Deadman’s Track

by Sarah Barrie

  Jai felt the tug of wanting that money. But he still had some principles left. ‘Okay, but tell your boss to back off Tank. He’s not gonna talk. I’ll do what you want, what your boss wants, but he leaves Tank and Riley alone.’

  Pax smirked. ‘Sure, big guy. I’ll pass on the message.’

  ‘Good,’ Jai said with more bravado than he felt. ‘Are we done?’

  ‘Yeah, we’re done. For now.’

  Pax let himself out of the house and Jai locked up behind him, then went upstairs and put the bag on his chest of drawers. Curious, he opened the bag and found a jewellery box. Inside was a diamond ring. He put it aside and pulled out a mobile phone. Strange.

  Riley sat up. ‘Everything okay? I thought I heard more voices down there.’

  ‘All good. Just talking to Pop.’ He quickly shoved everything into his top drawer and scattered his clothes over the top. He’d put it back together tomorrow. Then he crawled onto the bed next to Riley and was asleep in seconds.

  The press of Riley’s lips on his woke him. He only felt as though he’d slept a few minutes but sunlight was pouring through his window.

  ‘Morning.’

  ‘Morning,’ he muttered, then noticed she’d showered and was dressed for the day. She was smiling at him: a big, blow-you-away smile he couldn’t quite figure out.

  ‘Did they let your dad go?’ he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

  ‘Yep. We need to go pick him up as soon as we’re ready. He asked if we’d go to the shop, help him clean up. The glass guys are coming with replacement windows in a couple of hours.’

  ‘Okay, yeah, of course. That’s great.’

  ‘David’s here. I let him in and threw Evan’s clothes in the wash. I put away the load in the dryer.’

  He remembered the state of his grandfather’s clothes, frowned. ‘You didn’t have to do that.’

  ‘It’s fine.’ She kissed him again before hugging him hard. ‘Even when everything is as bad as it can get, you make me happy. I love you.’

  ‘Okay …’ he said slowly. ‘I love you too.’

  ‘Everything’s going to be fine. Isn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said with more conviction than he felt. ‘Everything’s going to be great.’

  As soon as she left him alone he went to his top drawer. Clean socks and undies were folded at the front. The jewellery box had been carefully placed in the corner. Oh shit. He scrambled through the drawer, found the small bag and phone still tangled in his things further back. Relief came first, before understanding hit him hard. Riley must have seen the ring. She must have thought—no wonder she was bubbly. He opened the box. A large diamond sat amid a cluster of smaller ones. Expensive. And shaped like a classic engagement ring. Hell. Now what? What was she going to do when he didn’t give it to her?

  He snapped the lid closed and returned the ring to its place in the drawer. Riley was expecting a proposal.

  CHAPTER

  27

  Jared walked into the station in time to see Indy dismiss everyone from their morning meeting. ‘Sorry, I got held up talking to Madison Wilde’s father. Did you get any sleep?’

  ‘A couple of hours. You?’

  ‘Yeah about that much. Wilde’s denying any knowledge of the attack on Finlay.’

  ‘Do you believe him?’

  ‘I don’t know. Wilde says Cochrane never told him anything. He did remember Finlay from Cochrane’s trial though.’

  Indy tapped a red fingernail on the folder in front of her. ‘I ran Finlay’s prints against the ones we lifted from the robbery and the dinghy. No match on prints, shoe size or physical description, and he has an alibi for the night of the murders. He’s not our second POI. He might have been handling the diamonds, but he’s not one of our killers.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Emily said, knocking on the door. ‘We’ve had a report of a burnt-out car. Orange hatchback. Witness can’t see anyone inside. Looks like it’s been rolled into a ditch and lit on purpose.’

  ‘Orange hatchback?’ Jared repeated. ‘We may have found our missing escape vehicle.’

  ‘Let’s go and find out.’

  The car was at the bottom of a steep ravine on the side of a timber track. The area had been cleared and the burnt-out shell sat in a wet, muddy hole.

  ‘Plates have been removed,’ Indy noted.

  Jared wrestled with the hood, shaking it and kicking at it until it came apart. ‘Serial number’s been scratched out.’ He looked closer. ‘Might be able to make out one or two numbers, so may be possible to ID it.’

  ‘Call it through now. Tell them we need it back asap.’ She turned and looked back up to the trail. ‘Em, how many people have scrambled up and down this slope?’

  ‘The logger that called it in went down to check no one was in the car. Otherwise just us. I’ve marked out a boot print that doesn’t match the tread of the set the logger made. It’s about halfway up. Forensics are on their way to cast the print and go over the car. Doubt they’re going to find anything useful in that wreck.’

  ‘Great work,’ Indy said.

  ‘How long do you think that numbers check will take?’ Jared asked.

  ‘Your guess is as good as mine. Why? In a hurry?’

  He shrugged. ‘Just wondering whether to hang around.’

  ‘Your date with Tess isn’t until tonight.’

  ‘It’s not about—’ He resisted the urge to sigh. ‘How do you know?’

  Indy’s eyes danced with humour. ‘She booked in at the lodge’s restaurant. The good restaurant.’

  ‘I didn’t think she liked that sort of thing.’

  ‘She likes it occasionally. When it’s her idea and our restaurant. Wear your suit.’

  He nodded, liking that Tess could surprise him. Indy was giving him a strange look. ‘What?’

  ‘I’m happy for you two. Honestly. I just think it’s hysterical that you breeze past each other for years without a second glance then suddenly you can’t get enough of each other.’

  ‘Maybe I breezed past,’ he said, ‘but who says I didn’t glance?’

  Indy chuckled. ‘It’ll do her good to get her mind off Aaron.’

  ‘I wanted to ask you about that. Something’s been bothering you.’

  ‘Aaron’s been bothering me. He doesn’t seem to want to take no for an answer since they broke up. One minute he thinks she’s just mad, that she’ll calm down and they’ll be fine, the next he’s hurling abuse at her and possibly even threats.’

  ‘You mean the comment about her taking a chance before they run out?’

  Indy shrugged. ‘I keep telling myself I’m reading too much into it. That he was trying to soothe his ego—he’s hurt and upset and not many people take break-ups well. But since Tess mentioned that shove on the rescue after they’d fought, I can’t quite get the idea out of my mind that he could be more dangerous than we give him credit for.’

  ‘It crossed Tess’s mind that he might have sent me the photo of us out at her place. She said she felt silly for mentioning it, but the thought still got in there.’

  ‘He’s due to fly out a few days after she returns from that hike she’s doing. Let’s hope that’s the end of it.’ Her phone rang and she answered it. ‘Great, send it through.’ She ended the call and said to him, ‘There’s an orange Hyundai i10 with those numbers registered to a Mary Ted. Not reported stolen.’

  ‘Ted?’ The unusual surname stuck in his mind, taking him back to his visit to Tank’s shop. ‘Old lady, widowed.’

  ‘How would you know that?’

  ‘If it’s the same person I’m thinking of, she was at the pawn shop one day when I was there talking to Tank.’

  ‘Interesting. I’ve got an address. Let’s go chat to her.’

  Jared looked back up the slippery, muddy bank he’d just negotiated his way down and nodded in resignation. ‘After you.’

  At Mary Ted’s house, he hit the doorbell once, twice. Waited. ‘No one home,’ he said unnecessarily.

&nbs
p; Indy was frowning. She walked around the side so he followed, noticed her staring at the windows. ‘Do you think it’s odd that all the blinds are closed?’ she asked.

  ‘An old woman living alone might be a bit paranoid, I suppose. But yeah, I do.’

  ‘Hello.’ An elderly man appeared at the side fence with a hose in hand. ‘Looking for Mary?’

  ‘Yes,’ Indy said, moving around to him. ‘We’re police. Have you seen her around today?’

  ‘Oh, I haven’t seen Mary for a good couple of months now. Wife and I took the caravan up north for a trip, came back and she was gone. She’s moved in with family. Terribly old and lonely she was. So nice they came and got her.’

  ‘Do you know where we can find her then?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, didn’t ask. The grandson’s a very nice chap though, I’m sure he’d be happy to help. He’s been coming and going, looking after the place for her.’

  Jared exchanged looks with Indy and jogged back to the car, got the picture of their POI and brought it back. ‘Have you by any chance seen this man around?’ he asked the neighbour.

  ‘Why yes, that’s him. That’s Mary’s grandson. Nothing’s happened to him, has it?’

  ‘We’re not sure,’ Indy said. ‘When was the last time you saw him?’

  ‘Day before yesterday, I think.’

  ‘Did you ever see a second person?’

  ‘No …’ the man said slowly, seemingly thinking back. ‘No, just him.’

  ‘Do you know if he’s in there now?’ Jared asked.

  ‘Couldn’t tell you, sorry.’

  ‘Harry! Lunch!’ was shouted from somewhere in the neighbour’s house and he smiled. ‘Sorry, that’s me.’

  ‘Thanks for your time,’ Jared told him. ‘Appreciate it.’ Then to Indy, he said, ‘What do you want to do?’

  ‘I have grave concerns for Mrs Ted’s safety, and reason to believe our POI may be inside. That’s good enough grounds to go in, check it out.’

  ‘Let’s do it.’

  The front door was locked, but they found a back one open.

  ‘Stuffed lock on the laundry,’ he noted. ‘Fits our POI’s preferred method of entry.’

  They carefully searched each room, finding no one home. ‘There’s milk in the fridge—still in date,’ Indy said. ‘And some recent takeaway food.’

  ‘We should get out of here, keep watch on the house.’

  ‘Agreed. Hey, does it look like this space is missing something?’

  He looked at the carpet under their feet, saw it looked cleaner and a shade or two darker than the carpet around it. ‘Missing rug.’

  ‘Didn’t see it anywhere. Let’s go.’

  Outside, Jared hesitated at the door to the garage. When he turned the handle, it opened, so he stepped in. The sickly sweet smell was familiar and overwhelming. Indy came in behind him, gagged and stepped around him, hand over her mouth and nose. She pointed to the dim back corner of the space. He saw a floor rug, rolled. The toes of a stockinged foot were just visible protruding from one end.

  ‘Son of a bitch!’ He abruptly turned and walked out.

  Indy closed the door and stood beside him, dragging in air. ‘Murdering a defenceless old woman. Our POI just officially scraped the bottom of the barrel.’

  ‘We need to get this bastard off the street. What are our chances of getting the scene processed before our suspect returns and the media get hold of this?’

  ‘Absolutely none.’ Indy walked a few steps away and called it in. ‘I’m convinced this guy came down here specifically to carry out the attack on Wilde and Sash.’

  ‘A local would have his own place,’ Jared agreed, ‘not need to hijack someone else’s, and he obviously has no problem killing. He’s cold, calculating and knows what he’s doing. A murderer capable of pulling off a theft, not the other way around. He’s a pro. But what about our second POI?’

  ‘The one leaving evidence wherever he—or she—goes? I don’t know. I haven’t made sense of that yet but I’m guessing it’s a local he’s picked up along the way. Not as polished.’

  By the time other police vehicles arrived, the majority of the street was watching. Teams of officers traipsed in and out, and the local papers had got wind of it and were hanging around taking photos and demanding details.

  ‘There’s no way the guy’s stupid enough to return with all this going on,’ Jared said to Indy.

  ‘I doubt he was planning on coming back anyway, hence the dumped car. He’s taken off again. Job’s done, he’s cleaning up.’

  ‘Makes sense. In which case I bet we won’t find a single print, or any other evidence.’ They’d lost him just when they’d thought they were going to finally catch him.

  ‘Let’s hope you’re wrong. Nothing came back on your chocolate box, did you know?’

  ‘Yeah. No reason he’d start getting sloppy now.’

  ‘Detectives?’ It was the neighbour again—Harry. ‘What have you found? What’s going on?’

  As the body bag was going to be brought out shortly anyway, Jared decided he might as well break the news to the guy. ‘I’m afraid Mary was at home. She’s deceased.’

  ‘Oh—oh, no. What a shame. Just when she and her family …’ Harry studied Jared’s face. ‘That grandson didn’t have something to do with it, did he? You hear of young ones knocking oldies off for their inheritance, but he seemed so nice.’

  ‘I don’t think he was her grandson.’

  The man’s face fell even further, the creases deepening impossibly in his forehead. ‘That’s terrible. Terrible news. To think he was swanning in and out of here … the lying little bastard! He was annoying, you know, in some ways. Used our mower more than once, put his rubbish in our bin. But I thought it was so good of him to help out, I let it go. I fell for it!’

  ‘There’s no way you could have known but …’ Jared glanced at Indy. ‘How recently did he put rubbish in your bin?’

  ‘A couple of days, I think. It hasn’t been emptied yet.’

  ‘We’ll need to take that rubbish into evidence,’ Indy said. ‘And take a look at your mower.’

  Tess checked her appearance in the mirror and wondered if she’d gone overboard. She’d booked them a table at the restaurant. Not the casual buffet, but the lodge’s two-hat restaurant, and she’d put on one of her few special dresses for the occasion. She’d told Jared she didn’t particularly enjoy this sort of thing, so perhaps it was the wrong move. But she wanted him to see her dressed up like a woman, not just a horse-riding, outdoor activities manager. She didn’t think too much about why that was suddenly important to her, she just did it. And then he knocked on her door and a wave of crippling doubt crashed in on her.

  She peeked through the peephole first, saw he was wearing his suit and, relieved, opened the door. ‘Hi.’

  ‘Wow,’ he said in return. When he slid an arm around her waist and pulled her in she held her breath, her system humming when he kissed her.

  ‘You’re wearing makeup,’ he murmured against her lips.

  ‘Yeah, just to prove I own some.’

  ‘And a dress.’

  ‘Same goes.’

  ‘It looks almost as good as your jodhpurs.’

  She laughed, relieving some of the tension in her chest. ‘Thanks. I think.’

  He stepped back, keeping their fingers linked, and looked her over from head to toe for several excruciatingly hot seconds. ‘You’re stunning.’

  ‘Thanks.’ It was all she could think to say. ‘I hope you like the restaurant. I had a small moment of panic because I hadn’t told you where we were eating.’

  ‘Indy mentioned it.’

  ‘She did?’

  ‘Yeah, your sister-in-law enjoys keeping tabs on us.’

  ‘She should mind her own business,’ she replied, unoffended.

  ‘She has a point about how long it took us to get this far,’ he said, brushing her hair back from her face. ‘Really should have got here sooner.’ His expression pro
mised all sorts of things and anticipation built inside her.

  ‘Things just keep … getting in the way.’ She stepped back to get her purse and keys. ‘This is our third attempt at dinner.’

  ‘On that, I meant to thank you for the other night,’ he said. ‘Hanging around with Riley at the station.’

  ‘That’s okay. She was going to keep at you otherwise and the boyfriend wasn’t all that helpful. He got a pretty big scare when Riley almost got shot.’

  ‘Yeah. You gave me one when you dived after her.’ He stepped in to touch her again, the back of his fingers drifting lightly down her cheek. ‘Bullets hurt, you know.’

  ‘I wasn’t vying for the experience,’ she objected, skin tingling. ‘I thought she was going to get herself killed. And you’re in no position to criticise. You walked straight out and started chatting to them!’

  He grinned, lifted his other hand and swept it under her hair to the back of her neck. ‘My job. Besides, he was pointing that gun at you.’

  ‘Mmm, and all I could think was I was going to be kneeling on another hard floor trying to stop you bleeding to death. Again.’ Her words trembled out. Breathing was getting complicated. She didn’t want to relive it, not now. She didn’t want anything to interfere with this moment.

  All traces of amusement left his face as he backed her into the bench. ‘You’re incredible, Tess. Even petrified, you do what needs to be done. I never thanked you properly for saving my life.’

  She pressed her hands against his chest, sliding them over his shoulders and around his neck as he closed the last inch of space between them.

  ‘I’m not letting anything interrupt us tonight,’ he murmured against her lips.

  Her body ignited. ‘You know, one of the perks of living at the lodge is that dinner can be delivered … later,’ she suggested, then shivered as his lips grazed her neck.

  ‘I think we’re supposed to make it through at least one official date before we—’

  ‘Do you want to wait?’ she asked, tugging at his ear with her teeth. ‘Do you want to risk another interruption by leaving this room?’

  ‘Is that really in question?’ He swept his hand up her ribcage, brushed his fingers across her breasts. ‘I’m having trouble figuring out why we haven’t already—’