‘What’s that?’ Shane’s voice came from the depths of the cave.
‘Oh, nothing, mate,’ Matt answered.‘There’s a car behind that looks a bit like the one that pushed me off the road a while back. I’m wondering if it could be the same one.’
Shane unzipped the curtains and clambered through to the front, peering into the rear-vision mirror as he slid into the passenger’s seat.
‘Jeez, he’s going a bit quick.’
Matt took a deep breath as the car pulled out to pass.‘Here we go,’ he said.
Both men watched as the car sprang forward and gained ground, overtaking them as quickly as it had appeared in the mirror.
As it passed the driver’s side door, Matt looked down and his eyes widened with a mixture of amusement and disgust as he saw a young woman with her shirt open, the driver’s hand down caressing her breast. The woman looked up at Matt and ran her tongue over her lips suggestively.
‘Idiots! Check this out,’ Matt said.
Shane leaned forward. ‘What is it? I can’t see.’
‘He’s trying to chop her up and she doesn’t mind letting everyone know it.’ It was the way truckies talked about sex in the cab of a truck. Chopping them up. Matt had never worked out the correlation. It sounded terrible!
The sports car wobbled over the middle white line and back over to the left-hand side of the road, pulling away from Matt and Shane quickly.
‘I bet we see them in the next parking bay or motel. Don’t know why they have to put everyone else on the road at risk by doing that sort of shit while they’re driving,’ Matt said crossly.
‘Heard a couple of blokes talking on the CB about a little business a couple of local girls have got going back there at Ceduna. Seems they think us blokes need a little bit of home comfort while we’re away.’ Shane shot a glance at Matt, his eyebrows raised.
‘Not for me,’ Matt said firmly.
‘You never know. It’s there if you need it.’
Matt fought down disgust at the prospect of sex with anyone other than Anna, then turned his concentration back to the sports car. It was almost out of sight.
‘I wish I’d seen the driver better, but the car sure looked the same,’ he said.
‘Did you get the number plate of the other car?’
‘Nah, he just went past so quickly,’ Matt replied, then he had an idea. ‘I should be recording the number plates so I know if I’ve seen the car more than once!’ he exclaimed. ‘Why didn’t I think of that before now?’
‘That would be one way of knowing,’ Shane agreed. ‘There are some wankers on the road, no two ways about it.’
They settled back into silence, watching the low, scrubby bush interspersed with farming land go by. It was dry and desolate out here and Matt had wondered more than once how the farmers out this way made any money. The crop stubbles were thin and the sheep always looked like they were struggling to find something to eat.
As they slowed down to drive through Wirrulla they saw the black car parked at the pub.
‘There they are,’ Shane said. ‘Bet they’ve got themselves a room.’
Matt eased his foot off the pedal again and the road train pulled up slowly.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’ve gotta see this bloke,’ he said.‘I need to know it wasn’t him.’
Shane looked over at him. ‘Mate, you need to let it go. How’re you gonna know anyway?’
‘I don’t know, but I need to eyeball him. I’ll explain later, but it’s really important that I do.’
With the engine still running, Matt noted the number plate, jumped down from the cab and ran across the road, flinging open the pub door. A few old-timers nursing half-empty schooners turned to look at him as he scanned the front bar and then made his way to the dining room. There was the blonde woman from the car, sitting with a large, muscly dark-haired man. Crossing the room, he walked to the toilets and looked back over his shoulder to see the man from behind.
The woman must have recognised his face because she blushed when she looked up and saw him standing there.The man turned around.
It wasn’t him. Or was it? Matt really didn’t know.
Disappointment flooded through him and he felt stupid. What did you expect? he asked himself. There must be heaps of black sports cars around.
He turned and almost ran into Shane, who had followed him.
‘Was it him, mate?’ Shane asked when they got outside.
‘Can’t be sure, but I don’t think so.’
‘Mate, you’re like a dog with a bone. Once you make up your mind to do something, nothing is going to stop you.’
‘You are dead right,’ Matt said. ‘You are dead right.’
‘How are you going to tell when it’s the right one?’ Shane asked curiously. ‘You don’t seem to know much about the car or the driver.’
Matt thought about that and he realised that Shane was right. Did he imagine he would actually recognise the man when he saw him?
He shrugged, not really knowing the answer. The one thing he was certain of was a black car seemed to equal thefts. His fatigue forgotten, Matt climbed back into the truck. If he had to stop and check every one of them until he found the one he was looking for, he would damn well do it, he vowed.
Chapter 38
Dave Burrows stared at the whiteboard, frowning. He glanced back to the map that was lying open on his desk and once again retraced the roads to all the farms that had had items stolen from them.
There was definitely something here, but what? Briefly he thought of ringing Craig, his ex-partner, who’d lost his heart to a South Aussie girl and gave up policing to marry her, then remembered that he was away overseas, holidaying. Craig wouldn’t be any use.
Neither would the new cop Dave had just been paired up with. The third one in as many years. No one seemed to want to work in the stock squad anymore. It was pretty clear the State Government didn’t support the squad either. Cutbacks on spending made it difficult to operate and there were times he felt he was fighting a one-man battle and that he was a dying breed.
The phone call he’d received from Kate the day before had sent the familiar surge of adrenalin through him. Her tale of thefts and unhelpful policemen had sounded more than intriguing.
‘Dave, I think we’ve got a problem that might be right up your alley. We reckon we’ve got a serial robber working over here.’
Dave had wanted to burst into fits of laughter at Kate’s terminology and serious tone, but he knew better.
‘Why do you say that?
‘Well it all started when our mate Matt had fertiliser taken from his paddock. You’ve talked to my friend Anna, remember?’
‘Yep, I do.’
‘Since then we’ve found another ten farmers around the district – including us – who have had things taken, from chemicals to fencing gear, utes and generators – even bales of wool!
‘We had only three thefts this year, but the more investigation and talking we do, the more we find. Most of them are small things one person can take, like the generator or the fencing gear, but you’d need two people to pinch a ute, and the chemical too. It was in big hundred-litre enviro-drums, so one bloke isn’t going to be able to load them on the back of a ute by himself unless he’s got a forklift – and if he did have a forklift, then surely someone would have seen lights or heard noises.
‘Another couple of things that seem to tie the thefts together is that all except two blokes have seen a black sports car in the area shortly before they were robbed, and all the farms are either on no-through roads or they’re quite isolated. I know you think our areas aren’t remote compared to the top of WA, but when it comes to the ranges leading up to the Flinders they are. There’s not a lot of traffic, unless it’s local. To see a strange car is pretty unusual.’
‘Have you got a list of dates and the items that were taken?’ Dave asked.
‘Yep, I can email it to you. Sam and Matt have been talking to all th
e fellas who were robbed so they’ve got as much info as the police. But like I told you, the cops don’t seem to care. All they’ve done is give every one of us an incident report for insurance and leave it at that. That’s why I’m calling you. Do you think you could help us?’
‘Kate, I can’t do anything officially – I’m not part of the South Australian police force. But look, send me your list and if I think there’s something there, I’ll let you know – but this is just between you and me, okay?’
‘Dave, you’re a legend. I’ll shoot the email off straight away.’
As he went through the information Kate had sent, Dave knew there was something amiss. He tapped his fingers on the table, wondering who he should call in the South Australian police. He flicked through his files and took out a dog-eared business card, then dialled the mobile phone number, hoping Geoff Hay, the police officer he had dealt with when he’d been investigating the stock stealing in Port Pirie, was still around.
The phone was answered.‘Hay.’
‘G’day, Geoff. It’s Dave Burrows from the WA Stock Squad. How are you?’
There was a silence in which Geoff must have connected the name with the man he had met three or four years before, then he said, ‘Well I’ll be buggered! Dave Burrows. How are you, mate? And to what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘Yeah, it’s been a while. You still in Port Pirie?’
‘No, I shifted about two years ago. I’m in Adelaide now, heading up the major crash unit.’
‘Great stuff. Look I’ve had some good drum land on my desk and I’ve been throwing it around for a bit. Can you tip me into someone who can help me with it, or can you lend a hand yourself?’
‘Things are a bit slow here at the moment, so give it to me and I’ll see what I can do. What’s it about?’
‘Seems to be some goods going missing from farms in the middle of SA – not as high up as before, more around the Spalding/Clare area with a radius of about two to three hundred kilometres. With the details I’ve got, and the experience I’ve had over here, I’d say there’s something going on.’
‘Sounds interesting.’
‘Between you and me, it’s my cousin who’s put me on to it – they’ve had a collector’s motorbike taken and their mate lost a truckload of fertiliser. There’s plenty of other goods been walking as well. What do you reckon – should I send it through?’
‘Yeah, mate. Give us the details and I’ll have a look. What’s your number?’
Dave recited his number and then said, ‘From what my cousin says they’ve no idea who’s doing it but one thing that seems to be a constant is a black sports car seen in the area. No number plate, but surely there can’t be too many black sports cars around there. A couple of the blokes seemed to think it might be a Mazda RX-8.’
Geoff whistled. ‘Flash. All right, leave it with me. I’ll get back to you.’
Dave hung up the phone and turned back to the whiteboard. Then something occurred to him, and he typed in the address of the Bureau of Meteorology’s website and clicked on moon phases. He looked back at the dates that Kate had supplied him with, then checked every single one against the information on the computer. Then he nodded. Whoever was doing this was pretty organised.They only stole on moonlit nights, which would explain why no one reported seeing any lights. They wouldn’t be needed. Nor would anyone take any notice if their dogs were a bit noisier than usual. Every dog barked during the full moon.
‘Look out, whoever you are,’ Dave murmured, excitement filling him. ‘The coppers are coming and we’ll find you.’
Chapter 39
Matt cleaned up his plate and frying pan from dinner and then wondered what he would do with the rest of his evening. Jimmy was busy tonight and so far he had seen nothing that interested him on TV.
He’d kept it turned on anyway, for noise and company. Jasper settled at his feet.
With the love and care Matt had showered on him since he’d grabbed him from the back of Harper’s ute, Jasper’s coat had become glossy and he didn’t wince when he was patted. Whenever he looked at Matt, his mouth hung open in a huge doggy smile. Seeing the difference in him, Matt knew he should have listened to Anna the first time she took him.
‘She tried to get me to take you, didn’t she, old mate?’ he said, patting Jasper’s head. ‘She’s always been good at reading people. I should have listened to her.’
Jasper thumped his tail on the floor and grinned at Matt.
Restless, Matt picked up his mobile phone and replayed the message he had kept. He was now certain that one of the voices belonged to Alec Harper, but there was something else. The more he listened to the message, the more convinced he became there was something else in the call he recognised, but it was just beyond his reach. He was sure if he kept listening and thinking it would come to him.
He’d spoken with Jimmy about it and he had been just as bemused as Matt himself.
‘I don’t like the sound of that message, lad,’ Jimmy had said. ‘There’re some tough things happening there.You’d best keep well away from it.’
‘If I thought the coppers would do something, I’d take it to them.’
Jimmy shook his head. ‘Steer clear of something like that. Delete it and forget about it.’
But that had been easier said than done.
The problem was he still didn’t understand why the message had ended up on his phone. It haunted him during the early morning hours when he couldn’t sleep and nagged at him along those long straight stretches of the highway when there was nothing but him and the road.
Why? Why him?
Man and dog sat there for a while but still restless and agitated, Matt got up again. ‘This is stupid. It’s not even 6.30 pm and I haven’t got anything to do. Let’s see what Jimmy’s got downstairs in the way of freight. We’re supposed to be heading to Broken Hill next run. I wonder what we’ll be carrying.’
Jasper leapt to his feet and barked.
Together they headed downstairs. As they got to the bottom, Matt heard his mobile phone ring and groaned, but realising it might be Ella calling to say goodnight, he ran up the stairs two at a time, Jasper trying to keep up. He snatched the phone off the table just as it stopped ringing.
‘Bugger.’
The phone registered a missed call from Sam, so Matt called his friend’s number. He’d been waiting for this call.
Sam answered on the first ring. ‘G’day, Matt.’
‘How’re you going? Got any news?’
‘Yeah, Dave’s keen. He reckons you’re on to something. He’s waiting to hear back from someone in the police department over here to see what the next step is.’
Matt let out a breath and shut his eyes in relief. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Finally someone who had the power to do something believed him.‘Bloody brilliant,’ he said quietly.
‘Thought you’d be pleased. And look, there’s something else. Kate found a message on the answering machine last night. Just let me swap phones so I can play it to you.’
Matt listened as Sam fumbled with the receiver then heard the long high squeal as the two phones fed into each other.
‘Okay, can you hear?’ asked Sam.
‘Yep.’
‘Right, here we go.’
‘I know you’re asking questions. Stop it now. Or someone will get hurt.
’ Matt frowned.‘Did it say to stop asking questions? ’he asked as Sam came back on to the phone.
‘Yep. I think we’re on the right track, don’t you?’
‘Well, yeah,’ he said slowly, ‘can you tell whether the voice is male or female?’
‘Female we think,’ Sam responded. ‘Although it’s a bit muffled.’
‘I wonder how serious she is about hurting someone.’ Matt mused. ‘We’ve obviously stepped on some toes. Just makes me a bit nervous after all the talk of murder and money in the other message. I guess we should be nervous, but I’d be more inclined to think that we’v
e annoyed someone and they’re warning us off, rather than wanting to act. Does Dave know about it?’
‘I’ll let him know when he calls back. I guess we just keep on going as we have been, eh?’
‘Yeah,’ Matt said slowly, wondering if that was the right thing to do. Maybe they should just ring Dave again and tell him. Get his advice. Then he gave a snort of laughter. ‘Yep, that’s exactly what we should do. I mean, we’re normal people. It’s not like we’re about to get taken down by the Mafia or something!’
Sam chuckled. ‘Right you are. Talk to you when I know a bit more.’
Matt hung up, thinking about the conversation he’d already had with Jimmy and how he’d been as bemused as Matt had.
He flicked open his notebook, his hand hovering with the pen. He had no idea what to write. He wondered for a moment if the two strange messages could be related, but quickly dismissed the idea. One was male – Alec, as they knew – and the other voice was female. Plus two completely different phones. The only link was Sam and he were friends.
Matt kept pondering, but couldn’t come up with anything logical, so he stuffed the mobile in his pocket and headed off downstairs again, his mind still whirling. He wandered between the pallets of washing machines and fridges, crates of smaller electrical items and parts for machinery. Finally he pushed his way right to the back of the shed and started looking at the beer and wine.
He always got a bit of a kick when it was clear he was carrying a birthday or Christmas present, but it all looked like mundane freight this time.
As he turned, a door almost hidden in the shadows caught his eye. He’d never noticed it before in the corner of the two joining back walls. Puzzled he walked in between the crates and pallets, Jasper at his heels.
When pushed the door swung open quietly and easily. He put a foot inside, his hand feeling for a light switch and, with a click, the room was bathed in light from a single naked bulb.
His eyes adjusted to the brightness and he looked around. It was just an empty storeroom.
Matt shrugged and was about to leave the room when he noticed a dip in the floor. Taking a step forward he realised it was a trapdoor. He eyed it curiously then reached down and tugged on the hefty iron ring, but it wouldn’t budge.
Purple Roads Page 22
