Disclaimer: Blue Heelers does not belong to me. It belongs to Channel Seven and Southern Star. The only things that belong to me are the plot, and some of the characters – i.e. Brett, Olivia, etc.
SAPPHIRES AND DIAMONDSChapter 4: Suspicion
Jonesy and Susie finally arrived at Brett's house – they had travelled all the way in silence, much to Jonesy's displeasure. They got out of the car, and walked up to the front door. Susie knocked, whilst Jonesy took a step back and looked up at Olivia's window. He realised it was quite old fashioned; it was split into two vertically, and opened both inwards and outwards. A metal shutter swung out from above it to block the sun, and would have reached around halfway down the window when it was put into its down position. There was a looped cord at the bottom of the shutter, for securing it in place with a metal pole, about eight centimetres long, underneath the window, that acted as a clasp. Jonesy noticed a metal pane was missing near the bottom of it.
Brett answered the door, and saw Susie standing there.
"Senior Constable Raynor!" He greeted.
"Susie," she clarified, throwing him a smile, "May we come in?"
"We?" Brett looked confused. He had not yet seen Jonesy.
Evan stepped back in behind Susie, with a greeting nod of his head thrown Brett's way.
"Senior Constable Jones," Brett greeted, with far less enthusiasm.
Jonesy did not allow the man the liberty of calling him anything other.
Susie, not sensing the tension between the men, continued smiling, "Um, Brett?"
"Oh, yes, yes. Come in," he held the door open and stepped aside to let the two officers through.
"We have some good news, Brett," Susie informed him, "We have a good description of a suspect, and we have found where he stole the car he used in the abduction from."
"That's great news! Thank-you so much," Brett replied, but his face still could not hide the sad dread that had consumed him.
"Also, we think we may have found out how the kidnapper got in to your daughter's bedroom. Would Senior Constable Jones be allowed to go up and take a look?" Susie requested.
"Of course," Brett replied, "Do you need me for anything, or can I go back to the kitchen?"
"You can go back to the kitchen, we'll manage just fine," Susie smiled before turning to Jonesy. "You go upstairs and take a look from the window – I'll look around outside," she said as soon as Brett had gone.
Jonesy nodded and jogged upstairs. He did not notice Susie staring after him, a small smile playing on her face, before she bit her lip, turned on her heel, and walked out the door.
When he got to Olivia's bedroom, Jonesy headed straight for the window. He put on a pair of gloves, and opened the window out. He stuck his head out into the faint sunlight of a wintry afternoon, and glanced down below him. Susie was standing there, looking back at him, waiting to give out instructions.
"How do you think he got up there?" she called. "How did he use the rope?"
"Probably as a lasso," Jonesy called back. "He might have looped it around the shutter latch, or something."
"Would it be strong enough?"
"Should be, but it's the length I'm worried about. It looks like the rope would slip off when he started climbing, but it would be easier than looping it around the shutter."
"Maybe he figured out another way around it. Could you come down here, please? There may be a way of telling how."
Jonesy went back downstairs, and out to underneath the window. He saw Susie grabbing something from the backseat of the police car. She swung around, a coiled rope draped over her shoulder.
"Think you're any good at lassoing?" Susie grinned as she approached Jonesy, holding out the rope to him.
"I could give it a try," he smiled back.
He took the rope from Susie, and tied a knot in it. "Are you sure this is the same length he used?"
"Kelly and Joss told me the missing rope was an eight metre rope," Susie replied, turning her gaze back up to the window.
Jonesy swung the rope in circles above his head a few times, before throwing it at the shutter. It hit the shutter, but was nowhere near wide enough to loop around it.
Jonesy frowned, and narrowed his eyes at the shutter, "He couldn't have thrown it around the shutter. No matter how wide he made the loop, by the time you throw it up, it narrows, and there's no way it can loop around a metre-and-a-half wide shutter."
"Then how did he get up?" Susie followed his gaze to the shutter, "Are you sure there is no way he could have looped it over the clasp?"
"Positive," Jonesy frowned, thinking about Susie's words. Are you sure there is no way he could have looped it… "But maybe he didn't lasso it, after all."
As Susie looked at Jonesy in confusion, waiting for him to enlighten her, Evan untied the knot he had made for a lasso. He tied another knot in the end of the string. He in fact tied several knots, one of top of the other, until one big, long, heavy knot rested in the end of the rope.
"See how there is about a five centimetre gap between each of the metal panes on the shutter?" Jonesy asked Susie.
"Yes…"
"And there's also one pane – the third one from the bottom – missing?"
"Yes, but a few of the shutters around the house are like that – they must have got damaged in shipping," Susie replied, looking at Jonesy. "What are you getting at?"
"Our abductor may not have lassoed the rope, but he may have looped it," Jonesy threw the heavy, knotted end of the rope at the gap in the shutter – it went through perfectly. The knot continued to fall through, and landed back at the same height of the other end of the rope.
Jonesy smiled triumphantly, still holding onto the rope. Susie looked at him, her face quite frankly displaying she was impressed.
Jonesy grabbed both ends of the rope in his hands, planted his foot on the wall, and tested the shutter. He gave a slight tug on the rope, but the shutter pulled down a bit. Jonesy hesitated a little, before pulling the shutter down completely. He had been right; when the shutter was fully down, it covered the top half of the window.
"Are you a good climber?" he asked Susie suddenly.
"Yes, why do you as- oh, no! I am not climbing up that thing!" She said, jumping back from Jonesy who was reaching for her hand.
"Come on," Jonesy pleaded. "One of us has to do it, and I could never make it up there on a rope."
"Fine," Susie relented, "But you so owe me one!"
Jonesy grabbed her hand, and shoved the two ends of the rope in it, before running upstairs to the window.
"Ready?" he called down to Susie. She glared up at him, planted her foot on the wall, and started to walk up it, putting all her weight on the rope.
When she got up to window, she nodded at Jonesy, and he closed it and put the latch down. Susie grabbed a small twig, which she had pulled off a bush in the garden while Jonesy had run upstairs, from her pocket. She slipped it between the two panes of the window, and knocked the latch up with it. Jonesy almost laughed at her face – she looked so sick, only holding on with the one hand. As soon as she had unlocked the window, she quickly put her second hand back on the rope. Using her foot, she carefully prodded the window open. When it was open wide enough, she put one foot on the sill, but as she went to put her second foot there, she slipped.
"Suse!" Jonesy cried, shoving his head out the window.
"Calm down, Jonesy, I'm fine!" Susie replied, looking everything but. She was still grimly holding on to the rope, and swung a little to get her foot back on the wall. She re-climbed the metre she had just fallen, and again planted a foot on the windowsill. This time she made it up.
"Are your sure you are alright?" Jonesy asked worriedly, as she limbo-ed under the closed shutter.
"Yes, Jonesy," she replied, giving him a small smile.
"Okay, so we know how he got in," Jonesy looked around the room. "But how did he carry her out?"
"Well, I'd say this is probably where the quilt comes in," Susie smiled. "Maybe he made a sling out of it. If he tied two opposite corners together around his shoulder, and lay her in the almost-hammock like blanket, it would have been easy enough to carry her down, but his neck would have been very sore by the end of it."
"That would explain it," Jonesy chewed on the inside of his cheek. "But we still need to track down those three men at Chris saw at the pub."
"There's only one I'm interested in," Susie replied.
"Suse, he may best match the description, but there's no way of knowing for sure – it could be any of them. Or, it may not be even one of them. Maybe it's just a co-incidence, but we've got to find all of them, anyway."
"Fine, I'll just go and tell Brett we're done," Susie said, becoming slightly distracted.
"I'll come with y–" Jonesy started, but Susie interrupted.
"No, I'll only be a few minutes, I'll be fine. You just go to the car."
When she left the room, Jonesy slowly headed down the stairs, and out to the car. "You would only need half a minute if that's all you were telling him," he muttered under his breath.
Kelly heard the service desk bell ring, and looked up at the surveillance screen. A little blonde girl, barely able to reach the bell, was standing there. Kelly got up and went to see her – could this be the missing girl?
She got to the desk, and froze.
"They've got her!" The little girl was almost yelling, eyes darting around the room. "You must come! There were men – big men! They – they came to the park! They had guns, and, and, I told her to hide, Miss, but she didn't! I was hiding under the slide, but she, she just stood there. Why didn't she hide? And then they gone and took her! I was trying to find my way home – mummy had dropped us off at the park, and she was going to be coming back, but, but then Cassy was taken! I couldn't find my way home, but I saw the blue and white squares on your sign, and realised this was a police station!"
Kelly couldn't talk. She must be dreaming! Of course she was. How else would she be able to see her six-year-old self standing right in front of her?
"Miss?" the girl asked, scared. "Please, Miss Police Lady, I need your help!"
Kelly answered, in barely more than a whisper. "What's your name?"
"Kelly, Miss."
"Surname?" Kelly gulped.
"What's a surname?"
"Your last name."
"Oh – O'Rourke. Kelly O'Rourke, Miss," The girl answered, eyes still darting everywhere.
"Kelly O'Rourke? Do you know where you live?"
"Yes, at home."
"I mean street name, number."
"Oh, no, I don't. But that's not important; you have to help me find Cassy!"
"I'll need to find your mummy first. Do you know where we can find her?"
"Don't worry about her! We have to find Cassy!" The little girl screamed, and began crying.
Kelly's breath shuddered, and she felt tears in her eyes.
"Kelly?"
Kelly snapped around, and saw Joss standing in the doorway to the station.
"What?" she murmured.
"Who are you talking to?"
"This little gir–" Kelly looked back in front of the desk, but there was nobody there.
Joss looked at her, concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…nothing. Um, I think I need a caffeine boost." She laughed slightly.
"Right. Well, if you need anything, or you want to talk, I'm here."
"I'm fine!" Kelly snapped.
Susie finally joined Jonesy in the car, she looked a little flushed.
"Everything okay?" Jonesy asked as he backed out of the driveway.
"Yeah, everything's fine," Susie answered distractedly, staring into space.
Jonesy did not bother asking anything else, because he thought he knew what had happened in the three minutes since he had last seen Susie.
"We have to find those men Chris was talking about," Susie said after a moment's silence.
"I got a call while I was waiting for you – one of them is back at the pub."
"Excellent, let's grab him for questioning."
When they got to the pub, a very harassed-looking Chris came up to greet them.
"Thank goodness you two are here," she said, glancing back over her shoulder at a man who had a chair in his hands, and was screaming something incoherent. "That's one of the men I was telling you about. He's had a bit much to drink; do you think you could kindly escort him out? I don't care what you do with him after that."
While Susie thanked Chris, Jonesy went over and tapped the man on the shoulder. The man whirled around, bearing the chair at Jonesy.
"Excuse me, Sir," Jonesy said in an overly cheerful voice. "Would you mind accompanying me off the premises?"
Susie now took her place next to Jonesy.
"What?" said the man. "You think I'm having too much too drink?" His words slurred heavily; Susie looked repulsed, but the man continued on, "Well, too bad. I'm having a good time, now stand back!"
Neither of them budged, so the man brought the chair around with full force, and slammed it into Susie's stomach. She doubled over in pain, while Jonesy grabbed the chair out of the man's hands, and punched him in the face. The man reeled back, cupping his hands to his nose, where blood was streaming out. Jonesy grabbed his wrists, and snapped handcuffs on.
"Sir, you are under arrest," Jonesy practically spat into the man's ear, "For failure to leave premise when asked too, and assault of a police officer."
Jonesy hauled the man to the car, and then ran back in to check on Susie.
"Suse," he said, bending over her crouched form and helping her too her feet. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah," Susie began, sarcasm dripping from her voice, "I feel absolutely peachy."
Jonesy pulled her arm around his shoulders, and helped her to the car.
"I was just asking," he said, feebly.
"Well, Jonesy," Susie said, turning her head to look at him. "Do I look okay?"
"No really, no."
"Then you have your answer!"
"Kelly, are you sure you are alright?"
"Fine, it was nothing, really…"
"You're not looking too great," Joss stated unnecessarily; Kelly glared at him. "Maybe you should ask Sarge if you can have the afternoon off."
"I think I'll do that, actually," Kelly mumbled, getting up and going to find Mark.
On her way, she passed Susie and Jonesy as they came back into the station. Jonesy had one arm holding Susie's around his shoulders, guiding her through the hallway, and with the other he was pushing a man along in front of him.
"Need a hand?" Kelly asked, forgetting her own troubles for a moment.
"Thanks," Jonesy said, looking grateful. "Can you accompany Mister Ngyuen here to the interview room? Keep an eye on him – I'll be there in a minute."
"Sure," Kelly replied, grabbing Mr. Ngyuen by the jacket and hauling him in front of her.
Jonesy continued to lead Susie into the mess room, where he helped her to sit down.
"I could have walked in by myself," she said icily.
"Of course you could have," said Jonesy, glancing out the frosted window. "But at the pace you were going, I could have solved the case by then, and we all know how much you would've loved that."
"Jonesy!" Susie laughed, but stopped abruptly, grabbing her stomach. "Ouch," she whispered.
A sincere look of concern appeared on Jonesy's face.
"You just take it easy," he told her. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"But I have to sit in on the interview," Susie complained. "I'm part of this investigation, too!"
"I know, Suse," Jonesy answered patiently, and struggled to keep a grin off his face – Susie was pouting. "Just wait while I get the Boss; we have to report the assault. Plus, he'll probably want to sit on the interview as well."
Susie huffed and angrily folded her arms. "Okay," she relented, "Just be quick."
After a long minute, Jonesy and the Boss finally appeared in the mess room.
"Raynor," Tom began, taking the seat beside her while Evan stood by the door. "Jones here told me about what happened. Do you really think you're up to an interview?"
"Yes, I do, Boss," Susie stated indignantly.
"Fine, have it your way," the Senior Sergeant relented. "But if you feel worse at any stage, you must excuse yourself from the room – that's an order."
Susie nodded slightly in consent. Tom stood up, and headed out of the room. On the way, he passed Jonesy.
"She won't take herself out," whispered Tom, "If she's going to faint on us, I don't care if you have to carry her out of there – just get her out!"
"Yes Boss," Jonesy murmured in reply, before going to help Susie stand up.
When all three were in the interview room, Tom commenced.
"Lui Nguyen," he began. "Where were you between nine and ten-thirty this morning?"
Then man looked sour, and crossed his arms as though in protest to speaking.
"Need I remind you," Jonesy said casually from the corner behind Tom, "That if you refuse to co-operate, we'll add 'hindering police' to your charges."
"What charges?" Lui asked, feigning innocence.
"Assault of Police and kidnapping," Jonesy replied, taking a few menacing steps closer.
This seemed to panic Lui, and his barrier of defence was torn down. "I didn't kidnap anybody!" he exclaimed.
"Then where were you between nine and ten-thirty this morning?" Tom asked again.
"At the station," Lui answered, with nervous glances in Jonesy's direction; blood was still trickling down from his nose. "Picking up my brother and his family."
"Can they confirm this?" Susie asked weakly; Jonesy glanced concernedly in her direction.
"Yes, yes," Lui answered, his eyes still on Jonesy. "They are at the pub now, they hired out a room."
"May I ask how you got that nasty cut on your forehead?" Jonesy asked, an idea hitting him suddenly.
"I am a little clumsy," Lui answered hastily. "I accidentally walked into my clothes drier – it's attached to the top of my wall," he added when he saw the disbelief on all three faces.
"Car to take you sandals off, sir?" Jonesy requested. When Lui did so, he added, "Now show us the bottom of your feet."
Lui complied – there were many scratches and cuts all over the soles of his feet.
Susie and Tom exchanged glances.
"Are you sure you don't want to change your story?" Tom asked him.
"Positive," Lui answered, slipping his thongs back on.
"Chris, the bartender from the imperial claims to have seen you with your niece," Susie began, her voice lacking its characteristic determined edge.
"She may have," Lui replied, his eyes not leaving Jonesy. "I have taken her out many times."
"Do you have a picture of her?" Jonesy asked/
"No. If you want to see her, just go down to the pub!"
"I think we'll do just that," Tom said, getting to his feet and going over to the recorder to officially end the session.
When Jonesy had lead Mr Nguyen to the cell, he went back to the interview room to talk to the Boss and Susie.
"We'll go down to the pub now, if you want, Bo-" Jonesy began.
"We?" Tom began. "Who exactly are you implying by 'we'?"
"Me and Susie, Boss."
"Raynor is in no condition to carry out the investigation. She took a very heavy blow. I think a visit to the hospital is in order for her."
"Boss, I'll be fine," Susie spoke up, looking agitated. "I am still in the room, you know, you could just talk directly for me. If you really want me to, I can drop by the hospital after work."
"Fine, but I really think you shouldn't go out again, Raynor."
"I'm feeling a lot better, Boss," Susie lied. At least she could walk on her own now, as she realised when she managed to get up and walk to the door. "Ready to go, Jonesy?" she asked.
"Not just yet," Tom said, with a wry glance at the cell door.
"I want to make sure Mister Nguyen has plenty of time to think over what he's done, and we'll see if he changes his tune. We can wait to get this alleged niece. Bring Brett back in for a few follow-up questions."
Jonesy and Susie looked uncertainly at each other, but then nodded their consent.
After Susie had called Brett on the phone, asking him to come down to the station, PJ walked in to the main station room with a triumphant look on his face.
"Susie, Jonesy," he began. They turned around and looked at him. "I just got the DNA results back from forensics. The blood isn't Olivia's."
Susie and Jonesy looked at each other.
"The cut on Lui Nguyen's head…" Jonesy began.
"If this 'niece' doesn't show up, we're ordering a DNA sample from Lui. Thanks Peej!"
"We've still got to wait until after we've had a talk to Brett," Jonesy reminded her.
"Right."
Susie and Jonesy were facing Brett in the interview room, but if anyone walked in then, it would appear to them as though Brett and Susie were quite alone.
After a minute's silence, Jonesy grew frustrated and began the questioning himself.
"Do you know a Lui Nguyen?" he asked Brett, snapping the later out of his reverie, probably about Susie.
"Pardon?" he asked, a little out of it. He gathered his senses and answered, "No. Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
"Are you sure?" Susie asked, her voice full of concern. "Well do you recognise, or have you seen this man?" she questioned as she produced a police photo of Lui Nguyen.
"No, sorry. Never seen him before in my life. Why?"
"Ah, can you give us just a moment, please?" Susie asked him kindly. When Brett nodded his consent, Susie got up and went over to the tape recording machine. "Interview suspended at four o'clock p.m."
She gestured for Jonesy to follow her out of the room. When they were in the corridor, she quickly said, "Okay, so it looks like you were right. It wasn't Lui Chang, where do we go from here?"
However, Jonesy was no longer keen in pushing his belief that it wasn't Lui Chang. "It is Lui Chang," he began. Susie looked a little stunned.
"It is Lui Chang," he restated, before adding, "But he's not doing it alone. Brett was in on it."
"Jonesy! Don't do this! You know very well Brett wouldn't stage the kidnapping of his own daughter! What good would it do?"
"I don't know, but we haven't got the demands yet. Lui fits in to this all perfectly, and Brett said he saw the kidnapper. Lui's the kidnapper, and now that we're on to his partner, Brett's acting like he's never seen him. But he must have!"
Susie frowned in frustration, and her 'fed-up' look settled on her face. "I'm sick of this Jonesy! You've got it in for Brett. Why? Is it because it looks like he likes me? Well here's a newsflash for you, Jonesy. Maybe I like him too – you and me, we're over. I told you I was through with you, and I stick by it."
Jonesy's face seemed to crumple, and for a moment Susie felt pity for him, but then she remembered all that had happened. He was jealous and possessive, and that led him to violent acts. She couldn't be with someone like that, regardless of how much she loved him. She picked back up where she had left off.
"The sooner you accept that, the better for everyone. Now, let's get this interview finished with." And with that, Susie stalked back into the interview room. A devastated Jonesy was left standing in the hallway by himself. Gathering up what little strength and will to go on that he could, Jonesy to re-entered the interview room.
Susie had officially started the interview, with a few wary glances at Jonesy.
"Brett," she was saying. "Think hard, are you sure this man isn't the kidnapper."
Brett heaved a sigh, and then answered, "I'm really sorry Suse, but I am sure this man wasn't the one who took Olivia."
"That's okay," Susie said gently, reaching for Brett's hand. "We just have to be absolutely sure before we rule out any suspects."
They two smiled warmly at each other, and an involuntary tear escaped Jonesy's eye.
"Liar!" He all but screamed at Brett, going almost nose-to-nose with the man. "You were in with Lui all along! I bet you two worked it out so that when the ransom comes through, it's demanding money from the force, or some other organisation!"
"Jonesy, stop!" Susie said in a strong, commanding tone. Jonesy took no notice of her.
"How could you do it – kidnap your own daughter? She's probably scared half to death, and all you can do is sit here and think about the money you're going to make!" He grabbed Brett by the shirtfront and pulled him up to his eye level. "Now tell us where she is!"
Brett looked nervous, but Susie had also risen to her feet, and was looking murderously at Jonesy.
"Senior Constable Jones!" She said in a loud, clear, and very demanding voice. "You will control yourself, and leave the room! Interview terminated at ten past four p.m."
"Thank-you, Susie," Brett looked gratefully at her, with trying to wriggle out of the grip Jonesy still had him in. "You heard her – let go of me!"
Jonesy grudgingly relented – it was a very rough relent at that – and stepped back.
"Thank-you," Brett said rudely. "There's nothing like a jealous ex."
"How did you kn–" Susie began, but stopped abruptly when she saw Jonesy's face.
He was torn. He was to punch Brett – good and hard right in the centre of his face – but he remembered what had happened the last time he did that. The last time he had punched someone about Susie, it was the very reason he was not with her now. If only he hadn't punched Alex, Susie and Jonesy may have been planning their wedding that very day.
He swallowed hard, bowed his head, and left the room.
"You're so lucky you ended things with him," Brett said, turning to Susie with a look of revolt on his face. "Though I don't see why you would have gotten with him in the first place."
"I, I love him," she said absently, before hastily correcting her 'mistake', "Loved, him."
"Hmm," Brett said, looking at her for confirmation he could leave.
"I guess I'll show you to the front of the station, then?" She said, still absently looking after Jonesy.
Okay…that was long…and not much happened…yet again. I don't think I'll say what's in the next chapter, because I can never keep to it. They only got around to interviewing one suspect this chapter, but I'm hoping – not promising – to get through the other two next chapter.
But just to leave you thinking:
Who are the other two suspects? Which one is the kidnapper?
Will Kelly's frightmares continue?
Is there any hope left for Susie and Jonesy? (Not the way I'm going, LoL. Maybe, though.)
What will happen in the final two chapters to close the case? (Yes, I have planned six chapters as the finished piece of the story. Don't be surprised if they're both as long as this one.)
Sorry about the long wait, everyone.
Cheers,
:D Susie :D