definitely
not
what they’d wanted to hear.
Petric recovered first. ‘Gillespie stayed with you last night?’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Just what is your relationship with
him, Sergeant?’
Oh, she’d been pissed off before, but now she was furious.
‘There is no
relationship
, Petric. Just a purely professional concern for a possibly concussed citizen, when the nearest hospital is sixty kilometres
away. Out here, the job doesn’t finish when the shift ends.’
‘I merely asked out of concern for your safety.’ Petric’s smoothness did nothing to ease her temper. ‘We have reason to believe
that Gillespie was responsible for his ex’s murder.’
His ex? Shit, just what she needed – a violent murder involving an ex.
Gil Gillespie’s ex
.
She recalled his face in those moments after Petric had opened the car boot. No, he hadn’t reacted much, but the briefly closed
eyes, the tightly controlled anger when he’d opened them again, suggested he’d had as much of a shock as the rest of them.
Well, time and the investigative process would tell if she’d read that right, or if she was a damn fool, taken in by a definitely
not-pretty face. But right now proper procedure was her responsibility.
‘I’m afraid you’re going to have to cool your heels before you interview your suspect, boys. The Dungirri station doesn’t
have the facilities to detain anyone, so we’ll have to take Gillespie into Birraga as soon as we can leave the scene here.’
‘But –’
She held up a hand and didn’t let Macklin finish. ‘No buts. It may have escaped your notice, but this is the bush, not the
city. And since I am currently acting Senior Sergeant for the Birraga command, I not only have overall responsibility for
custody procedures, but I outrank the both of you.’
She smiled sweetly, just to rub it in.
Oh, yes, she was in one
hell
of a bitch mood today. But they would damned well follow the rules, dot every ‘i’ and cross every damned ‘t’, because whoever
had murdered that woman was not going to get off due to some procedural stuff-up.
‘I’ve just called in extra officers from Birraga to guard the vehicle until Forensic Services get here from Inverell. My constable
will be here in a few minutes, and I want him to look over those footprints and tyre marks in the dust near the vehicle. In
the meantime, you might want to talk with some of this gathering crowd, and find out whether any of themsaw someone dumping a body in a car in the small hours of the morning.’
She hadn’t left them much to argue with, and they at least had sense enough not to try.
She would have preferred to talk to the group gathering on the corner outside the pub herself, rather than have strangers
do it, but she had other priorities, and the two detectives headed towards the group with the air of men in charge.
A fly buzzed past her, and with the temperature starting to climb after the cool morning, she had to protect the body from
both insects and prying eyes.
The guys at the corner probably couldn’t see, but Jeanie stood on the other side of the road, Megan with her, and from the
way Jeanie held her hand to her mouth, she could either see or guess what the open boot held.
Carefully, stepping in Petric’s sharp-toed footprints in the dust beside the road, Kris returned to the rear of Gillespie’s
car. The woman … God, Kris didn’t want to think about what she’d endured before she died. The rush of adrenaline-fuelled anger
evaporated, and reaction slammed a nauseating punch to her chest at the sight of the battered body. Her knees threatened to
buckle, and she had to struggle like a rookie cop not to throw up. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment to regain some control.
She’d seen too many dead people these past two years. Too many that she should have been able to prevent. Too many people
she’d known personally. At least
this
death was unconnected to those, unconnected to
not
what they’d wanted to hear.
Petric recovered first. ‘Gillespie stayed with you last night?’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Just what is your relationship with
him, Sergeant?’
Oh, she’d been pissed off before, but now she was furious.
‘There is no
relationship
, Petric. Just a purely professional concern for a possibly concussed citizen, when the nearest hospital is sixty kilometres
away. Out here, the job doesn’t finish when the shift ends.’
‘I merely asked out of concern for your safety.’ Petric’s smoothness did nothing to ease her temper. ‘We have reason to believe
that Gillespie was responsible for his ex’s murder.’
His ex? Shit, just what she needed – a violent murder involving an ex.
Gil Gillespie’s ex
.
She recalled his face in those moments after Petric had opened the car boot. No, he hadn’t reacted much, but the briefly closed
eyes, the tightly controlled anger when he’d opened them again, suggested he’d had as much of a shock as the rest of them.
Well, time and the investigative process would tell if she’d read that right, or if she was a damn fool, taken in by a definitely
not-pretty face. But right now proper procedure was her responsibility.
‘I’m afraid you’re going to have to cool your heels before you interview your suspect, boys. The Dungirri station doesn’t
have the facilities to detain anyone, so we’ll have to take Gillespie into Birraga as soon as we can leave the scene here.’
‘But –’
She held up a hand and didn’t let Macklin finish. ‘No buts. It may have escaped your notice, but this is the bush, not the
city. And since I am currently acting Senior Sergeant for the Birraga command, I not only have overall responsibility for
custody procedures, but I outrank the both of you.’
She smiled sweetly, just to rub it in.
Oh, yes, she was in one
hell
of a bitch mood today. But they would damned well follow the rules, dot every ‘i’ and cross every damned ‘t’, because whoever
had murdered that woman was not going to get off due to some procedural stuff-up.
‘I’ve just called in extra officers from Birraga to guard the vehicle until Forensic Services get here from Inverell. My constable
will be here in a few minutes, and I want him to look over those footprints and tyre marks in the dust near the vehicle. In
the meantime, you might want to talk with some of this gathering crowd, and find out whether any of themsaw someone dumping a body in a car in the small hours of the morning.’
She hadn’t left them much to argue with, and they at least had sense enough not to try.
She would have preferred to talk to the group gathering on the corner outside the pub herself, rather than have strangers
do it, but she had other priorities, and the two detectives headed towards the group with the air of men in charge.
A fly buzzed past her, and with the temperature starting to climb after the cool morning, she had to protect the body from
both insects and prying eyes.
The guys at the corner probably couldn’t see, but Jeanie stood on the other side of the road, Megan with her, and from the
way Jeanie held her hand to her mouth, she could either see or guess what the open boot held.
Carefully, stepping in Petric’s sharp-toed footprints in the dust beside the road, Kris returned to the rear of Gillespie’s
car. The woman … God, Kris didn’t want to think about what she’d endured before she died. The rush of adrenaline-fuelled anger
evaporated, and reaction slammed a nauseating punch to her chest at the sight of the battered body. Her knees threatened to
buckle, and she had to struggle like a rookie cop not to throw up. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment to regain some control.
She’d seen too many dead people these past two years. Too many that she should have been able to prevent. Too many people
she’d known personally. At least
this
death was unconnected to those, unconnected to
Similar Books
