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  As arranged, the three of them met up in the car park of the Golf Club; their last venue of the night. ‘How’d you go?’ Mike asked.

  ‘I bumped into Barbara, the receptionist from Water Resources, at the RSL Club and told her how sorry I was to hear about Pete and that you’d decided to give up on your crusade about corruption in the water game,’ said Sharon. ‘She lapped it up—the whole town will know by lunch time tomorrow, I’m guessing.’

  Pip was also smiling. ‘I went to the Bowling Club and bumped into the PA from local member John Burton’s office. We got chatting and I told her what we agreed; so Burton will know about it in the morning. Even if he’s not involved, the word will spread quickly from his PA.’

  ‘Ok, this is our last stop. This is where Pat McMahon comes to drink so we need to be careful what we say,’ counselled Mike.

  They went inside and immediately eyed the sergeant drinking with a few mates clustered around a poker machine. He saw them enter and gave Mike a cool nod.

  Taking a table near the bar, Mike went to get drinks. As the keno numbers appeared on the wall-mounted monitor they sipped their drinks and McMahon stopped by their table on his way to the bar.

  ‘Hi folks. What brings your little group here tonight?’ he asked. ‘Where’s your journalist mate?’

  Mike responded. ‘He’s gone, Pat. Decided he wasn’t welcome here and so took off back to Sydney. Left us high and dry over the story he was chasing. Figure we’ve got a few apologies to make to people; to you in particular.’

  ‘That’s not necessary, Mike. There’s no hard feelings on my part; or toward you, Sharon. Sometimes we get caught up in the excitement and say things we regret. I’m just pleased things can get back to normal around here now,’ he said with an annoying air of victory.

  ‘Yep, so it seems,’ said Sharon. ‘I’m back to reporting on the stock sales tomorrow.’ She gave Pat a forced beaming smile.

  He left them to go to the bar and then gave a friendly—triumphant—wave as he headed back to the poker machines.

  ‘Can we go now?’ said Sharon. ‘If we stay much longer I might punch someone—that selfserving bastard for one.’

  ‘I think we can’t do much more for now. If that doesn’t give them the message that we’re giving this up, nothing will. Now cross your fingers that they let poor little Jennifer go unharmed,’ said Mike.

  Chapter 47

  Vinnie’s phone was running hot. First he got a call from Steve Robertson telling him what Mike said to the barmaid at the Royal Hotel. Then it was McMahon wanting to put himself in the good books. The sergeant told him that Jack had bailed out, and that Mike Thompson had apologised for questioning him over the car accident. Vinnie immediately called Todd.

  ‘Seems like the little abduction and the recovery of the evidence have had the desired effect,’ he said, without introduction.

  ‘Is that so?’ replied Todd. ‘That’s confirmed, is it?’

  ‘Oh yes, heard it from two sources tonight. Seems that Miller’s departure has floored them and now they haven’t got the evidence Thompson was relying on—it’s time to back off,’ Vinnie added confidently.

  ‘That’s great news. How did you find out?’ asked Todd.

  ‘Thompson went looking for Wellsmore at his usual watering hole to apologise and then met the local journo and the chopper chick for a wake at the Golf Club, it seems. I reckon things will quieten down now. Should we release the little girl now? That whole thing makes me very nervous,’ said Vinnie.

  ‘Yeah, let’s do that. Make sure your cousin does it discretely. We don’t want any of our fingerprints on a kidnapping,’ stressed Todd.

  Vinnie immediately called Georgia.

  ‘Hey Vinnie, what’s happenin’ man. Give me some good news. We’ve had enough of this child minding shit. The kid is starting to come around again and we’re running low on drugs,’ said Georgia.

  ‘Yeah, taking her has had the desired effect so you can let her go. Make sure you leave her somewhere safe—in broad daylight—not far from where she lives, ok? Then call the journo and tell him where to find her. That way there’s no cops involved,’ Vinnie advised.

  ‘Yeah, we’ll take care of it in the morning. We’ve had enough of this gig. Bloody nerve-racking swiping a kid—serious stuff, cousin,’ said Georgia.

  ‘You’ve done good, G. I’ll make sure the cash gets to you next week. I owe you big time for this,’ said Vinnie.

  ‘Gotcha, cuz,’ said Georgia.

  Chapter 48

  Jack and Ange had been watching the clock, and becoming increasingly anxious as the minutes ticked by. Each time the phone rang they’d both felt a surge of adrenalin; only to be let down by calls from a work mate and a telemarketer. Ange’s new husband Richard also rang to say he was travelling home from Perth to comfort her.

  Jack had told Ange all he thought he should about the situation at Dawson, leaving out the part about Pip and the kiss. Even without the full details she was amazed by what he’d told her. This was just a momentary distraction, however, and they soon went back to suffering in silence. The gulf between them that ended their marriage seemed to extend even further as Ange sat there and occasionally burst into tears. His efforts to comfort her had been resolutely rejected.

  Now into the second day, Ange was more and more insistent they should call the police. ‘Give it another few hours,’ Jack pleaded. ‘If we’ve heard nothing by 10 then ok, we’ll call the police.’

  As nine o’clock came and went Ange started to pace and was clearly becoming more and more anxious to get the police there and on the case.

  Jack’s mobile rang. They both jumped and then stared at it. The screen said ‘private number’. Jack took a deep breath. ‘This is Jack Miller,’ he said, praying it wasn’t another bloody telemarketer.

  A muffled voice, female this time and clearly with a cloth of some description over the mouthpiece said, ‘Your little girl is at the park near the corner of Barker and Johannsen streets,’ and hung up.

  Ange was watching his face closely for some sign of what was being said. Jack leapt to his feet. ‘They said she’s been left at the park near the corner of Barker and Johannsen streets. Where is that? Quickly, we have to go to her.’

  Ange was both relieved and terrified. What had they done to her little girl? she wondered. ‘It’s about two blocks away. Quick, I’ll drive.’

  They sprinted out the front door and Ange had the car started before Jack could ease himself into the passenger’s seat. Ange spun the wheels as she reversed out the drive and screeched off toward the park.

  ‘What else did they say?’ Ange inquired.

  ‘Nothing, just that that was where she’d been left,’ he replied as he saw a small suburban park appear at the end of the street. ‘Is that it?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, can you see her?’

  The park was deserted at this hour on a school day. They both saw it at the same time; a small bundle of what looked like blankets on a park bench near the playground area, or maybe it was a homeless person sleeping off an alcohol binge? Ange stopped the car suddenly, jumped out and sprinted toward the shape. Jack took a little longer but wasn’t far behind her. Neither of them could believe she might be ok. Without saying it to one another, they’d both started to think they would never see her alive again.

  Ange sat down beside the blanket cover and gently eased it apart. There was Jennifer sleeping soundly, the most angelic look on her face. Ange put her hand in front of Jennifer’s mouth to feel her breath. ‘Oh God, Jack, I think she’s ok,’ she said, looking up at him with huge tears about to burst out of her eyelids.

  Jack reached down and stroked Jen’s cheek, ‘Yes, I think so,’ he said, tears also forming in his eyes.

  Ange kneeled and then cradled Jen in her arms. The tears were falling freely as she carried her back to the car. Jack followed, cursing his injured shoulder. Ange lay Jen on the back seat and Jack offered to ride in the back to restrain her for the short drive home. Tha
nk you God, he thought when Jen started to stir as they approached the house.

  Jen began to come around fully about 30 minutes later. Ange and Jack were both sitting beside her bed, each holding a hand. As she regained focus, a big smile broke out across her face. ‘Daddy, they said you were coming to visit.’

  Chapter 49

  Todd’s mobile phone rang again and he answered to the typically abrupt beginning from The Man. ‘Vinnie tells me you got the incriminating information back—that Miller has walked away—and the locals seem to have backed off.’

  ‘Yes, that’s what we’ve heard, and Miller just got his daughter back safe and sound. I reckon we won’t be hearing from him again,’ said Todd.

  ‘Good, this is all good. Now, what other loose ends do we have? Where’s Wellsmore?’

  ‘We still don’t know. McMahon tried to find out through Wellsmore’s stepdaughter—that went nowhere. When Wellsmore rang Vinnie to tell him about the whistleblower he was too cagey and wouldn’t tell him either,’ said Todd.

  ‘Well, find him. He’s still the weakest link and I want him out of the picture—permanently—you understand me?’ said The Man angrily.

  Todd was taken aback. ‘Paul, that’s a big call.’

  The Man fired back, ‘I know it is—but who’s got the most to lose here? If he comes back from the fucking wilderness it may fire up the locals to start digging again. If he was to have a dreadful accident out fishing or shooting or something then the issue would go away with him. We could all sleep better.’

  ‘Ok; do you want me to talk to Vinnie, or will you?’ asked Todd.

  ‘You do it,’ said Stannard, thinking to himself—I don’t want to be the one who pulls that trigger just in case this does come back to bite.

  ‘Leave it with me,’ Todd replied, reading the mind of the CEO. You bastard, he thought, ending the call; leave me to do the dirty work.

  A few hours later Todd called Vinnie and got right to business. ‘Good work with the kidnapping thing—kid’s back safely with her parents and it seems our nosey journo mate won’t be heading back to Dawson anytime soon. We’ve still got one little loose end to tie up though.’

  ‘And what might that be?’ Vinnie asked without hesitation.

  ‘The Man wants Wellsmore to have a fishing accident or something like that,’ he said, stressing that this wasn’t his idea.

  ‘That would be great if we knew where the silly bastard was,’ said Vinnie.

  ‘I figure he can’t be far away. How else would he have been able to find out who the snitch was?’ responded Todd.

  ‘Ok, I’ll ask around a few of his other mates tomorrow—they must know of somewhere he’d go to lie low. If I find him, how serious is his accident supposed to be?’ asked Vinnie.

  ‘Let’s just say we hope he’s got his funeral plan all paid up,’ Todd said with finality.

  ‘Oh, that serious. This guy must really be a liability now, huh?’ replied Vinnie.

  ‘You could say that,’ said Todd, sounding less certain.

  Chapter 50

  Jennifer bounced back to normal in a few hours and it seemed her memory of the abduction was not haunting her—not yet anyway. Jack decided he should let Pip and the others know. Ange, while relieved, was not hiding her resentment at Jack about what had triggered the kidnapping and so he offered to go get some take-away food—about which Jennifer was ecstatic. ‘I’ll be back shortly,’ he said. ‘How about some Maccas?’ Jennifer was even more excited. Ange wasn’t!

  He called Pip from the car park at MacDonald’s. ‘Hey, Jacky boy, how you going?’ she asked, her voiced tinged with concern.

  ‘Good news, Pip, they dropped Jen off near Ange’s place about three hours ago. They had her sedated but she seems to have come out of that ok. Did you guys do anything up there to help this along?’ he asked.

  Pip told him about their various visits to pubs and clubs, spreading the word about them giving up.

  ‘You guys are legends. I reckon that’s what did it,’ he said. ‘How can I thank you?’

  ‘It’s nothing, ok? These guys will do anything, we know that. Now we have to decide what to do next, if anything. Mike and Sharon aren’t giving up, but after what happened to Jen it might be best you stay out of this,’ suggested Pip.

  ‘What about you? This is not your fight you know,’ he said, concern evident in his voice.

  ‘I’ll probably keep helping them—you know, finish what you start and all that,’ she replied, then added. ‘When it’s all over I might pay you a visit in Sydney, Jacky boy—haven’t seen my parents in a while and you can buy me dinner at Doyle’s by the harbour,’ she chuckled.

  Jack knew the decision had just been made for him—her calling him Jacky boy and that laugh—he was going back to help. But first, he’d have to make sure Ange and Jen were out of harm’s way.

  ‘I’ll keep you to that. Stay safe, won’t you,’ he said.

  ‘You bet, and we’re overjoyed that you got Jen back ok. Talk soon.’

  Chapter 51

  Pip called both Sharon and Mike and gave them the good news about Jen’s return. They agreed that Sharon and Pip would fly out to Mike’s for another council of war over breakfast the next morning.

  Landing at Mike’s and walking toward the homestead, they could smell the familiar and mouth watering odour of bacon cooking. ‘Yum,’ said Pip, ‘I love that smell.’

  ‘Hope you’re hungry,’ replied Sharon. ‘A bush brekkie is never small, you know.’

  Sure enough, after welcoming them and inviting them to sit, Mike produced three huge plates of food. Sharon and Pip exchanged knowing looks.

  ‘Jesus, Mike, can I have a bit more? This looks a bit light on,’ said Sharon teasing.

  They all laughed. The return of Jennifer had buoyed their spirits ready for the fight.

  ‘So, Pip, it seems Jack will stay away?’ queried Mike.

  ‘I got that feeling. I think he’s still in shock over the kidnapping, so we’re on our own now,’ she answered.

  ‘That’s understandable,’ said Sharon. ‘With his bruised body parts, it’s probably best he stays put anyway.’

  ‘Well then, where does that leave us? Have you spoken to Luke and Mark since we got back?’ Mike asked of Sharon.

  ‘Yes, late yesterday. I spoke to Luke and filled him in on what happened to Mary and the kidnapping. He wasn’t happy—to put it mildly—that we hadn’t told him about it, although he was very impressed with our play-acting to help get her back. He said he’d call this morning with an update on how he and Mark were going with getting approval to pursue this. He said that without Mary’s evidence it could be tricky for Mark, but the kidnapping probably changed all that. That’s serious shit—to quote Luke.’

  As if scripted, Mike’s phone rang and he answered. ‘It’s Luke,’ he mouthed at them.

  ‘Put him on speaker phone,’ suggested Sharon.

  ‘Hang on a moment please, Luke. How the hell do I do that Sharon?’ asked Mike.

  ‘Here, give it to me, you technophobe,’ said Sharon smiling and taking charge.

  ‘Hey Luke, good timing, we were just talking about you. Hold on there, I’ll try to put you on speaker phone.’ Sharon pushed a button on the base station and they could hear room noises and paper shuffling. ‘Can you hear me,’ asked Sharon.

  ‘Loud and clear,’ said Luke. ‘Hi, everyone,’ his voiced crackled through the speaker. ‘Listen, I’ll get straight to the point as I’ve got another meeting to get to. I’ve got some good news for you. I gave a full briefing to my Commander late last night and he’s agreed that we should get involved even though it’s technically not our patch. He also spoke to someone high up over at ICAC and they’ve agreed to activate this as a formal investigation. Because of where this might lead politically, and with big business involvement, they think it’s best for now if we don’t advertise the investigation. Mark’s going to stay down here for now and pursue some of those angles we drew up on the whiteboard involvin
g the Water Department et cetera and I’ll come out there, under cover, to follow up some lines of investigation and give you a bit of back up. How does that sound?’

  As he was speaking the three of them were looking at the speaker, but then glanced at one another with emerging smiles and looks of relief. They didn’t realise he’d stopped talking until he said, ‘Hey, is there anyone there?’

  ‘Sorry, Lukey,’ replied Sharon. ‘We’re all a bit shocked and of course bloody pleased to hear this news. Thank you so much.’

  ‘Hey, no worries. I’m keen to get up there and start unravelling this case. I’m booked on the midday flight today. Can one of you suggest a cover for me? I’ll need to get some clothes to look the part—riding boots, jeans and blue KingGee shirt, I suppose,’ said Luke teasingly.

  Mike spoke up, ignoring his crack about rural clothing. ‘You’re welcome to come stay at my place. That way we could claim you’re a nephew or something like that.’

  ‘Hmm, that might seem a little too coincidental, Mike; and aren’t you a ways out of town? I think I need to be closer to the action,’ replied Luke.

  ‘I’d offer you a bed at my place, but that could be a bit tricky with my man and all—if you get what I mean,’ said Sharon.

  With that, Mike and Sharon looked toward Pip. She’d seen it coming. ‘I guess that leaves me,’ said Pip, ‘and of course you can stay with me, Luke. You could be my brother, I suppose; but since we haven’t met that might be a silly suggestion.’ Sharon, with a gleam in her eye, said, ‘Maybe a lover rather than a brother.’ Pip gave her a look that could kill.

  Sharon continued on, ‘Pip’s originally from Sydney, Luke, so you could be an old flame come to visit; and that way you won’t have to get a new wardrobe. Pip’s chopper could be handy for moving around quickly if you need to as well. I’d suggest Pip picks you up and you guys put on a bit of a show for the locals at the airport, you know hug and kiss—don’t just shake hands. I’ll show Pip some snaps of you, Luke—well, not all of them maybe—so she can recognise you.’ Sharon was enjoying herself.