by Sarah Barrie
Jai slipped it on as Pax took out another for himself.
They cut through the campus, joined back up with the road and followed it out towards a row of homes by the waterfront. The house Pax stopped at looked modest but well kept, with a tidy front yard and a white picket fence. A light was on somewhere inside.
‘How do you know no one’s home?’ he whispered urgently.
‘I know the owner, saw her at the club just before I picked ya up. Let’s go round the back. I made sure the laundry door wouldn’t lock.’
‘But what if the chick comes back?’
‘I’ll deal with it. Relax.’ Pax wandered casually past the house, looked around, then quickly ducked through the front yard to the side gate. Nerves bouncing in his stomach, Jai followed suit.
‘Where are my gloves?’ he asked when Pax opened the door.
‘Ya won’t need them. Come on.’
Jai had never broken in to a house before, but he thought it should be done a lot more quietly and carefully. Pax just didn’t seem cautious enough—he headed straight through the house like he owned it and stopped in an untidy bedroom full of a woman’s things.
Uncomfortable, Jai kept watch by the window as Pax took some jewellery from a drawer by the bed before rifling through more drawers, tossing the woman’s things all over her floor.
‘Go through the wardrobe,’ he ordered. ‘Check the shoes, socks, boxes. Ya never know what people hide where.’
He used a sock Pax had chucked to open the wardrobe door and pulled clothes off the racks. The woman had some nice stuff. He spotted a dress that looked about Riley’s size, discarded the idea of taking it. He wasn’t sure the feeling in his gut was all nerves. A large chunk of it felt suspiciously like guilt. Then he realised something. ‘Hey, half the stuff in here is guys’ stuff.’
‘Yeah. The husband’s overseas. Ya found anything?’
‘Nah.’ Jai kept searching, picked up a sock, felt the weight of it. He shoved his hand in, pulled out a large roll of money and several little bags of white powder. ‘Hey, wow.’
‘You found it. Excellent.’ Pax pounced on the powder, shoving it in his bag.
‘You knew this was here?’
‘Somewhere, yeah. You keep the cash.’
‘What—all of it?’ Jai asked, astounded.
‘Yep.’ Pax looked around. ‘I think we’re done here. We should check out the other rooms then head off.’
Jai shoved the cash into his bag and followed Pax into a small study. A computer sat on a desk at one end of the room, a chair pushed neatly underneath it. There were a couple of photos on the wall of a pretty blonde with a broad-chested, shaven-headed man wearing camo gear. Jai was relieved to know the guy was somewhere far, far away.
‘Come on, help!’ Pax said, as he rifled through the desk drawers.
Jai opened a few plastic containers that were stacked in the corner of the room, found only paperwork in the first, spare bedding in another. ‘You didn’t tell me the chick was a drug dealer.’
Pax shrugged. ‘Low-level shit. Nothing big.’ Pax went to the display cabinet on the wall behind them. Jai hadn’t seen it at first, but now his eyes widened in surprise.
‘That’s a lot of weapons.’
‘Pretty impressive, huh? Husband’s collection. Like any?’ Pax opened the cabinet, chose a couple of small folding knives and shoved them in his bag.
‘Nah.’ Headlights swept through the hall, sending a spear of panic through his system. ‘Hey! I think she’s home!’
Pax went down the hall, came back. ‘Yep. Taxi. Grab that knife with the bone handle for me before we go.’
Trembling with the need to escape, Jai scanned the shelf, found the knife and snatched it, then dropped it into the bag Pax held open. ‘She’s going to catch us. Shit. I can’t get caught!’
‘Calm the fuck down,’ Pax said, as though they had all the time in the world, though he was moving quickly. ‘Follow me.’ They walked quietly through the house to the back door. As Pax closed the laundry door, Jai heard the front door open.
‘She’s gonna know we’ve been in there,’ he whispered. ‘What do we do?’
Pax crouched low in the shrubbery. ‘You can run right out in front of that taxi if ya like, or you can keep it together for another few seconds so we can get out of this without being spotted.’
Sweating and trembling, Jai waited next to Pax while the taxi driver fiddled around in his cab. Lights were coming on all over the house, one by one. She knows. She’s calling the cops. Why had he let himself get caught up in this? He knew it was a bad idea. Why didn’t the damn driver leave? They were going to get caught.
‘Okay, he’s going,’ Pax whispered. ‘Ya ready?’
The fear was so great Jai couldn’t speak, so he just nodded, and when the cab pulled away, he sprang up after Pax. He wanted to run, to bolt. But Pax dragged off his gloves and beanie, and walked with a purposeful yet relaxed stride.
Jai forced himself to keep pace, all the while imagining the police would turn up, but they got back to the car without any trouble. Once inside, he closed his eyes and took a long, relieved breath. When he opened them, Pax was grinning at him.
‘What?’
‘Ya fucking did it, pencil dick. I thought you’d bail for sure.’
He pulled the wad of cash out of his pack and stared at it. ‘You weren’t bullshitting me, were you? I can keep this?’
‘All yours, mate.’
Mate? What happened to pencil dick? Jai undid the elastic band and carefully counted out almost two thousand dollars. His heart leapt and some of the weight of the last couple of weeks lifted. He bound it back up and put it away, not quite keeping the smile off his face. The guilt was still there, but it was overtaken by tear-jerking relief. He would have had to work a month for that. And it wasn’t for him, it was for Pop. He needed it more than some drug dealer. Just for a little while, he wouldn’t have to stress.
CHAPTER
9
Jared took one look at Indy as she entered the station’s meeting room on Monday morning and made her a coffee. ‘You’re in early. What have you done?’
‘It’s nothing.’ Indy limped over to a chair and sat down. ‘Did you hear there was another break-in over the weekend? Owner came home in the early hours of Sunday morning and called it in.’ She dragged out the chair next to hers and put her foot up on it. ‘Four break-ins in six weeks, same night of the week, same area, same method of entry, same goods targeted.’
‘Same thief …’
‘And if so, I think Ruby could be right about how he’s picking houses. I showed our latest victim, Caitlin Tilley, the sketch we got from Ruby and she said it looks like the guy she took home last week, only she remembers him having a small scar at the left side of his mouth, so it’s been added.’
He looked at the sketch pinned to one of the boards. There were other images too, stolen goods, houses, a map with a large red radius and thumbtacks pinned within it.
‘So, he’s targeting single females. Picking them up, getting them to take him home, scoping out the houses before coming back, taking whatever he wants.’
‘You can take out the single,’ Indy said. ‘Caitlin Tilley’s married. Husband’s away with the military. She’s lonely … blah, blah.’
‘Right. I’m guessing she doesn’t want her hubby checking out the police report. We should ask the other victims if something similar has occurred.’
‘I’ll get Emily on it this morning.’
‘I don’t suppose he gave Tilley a name?’
‘He said he thought it would be more fun if they remained anonymous. Joked that it was less likely a jealous husband would come looking for him.’
‘Can’t call him stupid.’
‘We’ll need to get that sketch out to all the clubs, get the staff to keep a lookout for him.’
‘Right. It’s good to finally be getting somewhere.’
‘Actually, there are yet more upsides to this latest robbery.
This time we might have a print. Side gate. And while our POI helped himself to the usual—jewellery and cash—he also pinched some knives from a collection belonging to the husband. Some of them are pretty rare and one of them is a one-of-a-kind Damascus folding knife. Very distinctive.’
‘I revise my view on his intelligence. Must be getting cocky. Do we have a photo of it?’
‘Yep.’ She pointed to the board behind her. ‘White one, bone handle.’
He took it down. ‘I’ll show it to local pawn shops, check Ebay, Gumtree, anywhere he might try to sell it.’
‘Hopefully something will come back on that print. It’d be nice to make an arrest on this today. Wouldn’t that be something?’
‘I love that you still believe everything can fall into place that easily,’ he said. ‘And now that you’ve told me all that, want to tell me why you’re hobbling around?’
She sighed impatiently. ‘Monte stood on my foot.’
It took a moment before what she was talking about clicked. ‘Monte your cow?’
‘Monte my steer, yes. My big uncoordinated overgrown calf more like it. I think he’s broken my damn toe.’
‘I thought he was friendly.’
‘Too friendly. No idea of personal space. My darling husband seemed to think I was after some attention because Tess is copping it all.’
He laughed and sat down to study the photo of the knife. Indy was right, it was distinctively marked. As a one-of-a-kind, it wouldn’t be difficult to identify if it popped up somewhere. ‘How is she?’
Indy rolled her eyes. ‘Ready for the next adventure.’
‘Right. How is she really?’
‘She has a low tolerance for sympathy and while the sensible part of her brain is telling her there wasn’t anything more she could do, the Tess part is giving her a hard time. I don’t think she’d truly believe she’d done enough unless she killed herself trying.’
‘She certainly seems to try hard enough.’
Indy sent him a puzzled frown. ‘Harsh. Are we back to the incident with you at the station? You’re really stuck on that at the moment.’
‘Guess so.’
‘I suppose she saw something in you worth saving.’
‘If she ever lets you know what that was …’
‘Pass it on?’ Indy asked. Her eyes lit up. ‘Why?’
‘Shut up,’ he said without heat, and drained his coffee before standing, ready to head out.
Indy didn’t move, just sat in the same spot with her interrogation face on. It made him laugh.
‘Maybe I thought about asking her out, but from the exchange last week I gather she’s seeing that Aaron guy, right? So forget it.’ He ducked his head down to speak to her directly. ‘Indy, forget it.’
He left her drinking her coffee. Armed with a few copies of the photo of the knife, he took himself outside and pointed the car towards the biggest pawn shop in town.
The shop had had a repaint in army green since he’d last been in, and he was pretty sure it was larger, as though the premises that had been next door had moved and made room for an extension. Splashy gold writing announced he’d found Quick and Easy Cash, promising the best loans in town, a free cleaning service on pawned jewellery and great bargains. There was a display of jewellery in the window. It all looked brand new. Though the shop beyond was packed with goods, it was organised and tidy. He had to hand it to the owner, who had only completed probation a handful of years ago, he’d made good use of his time.
Jared pushed open the glass door and went inside. The owner, who liked to go by the name Tank, was talking to an elderly woman on a walker. The woman was wearing a look of consternation that reminded him of his old school principal. Tank’s expression was pure exasperation.
‘Mrs Ted, I gave you four hundred dollars for your pendant, you signed a contract to pay it back within six months, that contract was extended twice, to twelve, then eighteen months, and you never paid a cent, never came near me for another six months after that. Yet the moment it’s out front cleaned up and ready to sell, you’re back in here demanding I return it.’
‘You can’t sell it—it was my mother’s! I just need some more time.’
Tank sighed and rubbed his forehead. ‘Can you put down any money on it today?’
She hesitated. ‘Well, not exactly …’
Tank glanced up, noticed Jared and smiled distractedly. ‘Okay, look. Perhaps there’s something you can replace it with? Something you’re not so attached to?’
Mrs Ted thought about that. Her face transformed from worried to thoughtful then happy. ‘Well, maybe I can at that. Would you hold it just a little longer while I go home and check?’
‘Sure, Mrs Ted,’ Tank said in a long-suffering tone that suggested he was accepting some sort of defeat. ‘Of course. I’ll pop it away again for you.’
‘Thank you, Tank. You’re a good man. I’ll be back.’ The woman shuffled slowly towards Jared on her walking frame, so he opened the door to let her out and got a smile and a very proper ‘Thank you, sir.’
‘Difficult customer?’ he asked Tank as he approached the counter.
‘That “going home to check” will be another six-month adventure,’ Tank grumbled. But he took the pendant from the counter and put a lid on it, tucking it under the desk. ‘If she manages to bring anything in at all, anything, I’ll write off the loss and hand it back over.’
‘You’re a soft touch.’ But it gave the guy points in Jared’s mind. And the shop seemed to be doing well.
‘What else can I do? She only pawned it to help pay for her husband’s funeral.’
‘Some people wouldn’t care.’
‘True. What can I do for you? Still looking for your thief? I had a Detective Constable Roberts around here last week with a list of missing items.’
‘Yeah, we’ve got more missing stuff. You haven’t seen this guy around, have you?’ Jared showed him the sketch.
Tank looked at it carefully. ‘No, sorry. I’ll keep an eye out.’
‘One of the most identifiable things stolen last weekend was a Damascus folding knife. Unique. This is it.’ He passed him a photo. ‘Shouldn’t be too difficult to ID.’
Tank took the picture and studied it. ‘Nice work. I doubt anyone smart enough to pull off all these successful robberies would be dumb enough to turn up in here with something as identifiable as this. But you never know.’
‘They were dumb enough to take it in the first place—and leave prints at the scene, so it’s worth a shot.’
‘Can I keep these?’ Tank asked, picking up the sketch and the photo.
‘Yeah, I’ve got plenty of copies.’
A wiry young man with short dark hair, torn jeans and a handful of small boxes appeared from behind a row of shelves. He stopped in his tracks and eyed Jared nervously before hesitantly approaching the counter.
‘Sorry to interrupt, boss. Pax said you wanted this stuff up front.’
‘Thanks, Jai. I need you both to take a run out to deliver the mini kayaks. On the way back you can call into Bunnings and load up the new pallet racking.’
‘No worries. Now?’
‘Yep.’
Jai hesitated a second longer, shooting his boss one more nervous glance before making an awkward exit.
‘Who’s that?’ Jared asked, suspicious of the guy’s behaviour.
‘Jai? Works for me. He’s my daughter Riley’s boyfriend,’ Tank explained with a roll of his eyes. ‘Took him on a couple of years back.’
‘Is he okay? He looked pretty uncomfortable just now.’
Tank chuckled. ‘Yeah. Riley’s been at him about doing a big hike through the Southwest National Park. They’ve been out back practising pitching their tents. Looked like a bit of a disaster. Bit of a wuss of a kid, but heart of gold. I think he’s stressing about the whole so-called adventure. I’d be pretty stressed myself if they were going alone. Made them use a guide.’
‘Yeah? They’re not booked with Tess Atherton, are t
hey?’
‘Nah, some bloke … Aaron Jackson, I think Riley said. She’s referring to him as their babysitter.’
‘Young and invincible, huh? Aaron also does Search and Rescue work, he knows what he’s doing.’
‘Good to know.’
‘I hope they have a good time. Let me know if you spot any of this.’
‘Will do.’
CHAPTER
10
Tess gave the young buckskin filly a soothing pat and hopped off. ‘Well done, sweetheart. You’re going to be a super campdrafter, aren’t you, huh?’ The three-year-old with the bright, inquisitive eyes was fast becoming a favourite. Maybe Tess could talk Logan into letting her campaign her for a while before offering her for sale. She wouldn’t mind carving out some time for a few competitions.
She led the filly out of the arena and back to the stables. Larissa appeared to take the reins.
‘How’d she go?’
‘I think she might have to stay a bit longer than the others.’
Larissa grinned. ‘Logan said you were bound to pick her as your favourite.’
‘Did he?’
‘Mmm. Because you wanted a buckskin out of Flash but then she wouldn’t go in foal. And he’d already earmarked this one as pretty special. Reckons she’s the best Rex has produced,’ Larissa said, stroking the filly’s face, ‘and that’s saying something.’
‘Where is my devious brother?’
Larissa laughed. ‘He’s taken some guests on a trail ride.’
‘I’ll catch up with him later. I’ve got a group of my own to take out.’
‘Riding? Logan didn’t tell me. I don’t have any horses ready.’
‘No, relax. My group’s going skiing.’
‘Right,’ Larissa said with relief. ‘Let me take her for you. Enjoy the snow.’
‘Thanks, and oh, I suppose I should ask … does my new horse have a name?’
‘I think Logan was waiting for you to come up with one,’ Larissa called over her shoulder.
Tess chuckled and walked back through the islands of gardens that flanked the driveway to the guesthouse. Logan and his big heart. It couldn’t have been more than a week ago that she’d mentioned she missed campdrafting and suddenly he’d needed breakers worked. Now it looked like she was going to be competing again.