by Simon Rowell
Zoe jerked, trying to get up quickly. ‘Where’s Harry? Is he okay?’ She was beginning to hyperventilate and the world was spinning. Tiny flashes of light flickered.
‘He’s okay. He’s right here,’ said Anjali. Zoe turned and saw that Anjali held his lead. She let it go loose and Harry rushed to her, licking her face.
‘It’s okay, Harry. It’s okay. Good boy.’ She stroked his head, calming him. ‘Where’s Sarah?’
About three metres away, Sarah lay still, with people kneeling around her. Fuck.
Sirens filled the air. Two ambulances and a Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance Paramedic unit pulled up. The road was blocked to traffic. Zoe knew that Sarah was in a bad way if the MICA had been called.
While four of the paramedics rushed to Sarah, one knelt down next to Zoe.
‘I’m okay,’ said Zoe, before he could speak.
‘Hi. I’m John,’ his voice calm, ‘but your head says otherwise. You’ve got a nasty gash there. Where else hurts?’
‘My left leg. The front fender hit my calf.’
John pulled up her trouser leg. There was an area that was red and darkening. ‘Can you move your foot?’
Zoe kicked her foot forward and back, before rolling it clockwise and then anticlockwise.
‘Okay, that’s great,’ said John. He gently moved her leg as she winced. ‘It’s not broken, but you’ll need an x-ray to make sure there’s no fracture.’
‘No need, I’m fine,’ said Zoe, looking across at Sarah, now wearing an oxygen mask. One of the paramedics was drawing liquid into a needle. Zoe saw Sarah’s arm move. ‘Is she going to be okay?’
‘Not sure,’ said John, ‘but she’s conscious, which is a good sign.’
‘Did you see the car?’ asked Rob, standing above her.
‘Not really. Red SUV, maybe a Ford Everest. Driver was Caucasian. Wearing a black hoodie. Face was covered, it looked like a bandana, but his hands were white. It was over in a second. Didn’t get a look at the plates.’
‘Okay, Anjali, can you get onto the CCTV footage? Pull every tactical intelligence officer you can find and get them on the job. Find that car.’
Anjali was on the move before he had finished speaking. ‘I’m on it,’ she called back.
‘Let’s get your head cleaned up,’ said John, and helped her onto her feet. Zoe walked gingerly with him to the back of the ambulance as Sarah was on a gurney being fed into the back of the other ambulance. ‘How is she?’ John asked another paramedic.
‘She’ll be okay. She’s smashed up, but she’ll live.’
Zoe felt a flush of relief. Thank god for that.
John worked quickly on Zoe’s head, while simultaneously asking a series of questions to see if she was concussed. After five minutes he was done. ‘No concussion, but just to be safe, don’t drive home tonight, and if you start feeling strange at all call an ambulance. Okay?’
‘Understood. And thanks.’ Her head again felt clear and alert.
‘You will not be walking too well tomorrow. The bruising will set in and it’ll ache like hell for a few days. Get it elevated and iced for the next few hours. You’ll need anti-inflammatories and pain relief, so go to your GP.’
‘I will. Thanks again.’ She hopped down from the back of the ambulance, taking her weight mainly on her right foot.
She hobbled off. Charlie stepped beside her and formed a triangle with his left arm.
Zoe laughed softly at his impromptu show of chivalry. ‘I’m good, Charlie. Thanks though.’
‘No worries,’ Charlie said, letting his arm fall loose.
‘Could you do me a favour and take Harry up to Flagstaff Gardens? I was on my way there when all this happened. He needs a wee.’
‘Sure, no problem at all.’
‘Thanks, you’ll probably need these too,’ said Zoe, pulling some black plastic bags from her pocket and handing them to him. He wrinkled his nose.
‘All part of the job. Thanks, Charlie. Keep him on the lead, though,’ said Zoe, bending at the waist and stroking Harry’s head. ‘You be a good boy for Charlie.’
Harry wagged his tail.
The two detectives, one older and one a young man, from Melbourne CIU rolled the CCTV footage back and forth. Zoe watched their screens with them. Harry lay beside her.
The footage showed a red Ford Everest swerving onto the footpath, hitting Zoe and Sarah as it swerved back onto the road. The car hit Sarah front on, while Zoe was hit by the car’s fender, Harry having pulled her away. They opened another view, from the front of the police complex, and saw it side-on. Zoe felt her body tighten, watching how close she had been to death. Sarah had been thrown like a rag-doll along the footpath. The same thing would have happened to her if Harry hadn’t pulled her away. She smiled down at him in gratitude.
‘We’ve found the car down by the West Gate Bridge. It’s a smouldering wreck now. Completely burnt out. We ran the number plate and it’s stolen,’ said the older detective. ‘In the CCTV we can see the driver’s hands on the steering wheel, which confirms he’s Caucasian. Was this someone driving around drunk or on drugs or was this a deliberate attempt on your life? Or on Sarah Westbrook’s life?’
‘No one knew I would be out there then,’ said Zoe. ‘I got a text from Sarah to ask if I wanted a coffee and decided I’d take Harry for a walk. It’s not like I do it at the same time every day. I’m not even in the office at the same time every day.’
‘Yeah, maybe it was random, but we need to run at this one assuming it was deliberate. What are you working on at the moment? It could be related to one of your cases.’
Zoe didn’t want to let the world know that she was conducting what was basically an undercover investigation of closed cases. ‘We are closing out a job down at Portsea. Fatal stabbing. Guy has been charged and remanded. Drug Squad have also charged him for meth production.’
The two detectives shared a look that Zoe recognised.
‘I really don’t think it was me they were after,’ she said. ‘This is my first case back from leave. I was off for a few months…’
‘We know all about that. What about before then? Any old cases?’
Zoe didn’t want to tell the detectives how to do their jobs. She would have been asking similar questions. Zoe took them through the main highlights from the last few years.
‘Okay, we’ll check them out. We want to release the footage to the media. With luck someone knows who this is and dobs him in.’
Zoe groaned. ‘Can we blur my face and not ID me? I don’t want any more publicity after last year. And Sarah, for that matter.’
The two detectives shared another look.
‘Understood. We’ll keep your name out of it. Once we’ve spoken to Sarah Westbrook, we’ll see if she wants us to do the same for her. You never know, she may want the publicity. Why were you meeting her anyhow?’
‘She texted me five minutes before the crash to ask if I wanted to grab coffee with her. I don’t think it was anything important.’
‘You friends with her?’
Zoe hesitated. ‘Yeah, kind of…more like acquaintances.’
‘Right. Thanks. We may need to chat with you again.’
‘No worries. Let me know if you find anything,’ said Zoe.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll find him,’ said the younger detective, eager to impress.
Zoe wasn’t so confident. She stood, and pain shot through her leg. She hobbled towards the elevator, Harry trailing behind her.
The light turned yellow and Tom pushed hard on the brakes, bringing the BMW to a sudden stop.
Zoe winced. ‘Shit, that hurts.’
‘Sorry. You okay?’
‘Yes. I’ll need a bath when I get home.’ Zoe had been surprised when Tom rushed into the squad room. She had been about to summon an Uber to take her home. Charlie must have called him. Zoe still wasn’t ready for the argument that had been brewing inside her since she saw Tom out with Sally.
Harry yawned in the back of To
m’s car, his vest attached to the seatbelt buckle. Zoe half turned and smiled at him. ‘Good boy.’
‘Good boy, sure. You nearly got killed today because you were out there with him.’
Zoe dug her fingers into the armrest. ‘No, I was saved because he was there. He pulled me out of the way. Look, I’m in too much fucking agony to deal with you having a go at me. Just leave it, okay?’
They drove on for another half a block in silence. ‘Yeah, okay,’ he said. ‘Any update on the car that hit you?’
‘Stolen plates on a red Ford SUV. Now sitting burnt out down near the river. White male—he had a hoodie on and a bandana across his face.’
‘So it wasn’t an accident. He was going for you.’
‘It’s not like Harry and I keep a regular schedule when we go to the park,’ said Zoe. ‘If anything, it’s more likely they were targeting Sarah Westbrook. Someone with a grudge against her. She was an investigative journalist for a long time. She will have enemies.’
Tom was about to say something, but stopped. Zoe was relieved. She knew he was going to suggest that she leave her job.
They pulled up outside Zoe’s house. ‘Let me help you,’ he said.
Zoe was half out as he reached her side. ‘Can you get Harry?’
‘Sure.’ Tom opened the back door and unhooked Harry. He jumped onto the footpath and stood beside Zoe.
‘Let’s get you into that bath,’ said Tom.
Zoe turned to him. ‘What the hell were you doing with Sally on Tuesday night?’
Tom took a step backwards. ‘What…what are you talking about?’
‘Don’t play dumb with me. I saw you with her, sitting outside that pub. What’s your game?’
‘Nothing. I caught up with her for a beer, that’s it. Just work talk.’
‘She’s a prosecutor and you’re a defence attorney. You’re on opposite sides.’
‘We passed each other walking on Lonsdale Street, near the courts, and she suggested we have a quick beer.’
‘You know what she’s been like. I told you she’d been screaming the squad room down a few days ago. Seems a bit coincidental to me.’
‘Come on, Zoe. Don’t be like that,’ he said, trying to put an arm around her.
Zoe shrugged him off. ‘Don’t you get it? She’ll do anything to undermine me.’
‘I think you’re overreacting,’ he said. ‘We hardly even mentioned you.’
Zoe gave a wry grin. ‘I’ll call you, okay?’
She hobbled towards the front door, Harry by her side. Tom stood by the car, palms open at his sides.
8.30 AM, FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY
Zoe stared at her diary. Trevor Hill’s trial was three days away. The wound on her head throbbed under the bandage and her calf felt as though she’d been hit with a baseball bat. Harry came out from under her desk and laid his head on her knee. She gazed at him and stroked his fur. Such a good boy.
‘Morning,’ Charlie said.
‘Morning. You look like death.’
‘Thanks,’ he said, managing a smile. ‘I could say the same about you. How’s the head?’
‘Feel like someone’s using a jack-hammer on it.’
A plain envelope was jammed under her in-tray. ‘Zoe’ was scrawled on it in an elegant script, with a small hand-drawn heart in the corner. In her peripheral vision she could see Iain and Garry furtively looking in her direction.
‘What’s that?’ asked Charlie.
‘Valentine’s Day admirers,’ said Zoe. She picked up the envelope and tossed it in the bin.
Charlie’s phone buzzed. ‘Hi Mum…yeah, what’s up? I’m at work…what? It’s those bloody movies you’re watching on the computer. You’ve got a virus or something. Don’t touch it and I’ll come around tonight and fix it.’
‘Everything okay?’ asked Zoe.
‘Yeah. Mum’s been watching pirated movies she borrows from her neighbour’s son. Sounds like she’s got herself a virus from one of them.’
Zoe stared at her desk.
‘What is it?’
Zoe said nothing, raising her hand to buy a few more seconds, running her thoughts through her head.
‘What?’ asked Charlie again.
‘When I was talking to Katie Harley on Saturday about Greg Enders, her daughter said that he’d given them movies on USB sticks.’ Zoe tapped her pen on the desk. ‘Is that how Ivan’s finding out secrets to use to set people up when he calls Crime Stoppers?’
‘Sorry, what do you mean?’
‘I reckon he is using some sort of spyware program. I saw something on TV about it. Once they plug the USB into the computer, the spyware installs itself in the background. Ivan might have used it to read emails, eavesdrop on video chats, look at their social media, that sort of thing.’
Zoe picked up the phone to call Anjali. At that moment, the squad room door swung open and Anjali ran through the office towards them, half out of breath. She held an iPad in one hand and a file of papers in the other.
‘I found a…cabin,’ she exclaimed, breathless.
‘What?’ asked Zoe.
Anjali leaned against the desk, composing herself. ‘I was doing a property title search and came across a cabin in Ivan’s dad’s name. He bought it a couple of years after they set up the fruit shop. It’s near a place called Three Bridges.’
‘Where’s that?’ asked Charlie.
‘South of Warburton. An hour and a half east of here. Just past Yarra Junction. Middle of nowhere. It’s down a track off Mount Bride Road.’ said Anjali. ‘Here, have a look.’
Anjali held the iPad so that they could all see the screen. She used two fingers to zoom in. For a moment, all Zoe and Charlie could see was an aerial image of forest. Then they saw it. A small clearing with a cabin. A water tank sat beside the building.
Zoe took the iPad. ‘Well, someone’s been using it in the last few years.’
‘How can you tell?’ asked Charlie.
Zoe pointed at the image. ‘Solar panels.’
‘Off grid, maybe?’
‘Definitely,’ said Anjali. ‘I checked. The building’s not connected to mains power or gas. Not connected to town water either. There’ll be little in the way of landmarks out there, so I printed this.’ She put a map on the desk with latitude and longitude coordinates. ‘It’s the only cabin for miles.’
Zoe felt the weight ease off her shoulders a little. ‘And the property never transferred ownership since then?’
‘No, still registered in the dad’s name.’
‘Can you find out from the local council who pays the rates every year?’
‘Will do. I’ll call you when I know,’ said Anjali, already heading towards the door.
‘Hold on, there’s something else.’
‘What is it?’
‘Ray Carlson’s computer. Can you pull it out of evidence and have another look at it. I want to know if there’s spyware installed in it.’
‘Will do. It’s with the Drug Squad at the moment, but I’ll head over there and get it checked out.’
‘Thanks,’ said Zoe, turning to Charlie. ‘Let’s have a look at this cabin.’
Zoe was regretting not getting Charlie to drive. Her left leg was aching. They were passing through Yarra Junction when the phone rang. Zoe hit the answer button on the steering wheel.
‘Mayer.’
‘Zoe, its Anjali. Couple of things. Firstly, I found a program called Operation BugDrop installed on Ray’s PC. It’s a type of malware program that allows you to access the information on an infected computer. You can also eavesdrop on people using their computer’s microphone or webcam if the computer is on in the background.’
‘And could you plant it by giving someone a USB stick full of movies?’ asked Zoe.
‘Yes, you’d need to disguise it a bit, but it can be set up to install itself. It can be easily hidden if there are a lot of folders with multiple files in each.’
‘Can we see who has been accessing the information?’
/>
‘Not yet. These systems use cloud-based storage services to save the information. We may be able to trace that, but the account used is probably a free account in a fake name. Plus, with a VPN, a virtual private network, it would be hard to work out who was accessing the site.’
‘Okay, thanks. What was the other thing?’
‘Oh, yeah, I rang the Shire of Yarra Valley, which is Three Bridges’ council. Rates for the property are paid in cash every year. Woman there remembers the guy paying a few months ago because only a couple of people pay by cash nowadays. He’s in his late thirties or early forties and always wears a plain black cap, is always unshaven—a bit scruffy was what she said—and he doesn’t like chit chat. Just comes in staring at the floor, pays and leaves. She remembers him because she thinks he’s a rude prick. Her words. I asked about CCTV and they only keep recordings for a month before they re-record over the top.’
‘Okay, thanks, Anjali. Good work,’ said Zoe. She hung up.
‘Sounds like Ivan to me. Up-front payments in cash,’ said Charlie.
‘I’m feeling more positive that we could finally get some physical evidence linking Ivan to all this. If we find his computer we should be able to link him to that malware.’
They drove on in silence, before Zoe noticed Charlie shaking his head.
Zoe glanced across. ‘You okay?’
‘Yeah,’ he said sheepishly. ‘It’s just…I shouldn’t have doubted your instincts. I feel like shit about it.’
‘Don’t worry about it. What’s past is past.’
Twenty-five minutes later, they pulled off Mount Bride Road onto a dirt track. Zoe let the car coast to a stop. All around them were rainforest and scrub. A small mob of kangaroos bounded off the track, disappearing into the bush. Charlie looked at the map Anjali had printed for them. ‘It’s not far. Less than a hundred metres around that bend,’ he said.
Zoe opened the car door and listened. All she could hear were the song birds.
‘Let’s walk,’ she said.