Challis - 03 - Snapshot (7 page)

You know the Cobb family? Scobie
said. From one of the estates?

One of the kids took a marijuana
plant to school for show-and-tell, gasped Ellen.

Correct.

What about them?

My wifes had dealings with them.

Ellen knew that Scobie would get to
the point eventually. Shed met Beth Sutton a few times, at police picnics and
Christmas parties. A plain, good, churchgoing woman who worked for Community
Health and was given to helping the unfortunates of the Peninsula. Nothing
wrong with that, except that people involved in good works often seemed to wear
an air of piety and satisfaction, which often grated on Ellen. She waited, said
Really? to prompt Scobie.

When I was in court this morning I
let slip that I was married to Beth. Now Natalies going to be suspicious of
her.

Scobie, suspicion of the police is
inbred on those housing estates.

I know, but it neednt be. Beth
keeps her work and mine completely separate.

They lapsed into silence. The road
was wide and flat now and Ellen relaxed fractionally. Her mind drifted. There
was a possibility that one of Janine McQuarries clients was the killer, but
getting access to her records was going to be a headache. At the same time, all
of the circumstances of the murder indicated a degree of planning and
professionalism, as if the killers had been hired.

The womans finances would have to
be examined minutely. Did everything come back to money? Ellen wondered,
thinking about her husbands own futile rants centred on money. They
were
struggling,
despite their combined salariesone of their cars was for the scrap heap, and
their daughters rent and university tuition fees were cripplingbut Alans
resentment sometimes took strange turnings. Only last night hed said, with a
sidelong glance, Dont you think its interesting that its always
plainclothed police who go up on theft or corruption charges?

Plainclothed police like her, he
meant. Your point being?

They bring decent police into
disrepute.

Guys like him, he meant. Rarely was
the Ethical Standards department of the police force obliged to investigate the
guys who worked in the Traffic and Accident Investigation squads.

Alan was full of undercurrents. It
was very possible that he was depressed. But, more than anything, Ellen was
scared that hed found her out. Now and then over the years shed pocketed
money at crime-scenes, $50 here, $500 there. Probably no more than $2000 in
all, over a ten-year period, and shed even put one haul, of $500, into a
church poor box. But the pathology was there in her and she was afraid. It had
started with chewing gum at the corner shop when she was eight years old and
although shed more or less stopped, the impulse hadnt. Maybe she needed a
psychologist. Maybe she needed to make an appointment with Dominic OBrien.

God, what would Challis think of her
if he ever found out? She felt sick at heart at the thought. Her palms were
damp. She dried them on her thighs, letting Scobie Sutton wander all over the
road and talk and talk.

* * * *

They
arrived to find that Challis had brought in two DCs from Mornington and, with
their help, set up the first-floor conference room as an incident room: extra
computers, phones, fax machines, whiteboards, photocopiers and scanners, and a
TV set. But, more than anything as far as Ellen was concerned, hed brewed
coffee and placed a box of pastries in the centre of the conference table. She
sipped and nibbled as he introduced the Mornington detectives and outlined the
case, reading from his laptop.

Finally he turned to her. Ellen?

She brushed flakes of pastry from
her lapels and summarised the results of the Bayside Counselling interviews. We
need to look at those files, Challis said. Meanwhile, I carried out a Google
search on the husband. Hes a well-known hard case in the finance world, good
at firing and downsizing, so no doubt hes got some enemies. When Ellen and I
have finished talking to his daughter well head up to the city and check him
out.

Scobie Sutton had eschewed the
pastries and was fastidiously peeling and slicing an apple. Will the daughter
make a good witness, boss?

Challis shrugged. We wont know
until we talk to her, but she did tell the first officers at the scene that the
killers came in an old car, white with a yellow door. That will be your job,
he said to one of the Mornington DCs. Ive put in a request for lists of cars
stolen, abandoned and burnt, so keep updating it and check with Traffic for
cars caught speeding, the usual thing.

Sir.

The car could have come in from
outside, Scobie said, or they were dumb enough to use their own car.

Or Georgia was quite wrong about
the car. Either way, well release details to the media, Challis said. Someone
might recognise the description.

They looked doubtful. Cars with
mismatched doors, boot lids, bonnets and panels were common in a country where
the poor were getting poorer.

Challis glanced at the other
Mornington detective. Go back to Lofty Ridge Road and talk to any of the
neighbours who werent at home this morning. Find out who delivers the mail and
the newspapers, supermarket orders, the usual.

Boss.

Scobie, I want you to check Robert
McQuarries flight movements and find out what you can about Mrs Humphreys and
whoever else might have lived at that address. When shes recovered from her
hip operation, interview her. We need to establish if she knows Janine
McQuarrie or if she herself has any enemies.

Boss.

Ellen, the superintendent awaits.

Whoopee-do, said Ellen,
immediately regretting it, for surely the super was grieving.

* * * *

10

They
signed out an unmarked Falcon from the motor pool and drove to Mornington in
intermittent sunshine that was hard and bright on the wetness all around. Above
them a high, scudding wind blew scraps of cloud across the sky. Normally they
chatted when they were together, settling quickly into comfortable patterns
with each other, but Ellen was withdrawn, a heavy presence in the passenger
seat. Anything wrong? said Challis.

Nup.

He wondered if it was her husband
again, remembering the mans brusqueness on the phone that morning. Ellen was
loyal and private by nature, but had revealed enough over the years to indicate
that the marriage was under strain. Challis had never liked Alan Destry. The
man was chronically surly, and so tightly wound that he might one day do
something violent. Were a fine pair, he thought, me morose about my wife this
morning, Ellen about her husband now.

Everything okay at home?

Peachy, said Ellen, her eyes fixed
on the road.

Time to change the subject. So this
Dominic OBrien character is going to be obstructive?

Ellen seemed to bristle at the
wheel. What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force?

He grinned. Hed always liked
looking at her, a woman full of coiled energy and every muscle expressive, her
beautiful eyes now taking on their familiar tuck of suspicion and anticipation.
She was ready for business.

Uh oh, she said presently. Weve
got company.

Theyd reached a hilly street behind
the Esplanade in Mornington. No fog on this side of the Peninsula, but a
rainsquall had come in across Port Phillip Bay, causing movement in a huddle of
reporters and camera crews camped on a nearby nature strip. Be friendly,
Challis said.

Shouted questions reached them
through the windows of the car, but Ellen didnt stop, easing the CIU Falcon
off the street, onto a gravelled driveway and past dense shrubbery and slender
gum trees, to park nose-up to a railway sleeper barrier. They got out, locked
the car and Challis followed Ellen down the steps to the front door, careful on
the slicks of moss.

McQuarrie greeted them, holding his
granddaughters hand. Shed been crying, but glanced up at them solemnly, as if
shy but also aware that she was at the centre of something momentous. She wore
jeans, a pink long-sleeved top, pink socks, pink clips holding back unruly
blonde hair. Her grandfather looked faintly lost, a slightly built senior
policeman whod seen the underside only from behind a desk. He didnt make
introductions but stood back, saying, Come in, come in, before glancing at
their feet. Would you mind...

There were shoes and gumboots heaped
on both sides of the door. Challis and Ellen slipped off their shoes, curling
their toes on the cold concrete of the verandah, waiting for McQuarrie to stop
dithering on the doorstep.

Finally they were in a hallway, pale
green carpet expensively thick beneath their feet, a phone off the hook on an
antique hallstand. McQuarrie led them to a sitting room: a red leather sofa and
armchairs, massive antique sideboards, two small Turkish rugs. A huge window
looked out onto a barbecue pit, a brick courtyard, a rose arbour and shrubs in
bulky terracotta pots. McQuarries wife Barbaraoften called Mrs Superstood
beside an open fire, as neatly put together as her husband but snootier, more
readily offended. Challis tried a commiserative nod and smile and got a scowl
in return. He introduced Ellen, who earned only a flickering glance.

Have you found out who did this?

McQuarrie said hastily, Its too
soon, dear. Hal is here for information.

Barbara McQuarrie came forward a few
centimetres, the strain apparent in her face. I dont want you upsetting
Georgia.

Some tea, love, we could all do
with a cup of tea.

Ill help you, Ellen said, expertly
shepherding McQuarries wife out of the room, piling on admiring comments about
the decor, the house, the landscaping. Challis and McQuarrie watched them go,
Challis appreciating her tact and her instincts.

McQuarrie said, Hal, this is
Georgia. Georgia, this is Inspector Challis.

Challis put out his hand and the
child shook with him gravely, her palm moist, her bones like a tiny birds
inside his grip. Pleased to meet you.

Pleased to meet you.

Challis didnt know what McQuarrie
had said to his granddaughter. Hed hoped to be briefed before meeting and
questioning her. Did Georgia know that her mother was dead? If so, what did
she, a six-year-old, understand that to mean? Perhaps we should all sit down,
he said.

Grampa, can I have a hot chocolate?

Of course you can. Run and ask
Nana.

Relieved, Challis watched her leave
the room, and then turned to McQuarrie. Sir, are you okay with this, my
questioning her?

I am. My wifes not.

Does Georgia know her mothers
dead?

Some of McQuarries brisk
superintendents manner had come back. Yes. Died and gone to heaven.

Shes remarkably poised.

Shes incredible. Shes finished
her crying for now. Even so, well see that she gets proper counselling. He
paused. If your questioning upsets her Im putting a halt to it, Hal.

Sir.

McQuarrie was the only super in
Challiss experience who expected to be called sir by the more senior of his
officers. Most preferred boss or even first names and affectionate nicknames.
McQuarrie insisted on sir and Challis believed that it was a measure of the
mans insecuritycompounded today by the fact that he was grieving.

There was the distant ping of a
microwave oven, and moments later Georgia appeared with a mug of hot chocolate,
a frothy moustache on her upper Up. Ellen Destry came in behind her with a
teapot and sugar bowl on a tray, Barbara McQuarrie with plain Ikea mugs and
shortbread biscuits in a bowl, her disapproval obvious. She wanted Challis and
his sergeant out of her house.

When they were settledGeorgia
perched on her grandfathers kneesChallis glanced at Ellen, who leaned forward
and said, Georgia, we want to catch the bad men who hurt your mother.

Georgia, small and tawny, shrank
into McQuarries lap, hot chocolate splashing on his tie. I want my dad. Wheres
Daddy?

Hes on his way, sweetheart, McQuarrie
said, rocking her. His planes already landed.

What if they shoot him, too?

Hush, hush, McQuarrie said, out of
his depth.

Were stopping this right now, his
wife said.

Challis signalled to Ellen and they
got to their feet, but Georgia seemed panicked by this. Where are you going?

To catch the bad men, Ellen said.

Where?

Well look for them everywhere.

Challis was wondering if Ellens answer
would add to Georgias fears, make her housebound, when Georgia said, But you
dont know what they look like.

Barbara McQuarrie said, Its all
right, Georgia. Let the man and the lady go off and do their job.

I know what they look like, Georgia
insisted, recovered now. She climbed out of her grandfathers lap and left the
room, returning moments later with several drawings. She aligned the edges
awkwardly, shoving them at Challis. Here.