Flood country

by Robert Maddison

  ‘I’ll see if I can get approval to fly up there this afternoon,’ confirmed Mark.

  Sharon, still trying to keep some order to proceedings, asked, ‘Mark, what else was on our list?’

  ‘Let’s see, number four was how caught up in this is the local sergeant?’

  Luke answered, ‘Lisa said her father told her not to go to McMahon as he was implicated. I don’t think he gave her any details.’

  ‘The bastard is up to his neck in it,’ chimed in Mike. ‘The way he dismissed Jack’s accident as just that and then wasn’t interested in his gear that got knocked off—he’s dirty alright.’

  ‘Mark, do you think it’s time for me to confront him or should we let him try to hang himself first?’ asked Luke.

  ‘I reckon he’s probably a bit player—not the big fish we want and probably doesn’t even know who they are. I’d leave him alone for now,’ said Mark.

  ‘Ok, what was number five?’ queried Sharon.

  ‘Five was how did that ute happen to be at the diversion site so I think we’ve answered that one. If you go to see them at GrowOz you might find out more.’

  ‘Hang on, everyone,’ said Pip. It was her turn to get excited. ‘When I spoke to my mate Jimmy about who else could make a shot like the one that took out Mike’s poor old dog he said either Wayne Butcher or Billy Casperson were good enough among the locals. He said Butcher was away and that Casperson did some casual work for GrowOz. Maybe we should see if he’s got past form?’

  ‘That’s a great idea, Pip. I can do that with a phone call, Mark, so leave that with me,’ said Luke.

  ‘And,’ continued Pip, ‘did anyone look for the shell casing—it might have fingerprints. Perhaps you could use it as bluff when you go to see GrowOz—who do like to tell us they “take care of country communities”.’ This brought chuckles from around the table and from Mark.

  ‘You watch too many cop shows, girl,’ said Sharon, smiling.

  ‘Pip, that’s brilliant. Straight after this we’ll go see if they left the shell casing. That could be useful when we go to see GrowOz, if we can find it,’ said Luke.

  Mark agreed with Luke, ‘Yes indeed. Now the sixth point was where were those potential shooters on the night poor old Max was shot. I suppose you might find that out when you go to see GrowOz? And, can we discount Pip’s mate Jimmy as a suspect?’

  ‘I’ll vouch for him. He’s a good guy and hates irrigators with a passion. I just can’t see him selling his soul to these people. His own family would disown him,’ replied Pip.

  ‘Good enough for me. Let’s go after Casperson first,’ said Luke.

  ‘I agree,’ said Mark. ‘So that just leaves the big one—how do we find out who is really behind all this? If we accept that Goodacres is the one ultimately pulling the strings in some way, the challenge is to find out how. If we can find their ‘doer’ and get him or her to tell all that might start the dominoes tumbling. If not, then the only way is to shake them up a little at the top, the directors maybe.’

  ‘We’ll do our best to flush out the ‘doer’ here, Mark, but again it comes back to this becoming a full ICAC inquiry so you can use your powers to seize and search, intercept calls and all that. If we could tap phones at GrowOz, the minister’s or Drummond’s offices we’d probably find this person or persons much quicker,’ said Luke.

  ‘I know. I’m briefing the assistant commissioner this afternoon so I’ll try to convince her to make that call. I’ll let you know,’ replied Mark.

  Mike had been listening with a face of concentration, and then finally couldn’t hold back any longer. ‘I might be just a simple farmer from the bush, Mark, but why don’t you just go and question the chairman or CEO of Goodacres? Carpet the bastards and say, “we know what you’re up to, the games over” and let’s see what happens.’

  ‘Mike, the risk is that they will deal with it internally before we can expose the people responsible. They’d shred all the relevant paperwork, sack a few people with a gentle slap on the wrist and then go quiet for a while before restarting the whole thing. We’ve seen this all before. The top end of town sees protecting themselves and the profitability and share price of their company as paramount. At this stage only Drummond, the Minister and probably the Premier know ICAC’s involved, technically speaking. Lisa does too of course now. ICAC’s powers are such that they know to be very careful with whom they speak as that can come back to bite them later with an official misconduct charge. We have to hope this keeps it all under wraps for a few more hours to give us some advantage,’ said Mark.

  There was a general feeling around the table that they’d exhausted the discussion, until Charlie spoke for the first time. ‘No-one’s said anything about the safety of Mary and her husband. If you reckon Wellsmore’s at risk surely they are too given what she knows. Shouldn’t we offer them refuge? We’d be happy for them to come out and stay with us. That way, we’ve got less places and people to keep an eye on.’

  ‘I think that’s a great suggestion, Charlie. Sorry I didn’t think of it sooner. We should contact them as soon as we can,’ agreed Luke.

  ‘Ok, folks, I think that’s it for now. Assuming the assistant commissioner agrees I’ll try to get a flight up there as soon as possible. I’ll let Luke know my movements. Hopefully I’ll see you all this afternoon,’ said Mark, signing off.

  Chapter 67

  After Mark had signed off there was a slight pause before Pip said, ‘I’m going to look for the shell. Who’s coming?’

  Luke immediately intervened, ‘Now hang on, people, this could be evidence so we can’t just go trampling all over the place, and no-one pick it up if you find it. I’ll want to get it checked for fingerprints. Mike, any idea where they took the shot from?’

  ‘Based on where Max was when they hit him, and where the trees are, I reckon it must have been about 150 or so metres along the road from my mailbox, down toward the creek line. I suppose the shooter would have used a fence post to steady his aim. Come on, we can walk along the road to near that spot,’ said Mike standing.

  They all walked down the entry road to Mike’s place. As they reached the cattle grid and turned left, Charlie said, ‘I see you fixed your mailbox too, Dad. The postie was complaining about where to put the provisions, hey?’

  ‘Yep, he had a crack at me too. I made it a bit stronger this time though,’ he replied, rather cryptically, Jack thought.

  About a hundred metres along the road, Mike stopped them and pointed over at the fence line saying, ‘About there is my guess. He had line of sight to where Max got hit, and they didn’t have to go too far from the vehicle.’

  Luke took charge. ‘Let’s form a line here and walk toward the fence line, about two or so metres apart, and watch where you tread.’ This they did; and as they got close to the fence, Sharon said, ‘There you are, my beauty—over here, Luke.’

  Right where Mike had predicted was the shell case lying in the long, dry grass. They all converged on the spot. Luke bent down with a pencil in hand and then stood upright holding the shell up for them all to see.

  ‘That looks like it’s from a .223 Remington. They’re used a lot for fox shooting over long range,’ said Mike as Luke placed the shell case carefully in a plastic bag produced from his pocket.

  ‘Great stuff, Sharon. Now we have something a bit more concrete to work with,’ said Luke.

  They returned to the homestead and made preparations to depart as Mike rang Mary. They could hear him speaking to her in the other room and he then reappeared saying, ‘She’s not too happy about leaving their place unattended. After I reminded her of what happened to you, Jack, and young Jen, and that Wellsmore’s missing, she was persuaded to come out here. No offence, Charlie, but she suggested that your place might be a bit too noisy with the little ones, so they’re coming here. She said they’d tell the neighbours they were going to the coast for a few days and ask them to feed their chooks and dogs. They’ll be out here this afternoon, so that’s good.’
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  With that Charlie headed home and Pip, Sharon and Luke stood to leave also.

  ‘Hang on you guys, I’m coming too,’ said Jack. ‘I didn’t come back out here to sit around like I’m in a nursing home.’

  ‘You sure that’s a good idea with your banged-up shoulder?’ asked Sharon.

  ‘Try stopping me, Shazza,’ he said, using the name her old Sydney drinking mates had used.

  She laughed. ‘It’s been a while since anyone was game enough to call me that.’

  ‘We’ll just need to keep you out of sight if we can, Jack, at least until Mark arrives and the fun begins.’ said Luke.

  Chapter 68

  The Man was shown into the office of Sir Lawrence, which was dominated by ceiling-high book shelves, old-English-style dark green curtains and dark timber furnishings. The room always made Stannard feel like they should be smoking cigars and gazing out across the Thames.

  Getting straight to the point, Sir Lawrence asked, ‘What happened?’

  ‘Well, you know that matter of Wellsmore—the regional manager in Water Resources out at Dawson—being accused of corrupt practices; it’s now being investigated by ICAC,’ Stannard delivered the unwelcome news.

  Sir Lawrence immediately leaned forward and Stannard had his full attention. ‘Tell me more,’ he said, his very proper English accent accentuated.

  ‘They’ve been to see Drummond, the head of Water Resources; and just now Townsend, the minister. In the interview with the minister they asked him if he knew of any possible connection between what Wellsmore’s been accused of doing and GrowOz and Goodacres,’ said Stannard.

  The usually implacable Chairman’s earlobes, despite the healthy growth of snow-white tufts of hair, showed tinges of red. ‘Hmmm, that’s not good at all, is it?’ he replied rhetorically. ‘I thought you said this was all under control. That Vinnie had scared these people off?’

  ‘I thought so too. Once the nosey journo was encouraged to drop it we thought everything had gone quiet. Vinnie was arranging for Wellsmore to have a little accident and that should have been the end of it,’ said Stannard.

  ‘It might be wise to have Vinnie pull back on the Wellsmore accident. That will only arouse their interest even more. You said the incriminating information Wellsmore had was retrieved—what more could they have found?’ asked Sir Lawrence.

  ‘I really don’t know. Todd said Townsend thought the ICAC guy was on a fishing expedition, and he might be right. Perhaps we shouldn’t panic either. Just get Vinnie to suss out what’s going on at ground level in Dawson first,’ suggested Stannard.

  ‘Find out if anyone has been to see GrowOz for one thing, and get Vinnie to pull back on dealing with Wellsmore. Let’s hope it’s not too late,’ said Sir Lawrence.

  ‘Assuming Drummond and Townsend cover their tracks and GrowOz is all clean, this little investigation might just wither on the vine,’ said Stannard standing to leave.

  ‘Keep me posted,’ said Sir Lawrence. ‘Oh, and Paul, on this water theft thing, how exposed are we if it does escalate?’

  ‘Put it this way. We’ve been able to keep our operations in this region going for about five years longer than we should have—given the drought—through regular supplementation, shall we say.’

  ‘Oh, I see,’ said Sir Lawrence, raising his bushy eyebrows.

  Back in his office, The Man called Vinnie. ‘There may be some trouble brewing on this Wellsmore thing.’

  ‘Yeah, what sort of trouble?’ said Vinnie.

  ‘ICAC’s looking into it. Can you put a hold on Wellsmore’s accident?’

  ‘Might be too late—I think the boys were paying him a visit last night,’ said Vinnie.

  ‘Shit, can you check and if it’s not done yet, put it on hold. If it is done, then let’s just hope he’s not found for a while, if ever,’ said The Man.

  ‘I’ll check with the boys right away.’

  ‘And Vinnie, we need to know if there are any ICAC types sniffing around up there. In particular if anyone has been to see GrowOz. Can you check on that for us too?’

  ‘Will do. If they had been around I’d have heard from Robertson in a hurry,’ replied Vinnie.

  ‘Get back to me as soon as you can,’ said The Man, ending the call as abruptly as usual.

  Chapter 69

  Outside Dawson, an old blue HiLux ute, riding high on elevated springs and with two cattle dogs on the back, pulled up at a well-known fishing spot. On the back was a bumper sticker which read ‘shoot greenies’. The car was towing an old tinnie with an outboard motor. Smithy and Davo piled out of the car, both already slurping on a beer. On the back of the ute there was also an old blue esky, fishing rods and a net. They were going fishing for a few days now that the Murray cod season had just re-opened with the arrival of summer. Smithy farted loudly and they laughed wildly, enjoying being away from their wives and able to do as they pleased.

  The dogs jumped down and headed for the water for a drink—the mid-afternoon sun was blazing down. A good excuse for more beer and the distinctive sound of fresh beer cans opening disturbed the peace and quiet by the river. The dogs started to bark and Smithy and Davo looked down to where their attention was focussed. It was a tinnie wedged among some trees that had fallen into the river on the opposite bank.

  ‘Wonder whose that is? That looks like fishing gear in it, so where’s the owner?’ said Smithy.

  They launched their own tinnie and motored across the river to check it out. In the abandoned tinnie were two rods, a tackle box, worm bucket and several empty stubbies.

  ‘This is a bit strange. What should we do? Have a look around? He might have fallen out and the tinnie floated away or maybe it just wasn’t tied up very well and drifted off during the night?’ said Smithy.

  ‘I suppose we should take a quick look around—poor bugger might be just round the corner wondering how the fuck to get his boat back,’ replied Davo.

  They motored upstream looking carefully at each bank, and in the water, but saw nothing before coming around a bend to see Pete’s shack with a car parked outside. ‘Maybe it came from here. Let’s check it out,’ said Smithy.

  They tied up and walked the short distance up to the shack. Davo called out, ‘Is there anybody here?’ to which there was no reply. They looked at one another before Smithy pushed the door open. There was no-one there but the signs of occupancy were obvious with food scraps, dirty plates and cup and lots of empty stubbies. Smithy noticed a mobile phone on the table and picked it up. ‘Lots of missed calls from someone called Lisa. Should I call her to find out who was out here?’

  ‘Sure, maybe the guy’s gone home and that might clear it all up,’ said Davo.

  Smithy used Pete’s phone to call Lisa and she answered within seconds, ‘Dad, where are you? I’ve been so worried.’

  ‘Ah, ah, I’m sorry miss. My mate and I found this phone in a cabin out on the river. There’s a white LandCruiser here but we can’t find anyone and we found a tinnie floating downstream a ways. We were a bit worried about it so we thought we’d call to find out who it is we’re looking for,’ said Smithy.

  Lisa’s stomach fell like she’d just jumped out of a plane without a parachute. Oh my God, she thought. ‘The phone belongs to my stepfather, Pete Wellsmore. You’re sure he’s not sleeping under a tree somewhere?’

  ‘I suppose he could be. We came upriver after finding the tinnie and found this cabin. There’s no-one here,’ said Smithy.

  Lisa regained some composure. ‘Look, I’m a police officer, thank you for calling. Can you tell me where you are, please, so I can come out and look for myself?’

  Smithy gave Lisa directions and she sat back to think. I should tell the sarge, but he’s part of all this somehow; I’ll go look for myself first. No, I can’t leave without telling someone where I’m going. Call Luke, she thought. Lisa tried to call Luke’s mobile. There was no answer and it diverted to his message bank. In her agitated state she hung up; then realised she should leave him a me
ssage so called again.

  ‘Luke, please call me urgently. Some people found Dad’s fishing boat floating on the river and tracked back to where he was staying in some shack—there’s no sign of him. I can’t leave work, so please call me as soon as you get this.’ Lisa sat and stared into space, fearing the worst.

  Chapter 70

  Billy’s mobile phone rang and he saw it was Vinnie calling, again. ‘Here we go,’ he said to Marcus, who was sitting opposite with a beer in hand, ‘bloody Vinnie checking up on us.’

  ‘G’day, Vinnie; how’s it going, mate?’ said Billy, trying buddy talk.

  ‘Cut the mate shit, you idiot. You’re paid to do my dirty work so let’s keep it that way. Listen, I want you to put that little cleanup job on hold. Things have gotten a bit messy,’ commanded Vinnie.

  Billy hesitated before answering, ‘Too late. We did it last night. He’s fish food as we speak.’

  ‘Shit,’ muttered Vinnie.

  ‘What do you mean by gotten a bit messy?’ queried Billy.

  ‘Fucking ICAC’s been asking questions of various high-level people in Sydney. Have you seen or heard anything?’ asked Vinnie.

  ‘Nuh, I don’t even know what ICAC stands for. We did hear there was some guy who looked like a copper hanging around with that chopper pilot and the local journo,’ said Billy.

  ‘Has anyone been to see Robbo?’ asked Vinnie.

  ‘Robbo’s not said anything to us, but that’s normal. You’d better ask him yourself,’ said Billy.

  ‘Trust me, I will. Now listen, you two make yourselves very scarce, and I mean very scarce. Go bush or off to the coast for a couple of weeks, ok? I’ll square it with Robbo. Just get the hell out of here as soon as you can,’ ordered Vinnie.

  His next call was to Robbo. ‘Vinnie here,’ he blurted. ‘Listen, there have been some things going on relating to the Wellsmore matter. Have you had anyone come to ask you questions?’