Flashpoint

To Mick with love always . . .

‘First I heard the thumping feet, then I caught a flash of the kangaroo bounding through the burned bushland. I started running after her, hoping to capture her on film. She hopped over the log and I followed, nearly tripping over the body, although of course I didn't realise what it was then. The kangaroo disappeared into the parrot bush and when I turned around I saw the body lying next to the log.'

The woman's voice lost some of its animation. She ran a hand through her tousled dark hair. ‘I had a closer look. It was awful.'

Twenty years in the Police Service hadn't made Senior Sergeant Cam Fraser blasé about human misfortune or caused him to develop an overly black sense of humour. But it was, he rationalised, still possible to enjoy the way Joanne Bowman (‘call me Jo') chose to tell her story if not the story itself. She was an English teacher; that accounted for a lot. Her sweeping gestures and clear diction made him wonder if she also taught drama.

He hoped she wasn't embellishing the facts for dramatic effect. ‘And about what time was this?' he asked.

‘Six and a half minutes past ten.'

He was unable to hold back his smile. ‘Six and a half minutes past ten?'

‘Roughly,' she said, smiling back. This was the first time she'd smiled during the interview and the ease with which she did so told him he was speaking to a woman well used to laughing at herself.

She smelled of wood-smoke and eucalyptus and
reminded him of a picture of a wood nymph he'd seen once in an old-fashioned fairytale book.

Cam looked at the burly Senior Constable standing next to him. Vince Petrowski seemed unaffected by Jo's humour and continued to stare at some fixed point in the distant hills, eyes slitted against the abrasive wind. The lines on his face were encrusted with red dust, giving him the powdered appearance of an old woman.

‘I'd only just looked at my watch. I didn't want to be late for the staff meeting,' Jo added.

Cam followed her gaze to the small collection of teachers standing well away from the crime scene tape that whipped about in the relentless easterly. They'd been in the staffroom attending a pre-term meeting when Jo had discovered the body in the school grounds.

‘Why did you decide to visit the scene of yesterday's fire only minutes before the staff meeting?' Cam asked.

Jo's fair skin blossomed into pink. ‘I suppose it does seem a bit suspicious, doesn't it?'

‘Not suspicious, Ms Bowman, just strange; you're hardly dressed for a bushwalk.' Cam tried to keep his eyes away from the knee poking through a hole in her stocking.

‘I'm an impulsive person, Sergeant. I was out for a walk, thinking about the upcoming meeting, and I had my camera.' She held it up by its carry strap for him to see. ‘There're some exciting projects going on at the school right now, including the establishment of a small media department. The girls rely too much on their digital cameras these days and traditional photography's a dying art. I've been busy all holidays buying equipment and setting it up. I wanted to try out the new camera. While I was walking I saw the kangaroo.' She
indicated to the blackened area behind them. ‘It looked like one I'd hand-reared a couple of years ago then put back in the wild. I'd recognise Pinky anywhere. Her jaw was crooked from being fed with an artificial teat.'

Cam cleared his throat.

‘Sorry, Sergeant, I'm afraid I tend to go off on a tangent.'

‘Before, you said you nearly tripped. I take it that means you didn't actually tread on the body?'

‘No, but I was kind of aware of it as I leapt over the log. I could have easily stepped on it, though; it was the same colour as the burned wood.'

‘Yeah, just like it,' Vince agreed, worrying at a husk of sheep turd with the toe of his boot. His khaki shirt billowed in the wind, creating the image of an inflating hot air balloon.

Cam looked at him for a moment, fantasising the lift-off. When it became clear that Vince would remain firmly rooted to the ground, he turned back to Jo.

‘So you didn't touch the body at all?'

‘Absolutely not. It was revolting. I almost threw up.'

‘Can you remember how it was lying?' Cam asked.

She swallowed as if to contain rising nausea. ‘On its side.'

Cam looked over to Vince. The Senior Constable put his hands on his hips and bunched up the muscles of his jaw. ‘It was on its back when I got here,' he said, fixing his eyes upon Ms Bowman's.

She held his pointed stare. ‘And what do you mean by that?'

Vince turned back to the sheep turd and shrugged. ‘You could easily have tripped over it,' he muttered.

‘Then I would mention it. It's no skin off my nose – why should I lie?' Though she only came up to
Vince's shoulder, Cam could see his Senior Constable didn't intimidate her. And she was right. She had nothing to lose by admitting she touched the body. Vince, on the other hand, had everything.

Cam stopped Vince's retort with an outstretched hand and a frown. He reached into his top pocket for his notepad and began to write, conscious of her eyes on his scarred hand. The awkwardness of his penmanship would not be overlooked; she was a teacher after all.

He'd just finished noting down her account of the body's position when a gust tore into his notebook, riffling the pages and forcing him to dig his heels into the ground. He'd forgotten how unforgiving these desiccating Wheatbelt winds could be – an indication of just how long he'd been away from home.

Vince held on to his peaked cap and said something indecipherable.

‘Thank you for your help, Ms Bowman.' Cam had to raise his voice to stop it from being swept away. ‘I'd like you to return to the school now with the other teachers. We might still need to ask you some more questions. It's pretty unpleasant here and you've all been standing around long enough.'

She nodded and walked over to the group of teachers. A tall woman with blonde curly hair reached for her hand and pulled her into a hug.

Cam wiped his arm across his dripping forehead, surprised there was any moisture left in his body at all. He reached for the small bottle of water he'd earlier jammed in his pocket, and drained its tepid contents. His mouth still felt as if he'd been licking out the floor of a sheep truck. Resisting the urge to spit, he spoke to Vince instead.

‘Do you know her?'

‘In Glenroyd, most people know each other,' Vince said, barely opening his mouth. ‘Rumour has it she's a dyke. That's her girlfriend,' he added with a nod towards the tall blonde.

‘Turn you down, did she?' Cam said, really needing to spit now. Vince said nothing. The corners of his thick moustache drooped to follow the contours of his mouth downwards.

Cam said, ‘Go back to the school with the staff and get started on the other interviews. Find out about yesterday's bushfire. Ask if anyone saw anything then check it out with the local bushfire brigade. I'll join you later after I've called SOCO.'

‘Scene of Crime Officers? Out here?'

‘Why the surprise?'

‘With all due respect, Sarge, you don't call SOCO out to cases like this. This isn't Sydney.' He shrugged. ‘It's obvious what happened here anyway.'

‘It is?'

‘Yeah.' Vince folded his arms, satisfied that he'd put Cam back in his place.

Within hours of their first meeting Cam realised that people skills were not among the Senior Constable's strengths, if he had any strengths at all. Cam's predecessor had left behind a pile of complaints against Vince he either would not or could not deal with. Cam had spent days trying to untangle the mess of paperwork and still hadn't got it all sorted.

He'd chosen to delay action until he'd settled into the new police subdistrict and Vince, sensing Cam was on his case, had thrown every obstacle imaginable at him to make the settling-in process as difficult as possible. He'd given him the wrong directions to one of the outlying farms, forcing him to stop at the BP to ask for help. He'd forgotten to tell him that the petrol
gauge on the ute was faulty, which meant he'd rolled to an embarrassing standstill on his way to an emergency call. He'd hindered Cam's paperwork by giving him the wrong forms. Now here he was, taking advantage of the fact that Cam had spent many years out of the state to deliberately misinform him on police procedure.

But Cam had been the sole parent of a difficult teenage girl for several years. He'd learned that verbal battles inevitably led to outright war, with victory to the side best prepared. In Vince's case, he knew he needed to dig in for a winter campaign.

‘How do you see it, then?' Cam asked, rubbing his chin.

Vince puffed himself up. ‘Some lush was in the bush having a drink, fell asleep, dropped his smoke and whoosh, instant crispy critter with fries. You don't call SOCO out over the accidental death of one pisspot. I've been here eight years, Sarge; you've been here eight days. Toorrup has enough on its hands with the bikie gangs right now; they'll have your balls if you bother them with this.'

Cam shrugged. ‘See you back at the school, then, Vince. I'll keep Leanne here with me.' He looked around for the young probationer. ‘Where's she gone?'

‘Last I saw, she was spewing her guts up behind that tree over there.' He pointed to a large jarrah looming above the ragged scrub.

‘That's right. You were having a good laugh about it, weren't you? Get on back to the school. I'll see you there.' Cam turned his back on Vince, reached for his phone and called SOCO. They said they'd be there in about two hours.

Behind him, there was a hiss of escaping air.