Challis - 01 - Dragon Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

education and trying to make us think he hasnt.

    Sniff. Youre the expert.

    Challis stepped in. Well need to
examine the letter, Tess.

    No problem. I made a copy.

    Youre not going to publish, I
hope.

    Her voice sharpened. Hes talking
about a third body, Hal. People have a right to be warned.

    We havent even found the second
body yet, Ellen said. Jane Gideon might be alive, for all we know.

    Challis backed her up. Your letter
writer might be a crank, Tess. An opportunist. Someone with a grudge against
the police.

    He regarded her carefully, and saw
that she understood the implications.

    Youre not holding out on me?

    I swear it.

    But can I say the police think there
may be a link between the first two?

    He sighed. There may not be, but
there probably is.

    She muttered, Not that quoting you
does me much good if you arrest him before Thursdays issue.

    I cant help that.

    She looked up at him. People are
scared, Hal. This morning I had a call from a real estate agent saying hes had
a couple of holiday cancellations. I checked with the caravan park and the
camping ground. Same story. A lot of the locals depend on summer tourists.

    Tess, were doing everything we
can. Were following leads, checking our databases. As soon as there are any
developments, Ill give you a call ahead of anyone else.

    She touched the tips of her fingers
to his chest and very lightly pressed him. Would you? Thatd be great, even if
you do sound like a police spokesperson. She stepped away from him. Well,
Christmas soon. Seasons greetings and all that.

    You too.

    She turned to Ellen. Someones been
distributing leaflets about Constable Tankard. Anything you can tell me about
that?

    No.

    Okay. Bye now.

    When Tessa Kane was gone, Ellen
said, I hate people who say Bye now.

    Ah, shes okay. You just have to
know how to handle her.

    Hal, dont get in too deep.

    He frowned. Are you my nursemaid
now?

    I mean the police-media thing, not
your private life.

    Challis was embarrassed. Sorry.

    Ill get this letter off to the
lab.

    It wont tell us anything.

    I know.

    * * * *

    Canteen
gossip soon spread the word about John Tankards attempt to book Challis, so he
was foul company that afternoonas if he wasnt touchy enough already, owing to
that leaflet campaign against him. Pam Murphy trod delicately around him during
the ground-search of the Jane Gideon abduction site. Being diverted to attend a
domestic dispute with him, on their way back to the station, was the last thing
she wanted. Tankards method of policing domestics was the bellow and the clip
around the earhole.

    She drove through the late-afternoon
heat. A week before Christmas, and four months of hot weather lay ahead of
them, the heat giving a particular spin to local crime. Your burglaries
increased, as people went on holiday or left windows open to catch a breeze.
Cowboy water-haulage contractors stole water from the mains. Brawling
increasedin the home, the pub, the street; outside pinball parlours; on the
foreshore on New Years Eve. Surfies reported thefts from their vans. Weekend
farmers drove down from Toorak and Brighton in their BMWs and Range Rovers on
Friday evenings and discovered that someone had emptied their sheds of ride-on
mowers and whipper-snippers, or their paddocks of cattle, sheep, horses, angora
goats. And now another highway murder.

    Next right, Tankard said. He
sounded keen, as if he could sense an arrest.

    Pam turned the corner. The arrest
rate was part of the problem. The sergeant was always urging a higher arrest
rate, saying it was too low for the region. Its not as if were in the inner
suburbs, Pam thought, tackling knife gangs. Down here a quiet warning should be
enough.

    Still, she thought, Im the rookie
here, what do I know?

    She braked the van gently about
halfway along the street. There was no need to peer at house numbers: the focus
of the drama was obvious, a gaggle of neighbours on the footpath. She pulled in
hard against the kerb, pocketed the