Deadly Diplomacy (29 page)

“I tell you Tom, in all my years I’ve never seen anything like this.” Anderson’s voice was hoarse. This bastard’s a psycho and
real
dangerous.” He jerked his head towards the door. “He got the dog out the back too, probably to keep it quiet. Knifed it in the heart, then covered it with leaves.” He nodded. “This man’s a hunter all right.”

Except now he’s turned to hunting humans, Sangster thought. It made sense. And it would explain how he’d got up so close to Harris and Burton to shoot them without them having a chance to defend themselves. He turned to Anderson. “Has he left anything behind?”

Anderson nodded. “See those footprints in the blood? They’ll be his.” He frowned. “He’s bloody confident now. Must reckon no one’s ever going to catch him.”

Sangster bristled. “Or he wants us to know it’s him. Maybe he’s proud of what he’s done. He wouldn’t be the first killer to want notoriety.”

Standing there looking at the young life snuffed out so violently, Sangster felt a weariness creep all over him. He nodded to Anderson and walked back outside. A waft of fresh air hit him in the face, blowing the stench from his nose, and the fatigue from his brain.

“Okay, Boss?” Dalton looked at him with concern.

Sangster nodded and pulled off the gloves and shoe covers.

“They’ve got a trace in Melbourne on the gun,” Dalton said, quickly. “A registered gunsmith down there remembers modifying one about 18 months ago.”

“Have they got a name and address?”

“Yep. They turned out to be false, but they’ve got a description of the man who took the gun in.” Dalton stared with a mixture of excitement and alarm on his face. “Tall, muscular, physically fit, balding…”

“Roberts!” Sangster stared at him, his worst fears realised. A policeman was the monster responsible for these barbaric murders.

Dalton frowned. “Doesn’t make sense though. Roberts would know we’d trace the gun back to him.”

“It makes perfect sense, Dave. He wants us to know it’s him. For some reason, he thinks he’s untouchable.” Sangster gritted his teeth. “Get an All Points Bulletin out on him, Dave, airports too. Pick him up before he goes to ground, if he hasn’t already.” He paused. “Did you find out who he’d worked for in Melbourne before coming up here?”

“Not yet.”

“And what about his mobile phone records? I want to know everyone the bastard’s been talking to.”

“They’re working on it, Boss.”

“Go back to HQ and supervise the work yourself, Dave. We need to find that connection between him, Ellen Chambers, Anthony Harris and Danny Burton. And we don’t have much time. I reckon the only thing keeping him in town now is that diary.” He looked at Dalton. “At least he hasn’t got that, or Susan Chambers. She’s at the British Consulate-General. I’ve just had a message from the British Consul.”

Dalton’s face broke into a smile.

Sangster nodded. “I’m going to pick them up on my way back to HQ. Susan’s still got that diary. We have to protect them from that maniac.

“Don’t worry,” Jess said, wishing she felt as confident as she sounded. She peered at the CCTV monitor. It all looked quiet outside the Consulate-General front door. She glanced over at Susan’s exhausted face. The poor girl hadn’t eaten or slept since she’d heard about her sister’s murder. Jess needed to do something about that.

“Now, we’re going to take the lift to the basement car park, Susan.” She tried to sound reassuring. “We’ll get my car, and drive straight to the Riverbank Hotel. It’s not far away, but we may need the car later. We can check into a room, get cleaned up and have something to eat. Then we’ll decide what to do. Okay?”

“Okay,” Susan repeated.

Jess squeezed her hand. The High Commissioner had told her to take Susan to Police HQ and stay there until he arrived. But Susan wouldn’t hear of it. She refused point blank. But she had agreed to go to the Riverbank. So that was a first step. “Now whatever happens, Susan, we must stay together.” She unlocked the front door, and peered out. Where was that police officer Tom was supposed to be sending over? They’d been waiting for over an hour. More likely, they were too stretched to spare anyone. She pulled out her mobile and dialled Sangster to check, but she got the engaged tone. “Tom,” she said, leaving a message. “Just to let you know your police officer never showed up. Anyway, I’m taking Susan to the Riverbank now. I know you’re busy so I’ll talk to you later.” She turned to Susan. “Come on,” she said and stepped outside the front door.

Susan followed.

“Press for the lift while I lock up.”

Susan did as she was told. But there was no sound of the lift cranking up.

“Press again.” Jess tried to sound calm, as she walked over to the stairwell door and peered through the glass window at the top. All quiet.

Susan stabbed the lift button again and again with her finger until they heard the motor start. They stood listening while the lift came up to their floor. Jess could feel her heart hammering. She was holding her breath as the lift stopped on their floor and the doors slid open.

“It’s empty.” Susan breathed.

In a flash, they were inside and pressing for the basement garage. The doors closed. They watched the button of each floor light up as they descended. Jess’s finger hovered over the lobby button. Should they stop and check for that police officer? No, better not.

The lift shuddered to a halt in the basement garage. Keeping her finger on the ‘open lift’ button, Jess peered out. Dimly lit, with concrete walls and floors, it looked more like a bunker. She scanned the empty garage… the shadowy pillars.

“Where’s your car?” Susan whispered.

“Not far from the exit. It’s the white Holden.” Jess pulled the car keys out of her pocket. “Come on.” She strode out of the lift then stopped. Her heels clicking on the concrete floor sounded like machine gun fire in the enclosed space. Rising onto her tiptoes, she scurried over to her car and pressed the zapper to open the doors.

Nothing happened.

She pressed again. “It won’t open.”

Suddenly the sound of the lift motor firing up was magnified in the silence.

“
Quick!
” Susan hissed. “
Someone’s coming.
”

Hands shaking, Jess rammed the ignition key into the door lock. To her relief, it clicked open. She slipped inside and opened the passenger door.

“
Go!
” Susan shouted as she jumped in.

Jess fired up the ignition, and reversed out of the parking bay, tyres squealing on the smooth surface. She accelerated towards the exit, then slammed her foot on the brakes. The security grill was down.

Susan had seen it and was out of the car in a flash. She pressed the button to open it and jumped back in the car.

They sat watch
ing the grill inch its way up.

“
Come on!
” Susan twisted in her seat to look over her shoulder.

Jess caught a flash of movement in her rear-view mirror. She inched the car closer to the grill. It hadn’t risen enough to get under. She squirmed in her seat as she looked in her driver mirror at a shadowy figure coming up from behind.

Her palms felt damp as she gripped the wheel. “Hold on, Susan.” She took her foot off the brake, and stamped on the accelerator. “
Duck!
” she shouted as she drove the car straight at the rising grill.

There was a loud scraping noise across the roof as the car shot under the metal shutter and out into the night.

*

Jess drove, grim-faced, with one eye on the road and the other in the rear-view mirror. All she could see were dazzling headlights in front and behind. She was conscious of Susan twisting round in her seat to look out of the back window.

“
Slow down, Jess.
The Riverbank is just up on the right.”

Spotting the hotel, Jess brought the car to a stop and manoeuvered into a parking space in the middle of a row of cars. She immediately switched off the engine and lights. “Have we lost him?”

Susan looked in her passenger mirror, then over her shoulder again. “I think so. I can’t see anyone stopping.”

“Did you get a look at him?”

“No. Did you?”

“No.” All Jess had seen was a dark shadow running up behind the car. But it was him. She was sure of that. It wasn’t only the dark clothes, it was the way he moved, so quick and agile. She glanced across at the hotel entrance. A doorman stood in the doorway, while a porter loitered on the steps ready to pounce on any guest with a suitcase. Should she leave the car parked on the street, or drive into the hotel’s underground car park? In the silence, she could hear the blood pounding in her ears. She checked both wing mirrors. No one on the pavement, and no headlights in her rear-view mirror.

Relaxing her grip on the steering wheel, she looked up at the sky. There was no moon now. The cloud cover made the night even darker, and a mist was rolling in from the river. Or was it mist? She wrinkled her nose. Was that smoke she could smell? She glanced over at the hotel again. Her eyes latched onto a familiar figure coming out. “That’s Richard Price!” Wiping the condensation from the window with the back of her hand to see better, she watched him stop under a street lamp to light up a cigarette. “There’s no mistaking those specs.”

Susan leant across her to get a better look.

Over the road, Price paced about, puffing on his cigarette. He was looking up and down the street as if waiting for someone. “Did Ellen ever mention him?” Jess asked.

“Ellen never talked about any of her work colleagues.”

“So what have
you
found out about him?” Jess asked, dryly. “He must be on your list.”

Susan gave her the ghost of a smile. “He was divorced from his wife recently. And his credit rating has been downgraded. Strange for someone in his position, I thought. So I did some digging. His wife got their two properties after the divorce. He kept the financial investments, but he’s lost most of it to the financial crash.”

Jess had to hand it to Susan, she was going to be a great investigative journalist one day.

“Which means,” Susan continued, “he couldn’t afford to lose his job to my sister. Perhaps
he’s
been the one taking bribes from the Chinese?”

Price looked at his watch again and threw his cigarette butt onto the ground. As if on impulse, he stepped into the road and hailed down a passing taxi. Jumping inside, the taxi moved off.

“Quick,” said Susan. “Follow him.”

Jess was about to switch on the engine, but stopped. “No, it’s too dangerous. Let’s stick to the plan.” She pulled out her mobile.

“Who are you phoning?”

“Tom Sangster. To tell him where we are.”

Susan glared at her.

“He’s the only one who can help us now. As I said, the High Commissioner wants us to go to Police HQ and wait for him there. He’s coming up to Brisbane tonight.”

“And as I said, I’d rather wait in the hotel until he gets here. It’d be safer.”

“
Safer
?. All Jess’s emotions were bubbling up again. Anger seemed to be pouring out of her. “We’d be safer without that bloody diary. If we’d given it to the police yesterday afternoon, we wouldn’t be sitting here now.”

“If
I’d
given it to him, you mean?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“It’s what you meant though.”

Jess pursed her lips.

Susan stared at her. “And Anthony Harris and Danny Burton might still be alive… Go on. Say it.”

And someone else is dead too, Jess thought, wishing she knew who the latest victim was. “It’s time to hand over that diary, Susan. It’s not worth your life, or mine.” Jess’s head was throbbing as, in the distance, she became aware of sirens.

“Okay, Jess.” Susan’s voice sounded weary. “We’ll do it your way. Let’s go and get the diary.”

“Where is it?”

“At my house.”

“All this time?”

“It’s well hidden.”

“Right.” Jess picked up her mobile from her lap. “I’m calling Tom Sangster first.”

Susan put her hand on her arm. “Let’s get the diary first. We can call him from my house.”

“It’s too dangerous to go alone, Susan.”

The wailing sirens were getting louder and louder now. Suddenly, a fire engine flashed by the end of the street. “I
thought
I could smell smoke.” Jess sat forward. “Where’s the fire?”

The hotel porter ran out onto the road to get a better look as another two fire engines flashed by. Jess wound down the driver’s window and stuck her head out. The smell of smoke hung thick in the air. “The fire’s close!”

But Susan was already out of the car and running over to the porter. He started talking to her and pointing excitedly.

Jess waited, frustrated, in two minds: the safety of the hotel or go and get that diary?

Susan ran back and jumped into the car. “There’s a fire at my paper, the
Echo
… You don’t think it’s because of me, do you?” She put her head in her hands as reality struck home. “Does someone think I left the diary there?” Distraught, she turned to Jess. “Tell me it’s not possible.”

Jess reached over and squeezed her hand. “We don’t know what’s happening.”

Two haunted eyes looked over at her. “This is all my fault.”

Jess said nothing.

Then, as if she’d flipped a switch, Susan said. “Quick, swap seats. We have to go past the
Echo
to get to my house. It’ll be quicker with me driving. I know the way.”

*

Jess sat rigid in the passenger seat, gripping the armrest with one hand, and her mobile with the other.
Oh my God
,. she whispered, as Susan pulled the car up alongside the kerb some distance from the fire and stared in horror at the scene. The gagging smoke filled the atmosphere, making them cough.

Down the street, Jess could see the road blocked by fire engines, their lights flashing in the darkness. A lone police officer stood in front waving his arms and hands, trying to turn traffic and people away.

Her chest tightened as she watched huge plumes of black smoke billow out of the windows of the lower floors.

Suddenly a loud explosion blasted from within the building, blowing out windows and shattering glass. She could hear shouting and screaming, as the fire gathered momentum, shooting flames into the sky. Ash, smoke and debris from the explosion fell onto the car and all around them. She could hear squealing tyres as nearby traffic ground to a halt.