This is the sixty-eighth story concerning the life, times, and homicide cases of Murder Squad Detective Joseph Lind. His newest ‘recruit’, Detective-in-Training, Catalina ‘Tally’ Evans achieves her detective grade with flying colours as the two investigate the homicide shooting death of a popular young constable in a small bush town that detective Lind had previously visited around a decade ago.
His presence not appreciated by some of the townsfolk who thought he was the cause for the implosion of several well-known and respected families. Many again accusing him of doing a similar thing with this case.
A new construction site not appreciated by most of the townsfolk exposes human remains which links a former pastor with racist, fire and brimstone views to the slaying of ten people and the exclusion of the famous bushranger Ned Kelly from the bush town some one hundred and fifty years ago.
The death of one of their own who has a mixed reputation amongst the townsfolk means a slow and painstaking investigation that at times appears to involve many of the town’s businesspeople in a joint collusion to kill the young constable because of his want to meddle in others’ affairs
Excerpt:
He loved this time of morning…past the bewitching hour with the sun to peek over the horizon in a couple of hours. It had been a hot day; a warm night. He’d been doing this nightshift for over five years now…something he had feared with a spike in his anxiety levels when he had first volunteered for the shift…now? He wouldn’t have it any other way. To sleep away an above forty-degree day in his air-conditioned Bedroom was his manna…with the night and its cool zephyrs making his shift bearable.
Some had queried his choice of being billeted to a small country town saying that he would be bored stiff with little crime and even less activity. How wrong they had been…
The Day Shift consisted of two Officers and an Office Clerk. An Office ‘Friday’ who ensured the peaceful running of the Station and a young Hannah Moore, the young niece of the largest enterprise in town…a long haul and Transport enterprise on the outskirts of the town. She the Receptionist/Telephonist who continually complained of little to do. Kalavati’s shift from seventeen-hundred hours to oh-three-hundred hours the following morning. The Office unattended from the oh-three-hundred hours to the opening hour of oh-seven-thirty hours on the following morning.
Nothing much happened in this quiet little hamlet about centred in the richest farming land in the country…the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.
If anything untoward occurred during those hours of vacancy, the call was automatically pushed through to the Station Sergeant’s home. He hated his sleep being interrupted or reduced. Watch out for the poor bastard who got on his wrong side the following morning…the entire station and beyond knew when the poor man’s sleep had been interrupted…usually it was a mundane call about someone’s cat missing…or had just become the latest statistic on roadkill…
Senior Constable Dwayne Kalavati would rub shoulders with the dayshift people when he clocked on as they were clocking off. A shared joke, another rumour the latest around town. He’d make himself a coffee to sit and listen to the Senior Sergeant as he relayed the day’s events. Usually not much to report except a single vehicle accident on the Highway and a slight altercation and bingle when a vehicle reversed into another as it was backing out from a car space at the local Supermarket carpark…an interesting day concluded was the Senior Constable’s comment.
Dwayne Kalavati was not much under two metres tall. A promising AFL player who’s playing days were curtailed when his right knee kept him grounded. It would explode at the most inopportune moment, keeping him off the field more than on. He was shy, a nervous smile when in the vicinity of women his age. A lowered head which improved as the years progressed because his job relied on a visage of confidence; of being in charge yet pleasantly amiable. He’d never married which only egged on the available young women of the district, forever looking for a husband. This embarrassed him to a point of him reverting to his younger years of a shy, awkward boy who always held his head down. His face reddening and his normal easy manner forsaking him whenever they approached him, especially in a ‘hunting party’ so he would claim.
After listening to the day’s happenings, he would write up his Report on the previous night’s incidents…very little to chase up…a follow-up interview with a local Cockie who had broken his leg as he hopped down from the huge Combine Harvester he was driving…the paddock’s harvest finished off by the Cockie’s missus during the night as the gent was being taken to the small, local Hospital.
That was it!
His night began when he cruised the General Store’s carpark as the largest shop in town was closing for the night…it was eighteen hundred hours. It had been robbed twice in its twenty-two-year history…it was due for another so the young copper would murmur…then a stop at the local Chemist as the Owner was finishing for the day. The reason for the concern was supposedly because she had been held up one night just before closing time…by an ‘out-of-towner’. Five years ago…the rumours had it pegged right as the attractive middle-aged Chemist and Make-up Specialist needed companionship and the occasional ‘spiritual guidance’ by a young, goodlooking and virile copper. Her marriage was not made in heaven so these regular lessons in ‘Karma Sutra’ were appreciated…
Next, the local drive-in Bottle-Oh before it closed at nine. The middle-aged proprietress a little nervy at that time of night as she too had recently looked down the barrel of a sawn-off shotgun. The day’s takings not worth the five years the three youths received from an angry Judge who stated youth crime was becoming uncontrollable…
This has been the third similar crime in five years…not something that was hitting the bush town like a tsunami!
Next he would return to the Cop Shop for a little relaxation period before setting off to cruise out of town to the local Abattoir before circling back to the Hospital…again to give sustenance and guidance to the attractive Night Shift Sister-in-charge…there was always a spare bed available…again he would return to the Office before cruising out to the ‘Town Lake’ which supplied the town and most of the surrounding farms with its fresh water. He’d always know who had caught some fish and was not afraid to display their catch for the night. Kalavati checked for undersized fish and to always receive a prize for his diligence. He wasn’t too sure these midnight anglers were having it over him…giving him a good-sized fish so that he would never ask to see their catch…though he kinda knew…
He'd return to the Cop Shop via his cottage to fillet the fish, wrap it in alfoil and pop it into the Freezer…two meals at least! And a couple of good size T-bones from the Abattoirs for his continued presence each night placed beside the fillets. He was pleased with the largesse of the local lads…it was rare he never received a decent sized fish. It wasn’t up to him to claim this was some sort of ‘buying the cop off’ kind of thing…never!
He was one of the most popular local coppers with the townsfolk. Even though his bunged knee prevented participation in all the popular games played by the folk, he was a most vocal supporter of all the inter and intra-town games such as Rugby League, Cricket, and Tennis. Always surrounded by the locals as his shouted quips were enjoyed by all.
He’d make two more slow circuits of the town and its small, orderly suburbia watching for vehicles and people who should not be there at that time of night. An occasional domestic argument to settle before once again returning to the Cop Shop to write up all the incidents of the night…not mentioning any extended times at various addresses.
