Challis - 01 - Dragon Man (31 page)

Wouldnt have it any other way,
Marion.

When they were in the corridor,
Challis said, Theres something going on there. Did you see the look she gave
him?

Shes such a pain in the bum, Id
love to put her away.

Why would she send Jolic into an
occupied house?

They didnt know it was occupied.
The owners came back early from holidays.

And instead of turning around and
driving away, Jolic went in and things snowballed from there. She must be
panicking.

Meanwhile, Ellen said, if we dont
find some better evidence soon, well have to let Jolic and company go.

It came to Challis then. Pam Murphy
told me she met an insurance investigator poking around where the Pajero was
torched. Ill see if I can track him down. He might have some evidence that we
missed.

* * * *

They
returned to the Displan room. Challis called Ledwich first, Ledwich saying, What
have I done now?

I need the name of your insurance
company, Mr Ledwich.

Theyre not forking out, the
bastards.

Whose fault is that? The name,
please.

Ledwich gave it. Challis called the
twenty-four-hour number and used his tone and rank to get an after-hours number
for the investigator. A detective will be around to look at the evidence later
today.

On the other side of the room, a
call was being put through for Ellen Destry. There was a crackle on the line. My
name is Goodall. Im calling from New Zealand, police headquarters in
Christchurch. I understand that youre investigating the murder of a woman
called Clara Macris.

Thats right. We

Clara Macris is her assumed name.
Her real name doesnt matter. The point is, she was in our Witness Protection
program.

Ellen slumped in her chair. Witness
protection.

I was her case officer. I helped to
relocate her.

You think someone over there found
out where she was?

Its possible. I dont know how,
but its possible.

Had she been in contact with any of
her friends, her family, the people she used to hang out with?

I dont know, the New Zealand
officer said testily. However, someone spotted her when she was leaving the
country.

He related the incident at the
Christchurch airport.

And you think she was followed?

Dont you?

Why wait eighteen months?

The New Zealand officer said, To
lull her into a false sense of security.

* * * *

Twenty-three

am
Murphy was driving Sutton in the same white Commodore.

Did I see you at Myers Point the
other day?

He saw her stiffen, her knuckles
whitening on the wheel. Might have, sir.

Scobie, call me Scobie. You had a
wetsuit on, carrying a board. I couldnt see all that clearly, so it might have
been someone else.

I have surfing lessons there
sometimes.

Yeah, you were with a group of
others.

He saw her relax. What were you
doing there?

We took our daughter to the beach.
New pink bathers to try out. Only she convinced herself there were dragons, so
we never made it past the first dune.

Murphy didnt respond. Sutton let it
go. He picked up one of the leaflets that Challis had given him, then out of
nowhere he wanted to cry. Hed had a perfect image of Roslyn as she might be in
fifteen years time, happy and uncomplicated and ripe for a killer. He coughed,
blinked, composed himself.

They were entering the caravan park.
Pam Murphy said, Last time we were here the manager didnt know where these
gypsies had gone, so why question him again?

This time we question the whole
camp, Sutton told her, and see if the backpacks still in that rubbish bin.

It wont be. Even if it is, whos
to say it was Kymbly Abbotts in the first place?

Its not your ordinary backpack. Id
like to know its history.

Ordinary enough, Pam said. I saw
one just like it before Christmas.

* * * *

The
ground had shifted. Marion Nunn looked at her lover in the interview room and
said, Did you kill her? Tell me you didnt kill her. Did you have sex with her
first?

Boyd Jolic stared at the wall, his
arms folded stubbornly. Ah, give it a rest, fucking cow.

What were you thinking of, she
hissed, lighting all those fires? God, she hoped there were no microphones in
the interview rooms.

Jolic shrugged.

She looked around the empty walls,
then touched Jolic, sliding her hand from his knee to his inner thigh. Boyd?
What have you got yourself into?

Nothing. And your job is to see it
stays that way.

Stung, she rocked back in her chair,
then narrowed her eyes and spat, Just you remember who keeps you out of jail.
Who feeds you sweet jobs. Who gives you witness addresses so you can send your
frighteners around.

He twisted his mouth. You fell in
love with my cock, admit it, you stupid cow.

Youre pathetic. Youre a
psychopath. She tapped her skull. Youre not right in the head. A screw
loose. I bet you used to pull the wings off flies when you were little. Now you
like to light fires. What happensyou masturbate while you watch? Thats a
novel way of putting the flames out. Stupid fucking brainless moron.

If I go down, bitch, you go down.

Then lets make sure it doesnt
happen, shall we? After this, you and I are through.

He pulled his features into a
heavy-handed expression of anguish. Oh, dear, poor little lawyer lady, in an
unholy marriage with her big bad client.

Shut up.

She lit a cigarette and smoked it
furiously.

* * * *

Challis
took Ellen with him in the Triumph.

Boss, were barking up the wrong
tree. She couldnt help it, she was losing heart.

He came down hard on her. First
things first. Always, in a case like this. If our killers a Kiwi hitman, hes
long gone. Meanwhile weve still got Jolic and co. in custody, and cant hold
them forever, so lets see whether or not they can be tied to the Pajero before
we start looking elsewhere.

Sorry, Hal, youre right.

He steered through the roundabout.
She noticed that the Pizza Hut was full. None of the cars looked familiar. The
town had filled with strangers since Boxing Day, summer regulars returning to
their beach shacks, families camping at the caravan parks, others renting flatr
...d houses. They stood out in the shops. They were dressed better, somehow, as
though the locals were five years out of date. Despite Tessa Kanes fears, the
holiday trade hadnt really suffered as a result of the highway killings.

Is he expecting us?

Challis nodded. Mornington office.

Thirty minutes later, they were
examining photographs from the insurance companys file on Lance Ledwichs
Pajero. Needless to say, we rejected Mr Ledwichs claim. Not only was the
vehicle unregistered, he omitted to tell us that hed lost his licence a few
weeks ago but was still driving around in it.

Hes not too happy about it, Challis
said.

Hes ropeable.

Hes going to be more than that,
Ellen said. Look at this, Hal.

It was a photograph showing the rear
of the burnt-out shell of the Pajero. Just beyond the border of ash was a
lighter area, the dirt road itself, and, along one edge, the shallow road
drain. There, caught in the fine, mud-and-sand base of the drain, was a perfect
tyre track.

She tapped it with her forefinger. If
Im not mistaken, a Cooper tyre left that.

* * * *

The
forensic technician confirmed it, peering at the photograph, then at his chart
of tyre patterns.

Definitely a Cooper. You should be
able to match it.

We cant. All four tyres were
burnt.

Ah.

Cant the photo tell you anything
else? The way the tread is worn, splits and gouges in the rubber, that kind of
thing?

Ill scan and do an enhancement,
the technician said, and compare it with the cast found at the reservoir.

They watched. Challis felt a curious
kind of excitement. It came when the stages of the detection, the methodology,
the science and the technological tools were all working together.

He saw the tread pattern enlarge on
the monitor screen. The technician isolated one segment, then another,
enlarging and cross-matching with the plaster cast.

Finally he said, Its a Cooper. Im
afraid I cant say more than that.

Its enough to go on with, Challis
said.

* * * *

Back
in the Displan room, Ellen said, How do we play this?

Very carefully. There may be an
innocent explanation. It may be coincidence.

I dont trust coincidence.

Neither do I.

Well then . . . , she said.

We need to break his alibis,
Challis said. Go back and question everybody he worked with, neighbours, the
usual.

Ellen said, Groan.

We also need a warrant that
stipulates our right to search the house and any other building that Ledwich
may own, plus his place of work and all vehicles he or any member of his family
may own. And meanwhile well go and pick him up for questioning.

The phone was ringing somewhere in
the incident room. It was distracting. The room itself wore an air of too many
dead ends, of long airless days and nights, of cooped-up tempers and hurried
meals. What a mess, Ellen thought. She tilted back her head. Somebody answer
that, please?

But there were only three officers
in the room, their sleeves rolled, hunched over the telephones or their
computer screens, so she crossed to the offending telephone and snatched it up.

Destry.

Ellen?

It was her husband. Alan?

Is Larrayne with you?

Long afterwards she would remember
that her first response was one of irritation. Her husband had been falling
apart for days, in a low-level way, often emotional, forgetful, apt to misjudge
things. Alan, its her tennis lesson.

I know that. Ive been waiting
around to take her.

Shes probably at Kathys. Shes
done this sort of thing before. Just wait for her.

Ellens tone was: Do I have to do
everything?

Her husband said, I rang Kathy. She
said she hasnt seen Larrayne at all today.

Ellen felt a crawling chill on the
surface of her arms. Her heart seemed to shut down. Then she was shouting:

Why the fuck didnt you say so!

He sounded hurt. Its school
holidays, you cow. Why would I be worried she wasnt here? I thought Id
understood it wrong and you were taking her to tennis.

She found herself sniping, Then why
did you ring me? when she should have been slamming the phone down and taking
action.

I just thought Id double-check,
thats all. More than you would do, you fucking bitch.

This time she didnt respond. She
stood there, frozen, and something in her face and manner must have alerted
Challis, for his hand closed over hers and he was taking the phone from her and
taking charge of her fears.

* * * *

Twenty-Four

ll
kill him, she said.

No you wont, Challis said.

If hes got her and hes hurt her,
Ill kill him, Hal, see if I dont.

Two sedans and a divisional van.
Three detectives, four uniforms and two forensic officers. They were converging
on the housing estate where Lance Ledwich lived. Scobie Sutton had taken a
fourth car to detain Ledwich at his place of work and take him to the house.

Dont jump to conclusions, Challis
said. His Pajero was destroyed, remember, so how did he snatch Larrayne?

She seemed to fill with relief, then
immediately tensed again. His wifes got a car. A station wagon.

Ah.

She pushed her hands back through
her hair. I dont understand how it could have happened. He must have snatched
her on her way to Kathys. But how? I mean, the kid of coppers, shed never
willingly go with a stranger.

Then she seemed to understand the
implications of what shed said and groaned and put her hands over her face.

There were other explanations, but
Challis didnt offer them. Your daughter is a ratty teenager. Your daughter
hates you and has run off with a boyfriend. Somehow he knew that there was only
one: Your daughter was smacked over the head with a tyre iron.

Hes shifted his locus, Hal, Ellen
said, taking her hands away from her face. All that publicity, weve driven
him away from the highway. Now hes preying where people actually live. God.