Challis - 03 - Snapshot (34 page)

Yes.

Heavily?

I reckon. Look, whats this about?
I feel buggered, I need to get to bed.

Tessa Kane questioned you after we
released you on Friday, said Challis tightly.

That bitch. Whats she saying about
me now?

Challis tensed in the depressing and
claustrophobic conditions of an interview room in the dead of night. Images of
Tessa s slack body and face, streaked with tidal scum and blood, surfaced in
his mind, and he struggled to keep his voice even. Youve been threatening her
for some time now.

Lowrys glance flickered. Dont
know what you mean.

I think you do. Phone calls, hate
mail, rocks through her windows, slashed tyres.

Not me, no way.

Scobie leaned across the table and
its scratched initials, gouges and coffee rings, its calligraphy of despair. Youve
had a grudge against Ms Kane for some time now.

Everyone hates that bitch.

Dont call her a bitch, Challis
said in a dangerous voice. He felt close to losing it.

Scobie shot him a warning look and
opened a file. Late last year Ms Kane ran a couple of articles about an outfit
called Fathers First. Are you a member, Mr Lowry?

So what if I am? Im allowed.

Challis chimed in heatedly. Your
wife sees a family therapist about the state of your marriagethe violent state
of it, to be preciseand soon leaves you, taking the children with her. She
gains sole custody of them. You join Fathers First, a motley crew of
wife-beaters, given to threatening Family Court judges. Tessa Kane runs an
article about you, implying that youre pathetic. Later she hears that youve
made threats against Janine McQuarrie, and asks you about that.

He leaned back, arms wide as if to
display the obvious. Two strong women challenge you, and both wind up
murdered.

Lowry froze, his eyes darting, and
he managed to swallow and squeak, Both murdered? The newspaper bitch, too?

Dont call her that, snarled
Challis. She was shot dead this evening and we need to know how youre involved.

He still felt numb. Tessa hadnt
deserved to die like that, hadnt deserved to die at all, and most of all hadnt
deserved to die when things were unfinished and strained between them. He felt
that hed let her down-just as hed let his wife down. Hed failed to look
after them and theyd died.

I was home all evening, spluttered
Lowry. Plus, I might have hated her but I didnt want her dead. I mean,
Christ.

And one of my detectives was
wounded, Ray, Challis said. You know how we protect our own. We can get
vengeful.

Lowry shoved out his hands. Test me
for gunshot residue or whatever it is you do, if you dont believe me.

The thing is, you were at home, but
what about your mates?

I want a lawyer, Lowry said.

* * * *

Their
run at Robert McQuarrie barely got started.

I put Georgia to bed at eight, read
to her for a while, then went to my study, which is where I was when your
heavy-footed colleagues arrested me.

Youre not under arrest, Robert.

Yeah, yeah, said McQuarrie harshly,
just helping with enquiries.

Can anyone vouch for your presence
this evening?

My sister-in-law.

Who is very protective of you and
your daughter.

Im free to leave, yes? Im not
under arrest?

Well, drawled Challis.

Thats what I thought. I decline to
answer any more questions until my lawyer is present.

Tessa Kane had obtained photographs
of you at a sex party copies of photographs taken by your wife, in fact. You
feared that she would publish them and so had her shot dead this evening.

Robert McQuarrie was sitting well
back from the table, as if to avoid dirt and germs, but now he leaned forward
with a flicker of interest, almost of hope and relief. But was Tessa Kanes
murder news to him, or had he ordered the hit and here was the confirmation he
needed? Shot? Tessa Kane?

Was it the same team, Robert?

What same team?

As shot your wife.

McQuarrie folded his arms. He wore
suit trousers, a white business shirt, a waistcoat and an overcoat. He looked
crisp enough to begin a full days work, unlike Challis and Sutton, who were
ending one, and showed it in their stubbled chins, bleary eyes and rumpled
clothing.

My lawyer, Inspector. You know the
drill.

* * * *

And
so Challis didnt get to see Ellen Destry until mid-morning on Tuesday, by
which time he felt ragged from grief and lack of sleep. Reporters had laid
siege to the entrance to the little hospital in Waterloo, baying because one of
their own had been shot dead in a mangrove swamp just one week after the shooting
death of another prominent local identity. Challis elbowed through the pack,
ignoring their shouted questions and speculations, growling No comment.

He encountered Mrs Humphreys in the
hot air of the corridor. Shed come in for physiotherapy, she told him. If you
like, Ill boot that rabble out of the way when its time for you to leave.

Sounds like a plan to me, Challis
said, trying to return her grin. Any news from your god-daughter?

Not a word.

Challis went on. He found Ellen in
bed, her back against heaped pillows, entertaining her husband and daughter. Or
not entertaining, it seemed to Challis, for they seemed to have run out of
things to say to each other. He shook Alan Destrys hand after an awkward
moment, then nodded hello to Larrayne, whom he hadnt seen for eighteen months.
Shed outgrown her adolescent surliness and plumpness, and although shed never
be a beauty like Ellenshe had her fathers bulky jaw and solid upper bodywas
nevertheless pretty and poised, and right now watchful and protective. She held
a plastic water bottle in one hand and had a memory stick hanging from a strap
around her neck, as though shed come straight from her computer desk. She wore
jeans and a heavy jacket over a brief top, her belly button winking at him as
she uncoiled warily from the chair beside her mothers bed, so that Challis was
obliged to go around the bed to peck Ellen on the cheek, the husband and the
daughter watching him closely.

Ow, Ellen said, wincing, yet also
smiling up at him, one hand going to her neck, which wore a heavy plaster. She
looked haggard, embarrassed about looking haggard, and concerned for him.

I dont want to tire you, Ells, he
said. Just seeing how you are.

Im fine. Have you caught him yet?

Fraid not.

He saw in her face then that she was
struggling to convey many difficult messages. Hal, Im so sorry.

Alan Destry intervened. Come on,
pal, give her a break. Shes not up to being interrogated.

Challis nodded slowly, knowing when
he was beaten. Take care, Ellen. Take a few days off

Ellen stirred, fury animating her
weakly. Im fine, she insisted, looking from her husband to her daughter and
back again. I need a couple of minutes with Hal, CIU business, okay? Go and
get yourselves a cup of tea or something.

Mu-um, said Larrayne.

No way, said Alan.

Challis waited, guessing that Ellen
would win. When they were alone, he said gently, Can you tell me why you were
there last night?

She glanced away and said, I was
following up on a recent burglary in the next street, looking for links to
your
burglary, and happened to be passing.

Challis knew that she was lying. He
let it pass, for he wasnt innocent either. They were drawn to each other and
it was illicit and still playing itself out, even if it led nowhere. Lucky
thing that you were, he said.

Her eyes filled with tears. Why? I
didnt save her. All I did was get myself shot as well.

It could have been worse.

She touched the graze on her neck as
if to say that it was nothing. I couldnt see a thing. I had to feel my way in
the dark. I shot at him, but presumably I missed.

We didnt find anything.

Apart from Tessa.

Apart from Tessa, Challis
repeated.

There was a pause. Ellen said
gently, Hal, dont blame yourself

Who says I am? he demanded, more
forcefully than hed intended.

Ellen looked away, then back at him.
What about Lowry and McQuarrie?

Lawyered up. Alibis.

She sank back. I couldnt see
anything, but I dont think it was one of them.

Get some rest.

Alan brought me todays
Progress,
Ellen said. Tessas take on Janine was pretty accurate.

Challis nodded. Hed read it over
breakfast, and heard Tessas voice in his head, her special qualities of
fierceness and irony coming through clearly. He blinked his eyes.

Ellen affected not to notice. Is
there a link between the two murders?

Get some rest.

Im coming in tomorrow.

Dont be silly.

Im coming in, Ellen said, and
stop pitying yourself

Challis almost snapped at her, but
went out to the carpark, avoiding the cameras and microphones. Behind the wheel
of his car, he told himself to breathe deeply, evenly. There was no avoiding
it: he
was
self-pitying. Then he remembered something that Tessa had
once said about him, that he tended to feel guilt where it wasnt warranted or
necessary, that guilt in many circumstances was a wasted, a crippling, emotion.
That was the truth. Shed given him gifts of wisdom and hed been too
self-involved to see it.

* * * *

52

At
four oclock that Tuesday afternoon, Vyner wrote,
Men are continents, men
are islands, but I am a rocky shoal beneath the surface.

Hed just collected $500 from a
woman in Glen Iris, the mother of an Army signaller whod stepped on a mine on
the Iraqi side of the border with Kuwait. Yep, a hero, great guy,
single-handedly saved Vyners life on one occasion, but too modest to claim the
credit. The mothers eyes glistened, Vyners glistened. It was very moving, and
while it lasted, Vyner believed every word of it.

It was getting hard to remember who
he was, though. The personal, private,
real
Vyner was the Navy guy whod
refused the anthrax injection and been discharged for that and a few other
minor matters, and later spent a couple of years in prison here and there. The
pretend Vyner was the Army mate of some poor prick whod died on foreign soil.
The emerging Vyner was a hitman for hireand a part-time conman.

Thats when another text message
came in on his mobile phone. No congratulations for a job well done in wasting
Tessa Kane last night, only an angry query, wanting to know why descriptions of
Nathan Gent and the car had been released to the media.
Xplain or no fee,
the
SMS concluded.

Christ. Vyner hadnt read the paper
closely this morning, but now he did. The front page was full of last nights
shooting, so he flicked through, and there it was on page 5, an accurate
description of the car and a pretty accurate photofit image of Nathan Gent. His
mouth dry, he sent back an SMS:
Gent ded car torchd.

Who saw us? he wondered. Theres no
description of me, so does that mean I wasnt seen clearly, or do the cops have
a description and this is some kind of trick?

He did a line of coke to chill out.
Hed have to get himself another gun. He was fresh out of Browning pistols
after last night.

* * * *

That
same afternoon, Scobie Sutton received a call from the lab. There were several
usable prints on the bottles, cans and cellophane hed collected from Andy
Asches rubbish bin, and they matched one print not on the Toyota van itself but
on the stolen goods recovered from it. That was good enough for Scobie.

You ever have a kid called Andy
Asche in your home? he asked Challis.

No, said Challis, looking sad and
distracted.

Then hes definitely one of our
burglars. He also owns cutting edge computer gear.

Challis rubbed his face. You think
he copied my files and printed out the photos? Get a warrant for his computer
and bring him in for questioning.

Scobie shifted uncomfortably. I
think hes done a runner.

Look for him then, said Challis
curtly.

Boss, Scobie said.

In his experience, you didnt often
catch crooks through detection and investigation but through chance or luck.
Cops arent necessarily smart, he believed, but the bad guys are often dumb.
You catch them red-handed, or they give themselves up, remain at the scene,
punch a loved one who informs on them, find themselves arrested for a different
crime, or draw attention to themselves by breaking the speed limit with a body
in the boot, for example.

But now and then you got to detect,
and Scobie went looking for Andy Asche on flight manifests. Assuming that Andy
would not be flying under his real name, it was a process of elimination. First
he rejected womens and unlikely names like Aziz, Hernandez and Nguyen. Then he
rejected reservations made some time ago (Andy had left in a hurry, leaving his
wheels behind), return reservations, credit card purchases, Frequent Flyer
purchases, and special requests (Scobie doubted that Andy was a vegetarian, and
in too much of a hurry to request a special meal even if he was). Scobie also
couldnt see Andy trying to leave the countryunless he had a false passport,
and that didnt seem likelyor flying to a small regional airport. Andy would
seek out a big place, a place where he could lose himself. Finally, Scobie
concentrated on tickets booked and used recently.