Back in the office, Josh sat at his desk, his cheek resting against the palm of one hand while the other held the phone to his ear. His energy was on a fast downhill slide even though he knew his day was far from over. There was still so much to do before he could even think about catching some sleep. He only hoped he had enough adrenaline reserves to keep him running for as long as needed.
‘Sorry to wake you, Chris. It’s Josh Harrison. I just have to ask a few quick questions?’
The voice on the other end of the line was sleepy.
‘Yeah, mate. It’s okay. Um, what can I do to help?’
Earlier, Carolyn King, the victim’s sister, had identified the body of her brother to Senior Constable Chris Stirling at the Prince of Wales Hospital. Chris had then done the necessary paperwork, completed the report to the coroner, booked the body into the city morgue and identified the victim to the medical examiner. His shift had finished over an hour ago and he was just nodding off to sleep when Josh called.
‘The boss . . . I mean Detective Inspector Blair, gave me the message that when you were at the hospital this morning you spoke to Rex Donaldson. He told you he’d be staying with O’Grady for a while, is that right?’
‘Yeah. I only talked to him for a minute. I was waiting for the victim’s sister to turn up to identify the body.’
‘Where was he when you spoke to him?’
‘It was just outside the emergency entrance. I saw Donaldson – not like you can miss him – and thought I’d get some details from him. I knew you guys would want to talk to him.’
‘That was good thinking. How was he?’
There was a rustling sound and then a thump and a curse.
‘Sorry mate; just dropped the phone. Um . . . what was the question? Oh yeah, he seemed shocked, dazed. Didn’t give me any lip, if that’s what you mean. First time I’ve seen the man so shaken. I suggested that since their house was still a crime scene and probably would be for some time, they’d better find somewhere else to stay for a while. Donaldson just stared at me blankly, as though he hadn’t even considered that. He talked to the others and then told me he’d be staying at the little guy’s house – O’Grady’s.’
‘Who else was with Donaldson at this time?’
‘There was his girlfriend, Kate, who couldn’t stop crying, that O’Grady bloke and some other girl,’ Stirling told him.
‘Did you recognise the other girl with them?’
Stirling grunted. ‘Mate, can’t say I’ve ever seen her before and I’ve been working this area for ten years. I’m pretty familiar with the Devil’s Guardians but no, I didn’t recognise the girl.’
‘What did she look like?’
‘Like a junkie. Skinny as a rake, brown, scraggy hair, average height.’
‘How old did she look?’
‘Mid-twenties, I suppose. To tell you the truth I didn’t take much notice of her.’
‘That’s fine. Just one more question. You didn’t happen to notice if she was carrying a bag of any sort?
‘No, sorry, mate.’
‘No worries. Thanks. Get back to sleep.’ Josh hung up before he could call him ‘mate’ again.
Lexie sat across from him chewing on the end of a protein bar. She was going through the most recently dialled numbers on Bluey’s phone and making a list of his contacts. ‘I’ll put in a request for a call charge record and a reverse on his phone so we can see all the incoming and outgoing calls.’
‘That’s a good idea. But also get in touch with state crime. All the squads there have cell bright machines.’
Lexie gave him a puzzled look.
‘Cell bright machines are relatively new and cost a fortune. Local area commands like ours don’t usually have the finance to purchase them, but we can borrow one to do a download. It gives you all the information that’s stored in the phone.’
Lexie nodded and scribbled in her notebook.
‘How did you know that was Bluey’s phone?’ Josh asked.
Lexie looked up. She seemed surprised by the question.
‘Lucky guess merged with a bit of logic.’
‘Please explain.’
Lexie smiled. He felt the impact.
‘Donaldson and O’Grady would have had their phones with them. It was either her phone or Bluey’s. And since Kate had a phone sticking out the pocket of her pants, I figured it was Bluey’s.’
Josh gave her a long look. ‘Mmm. I like your work.’
‘How did you go?’ She changed the subject and avoided his eyes.
Josh wondered if she, too, sensed the curious tension that sometimes floated between them. He struggled to refocus.
‘You heard the conversation. There was definitely another girl with them. I’d say she’s our window jumper and the owner of that striped beach bag.’ He ran a hand through his hair trying to think. ‘Can you make a note on eaglei. Send a memo to Marty Wells; ask him to run checks on bikie girlfriends and associates. We want to find out who she is and what she has to hide.’
Lexie nodded as she scribbled down notes. She knew the computerised case management system was a much more efficient and professional way of documenting each step of an investigation. Much easier than the old way of doing things; which was all manual, scribbled notes and entries in log books and the like. But it was still time-consuming so she preferred to do her updates at the end of the day – all at once
‘So you think our window jumper might be a friend of Kate’s?’
Josh shrugged. ‘Could be. But what I want to know is why she jumped out a window to avoid us.’
Lexie bit on the end of her pen and then, seeming to realise what she was doing, threw it across her desk in disgust.
‘We should check the CCTV at the hospital. See if we can get some footage of the girl. That way we may be able to identify her.’
Lexie paused and looked thoughtful. ‘The girl could be wanted for something totally unrelated and just freaked when she heard the cops.’
‘Good thinking, 99. You might be on to something.’
‘I noticed you didn’t ask Kate Bushell if she knew anyone called Grub.’
Josh nodded his head. ‘I did that on purpose. Have you had much to do with bikies during your career?’
He noticed her flinch.
‘A little.’
‘Then you’d be aware they don’t much like police. Their bikie code of silence is almost impossible to break. I have every intention of asking everyone we speak to if they know of “the Grub”, or a “Grub” but I don’t expect to get an honest answer. Be lucky to get an answer at all, for that matter.’
‘How do we find out anything then?’ Lexie asked, throwing the leftover half of her protein bar into her top drawer.
‘Listening devices, telephone intercepts. Asking about the Grub will hopefully stir things up, get them talking between themselves. However, saying that, they’re not stupid. Bikies know how we work. I don’t know Donaldson that well, but since I’ve been stationed here I’ve had a few dealings with him and I can tell you he’s had years of experience dealing with police. Same goes for Max Croft and the Assassins. They’ve been around for a long time. They are well aware of our methodology. They’re surveillance-savvy. They more than likely know more about us than we know about them; they know what the local police look like, know our names, possibly even our addresses and have records of our number plates.’
Lexie’s face dropped.
‘They know we’ll be watching them so they’ll be on guard. I want to talk to Rex Donaldson first. He appears to be the closest to the victim. I want to watch his face when I ask him if he knows who this Grub is. That’s why I didn’t say anything to Kate Bushell. I didn’t want to give Donaldson the heads up. I want to observe his body language myself.’
Sue Field was suddenly standing at the end of Josh’s desk brushing wisps of damp red hair from the side of her face. She ran a finger under one eye, wiping away a line of smudged mascara and a film of perspiration.
‘It is sooo hot out there. Just came back in to get some more canvass logs and cool down for a second. Wish I was sitting in the air conditioning with you guys.’
There was a trace of hopefulness in Sue’s voice.
Sue annoyed the hell out of Josh. It wasn’t just the fact that she’d made a number of advances towards him in the past and continued to throw sexual innuendos his way whenever she got the chance. There was just something about her that rubbed him the wrong way. He did his best not to let it show, but it was a constant battle.
‘We’ve only just got back in ourselves.’
Sue turned towards Lexie sitting opposite him and smiled.
‘How’s the new partner going? I heard about poor old Brad. Such a shame but I’m sure Josh will look after you.’
Sue’s voice was full of suggestion. She gave him a longing look, before turning to walk away. Josh stopped her.
‘Sue, before you go back to doing the canvass, can you swing by the hospital and check the surveillance footage of the casualty department?’ He explained exactly what he required. ‘Can you do that ASAP?’
‘For you, Josh, anything.’ She winked and sashayed away.
Feeling Lexie’s penetrating gaze he arched an eyebrow, puzzled. ‘What?’
‘I think she likes you.’
Josh rolled his eyes. ‘She’s like that with everyone when she gets in the mood. Trust me, Sue is not my type.’
Lexie’s eyebrows shot up and an amused grin turned the corners of her lips. ‘And what is your type?’
You!
Josh was thrown by the question but even more by the realisation that sprang into his head. Startled by the unexpected turn the conversation had taken and rattled by his own thoughts, he pulled himself up straight in the chair searching his mind for an answer.
‘I don’t have a type. Do you?’ He put it back on her.
‘Yes,’ Lexie was quick to shoot back.
Josh laughed. ‘Let me guess. You like them tall, athletic, good-looking.’
‘You just described yourself.’
‘So you think I’m good-looking, hey?’ Josh teased.
What was he doing? Flirting with his partner during a murder investigation was going against all his self-imposed rules. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Casey Blair walking their way. He turned towards her, putting an instant end to their banter.
‘Hi Boss, I was just about to come and see you.’
‘Well, I beat you to it,’ she said, propping at the junction of their desks, seemingly oblivious to the undercurrent of tension that hung between them. ‘How did you go?’
Josh pushed himself back in his chair. Crossing his arms over his chest, he gave her an update.
‘Kate Bushell’s alibi checks out. We paid her a visit at O’Grady’s place. She wasn’t overly helpful.’
Casey raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. ‘Did you expect her to be?’
Josh shrugged. ‘I live in hope. Anyway, what’s weird is that she told us she was alone, but she wasn’t. While we were in the kitchen talking to her someone jumped out a bedroom window.’
Casey stared into space for a moment before focusing on Josh and asking, ‘Don’t suppose you know who?’
‘No, but we’re trying to find out.’
‘Good.’
Casey’s eyes strayed to the wall clock behind his head.
‘I know you have to get to the autopsy but before you go I’ll bring you up to speed. Burgh and Sleeman checked out Dorothy Magentagitt’s house at St Peters. Maggot, at age forty-eight, still lives at home with Mum – as you do.’ Casey rolled her eyes. ‘She was apparently pleasant and co-operative; invited them in to prove he was not there. She told them her son’s girlfriend had died recently. He is distraught and has gone away to stay with some friends. She doesn’t know who he’s staying with, of course, because he’s old enough to do what he likes.’
‘So she’s lying through her teeth,’ Josh grunted. ‘He’s done a runner.’
‘Probably,’ Casey replied. ‘We don’t have the resources to have a car constantly sitting off the place but we’ll do drive-bys at regular intervals. His motorbike’s parked out the front of the house and although she denied owning a car, a registration check tells us otherwise. She’s the owner of a grey Mitsubishi Lantra. He could be driving that car. The registration number has been circulated along with a warning not to approach. We don’t know if he’s in possession of weapons or what his state of mind might be,’ she explained. ‘Burgh and Sleeman are now on their way to speak to Max Croft.’
‘What about the canvass?’
‘They’re still out there. Nothing of importance has come up as yet. It seems no one heard anything unusual, so I’m thinking maybe a silencer was used. Most people notice a gunshot going off in the suburbs.’
Casey glanced at the wall clock again.‘You two had better be off or you’ll be late for the post mortem. Have fun,’ she called over her shoulder as she retreated into her office.
Josh grabbed the car keys, threw them up into the air and caught them in the palm of his hand.
‘Fun at an autopsy? Now that would be a first!’