After Jill left the café she drove to Manly Police Station. DI Perris had stonewalled her on the phone, but maybe a personal visit and a quiet chat with Robbie’s partner would be more fruitful. Unfortunately, she’d been dead wrong. The whole team was out on jobs and no one else was talking. It had been a long shot. A long shot that hadn’t paid off, and if her visit got back to Rimis…
Jill returned to Chatswood station in time to see two uniforms wrestling with a handcuffed youth in jeans and a grey hoodie. Jill stood back, opened the door for them, and made a quick side step to avoid being kicked.
‘Sorry,’ said one of the constables.
Jill walked up the stairs behind them and when she got to the detectives’ room she swiped her security card, walked in and threw her shoulder bag on her desk. She sat down in her chair, picked up a pen and rolled it between her thumb and forefinger. The drive back from Manly had taken longer than she’d expected. With the opening of the Spit Bridge it had added fifteen minutes to the trip.
Rawlings had been on the phone when she’d walked in. When he ended his call he leaned his elbow on the workstation divider. ‘The boss has been looking for you. Wants you in his office ASAP.’
Jill sighed and threw her pen on the desk.
‘What’s up, Brennan?’ Luke said. ‘You look beat.’
Jill didn’t realise her lack of sleep showed. ‘Got a few things on my mind, Luke.’ She looked at her phone messages.
‘It’s not Robbie Calloway, is it?’
She shot him a look. ‘Mind your business.’
‘If it is Calloway, a word of advice.’
‘I don’t need your advice, Luke.’ Jill was still mad at him because of the business with Rimis and the gym.
‘Well, like it or not I’m going to give it to you anyway. My gut says this is political. Land grabs, developers, and shady politicians, that sort of thing. Everyone knows how valuable Callan Park is as a re-development site. Sixty-six acres of prime riverfront land. Mighty valuable real estate no matter what you think of land developers. And the state government still hasn’t approved the Master Plan for the site. Could explain why that reporter Katrina Andrel is sniffing around and why the boss and the DCI have warned you off. If you keep poking your nose in where it shouldn’t be, you might find something you weren’t expecting. Might even affect your career.’
Jill wondered if there was any merit in what Rawlings was saying. If you ignored his ego, she had to admit he was a good officer. ‘Thanks for the advice as always, Luke.’ Jill winked. ‘I’ll keep it in mind.’
‘Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
She didn’t have much time for Rawlings, but she had heard what he was trying to tell her. And she remembered the words of warning she’d received from Rimis and Scott Carver well enough to know she probably risked a formal reprimand by going against direct orders from a detective inspector and an area commander.
Jill walked out of the room and headed down the corridor to Rimis’s office. Was it her imagination or was everyone looking at her? Choi lowered her eyes when she passed her in the corridor outside Rimis’s office.
Jill found herself standing outside Rimis’s door. It was closed. She heard muted voices. She knocked.
Rimis called her in. ‘Come in Detective and close the door.’ He’d called her Detective. This was serious. Jill sat down.
‘Scott Carver phoned me. We’re both concerned about the obsession you seemed to have developed over the death of Robbie Calloway.’
Obsessed with Robbie? Of course she was obsessed.
She met Rimis’s gaze. Someone killed Robbie, pushed him from that tower and I’m going to find out who that person is, no matter what the consequences.
‘You’re supposed to be working the Asian gangs, but instead Choi is run ragged doing your work and hers. And where the hell have you been?’
She gulped. ‘I went to Manly. I wanted to see if I could talk to some of the detectives who knew Robbie. I thought they might be able to tell me if…’
‘Shit, Brennan. Is this how you behave after Carver handpicked you and Choi to work on the task force into Asian gangs? And I know you went to Manly because DI Perris spotted you. Instead of coming to me, he phoned the Commissioner’s office. Everyone, including you, knows the Commissioner’s directive for silence on Calloway’s suicide. He’s being pressured by the Premier to keep a low profile on PTSD.’
Jill sat down and crossed her arms. Her world was about to change because of a single phone call.
There was a tense silence for a moment. Rimis took another tack. ‘Your failure to accept the evidence that suggests Calloway committed suicide is something that surprises me. You’re acting irrationally, you seemed to have lost all sense of reason.’ Rimis ran his hand over the back of his neck. ‘Both Carver and I have warned you, keep going the way you are and you could find yourself back in uniform.’
Jill froze.
Rimis looked at her. ‘You’ve got twenty-six days’ annual leave owing and I want you take a week’s leave. Go away somewhere, rest, sleep, go for walks. Read a book or ten.’ He paused, still holding her gaze. ‘And before you come back, I want you to undertake a full mental assessment to make sure you’re fit to perform your duties.’
What did Rimis just say? A mental assessment? He thinks I’m crazy?
Jill expected a reprimand, but not this. So this is how her career trajectory was to end? All the hard work, the sacrifices for it to end back in uniform or stuck behind a desk somewhere in a corner next to a steel, three-door filing cabinet. Jill felt the hot sting behind her eyes. Her obsession with Robbie’s death may cost not only her reputation but she could risk the only thing that mattered to her: her job as a detective.