer, but the fact that they hadnt stuck by him left a
sour taste in his mouth.

Then Clara wrapped herself around
him like a cat, and his cares flew out of the window.

* * * *

Eight

hallis
rose at six on Friday morning and, dressed in trousers, shirt and tie, sat on
the decking at the rear of his house to watch the lightening sky and the
swallows as they caught mosquitoes and other insects on the wing. The garden,
such as it was, showed signs of cracked soil: even the weeds were dying. We
were lucky to get that tyre track, he thought. The rest of the Peninsula is
bone dry. But the tyre was all they had. No semen traces, for the killer had
used a condom. No prints, for hed worn gloves. What hed left on his victims
were
absences,
including the absence of life.

So, what did his victims leave on
him?

Challis was expecting the additional
detectives from Rosebud and Mornington to be at the early briefing. He drained
the dregs of his coffee and walked the boundary again. Just as he reached the
road gate, the council garbage truck slowed, saw that Challis had forgotten to
wheel out his bin, and accelerated away again, leaving Challis a taste of dust
and diesel exhaust. Thats what happened during the long cases Challis forgot
his life.

He stopped for petrol on the
outskirts of Waterloo. A car towing a caravan was parked clear of the pumps, a
disgruntled family watching a mechanic on his back beneath the rear of the car.
Queensland plates. Challis imagined the oppressive summer heat of Queensland,
the family driving to the same beach shack or caravan spot down here on the
Peninsula year after year in search of a balmier sun.

Would they read the
Progress
and
become fearful, and head back the way theyd come?

When he parked at the rear of the
police station in Waterloo, he saw Ellen Destry getting out of her car, keys
gripped neatly in her teeth, a briefcase and bundled folders in her arms. She
hitched and hoisted this load and then, composed, bent swiftly to lock her car
and check her reflection in the wing mirror. Wings of glossy brown hair swung
about her cheeks. She was neatly packaged, Challis decided, and allowed himself
a moment to watch her. She was a good detective, but saddled with irritations
at home, and that made her like 90 per cent of the population. He saw her wave
to the air-conditioning man, whod been working at the rear of his Jeep. They
drew close, and talked animatedly. Challis suspected everybody of something,
these days. He didnt make judgments, he simply observed.

* * * *

Rhys
Hartnett had been waiting for her. She was sure of it. Shed seen him idling at
the rear of his van as she drove in, and he called her name as she locked her
car. She didnt want to seem too eager, and was pleased when it was he who
moved first, stepping over the line of driveway shrubs and toward her.

Another early start?

No rest for the wicked, she said,
feeling immediately that shed said something inane.

They chatted for a while. Then he
fished for a square of paper that had been folded into his overalls and shook
it out. This was on my windscreen when I knocked off yesterday.

She hadnt seen this particular one
before:
BEEN HASSLED BY TANKARD AND VAN ALPHEN? DONT LET THE FASCISTS GET
AWAY WITH IT. REGISTER A COMPLAINT. DO IT NOW.

She passed it back. Nothing to
worry about.

Whats it about?

You were loyal to the job, your
fellow members. Ellen Destry didnt particularly like Tankard and van Alphen,
but still, she didnt know Rhys Hartnett, even if she did find him nice to look
at and think about, so she said, The worlds full of aggrieved people.

He said darkly, Theres a youngish
bloke, big beer gut. He pulled me over when I first come here, did the full
roadworthy on the van. Treated me like I was scum.

Lets just say a couple of my
colleagues are a bit over-enthusiastic, Ellen said.

Rhys waved the leaflet. Sounds like
theyre getting peoples backs up.

Rhys, about tomorrow. I should give
you directions. Penzance Beach is a bit of a maze.

And she rattled off directions, as
you tend to do, even as he said he knew the Peninsula, and had a street
directory.

He grinned, not listening, until shed
finished. Look forward to it.

She went in and found an envelope on
her desk. Preliminary report on the tyre cast.

* * * *

Challis
stood before the wall map and said, Id like to welcome officers from
Mornington and Rosebud. Its good to have you on board. Most of you know one
another already. If you see someone you dont know, introduce yourselves after
the briefing.

Now, to recapitulate. Two young
women murdered, and a letter, which we think is genuine, promising another.
Kymbly Abbott left a party in Frankston on the night of 12 December, was seen
hitchhiking at the start of the Old Peninsula Highway, and was found raped and
strangled by the side of the road early the next morning. Just under a week
later, on the night of 17 December, the VAA recorded a call from a Jane Gideon,
whose car had broken down outside a produce stall on the Old Peninsula Highway.
The tape indicated the presence of someone else, Gideon was not there when
police and the VAA mechanic arrived, and her body was found on Wednesday,
dumped by the edge of the Devil Bend reservoir.