Challis - 03 - Snapshot by Garry Disher Page A
Authors: Garry Disher
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Police, australia, Police Procedural, Large Type Books, Melbourne Region (Vic.), Destry; Ellen (Fictitious Character), Challis; Hal (Fictitious Character)
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some enemies. When Ellen and I
have finished talking to his daughter well head up to the city and check him
out.
Scobie Sutton had eschewed the
pastries and was fastidiously peeling and slicing an apple. Will the daughter
make a good witness, boss?
Challis shrugged. We wont know
until we talk to her, but she did tell the first officers at the scene that the
killers came in an old car, white with a yellow door. That will be your job,
he said to one of the Mornington DCs. Ive put in a request for lists of cars
stolen, abandoned and burnt, so keep updating it and check with Traffic for
cars caught speeding, the usual thing.
Sir.
The car could have come in from
outside, Scobie said, or they were dumb enough to use their own car.
Or Georgia was quite wrong about
the car. Either way, well release details to the media, Challis said. Someone
might recognise the description.
They looked doubtful. Cars with
mismatched doors, boot lids, bonnets and panels were common in a country where
the poor were getting poorer.
Challis glanced at the other
Mornington detective. Go back to Lofty Ridge Road and talk to any of the
neighbours who werent at home this morning. Find out who delivers the mail and
the newspapers, supermarket orders, the usual.
Boss.
Scobie, I want you to check Robert
McQuarries flight movements and find out what you can about Mrs Humphreys and
whoever else might have lived at that address. When shes recovered from her
hip operation, interview her. We need to establish if she knows Janine
McQuarrie or if she herself has any enemies.
Boss.
Ellen, the superintendent awaits.
Whoopee-do, said Ellen,
immediately regretting it, for surely the super was grieving.
* * * *
10
They
signed out an unmarked Falcon from the motor pool and drove to Mornington in
intermittent sunshine that was hard and bright on the wetness all around. Above
them a high, scudding wind blew scraps of cloud across the sky. Normally they
chatted when they were together, settling quickly into comfortable patterns
with each other, but Ellen was withdrawn, a heavy presence in the passenger
seat. Anything wrong? said Challis.
Nup.
He wondered if it was her husband
again, remembering the mans brusqueness on the phone that morning. Ellen was
loyal and private by nature, but had revealed enough over the years to indicate
that the marriage was under strain. Challis had never liked Alan Destry. The
man was chronically surly, and so tightly wound that he might one day do
something violent. Were a fine pair, he thought, me morose about my wife this
morning, Ellen about her husband now.
Everything okay at home?
Peachy, said Ellen, her eyes fixed
on the road.
Time to change the subject. So this
Dominic OBrien character is going to be obstructive?
Ellen seemed to bristle at the
wheel. What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force?
He grinned. Hed always liked
looking at her, a woman full of coiled energy and every muscle expressive, her
beautiful eyes now taking on their familiar tuck of suspicion and anticipation.
She was ready for business.
Uh oh, she said presently. Weve
got company.
Theyd reached a hilly street behind
the Esplanade in Mornington. No fog on this side of the Peninsula, but a
rainsquall had come in across Port Phillip Bay, causing movement in a huddle of
reporters and camera crews camped on a nearby nature strip. Be friendly,
Challis said.
Shouted questions reached them
through the windows of the car, but Ellen didnt stop, easing the CIU Falcon
off the street, onto a gravelled driveway and past dense shrubbery and slender
gum trees, to park nose-up to a railway sleeper barrier. They got out, locked
the car and Challis followed Ellen down the steps to the front door, careful on
the slicks of moss.
McQuarrie greeted them, holding his
granddaughters hand. Shed been crying, but glanced up at them solemnly, as if
shy but also aware that she was at the centre of something momentous. She
have finished talking to his daughter well head up to the city and check him
out.
Scobie Sutton had eschewed the
pastries and was fastidiously peeling and slicing an apple. Will the daughter
make a good witness, boss?
Challis shrugged. We wont know
until we talk to her, but she did tell the first officers at the scene that the
killers came in an old car, white with a yellow door. That will be your job,
he said to one of the Mornington DCs. Ive put in a request for lists of cars
stolen, abandoned and burnt, so keep updating it and check with Traffic for
cars caught speeding, the usual thing.
Sir.
The car could have come in from
outside, Scobie said, or they were dumb enough to use their own car.
Or Georgia was quite wrong about
the car. Either way, well release details to the media, Challis said. Someone
might recognise the description.
They looked doubtful. Cars with
mismatched doors, boot lids, bonnets and panels were common in a country where
the poor were getting poorer.
Challis glanced at the other
Mornington detective. Go back to Lofty Ridge Road and talk to any of the
neighbours who werent at home this morning. Find out who delivers the mail and
the newspapers, supermarket orders, the usual.
Boss.
Scobie, I want you to check Robert
McQuarries flight movements and find out what you can about Mrs Humphreys and
whoever else might have lived at that address. When shes recovered from her
hip operation, interview her. We need to establish if she knows Janine
McQuarrie or if she herself has any enemies.
Boss.
Ellen, the superintendent awaits.
Whoopee-do, said Ellen,
immediately regretting it, for surely the super was grieving.
* * * *
10
They
signed out an unmarked Falcon from the motor pool and drove to Mornington in
intermittent sunshine that was hard and bright on the wetness all around. Above
them a high, scudding wind blew scraps of cloud across the sky. Normally they
chatted when they were together, settling quickly into comfortable patterns
with each other, but Ellen was withdrawn, a heavy presence in the passenger
seat. Anything wrong? said Challis.
Nup.
He wondered if it was her husband
again, remembering the mans brusqueness on the phone that morning. Ellen was
loyal and private by nature, but had revealed enough over the years to indicate
that the marriage was under strain. Challis had never liked Alan Destry. The
man was chronically surly, and so tightly wound that he might one day do
something violent. Were a fine pair, he thought, me morose about my wife this
morning, Ellen about her husband now.
Everything okay at home?
Peachy, said Ellen, her eyes fixed
on the road.
Time to change the subject. So this
Dominic OBrien character is going to be obstructive?
Ellen seemed to bristle at the
wheel. What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force?
He grinned. Hed always liked
looking at her, a woman full of coiled energy and every muscle expressive, her
beautiful eyes now taking on their familiar tuck of suspicion and anticipation.
She was ready for business.
Uh oh, she said presently. Weve
got company.
Theyd reached a hilly street behind
the Esplanade in Mornington. No fog on this side of the Peninsula, but a
rainsquall had come in across Port Phillip Bay, causing movement in a huddle of
reporters and camera crews camped on a nearby nature strip. Be friendly,
Challis said.
Shouted questions reached them
through the windows of the car, but Ellen didnt stop, easing the CIU Falcon
off the street, onto a gravelled driveway and past dense shrubbery and slender
gum trees, to park nose-up to a railway sleeper barrier. They got out, locked
the car and Challis followed Ellen down the steps to the front door, careful on
the slicks of moss.
McQuarrie greeted them, holding his
granddaughters hand. Shed been crying, but glanced up at them solemnly, as if
shy but also aware that she was at the centre of something momentous. She
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