Challis - 05 - Blood Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

you doing?

    It was Mr Groot, squat and heavy in
her doorway, wearing the kind of expression that said he didnt care one way or
the other if she were ill, so long as he didnt have to do anything about it.

    * * * *

    John
Tankard and Pam Murphy finished doorknocking Trevally Street and wandered back
to the Villanova apartments, comparing notes. I found one witness who backs up
Lachlan Roes neighbour, Tank said. He heard two men shouting just after
midnight and saw a guy wearing a hoodie running along Trevally Street toward
the library. Didnt get a look at his face.

    Pam snorted. A guy in a hoodie.

    Bet youd like a dollar for every
time youve heard that, Tank said.

    He bumped shoulders with her. Until
a few weeks ago, Murph had been his partner. Now she was in plain clothes, a
CIU hotshot, and he was stuck with that prick Andrew Cree. When their shoulders
touched, she moved apart from him. Just slightly, almost nothing to it, but
Tank knew it was a rebuff.

    Meanwhile Cree, Gods gift to women
and policing, was watching their approach.

    Hows it going, Andy? called Murph
in a voice that made Tanks antenna go up.

    Too much excitement in this job,
Cree said.

    Pam laughed.

    Bitch, thought Tank. He knew that he
was out of shape and hopeless with women. Heres Cree, fit, assured, an Arts
graduate, for fucks sake, and not ... direct. Saying things between the lines.

    He comforted himself with the
thought that he knew something Pam didntthe great Andrew Cree was afraid of
the dark. True. Before their daybreak callout to Trevally Street this morning,
Tank and Cree had been patrolling outside the town limits, on duty since 4 a.m.
The darkness had been all around them, their headlights picking out the ghostly
shapes of dead gum trees and the coal eyes of foxes on the prowl. Nothing
unusual but Tank had begun to wonder why Cree was all hunched over the steering
wheel, his shoulders up around his ears. Then, suddenly, he got it: the guy was
scared. Young Andrew had grown up in some endless tract of Melbourne, where the
night was never truly dark and no snakes or spiders lurked. Not like the back
roads of the Peninsula. No streetlights out here, old buddy, old pal, old chum.
Out here the darkness closes in tight around you. Ghosts and gremlins roam.

    Okay, guys, Pam was saying now, were
finished here. Thanks for your help. Grab yourselves some morning tea and then
return to what you were doing.

    Dont know if I can stand the
thrill of it, Cree responded, throwing her plenty of eye and mouth work as if
to say he could stand the thrill of her.

    Prick.

    * * * *

    6

    After
leaving the Villanova apartments, Challis drove to the hospital. A forensic
science officer, carrying several brown paper sample bags, was trudging
purposefully across the carpark as though holding strong emotions in check. She
stopped when she saw Challis. A nasty beating, sir.

    Challis nodded. More than one
person involved?

    Hard to say. Nothing much under the
victims fingernails. Lots of blood on his hands, face and clothingprobably
all his, but well check. She rattled the paper sample bags at him. The good
news is I found what looks like mucus on the elbow of his jacket. Well check
the DNA against his DNA.

    Challis thanked her, went in and
tracked down the doctor whod treated Roe. A Russian, Challis guessed. About
fifty, exhausted-looking and very thin, with a bony, hooked nose. He is lucky
he is found before it is too late, I think, the doctor said, escorting Challis
down a corridor, the white walls and green linoleum streaked here and there,
the black spoor of rubber soles and tyres. The coma continues. Impossible to
say when he will regain consciousness.

    Lachlan Roe had sustained cracked
ribs, a broken nose, a broken ring finger on his right handpossibly sustained
when he tried to ward off his attackerand severe swelling of the brain. In my
opinion this man was punched quite viciously and then kicked when he was on the
ground. Is possible his brain has