Fatal Impact (34 page)

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hapman put the knife behind his back.

‘Ryan.’ Moss took in Anya and Jocelyn. He quickly saw Jocelyn was tied to the chair. ‘Tell me what’s going on. You disappeared this morning.’

‘These two are trying to ruin everything we’ve worked for. They know about the Cressy development.’

Moss stood, hands on hips. ‘They can’t prove anything. Those purchases and sales were all legitimate. You and I both know Graham Fowler has more to worry about than us.’

‘You don’t understand, Chris. These two want to ruin you.’

Moss walked slowly, and spoke quietly. ‘My God, Ryan. What have you done?’

‘You don’t understand, Chris, they’re going to lie and say you did illegal things. I’m doing this for you. All of it.’

‘He’s lying,’ Jocelyn managed. ‘Fowler’s been backing him to run in next election instead of you.’

Moss inched forward. ‘The truth always surfaces. Politics and marriage have taught me that.’ He took another slow step. ‘It’s over.’

‘Sit down, you chicken shit. After everything I’ve done for you,’ Chapman wielded the knife, ‘you’re not going to weasel out of a bit of dirty work now. You’re in this as much as I am.’

Moss stepped back, hands up. ‘In what, Ryan? You’re scaring me, and the women. Put down the knife and we can talk about it.’

Jocelyn spoke. ‘He murdered Patsy Gallop.’

The shock on Moss’s face looked genuine. ‘Reuben Millard did that.’

‘Jesus, Chris. Didn’t you think it was convenient timing that the bitch was going to release the study results and the head researcher killed her?’

The muscles in Moss’s face slackened and his lips parted. ‘Is this true?’

‘I had to prove loyalty to PT. It was the only way. Or they would have pulled out of everything we’d been planning and building.’

‘My God. And you knew Craig Dengate gambled everything he had and more.’

‘It wasn’t hard to convince him the Chinese triads were behind Patsy’s death. All he had to do was deliver his brother’s property and he failed. Craig did everyone a favour. He wasn’t supposed to kill the brother. That was a bonus. Then I just had to sort out Jerry Dyke.’

Moss clenched his jaw and tightened his fists. ‘What did you do to him?’

‘He’s been leaking emails to Len Dengate who had them all on a USB. When I get that, we’re home free.’

Moss sat, weight on his toes, as if he was ready to pounce. ‘Where is Jerry Dyke?’

‘Don’t worry. He’s being met by “friends” in China,’ Chapman looked at his watch. ‘In about two hours, it will all be over and we’ll be in the clear.’

As mad as Chapman sounded, he might actually get away with everything. Unless there was something else on the USB that she hadn’t seen. Anya knew she and her mother were the remaining loose ends. So far, Moss hadn’t tried to overpower Chapman or help them escape.

‘What are you going to do with us?’ she asked, as calmly as possible.

‘The old woman here is crazy and everyone in town knows it. Craig Dengate can’t talk now . . .’ he looked at Moss. ‘She stabs her daughter out of grief and insanity, in the very place where her beloved Len died.’ After that, he turned to Jocelyn, ‘she kills herself and it’s all over. I just want the USB and you get to die first, without watching your mother suffer.’

Moss stood up and placed himself between Chapman and Anya. ‘No, Ryan. It stops here.’

Chapman wiped his forehead. ‘How did you think things got done? Deals brokered, donations to your re-election campaign? You act like Pontius Pilate wiping your hands of anything you didn’t see. That doesn’t make you innocent. You’re in this with me.’

Moss shook his head. ‘This is wrong. I had nothing to do with Patsy Gallop’s death. Murder? There’s no way I was involved, or ever would be.’

Ryan grabbed the knife tighter. ‘You’re in it as much as me!’

Anya sensed he was about to act. She squinted at her mother then the back door. Jocelyn blinked then threw herself and the chair to the floor.

Chapman lunged at her with the knife. Moss dived and tackled him. The knife flew to the floor. Anya stood and kicked it out of reach. At that moment, Oliver and McGinley stormed in, weapons drawn.

‘Nobody move.’

Simon Hammond followed. ‘We’ve got medics outside.’ Jocelyn remained on the floor.

‘She needs hydrocortisone. One hundred milligrams IV, now,’ Anya instructed.

‘I’m on it.’ He rushed out and brought in the ambulance officers. Anya felt her body relax as McGinley, puffing, handcuffed Chapman.

Oliver helped Moss to his feet.

‘Minister, thanks for helping. Even so, you have a lot of questions to answer about seed banks and corporate corruption. On the bright side, you are going to be on top of the news cycle for a few days at least.’

Simon found a pair of scissors on the floor with the rest of the scattered cutlery and cut Anya’s hand ties.

Oliver said, ‘Glenn Lingard is on his way to Chapman’s home with the police to identify the capsules when they’re found. Turns out more than twenty went missing the week before Patsy’s death. If it wasn’t for Glenn doing an audit, we may not have known.’

‘I want a lawyer!’ Chapman shouted.

Anya hurried to her mother’s side. Jocelyn hugged her tightly, only letting go so the ambulance man could deliver her injection.

Anya turned to Oliver. ‘Chapman was after the USB you have. There’s got to be more incriminating info on it.’

‘Tech are looking at it, but so far it’s just the emails. Seems Len was bluffing if he suggested he had something more implicating Chapman. Jerry Dyke’s emails have been enlightening enough.’

Ryan’s mouth gaped at the news as McGinley led him outside.

Anya couldn’t understand how Moss and Oliver had found them so quickly. ‘How did you know we were here?’

‘Remember that talk you gave in Hobart at the conference? I was in the audience and thought the idea of tracking offenders with small GPS devices was clever.’

Anya rubbed her wrists. ‘You didn’t plant one on me . . .’

‘Not exactly. I might have dropped one in your bag after we were followed that day at Risdon. Just so I could keep an eye on you in case of trouble. I ran into the minister as I was leaving his electoral office and he said Chapman was meeting your mother here. When you didn’t answer the phone, I checked the GPS. Turns out, monitoring people who might get themselves into more trouble is a great idea.’

Anya needed to know, ‘Minister, why was Glenn Lingard at that crisis meeting you said was about the E. coli outbreak but you arranged a week earlier?’

‘He’s passionate about the seed vault and his scientific knowledge has proven valuable. Glenn is involved in the planning but to my knowledge, wasn’t involved with Chapman or any of the real estate purchases, if that’s what you’re really asking.’

Anya sighed with relief and helped Jocelyn to a car.

Reuben Millard looked surprised when he saw Anya and Oliver. ‘To what do I owe the honour?’

‘We have some news,’ the detective announced. ‘Yesterday, a man named Ryan Chapman was arrested for the murder of Patsy Gallop.’

Reuben didn’t move or speak. For a moment, Anya thought he was catatonic. ‘Did you hear us?’ she checked. ‘If he does a plea bargain, you’ll be exonerated.’

‘That’s .
. .
I mean
. . .’
He looked at the prison officer for verification.

‘It’s true. Was in the papers this morning,’ the guard said.

‘I don’t know what to say.’

Anya handed across copies of
Scientific American
Mind
and
Nature
magazines. Millard’s eyes brightened.

‘What can I give you in return?’

‘The truth,’ Oliver admitted. ‘At first we thought you were scared of Mincer Leske. We saw the way you reacted when we mentioned his name. But you weren’t afraid of him. You were just shocked that we might have known you two were connected. Am I right?’

‘This is your story.’ Reuben placed his hands in his lap.

‘Jerry Dyke did try to help you. He went on that committee that approves GM trials to see what PT were concealing in their new study. Landing a job with them was either planned or a fortuitous bonus. He found they were fraudulent in claiming the GM seed was safe. He started forwarding emails that incriminated PT to Len Dengate. That’s why you didn’t need our help.’ Oliver put his hands behind his head. He was enjoying this. ‘How are we doing?’

‘Rather well, so far.’

‘You’ll be pleased to know we had Jerry Dyke intercepted at Canton airport and he’s on his way back to Australia safely to testify. Any plans those thugs from Clarkson Evergreen had for him have been obliterated.’

Anya chimed in. ‘The next bit is heart-warming. Jerry knew about the plans for a seed vault and how the land would be prime real estate once PT needed it.’

‘It was interesting that your aunt, may she rest in peace, happened to invest at the right time then leave it to you in her will. It was somehow poetic justice.’ Oliver leant forward. ‘You’d have thought she’d want nothing to do with PT after your ordeal.’

‘What can I say. Pragmatism runs in our family.’

Anya continued, ‘Then we started wondering if Mincer was working for Craig Dengate, Christian Moss or even PT. We ruled out the environmentalists because they don’t normally light fires.’

‘Definitely,’ Oliver concurred. ‘He did some odd jobs for PT. Even so, we think you told Mincer about the real estate deal.’

Reuben blinked twice and pinched his nose. ‘Careful, these walls have ears.’

It was exactly the phrase Len Dengate and Anya’s mother had used.

They waited, and he continued. ‘You’ve earned the right to know. Jerry told me about the real estate deal. I would have had nothing when I eventually got out of here, so I decided to be practical and capitalise on the deal. Mincer was an
interesting
character. Not well educated and a recidivist. I paid him to protect me in here and got to know him better. He had a keen mind for science, as it turns out.’ He touched the cover of the
Nature
magazine. In an unlikely friendship, the criminal and the researcher had bonded over science. ‘Then he got the lung cancer diagnosis and wanted to leave a legacy for his son, so the child could have a better life. It was only reasonable for me to let him know about Cressy so he could cash in. All he needed was the deposit, which Jerry Dyke arranged through the girlfriend on my behalf.’

Anya couldn’t believe they were talking about a man who tried to set her alight. ‘He tried to kill me and a police officer the night of the fire!’

‘I said he had a good mind for science. He didn’t always make good decisions. None of us is perfect, doctor.’

Oliver raised his eyebrows at Anya, who sat back, amazed at Millard’s loyalty to a violent criminal.

‘We heard Graham Fowler paid him to light a small fire.’

‘Well, Thadeus did like an adrenalin rush. I told him that wheat crop was to be trialled on humans. He probably thought he was doing us all a favour by setting fire to all of it. I certainly didn’t ask him to. He did have a sense of justice, as misguided as that may have been. Particularly after becoming a father.’ He rested his hand on the cover of the
Nature
magazine. ‘He didn’t want his child or family to be human guinea pigs. So I guess the opportunity was too good to resist. He had nothing to lose, only weeks to live, the doctors said.’

Reuben almost made Mincer sound noble. Prison would have changed anyone. Despite being innocent, no doubt Reuben had had to evolve to survive in here. Cultivating a friendship with Mincer ensured Rueben would survive. Anya wondered who he was paying for protection now that Mincer was gone. No doubt the scientist had a plan.

‘You’ll want to be looking into Ethical Future, which is part of Clarkson Evergreen. Graham Fowler will have a lot of explaining to do to the Chinese owners when they find out he made a personal profit on real estate at the company’s expense.’

‘Good luck,’ Anya said, and stood.

‘Thanks for the tip,’ Oliver went to shake Millard’s hand.

‘Thanks again, especially for the magazines,’ he said, clutching them to his chest.

Jenny Quaid asked to meet with Anya. They arranged to have a coffee in Hobart, before Anya flew back to Sydney. Jenny brought Mia along, and the little girl sat in a high chair. She looked healthy and was a real chatterbox.

‘Do you have babychino?’ Jenny asked the waitress.

‘We can definitely do milk with froth on top.’

The three-year-old grinned.

‘How are you doing?’ Anya asked Jenny when the waitress departed.

‘Every day is harder than yesterday. I don’t know what I’d do without Mia. Emmy was my world.’ Jenny’s face was ashen when she spoke of her child. ‘I heard you saw Emmy and looked after her. I mean, treated her with dignity.’

Anya could see the mother’s pain. ‘Emmy was treated with respect by everyone. And the duck stayed with her.’

Jenny picked up a board book and Mia flipped through it in her chair. ‘There was so much blood. I panicked. Em wasn’t breathing and I didn’t know what to do. I tried CPR but she was gone. She looked just like Tom did after he passed.’ Her face was tight but she tried to form a weak smile at Mia. Jenny pointed to a lion in the book. ‘What sound does a lion make?’

Mia roared then giggled. Anya could see Jenny was barely holding it together but seemed to want to talk.

‘Emmy used to play hide and seek in the wardrobe and so I put her in there and made sure she wasn’t cold. Mia put Duck-Duck in her hands.’ Jenny swallowed hard.

Mia made a quacking sound when she found the picture to match.

‘Are you going to sue PT?’ Anya asked gently.

Jenny sniffed back tears. She was resilient and presenting a brave face despite her incredible grief.

‘Mum is helping me with it. She wants me to move back in so she can help look after Mia. I know it’s hard on her, with her health, but I can cook for her and help out around the house.’

Mia turned over a page and pointed at a puppy.

Jenny barked softly in short, quick bursts. Other cafe patrons looked on, but Mia’s response was infectious laughter. Jenny barked again. Her sad smile twisted as she gazed at Mia. Anya could see she was a good, engaged mother. Emily and Tom’s deaths would always be tragedies.