A Place With Heart

by Jennie Jones

  ‘Did Billy know the man who shot him?’

  ‘He said he was Mr Roper’s nephew.’

  Jack took this in, his mouth pursed. ‘Do you think this man is still out at Damon’s place?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’ve never been so scared in my life.’

  Jax kissed the top of her head and refrained from saying: why the hell didn’t you tell us what was happening?

  Jack turned to the doorway. ‘Did you get that?’

  Will nodded, and moved towards the communal office opposite.

  ‘Can I take Frances home now?’ Jax asked.

  She had to get out. She couldn’t breathe in here. She had to get Frances out too. They needed air and warm sunshine. They needed to be somewhere free of all this police procedure and fraught goings-on.

  Jack put a hand on her shoulder. ‘You’re both to stay here. Everybody is to stay here.’

  ‘But I’ll need to get the animals to the shelter behind the café.’

  ‘Negative,’ Jack said. ‘You’re in lockdown. Both of you. All of you.’

  While Will sorted out the backup units they were going to need, calling in officers currently off shift, Jack rang Solomon. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘On my way to the hospital. Will brought me up to date. How’s Frances?’

  ‘She’s calming down. She’s with Jax. Did you see Bivic at either of the Baxters’ houses?’

  ‘Negative. But it looks like Bivic’s been there. Found the Baxters tied up and gagged in the living room of Damon’s place.’

  Jack was surprised Bivic had left the boys alive. ‘Have you got the Baxters with you?’

  ‘It’s pretty warm today; they were sweating and panicked. I thought I’d let them suffer a little longer until the police arrive.’

  They were going to suffer, all right. ‘I’ll have a unit pick them up.’

  ‘What about Bivic?’

  ‘I’ve got to find him first.’ He cut the call and moved to the charge room, closing the door behind him.

  Five minutes later he’d brought Operation Blue Tongue up to date.

  ‘Why the hell didn’t you call this in straight away, Jack?’ his opposite number said, voice hard.

  ‘I’ve been kind of busy the last couple of hours.’

  ‘What’s happening now?’

  ‘I’ve got it covered. Just get out here whenever you can.’

  ‘We’re on our way—and if we can’t charge Bivic with anything major re the trafficking, it’s on your head.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Jack said, and punched End Call. The op guys might catch a flight with Police Air Wing, but more likely, they’d be driving. A convoy of up to eight detectives, all jockeying for the best position on the six-hour drive.

  He yanked open the charge room door and strode out. Time to catch the gang leader—there was no way he was going to be stuck at his desk while that happened. But first, he had to sort out the gang in the front office. The Agatha Girls, the animals—and the cell situation.

  ‘Right,’ he said when he entered the crowded front reception. The Agatha Girls were sitting around the table with the plant pot, next to the cat cages. Jimmy was at the counter. His officers were standing, waiting expectantly. No bored expressions now, Jack noted.

  ‘This is what’s happening,’ he said before anyone got a word in. ‘Donna’s with me. We’ll be in the troop wagon. Will, you and Davidson are my backup in the arrest van.’ It was about time the young man got a taste of serious policing.

  ‘What about me and Johnson?’ Louie asked.

  ‘Out there with me. Edwards and Eddie, you’ll remain here, in town. But first, I want you to go and collect the Baxter boys. They’re at Damon’s place and they won’t be giving you any trouble.’

  He noticed Jax and Frances entering the front office from the hall and coming to a stand in the doorway. Jax had her arm around Frances.

  ‘Want me to book the jail bird for the Baxters?’ Louie asked.

  ‘I’ll be needing that for more important guests.’ Jack turned to Jimmy. ‘I’m shifting the giant in cell 2 so he can sit with his mate in cell 1. Make a note of all this.’

  ‘Got it,’ Jimmy said, pulling a large black notebook across the counter.

  ‘Can we go home now?’ Mary asked.

  ‘No. You stay here. In the station.’

  ‘Can we have some food?’ Mrs Frith asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Oh, goodie. I’m starving!’

  ‘Louie, I want the drunks in cells 3 and 4 out of here now.’

  ‘Excuse me,’ Mary said, rising to stand. ‘But please don’t put us in a cell. I’m claustrophobic.’

  ‘We’ll do as we’re told,’ Mrs Arnold said. ‘Sit down, Mary.’

  ‘Things would be a lot safer if you three stayed here,’ Jack told them.

  ‘Got a feeling we’ll be overflowing by nightfall,’ Jimmy said, licking the tip of a pencil.

  Jack took a breath. ‘I’ll need cells 2 and 3 for the Baxter boys. I want them separated. Bivic’s on the loose. He left the mine probably close to an hour ago. Cell 4 will be his until I get the jail bird up here. Anyone else we pick up will have to suffer it with the goats in the exercise pen. Jimmy, you’ll have to move the Kelpies from cell 4.’

  ‘Where to? I’ve already got three dogs under the counter.’

  ‘How about the charge room?’ Will asked. ‘Best place to interrogate them.’

  ‘Very funny,’ Jack said. ‘But a good idea. Got that, Jimmy?’

  Everybody paused, staring at him. ‘What?’ he asked.

  Donna blew out a half-laugh. ‘I bet you’re the kind that can do the Rubik’s Cube puzzle in under twenty seconds. I’m having trouble keeping up with who’s in which cell.’

  ‘Not me,’ Jimmy said. ‘I’ve got a special little spreadsheet that’ll keep track of who and what’s where; what time they were brought in, released or let go, and who’s reported stolen animals.’ He looked up with a gleam in his eye. ‘Proper little haven, we are. Somebody ought to put it on Twitter.’

  ‘No Twitter!’ Jack said. ‘No advising all the bad guys that we’re looking for them.’ Bivic knew they were onto him, which is why he’d scarpered from the mine, but who’d tipped him off and where were the rest of his gang of drug traffickers and animal fight organisers? He’d handed out some payback to the Baxter boys, so presumably it was the brothers who’d messed up.

  ‘It’s like a party,’ Mrs Frith said. ‘Can we get a bottle from the hotel?’

  ‘No!’ said Jack, Mrs Arnold and Mary at the same time.

  ‘This is a police station, Mrs Frith. Please remember that.’

  ‘We’re more of a petting zoo at the moment,’ Jimmy offered.

  Jax moved, catching his eye. She looked at him for a few seconds, then smiled slightly, and moved Frances back down the hall to the OIC office.

  She was right to do so. No need for Frances to hear all this.

  ‘What have you got on Bivic?’ Donna asked. ‘Because there’s something going on, isn’t there? Something we don’t know about.’

  Jack had come out here thinking he could walk through the play of things carefully and have it wrapped up in four or five weeks. Eight days later, he’d been put in the position of negating all intel so far gathered on the drug trafficking. They didn’t yet have any hard evidence to charge Bivic, the responsibility for which was his. It also nagged his conscience that none of his officers apart from Will knew he was undercover. He’d have to play that one by ear.

  ‘We’ll find evidence,’ he said.

  ‘I can give a statement,’ Mrs Frith said suddenly. ‘I saw them.’

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  ‘All the bad guys out at the clearing. I saw them all.’

  ‘She didn’t,’ Mrs Arnold said quietly, with a slight shake of her head and an apology in her eyes for her friend’s interruption.

  ‘She couldn’t have,’ Mary added. ‘Either me or Amelia are with her all the time.’
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br />   ‘That’s what you think,’ Mrs Frith said with a smirk. ‘I can get out of jail anytime I like. I usually do it around 2 am when you fuddy duddies are asleep with your curlers.’

  ‘I’ve never used a curler in my life!’ Mary said, looking shocked. ‘My hair’s naturally wavy. I’ve never even had a perm.’

  ‘What did you see, Mrs Frith?’ Jack asked, moving to the little round table where the Agatha Girls had congregated.

  ‘Roper’s nephew and seven other men,’ Mrs Frith said. ‘All rough-looking sorts. They were drinking and smoking and swearing. Some particularly ripe cursing, like f—’

  ‘Freda!’ Mrs Arnold said, cutting her off.

  Jack stepped closer. ‘When did you see these men, and where?’

  ‘Five nights ago,’ Mrs Frith said. ‘I drove—and you think I don’t know that I haven’t actually lost my licence.’

  Jack hunched down beside her. ‘Did you drive out to the museum?’

  ‘The clearing. Although I parked a way off and trekked down the track. Silent as the lamb in your office, I was. I was wearing my slippers. Not the old-fashioned plaid things like Mary wears, but my bright yellow fluffy ones. It was very exciting. I had to hold my breath at least a dozen times.’

  Jack could practically hear everyone behind him holding their breaths.

  ‘How could you see where you were going?’

  ‘Full moon.’ Mrs Frith looked over Jack’s shoulder. ‘Excuse me, Will, is Barbara likely to bake scones, do you think? I’m ravenous.’

  Jack put a hand on her forearm, which was resting on the arm of the chair, getting her attention back on him. ‘You do get into some scrapes when nobody’s looking, don’t you?’ he said with a smile.

  ‘You bet!’

  ‘I’m jealous, Mrs Frith,’ he said, coaxingly. ‘I wish I’d seen what you’d seen.’

  ‘They were using the tractor to clear the area, so they didn’t hear me over that noise, although I could still distinguish the curse words.’

  The tractor—that would be the one stolen from the farm before whoever took it went back for the puppy Bullmastiff.

  ‘One of them even used the See You Next Tuesday word,’ Mrs Frith continued. ‘Personally, I think women’s private parts are best kept private between women and their lovers.’

  ‘I’m guessing you also overheard any conversations they were having about the animals, or maybe about drugs,’ Jack said, ignoring the Tuesday reference in case she actually used the word.

  She leaned forwards and whispered, ‘Call me Freda, Jack.’

  ‘You bet, Freda. But it’s Senior Sergeant Maxwell to you while you’re being questioned by the police.’

  He eyes widened, glee appearing fast in her gaze. ‘Are you going to handcuff me?’

  ‘Maybe later. What were they talking about?’

  ‘Drugs. Those two drunks you’re about to send to the motel were there. So were the Baxter boys. Roper’s nephew was ordering them around, and he wasn’t happy with them. Said if they effed-up one more time, he’d kill them.’

  ‘What did they do wrong?’

  ‘They didn’t know what to do with the bull. Roper’s nephew didn’t want it anymore because it wouldn’t fight the goats or the ram. The Baxter boys were supposed to transport it a hundred kilometres away and leave it in the outback, but they couldn’t figure out a way to move it because the towing bits on the horse float had broken, so they roped it to a ute and made it walk all the way into town. Then they left it.’ She looked at Mrs Arnold. ‘And we found it! We saved it.’

  And put it right in the hands of the police.

  Unbelievable. This seventy-something lady, with her skinny jeans, dangling earrings and fluffy slippers might be getting quite confused about everyday ordinary stuff—and Jack wondered hard about the reasons for that—but you wouldn’t be able to pull the wool over her eyes just yet.

  Bivic had also probably discovered the drawings the boys had left lying around, which alerted the cops. Again, Jack was surprised Bivic had only beaten them up, and not killed them.

  ‘Tell me about the drugs,’ he said. ‘That’s an order, Mrs Frith. Don’t make me take you to the charge room.’

  It looked like excitement was pumping hard through her veins at the thought. ‘Well …’ she said, speaking fast.

  Everyone was listening so intently, Jack would have heard a pin if it dropped.

  Twenty-Three

  Jack turned to everyone in the front office, satisfied with the intel from Freda, which would go a long way to saving Operation Blue Tongue from total annihilation. She’d heard and seen enough to make further enquiries and lay charges on Bivic, and the others.

  He took the briefest moment to reflect. Every move he made now would be scrutinised and criticised. He was also going to bring in other officers from various stations before he’d broken the news to the detectives on the op. Chances were, he wouldn’t have to retire from the force. He’d be dismissed.

  But he was here, officer in charge, and they weren’t. That’s the way it was.

  ‘Jimmy,’ he said. ‘Call Lake Laura, Boondurra, Kalgirri and any other station within a thousand-kilometre radius. Tell them what we’re looking for.’

  Jimmy swivelled on his stool and picked up the radio mic. ‘Mt Maria base to Kilo-Lima 101.’

  ‘Go ahead, Mt Maria base,’ the sergeant from Lake Laura responded. ‘What’s up, Jimmy?’

  ‘Will,’ Jack said, ‘get in touch with the Northern Territory boys and girls you’ve been speaking to in Yagoona about the electronic goods. I want intel on any dog fighting scenarios they might have come across in the last twelve months. I want names and addresses of anyone suspected of fighting their animals.

  ‘Donna, I want any info on dog fighting rings within the same thousand-kilometre radius, same time frame.’

  ‘You got it.’

  ‘Louie—call Gregory at the mine. We need to know what vehicle Bivic’s driving. It’s either his own or he’s taken a mine-site vehicle. I want both of them BOLO.’ With a Be on the Lookout issued, any cops who happened to come across him would have all the info they’d need.

  ‘Jimmy,’ Jack said, halting Jimmy from making the next radio call. ‘Make a note of everything I’m doing, everything I’m requesting.’

  ‘Already onto it, boss.’

  Jack had an excellent memory, but once his actions today were questioned, it would be best to have it all written down by someone other than him, so there was corroboration all round. He could look after himself in an official police interview situation, but he didn’t want any of his officers getting into trouble for what he was doing.

  ‘Boondurra,’ Donna said, turning to Jack. ‘They’re watching two guys under suspicion of animal fight rings but they haven’t got a lot to go on. By chance, cops took a ride out to visit them this morning. Someone reported them vandalising property. They’ve gone. I mean really gone—lived in a caravan park, but their rented units have been trashed and all gear removed.’

  ‘That’s funny,’ Will said, on Donna’s heels. ‘Cops in Yagoona just advised me that two guys they were keeping an eye on left town and moved across the border to Boondurra five weeks ago.’

  The timing corresponded to Bivic’s arrival at Lizard Claws.

  ‘Sarge,’ Louie said, coming back into the front office from the hallway where he’d made his call to Lizard Claws. ‘We’ve got guys scattering. Gregory just informed me three others, plus Bivic, have gone. From what he can deduce, they went about an hour ago, but he’s only just found out.’

  This was it. All the red herrings were fitting into place, and the dots were being joined. Best part of any job.

  Jack raised his voice. ‘You all need to know I’m working on Operation Blue Tongue out of Kalgirri. It’s been set up to catch Bivic and suspected drug trafficking. We had no idea about the animal fight rings when I came up here.’

  Silence.

  ‘You’ll continue to take direct orders from me, unless y
ou’re contacted by one of the detectives on their way up here, in which case, I want to know about it.’

  ‘Oh, gawd,’ Jimmy said, scrunching his face. ‘How many detectives can we expect?’

  ‘Up to eight.’

  ‘Do we have to feed them?’

  ‘You’re still a detective?’ Louie asked, looking askance at the idea.

  ‘I’m still in charge,’ Jack said.

  ‘I knew it.’ Donna grabbed the wagon keys and her cap, as though personally affronted, except that she had a semi-grin on her face.

  ‘Wow,’ Eddie said, looking bemused. ‘You’re undercover? Out here? Nothing ever happens out here.’

  Donna slapped him on the shoulder with her cap. ‘What would you know? You’ve only been here six weeks.’

  ‘Eddie, you and Edwards get yourselves out to Damon’s place,’ Jack directed. ‘Once you’ve got them in lockup, individually, in cells 2 and 3, you stay here in the station on custodial watch. Edwards, you get out there again. But remain within the town’s radius in case Eddie needs you. You’ll be looking for anything and everything unusual.’

  ‘That’s easy,’ Jimmy said. ‘It’s all here in the cop shop.’

  ‘You’ve all been brought up to date on Bivic,’ Jack continued. ‘Given that he visited the Baxter boys’ places a little while ago, he’s got about a half-hour’s start on us. We’re going for the Great Central Road, and on to the Northern Territory and Yagoona if necessary.’ They wouldn’t get that far; there’d be no need. ‘Alert Walkertown,’ he told Will. ‘Let them know what’s happening.’ They had a multi-functional police facility there, close to 600 kilometres away, with stationed officers.

  Under normal circumstances, Jack, as senior sergeant, wouldn’t be out there looking for Bivic; he’d be at his desk. But this wasn’t a normal circumstance. He was still a detective; he could and was going to do what he needed to do. No way was he not getting out there.

  ‘The GCR is one road in, one road out, people. We’ll head from this end, and Walkertown cops will wait for him their end.’

  Bivic was hightailing it, and possibly without any advance planning. He didn’t have much choice of destination though, not out here. He wouldn’t head west back to Perth; he’d know the cops would be swarming his property as soon as they knew he’d disappeared. He’d be heading for the tri-border. He’d have associates and connections in either the Northern Territory or South Australia. Probably both.