Fifty Fifty (Detective Harriet Blue #2)(12)

‘Is this not you?’ Kash gave a crooked, patronising grin.

‘Oh, fuck off.’

‘No one told me I was going to have to babysit an insubordinate, dangerous state cop while I was posted here,’ he said. ‘This was supposed to be a very exclusive task force. Me, advising the local authority.’ He jabbed a thumb in Snale’s direction. ‘That’s how it works with this type of case. You get an expert in, and he infiltrates, taking the suspects down when they show themselves. If I have to have you along, I don’t want any of this kind of behaviour.’

He thrust the newspaper page at me. I let it slide to the floor of the car.

‘Maybe you’re feeling hostile because of your brother’s situation,’ Kash said. ‘Maybe you’re always like this, and that’s some indication of why Samuel did what he did. I don’t know. But I don’t want you going off half-cocked and hurting someone on my watch. I’m going to need you to keep it contained while you’re out here, Officer.’

‘I’m going to need you to call a dentist.’ I put my legs down, leaned in to his face. ‘Because the next time you talk to me like that, I’m gonna kick you in the mouth.’

We watched each other. Only Snale drew our eyes away, approaching the car, her notebook still in hand.

‘We’ve got our first lead,’ she announced. ‘A suspect. It’s not good news.’





Chapter 17


A GROUP OF men in Akubras had assembled by the edge of the road, talking animatedly, now and then pointing towards the town. Angry, and unable to look at each other. This didn’t bode well. Snale had managed to rein in her grief but she had the sunken look of someone who had much crying to do yet. She stood beside the passenger-side door with Kash, looking in on me.

‘Chief Campbell retired about six months ago,’ Snale explained to me. ‘I’m the only cop on active duty in the town. It was a long handover, and sometimes Soupy would help me out if I needed it. He got special approval to keep his handgun and cuffs for that very reason. Everything’s been fine. You know, the usual sort of stuff. Drink-driving is my main problem around here. But I have been having some troubles with this kid named Zac Taby and his little crew of misfits.’

‘How old’s Taby?’ I asked.

‘Fifteen,’ Snale said. ‘One of our senior students.’

‘ You guys have got your own school down there?’ I looked at the tiny town below us. It hardly seemed to have enough buildings.

‘Of the town’s seventy-five residents, twelve are kids,’ Snale said. ‘There’s a little schoolhouse behind the post office. Two teachers. Five seniors and seven juniors.’

‘And those guys reckon this Taby kid’s written the diary?’ I said. ‘Makes sense. The book’s full of praise for idiot teens. So they think they’re looking for an idiot teen. Who are they, anyway?’

‘They’re just local farmers.’ Snale glanced back at them. ‘They say they’ve seen Taby around the junkyard over in Tibooburra playing with engine parts. He’s basically everybody’s first suspect when anything happens around here. I have questioned Zac but I wasn’t convinced he had anything to do with the diary.’

‘What made you so sure?’

Snale shrugged. ‘He’s been in and out of the station a lot, and I’ve always had him write statements of what’s occurred. Zac hates writing. Why would he spend hours upon hours constructing a handwritten diary?’

‘If a kid’s interested in something, they’ll put in the effort,’ I said.

‘What’s Taby’s religious background?’ Kash asked.

‘Oh, I’m not sure. If you want to go to church around here you’ve got to drive all the way to Fowlers Gap. That’s Catholic. There are no mosques out here.’

‘So he might be Muslim?’ Kash had perked up, like a dog catching a scent.

‘ I don’t know.’ Snale shrugged again. ‘He’s Pakistani. His is the only non-white family in the valley. People have always given the Taby family a hard time. Problem isn’t just whether the Taby kid is responsible for this. It’s that people think he is.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Once things get reported as fact in small towns, they remain fact. And people decide facts for themselves out here. There was a rape over in the next town last year. Everybody decided it was the local plumber who did it. He had an alibi and everything, and the DNA didn’t match. But once people had decided, that was it. They ran him out of town.’ Snale already looked stressed. She walked back towards the men on the side of the road.

Kash beckoned for the diary on the seat beside me.

‘Probably better give me that,’ he said. ‘It’ll be safer in my custody. I’ll do an analysis of the content and draw up a report.’

I didn’t move to hand him the diary. He raised an eyebrow, his hand out, waiting.

‘I’m not playing this game,’ I said.

‘What game?’

‘This one.’ I pointed to his chest, mine. ‘This territorial crap. This stupid dance, where you tell me to step off, wave your dick around, puff your chest out. That shit doesn’t work on me.’

‘It doesn’t?’