by J. M. Peace
"But I'm not a good copper!" The words burst from Krista, all high pitched and teary.
A startled look passed quickly across Piero's face.
Krista said "sorry" just as Piero said "you just need more experience".
Krista glanced across at him before she hung her head again, letting her hair veil her face. When she glanced up Piero looked genuinely sad.
"I'd like to help you. I think you need someone to talk to."
Krista kept her head down, feeling heat at the corners of her eyes as the tears started squeezing out.
"Not now." The words were choked but audible. She stood up and forced herself to walk to her room when all she wanted to do was run away.
44.
Simon was a man of routine. Even when he used to do shift work, he would have a different routine for the morning, afternoon and night shifts. It was easier now that he worked office hours. Sure, some afternoons he worked back. But he was almost always home in time for the news. He'd have a quiet beer to unwind while he kept up to date on what was going on in the world. By the time theme song played after the weather, he was relaxed and hungry, ready for his dinner. The kids had lots of homework now that they were in high school. Sometimes he'd run them around to some activity or party, but aside from that, they didn't ask for much of his attention. That was the way things were, now that they were older.
But it was with a sinking feeling in his stomach that he put the news on since the death. It wasn't the lead story on the news. There was a stabbing in Sydney and a bushfire in Adelaide. But then, sure enough, the Tannin Bay Anglican church popped up on the screen.
"Karen," Simon called. She poked her head around the door to the kitchen. He gestured to the television.
"The funeral for Tannin Bay man, Angus Hegarty, who died whilst in the local Watchhouse was disrupted when police attempted to arrest a suspect from amongst the mourners."
"That's bullshit," Simon said, more loudly than he needed to considering Karen was sitting right next to him.
"After a touching service, in which his brother described the deceased as a good natured larrikin who always put his family first, senior police officers approached a man in his early twenties connected with the family. He is believed to have been involved in the brawl that led to the arrest of Hegarty. But as a result of family members rallying around him, the police who were extremely outnumbered, failed to take the man into custody."
There it was. Footage of Simon and Owen, standing toe to toe with Roy. The only positive was that he was wearing the correct police hat for the occasion.
"There is growing speculation that Hegarty has suffered an injury whilst in police custody which led to his death in a watch house cell. Many of the attendees at the funeral bore the slogan 'Justice for Angus' on their shirts and cars. Two constables from Tannin Bay Police Station have been suspended from duty whilst the incident is investigated by Ethical Standards Command."
Then it was on to a story about a police arresting a suspected rapist.
Simon hit the 'mute' button on the remote and threw it onto the couch.
"There was not a single thing in that report they got completely correct," he said, shaking his head angrily.
"Everything they said was half-baked and semi-true. How the hell do they get away with putting that crap on TV and calling it 'news'. People are going to believe that all now. Where they got that shit about Hegarty being injured in custody is beyond me. They can't just take a bit of gossip from the pub and put in on the TV, can they? Sure as hell no one at the Media Unit said anything like that." He huffed and squeezed his hands together. "Mort and Krista aren't even suspended. They're just on restricted duties. Thank god they didn't actually say their names. That's the last thing they need."
"Poor Mort," Karen said. "I hope he's coping alright. I don't think I've met Krista, have I?"
"Probably not," Simon said. "She's only been here a few days. That's something, I guess. At least it their faces haven’t appeared on the telly."
Karen sighed. "And at least you had your hat on."
45.
Roy and Stan flanked Mick as he walked in through the front door of Tannin Bay police station. Roy thought they would have been expecting them, would have wanted to get them in straight away. But they waited in the front foyer for a good ten minutes before Detective Sergeant Sharpe opened the interior door.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen," he said, but his face didn't match his words.
He shook their hands as he ushered them through to the interview room. Tess was waiting there. Roy knew her well enough. Her child went to school at the same place as his did. She always seemed friendly enough but that meant nothing here. She was at work now.
They all sat down in the small interview room. Roy and Stan continued to flank Mick. When Roy's arm bumped against Mick’s, he could feel his nephew shaking. The coppers sat over from them.
"Okay," said Sharpe, "Let's get this straight. You were the guy fighting with Angus before he got arrested?"
Mick nodded.
"And you know we want to interview you about that, about what happened in the fight?" Sharpe said.
He nodded again, still no words.
"You know we're investigating this as a murder?" Sharpe said.
Mick stifled some sort of sound. His face was so white, Roy was worried he might faint on the spot. It had taken he and Stan both a long time to convince Mick to come back to Tannin Bay. Mick kept insisting they didn't know who he was and they should just keep it that way. But this had to be done. They needed this confrontation with the cops to set a few things straight.
"It may be a murder," said Roy, in a tone that accepted no interruptions. "But young Mick here is not the murderer." He and Stan had given Mick an interrogation worse than anything the police could come up with. They had gone over every detail a hundred times. Stan agreed too, there was no way Mick was lying to them. There was nothing he had done that would have caused much more than a little bruise on Angus. He was devastated by his uncle's death.
"That will be up to us to decide," Sharpe said, locking eyes with Roy.
"You'll need some bloody good evidence. Because that's the reason Mick's come in here today. Of his own free will." That was the term they always used in their interviews. "He's here to let you know what happened between him and Angus. And it sure as hell wasn't murder. And there's nothing he did that you could charge him with. You've spoken to all the people at the pub. I know you have. Well so have I. Including Brad, who we both trust. It was a minor scuffle."
"Just a little wrestle," Stan chimed in. Roy glanced across at his brother before continuing.
"Angus died of a brain injury but it didn’t happen during the fight. You know it. And I know it. But Mick will give you his version of what happened just so you can be sure. And then you'd better be damn quick about working out how else my brother might have copped a blow to the head that killed him. Because if it didn't happen outside the pub, it doesn't take a genius to narrow down where it must have happened."
Sharpe looked calmly at him as if this was all quite obvious. "We'll just get Mick's version first and take it from there," he said.
46.
"OK. So who's missing?" Simon asked, looking around the meal room. He had summonsed all his staff for a meeting. Mort and Krista were both there, sitting together near the back. They were the only ones he would possibly have forgiven for not showing off.
"Tanya's down the coast, she won't be back till Monday. Gordy's in Fiji for another week. Aside from that, everyone's here, boss," John reported.
There were fifteen staff stationed at Tannin Bay plus two CIB staff. It was barely enough to run a 24 hour station. Almost everyone lived in the town itself. Everyone, probably including even Gordy overseas, had now heard some version of what had happened in the watch house. Everyone in town would have heard extra details courtesy of 'a friend of a friend' who'd been at the Cool Mule that fateful night.
"There's a lot
of rumours going around already. So I'm going to give you the official version now. This is what happened. This. Nothing else.” Simon glared at his staff, defying any joker to say anything.
“Mort and Krista arrested Angus Hegarty for fighting outside the Cool Mule. He spat in Mort's face and continued to fight aggressively until he was handcuffed and placed in the rear of the van. They brought him back to lodge him in the watch house. He had no obvious injuries and was placed in the watch house. Mort went for a shower. Krista retrieved Angus's property and cleaned up. She then checked on Angus a few minutes later. He was not breathing. Krista called out to me, and we worked together to try to revive him. The ambos were here within minutes. But he was declared deceased at the hospital."
"The autopsy has found the cause of death was a brain injury. It has become apparent that this injury did not occur during the initial street fight or subsequent arrest. However, there are no allegations of excessive violence by police. Clearly, ESC is investigating. Sharpey and Tess are still going over the initial fight, but it looks like there will be no charges preferred against the man who was involved with that. It was Angus's nephew, for those who hadn't heard."
He took a deep breath. Time for his boss voice now.
"Now, I will not tolerate any gossip deviating outside the version I have just given. If I hear any back biting or rumour spreading, the person or persons involved will be disciplined. Now – especially now – we need to stick together."
There were murmurs of agreement around the room.
"The Hegarty family is clearly distressed about this death. They have every right to be. It was unexpected. But how they express their distress may become a concern to us. They are of the opinion that police are covering something up, and certain members of the community are seizing on this. Whether other people actually believe something has happened or if they are just grasping onto it as an opportunity to do some copper-bashing, that's unclear at the moment. Be careful around town. Watch out for each other."
"Yes," John added from his seat to the right of the boss. "Choose your words carefully if someone has a crack at you in town. Don't let them bait you with gossip. It's happened to me already. Stick to the official line."
"Everything is gossip until you hear it from me," Simon said. He watched as staff exchanged glances amongst each other. It was something that needed to be said though.
"The media are still sniffing around," he continued. "At least one of the news channels has still got staff in town. They covered the funeral, they seem to be waiting for something from ESC. We will do our best to convince them that there's nothing else to see here, and they can wait for the investigation results much more comfortably down in Brisbane or wherever else they've travelled in from." He shrugged lightly. "We've just got to keep our heads down until this all blows over. But we do it together."
47.
Krista's stomach dropped when she and Mort walked in to the meal room at the start of her shift and saw a sea of blue. Not only was the Colonel, all three sergeants and the local forensic guy present but also the two detectives from ESC who had interviewed her. She desperately tried to remember their names.
They all rose to greet her and Mort. She guessed they'd been waiting for them.
"We'll be doing a re-enactment with you both this morning. We want to go through everything that happened from when you arrived at the Cool Mule," the Detective Inspector said. "Each of you will do it separately. The other officer will wait in the interview room." He pointed at Krista. "You're first, Constable."
Mort disappeared into the interview room with a newspaper and no comment. Everyone else moved outside. John played the part of Angus, Coops took Mort's role and Piero played the brief role of Angus’s nephew.
The Detective Inspector and Detective Senior Sergeant who had interviewed her were there, along with the Colonel though he seemed to have no obvious reason for being there. Geoff from Forensics was recording the whole thing on a small hand held video tape.
There were blue mats, the same ones they used in operational skills training, on the floor. They were using the driveway instead of the front of the pub for privacy reasons.
To Krista, it felt like she was part of some bizarre movie and she was the director.
"So, I was driving..." Krista started.
"So drive then," the Inspector interrupted. They had the paddy wagon parked in the driveway ready for its starring role in the next act. She got in the driver's seat and Coops jumped in beside her. She opened the window. The guy with the camera was there, along with the inspector.
"As soon as we saw the guys, Mort recognised Angus. They were wrestling on the footpath. Mort told me he was going to try to grab the other guy and I should grab Angus."
"Proceed," the inspector said.
Krista started the car and rolled it forward about five metres so the back of the pod lined up with the mats on the ground.
****
Mort got out of the passenger side.
"I saw Angus on the ground." He pointed to John, who took the cue to lay down on the mat.
"The other guy was just getting to his feet. I'd already told Krista to deal with Angus. So I tried to step past him and grab the young bloke. But as I moved past him, Angus grabbed me by the leg and pulled me to my knees. Then he spat in my face." He showed John where to grab him by the leg and he went down on his knees on the mat. "I then grabbed him around the chest like this and he struggled against me and we fell to the side like this." They repositioned themselves, shuffling to the left so they would land on the mats when they fell to the right.
"Where was Constable Danaher?"
"It took her a moment because she had to come around the car. I'm not exactly sure how much she saw or what she did exactly. She went hands on with the other guy because at one point he was on the ground. But I couldn't say exactly what she did."
****
Krista indicated where Piero should stand in relation to the two men on the mats.
"As I came around to where Mort and Angus were, the other man swung his leg back to kick Mort. I then ran at him and pushed him backwards. He still kicked but I'd knocked him off balance enough that his kick didn't land on anyone." She and Piero did this in slow motion. "He landed on his bum." Piero sat down on the mats. "I jumped up again and put his fists up. I got my spray out and said, 'stop or I'll spray'. He got to his feet and ran off. Down the road. That way. She pointed to her left.
"That's the last you saw of him?" the Detective Inspector asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Thank you Sergeant." The Inspector gestured that Piero could go back to the station before returning his attention to Krista.
"Mort and Angus were wrestling," Krista said. "When I turned back, Angus was on his stomach and Mort was cuffing him behind his back." She knelt down next to John.
****
Mort kneeled next to John who was face down on the ground.
"I had him under control by the time I noticed Krista standing by us." He pulled his cuffs out, snapping one onto John's wrist. He motioned for Coops to kneel at the other side, then put the second cuff on.
"Angus was calling us 'copper dogs'. We hauled him to his feet." He and Coops did this together, just they way they practiced twice a year at operational training.
"I went through his pockets up against the side of the pod before we put him in."
Coops was closer to the pod door and Mort nodded when Coops reached to open it. They helped John inside.
"What was in his pockets?" the inspector asked.
"Wallet and phone, nothing else."
****
"Close the door," the inspector said, indicating the open door of the pod with John sitting inside, cuffed to the back. "Continue. Make sure you park the car in the same spot as on that night." He gestured to the driver's side door of the paddy wagon. Krista and Coops got in. Krista started the car and drove slowly forward towards the watch house. She concentrated on parking the car exactly how she had
a few short nights ago.
The Colonel dragged one of the blue mats across and put in down at the door to the pod.
"Mort asked me to get the keys."
"What exactly did he say?" the detective asked.
"He said, 'can you get the watch house keys?' I said, 'I don't know where they are'. He said, 'They're on a hook over the Sergeant's desk.'"
"Was Angus saying anything?"
"I think he said, 'get fucked'. He was still in the pod when I walked inside."
"Okay. Please go inside and do exactly what you did that night."
"A radio call came through. I answered the radio while I was in there."
"Well, do that too. Try to do it the same way it happened that night."
As Krista walked off, the cameraman followed her along with the Colonel. It was disconcerting. She fumbled at the door, then blushed as one of her colleagues came down the corridor. He did a u-turn as soon as he saw what was going on. She grabbed the keys off the hook, mimed the radio call for the camera and walked back out to the car.
****
"Why did you decide to get Mr Hegarty out of the pod before Constable Danaher had returned with the keys?"
"He had settled down,” Mort replied. “I knew she wouldn't be long. I thought it was the quickest and most efficient way."
Mort looked into the pod window at John.
"You okay, Angus?" He turned to the detective. "He said 'yeah, just get these damn cuffs off'. He was slurring his words. I thought, he just needs to sleep it off."
Mort then slid the barrel lock back and turned the handle of the pod door.
"Angus slid off the seat and shuffled across to the door on his bottom." John obliged, looking uncomfortable with his arms pinned behind him. "He sat in the doorway, with his legs dangling over the edge. His legs couldn't reach." He pointed at John's which were a few centimetres off the ground. "The door started swinging shut on him."