by Tony Parsons
‘Everything okay?’ I asked as I approached the hide, where Gaye was keeping lookout.
She nodded and, seeing my expression, asked me if I’d seen any sign of Caroline.
‘She’s up there, Gaye. Tied up on a chain like a dog,’ I said, then told her what I’d seen and that I had the evidence on film.
She looked sombre and said, ‘That’s terrible but at least we now know she’s alive. Congratulations, Lachie.’
‘Thanks, Gaye. I better go and speak with Morris.’
I walked up to a place I’d found had better mobile reception and made the call. Morris answered almost immediately and I told him I’d located Caroline Clemenger at the Challis farmhouse and that she was being kept on a long chain like a dog. After we’d talked for nearly twenty minutes about the best way to proceed, we agreed it’d be best if we moved on the Challises in the morning. He said as soon as he got off the phone he’d get his team – including extra police from around the sub-district – organised and that they’d be at the Gorge before daybreak. I warned him that he and his men would need to remain completely hidden in the scrub until they heard from either Gaye or me.
When I returned to camp I debriefed at length with Gaye about what I’d agreed with Ming and then she and I talked about how we’d go about things.
‘How do you propose to free Caroline without alerting Brewster and Company? If there’s any shooting they’ll be straight on to us. Do you think there’ll be any shooting?’ Gaye asked.
‘Not if I can help it. And Morris and his team will be here waiting to raid Brewster’s place so they won’t be able to intervene at the Challis place. They can do that quite legitimately now that we’ve located Caroline. Her presence knocks Brewster and Reid for six. Up to today we didn’t have a solid case against them, only suspicion. They left no fingerprints and used stolen cars.’
After we’d discussed more of the logistics, Gaye got some gear and set up in the hide. The plan was for her to do the first watch tonight.
Before I went to bed I removed the roll of film I’d used to photograph Caroline Clemenger and the sleazy threesome responsible for guarding her, then put it in a small plastic bag and taped it to my vehicle’s chassis. That film, together with Caroline Clemenger’s testimony would be enough to put the Challis trio away for quite a long stretch.
CHAPTER 19
I hardly got any sleep that night, so well before 2 a.m. I got up and headed over to take over from Gaye in the hide. She said there’d been no sign of any movement as yet, except from the koalas in the scribbly gum tree. At 6 a.m. Ted Challis drove down into the reserve in a silver-blue Mazda with a bloke in the front passenger seat and someone in the back seat. After pulling up, Challis got out and stood beside the car while the other two men walked across to us. I reckoned from the sketchy description that Sheila Cameron had given me that the more solid, square-built fellow was Brewster so the smaller guy was probably Reid.
Brewster was dressed flashily in maroon slacks and a pink shirt with a dark red tie. Reid was wearing a grey open-neck shirt and dark green slacks. While Brewster dressed like a con man and was undoubtedly a crim, Reid raised the hairs on the back of my neck. He had a mean look about him and I’d had to deal with too many like him not to recognise his type. Adrenaline coursed through my body as I got ready to deal with them.
‘Jim Brewster,’ the bigger man said and put out his hand. ‘And this is a mate of mine, Zane Reid.’
‘Laurie Rivers,’ I said. ‘And this is my partner, Gaye,’ I added, gesturing towards Gaye. I shook hands with Reid reluctantly. His hand felt like the scales of a snake and I wondered whether a spell of hard labour in an American gaol had contributed to the texture.
‘How’s the photography going? My neighbour Ted Challis told me you were looking for black cockatoos. You should try the Castlereagh River. I saw black cockies there last time I was fishing down that way,’ said Brewster casually.
‘I’ve got a few nice bird pics but we’ll probably pull out later on. I’m going to try for a few more koala shots before we leave. There’re a couple of koalas in one of those scribbly gums. You fellows are about early,’ I said.
‘We’re going to the races,’ said Brewster.
‘Are they on locally?’ I asked.
‘No, Dubbo,’ said Brewster.
‘Good punting. I never have much luck with the gee gees,’ I said.
‘There’s good money to be made if you know what you’re doing,’ said Brewster. ‘Sir Crispin is a good thing going in the fourth at Dubbo.’
We talked a bit more, though Jack Reid remained silent. My heart thumped all the while, but they didn’t stop long and when they took off I gave them a desultory wave.
‘Don’t get up, Gaye,’ I whispered. ‘Go on drinking your tea and talking to me,’ I said.
Gaye went one better than that. She got up, settled herself on my lap, put one arm around my neck and rested her face against mine. Her nearness caused my heart to race. I managed to move my head fractionally so that, from the corner of an eye, I could see what was going on. And what was going on was that Reid was watching us from behind a big pine tree.
Reid observed us for perhaps a couple of minutes and then I heard the Mazda start up again and watched it disappear into the dark tunnel of pines. ‘The police would have a job catching that baby,’ I said. ‘It’s very light for its horsepower and if Ted Challis can drive at all, he’d leave the police for dead.’
Gaye got off and I quickly moved to a place further up the ridge and rang Morris to tell him that Brewster, Reid and Ted Challis had just left our camp saying they were headed for Dubbo races. I asked him to tell his men to let them go but to stay in position for half an hour to make sure they didn’t double back. I couldn’t risk Brewster phoning the Challis crew before we arrived. The Dubbo D’s could pick up and arrest Brewster and Co by which time I hoped to have Caroline Cleminger in our hands. Above and beyond everything else was my desire to recover Caroline as quickly and cleanly as possible.
‘You’re letting them go through?’ Gaye asked.
‘We want to be sure of them, Gaye. If Morris and his men can find evidence at Brewster’s place and if Caroline can confirm that they did the bank heist, we’ve got them on ice and the Dubbo D’s will pick them up. Besides, I don’t want any chance of a slip-up at the crossroads, not with Ted Challis driving that Mazda,’ I said.
I was hugely relieved that the odds against us seemed to have been markedly reduced. I had envisaged a delicate timing operation with Morris and his team masking the Brewster house while Gaye and I tackled the Challis crew.
‘Okay, let’s get down to business. It would be good if you take the shotgun and a dozen shells just to be on the safe side. I’ll take the rifle.’
‘Which way will we go?’ asked Gaye.
‘We’ll go the way I went yesterday,’ I said. ‘There’s really no alternative. They’d spot us quick smart if we went up by the road and have Caroline out of there and into the scrub in the blink of an eye,’ I said.
I hung my ‘Gone photographing’ on the bull bar of the four-wheel drive and then we left.
Gaye was very athletic and moved very easily and in no time at all we were at the edge of the ridge. We moved on carefully to where I’d hidden to take the pictures of Caroline Clemenger and the three Challis men. I gestured to Gaye to lie down so we could check what was going on.
I pointed through the trees to where Caroline Clemenger was sitting. She still had a manacle on her left ankle to which a long chain was bolted. I couldn’t see the other end of the chain with my binoculars so it was difficult to see how much liberty she was allowed. Close by there was an old shed and through the open door there was a low bed. A little distance beyond there was a door-less latrine.
I whispered that I’d go in by the front door because that was the quickest escape to the cream ute parked below the house, and that she should head in via the back door. If she saw anyone in front of her she should fire on
e shot into the ceiling to discourage him from taking her on. ‘If that doesn’t pull him up, fire the second shot at the floor in front of him and then pull out your Browning,’ I said.
She nodded, clearly tense.
‘You okay?’ I whispered.
‘Yep,’ she whispered back.
‘Good, let’s get going then,’ I said and ran out from the cover of the pines towards the house with Gaye running for the back door.
When Caroline Clemenger looked up, startled, I put my fingers to my lips and she nodded.
Slowing down, I crept around to the front of the house and listened at the front door which, fortuitously, was open. There were voices from inside the house and it sounded as if a card game was in progress. It was time to make a move. Entering the house, I snuck towards the room where the voices were coming from.
Two shocked faces looked up at me as I appeared in the doorway with the Browning in my right hand and the Mannlicher over my shoulder. Jack Challis got up and made to leave by the far door but before he could there was a thunderous blast and bits of ceiling blew around the room. Jack pulled up dead when he saw Gaye standing with the shotgun levelled at him. Old man Challis sat at the table looking shifty. Just then I heard the creak of a floorboard from another room. Next thing the door opened a little and the tip of a rifle barrel poked through.
‘Get down, Gaye,’ I roared as I launched myself at the door, hurling its occupant back in the process. As the person, a woman, fell backwards, her rifle discharged and I felt a sudden burning sensation at the top of my right shoulder. Gritting my teeth against the pain I saw the woman coming at me with the rifle pushed in front of her. I smacked her hard on the face but she kept coming so I kicked her on the side of her left knee and she fell away from me. Leaning down, I twisted an arm behind her back and then lifted her and pushed her ahead of me back into the next room where Gaye was positioned in front of the rifle and shotgun in a rack on the wall covering the two Challis men. ‘Cuff her, Gaye,’ I said.
‘Oh, Christ, you’ve been shot,’ said Gaye when she saw the blood running down my arm.
‘Don’t worry, it’ll keep for the moment,’ I said.
I went over and checked the two men for weapons but they were clean. Then I checked the firearms on the wall rack behind Gaye, which were loaded. I unloaded them and put the ammo in my trouser pocket.
‘Where are the keys of Ms Clemenger’s chain, Jack?’ I asked harshly.
He didn’t answer, just grinned at me, so I picked him up by the scruff of his grubby shirt and threw him against the wall. ‘Listen carefully, you creep. I’ll ask you just once more, where are the keys to the lady’s chain?’
‘Hanging beside the back door,’ he said, rubbing his hand against the back of his head.
‘Can you cuff them please, Gaye,’ I asked.
Once Gaye had cuffed them all we tied them together and then to a fence post.
‘Are you alright, Caroline?’ I asked before explaining that we’d cuffed the people inside and I was going to unlock the manacle.
She nodded but seemed too overcome to speak.
‘Were you abducted during the course of a robbery at the ANC bank in Sydney?’
She nodded again.
‘Was this robbery carried out by Jim Brewster, Zane Reid and Ted Challis?’
Another nod.
‘And have you been held against your will from that time until now?’
‘Yes,’ she managed in a strangled voice.
‘Were you raped by any of these creeps or by Brewster or Reid?’ I asked.
‘No, only beaten,’ she said, her voice hoarse.
‘Righto, they’re all yours, Gaye. Read them their rights and make the arrests.’
I unlocked the manacle and left it lying on the grass. The police would want to photograph everything. Caroline Clemenger stood up, still crying. ‘Thank you,’ she said through her tears. ‘I’d started to think I’d never get out of here alive.’
‘Police reinforcements will be down here in a minute. Do you want to go inside and rest until they get here?’ I asked.
‘I never want to go in there again if it can be helped,’ she replied.
‘I can completely understand that,’ I said. Just let me go in and get you a comfortable chair and I’ll go over and see if my offsider, Gaye, needs any help.
Gaye had finished reading the crooks their rights by the time I got back to them. ‘You’re in a whole heap of trouble. Holding a person illegally is a serious charge,’ I said harshly. ‘And you,’ I said, looking at the hard-faced blonde woman who’d fired a shot at me, ‘You’ll probably be facing a charge of attempted murder.’
‘Anyone down at Brewster’s place?’ I asked old man Challis.
‘Nah,’ he answered in a quavery voice.
‘Why not?’
‘They’ve gone to the races,’ he said.
‘Are you going to let me look at your shoulder?’ Gaye asked.
‘The medic can do that. Right now there are some very anxious people waiting to hear from us,’ I said. ‘I’ll see if I can raise Morris.’
I couldn’t get through to Morris and Gaye’s mobile couldn’t raise him either. It must have had something to do with the ridge.
I found the keys to the ute and ran it down to the Brewster house which was locked. Spying an axe in the woodheap behind the house, I smashed in the back door.
Inside, I rang Morris and told him that we had Caroline Clemenger and three of the Challis family, old man Challis, Jack Challis and his sister and asked him if he would bring a medic with police up to the Challis place. We discussed organising a counsellor to come out for Caroline straight away but decided it would probably be best to have a medic look at her first and see what he or she thought about the idea of a counsellor. I told Morris I’d been hit in the shoulder and I’d need the medic too.
‘I’ve got to ring Mrs Kendall and Ballinger now so let’s talk later,’ I said.
‘Well done, Lachie,’ said Morris.
Congratulations, no matter how low key, coming from someone of Morris’s calibre meant a lot to me and I felt quite emotional after I hung up.
I dialled Mrs Kendall’s mobile number and she answered immediately. ‘We’ve just recovered Caroline, Mrs Kendall, and she’s okay,’ I said.
‘Oh, that’s such wonderful news,’ she said her voice suffused with relief. ‘Thank you so so much. How is she? Can I speak to her?’
‘She seems relatively okay physically – though she’s bound to be a bit traumatised. We haven’t had much of a chance to talk and I’ve had to travel a couple of ks to get to a landline because of the terrible reception where we are. A medic is on his way to see how she’s faring and then she’ll be taken to Coonabarabran Hospital for a thorough check up. Once we’re back in a place where there’s mobile coverage, I’ll have her call you straight away.’
‘Thanks again for calling me so promptly. I’ll never be able to thank you enough. As soon as I get off the phone I’ll make arrangements with our pilot to fly up there. We’re cleared for night flying so we’ll probably leave early a.m.’
After we’d talked about timing and logistics, I rang Police Headquarters, got through to Sophie Walters and told her to tell Ballinger that we’d recovered Caroline Clemenger about half an hour earlier and that the Dubbo police had been told to arrest Brewster and Co who were on their way there for the races.
By the time I got back to the Challis place a virtual flotilla of police vehicles were there and more were coming up the road followed by an ambulance. I told the male medic/ambo that my shoulder could wait while he and his female partner checked out Caroline. Gaye debriefed with Morris, telling him what had happened. The medics finished with Caroline and said she was thin but otherwise in fair shape physically but they’d like her to be supervised overnight in hospital. They then inspected my shoulder. The bullet had ploughed a furrow right on the tip of my right shoulder.
Caroline was very uptight. She hadn’t been
too weepy with Gaye and me but she went to pieces a bit when the police contingent arrived and she realised she really was safe. There was a policewoman with the team and it took her a while to calm Caroline. She had fits of sobbing and shook like a tree in a gale. After the police had finished a preliminary questioning of her I went over and told her that her mother had employed me to find her and I’d just spoken with her mother from Brewster’s house to tell her she’d been recovered. She was at a board meeting but would be flying up to Coonabarabran early next morning.
Caroline said that while she’d always been confident her mother would do everything humanly possible to find her, she hadn’t expected it would take so long and lately she’d started to fear she’d never see her mother again. She said it had become very trying to keep up the facade of having lost her memory and that the Challis men, and the woman with them, were a bunch of lowlifes who had humiliated her at every opportunity.
With Gaye ensconced in discussions with her colleagues and the police finished with me for the moment, I asked Morris if it would be okay with him for me to start packing up my camp at the Gorge, ‘I don’t want to be here when the media arrive. I want the police and Gaye to get all the credit for Caroline’s recovery. Keep me right out of it, Ming,’ I said.
Morris said that was okay by him and he asked one of the cops to drive me back to the Gorge. The forensics guys arrived as we were leaving and I expected things would remain hectic for the rest of the day with police vehicles tearing up and down the road.
Back at the Gorge, I pulled down the hide and loaded it and everything else bar my table and chairs. A couple of hours later Morris arrived and shook hands with me. ‘Congratulations, Lachie. You and Gaye did a truly exceptional job and it’s a great result. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to pull it off but you did and there’ll be a lot of grateful people.’ he said. ‘Miss Clemenger has gone to pieces a bit. She’s so relieved to be able to act normally again she can hardly take in her new situation. Then again she’s had to stand up to a fair bit of questioning. Still, she’s a gutsy young woman and once she’s back home she’ll have every facility to get her back to full strength. We feel confident we’ve got enough evidence to charge them with the ANC bank robbery. Caroline’s testimony certainly places them there. We’ve found a fair bit of money at Brewster’s place but it could be race winnings so Miss Clemenger’s evidence is all important,’ Morris said.