Blood Tears (32 page)

“
Morning, Gerry,” I said. “Remember when Dave’s ute was
abandoned, and that teenager was killed by the truck?”

“
How
could I forget? You only interviewed us four times about it,” he
replied, more than a little snarky. “I hope you’re not here to
interview us again. We’ve told you everything we know.”

I ignored his
well-deserved irritability. “Can you remember your dogs becoming
agitated at any time around then? A few days before that teen was
killed?”

He stared at me. “You
have to be kidding me.” He pointed at a big, goofy dog, known for
its disobedience and lack of smarts. “Lupin barks at his own
shadow. If he was barking, I wouldn’t even hear it because we’ve
learned to block him out.”

“
Does
the other dog bark a lot too?” queried the Sarge.

“
No.
He’d bark if there was a trespasser or unknown visitor, but that’s
about all.”

“
Did
you hear them both barking about then?” I asked.

“
I
couldn’t possibly tell you,” he said. “I spend most of the day in
the field or doing maintenance on the property. I’m usually only
around the house at night. I’m only here now because our hot water
system’s sprung a leak, and I’m trying to fix it.”

Disappointed, but not
surprised, I said, “Okay, thanks, Gerry. Could you ask Valmae if
she remembers hearing anything, please? She can ring me anytime if
she does.”

“
All
righty,” he said, and returned to his task, dismissing
us.

“
Is
it okay with you if we just access your property for a bit longer?”
asked the Sarge.

“
Help
yourself,” Gerry replied, not bothering to turn around.

We walked off.

“
So
the dogs frightened them off this property,” I reconstructed. “They
needed to make a quick escape before they were
discovered.”

“
So
they moved into the next property.”

The Kilroys’ driveway
butted up against the next property, nothing separating them apart
from a flimsy fence constructed of timber posts and barbed wire.
Like most of the town’s outlying land, the vacant block rose gently
uphill at the foothills of the Coastal Range, before the
mountainous terrain took over. Try as I might, I couldn’t see any
sign of the ruined building I knew was on that vacant land.

“
They
must have pushed through the bush a bit before they spotted the
shed,” I said.

The Sarge frowned at
the sight of the overgrown vacant block. “They made their way
through that?”

“
People do lots of things when they’re desperate.”

“
Just
great,” said the Sarge. “Let’s go face our punishment.”

The Sarge stretched two
strands of barbed wire apart so that I could slip through them. I
then did the same for him, my arm muscles popping out as I strained
to hold them as far apart as possible to allow him to climb through
without scratching himself. A telltale trickle of blood on one of
his arms taunted me that I hadn’t quite succeeded.

“
Bugger,” he said, wiping it off, only managing to smear it
everywhere. “I hate barbed wire.”

“
Sorry, Sarge. I did try to hold it as wide as I could,” I
said contritely.

“
I’ll
live, but I hope you’re noticing how manly I am in handling the
debilitating pain and horrendous loss of blood.”

“
You
want a tissue to mop up those tears, princess?” I
laughed.

He pulled my cap down
over my face, and started making his cautious way through the
tangle of bushes.

“
They
couldn’t have come this way,” he decided after five difficult
minutes of pressing through, both of us now with multiple scratches
on our arms.

“
Perhaps they skirted the fence line? The Kilroys keep their
property in good maintenance, so they wouldn’t allow vegetation
from a neighbouring property to encroach on theirs.”

“
Now
she thinks of it,” he said, rolling his eyes.

We battled our way back
to the fence.

“
How
about we follow the fence and see if we can find anything?” I
suggested.

“
Sounds like a plan.”

We walked along the
fence line for a few minutes until we came across what appeared to
be a path. It was quite wild and barely discernable through the
thick bush.

“
Could be one of the Bycrafts’ escape routes,” I hazarded a
guess.

“
Doesn’t get used much by the looks of it.”

“
They’ve probably given up trying to rob the Kilroys since
they installed that alarm in their house.”

“
Let’s explore where it goes.” We both stepped forward to take
the lead, when he held me back with his arm. “This isn’t a time for
you to go first. You can follow me.”

“
Sarge! I’m perfectly capable of leading, thank you very much.
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s a work situation, not a
dance.”

“
Nope. Not happening, so there’s no point having a tantrum
over it. We don’t know what we’re going to find and besides, if I
go first, it will help save you from more scratches.”

I thought about that
for a few seconds, but the stinging of the scratches on my arms
convinced me to acquiesce. He led the way.

After another five
minutes of hard work when I was just about to tell him to forget
it, that I must have been wrong, he stopped all of a sudden.

“
Bingo,” he said triumphantly.

I pushed past him to
see. A small, ramshackle outbuilding sat in a hollow, almost
covered with creeping vines. Part of the roof had rusted off and
there was no glass left in any of the windows. An ancient, rusty
bike leaned up against the wall.

“
Looks like we have a contender,” I said.

“
They
were lucky to find it in this jungle.”

“
Makes it even more of a good hiding spot for a couple of
runaways though.” I appraised the dilapidated exterior. “So, this
was where Graham stashed that suitcase of money he found at Miss
G’s house.”

“
It’s
hard to imagine him being able to find this place. He always seemed
like he’d have trouble finding his own arse.”

“
He
fooled us though, didn’t he?” I smiled.

“
Can’t win them all. What are we looking for here?”

“
Any
sign of occupation. Or preferably the stash of goodies they nicked
from Merrick.”

“
Let’s scope inside.”

The knob-less door
emitted an almost mournful sound as the Sarge pushed it cautiously
open.

“
Police,” he said out of habit, but it was pretty clear from
the loud chirping of crickets and its air of abandonment, that the
shed was empty.

“
I
think we’ve found it, Sarge.”

“
I
think so.”

We both crouched down
next to a pile of dirty blankets that lay huddled in the corner of
the shed with the most solid roof. Some empty tins of food and
bottles of water were neatly stacked next to the blankets.

“
Geez, this is a rough place for a heavily pregnant girl to be
staying. It must have been hell for her. Especially when Jamie
disappeared,” I said, feeling sad for Annabel all over
again.

“
She
must have completely run out of food and water. There’s none here
at all.”

“
Yeah, that’s what forced her into town when she started her
labour. I’m glad she did, though. I hate to think of her here
trying to deliver her own baby.”

He started prowling
around the small space, looking for the bundle of goodies. It
seemed impossible that she could have hidden anything in this shed,
built as it was of weatherboards with no internal cladding, no
ceiling space, and a roughly laid cement slab floor. The only place
was the little corner of habitation, so I lifted up the bundle of
blankets to find a battered sports bag.

“
Sarge,” I alerted, wanting a witness to whatever was inside.
He stood over me as I pulled out a pair of disposable gloves and
unzipped the bag.

“
Holy
shit!” he said, looking down at it.

“
Wow,” I said, eyes nearly popping out of my head. “We should
come here more often. There seems to be valuables stashed here all
the time.”

Inside was a virtual
treasure chest of valuables – necklaces, rings, bracelets, watches,
and figurines.

“
Seems as though he kept all the good stuff for himself, not
just some of it,” noted the Sarge dryly.

“
No
wonder he was after them. This would be worth a fortune. Those kids
must have been terrified he’d find them.”

He slipped on his
gloves and picked up a brooch, an exquisite item of great beauty,
before replacing it and picking up a necklace. “I can see why they
had trouble shifting any of this stuff. They all look like unique
pieces. That could be why he kept them. No one involved in a dodgy
deal in a pub would agree to take these. Too hard to get rid
of.”

“
Perhaps he saved them up so he could sell them to collectors
with less of a moral conscience about where items came
from.”

“
Perhaps.” He stood again. “We better take this stuff into
custody, and the sooner we hand it over to the Big Town station the
better.”

“
I’d
love to assure Annabel we’d found it all, and that Merrick will
never get his hands on it. Could we stop by the hospital after we
hand this lot over to visit her?”

He smiled. “You just
want to cluck over her baby again.”

“
Excuse me,” I said, majorly affronted. “I’ve never clucked at
anyone in my life.”

Laughing, he picked up
the bag. “I didn’t say cluck
at
, but hey, if the feathers
fit . . .”

“
You’re just begging for another thumping, Maguire,” I
warned.

“
You’re cute when you’re angry,” he said, escaping out the
door still laughing, before I could carry out my threat.

Back in the patrol car,
with a few fresh scratches to add to our previous, I hesitated
before I spoke again. “When we were talking about Miss G’s house
before, did you hear she left it to me in her will?”

He appeared stunned.
“Really? No, I hadn’t heard that. That’s great news.”

“
Is
it? You remember her house. It needs so much work, and the council
rates are so expensive. There’s no way I can afford
that.”

“
Forget the house. Sell the land.”

“
Do
you think I should? I don’t know what to do with it. I know it was
very generous of her to leave it to me, but I don’t really want it.
Especially a house where such a terrible thing happened. Who’d want
that? I mostly try to ignore it, but I know I’ll have to do
something about it soon, or otherwise the Bycrafts will have stolen
what’s left inside.”

“
She
didn’t leave you her furniture?”

“
No.
I understand it was sold and the proceeds given to one of her
favourite charities.”

“
Have
you checked on it lately?”

“
No.
I try to avoid it. I still haven’t even cleaned up the mess after
Miss G’s death.”

“
Are
you saying it’s still the same way we found it?”

“
Except for the furniture gone, yes. I just can’t bring myself
to go inside.”

“
I’ll
help you clean it, if you like.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes,
really. I’d be glad to pitch in.”

“
Thanks, Sarge. That’s
so
nice of you. To be honest,
the thought of being in that house alone was creeping me
out.”

He shot me a sly
glance. “That’s not like you. I go away for a few months and come
back to find you scared of ghosts and trying to interpret dreams.
Maybe you’re the one who needs to team up with Lavinia.”

I laughed. “No, thanks.
She creeps me out more than Miss G’s house.”

“
Your
house, Tessie. It’s your house now. Not Miss
Greville’s.”

“
That
will take me a while to get used to.”

“
Oh,
one thing you should consider before thinking about
selling.”

“
What?”

“
You
should check to see if the house is heritage-listed. It’s old,
isn’t it?”

“
Yep.
Probably one of the first, if not the first, proper houses built in
town. Built around the late 1880s.”

“
Hmm,
that could be a problem.”

“
Why?”

“
You
can’t knock down heritage-listed buildings. You’d have to sell the
house and land as a package, but then the person who bought it
couldn’t knock it down either.”

“
Oh,
that’s just great. Who in their right mind would buy it then? It’s
not like we have an influx of new arrivals recently, apart from
Teddy and Lee. And I suppose they were only interested in buying
off us because Nana Fuller’s house had already burnt down, leaving
them free to build their own house.” I glanced at him. “Don’t
suppose you have any matches on you?”

“
I
hope you’re joking, Tess. Otherwise, I do
not
want to hear
another word. Not one word about that ever again.”

“
Of
course I was joking,” I assured him.