Chapter Four
"Hey Jess, I was driving past the school and there are a teacher and a student in a fight. I am just going to check it out." Alex Milton, the probationary constable replied.
"Ok Alex. Do you need any help?" Jess asked.
"Not at the moment. I will radio if it gets out of hand. Mount Thomas 308 clear." Alex replied.
"Mount Thomas Station clear." Jess ended.
"Hey Boss, there is a fight down at the school. It was something about a teacher and a student in a fight. Alex said he didn't need any back up right now but he will radio if he needs any." Jess informed Tess.
"Ok Jess, just keep me informed." Tess replied.
"We have a lead on the missing cattle Pat; a truck was seen driving along the highway for most of the afternoon yesterday. It just happens to match the description of the truck we saw out at the Hinkson's place. I think we need to bring them in for questioning." PJ said to Pat as he hung up the phone in their office.
"Ok PJ, do you want us to go and talk or one of the uniforms to bring them in?" Pat replied.
"Might get Jace to bring them in. JACE." PJ said, calling out to Jason at the same time.
"Yeah Peej?" Jason replied as he came to the door.
"Job for you mate, can you go out to the Hinkson's place and bring both Mr and Mrs Hinkson in please?" PJ asked.
"Ok, back soon." Jason replied.
As Jason left, PJ went out to talk to Tess leaving Pat in the detective office.
Pat started thinking about why, when her transfer was approved, they put her in Mt Thomas giving her kids new names. She got a shock when she realised that when they arrived at the Hinkson's' place, she remembered about the time she shot a dog. You see, Pat had amnesia and didn't know who she really was.
In the Bosses office, PJ and Tess were talking about how they thought the new detective was settling in.
"I am sure that I have seen her before. I don't know where but I know that I have somewhere and it is bugging me because I can't figure out where it was." PJ complained.
"You know, Chris said that she had seen her before too. But Pat has never been here before. Maybe you have crossed paths in Melbourne." Tess replied hopefully.
"Yeah, maybe." PJ replied, not very enthusiastically.
PJ walked out of Tess' office and back to his own office. He had only been there a few minutes when Jason walked in with the Hinkson's.
"Pat, did you want to interview Mrs Hinkson with the Boss or Jess and I will interview Mr Hinkson with Jason?" asked PJ.
"Sure, Mrs Hinkson come this way please." Pat said, "Jess, can you sit in on this please unless you want to Boss"
"Absolutely," Tess replied, "Jess, I think you might need to go down to the school and see if Alex has had any luck."
"Ok," Jess said
In the interview room, Tess, Patritia and Maria Hinkson all sat down.
"Interview commenced at 11:54am Monday February 15th, 2016. Senior Sergeant Lawson, Senior Detective Webber and Mrs Maria Hinkson present. Mrs Hinkson can you please state your name and address for the tape?" Patritia asked.
"Maria Hinkson, 110 Chartorack Road, Mount Thomas." Maria stated.
"Mrs Hinkson, where were you on the day of Sunday, the 14th of February?" Detective Webber asked.
"In St Davids, why, what are you trying to get at?" Maria replied rather quickly.
"We think that you and your husband are trying to claim insurance because your farm is going downhill. Is that right Mrs Hinkson? Is that what you were trying to do?" Detective Webber questioned.
"No, no, I had nothing to do with it. My husband came home and told me the cattle went missing. He is the one you should be asking. I don't have anything to do with it. I don't, really, I just don't." Maria stated, starting to sob.
"We have other officers asking your husband about this. We just want you to tell us everything you know about it. You say you don't have anything to do with it, what do you mean by this?" Pat asked, more gently this time.
"One of the farm hands came in this morning. They asked me if all of the cattle from one field were missing. I said that they were all missing from this one field and he told me that he had seen a truck going up and down the highway with my husband driving it. He said that it looked like sheep in it. I knew nothing about it. He doesn't own a truck, he always borrows one from Ned Garnder, from next door. I never knew anything about the truck or my husband taking sheep or anything else to do with it. My husband won't let me do anything with the farm because I am a woman and I should stay at home, do all the cooking, cleaning and whatever else a woman is meant to do. Look at you two though. You are both women and you are working in a real job. I have been going to leave him for a few years but he has always forced me to stay because he needs me to look after him. If I argue, he just hits me and locks me up. I need protection from him. Can you help me? Please?" Maria said, in tears again.
"Don't worry Mrs Hinkson, we will help you. We need to talk to your husband about these other matters but we also need to get you to a safe house. ASAP. Interview suspended at 12:30pm, for Senior Sergeant Lawson to speak to Detective Hasham." Tess said.
In PJ and Pat's office, PJ had managed to get Mr Hinkson to admit to borrowing the truck from the next door neighbour but he hadn't said anything about taking the sheep. Mr Hinkson, whose first name was Bill, was refusing to answer anymore of PJ's questions. PJ was just about to go and see how much luck Pat was having when Tess came to the door.
"Hey Peej, can I speak to you out here for a moment please?" Tess asked quietly.
"Sure, what's up Boss?" PJ replied.
"Maria has told us that a farm hand told her that he saw her husband loading sheep into a truck and taking them somewhere. He doesn't know where they went though. Oh, and PJ, Bill Hinkson has been hitting Maria and locking her up every time she tries to leave him. That has been happening for about four years." Tess told PJ.
"Okay, I will talk to him about that. Are you finding her a safe house until everything gets sorted out?"
"Yeah, I was just about to but I thought that I would tell you first. I will let you get back to interviewing him then." Tess replied before walking to her office to make some phone calls.
In PJ's office, PJ was now questioning Bill with the new information that he had acquired. Bill was still refusing to answer any questions so PJ decided to tell him about the new investigation that was starting, how he had been assaulting his wife. This shook Bill up a bit and he decided to deny all of these new allegations before he broke down and told the whole story about the sheep. It was pretty much the same as what Maria had said. Bill also told PJ and Jace that he had taken the sheep to another piece of land that he owned and that it was just for insurance.
After telling the police about the sheep the man went on to say about how he had an anger problem and didn't like the tablets they gave him to help deal with the anger. That was the reason why he lashed out at his wife all the time.
PJ checked his stories and found that he was telling the truth, he was then charged about the crimes he had committed.
Maria was put in a safe house with her son in St Davids.
"So, Peej, are you going to the pub tonight?" Pat asked PJ.
"Yeah I think I will, hey Pat, the others are having a pool competition, doubles, did you want to enter as a team?" PJ asked Pat.
"What so they can beat us? You don't know how to play pool do you Peej?" Pat remarked.
"How would you know that? I mean it is most certainly not the truth. Gosh, you call yourself a detective." PJ replied with a grin, although he was a little worried. How does she know I can't play pool? PJ thought to himself.
"I just have to go and see the Boss for a minute," Pat said, she was becoming worried, How do I know all this stuff about him. I mean I even called him Peej, why would I do that? Maybe I have been here before; maybe Chrissy has seen me before. Hold on, Chrissy, her name is Chris, why did I call her Chrissy? Aagh, this is too confusing. Pat thought to herself as she went to Tess' office and voiced her worries.
"Hey Boss," Pat said, after she had enter the room, "I need to talk to you about something kind of personal"
"Okay," Tess replied, thinking where is this talk headed? "What is it you need to talk about?"
"Umm, I don't know if you read this on my file, but I have amnesia, they only let me back on the force because I was apparently an excellent cop before I was in a car accident sixteen years ago. Being here today, it has made me wonder if I was from here before the accident. I am wondering if they didn't tell me the truth when I woke up from my coma. I seem to recognise Chris Riley, and PJ too, I mean I even recognised your husband Jack, and I don't know if that means that I have seen them before or if I am just losing the plot. When I went to the pub with you I seemed to recognise the place but then I don't recognise the station. I don't know where I was or what I was doing sixteen years ago but it is really confusing me now," Pat said, getting a bit teary.
"You must know Chris from somewhere because I don't recall telling you her last name but you told me her last name when you were saying the three people you remembered." Tess said with a bit of a smile. She was happy that Pat was getting her memories back.