Challis - 05 - Blood Moon Read Online Free PDF

sustained some damage.

    They entered a small ward, where the
doctor pulled back a curtain, revealing the chaplain of the Landseer School
lying beneath a window overlooking the rear of the Waterloo Fitness Centre. Roe
breathed shallowly out of a badly bruised and swollen face. Broad white
bandaging was wound tightly around his head and Challis glimpsed a bandage
striped across his chest.

    Dirk Roe, plumply miserable, sat in
a chair pulled close to his brothers bed, muttering into the telephone on the
bedside table. Glancing around sulkily when Challis and the doctor entered, his
face immediately cleared. Speak of the devil, he said into the phone. The
cop in charge just walked in.. .Yes, sir.. .Ill put him on. He thrust the
phone at Challis, the gesture somehow dismissive and contemptuous. My boss wants
a word.

    Oh, hell, thought Challis. He took
the phone, said his name crisply.

    Ollie Hindmarshs reply filled his
ear, the voice deep-chested, hectoring and familiar from numerous television
and radio interviews. You know who I am?

    Yes.

    This is a nasty business, the
politician said, very nasty.

    Challis said nothing.

    Made an arrest?

    Not yet.

    Any suspects?

    Too soon to say.

    Hindmarsh grunted. After a pause he
said, At least you have rank. I dont want this fobbed off onto a sergeant or
a constable.

    Challis said nothing.

    Did you hear me? I want you to stay
on top of this, Inspector.

    It will be treated seriously; as
seriously as we treat all violent crime, Challis said, feeling like a public
relations flak.

    Hardly reassuring, barked
Hindmarsh. Mr Roe has done enormous good in the local community and I want his
attacker brought to justice.

    Im not Channel 9, thought Challis.
Im not the Herald-Sun. He said, If that will be all... ?

    Whos your superintendent?

    Oh, Christ, Challis thought, and
told him.

    McQuarrie? Played golf with him
once. Based in Frankston?

    Yes.

    There was no good-bye, just a click
in Challiss ear. He gave the handset to Dirk Roe, who smirked. To wipe it off
his face, Challis said, I will need to question you later in the day. He gave
Roe his card. Meanwhile if you think of anything pertinent, or if your brother
wakes up, give me a call.

    Whatever.

    Challis shook his head and left the
hospital. Back in CIU he found Ellen Destry at her computer. He told her about
the phone call. Hes going to sic McQuarrie on to me.

    What a jerk.

    At least weve got nothing else on
of any great seriousness, so all stops out.

    She mock saluted him. Right you
are, boss.

    Ill bust you back to uniform if
youre not careful.

    I look good in a uniform, she
said.

    Challis walked away shaking his
head. In his office he stared at his in-tray for a while, at the paperwork that
swamped his days and gave him a permanent, low-level sense of anxiety and
aggravation. The memos and reports induced dreaminess, and soon he was staring
out of his window at the skyblue, even and featureless. He got up and stood at
the glass, staring down at the carpark beneath his office. It was nothing to
look atcramped, potholed, fringed with peeling gum treesbut more interesting
than the sky, with the cops and civilian employees always clocking on and off.
Among the vehicles were big four-wheel-drives, humble family sedans, a snappy
little European cabriolet, and a couple of boy-racer V8s, all glossy paintwork
and testosterone. Not for the first time, he reflected on the police station as
a microcosm of the wider community.

    Then he saw Scobie Sutton arrive.
Sutton circled the area before parking inexpertly beside a rubbish skip that
had been rusting away in the far corner since renovation work two years
earlier. He was followed by Pam Murphy, who parked her little Hyundai briskly
and strode past Sutton in her take-no-prisoners way, Sutton trudging like a
wind-whipped scarecrow across the yard.

    Challis grinned, left his office and
walked down the corridor to the tearoom, where he spooned coffee grounds into
the espresso