Scorpio's Lot (131 page)

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the time Forbes had tidied up his so-called loose ends, it was late morning
when he entered the office before a packed audience. The entire station was
assembled to hear his postmortem address. Burke was rather bemused to learn of
his circumstances leading up to the meeting. He reluctantly accepted the
necessary procedures to clear his name, but was not impressed that as sergeant
of Pedley Police Station, he too had come under suspicion.

With everyone seated, Forbes
began.

‘First and foremost let me take
this opportunity to thank you all for your committed team effort. The eventual
arrest of the Piedpiper, including the remaining criminals, was not the work of
one person, but rather, a contribution from each and every one of you here
today. Whilst praise is justly deserved, also spare a thought for those who
have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Including the gangland murders, the
atrocities carried out by Scorpio and Traffik accounted for twenty-four lives.
It is a deplorable and terrible waste of life, in particular, that of our
colleague Peter Gallagher who will be sadly missed. In recognition of his
services to the force, our detective will be farewelled with full police honours
next week. The funeral service will be held in the city, on a date yet to be
finalised. Additionally, a private memorial is scheduled for this Thursday here
in Pedley. Details will be posted on the billboard this afternoon.

‘Now to the case in question. In
sorting out this mess and piecing together the jigsaw puzzle that has put the
Piedpiper behind bars, we need to first go back in time to gain a better
understanding. Following my interrogation with the Kellett woman this morning,
I took the liberty of placing some phone calls to tie up some loose ends.

‘To begin with, Martha Kellett
always had a passion for accumulating wealth. She earned an adequate income
from her teaching days, and as a spinster with no direct descendants, her
ability to save was far greater than most. But her desire for wealth demanded
more. She met Lou Hanna many years ago, who was at the time one of two drug
dealers operating locally. The two fell in love and Hanna convinced Kellett
that a considerable amount of money could be made from the illegal trade. Hanna
had the contacts and knew the industry, while Kellett provided the brains and
finance. Lou Hanna was eventually arrested and sent to jail for a few years,
which broke Martha’s heart. True to their words, Hanna never divulged the
identity of his partner and Martha declared she would wait for his return.

‘Around eight years ago Lou Hanna
re-entered Pedley as Sam Vac-caro, but physically a vastly different man from
when he left. Gone was the excessive fat he once carried, as well as the long
dark hair and scruffy beard. He returned boasting a trim and muscular physique
with short grey hair. The transformation was incredible and it would take a
very sharp eye to link the two men as one.

‘So as not to arouse suspicion,
he took up residence in Martha’s rear bungalow. Forever the clever one, Martha
chose Sam through the local employment agency to keep everything in perspective
and above board. Regardless of the number of applicants, it would always be
Martha’s ultimate selection and so it was inevitable the two would be reunited.’

Forbes paused due to the
sustained silence. He hadn’t experienced such an absorbed audience for
sometime. He recommenced his postmortem address.

‘The team of Kellett and Hanna
was subsequently reborn, but this time with bigger fish in mind. Through those
absent years Hanna had made some very good contacts within the drug industry.
His prime acquaintance was a man called Victor Marlow in charge of the Scorpio
syndicate. Their timing in search of a possible trafficking venture could not
have been better planned. Victor had knowledge of the subterranean passageways,
but not the location to the entrances. He dangled a carrot in front of the
pair, stating if the underground network could be found then the southern
operation was theirs. It was Martha Kellett who discovered the secret and of
course the rest is history. The Broadbent site was subsequently purchased and
the necessary renovations followed.

‘Throughout his second stint in
Pedley, Lou Hanna purposely took a low-profile role, living virtually as a
recluse within the Kellett property, except for his underground activities and
occasional errand down town. As time progressed the pair began to recruit,
primarily to avoid exposure by having someone else carry out their street
deals. Charlie and Mick were two such enrollments. Their enterprise flourished
with each passing year, to the point of challenging city headquarters for
annual revenue. The southern operation, in the space of a few years, had become
the leading regional centre and role model for similar invested interests. The
underground network had not only proven to be an ideal headquarters, but also a
perfect location to store and distribute their abundant stock to both local and
interstate destinations.’

Forbes paused again, but this
time with the intention to replenish his thirst. Totally engrossed, his
audience sat unmoving waiting for the detective to continue.

‘We’ll now progress to their
present-day operations, the organised slayings and the adverse affect certain
individuals brought on the regional base, including that of Traffik. Jake
Reynolds, the initial victim who witnessed the gangland murder, most likely
held two incriminating indictments. Logic implies the identity of Lou Hanna and
possibly Charlie, in addition to overhearing reference made about the
subterranean passageways and the location of two such entrances. His fate was
immediately decided which was instigated by the Piedpiper and carried out by
Hanna on the previous night.

‘Convenience is everything. The
Scorpio pair was familiar with Jake Reynolds’s morning route given the location
of the Kellett property. At the appropriate hour, Hanna approached the cliff
edge and commenced tampering with the foundations. The deadly trap lay in wait
for the unsuspecting runner the following morning.’

‘Alan, it maybe a good time to
touch on Brigit’s involvement,’ said Whittaker.

‘Certainly. Jake’s close
association with Brigit O’Neill led to further disturbing developments. In the
eyes of the syndicate she was considered a liability, given the possibility of
being informed about the parkland killing and location to the underground.
Subsequently the hunt for the O’Neill girl had commenced with Tom Harrison
intervening to hide her from these thugs. The caravan park was proven not to be
the safe haven they had anticipated and Harrison could never quite understand
why their every move appeared to be monitored. The answer in the end was quite
simple. Martha Kellett’s lounge window has an elevated view overlooking the
caravan park. It’s quite feasible to assume that both Hanna and Kellett took
alternative shifts at the window on learning of Harrison’s identity during the
car chase.

‘I believe Ruth Evans’s fate was
simply unfortunate. My guess is she unintentionally crossed paths with Martha
Kellett, who was possibly talking business with an unknown person. With the two
women knowing each other and Ruth’s reputation for being the local gossip, the
Piedpiper was not prepared to take any chances in allowing the situation to
pass.

‘Following the Peterswood
assault, the first crack in the armour appeared. The inclusion of Brad Morgan
to the payroll was to become an enormous mistake. The guy was a psychopath who
created unnecessary attention and untold damage to the syndicate. I firmly
believe he was responsible for inciting Traffik into retaliation following the
Pedley Hill atrocity. His reign of terror on the
Molly Bloom
drew
national media coverage, a burden the Piedpiper could ill afford to have.
Similarly, his confrontations at the Esplanade and general assaults not only
caused further exposure, but through his actions the operation was starting to
feel vulnerable. None were more aware of this than the Piedpiper herself.’

‘I recall Morgan assaulting Martha
Kellett at some point,’ said Parnell. ‘What was that all about?’

‘Yes, an interesting scenario
arose during one of Morgan’s attacks and that was the assault upon Martha
Kellett in Harrison’s living room. Morgan was never privy to meeting the
Piedpiper, so understandably the presence of this woman made no difference.
Martha played a shrewd role, choosing to remain silent despite her mugging.
Morgan left without knowing he had just struck his regional head. Eventually
Morgan was removed to restore some sanity and incognito back into their
organisation.

‘Don’t overlook that Martha
Kellett was a master of deception. An ex-teacher who still dabbled in the
education system was an ideal cover. Her charity work in assisting the
underprivileged put her in good stead with both the authorities and community
alike. No one would question or tolerate a bad word spoken against her.
Understandably she never mixed the two pastimes with her dark side.

‘Arthur Simpson very nearly stole
the show in linking Sam Vaccaro to the infamous Lou Hanna, but unfortunately
didn’t recognise the importance of informing the authorities at the time. Had
he decided to tell the police about his discovery and not risk searching for an
underground entrance, chances are this case could have been wrapped up some
time ago. Equally, and if not more importantly, an earlier arrest would have
most likely prevented the Covert Road catastrophe.’

‘Being female did this present
the Piedpiper with any additional burdens?’ asked Marsh.

‘Good question, detective.
Although Kellett only ever revealed her identity to a select few, she did,
however, have one thing decisively against her, the voice of a mature woman.
The phone recipient knew exactly what they were dealing with and therefore a
degree of vulnerability would always be apparent. Martha lived in a
male-dominated world and any reference to their regional head being a woman
considerably narrowed the field. Martha amidst a roomful of men would stand out
like a sore thumb, so her identity became a closely guarded secret.

‘The situation in the underground
gallery was a classic example of her liability. When the Scorpio traitor
screamed his obscenities from the balcony rail, he concluded with the
unfinished sentence “The Piedpiper can only be one of...” One of what? It
became an antagonising challenge to decipher the answer. What could possibly
segregate a committee member apart from the rest? Of course with the identity
now revealed, the answer to the puzzle had two possibilities. Either the
traitor was referring to age, in which case the relevance was with one’s prime
in mind. With Smyth and Kellett beyond sixty the pair was distinctly older than
their counterparts. Still not convinced the answer was to be decided by a
person’s age, I then fathomed out the second and more likely outcome was one’s
sex.

‘Mick, the renegade, had either
stumbled across the drug lord’s apparent gender or had heard his boss speak
over the phone and knew the identity could only be female. Since Helen O’Neill
and Martha Kellett were the logical candidates, in all probability he was about
to say that the Piedpiper could only be one of two women before he was shot
dead.’

Forbes paused again to refill his
glass of water. The short recess provided opportunity for his men to commence their
barrage of questions.

‘How can you be sure it was
Martha Kellett who discovered the entrance to the subterranean passageways?’
Parnell asked.

‘Not one but two entrances can be
credited to the Piedpiper, one being the Broadbent site and the other the
lookout area above the botanical gardens. Of course were all aware the RSL
entrance continued to remain undetected until quite recently It does, however,
beg the question as to why this third entry was never discovered by the
syndicate. Perhaps being isolated from the main core of their activity and its
remote location had something to do with it. After all, the RSL entrance did
give the impression of being the tradesman’s access and was well camouflaged
from within. Logic strongly suggests the Kellett woman, given she lectured in
mathematics during her teaching days. She would have had an excellent grasp of
algebra, which served its purpose when trying to resolve the puzzle. By
comparison Lou Hanna was never an academic and arguably he may have had difficulty
in understanding the formulas, let alone applying the arithmetic to the
entrance sites,’ responded Forbes.

‘I must confess that Martha
Kellett appeared the most unlikely amongst our candidates. I mean her
performance in the underground gallery was so bloody convincing,’ Doyle
admitted.

‘Yesterday I spoke about
deception and that one of our human failings is our brain will dictate what we
want to see and not necessarily the reality of the situation. When Lou Hanna
was unmasked, Martha’s scream was interpreted as shock and disbelief. In
reality it was one of disillusion in seeing her partner captured and the
realisation they would again be separated,’ stated Forbes.