Missing (The Cass Lehman Series Book 3) (26 page)

‘Which one, Steve?’ Phil asked.

‘The one who described two freaky-looking people he saw dumping stuff,’ Steve said.

‘Oh yeah, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Elephant Man,’ Ed said. ‘He didn’t exactly seem credible.’

‘No, he was definitely exaggerating, but Steve’s got a point. It might be worth showing him photos of Jonathan. If you get me the Jacobs’ vehicle registration I’ll compare it to the list we compiled from the CCTV too,’ Phil said.

‘I think we’re clutching at straws,’ Dave said. ‘But we’ll also run Crowley’s daughter’s plates while we’re at it. You never know.’

‘When will the DNA from the cooked bones be in?’ Ed asked.

‘Any minute, with a bit of luck. Sonya sent the samples for DNA analysis to your boys in Adelaide yesterday and she promised we’d have something by mid-morning,’ Dave said.

‘I’ll call her. It’s nearly ten-thirty,’ Phil said.

She dragged the conference phone across the table and punched in Sonya’s number, which was burnt into her grey cells after way too many cases.

‘I told you I’d ring you when I had something,’ Sonya’s exasperated tone came over the speaker without any preliminary niceties.

‘I know. We’re just trying to finalise our plans and the direction we take depends largely on what you have for us.’

‘The third set of remains isn’t from either of your first two vics. The Adelaide lab only sent me the DNA profile for vic three about half an hour ago and I put it into the computer straight away but it can take a while to search for matches. Sit tight and I’ll go see if it’s thrown up anything.’

Ed looked at the others. They were all staring at the phone with fierce concentration. Sonya’s voice came back a few seconds later. ‘Nothing in the South Australian database. It’s searching the national database now.’

‘And the material under the first vic’s nails?’

‘Definitely human skin cells. I’ve got the DNA profile and I’ll run it as soon as the computer’s finished with victim three. Shouldn’t take more than half an hour. I’ll call you the second I know anything, all right?’

‘Sure, thanks Son.’ Phil hung up.

‘So what now?’ Ed asked.

‘Steve and I are heading back to the dump to help with the search. With all the volunteers helping, the grid has expanded to cover almost half the dumpsite. I need to get up there to liaise with the SES coordinator and make sure they know what they’re looking for.’

‘Is Maria still on site with Bruno?’

‘Yeah, remind me to thank you for that special treat.’ Phil glared at him.

‘Maria’s all right. She’s a bit abrupt, but she knows her stuff,’ Ed said.

‘It’s not Maria I’m talking about, it’s the fucking dog. Do you know how many drink, food and pee breaks that animal gets? Next thing you know he’ll be calling in the canine union reps because we’ve breached the terms of his contract.’

Ed bit back a smile. Phil wasn’t much of a dog person.

‘Steve can show some mugshots to the employees while we’re there. We’ll mix Jonathan Jacobs and Beth Crowley in with some others and see if anyone picks them out. Dave, you’re heading back to Adelaide?’ Phil said.

‘Yeah. I’ll come to the dump first, though. No point in me heading back just yet. I’ll wait till tomorrow morning to go back to see Dr Crowley. Janice should have done her checks by then and I want to wait until this evening to go see Mrs Jacobs. That way I can talk to her and interview her guests at the same time … show them pictures of Crowley and Simpson.’

‘You might as well show that pic of Ken Forster too,’ Ed said.

‘You still think he’s number three?’

‘It’s possible. Who’s going with you to Mrs Jacobs’?’

Dave screwed his face up. ‘I’m not dragging anyone along. She’s got an Order of Australia and is an all-round good Samaritan, remember? I think I can handle one little old lady without too much trouble.’

‘It’s the lug of a son I’m worried about. The DNA under the nails might be his,’ Ed said.

‘If it is, I’ll take backup, but seriously, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. He’s scared of his own shadow. Besides, even if he did want to hurt me, he’s hardly going to do it with a house full of guests.’

Ed opened his mouth to argue but Phil cut him off.

‘Stop being paranoid. He’s right.’

The phone rang, making them all jump. Phil punched the hands-free button.

‘Phil, it’s Sonya. We didn’t get a hit on the third victim but we got a match for the DNA under the nails.’

‘Jonathan Jacobs?’ Ed asked.

‘Nope, one Mark Saunders. He’s got a record a mile long including multiple assaults, aggravated burglary and drunk and disorderly. He was on trial for manslaughter a few years back but the charges were dropped when a key witness pulled out. He’s done time more recently for aggravated assault. His weapon of choice was a knife. The victim suffered multiple stab wounds.’

‘I know about him,’ Ed said. ‘He was brought in by uniform the other day ranting and raving about killing homeless men. I went down and interviewed him but he was off with the fairies. Nothing he said made any sense.’

‘Sounds like a real gem. Where do we find him?’ Phil asked.

‘They let him go. No reason to hold him,’ Ed said.

‘I’ve got his details up on my screen. I’ll email them through to you, Phil,’ Sonya said.

‘Thanks, Sonya. Email them to Steve as well, will you?’

‘Doing it now.’

‘Steve, can you print us some copies?’ Phil said.

He was already heading for the door.

‘I was only half-serious when I said our homeless guys are getting so hungry they’re eating each other,’ Dave said.

‘Doesn’t seem such a crazy idea now,’ Phil said.

Steve was back in record time. He put a photo on the desk in front of Phil. She looked at it, then passed it to Ed. Dave looked over Ed’s shoulder.

‘That’s him. Same guy,’ Ed said.

Mark Saunders stared back at them off the page. The main difference between Ed’s memory of him and the picture was that he was looking directly at the camera. His hair hung low on his forehead, obscuring more features, so all that was really visible were his eyes.

Ed felt a chill slither down his back. Mark Saunders reminded him of Charles Manson. It was the look in his eyes. They were pools of black, waiting to suck you in and drown you in their madness.

‘I’ll make some calls and get uniform to start looking for him,’ Dave said.

CHAPTER
28

I was sitting on the couch between two warring felines, my lap the Gaza Strip. Claire was sitting in one of the armchairs next to the window, watching the hostilities from a safe distance. Mum was on the couch next to me, trying to broker peace.

She’d achieved an uneasy truce between Jasmine and Shadow by pulling Shadow onto her lap and distracting him with liver treats. Jasmine was sitting on the arm of the chair on the other side of me, her ears flattened against her skull, fur puffed in agitation. Every now and then she emitted a low growl and a hiss.

‘Oh dear,’ Claire said. ‘I’d hoped they’d like each other.’

‘Shadow’s used to being an only cat,’ I explained. ‘And cats are very territorial. Jasmine’s appearance here is like a foreign army invading.’

‘Right.’ The tone and accompanying look both said ‘cat people are crazy’.

‘Thanks for coming all this way and bringing the furball with you,’ I said.

‘That’s OK. I wanted to see you. I just don’t understand how you can have so much happen in one week. Last week when we caught up for dinner you were almost normal.’

‘If you don’t count the vision that followed dessert.’

Mum shot me a questioning look.

‘I had a woman ask me to relive her father’s death. She thought his new wife had killed him deliberately,’ I explained.

‘I can’t believe how ungrateful that woman was,’ Claire said. ‘Cass went out of her way to help her, at her request, but when Cass told her the truth she was almost angry.’

‘Lots of people don’t want to hear the truth. They’re happier holding onto a grudge or a version of events that they’ve built up in their heads. Over the years I’ve learned to pick the ones who don’t want to hear the truth. I usually tell them I can’t get a reading and give them their money back before I send them on their way,’ Mum said.

‘But you do get readings from them?’ Claire asked.

‘I do.’

‘How does your talent work, Mrs Lehman?’

‘Anita, please. It works when I touch someone or they touch me.’

Claire blinked a few times. I knew what she was thinking. She’d given Mum a hug when she’d first walked into the room.

‘So did you …?’

‘I did, but it was only a flash, my dear.’

‘And?’

‘And it was all good, or should I say
he
was all good … very dishy.’ Mum’s eyes were bright. She loved a bit of romance.

Claire blushed.

‘Claire! Is there something you’re not telling me?’ I laughed.

‘I might have met someone.’ She squirmed, refusing to make eye contact, reaching up and fussing with her hair. I couldn’t believe it. Calm, blasé Claire, who treated men like a commodity, had fallen for someone.

I was on the point of asking her for more information when Ed stuck his head through the sliding doors.

‘Lunch is ready.’

He’d offered to cook and I’d gladly accepted. Ed wasn’t the sort of person who was happy sitting around doing nothing. Relegating him to kitchen duties served the dual purpose of feeding us all and gave me the chance to catch up with Claire without him twitching on the couch next to me.

Claire and I stood up. Shadow jumped off Mum’s lap and streaked for the door. It was the fastest I’d seen his nine-and-a-half kilo rump move in a long time. Jasmine hissed at him as he flew by.

‘Maybe he’s worried she’ll eat his lunch,’ Mum said as I helped her up off the couch. She was looking a lot better since we’d brought her home from the hospital but she was still a bit wobbly, and having one arm in a sling made pushing herself up off the couch a bit of an ordeal.

With my arm linked through her good one we sauntered towards the door. I grabbed Jasmine on the way past, tucking her under my other arm. ‘Come on furball, let’s find you a food bowl of your own.’

The phone trilled as we were walking past. I handed the cat and Mum over to Claire, then answered it.

‘Is that Cassandra Lehman?’

I recognised the voice almost instantly.

‘Hello DCI Arnott, how are you?’

‘I’d be better if that bloody boyfriend of yours would answer his goddamn phone.’

I bit my lip. What an ass. No,
I’m sorry to hear about your mum and gran
. No,
How are you
? Nothing. Ed had told me how rude the man was. I thought he’d been exaggerating. Then again, the one time we’d met, he’d been trying to convince me to work for him, so he’d probably been on his best behaviour, whatever that was.

‘I’ll get him for you,’ I said, making sure I thumped the receiver down on the wooden hall table. I stomped into the kitchen. The conversation halted. ‘It’s your boss,’ I said.

‘Sorenson?’

‘No, the one who drags his knuckles along the ground.’

Claire snorted.

Ed pulled a face, looking at the steaming bowls of pasta on the table.

‘Don’t wait. This could take a while if he’s ringing because he’s spoken to Natalia about my move back to Fairfield.’

I sat down and glowered into my bowl.

‘Cass?’ Mum said.

‘Let’s eat,’ I said, banishing thoughts of overweight, badly dressed men from my head. ‘This smells awesome.’

CHAPTER
29

‘What the fuck?’

Phil got out of the car and stared at the hive of activity. Steve, who was already on site, came over to join her and Dave as they took it all in. What had originally started as a small, intensive search of the area where victim one had been found had now expanded to cover the whole facility. Everywhere she looked she could see yellow and orange SES coveralls. They were like flowers, startlingly bright against a background that was almost uniformly brown.

It was another sunny autumn day, not as warm as it had been, but pleasant enough if you ignored the pervasive odour of rotting rubbish. The dump was a wide, undulating field of compacted debris, with dirt roads carving their way through the chaos. Over
to the right was the compacting shed where it had all begun. The large tractors with their spiked wheels stood silent next to the massive corrugated-iron structure, testament to the site’s continued closure. A small contingent of crime-scene techs were still checking the area where the third set of remains had been found.

None of that surprised her. She’d organised the broadening of the search and put Steve in charge. What she hadn’t organised was the four extra dogs and handlers she could see dotted across the search zone.

Wherever she turned, she spotted a canine, nose down, tail wagging, its pelt gleaming in the sun. Bruno was there, along with two Labradors, a spaniel and something that only an expert in doggy genetics could identify.

Phil spotted Maria a hundred metres away, towards the back of the site, and began to work her way across to her. Any attempt to stride over and demand an explanation was hampered by the sheer difficulty of navigating ground that was uneven, soft in places and hard in others and covered in objects that could trip or slice. By the time she made it, she was puffing and her face was bathed in a sheen of sweat.

‘What’s going on Maria?’ she demanded.

‘Bruno and I have just finished this sector and we’re about to start the next one.’

Maria gave a smug look that Phil would have liked to smack off her face.

‘Why are all the other dogs here?’

‘The job was too big for Bruno on his own. I didn’t want to risk
him burning out so I asked Sorenson and Arnott if I could bring in some other members of my team. They were so impressed by what Bruno could do that they agreed. The other dogs and their handlers arrived about half an hour ago.’

‘So you threatened to take Bruno back to Melbourne unless they agreed to bring in extra dogs?’ Phil said.

‘Did you forget to have your morning coffee, Detective Steiner? I don’t really understand why you have a problem with getting extra help.’