From the window in his office, all Rimis could see on Archer Street were the tops of umbrellas. Buses rumbled by, splashing up water from the gutters. When the call had come through on Friday night he was told the body of a police officer had been found at Callan Park. He had no idea Brennan knew Robbie Calloway. He ran his hand through his hair. Choi had said Brennan seemed tired and that maybe she needed time off. Knowing Brennan she wouldn’t be sleeping because of the events of the last two days. He wasn’t surprised. She reminded him of what he was like when he first got his detective’s designation. She was bull-headed, tenacious and just as much a pain in the arse as he’d been — perhaps, still was.
Robbie Calloway’s death was an open-and-shut case even though the autopsy hadn’t been done. Calloway had landed feet first, he had a gambling problem, had visited mental health sites and his home reflected a man in trouble. Soon the file would be archived. Brennan was far from convinced Calloway had taken his own life but he hoped for her sake she’d accept his death and move on. If she continued to pursue the case and go against orders, it could affect her career.
Still, it was interesting that Scott Carver had reservations too.
There was a knock on the door. He turned around. Brennan. He knew she’d been to the morgue with Fin Calloway. ‘How are you holding up?’
‘I’m okay, but I can’t say the same for Fin Calloway.’
‘Sure you don’t want time off?’ Rimis asked.
‘No need for that.’
Rimis nodded. It probably wouldn’t be the last time he made that offer. He walked back to his desk and told her to take a seat.
Jill leaned over and handed him an A4 envelope. ‘Here are the photos from the CCTV cameras at Callan Park.’
He flicked through the photos. ‘This is all you’ve got? What about footage from the cameras in the courtyard?’
‘They weren’t operational,’ Jill said. ‘And there are no other cameras apart from the one in the car park.’
Rimis rolled his eyes and slid the photos back across the desk to Jill. ‘You better give Scott Carver a call and tell him the CCTV was a waste of time.’
He couldn’t believe the lack of security in Callan Park. It was different when he started his career, all you had to rely on were witnesses, but over the past decade, Sydney had become a city of cameras — public and private. Policing had changed with the technology, now it was standard procedure to look for cameras at every crime scene.
‘There’s not much to work with,’ Jill said. ‘The security company tried to enhance the tape but it’s low-grade, and there’s not much of it because of the camera angle. Hard to tell, but it could have been Robbie based on the frame and height. And the rain jacket looks like the one Patullo found in Robbie’s backpack. When I was in Fin’s apartment, I noticed she had one exactly the same.’ Jill flipped the pages of her notebook. ‘The next movement was Patrick Hill’s dog running across the car park. That was at 10.36 pm. Eight minutes later, Mr Hill appeared. It matches his story. Patullo and his partner arrived at 11.02.’ Jill snapped her notebook shut. ‘That’s it. No one else, not surprising. It was a god-awful night to be out.’
Rimis leaned forward and looked at the photos again. ‘It could be Robbie Calloway or any number of people. Navy blue rain jackets are a dime a dozen. You said yourself Fin had a rain jacket just like it. Christ, even I’ve got one.’ He leaned back. Sighed. ‘Look, Brennan, I think you need to drop this. You’re letting your imagination and your feelings run away with you. Besides, we don’t have the resources or the manpower to have you running around looking for evidence of foul play when there clearly is none. You know we’ve got a backlog of cases that need our attention.’ Rimis didn’t think she was listening.
‘There’s another way of getting to the tower without being seen,’ Jill said. ‘Someone could have approached from the east, along Kirkbride Way and —’
‘You’re clutching at straws, now.’
Jill glared at him. ‘We’re still waiting for the autopsy results.’ He paused. ‘You need to let it go.’
‘But —’
‘I said, let it go.’ Rimis pushed his empty coffee cup to the side of his desk to make a point. Then, he looked at her. ‘What do you expect the tox reports will tell you, anyway? Even if they show alcohol or drugs in his blood, it doesn’t mean a damn thing. In fact, it will prove the opposite and support the theory he jumped, or fell from the tower while under the influence.’
‘But —’
Rimis shot to his feet. He had to be firm with her…it was the only thing she’d respond to. ‘I mean what I say, Jill. Leave it alone, the less attention drawn to Robbie Calloway’s suicide, the better. You have to learn when to obey orders. I’ve covered for you before, but this time powerful people are involved, the type of people who wouldn’t think twice about kicking your arse from here to kingdom come.’
‘What do you mean powerful people?’
‘For starters, the Police Commissioner and then there’s the Premier. It seems Katrina Andrel has a bee in her bonnet about their failure to act on the increase in suicides in the emergency services over the past twelve months. Nobody, wants to dwell on what’s seen in the press as our failures…failure to protect one of our own.’ Rimis sighed and ran his hand across the back of his neck. ‘Listen, Jill, we’ve got more pressing things on our plate at the moment. Real criminals. Remember them? I want to know if Asian gangs are involved in the Adam Lee knife attack and David Cheung’s murder.’