The Great Divide

by L. J. M. Owen

  Max glanced at his father who seemed to be elsewhere. ‘No.’

  ‘Would either of you mind if I took a look around the girls’ home buildings?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Max said.

  Jake was weighing up his next question when, from the front of the building, he heard a groaning screech followed by a pause then a series of sharp cracks.

  Glad to return to the portico and escape the fusty air of the manor’s interior, Jake watched a white Land Cruiser climb the gradient, enormous tyres crunching fallen branches on the shambolic driveway. Parking perpendicular to the portico, Senior Sergeant Aiden Kelly unfolded himself from the unmarked vehicle and stood waiting, arms crossed.

  ‘Hunter.’

  ‘Sir.’

  ‘Evelyn.’

  ‘Father.’

  Jake’s initial impression of Kelly on Monday morning had been that of a man certain of his place in life and pleased with it. Tall, solid, not yet running to fat despite being in his late fifties, every hair on Kelly’s head was in place. Perhaps his daughter’s excessive emphasis on personal grooming was a family trait.

  ‘Mason … and, ah, Max. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.’

  ‘Spur of the moment trip, Mr Kelly. Just a quick visit.’

  ‘We should shortly be joined by’—Kelly craned his neck to watch a small man in a rumpled suit pick his way up the tangled drive—‘Liam O’Brien. I left a message for him to meet me here, rather than breaking the news to him over the phone.’

  Moments later, O’Brien—all wisps of white hair and clouded blue eyes astride an enormous, vein-ravaged nose—arrived next to Kelly, panting and peering at the gathering in puzzlement. Despite their differing states of mortality, Jake could see a strong resemblance between this man and Ava O’Brien.

  ‘Aiden,’ O’Brien greeted Kelly, sounding a touch the worse for wear. ‘Got your message. You said Ava was found at the girls’ home. Where is she?’

  ‘Liam, come inside,’ Kelly said as he climbed the steps to the porch. As Kelly’s daughter and the Campbells shuffled back inside and proceeded down the hallway to the kitchen, Jake paused for his boss.

  Once O’Brien entered the foyer, Kelly reached out to grasp him by the forearm and shake his hand. ‘I called past your house earlier.’

  ‘I wasn’t home this morning.’

  ‘Sorry to have to tell you this, Liam, but I wanted to let you know in person. Ava is gone.’

  Liam O’Brien stared at Aiden Kelly, unmoving, for a full ten seconds. The only sound in the foyer was the tick-tick of a dusty antique grandfather clock.

  Jake had forgotten how rotten delivering the news of a loved one’s passing felt. He’d been shielded from this side of the job for far too long.

  ‘Was it her heart?’ O’Brien mumbled. ‘We lost our dad to a heart attack.’

  ‘We don’t know the cause of death yet,’ Kelly said. ‘She’s been taken to the hospital. We’ll need you to go in and formally identify her.’

  ‘Why? You know who she is.’

  ‘It’s a legal necessity, Liam. Again, I’m sorry.’

  Kelly led them toward the kitchen, with O’Brien in tow and Jake bringing up the rear. After they had taken seats at the table, the bereaved man looked glassily at Mason Campbell.

  ‘Did you find her?’

  ‘I’m the one who discovered your sister, Mr O’Brien,’ Jake answered. ‘I’m Detective Jake Hunter. She was actually in the vineyard, not the former children’s home.’

  ‘But you said …’ O’Brien began, looking askance at Kelly. ‘I don’t understand. Why was she out there?’

  ‘Did Ava often visit here, Mr O’Brien? Mr Campbell?’ Jake asked.

  Both men shook their heads. ‘I don’t think she’s ever been back, not since we had to close it down,’ O’Brien answered. ‘Mason?’

  ‘Never saw her here,’ he confirmed.

  ‘This isn’t making sense.’ Anger crept into O’Brien’s voice. ‘What were you doing in the vineyard looking for her? Who told you she was there?’

  Jake felt a twinge of pity for the him. ‘Initially, we were searching for a missing child from the campground. We located him in the vineyard. He mentioned having seen a … something there, so I returned to investigate.’

  ‘But what was Ava doing there?’ O’Brien repeated.

  ‘We’d like to work that out,’ Jake said, his eyes flick­ing to his superior officer and back to O’Brien again. ‘Do you feel up to helping us piece together her last few hours?’

  Liam O’Brien took an enormous breath, held it for several seconds, then seemed to settle his emotional distress in a single exhalation. ‘The burdens of the flesh have lifted,’ he chanted solemnly, ‘and all sins are forgiven. She is gone home to God; may she rest in his bosom for all eternity.’ He gave a wan smile. ‘Right. Detective Hunter, Aiden, fire away.’

  Jake had seen people take solace in their religion to deal with grief before, but rarely with such alacrity.

  ‘If you’re sure, Liam?’ Kelly asked. ‘We don’t have to do this now, or here.’

  ‘No time like the present. What do you want to know?’

  ‘Thank you, Mr O’Brien.’ Jake rose and indicated the doorway to the lounge room. ‘Would you please come this way?’

  O’Brien shook his head and fanned his arm over the table. ‘Here’s fine.’

  Jake looked to Kelly for support.

  ‘Please, everyone stay,’ O’Brien insisted.

  The senior sergeant nodded his agreement and Jake resumed his seat.

  Wondering why his superior officer would allow others to observe what should be a semi-formal interview, Jake set his phone on the table in front of them to record the conversation.

  ‘Could you please tell us when you last saw Ava, Mr O’Brien?’

  O’Brien hunched slightly. ‘Wednesday. We had dinner at her house as usual.’

  ‘Do you mean you normally saw her on a Wednesday evening?’

  ‘Unless one of us was sick, yes.’

  ‘You usually checked on her a couple of times through the week too, Liam?’ Kelly added.

  ‘A quick call Saturdays and Mondays, usually.’

  ‘And did she seem her usual self on Wednesday?’ Jake asked.

  ‘Yes. She carried on about burning dinner and fussed over some girls she used to look after, but that’s Ava. Always the worrier.’

  ‘Was she concerned about anything or anyone in particular?’

  ‘Ava always wants everyone to get along,’ O’Brien said. ‘She mentioned a couple of girls from the home bickering, or some such.’

  ‘Do you know their names?’

  ‘I never really paid attention to that kind of thing,’ he said.

  Jake looked at Kelly, who nodded. Good. There should be records to help them to identify the girls Ava had referred to.

  ‘And you haven’t seen your sister since?’

  ‘That was only two nights ago.’ O’Brien’s face fell. ‘I had no way of knowing that would be our last meal together.’

  How much could Jake push him at this point? ‘If you don’t mind my asking, Mr O’Brien, where were you last night?’

  ‘At the pub.’

  Aiden Kelly frowned. ‘Bit unusual for you, Liam?’

  ‘I was at a loose end, so I went out for some company. Drank far more than was good for me, so I stayed in one of the rooms upstairs.’

  ‘Was it a special occasion?’ Jake asked.

  ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘You said you were at a loose end. Was there any partic­ular reason for that?’

  Liam O’Brien waved a hand at a surprised Max Campbell. ‘Young Max here. Normally I see Mason on a Thursday evening to play some chess, but as Max is visiting Mason suggested we hold off until next week.’

  �
�You didn’t say anything, Dad?’

  ‘You only bother with me once in a blue moon,’ his father replied, ‘so I figured chess could wait a week.’

  Jake was willing to bet that Mason Campbell’s attitude toward his son was a key reason they rarely saw each other.

  ‘And you’ve lived in Dunton for how long, Mr O’Brien?’ Jake asked.

  ‘Nigh on thirty years.’

  ‘You came here to run the girls’ home with your sister?’

  O’Brien shook his head. ‘I just helped out occasionally. She ran the place.’

  ‘Did Ava have many friends?’

  ‘No, she mostly preferred her own company.’

  Come on, Jake demanded silently, give me something. Someone either hated or feared your sister, or what she stood for. No one tortures, kills and dumps a frail old woman without motive.

  ‘Did Ava have any trouble with neighbours?’ he asked aloud. ‘Other people in the past?’

  ‘I don’t think so. Everyone liked her …’

  ‘She was a fine woman, your sister,’ Mason Campbell said.

  ‘Can you think of any reason why she might have been around here, or in the vineyard, last night?’ Jake continued.

  O’Brien shook his head.

  ‘Even when she lived at the home she never went in there.’

  ‘Is that right, Mr Campbell?’

  ‘No one’s allowed near my grapes.’ Campbell’s eyebrows met again. ‘Unless they’re working for me.’

  Max Campbell muttered something sotto voce.

  Jake was aware that neither Kelly nor his daughter were contributing to the conversation. He glanced in their direction. They appeared to be as engrossed in the exchange as spectators at a tennis match.

  ‘Did your sister have a car?’ he asked O’Brien.

  ‘A little red two-door thing.’

  ‘Any chance you have a spare key? And perhaps one to her home as well?’

  O’Brien pulled a crowded keyring from his trouser pocket and handed it to Jake. ‘They’re the ones with a red strip of tape on them. You can have them.’

  ‘We’ll be sure to return them to you.’

  ‘I don’t need them. And you can just give all her things to charity.’

  In Jake’s experience, family members often regretted their initial impulse to give all of a loved one’s things away. ‘That’s up to the executor of her will. But wouldn’t she have any mementos you’d like to claim? Family heirlooms perhaps?’

  ‘I’ve already got what’s important to me.’

  ‘We’ll do everything we can to find out what happened to your sister, Liam.’ Kelly said finally, indicating the interview was at an end.

  ‘Thanks, Aiden.’

  ‘I talked to you about moving her into a home a few times. It’s a pity she didn’t or maybe this could have been avoided.’

  ‘I know, but she was stubborn.’

  ‘Was Ava experiencing health problems?’ Jake asked.

  ‘No, it’s more …’

  ‘Women on their own,’ Mason Campbell interjected. ‘It’s not right, is it?’

  ‘Same for old men,’ his son niggled.

  ‘Pah.’ Mason waved a dismissive hand.

  ‘Ava insisted she had earned the right to live exactly as she wanted,’ O’Brien said, ‘and that was by herself.’

  ‘Would you like one of us to drive you to the hospital to identify her?’ Jake offered.

  O’Brien looked at Kelly. ‘Do I have to go straight away?’

  ‘No. Tomorrow’s fine. Or Monday if you prefer.’

  ‘I’d rather do it then.’

  ‘I’ll have either Patrick Murphy or Hunter here take you.’

  ‘Righto. I … I guess I’ll be off then.’

  Having removed the two keys with red tape on them, Jake handed the keyring back. ‘Do you have anyone to be with right now, Mr O’Brien?’

  ‘A few friends in town. Might go for a drink tonight, raise a glass to Ava.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ Kelly said as they all rose from the table and headed down the hallway.

  As they bid O’Brien farewell at the front door, Jake realised Evelyn Kelly had been resolutely silent during the entire exchange. Where was the counselling she was apparently being paid to deliver?

  ‘If you’re all off, let me grab you a bottle each.’

  ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, Dad, no.’ Max glanced apologetically at Ms Kelly. ‘Sorry.’

  She gave the barest of shrugs.

  Mason Campbell ignored his son to shuffle to a hulking sideboard in the foyer and gingerly bend over. He retrieved two wine bottles and presented them with a flourish to Jake and Kelly. ‘I hope it’s not considered a bribe.’ He winked.

  ‘Of course not.’ Kelly nodded at Jake, who took the proffered magnum. The label sported an image of some old English lord and the name ‘Primae’.

  Mason Campbell stepped to one side to let the men file out. As Evelyn Kelly reached the front door he smacked her on the behind. ‘You’re a good girl, always were.’

  ‘Jesus, Dad,’ Max said. ‘You can’t do stuff like that anymore.’

  ‘It’s fine,’ Aiden Kelly said as he reached out to shake Mason Campbell’s hand. ‘No harm done.’

  Evelyn pushed past her father to storm down the path, Max close on her heels.

  Jake scrutinised his superior officer, who seemed oblivious. An unwelcome, familiar wariness crept into the back of Jake’s mind. He headed down the stairs to catch the others.

  ‘I’m sure he has dementia,’ Max was apologising again. ‘He’s changed so much, but I can’t get anyone to come and assess him.’

  ‘He seems exactly the same to me,’ Evelyn spat, her eyes narrowing. ‘So do you. When are you leaving?’ She spun on one heel to stalk down the driveway.

  ‘Evelyn, I …’ Max Campbell called, then shrugged. ‘Oh well, what’s done is done.’

  ‘Care to explain?’ Jake asked as they strolled back toward the front stairs.

  ‘I went to live with my mother in Melbourne when I finished year ten. I told Evelyn she could come with me. She didn’t, of course. We were just kids. But I don’t think she’s ever forgiven me.’

  ‘Surely that was a long time ago?’

  Beyond the rusted gate Evelyn planted her foot hard enough on the accelerator to fling mud and small stones in her wake.

  ‘Twenty-five years, at least.’ He paused. ‘If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.’

  ‘Thanks, Mr Campbell.’

  ‘Max, please.’

  As he waited for Kelly to finish his farewells Jake noticed a statue of a child in a nearby garden bed, its feet buried in moss and leaves. Drizzle collected in the carved creases that formed the child’s locks of hair, channelling it into tiny rivulets that cascaded down its cheeks.

  ‘Hunter,’ Kelly said, marching down the stairs and opening his car door.

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘Look, it’s not worth me having a go at Mason over that nonsense. He’s old and unwell. Evelyn knows that. She’ll be fine.’ He winked at Jake.

  Jake teetered uncertainly between the urge to express his concerns and the need to build a solid relationship with his new boss.

  ‘Now, where are you up to and what do you need?’ Kelly asked. ‘I assume you have Murphy off taking statements?’

  The moment was lost.

  ‘I’ve asked him to go through the list of campers to see if any of them have priors, and if so, to make sure they’re still in town. We also have locations to secure—the vineyard, the girls’ home and Ava O’Brien’s home—and her car to locate. Then we need to interview the Taylor boy, see what the forensics people have to say, and start on the paperwork.’

  Until that moment Jake had put the monumental volume of paperwork attached to
an accidental death—let alone a potential homicide—out of his mind. Bugger.

  ‘FSST?’ Kelly asked.

  ‘They can’t send anyone till Monday. By which time anything in the vineyard will have washed away.’

  ‘I don’t suppose you have any experience with forensics?’

  ‘Not particularly. Just the basics.’

  ‘Is there an obvious cause of death?

  Jake shook his head.

  ‘Signs of a struggle near the body?’

  ‘Not that I could see, but I took soil and leaf matter samples from the surrounding area to confirm. I’d say she was attacked elsewhere and carried into the vineyard.’

  ‘Murphy said there was damage to her hands?’

  ‘Yes. We’ll have to wait until they’re cleaned to see what might have caused it.’

  ‘Is there any chance she walked herself in and somehow died of natural causes?’

  ‘The large footprints we found in the vineyard would argue against that, but we can’t rule it out completely just yet.’

  ‘Then that’s the first thing we need to ascertain—exactly what are we dealing with?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘You and Murphy head to the hospital ASAP. That pathologist tends to work slowly, so let’s push her for some results. And let’s hope it’s some kind of unusual death by misadventure. If not, we need to get on top of this now before it hits the media. Let’s do everything by the book, eh?’

  That was a touch insulting—Jake was a consummate professional. But, he reminded himself, Kelly wasn’t to know that.

  ‘I’ll secure both locations, see if I can locate the vehicle and— depending on what the pathologist says—see if I can push along some resources from FSST,’ Kelly said with an unexpected lopsided grin. ‘Didn’t expect a possible homicide your first week in the country, I bet?’

  Jake began to walk down the rutted driveway to his car. ‘No, sir.’

  ‘And Hunter?’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘Pass all the paperwork on to Murphy. He’s got to learn it sometime. Just make sure it’s decent before he submits it.’

  An unexpected offer. Jake smiled a little for the first time in days. ‘Certainly.’

  *

  Twisting along a muddied gravel road into the embrace of the mountains, Jake stared out the side window of Murphy’s patrol vehicle at the ragged, peeling trunks of sun-starved blue gums.