The Family Cleaner, page 9
Johnson hit the “end session” button and Brownsill turned to him. “Aaron, I’ve left you alone to date, but you need to make some progress. For god’s sake, we don’t even know if it’s murder. We don’t have bodies or a crime scene. What if these people just decided to go on a holiday and forgot to tell anyone?”
“They wouldn’t leave their animals unattended,” Johnson replied.
Brownsill sighed. “From what you’ve told me about the state of the farm we don’t know that at all. We need to move things along.”
“There might be a way for me to get some inside info on Carter?” Johnson said.
Fairhaven, 17th March, 2018
David completed a harvest, enough to keep his buyers happy for four weeks or so. He let them know that he would be away, and if they needed more they’d have to double their shipments. The demand for cocaine was steady; the issue was dealing with the extra cash. For now, he needed time to chill. The interview with the cop had destabilised him, and as he was avoiding his medication he needed to keep on an even keel to get through the day. He needed to go and blow away the dark memories that were flooding back.
“Frankie boy, I need to get away. Uncle Pete will look after you.”
Frank twisted his head as if to ask, “Why can’t I come?”
David completed his product drops over the next couple of days and collected his cash.
I need to call Monahan again.
“How long will you be away, Dave?” Pete asked when he came to collect Frank.
“A few weeks, I just need a break. The cops are doing my head in with all these questions about that Chisholm lot.”
“I thought you hadn’t seen them in years.”
“Haven’t, but they keep asking me the same stuff over and over. It’s doin’ my head in.”
“What do I say if they come looking for you?”
“Just tell them I’ve gone surfing up the coast and you don’t know when I will be back,” he said, heading for his ute.
Frank stood halfway between him and Pete. His ears flattened and his tail drooped. He skulked off to join Pete.
David loaded his board and gear and headed off along the east coast, dropping by Ivy’s for his pistol, and Geelong for his rifle.
He stopped in Melbourne to collect three sets of fake IDs from Monahan and drop off two cases of cash.
He never met Monahan in person; all transactions were handled via a locker at Flinders Street Station.
Ten thousand dollars seemed generous for the papers, but when David saw the product, he was impressed.
As he headed out of Melbourne he turned off his phone and pulled out the SIM. He didn’t want any calls. More importantly, he didn’t want his phone tracing his journey for anyone who might check later. Along the way, he stopped off to surf at Bastion Point near Mallacoota, sleeping in his swag for the night. Another day of driving and he reached Shellharbour. Despite the proximity of the sewerage plant, North Beach was perfect for David, the waves were not too big, but still challenging. And the camp site was even better, tucked away at the back of a caravan park, walking distance from the beach. One thing he had learned since taking up the sport, was that practice didn’t always make perfect and he was reminded of this several times in his first hour in the water. Despite the setbacks, after the first three days he fell into a routine: surf, jog, eat, smoke a joint and sleep. Within the week he was refreshed and relaxed. Time to visit Freddy.
It didn’t take long to work out where he was. Prosser had said he was on a cattle breeding station, and David assumed there couldn’t be too many around Canberra. He flicked through several Google searches on his phone and soon had a short list of three possibilities.
Two days later he stood at the main gate of Merriweather Grazing. The gate was constructed from pine logs that looked like telephone poles stacked one atop the other. Most of the property was screened from the main road by a huge row of red gums, standing about fifty metres behind the fence. “FARM TOURS starting ten am daily” the sign attached to the right-hand side of the entrance declared. A small bus waited near the entrance, engine idling, as tourists young and old bustled to board. The unmistakable shape of Freddy appeared from behind the bus, coming from the direction of the large carpark to the left of the entrance. David waited an hour till another group had assembled and slipped onto the back of the group of shuffling tourists.
David watched Freddy, who hadn’t changed since their encounter in Bendigo. As the guide finished the tour of the breeding sheds David saw Freddy’s brow wrinkle and a look of confusion appeared.
David smiled as he watched the confusion turn into recognition. David waved and smirked at Freddy.
Freddy mouthed silently “What the fuck are you doing here?” from where he stood at the back of the shed.
David could sense Freddy’s discomfiture and enjoyed it.
As the group alighted the bus at the main gate and began dispersing into the car park, Freddy, who had followed the bus on a golf cart, pulled up beside David and yelled out, “Hey, you! What are you doin’ here?”
“Freddy, what’s up? I was just around and thought I would come and see how this cattle breeding stuff happens.”
“How did you find me?”
“I didn’t find you, Freddy. I saw the tour advertised in my motel and thought it might be worth a visit. And it was.”
“Bullshit, you tracked me down.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Freddy, you aren’t that important.”
“Piss off and leave me alone. I wouldn’t mind betting you had something to do with Mum, Dad, and Kevin disappearin’.”
“If you think that, Freddy, perhaps you better tell the cops.”
“I might just do that. I might.”
“Be careful, Freddy. Some of those bulls looked pretty big, they might stomp on you.”
“Funny, bloody funny. Now fuck off.”
David drove out of the car park, nerves tingling. He realised he hadn’t felt this alive since his last visit to Bendigo.
He waited up the road from Merriweather Farm, checking his rear vision mirrors as each of the staff vehicles left at the end of the day. An old white Toyota Hilux flashed past. David recognised Freddy and followed him, sitting fifty metres behind him.
He waited ten minutes and knocked on the front door of Freddy’s small house.
Freddy opened the door and took a half step out then stepped back quickly, his jaw dropping ever so slightly.
“What do you want?”
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
Freddy shuffled backwards, not taking his eyes off David.
The front room was small and musty. Overfull ashtrays spilled their contents onto a table in front of a TV, and empty beer bottles lay around the bottom of a beaten-up old La-Z-Boy recliner.
“Not much has changed then, you still live like a pig,” David said.
“The cleaner’s comin’ in tomorrow,” Freddy said sarcastically. He chuckled, but he sounded nervous.
“So, Freddy, there I am watching the news, and I hear all this stuff about your family. Everywhere I go, all I hear about is you lot. Do you know how that makes me feel?”
“I—”
“It wasn’t a question, Freddy. I think we both know it makes me feel angry. And why is that?”
“I—”
“That wasn’t a question either. It makes me angry because it reminds me how crap you made my life. What was it you used to call me?”
He held up his hand as Freddy tried to answer.
“Pissy David, wasn’t it? That’s what you all called your little cousin. Pissy David. And why did I piss my pants?”
He waited for Freddy to answer, but he’d worked out that this play had only one speaking role.
“Your bitch of a mother made me sleep in a cellar like some family pet. And, as it turned out, one that wasn’t housetrained. No, Freddy, when I heard where you were I just had to come visit. Now, where are your car keys?”
Freddy said nothing.
“That actually was a question, Freddy. Where are they?”
Freddy’s hand shook as he retrieved the keys from his pocket.
“Right, let’s go for a drive.”
“Where are we going?”
“Down memory lane, Freddy.”
“Where’s that?”
“Seriously Freddy, where were you when they handing out brains?”
Chapter 10
Fairhaven, 15th April 2018
David returned to Fairhaven four weeks after he had left. He had planned to be away longer but had achieved what he needed and was missing Frank.
He turned on his phone for the first time since he had left and exhaled as twenty voicemail messages popped up.
One was from Pete who wanted to know how long he would be away and the rest were from two numbers he didn’t recognise.
“Probably cops,” he said and deleted them.
The next morning, he went to retrieve Frank.
He could hear Frank barking behind the side gate to Pete’s backyard. As he got closer he saw him pushing at the gate with his nose, alternating between barking and whining. Peter unlocked the gate and Frank rushed past him, took one stride and launched himself at David, who caught him mid-air.
“Now that’s what I call a welcome,” Pete said. “That’s why I left you a message, he was really starting to fret.”
“Fancy a coffee, Dave?” Pete asked.
“Why not, you can tell me what’s been happening.”
He dropped Frank to the ground, then tried to follow Peter inside as Frank barked and grabbed at his leg.
“I think he’s angry with you for being away so long,” Pete said.
“Sorry, little mate,” David said.
David sat on Pete’s back porch and patted Frank, who turned to lick his hand every couple of pats.
Pete came out with two mugs of coffee and sat next to him.
“The local cops came looking for you. They wanted to know if I knew where you were.”
“And?”
“I said I didn’t know anything and you’d be back when you were ready. They asked if you often disappeared, and I said I didn’t know, I just covered some of your work occasionally. Then they wanted to know how often that was. I didn’t tell them most of the bloody time,” Pete said and smirked.
“To be honest, mate, I’ve even lost a bit of interest in the farm work now.”
“I wish I could do that, but I gotta pay the bills.”
David shrugged. “Can I slip you some cash for looking after Frank? I know he eats like a horse.”
“It wouldn’t hurt mate, to be honest.”
David peeled two, one-hundred-dollar notes from a roll in his pocket and handed them to Pete.
“Jesus, you must be doing something right.”
David didn’t answer at first, he patted Frank, and said, “Yeah.”
“Found a money tree, have ya?” Pete said.
“Funny Pete, very funny.”
“No seriously, mate, you’ve got new cars, the quad I bought you. It’s obvious you got plenty of cash. Be careful, is all I am saying.”
David stood up and held out his hand. “Thanks, Pete. I’ll be in touch.”
If the cops do establish how much I’m away, I better invent a good reason why.
As he drove away David said, “We need to check out the crop, Frankie. Fancy a trip to the bush?”
Bendigo Police Station, 10th April 2018
“Did you see this?” Johnson called out from his desk.
“Who do you think I am, Superman? How do I know what ‘this’ is from here?” Brownsill yelled back.
Johnson walked into his office and wondered how many more times he was going to make an idiot of himself in front of Brownsill. “The email from the ACT police. Freddy Chisholm has gone missing.”
“You shittin’ me?” Brownsill said as he opened his laptop.
“It seems a stretch for our biker friends to be involved in this. What would they stand to gain from disappearing another family member over a debt?”
“Have we had that blood match back?” Brownsill said.
“Yes, it’s our friend in hospital. He says when he went to retrieve the vehicle the lady cut him.”
Brownsill scratched his chin. “These guys aren’t going to go after some brother in the ACT over a debt like this. I’m getting a bit uncomfortable about our line of investigation.”
“You know how you told me to get something to move things along ...?” Johnson placed a file on his desk.
“What’s this?” Brownsill asked, opening the file.
“Notes. About David Carter.”
“These look like, ... notes from,” he flipped the file to read the cover, “from, ... S. Welling,”
He looked askance at Aaron,” how did you get these?”
Johnson shuffled his feet. “Let’s just say I got them.”
“No, let’s not do that. Did you nick these from Siobhan?”
“You know she treated him?”
“There is no way she gave you these.”
“Not exactly. She’s away for a week so I sort of borrowed them. You said we had to get a break! He’s been funding her to provide services to disadvantaged kids. Tens of thousands of dollars.”
Brownsill stopped flicking through the notes and looked up. He glared at Johnson and flung the file back on the desk.
“Get those files out of this station and put them back where you got them. Let’s just hope she never, ever, finds out exactly how stupid you are.”
“But I thought we needed a break!”
“If we used anything in there, and if this were to go to trial, a judge would throw the case out on its head. You can’t filch records like that. You do know that? Please tell me you know that?”
“Yes, sir, of course I know that. I just thought we could take a look.”
“For god’s sake, Aaron, I know you are new to this side of policing but you must know this is not okay,” Brownsill exclaimed. “Get out and do some proper policing.”
Johnson returned the files later that day. He’d already copied them to his phone.
Siobhan gave Aaron a withering look as he waltzed through the door. “What have you done?”
“What?”
“I saw you on the security camera.”
She listened as he tried to explain how sorry he was that he had taken the file.
“I’m under pressure, and I just took it. It was an accident.”
“An accident? You had to go to my office, steal the keys, find the file, and then drive to the station. You had many opportunities to question your actions, it was not a spur-of-the-moment misjudgement. Frankly, I’m amazed that as a cop you didn’t think to see if we had cameras installed. Would you have told me if I hadn’t seen the footage?”
He hesitated a split second too long.
“Sleep in the other room tonight. I need to think this through.”
“Siobhan, please. It was dumb, I know. But I was desperate.”
“I get that, but don’t you see the issue from my viewpoint? You put your job and career ahead of mine. You were happy to break a core tenet of my profession, client confidentiality, so you could get a break in your case. Don’t you see the implication?”
“What?”
“Putting aside that what you did was illegal, you decided that your needs are more important than mine.”
Sitting on the back porch watching the last of the evening light disappear, David sipped a beer and ruffled Frank’s ears. “I suppose I don’t do this as well as Amber did?”
At the sound of her name, Frank looked up and around.
“No, she’s not here. She’s off doing her thing somewhere, I guess.”
His phone rang and he looked at the name.
“Hi, Siobhan, what’s up? You don’t usually call me.”
“Hi, David, can you talk?”
“Sure. Frank’s with me but he can keep a secret.”
“How are you? Have you been busy?”
“Needed to get away for a while. I had the cops pestering me about the Chisholm lot, and as you can imagine, not my favourite thing. How’s the fund going? Do you need some more?”
“No, not all. I’m seeing two kids and your fund is covering it. You do realise I am on the wrong side of the ethics on this but I convinced myself the end justified the means.”
“Well that’s just stupid. I am just paying for you to help kids that need help.”
They were both silent for a while.
“David.” She coughed quietly. “I have to tell you something and I am extremely embarrassed about it.”
“Embarrassed, what do you mean?”
“You know Aaron, my boyfriend, the one in the photo in my office?”
“The cop!”
“Yeah, him. Well, David ... he accessed your file in my office and read my notes.”
“He what? Why did you let him do that?”
“I didn’t let him do it. He said he was going nowhere with the case and ...”
Whump, whump, whump, he felt the blood rush up his neck and his face reddened. He held his breath. The familiar bitter taste in his throat.
Siobhan was saying something but couldn’t hear it.
Neither spoke.
“Are you alright, David?”
“I can’t believe you would betray me like this,” he yelled and ended the call.
She called his phone rang out twice. He ignored it.
Fairhaven, 21st April 2018
David staggered out of the bedroom to banging at the front door and Frank’s loud barking.
“Shut up for god’s sake, mate, it’s too early for all that.”
He shielded his eyes and opened the door, focusing just enough to recognise Prosser and James.
“Where have you been? Constable James called multiple times,” Prosser said.
David turned away, leaving the door open to suggest they follow him in.
“I’ve been away. I need coffee. Have a seat.” He said and gestured towards the lounge room.
