Wasted Lives, a Detective Mike Bridger novel

by Mark Bredenbeck

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Jane had answered on the first ring; she was actually in the Police Station dealing with one of her ‘clients’ deaths whilst in the custody of police. Her voice was all business, with a tinge of blame laced into each syllable. She must know of the connection he had with this case and the death, but she did not even acknowledge it. Bridger had not even bothered to engage in conversation before cutting the connection. He knew damn well, whose death she was dealing with, and it figured as much. He was standing in the lift on his way down to the cellblock level, fuming. He was beginning to get a very uneasy feeling about Jane and her secrets, if she was playing games with him; they were sick and misguided and it was putting his friends’ lives at risk. She needed to tell him anything she knew about ‘Her clients’ and he wasn’t going to take any of her shit.

  The lift opened and he stomped out into the concrete corridor. He banged his shoulder against the steel door as he miss timed his electronic key tag with the lock opening, only serving to increase his anger.

  Inside the watch-house area it was a hive of activity, the watch-house staff had escorted the remaining prisoners out the back and placed them inside the prison escort van for temporary shelter as the blue circus got to work on the remains of Baz Ropata. Superintendant Bill Hoskins the Southern Area Commander was standing in the corner with the Senior Sergeant in charge of the cellblock and one of his unfortunate staff members, a very nervous looking young constable. There was a male dressed in a dark suit that he recognised as a Doctor the Police used on an on call basis as well as well as the Coroner who had made an appearance for once, but right in the middle of them, holding court, like only a woman could, was Jane Little. She looked very sexy, very educated… and very messed up. The sight of her sharing what looked like a joke with the men hanging on her every word pulled him up short; did he feel a tinge of jealousy at what he saw? He did not really have time to worry about that.

  “Jane, can I see you in the office over here please.” He did not bother to acknowledge any of the men standing with her, despite two of them outranking him. He was indicating the empty room off to his right.

  “Hi Mike, sure I can speak with you… will you excuse me gentleman.” She flashed him a smile with a mischievous glint in her eye before making her way over towards him.

  “Detective Sergeant Bridger, I need to speak with you on a number of issues regarding what’s happening today” The Superintendants voice was calm and confident but Bridger had no time for him right now. His mood dictated that it would not be a good idea anyway; the only questions he would ask would be to explain his behaviour and that would not help find his colleagues. He did not need to make an enemy of the Area Commander.

  He replied as calmly as he could “As soon as I find Jo and John… Sir…. You can have my undivided attention…”

  He shut the door behind Jane as she entered, catching the Superintendants questioning look before he shut the blinds shutting out everybody else but them. Jane brushed up against his arm, and he breathed in her fragrance as it invaded his nostrils.

  “Trying to get me alone Mike? I did not think you would be into this sort of thing. You know your boss is outside, don’t you” She went to kiss him but he brushed her off and went over to the wall facing away from her.

  “Jesus Jane, will you just give it a rest for once, do you have any concept of what is actually going on here?” He turned back to face her and saw a single tear running down her cheek, there was a look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before, a slight vulnerability. It was only there for a second before it disappeared and she wiped her cheek. “I’m sorry Mike, it’s just the way I am when I get stressed, it’s like I can’t help it.”

  Bridger stared back at her wondering if that were true or not.

  “The Superintendant has just told me about your workmates Mike, it’s awful. It really is... Is that why you asked me about Laura earlier, is she involved in this? Were those photos of your friends?”

  Bridger’s mood softened, but only slightly, at seeing Jane actually upset “What involvement do you have in all of this?”

  “What…? Nothing… I do not know anything about your colleagues. What do you think I am?”

  “I don’t think you are anything Jane I’m just trying to find my wife and colleagues and your name keeps popping up.” Bridger decided to lay all his cards on the table, he did not have time for games. “Are you Joseph Kingi’s lawyer?”

  “No, but one of my colleagues is…”

  She did not hesitate at answering but Bridger noticed slight concern flash through her eyes

  “My firm takes care of the legal aid work, you know that Mike… Joseph is one of our clients.”

  “Do you know anything about his attempts at getting his conviction overturned?”

  “That is something we are working on at the moment, yes… I shouldn’t be telling you this Mike, but it relies on us proving that a police officer planted evidence.”

  The look on Jane’s face told Bridger that she was back to being all business. This was just a game to her. Was she privy to Kingi’s plan? Did she even know what her client was up to?

  He tried to speak as calmly as he could “Do you know that it is Kingi and his son who have our Detectives?” Bridger pulled the false confession out of his pocket “He is using it as leverage to get me to lodge this as evidence.” He passed the letter over to Jane who unfolded it and began reading.

  “Is this true Mike? Were you the one he has been talking about…?”

  “Of course it’s not fucking true, Jane, its bullshit, I just wrote that to get myself out of the prison and back to help Laura and my colleagues.” He looked into her eyes searching for a reaction “But there is another player in all this mess as well and he doesn’t want Kingi out of jail and so is threatening my wife…, his name is David McLaren.” This time the look of concern in Jane’s eyes was more evident “He is your client isn’t he.”

  “He… he is Mike, but I haven’t done anything for him recently. He is still in prison up in Auckland and will be for most of the rest of his life.” Her eyes took on a confused look.

  Bridger wondered if she or her firm knew that their clients were out to get each other, it certainly did not look like they had done their homework on them before taking them on.

  “Did you know he had a son here in Dunedin?”

  “I didn’t Mike, I have only been acting for him for the last couple of years though…”

  “Well he does Jane; he has as son, and that is the next part of all this mess. He wants me to protect his son, look out for his welfare, and make sure he does not get into any trouble. His terms were, my wife’s protection in exchange for that privilege, but since no one has seen Laura since she left your office, and we have just shot his son, I cannot see that working to well now. Can you?”

  “Are you saying I had something to do with this Mike?” her voice hardened.

  Bridger did not really think she would be involved, he knew deep down this was all happening because of the sick power plays of desperate men, but he was still angry and needed to take it out on someone.

  “She was at your office Jane; I saw a photograph of you and her standing outside. How would someone know that she would be there? Now she is gone and you were the last to see her…” Even before he finished talking, he regretted saying it.

  Jane spat out her reply instantly “Fuck you Mike, I resent that…, I would never harm your wife… you do more harm to her by not keeping it in your pants, you should think about that…”

  The door opened behind them, breaking the moment. Bridger saw the look in Jane’s eyes telling him that this conversation was not finished as Gillian Holler came through the door followed by Detective Inspector Matthews and Brian Johnson. The look on Gillian’s face was concern, Brian was all business, and the look on Matthews face was a barely contained rage. All three of them were wearing police issue stab proof vests.

  “There you bloody well are Bri
dger; I thought you had disappeared again… Hi Jane.” Matthews acknowledged Jane with a nod when he realised Bridger was not alone. Jane returned a tight smile.

  Brian butted in “Gillian could not find your wife at work or anywhere else Mike, have you been able to raise her?”

  Bridger had been afraid of this outcome, he had it in the back of his mind that Laura would be somewhere else and everything would be all right, even though the way his luck was going that it was extremely unlikely.

  “That means that Kingi junior has her as well as John and Jo.” Bridger had resigned himself to that fact now and he found himself almost detached from what he was saying.

  “Grant and Becky are out canvassing their informants and shaking some other trees,” Brian said. “Someone out there must know where the gang have them.”

  “We would have other staff as well but they are tied up with the two extra deaths we now have on our hands, so it’s not ideal… What staff can be spared are making door to door enquiries all over the neighbourhood but it looks like we are going to have to deal with this ourselves as best and fast as we can before we lose anyone else” Matthews looked directly at Bridger when he spoke but his voice had no trace of blame in it. Instead, Bridger detected an angry determination, something he had not seen much of before in him. He looked ready for action. Bridger just wished he knew where to start that action; he started to feel lacking again.

  Matthews’s words had quietened the room as they all contemplated what he had just said. Bridger looked at each one of them in turn; they were all facing him but looking at the floor at the same time, as if they too were unsure of his ability but had to defer to him as the leader. He looked at Matthews, there was something different in his eyes, he could not quite place it but despite Matthews outranking him significantly, even he seemed to be looking towards him for direction.

  Gillian’s mobile phone rang in her pocket and she answered on the third ring. She thanked the caller then cut the connection looking at Bridger. “Steve Kirkland has just told me a neighbour saw Martin coming out of the pad a short time before Joseph’s BMW and four other vehicles left in a big hurry.”

  “We already know they moved them somewhere though Gill, how does that help us?” Bridger asked.

  “Martin was there at the pad before John and Jo were moved Mike, he may know where they went. Did he say anything to you?”

  “He didn’t get a chance, Ken shot him…” Bridger was trying to recall their brief and strained conversation. Nothing stood out in his mind, Martin had gotten angry at the mention of his father and then Ken Moore had put a bullet through his shoulder. He had said something though, after he was shot… the parcel… but that made no sense…

  “The only thing he said, but it makes no sense is ‘The parcel’. Don’t ask me what that means… he was pretty out of it at the time so I could have misheard”

  A short silence as everyone tried to work out whether this meant anything could help them.

  “What if it wasn’t the parcel he was saying…?” Jane’s voice came from behind their group and turned their heads. “I grew up in Corstaphine… I went to primary school with many of the gang members who are still up there. There was one place we liked to play as children and that was the old ruin of The Cliff’s. The locals know that place as Cargill’s Castle, don’t they? What if it was ‘The castle’ Martin was talking about and not any parcel.”

  “I had to lock up a gang member a couple of years ago,” Brian said, excitement growing in his voice as he spoke “I couldn’t find him at first, I tried everywhere… I finally found him after a tip off… he was at that old ruin, it looked like he had been practically living there…”

  Gillian was standing quietly listening to the conversation, nodding her head in agreement.

  Bridger looked over at Jane who gave a small smile in return. He took a deep breath; this had to be it… “We have no other options at this point; I say we move on the old castle…”

  No one needed telling twice.