‘You might as well show that pic of Ken Forster too,’ Ed said.
‘You still think he’s number three?’
‘It’s possible. Who’s going with you to Mrs Jacobs’?’
Dave screwed his face up. ‘I’m not dragging anyone along. She’s got an Order of Australia and is an all-round good Samaritan, remember? I think I can handle one little old lady without too much trouble.’
‘It’s the lug of a son I’m worried about. The DNA under the nails might be his,’ Ed said.
‘If it is, I’ll take backup, but seriously, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. He’s scared of his own shadow. Besides, even if he did want to hurt me, he’s hardly going to do it with a house full of guests.’
Ed opened his mouth to argue but Phil cut him off.
‘Stop being paranoid. He’s right.’
The phone rang, making them all jump. Phil punched the hands-free button.
‘Phil, it’s Sonya. We didn’t get a hit on the third victim but we got a match for the DNA under the nails.’
‘Jonathan Jacobs?’ Ed asked.
‘Nope, one Mark Saunders. He’s got a record a mile long including multiple assaults, aggravated burglary and drunk and disorderly. He was on trial for manslaughter a few years back but the charges were dropped when a key witness pulled out. He’s done time more recently for aggravated assault. His weapon of choice was a knife. The victim suffered multiple stab wounds.’
‘I know about him,’ Ed said. ‘He was brought in by uniform the other day ranting and raving about killing homeless men. I went down and interviewed him but he was off with the fairies. Nothing he said made any sense.’
‘Sounds like a real gem. Where do we find him?’ Phil asked.
‘They let him go. No reason to hold him,’ Ed said.
‘I’ve got his details up on my screen. I’ll email them through to you, Phil,’ Sonya said.
‘Thanks, Sonya. Email them to Steve as well, will you?’
‘Doing it now.’
‘Steve, can you print us some copies?’ Phil said.
He was already heading for the door.
‘I was only half-serious when I said our homeless guys are getting so hungry they’re eating each other,’ Dave said.
‘Doesn’t seem such a crazy idea now,’ Phil said.
Steve was back in record time. He put a photo on the desk in front of Phil. She looked at it, then passed it to Ed. Dave looked over Ed’s shoulder.
‘That’s him. Same guy,’ Ed said.
Mark Saunders stared back at them off the page. The main difference between Ed’s memory of him and the picture was that he was looking directly at the camera. His hair hung low on his forehead, obscuring more features, so all that was really visible were his eyes.
Ed felt a chill slither down his back. Mark Saunders reminded him of Charles Manson. It was the look in his eyes. They were pools of black, waiting to suck you in and drown you in their madness.
‘I’ll make some calls and get uniform to start looking for him,’ Dave said.
CHAPTER
28
I was sitting on the couch between two warring felines, my lap the Gaza Strip. Claire was sitting in one of the armchairs next to the window, watching the hostilities from a safe distance. Mum was on the couch next to me, trying to broker peace.
She’d achieved an uneasy truce between Jasmine and Shadow by pulling Shadow onto her lap and distracting him with liver treats. Jasmine was sitting on the arm of the chair on the other side of me, her ears flattened against her skull, fur puffed in agitation. Every now and then she emitted a low growl and a hiss.
‘Oh dear,’ Claire said. ‘I’d hoped they’d like each other.’
‘Shadow’s used to being an only cat,’ I explained. ‘And cats are very territorial. Jasmine’s appearance here is like a foreign army invading.’
‘Right.’ The tone and accompanying look both said ‘cat people are crazy’.
‘Thanks for coming all this way and bringing the furball with you,’ I said.
‘That’s OK. I wanted to see you. I just don’t understand how you can have so much happen in one week. Last week when we caught up for dinner you were almost normal.’
‘If you don’t count the vision that followed dessert.’
Mum shot me a questioning look.
‘I had a woman ask me to relive her father’s death. She thought his new wife had killed him deliberately,’ I explained.
‘I can’t believe how ungrateful that woman was,’ Claire said. ‘Cass went out of her way to help her, at her request, but when Cass told her the truth she was almost angry.’
‘Lots of people don’t want to hear the truth. They’re happier holding onto a grudge or a version of events that they’ve built up in their heads. Over the years I’ve learned to pick the ones who don’t want to hear the truth. I usually tell them I can’t get a reading and give them their money back before I send them on their way,’ Mum said.
‘But you do get readings from them?’ Claire asked.
‘I do.’
‘How does your talent work, Mrs Lehman?’
‘Anita, please. It works when I touch someone or they touch me.’
Claire blinked a few times. I knew what she was thinking. She’d given Mum a hug when she’d first walked into the room.
‘So did you …?’
‘I did, but it was only a flash, my dear.’
‘And?’
‘And it was all good, or should I say he was all good … very dishy.’ Mum’s eyes were bright. She loved a bit of romance.
Claire blushed.
‘Claire! Is there something you’re not telling me?’ I laughed.
‘I might have met someone.’ She squirmed, refusing to make eye contact, reaching up and fussing with her hair. I couldn’t believe it. Calm, blasé Claire, who treated men like a commodity, had fallen for someone.
I was on the point of asking her for more information when Ed stuck his head through the sliding doors.
‘Lunch is ready.’
He’d offered to cook and I’d gladly accepted. Ed wasn’t the sort of person who was happy sitting around doing nothing. Relegating him to kitchen duties served the dual purpose of feeding us all and gave me the chance to catch up with Claire without him twitching on the couch next to me.
Claire and I stood up. Shadow jumped off Mum’s lap and streaked for the door. It was the fastest I’d seen his nine-and-a-half kilo rump move in a long time. Jasmine hissed at him as he flew by.
‘Maybe he’s worried she’ll eat his lunch,’ Mum said as I helped her up off the couch. She was looking a lot better since we’d brought her home from the hospital but she was still a bit wobbly, and having one arm in a sling made pushing herself up off the couch a bit of an ordeal.
With my arm linked through her good one we sauntered towards the door. I grabbed Jasmine on the way past, tucking her under my other arm. ‘Come on furball, let’s find you a food bowl of your own.’
The phone trilled as we were walking past. I handed the cat and Mum over to Claire, then answered it.
‘Is that Cassandra Lehman?’
I recognised the voice almost instantly.
‘Hello DCI Arnott, how are you?’
‘I’d be better if that bloody boyfriend of yours would answer his goddamn phone.’
I bit my lip. What an ass. No, I’m sorry to hear about your mum and gran. No, How are you? Nothing. Ed had told me how rude the man was. I thought he’d been exaggerating. Then again, the one time we’d met, he’d been trying to convince me to work for him, so he’d probably been on his best behaviour, whatever that was.
‘I’ll get him for you,’ I said, making sure I thumped the receiver down on the wooden hall table. I stomped into the kitchen. The conversation halted. ‘It’s your boss,’ I said.
‘Sorenson?’
‘No, the one who drags his knuckles along the ground.’
Claire snorted.
Ed pul
led a face, looking at the steaming bowls of pasta on the table.
‘Don’t wait. This could take a while if he’s ringing because he’s spoken to Natalia about my move back to Fairfield.’
I sat down and glowered into my bowl.
‘Cass?’ Mum said.
‘Let’s eat,’ I said, banishing thoughts of overweight, badly dressed men from my head. ‘This smells awesome.’
CHAPTER
29
‘What the fuck?’
Phil got out of the car and stared at the hive of activity. Steve, who was already on site, came over to join her and Dave as they took it all in. What had originally started as a small, intensive search of the area where victim one had been found had now expanded to cover the whole facility. Everywhere she looked she could see yellow and orange SES coveralls. They were like flowers, startlingly bright against a background that was almost uniformly brown.
It was another sunny autumn day, not as warm as it had been, but pleasant enough if you ignored the pervasive odour of rotting rubbish. The dump was a wide, undulating field of compacted debris, with dirt roads carving their way through the chaos. Over to the right was the compacting shed where it had all begun. The large tractors with their spiked wheels stood silent next to the massive corrugated-iron structure, testament to the site’s continued closure. A small contingent of crime-scene techs were still checking the area where the third set of remains had been found.
None of that surprised her. She’d organised the broadening of the search and put Steve in charge. What she hadn’t organised was the four extra dogs and handlers she could see dotted across the search zone.
Wherever she turned, she spotted a canine, nose down, tail wagging, its pelt gleaming in the sun. Bruno was there, along with two Labradors, a spaniel and something that only an expert in doggy genetics could identify.
Phil spotted Maria a hundred metres away, towards the back of the site, and began to work her way across to her. Any attempt to stride over and demand an explanation was hampered by the sheer difficulty of navigating ground that was uneven, soft in places and hard in others and covered in objects that could trip or slice. By the time she made it, she was puffing and her face was bathed in a sheen of sweat.
‘What’s going on Maria?’ she demanded.
‘Bruno and I have just finished this sector and we’re about to start the next one.’
Maria gave a smug look that Phil would have liked to smack off her face.
‘Why are all the other dogs here?’
‘The job was too big for Bruno on his own. I didn’t want to risk him burning out so I asked Sorenson and Arnott if I could bring in some other members of my team. They were so impressed by what Bruno could do that they agreed. The other dogs and their handlers arrived about half an hour ago.’
‘So you threatened to take Bruno back to Melbourne unless they agreed to bring in extra dogs?’ Phil said.
‘Did you forget to have your morning coffee, Detective Steiner? I don’t really understand why you have a problem with getting extra help.’
‘I don’t. What I have a problem with is you not talking to any of us about your plans before you spoke to the DCIs.’
They glared at each other. Dave finally caught up to Phil and stood looking from one woman to the other. Seeing the heavy scowl lines on Phil’s face, he quickly decided to park the barrage of questions on the tip of his tongue and try a diversionary tactic instead.
‘Phil, I think the SES coordinator wants to talk to you. They’ve finished the back-right sector and they’re wondering if they should get a bulldozer to take away the top layer so they can begin working through what’s underneath.’
‘We can’t dig up the whole dump, but it might be worth taking it down a level or two and keeping the search going for a while longer. We’ve found three sets of remains, what’s to say there’s not a hell of a lot more out there?’
‘You don’t need a bulldozer unless you’re planning on going down more than three metres. The dogs can smell remains down that far,’ Maria said.
‘Three metres? Really? That’s amazing,’ Dave said.
Phil gave Maria a long, appraising look. ‘All right. We won’t bring in the bulldozers just yet. Let’s finish the full search first before we consider next steps. Where’s the SES coordinator?’
‘Waiting for you back at the manager’s office,’ Steve said.
Maria moved off to the next part of the grid with Bruno. Phil shot daggers at her back before turning towards the administration building.
‘I fuckin’ hate contractors. They think they can do whatever the hell they like and charge like wounded bulls for it. Do you know how much that dog earns per day? It’s more than three times what you and I get. Makes me think maybe I should hire myself a fucking dog costume the next time I find a body,’ Phil said.
‘You’re too good-looking to be called a dog.’
‘Jesus, Dave, do you ever stop?’ Phil threw a glare over her shoulder.
‘What?’ Dave gave her a mock wounded look. ‘Well, you’ve got to admit Bruno’s earned his doggy treats.’
Phil stopped dead, forcing Dave to turn himself inside out to stop walking into her. Steve stopped in his tracks too.
‘Who’s that?’ Phil demanded, pointing at a short, elderly woman who was standing outside the building.
‘It’s Mrs Jacobs,’ Dave said. ‘What the hell is she doing here?’
‘The Mrs Jacobs?’
‘The same,’ Dave said. ‘I think I’ve just entered the twilight zone.’
‘Apparently she knows the guy who runs the SES. Given the search is linked to homeless men, she wanted to help. She’s running the kitchen for the volunteers. It’s something she’s done before, says she’s used to catering for large numbers of people,’ Steve said. ‘She’s really very nice. Reckons it breaks her heart to think that someone might be targeting the same men she gives shelter to.’
Phil stared at him with her mouth open for a few moments before snapping it shut.
‘What about her son? What was his name?’ she asked.
‘Jonathan. He’s here too, handing out drinks,’ Steve said.
‘And the employee that you were talking about … the one we were going to show his picture to?’
‘Nope, none of the employees are on site today.’
‘That’s a shame, can we try to get him here?’
‘Already tried. He’s not answering his phone.’
Phil started walking again. ‘I don’t like coincidences,’ she said.
They were ten steps away from the admin building when a shout made them turn around. One of the handlers was waving in their direction. He was a big bloke, tall and bordering on the verge of fat. His dog was the spaniel and it was sitting, rooted to the spot, barking.
‘Shit, game on,’ Phil said.
She waved back at the handler and worked her way over to him. He wasn’t as far away as Maria had been, and the patch he was working was next to one of the dirt roads that crisscrossed the facility. It only took Phil a few minutes to cover the distance.
‘I’m Detective Steiner. I’m in charge here.’
‘Bruce Crompton. Nice to meet you. Josie’s got a hit.’
‘Any idea how far down?’
‘No. She can usually pick up the odour up to a couple of metres down, but with all the competing smells here I’m not so sure.’
‘Hey!’ Phil called over two of the SES volunteers who were standing a few metres away, watching. ‘Come and give us a hand, will you?’
‘I want you to work through the patch right under where the dog’s sitting. Check every bag. If you find anything, stop right away and I’ll get one of the crime-scene techs over.’
‘Hey!’ Another shout and more barking made Phil snap her head around. Another handler was waving at her and pointing towards his dog.
Two more shouts erupted as the last of the dogs began to bark.
‘You gotta be fucking kidding me.’
> Dave and Steve were heading in her direction. She called out to them. ‘Dave, go organise some volunteers to search under that dog’s butt, will you?’
She looked around. Most of the activity in the dump had ceased. The volunteers were watching the action eagerly, like kids on a treasure hunt. Her eyes raked across to Maria. The woman was standing, arms folded across her chest, giving Phil another one of those smug looks.
‘Fucking hate know-it-alls,’ Phil muttered under her breath.
‘What?’ Bruce asked.
‘Nothing.’ She stood up straighter and raised her voice. ‘All right everyone. Clearly we have a big job ahead of us and we’re nowhere close to being done with this site. I can’t tell you all how much we appreciate your help. Let’s get back to work and make sure we find everything there is to be found. There are three of us on site today overseeing this search. There’s me, Detective Williams here and Detective Reynolds over there. If you find anything, call one of us over straight away. Let’s do it.’
By 3pm the dogs were done for the day and the three detectives were grouped in the admin building with some of the SES volunteers and crime-scene techs having a well-earned cup of coffee. They all wore the same hot, tired expression. Mrs Jacobs and Jonathan had packed up and left at around 2.30pm, leaving an urn and provisions for afternoon tea behind. Dave had promised to return them to her later that evening, a task that fitted nicely with his plans to show her guests some pictures of the victims.
Dave and Phil grabbed a coffee and sank into chairs with the volunteers. The SES guy in charge, Jim Lincoln, was a seasoned veteran who’d seen all sorts of action, including searches for missing persons, bushfires, post-storm clean-ups and rescue missions. Lincoln had the ruddy, weathered look of someone who spent more time outdoors than in. There wasn’t much he hadn’t done.
Missing (The Cass Lehman Series Book 3) Page 20